You're the Bad One (7)
At my sudden outburst, spat out in a fit of temper, the landlady and her son stood with their mouths hanging open.
Sowon let out a quiet groan, and I bit my lip a beat too late, wondering what on earth I had just said.
I had sworn only moments ago that I would help those two work things out, and then I went and pulled something like this. No matter how angry I had been, the betrayal Sowon must have felt toward me couldn't have been small.
Shame burned hot at the back of my neck. Staring at Sowon's tightly sealed lips, I apologized in a voice that shrank smaller and smaller.
"I—I'm sorry. I was just so mad just now…"
"No."
But Sowon cut me off, firm and decisive.
"Please do that. I can't tolerate Junhyuk living in this house any longer either."
She was agreeing with me. I had expected her to explode, but instead she sided with my suggestion, and I was left speechless, my face blank with shock. Sowon went on.
"But don't get the wrong idea. I simply chose the lesser evil to avoid the worst."
"The lesser evil…?"
"I still don't fully trust you, Philin, but I think you're better than that woman."
"Hey, no matter how much you dislike me, comparing me to that landlady—"
"I'm not finished."
I tried a timid little protest out of a flicker of wounded pride, but Sowon's icy interception shut me right up. Just listen for now. I was the one in the wrong…
"Instead, I'll be visiting often. So often it'll drive you crazy. An unmarried man and woman living together is something my family can't even imagine."
"That's why I'm trying to take him to my place, not your family's house…"
"I'll drop by for inspections whenever I get the chance, so my chosen lesser evil doesn't slide into the absolute worst. You should stay on your toes."
In short: she couldn't find him a place herself, so she would tolerate this — but if I tried anything funny, she wouldn't let it slide. I nodded hard, up and down.
"Don't worry. I'll make sure nothing like what you're worried about ever happens."
"…Just in case I should ask. You don't only have one room, forcing you into some kind of mandatory shared bed situation, do you?"
"Three rooms, plus a living room. Two bathrooms."
"Then you pass."
Saying it out loud, I realized my place was actually pretty incredible. For the first time, I offered a silent thank-you to my demon parents, whom I had never even met. Please forgive this unfilial daughter who never once felt grateful while ordering delivery food in that house.
I sharpened my gaze again and growled low, firing lasers toward the landlady and her son.
"You've seen how this is getting sorted out, so get lost already. I'll have it ready so you can bring your stuff in tomorrow morning."
Startled, the landlady and her son edged backward, watching my face the whole way as they retreated out of the mansion. It wasn't as if I had any real power, but the way they couldn't make a peep in front of someone who looked even slightly tougher than them told you everything about their character.
"Whew."
Only then did the storm seem to pass, the atmosphere inside the house settling into quiet. Sowon, drained, sank down onto the floor for a moment.
Only Junhyuk remained.
He was desperately pressing his lips together and furrowing his brows with all his might, fighting back a smile. Then he got caught looking at me and forced his face straight again… but.
"You happy? In this situation? Huh? You happy?"
Even under my scolding, the corners of his mouth kept twitching, so apparently living with me was something he couldn't help but be glad about. He should have just said so earlier.
But if I had been Junhyuk, I wouldn't have been able to bring up a situation like this easily either. No — maybe not talking about it was the right call. He had probably figured that at least living in different places meant he could keep some distance at night, and that once that constraint disappeared, things would get dangerous. He did have to be careful at night, after all.
But even accounting for all of that — right now, this very moment — the simple fact that he would be living with me…
…was joy too big to hide.
I clicked my tongue and shook my head.
"Such a puppy."
"Does that mean cute?"
"It means you're a real idiot."
Looking at Junhyuk, who beamed at me with an expression that seemed to ask and what's wrong with being an idiot?, a sigh escaped me on its own.
But the real problem worth sighing over was something else entirely.
"By the way, Philin."
"Hm?"
"This — how exactly are you planning to finish a move in a single day?"
I had boldly declared that the place would be ready for his things tomorrow. Wallpaper and flooring were the incoming tenants' problem, fine — but at minimum, all the furniture here, plus the assorted dishes and clothes… thinking about finishing all of that in one day with zero preparation could feel overwhelming.
But.
"I've got something up my sleeve."
"Oh? What is it?"
Sowon's eyes lit up with interest. I had been worrying that my earlier blunder might have left a knot in her heart, but she didn't seem that way, which was a relief.
I laid out my plan with an easy mind. And then…
"Absolutely not."
Having heard my plan, Sowon spent the entire walk to the Academy with her arms crossed, shaking her head over and over. Junhyuk had decided to rest one more day to manage his condition, and Sowon had agreed to submit the sick-leave paperwork for him. So somehow I ended up walking side by side with Sowon all the way to the Academy.
"Sowon. But this really is the best option. With just a little effort, we can finish the move fast and clean without spending a single coin…"
"Don't make me keep talking about it. No. I refuse."
"…Got it."
Faced with that frosty expression, I lost the confidence to push any further. Honestly, I had expected her to dislike it — but not this much.
Sowon walked on in sullen silence, then suddenly stopped. She heaved a deep sigh, then rounded on me with a look that said the more she thought about it, the more absurd it became.
"No, Philin. Choi Minji? That little hairpin brat? Why don't you just spend the money instead? I'll chip in!"
I understood Sowon's reaction completely. She was friends with that Min Yukyung who had attacked Junhyuk. Strictly speaking, Senior Minji wanted something deeper than friendship with Yukyung, but… anyway, that wasn't the point right now.
The point was that reaching out to the people who had attacked Junhyuk and asking them to help with a move was, from Sowon's perspective, an idea that made no sense whatsoever.
But it wasn't as if I had thrown out Choi Minji's name without any thought at all.
"Lim Sowon. There are a few things you need to understand."
