Shin Eunah
"Ah..."
For a moment, Euna noona froze. Then, as she hurriedly turned around trying to go back inside the store, I quickly grabbed her wrist.
"Ugh...!"
Even as Euna noona struggled, I didn't let go.
"Haah..."
She only realized belatedly that no matter what she did, she couldn't shake me off. She stopped resisting and let out a deep sigh.
"Why are you here?"
"I was wondering the same thing."
I answered her question casually.
"Were you waiting for me?"
"Maybe."
Without giving a clear answer, I just threw out evasive replies.
But then she spoke again, her face slightly annoyed.
"Stop answering like that and tell me straight. What are you doing here?"
I met Euna noona's sharp gaze.
Our eyes crossed, but she looked away first.
"I happened to be passing by and saw you, noona."
"..."
"Why did you try to run away?"
I was curious about her reaction—the moment she saw me, she'd frantically tried to escape into the store.
"Just... it was sudden. I didn't expect to see a familiar face here."
It was just a part-time job, you might think.
But maybe she didn't want someone who knew she was working under unfair conditions to see her like that, so she instinctively tried to run.
That's what I thought.
"You're working part-time here?"
"Yeah..."
Euna noona leaned her back against the wall.
"Looks like too much for one person."
"Tell me about it... I have to wash all the dishes the morning customers used. They just left them piled up until I got here and dumped everything on me... ugh."
She vented her complaints, as if agreeing with me.
She wanted to quit, but no other place would even consider hiring her, so she had no choice but to endure it even though she hated it.
If they hired her and something went wrong, the employer who'd taken her on without parental consent would be held fully responsible—it was only natural.
So even though the workload was heavy and they didn't even pay minimum wage, she had no choice if she wanted to eat and live.
Euna noona, who knew this fact better than anyone, accepted this unfairness with a bitter smile.
"Still, what can I do...?"
No, she was forced to accept it because she had no other option.
"Should I help you, noona?"
"Huh...? You?"
"Yes. I'll help you."
"What could you possibly do to help... Ah..."
Euna noona snorted, then belatedly remembered that my family was well-off.
I bought expensive luxury goods for my girlfriend Nayeong like it was nothing, and I was decked out in famous brand-name clothes that anyone would recognize just by hearing the name.
Honestly, even though I didn't really care about luxury brands, my women bought them for me, so I wore them anyway.
Anyway, since my family had money, if it were me, I could find a way somehow.
Euna noona's eyes flickered with interest for a moment, but then she shook her head.
"It's okay."
"Why?"
"I want to stand up on my own."
She looked down at her hands.
Her palms opened wide, then clenched into fists, over and over.
"I can't see or hear the future, but it might be even harsher than this. And yet, I don't want to rely on someone else's help just because it's a little hard."
She lifted her head.
The bright artificial lights from the store and the streetlights made it impossible to find any stars in the dark night sky.
As if they were hiding, completely out of sight.
Gazing up at that night sky, Euna noona continued.
"Because my dream is really, really high up."
It wasn't just about success. She wanted to reach a position where everyone, without exception, would say she'd lived a successful life.
Her life had been too bleak to give up now and abandon her dreams.
"That's impressive."
It was a cool thing to say, but it only made me feel more embarrassed as I spoke without hesitation.
"Eugh...!"
She seemed to realize it too, flushing and shrinking back.
"But you know."
There was one thing I was curious about.
"You can't climb up with just your own strength."
The world doesn't let you rise on your own power alone.
Even I had reached a certain point where, without finding other people, the path forward wouldn't have opened up.
That's probably why people say you can't live in this world alone.
Anyway,
"You need someone by your side to help or support you."
No matter how ambitious you are, it's incredibly hard to overcome loneliness and rise up on your own.
I, who knew the future, understood better than anyone that Euna noona would stand up with her own strength.
But still,
"I'll become that person for you, noona. And along the way, I'll guide you down an easier path."
I gently took her hand—the one covered in a bit of soft flesh.
"If I'm offering you an easy road, there's no need to deliberately take the hard one, is there? Don't you think?"
"..."
