84. The Ring's Disaster
"How the hell do you know about that...!"
Good question.
Why did I know about it?
Yu Ha-yeon, who had been planning to lock me away.
She was mortified that her scheme had been exposed.
Yu Ha-yeon jabbed a finger at me.
"You put a camera in my... my room, didn't you? You pervert...!"
"I wouldn't do that. I'm not you."
"..."
Yu Ha-yeon, caught dead to rights, answered with silence.
She looked like she truly had nothing left to say.
During the silence that followed,
Yu Ha-yeon murmured.
"...This is your fault, anyway. My plan was justified."
"That doesn't give you the right to lock someone up..."
"If I lock you up, I'll be the only one who can see you. Like the old days."
Her eyes locked directly onto mine.
I didn't see a trace of shame in them.
"Girls won't cling to you, and we'll be together, just the two of us, like before..."
"Wait, Ha-yeon. You know I'm seducing women because of my lifespan, right?"
I said it as if I had no choice.
It was an excuse, but the truth was undeniable—I had to kiss them to extend my life.
I had no choice but to pursue women.
As I kept going,
Yu Ha-yeon cut me off, sounding thoroughly sick of it.
"Are you seriously claiming it's because you have no choice? That isn't how it looks to me. You don't actually have some absurd idea about 'taking responsibility' just because you seduced them, do you?"
...Well, actually?
"Ahem..."
She'd hit the nail on the head, so I coughed and looked away.
Seduce women and then refuse to take responsibility?
That option didn't exist for me. As a man, I believed taking responsibility was the bare minimum.
'If I don't take responsibility, the clear rate for V. AGE drops too...'
Beyond my lifespan, there were other complicated factors driving my womanizing.
It wasn't exactly noble, but it was, in its own way, rational.
I asked Yu Ha-yeon.
"Ha-yeon. So what you want is for me to look only at you?"
"Yeah. I want you to be with only me. Hold only my hand. Kiss only me. Eat only with me. Whether your lifespan goes up or not."
...Was her obsession always this intense?
Yu Ha-yeon wanted me to look only at her.
Like the days the two of us spent alone in the past.
But too much had changed around us now.
"...I can't do that right now. Not until I finish what I have to do."
"What do you have to do? Seduce more women? Guard Na Yu-na?"
"...I can't tell you that."
"Then don't bring it up! Why mention it at all and make me wonder like crazy...!"
She had a point there.
But I couldn't tell Yu Ha-yeon, 'This is a game world. I know the future.'
It would be hard to believe, and uncomfortable truths were better left unsaid.
Yu Ha-yeon let out a sigh.
"How did I end up falling for a bastard like this... a perverted, womanizing childhood friend..."
Haa.
She sighed deeply and took a step back.
Then she spoke.
"Han Si-jun, choose. Me, or those other girls."
"Huh?"
"Honestly, I was planning to lock you up once you'd lengthened your lifespan. But the plan's blown now, and I've decided not to, so decide. Me, or them. I can't watch you mess around with other women anymore."
Yu Ha-yeon's dark eyes flickered.
But what I felt from inside them was an unshakable resolve.
Her patience had reached its limit.
Her danger level was indigo.
I was certain that if I chose Ban Ha-na or Lee Seol-ha, that indigo would turn pitch black in a single second.
Choose Yu Ha-yeon, or choose the other women.
The answer to that was obviously predetermined.
"Yu Ha-yeon."
"What."
"Come here. My arm hurts."
I was reaching my hand out to her.
Beckoning her to come take it.
Seeing this, Yu Ha-yeon approached with a bright smile.
The color of her danger level gradually faded.
She took my hand, smiling.
"I knew you'd choose your childhood friend, Han Si-jun."
"How could I ever give you up? Think about all the years we've spent together."
Had it been more than ten years now?
Yu Ha-yeon and I were bound together in a way that made separation impossible.
Me giving her up was something that could never happen.
"So, you just have to kiss Na Yu-na, and then you're done with other women, right?"
"...That's not quite it."
"What...?"
Yu Ha-yeon's grip on my hand tightened hard.
That actually hurt a bit.
I laid my cards on the table.
"Isn't there an option to choose all of the above?"
"...What do you think?"
Guess not.
Yu Ha-yeon wanted me to look only at her.
But I was in a situation where I couldn't do that.
"Ha-yeon. I'll be blunt."
"Say... say what."
"I want you."
And then.
"I want the other women too."
"You... you crazy son of a bitch...!!"
Smack!
Yu Ha-yeon slapped me across the face.