"Fine. Let's hear it."
"First. No matter how much money you have, finding a moving company that can help today is impossible."
Even the most rushed moving contracts usually need about two weeks' lead time. And even then, most companies balk. A normal moving contract gets signed one or two months in advance. Same-day? That was the talk of someone who didn't know how the world worked.
"And second. Strictly speaking, that senior didn't attack us — she came to apologize on her group's behalf."
"No, I refuse to accept that. She's still in the same boat as that bitch who attacked Junhyuk, isn't she?"
"It's hard to draw that line so cleanly."
"Why?"
"Think about it. What did that senior say at the disciplinary committee?"
Sowon pressed her lips together for a moment. After replaying the past, she came up with the answer easily enough.
"That she didn't remember…"
"Right. And when she came to see us, what kind of shape was she in?"
Only then did the hostility filling Sowon's face ease a little.
"Her face was… pretty wrecked."
"Does it make sense to beat someone's face in like that if they're supposedly in the same boat?"
"…That's a fairly convincing argument."
"Not 'fairly convincing' — I'm right. That senior doesn't share the blue-haired thug's mindset. If anything, she wanted to stop that atrocity and was desperate to make some kind of contact with us."
The real reason she had come looking for us that evening was to ask us to take Min Yukyung down. I still didn't know why she was pinning her hopes on us, but right now she was the one who needed something, so I figured accepting her help once wouldn't be a bad move — which was why I had brought up this plan.
Even though she hated it, Sowon knew she couldn't talk me down with logic, so she kept exhaling frustrated sighs to cool her temper.
"Hah. I really don't like this."
"But what else can we do? We can't leave him living there."
"Why the rush in the first place? You could take the move slow."
"They're screaming at him to get out day after day. You want me to bow and scrape asking people with zero basic decency to work with my schedule? I can't do that."
Watching me grind my teeth as I said it, Sowon must have remembered my earlier explosion, because she murmured quietly,
"You… really are good at cursing…"
"Jealous?"
"…Yes."
Jealous of the weirdest things. I snorted a laugh and shoved my hands into my skirt pockets.
"You should practice ahead of time too, then use it when things get truly awful."
"You practice regularly?"
"No, I mean… just, prepare yourself mentally."
Imagining Sowon — who always spoke so politely — suddenly dropping a string of curses made my chest flutter in a strange way. From fear.
Surprisingly, the day that imagination edged closer to reality arrived sooner than expected.
I was about to dial Senior Minji's number and start the call when Sowon suddenly began muttering something under her breath, as if rehearsing for a presentation.
"…Sh…"
"What?"
She went for it on the spot. But having apparently never sworn once in her entire life, there was none of that distinctive bite to it, and astonishingly, she failed to get the curse out at all.
Sowon looked at me, breathing hard.
"Hoo… it's not working…. Philin, you really must have a talent for it."
Her face was so drenched in sweat that anyone looking would have thought she had just finished two rounds of a performance. There was no need to try that hard just to swear. I felt a twinge of guilt for teaching her something pointless.
Not every student's contact information was public, but for the Academy's representative raid team, phone numbers were listed in case of emergency reports. I didn't need anyone to dig up Senior Minji's number.
"Yes, this is Choi Minji."
A limp, drained, businesslike tone. Even without a name, that fingerprint of a voice would have told you exactly who it was.
"Senior Minji. It's me, Philin."
"Philin…. Ah! It's been a while."
Her voice lifted a little compared to before. Sowon, apparently displeased even by that, turned her head away and went back to practicing her curses. At this rate, we might get a swearing main heroine sooner than expected.
"Did you get back all right that day, underclassman?"
"Yes. Thanks to you, the trip was easy. Belated thanks."
"Not at all. I did it because I wanted to…. Anyway, what's going on?"
It occurred to me belatedly that Senior Minji had no real obligation to grant my request. I had flatly refused the favor she had come to ask after carefully working up the courage. What if that memory was still sitting like a knot in her chest?
The thought drained some of the strength from my voice.
"Um…. Please don't think this is too strange, Senior."
But backing out now wouldn't help anything. Nothing to lose — might as well swallow my pride and ask.
"That male student who was with me last time. Do you remember him? He has to move on short notice today, and we don't have a way to transport everything."
"…And I can help with that?"
Her voice was puzzled, but one thing was clear: she was willing to help. Only then did my slightly hunched shoulders ease. Of course, Senior Minji was probably hoping to use this as another chance to make her request — but still.
"Just like last time. If you could open a portal path from their place to mine, that would be enough."
Might as well throw it out there.
Fortunately, Senior Minji didn't deliberate long before giving a firm answer.
"All right. I'll help."
"Thank you! Around five this afternoon, at the front gate—"
"Ah, but."
Just as I was wrapping up the call, Senior Minji cut in carefully — yet urgently, as if afraid the line might drop.
Was she already about to name her conditions for helping? If she asked for something too hard to accept, that would be a problem. My mind raced through every possible scenario —
"How many guys do you have to help carry the furniture?"
She had put her finger on something genuinely important.
The small stuff we could manage by hand somehow, but wardrobes and drawers were a different story. I had no intention of bringing those moldy things into my house, so of course I planned to throw them out — but that still meant hauling them outside first.
No matter how strong Junhyuk was, how was he supposed to move those alone?
But Senior Minji hadn't brought it up to offer to hire workers for us.
"I can use a little… telekinesis. I'm not amazing at it, but I thought it might help a bit…"
"Whoa…"
So this was the class of an Academy representative team mage. The move had just gotten far easier than I expected.
But helping this actively almost certainly meant she was determined to push through what she wanted this time. Was she going to make that same request again? How was I supposed to refuse her this time?
I was glad — and at the same time, a little tense.