The Girl Next Door
This was elementary school.
Nestled in my mother's arms, I thought about how I was going to live from here on out. Honestly, my real interest wasn't my own life—it was Mio and Hyeokho's relationship.
My life would work itself out somehow. I wasn't worried about it at all. If anything, I was going to live happier and better than in my previous life; there was no way I'd end up worse off.
So what about helping the two of them? Hyeokho was already approaching me so warmly. Instead of just watching from the sidelines, maybe I could give their relationship a little push?
I mulled it over. Rather than living as a pure extra on the periphery and simply watching them get married someday, what if I helped them get together faster—and it actually worked?
Whoa... I almost peed myself just now in Mom's arms.
Could my help completely change the course of their relationship? No—with Hyeokho's personality, he would help Mio no matter what happened. That was Lee Hyeokho, the protagonist of This Is a Rom-Com. I might not be able to trust anyone else, but I could trust Hyeokho. That guy would never just walk past someone in need.
Yeah. There's plenty of time. Let's think about it slowly. No need to rush. I was born into this wonderful world, right? I should try the things I want to do, help those two, and do everything I can.
With those thoughts swirling, I arrived home still cradled in my mother's arms.
Why is she carrying me all the way home...? I must be pretty heavy by now.
"We're almost home~! Jihoo, want a snack? Today's snack is none other than the chocolate cake you love!"
"Wow! Yay yay! Mom's the best!!"
Chocolate cake? I couldn't resist that—well, no, it wasn't actually my favorite snack, but since Mom said I loved it, I had to play along.
"Hehehe, Jihoo, let's hurry. Hm? Looks like the neighbors have already moved in."
When we reached our house with Mom, people were hauling moving boxes into the place next door.
"Jihoo, should we go say hello to the new neighbors first?"
"Yeah! Let's go!"
The house next door was a two-story detached home. So was ours. Looking around, our house, the neighbors', and most of the homes nearby were all freestanding houses like something out of Japan. This was probably another convenient setting the author had laid down—right up there with the legalized polygamy system—just to make the scenes they wanted work.
Mom walked up to the couple standing in front of the neighboring house.
"Hello~ We live right next door. We saw you were moving in and wanted to come say hi."
"Oh, hello. We were planning to come over ourselves once we finished unpacking, so thank you for coming first."
"Oh, nonsense~ We're right next door—of course we'd come~"
Mom warmly approached them and exchanged greetings with the couple next door. Even I had to admit our mom was a true social butterfly among social butterflies. How did she just walk over to the neighbors and instantly get friendly?
While I was thinking that, I felt a gaze from a spot much lower than the couple's eye level.
Hm? What was that?
Then, from behind the couple's legs, a little girl with brown hair peeked out.
"Oh my, aren't you pretty~ What's our little princess's name~?"
"...Lee Somi."
"Aha, so it's Somi~ I hope you'll get along well with our Jihoo."
The gaze I'd felt belonged to a girl around my age. Even if I'd let my guard down, noticing a stare this late? That was an absurd talent. Was it because she was a character from This Is a Rom-Com?
While I was marveling at the girl named Somi's talent, Mom nudged me to go say hello.
This is a full-on childhood friend setup, isn't it? Living next door, getting close from a young age, always hanging out together—that kind of relationship. A childhood friend... I actually get a childhood friend of my own. Hehe.
...Wait a second. Why am I already imagining getting close to this Somi kid and hanging out with her all the time...? Haah... Starting with Yuna earlier, I've completely turned into a delusion addict. This is all Mom's fault. It's definitely Mom's fault!! It's absolutely not my problem!
Spinning out that long string of excuses, I approached Somi.
"Oh my, she's the same age as our Jihoo~ They'll be perfect for hanging out together."
From Mom's conversation with Somi's parents, I learned that Somi and I were the same age.
Then I can just act casual with her.
I walked right up to Somi and greeted her.
"Hi! I'm Kim Jihoo! Let's be friends."
"Yeah, let's be friends."
"Then can I call you Somi?"
"...Yeah. Jihoo."
Somi blushed as she gave her permission.
Cute. So cute. Feels like I just got a little sister. ...Suddenly I'm thinking of Heejin. It's only been a few hours since I died and came back, but I wonder if she's doing okay. Hope they didn't dump all my work on her just because I died.
"Then Somi, want to come over and have chocolate cake with Jihoo?"
While I was thinking about Heejin, Mom asked Somi if she wanted to come play and have a snack with me. Wow, she was already creating a chance for us to get close. But what were we even supposed to play? Dolls or something? Saying no would be weird, so I figured I'd just go along with it for now.
"Somi! Come play at my house!"
I held out my hand to her.
"...Okay."
And just like that, the moment I was reborn, I gained a cute childhood friend named Somi.
Time flowed on, and I became an elementary school student. Elementary school was basically no different from kindergarten. The only real difference was that we were split into different classes. In first grade I ended up in a different class from Hyeokho and the same class as Somi. Back in kindergarten the three of us—Hyeokho, Somi, and I—had been in the same class and gotten along great, but now Hyeokho was in another class.