It was an irrefutable truth.
Euna noona stared at me blankly without a word, then pushed herself off the wall.
As she tried to leave without answering, I grabbed her hand again, just like before, and didn't let go.
"Just trust me. Take a chance and accept my help. I'll make sure you can run toward your dream without having to work here."
For Euna noona—no, for anyone—it was an offer hard to refuse.
"Jihoon."
"Yes."
"Why... why do you go this far for me?"
You even help with the work the teachers dump on me as busywork.
And now you're making an offer that's hard to refuse.
Euna noona looked like she couldn't understand at all.
"Because I like you, noona."
Pfft.
Thinking it was a joke, she let out an involuntary laugh.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that."
Leaving those words behind, she went inside the store.
Was I being too hasty?
I thought it wasn't bad, actually.
"Tch."
Not much time had passed since we'd met and gotten to know each other.
It was an offer that was hard to resist, but she seemed to have confidence that she could rise on her own, with her own vast and meticulous plans—there wasn't enough time for trust to build, and she didn't really need my help.
There was no place for me to intervene.
"Then... I'll have to approach it differently."
My attempt to stir her desire to achieve her dreams had failed.
So I had no choice but to try a different method.
After that day, I didn't give up and kept pushing myself on Euna noona.
Well, "pushing" might be too strong. I hid my desire to win her body and heart, and instead tried to get closer to her first.
But that was easier said than done. Getting close was harder than I thought.
Even though she pretended to be fine on the surface, the way Euna noona looked at me had changed, and she became more cautious in how she treated me.
Still, I didn't give up.
Through these efforts, things were slowly returning to how they were before, but breaking down the invisible, solid wall that seemed to stand between us wasn't easy.
"Aren't you supposed to be with Nayeong...?"
Lunchtime.
As usual, I headed to the student council room and went to Euna noona, who was alone, dealing with a mountain of work.
Even though I had a girlfriend, Nayeong, I kept coming to the student council room during lunch and after school to help her. She was starting to find it strange.
I helped with such passion, too.
"Do you even like me or something?"
The thought slipped out, and without thinking, I blurted it out.
"Ah..."
Because of my persistent efforts to close the distance, the wall between us had developed a crack.
For that reason, even though I'd said it as a joke, Euna noona belatedly thought about her own appearance and let out a sigh.
Even if our relationship had gotten closer,
Saying that someone liked her, when she felt like an insult to the word, was enough to provoke anger.
Her eyes trembled incessantly as she checked my reaction.
"Maybe."
"..."
I'd been ready to be cursed at, but my answer was, as expected, a joke.
Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief and laugh.
But it wasn't a joke.
To be honest, her current appearance was at a hopeless level.
However, to me, who knew the future, she wasn't just an unscratched lottery ticket—she was like the American Powerball stacked with over a trillion won.
Half—or more—was sincere, but Euna noona, dismissing it as a joke, just laughed it off.
"Nayeong must be lonely."
"Maybe, but I'll go to Nayeong in a bit, so it's fine."
Even Nayeong, who was endlessly tolerant of me, had her limits when the time I spent on her kept decreasing, no matter how understanding she was.
So I split in half the time I'd been using solely to win over Euna noona.
Half for Euna noona. Half for Nayeong.
We'd come to an agreement like that, so I had to go find Nayeong in a little while.
Until then, I just needed to focus on raising my affinity, even a tiny bit.
"Hmm... Okay. I got it. I'm going to the bathroom for a sec."
Euna noona got up from her seat and left the student council room, leaving me alone.
It was boring.
To push away this boredom even a little, and to raise my affinity even a little more, I decided to do some more work.
Time passed like that. When it was finally time to go, Euna noona still hadn't returned.
Thinking it was strange that she was taking so long, I went outside to look for her.
She said she was going to the bathroom, so I decided to check near the restroom first, and I found her back view almost immediately.
She was standing still right in front of the bathroom.
As I quietly approached, the voices of girls insulting Euna noona from inside the women's restroom reached my ears.
And Euna noona, who had been listening to all of it, had tears welling up in her eyes.