Chapter 192
Chapter 192
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 192
Chapter Title: Living Together (2)
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"Snap to it."
"Sn, snap to it!"
As soon as Lee Se-young spoke, Byul's hands began to tremble violently.
The magic spell that elementary school teachers commonly used to punish students. Hands up and stand.
Byul, on her knees, felt a surge of frustration in the inexplicable situation, her eyes clouding over with tears.
"Why did you do that?"
"Se-young, there's some misunderstanding... This is really nothing. If the main wife gets mad over something like this, you'll know it's really lame—"
"Don't lower your hands."
"Eek!"
Startled by Se-young's sharp rebuke, Byul put even more strength into her hands.
It felt like a relapse of trauma from long ago—getting caught by the teacher reading a novel in the corner of the classroom and having to read its contents aloud in front of everyone.
-Ku, ku-kuwang! Weed swung his sword...
-Ahahaha, ku-kuwang.
-Pfft, haha, hehe.
-...Enough. Stop reading.
People can read some fantasy novels, can't they? It's unfair to tease over that.
Middle school days. Byul had a plain style and was an unassuming virgin girl. Middle school Byul couldn't brush off such an embarrassing situation with humor; she just blushed and sat down.
Frustrated, Byul pouted her lips.
"Se, Se-young-ah."
"Why."
Lee Se-young sat in the chair with her legs crossed, glaring at Byul.
"...I know I did wrong."
"You did?"
"Honestly, I wanted to spend some good time with Si-heon too. Right? You know?"
Why couldn't she see that this wasn't the right thing to say in the current situation?
Lee Se-young let out a sigh and rubbed her face with both hands.
"Hoo... hey."
"Uh, yeah."
"Sorry for being sensitive.... Honestly, you know how much I like him."
"Yeah. I know."
It was like she had been possessed by something.
Suddenly calling and asking for help. Like a cult? Suspected of such an attack.
Se-young's promise that if it wasn't true, she'd take responsibility flashed through Byul's mind.
"You and Si-heon... sleeping together or whatever, I'm not saying anything about that."
"......Yeah."
Everyone knew what needed to be known.
Whoever she hooked up with or got hooked up by. Well, getting hooked up might be a problem, but anyway.
Whoever she tumbled with was Lee Se-young's prerogative.
That was entirely up to Lee Si-heon's thoughts and actions. Lee Se-young had realized that during this training camp.
"Si-heon... being targeted by Flower and their crew, you know that, right?"
"Yeah."
"......And he could be targeted by the World Tree too."
"...Yeah."
This was surprisingly weighty.
Byul raised her hands high, then lowered them with a cowed expression.
Being targeted by the World Tree and Flower.
In this world, it was as good as having no place to stand anywhere.
His lover... would receive similar treatment.
"You know. Down the line, he could even die. That's why you said you'd take me and Flower down."
And Lee Si-heon had caught on to that just before.
Faced with that man's repeated, earnest pleas, Lee Se-young had no choice but to abandon the plan.
"......Se-young-ah, but I've got a question."
"Yeah?"
"With your personality... wouldn't you ignore Si-heon's request and push ahead?"
Stubborn, forcing things her way.
Nicely put, expansive and proactive; harshly put, rude.
Byul and Lee Se-young had been friends transcending ordinary relationships since their academy days—comrades in arms.
And excellent business partners, as well as two women sharing the same boyfriend.
So when Lee Se-young first called... and showed herself flustered over Lee Si-heon, Byul couldn't help but harbor some doubts inwardly.
'Though back then... I was yelling because I felt so wronged.'
Couldn't be helped.
She had prepared so hard, only for it to be suddenly canceled.
Anyway, Lee Se-young was absolutely not the type.
Well, Lee Se-young's personality was twisted to begin with.
A girl with such a foul temper getting raped, falling in love, and softening up...
"You wouldn't get it."
Se-young suddenly interjected.
"Huh?"
At Byul's retort, Lee Se-young let out a deep, heartfelt sigh.
"That time... no, I really don't know. During the training camp, he briefly... World Tree? He vanished because of that or whatever?"
"Yeah. I heard."
"When we met after he came back... do you know what his face looked like? If you vanish right in front of someone... you know what a person on the brink of collapse looks like."
She knew all too well.
Lee Se-young knew too. Their pasts hadn't been smooth.
They'd each had death-like experiences multiple times.
"That day... I pretended to be persuaded. I was going to stick to the original plan."
"And?"
"......He was like he had paranoia or something. Kept asking."
"Asking what?"
"What else? Love confessions."
"......What the hell. Bragging?"
"No. His tone was different.... Like he was about to drop dead any second, all clingy. Ugh. Seriously."
Lee Si-heon had done that?
"But it was only that night... the next day, he was back to normal."
"Really?"
"That day especially, it felt like something had happened..."
The Lee Si-heon Byul knew wasn't like that.
Differences in the size of love? That was too much of a leap. Si-heon was the playful type.
Of course, lately she'd glimpsed more serious sides.
But that extreme? No. Just the right level for women to like, by Byul's standards.
Lee Se-young sighed with a half-teary face.
"...Anyway, how could I go through with the original plan after hearing that?"
She looked like she'd been through quite a bit mentally.
"I see."
"Yeah."
Seeing the gloomy Lee Se-young, Byul sighed.
'...Whew.'
Lee Se-young's love—you thought you knew it, but you didn't.
Of course, that's how love was.
It could connect anytime, break anytime.
Life-on-the-line romances were a dime a dozen.
History was full of them.
Cases where a country went under for one woman.
Cases where two men dueled to the death over a woman.
And among the countless such stories, somewhere existed loves like Lee Se-young's—sudden connections leading to blind conviction and change.