My head whipped to the side, but the fact that I wasn't dead told me she'd pulled her strength somewhat.
Her attacks kept coming without pause.
"Ow! Yu Ha-yeon... I said it hurts...!"
"Of course it hurts, you piece of trash! How can you say you want a harem of women...! When you have a childhood friend like me...!"
Didn't I just say I'm not doing this because I want to?
A forced harem, tangled with the Womanizer's Fate.
I was being dragged into a predetermined destiny.
And it wasn't something I could stop just by trying.
"You... you...! You bastard...! You perverted shithead...! You need to be taught a lesson...!"
Yu Ha-yeon showed no sign of stopping her assault.
My whole body would probably be black and blue by tomorrow.
Taking the hits, I settled my karmic debt.
"Haa... haa..."
The onslaught finally ceased.
Yu Ha-yeon caught her breath.
Even so, she'd only hit places that weren't too painful.
Lying flat on my back in the grass where I'd fallen, I cautiously asked her.
"...Are you a little less angry now?"
"No. I'm not. I'm never letting this go. Not in a million years."
Yu Ha-yeon walked over to where I lay.
Then she settled down gently beside me and began to heap abuse on me.
"Han Si-jun. You really are trash."
"Calling me trash is a little har..."
"Then what do you call messing with other women over and over, if not being trash?"
"...Han Si-jun?"
"Ugh... how did I fall for a guy like this...?"
Yu Ha-yeon was blaming herself.
But what could anyone do? You can't just decide your own heart.
She turned her body toward me and met my eyes.
Her dark eyes blinked as they gazed at me.
They were filled with moonlight.
"Han Si-jun."
"Yeah."
"I lost. Do whatever you want."
"Really?"
"...If you actually do whatever you want, I'll kill you."
Her tone carried genuine killing intent.
She meant it.
'What kind of change of heart did Yu Ha-yeon go through?'
I decided to ask her honestly.
"Ha-yeon. But, why are you letting me do this?"
"I didn't say I was letting you do it."
"Huh?"
"I'm letting you off the hook for now. Han Si-jun, don't you dare misunderstand."
She hadn't given permission, but she had decided to yield.
Yu Ha-yeon's words carried a clear warning: 'I didn't say this was okay, so don't get too happy about it.'
"You'd keep doing it even if I told you to stop, anyway."
"...That is true."
"Pervert. Trash. Philanderer. You're showing your true colors, huh?"
Haa.
Yu Ha-yeon let out a sigh.
I'd lost count of how many times she'd sighed today.
"So this is what they mean when they say the one who loves more loses more..."
She murmured to herself.
Then she got up and shifted her position.
Lying down on top of me.
I glanced around, but fortunately, this place was deserted.
"Han Si-jun."
"Why are you calling me, Yu Ha-yeon."
"Do you know I can hear your heartbeat like this?"
"..."
"I'll let you hear mine too."
She guided my hand to her chest.
It was fairly flat, but one thing was certain: I could feel her heartbeat.
Thump. Thump.
Yu Ha-yeon's heart was pounding hard.
"Well...?"
"What do you mean, 'well'..."
It was a wild, warm beat.
I didn't think I was capable of putting that feeling into words.
And it seemed the same was true for Yu Ha-yeon.
Peck.
A light kiss.
Yu Ha-yeon smiled softly.
"This heartbeat, this feeling. Don't ever forget it. If you forget, I'll kill you."
"...I'll try not to. Until the day I die."
"Try like your life depends on it. Got it?"
Nod.
She gave a satisfied smile and took my hand.
Then she took hold of my finger.
'What is she trying to do...?'
I felt something slide onto my finger.
When she pulled her hand away, the ring I'd seen on the bed in my memories was there on my finger.
I shot her a look asking what this was.
Yu Ha-yeon answered.
"Han Si-jun. Don't forget."
"...Forget what?"
"That I'm always first."
She raised her hand.
Her finger.
On her ring finger was the same ring she'd just placed on mine.
"I asked the Chairwoman. I asked her to give me this ring. It's expensive, you know? You lose it, you die."
The one favor from the Chairwoman.
It looked like Yu Ha-yeon had used that favor to ask for this jeweled ring.
The gem set in the ring was a garnet.
It symbolizes love,
and it was also the birthstone for January, the month Han Si-jun and Yu Ha-yeon first met.
"Idiot Han Si-jun."
Yu Ha-yeon mumbled as she walked.
It's been a long time since I've hit Han Si-jun like this.
She seemed relieved, as if she'd finally vented her frustration after a long while.