Well, he still comes over every single break anyway.
"Jihoo, let's go play soccer!"
"Yeah, yeah, let's go."
I answered Hyeokho, who had come to fetch me, and stood up. I was only going to half-ass it anyway—why did he keep dragging me along? Ever since kindergarten, Hyeokho had never once failed to call me whenever it was time for soccer.
As I stood, I glanced at the girl sitting next to me. That girl was Saionji Mio. By chance I'd ended up in the same class as her, and while we weren't desk partners, she sat right beside me. Ah, my actual desk partner was Somi. When the homeroom teacher told us to sit with whoever we wanted, Somi had scampered straight over to me. At some point she had started following me around closely.
In this world, my top priority was seeing Mio and Hyeokho get together. With that in mind, I stood up with exaggerated energy and gave Hyeokho a little shove.
"Whoa—?"
Hyeokho tried to catch his balance by planting a hand on the desk beside him—which, of course, was Mio's desk.
You two got the wrong matchmaking maniac! Suffer a little until you get together! Aargh, but why did it have to be the desk!
I'd pictured Hyeokho accidentally wrapping his arms around Mio, but oh well—if they just got a little closer bit by bit, that was fine, right?
Mio, who had been reading, looked at Hyeokho with his hand on her desk.
"Uh... sorry..."
"It's all right. It wasn't your fault. Isn't there someone else who should be apologizing?"
She said that while glaring at me. Ah, crap. Did she catch on? Was that too forced? Better apologize first.
"Ahem... haha, sorry. I just really wanted to get to soccer."
"...Please be more careful next time."
Mio gave me a warning and went back to her book. Since it ended there, maybe she hadn't realized I'd done it on purpose? Phew, thank goodness.
So what had become of my relationship with Mio? Completely ordinary. We exchanged greetings and nothing more—no more, no less.
After she'd first spoken to me, Mio had shown interest for a few days. But once she saw me playing around like a little kid with Hyeokho and Somi, she eventually lost interest. Whenever she wasn't looking I'd play normally, and whenever she was watching I'd force out over-the-top energy—it had been genuinely exhausting...
Still, maybe because of that first-day hand greeting, we kept greeting each other every day. That habit had continued from kindergarten all the way into elementary school. You could say our relationship was nothing but greetings, but there weren't any other kids at school who could even exchange greetings with Mio. Probably only Hyeokho and I were on greeting terms with her. Somi could probably manage a greeting too, but the moment she saw Mio she acted like a cat spotting a stranger. Nothing to be done about that.
"Mio! We're friends, so you can talk casually with me!"
Right then Hyeokho spoke up to Mio.
That's my Hyeokho! I believed in you! That's how you close the distance!!
"Thank you, but this is more comfortable for me. I'm sorry."
"Come on, don't be like that!"
True to form for a rom-com male lead, he immediately tried to close the gap. Thank goodness Hyeokho was the protagonist. You might think acting that pushy would backfire, but of course Hyeokho had done the exact same thing in the original. So him doing it now didn't change much. In the end, what mattered was how much closer he could get to Mio.
"..."
"Young miss wishes to concentrate on her reading, so please stop."
The one stopping Hyeokho was Yuna, sitting on Mio's other side. The moment Mio showed any sign of discomfort, she intervened right away. Ah... too bad. Well, even if they only got close starting in high school it wouldn't be too late. They could take it slow.
From what I could see, if I wanted to get these two together faster, I needed to peel Yuna away. In the original, Yuna never showed any side of herself beyond serving Mio. Because of that, early on she played the role of blocking progress between Hyeokho and Mio.
So there had been quite a few readers who disliked Yuna at the beginning. She was pretty, but she kept inserting herself between the two of them, so I could understand the feeling. Did I dislike her too? No. Yuna was just doing her job. Being wary of a man approaching her master was only natural. And since Hyeokho approached without asking for anything in return, she would have been even more on guard.
"Ah... okay...? Sorry. Enjoy your book!"
"Yes, thank you."
Even Hyeokho seemed to have trouble dealing with Yuna's stiff demeanor. Yuna really was pretty rigid—honestly, it would be nice if she smiled more. Seeing Yuna break into a bright smile was one of my goals, if I had to list them. Honestly, it didn't seem easy.
Should I tie her up and tickle her or something...?
"Jihoo, hurry up and let's go play soccer!"
"Yeah. Somi, you coming too?"
While I was having weird thoughts inside my head, Hyeokho urged me to go play soccer. Since we were going anyway, I asked Somi, who had been quietly watching us from the side. Somi was a little timid, so she liked it when someone invited her along like this.
"Yeah... then I'll watch you play, Jihoo."
"Somi, I'm here too!"
Somi ignored Hyeokho completely and immediately took my hand. Hey Somi, isn't that a bit much? He's still the male lead... and he's handsome too. But wait, thinking about it—Hyeokho, you've got Mio. Don't go making people jealous for no reason.
I took Somi by the hand and headed for the playground with Hyeokho. For a moment Mio's gaze turned our way—had we been too loud? Better run before she said anything.