'That's because I'm not Lee Se-young. I can't empathize.'
She must have felt love in some way.
No one else could empathize with that.
Her own unique love—special, kinda cool.
Whatever anyone said, Lee Si-heon was a good guy.
To see through his character even after being raped? That was impressive.
"So."
Lee Se-young steered the conversation back to the start.
She uncrossed her legs and bowed her head slightly, her ample breasts coming into view.
Truly not overly large, perfectly shaped breasts.
"......Milk cow."
"What, you bitch?"
Great style. Enviable.
Byul stuck out her tongue like a cat inwardly.
Not even looking at Byul's face, Lee Se-young bit her lower lip and vented her frustration.
"Anyway. He begged and pleaded, so I barely gave in. And now this jerk's pulling the same stunt on me. Behind my back!"
Yeah, that was true.
Lee Si-heon was telling her not to step forward and taking it on himself.
"Weaker than me... how's he gonna fight Flower!"
"Si-heon weaker than you...?"
"What else?"
Neither Byul nor Lee Se-young had a solid grasp on Lee Si-heon's martial prowess yet.
Of course, the spirit he'd shown in the tournament was impressive.
But the academy. Opponents were cadets at best. How strong could they be? Plus, little real combat experience.
In short, his assessed strength was on the weaker side of A-rank.
"Let's see... Back during the Flower terror incident... he took down an Ent with Baek Do-nim, so at least high B-rank. Top score in the tournament.... Being generous, low A-rank. Yeah, fighting Flower's iffy."
"See. Exactly."
Lee Se-young nodded vigorously at Byul's words.
"But Se-young-ah."
Byul cut her off and brought up the topic seriously.
She crossed her arms, paused her breath to draw focus, then spoke softly and kindly.
"You're dead wrong about something. Isn't it natural for Si-heon to fight Flower? Si-heon sees Flower as enemies. And Flower's gunning for Si-heon too."
Strength this, strength that.
Weird to even consider that from the start.
Lee Si-heon didn't want Lee Se-young getting involved in this fight.
Probably because, god forbid, she might get hurt.
"You know... I already know that."
Se-young muttered in lament at Byul's words.
The reason Lee Se-young was agonizing and worrying like this. The real reason she opposed him fighting Flower while nitpicking his strength.
And it was the same reason Lee Si-heon had shared the info only with Byul and told her not to tell Se-young.
Simply.
Worrying about each other.
This man and woman were waging a petty mind game over nothing.
"Agh...... you two are so damn alike."
How could their thoughts and actions align so perfectly?
Byul went from exasperated to outright angry at the pent-up frustration.
"No... Se-young-ah. Do I seriously have to feel all deprived toward my boyfriend's other girlfriend?"
"...Wha, what? What bullshit is this all of a sudden."
"Ah, right, your first girlfriend... first one, yeah. Sure sure. Must be nice communicating so well. Protecting each other, telling not to die...... looks real heartwarming. Right?"
Byul's rapid-fire barrage laced with anger.
Lee Se-young's eyes widened as she listened.
"Hey. Please. Hear me out. Just... from what I see, you two treasure each other way too much. Can't you just trust each other?"
"......"
"Se-young, you weren't like this before. You only lose it when Si-heon's involved."
"Is that true?"
"See, shit! Even now, you should've said 'What bullshit, you idiot.'"
"What bullshit, you idiot."
"That's it!"
Byul forced a cheerful laugh.
Se-young twirled her hair, staring blankly at a point outside the window.
"...Am I being too much like that?"
Lately, yeah.
Not her period or anything, but what... so sensitive.
It absolutely wasn't resentment from being made to put her hands up like an elementary kid.
Byul rationalized inwardly, then gave Se-young some fitting advice.
"Se-young-ah."
"Yeah?"
"...Just go back to how it was before. Spend some time alone together."
Might be because they'd been living apart.
Distance makes people stew in their own thoughts. Judge the other from their own selfish viewpoint.
Se-young's erratic behavior might be a form of love deprivation. Self-proclaimed psychiatrist Byul came to that conclusion.
"Just us two?"
"Back when it was just you two at the start of dating, how'd you live?"
"Just.... Call when bored, drink. If pissed, listen to each other?"
"Yes! Do that! That's what I'm saying!"
Why suffer alone?
The plan was scrapped anyway. Se-young had some time.
As Byul gestured emphatically in frustration, Se-young gave a wry smile.
"......Shall I try?"
"Whew. Yeah."
"Still, thanks for saying it straight, friend."
Lee Se-young expressed her gratitude to Byul. Byul felt a warmth in her chest but quickly shook her head.
"Ah, whatever. I was still pissed about having to put my hands up earlier."
"Come on."
"Just get snatched away by your boyfriend's other girl!"
"That's crossing the line."
"Ah... really? Sorry."
Maybe grab a drink together after so long.
Byul nodded with a smile at Se-young's follow-up suggestion.
"Let's go."
Leaving the vice president's office, heading to the pub.
Seeing the excited Byul, Lee Se-young seemed to remember something and spoke up.
"Hey, you know that?"
"Huh?"
"While we're doing this...... there's a vixen out there diligently seducing Si-heon."
Vixen? That fox bitch!?
Byul's face hardened instantly, and Lee Se-young checked the time on her phone before chuckling.
"Let's see. Probably doing it right about now."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "This right?"
Even for the first day of living together...
Sharing a bed? Well, that could happen.
It was a proper newlywed-sized bed, nothing wrong with that.
"But... first day already?"
I lowered my gaze.
Azalea's sticky eyes were fixed on my lower abdomen.
"......You."
College student. Cohabiting.
Single room.... Naked girlfriend.
Obvious development, no matter who saw it.