Chapter 174
Chapter 174
"......."
Hmm.
This is awkward.
Feeling much lighter, and in a better mood after something sweet, I half-impulsively called Yang Hye-in to my room. I used So-hee's work phone, and Yang Hye-in came right away without any delay.
It wasn't that she was happy about it. More likely, she was just so accustomed to moving like that. Yang Hye-in was still one of my directly assigned personal maids, and she'd been doing this sort of work for several years even before that.
Yang Hye-in seemed to think I had some task for her.
Technically, So-hee was also my maid, but since she's a minor I don't assign her work after her nominal off-hours. And because she was my friend, I deliberately didn't give her work either.
It couldn't really be otherwise. No matter how you frame it as a maid-and-employer relationship, if I kept handing out tasks and So-hee kept taking them on, the relationship was bound to break. A kind of class distinction would form between us.
So, really... if I had to pick the "proper" maid between the two who work under me, I'd have to choose Yang Hye-in. It wasn't a question of So-hee being good or bad at the job.
"......."
The problem was, precisely because of that less-than-warm relationship, the current situation felt excruciatingly awkward.
I called Yang Hye-in before I'd even finished the snacks and tidied up. If I called her after I'd finished eating, it wouldn't come off as consideration; it would become summoning her to clean up. I'd intended for us to clear this pile of wrappers together anyway.
But I'd never had that sort of frank, open conversation with Yang Hye-in.
Or rather, no one in this house had ever had a frank, open conversation with Yang Hye-in.
Which, naturally, meant that having Yang Hye-in mixed into this impromptu snack party just made everyone uncomfortable.
...Ah, I feel like I've experienced this feeling somewhere before. Though I can't quite remember when.
S-so, what are you going to do now?
Sara seemed intensely uncomfortable with this situation too.
Right, what should I do about this?
"Do you not like snacks?"
"No. I like them."
Only after hearing my question did Yang Hye-in move mechanically, picking up one snack and putting it in her mouth.
...She did look at what it was before putting it in her mouth, right?
She went for the one she liked best among these, right?
Please let it be that. Otherwise I'll genuinely feel terrible for calling her over.
Ah, right, I remember now. I think I know what this reminds me of.
It's that kind of situation.
The scenario where a loner at school who barely talks to any of their peers somehow ends up tagging along to the popular kids' drinking party.
The popular kids invited the loner because they're all in the same cohort, but the loner who shows up doesn't actually like drinking all that much.
Doesn't much like going to karaoke either, and words like "second round" or "third round" don't exist in their vocabulary beforehand.
Even if you try to talk, your hobbies and interests are so completely different that you can't connect, or it's someone you've never had a conversation with before so you have nothing to say.
And there was a reason I couldn't immediately recall that scenario.
Right. It's because in my memory, that "loner" was me.
Still, my personality wasn't prickly, so people did faithfully invite me to department meet-ups or post-project get-togethers. Usually, though, I went straight home after the first round. I didn't much like alcohol, and I couldn't drink much anyway.
I mostly spent my time reading web novels, watching online streams, or playing single-player games that no one else around me played. I didn't have much to talk about with those kids.
...The reason I couldn't recall that scenario right away was because my position had completely flipped from back then.
At school, I was still nowhere near popular-kid level, but in this situation I was the one in the majority.
Come to think of it, I don't know what kind of person Yang Hye-in is.
It's probably the same in Sara's memories. In the memories of Sara's I've seen, I've never once seen Sara having a personal conversation with Yang Hye-in.
"So, well..."
I slowly opened my mouth.
"The reason I... called you here today, Yang Hye-in, isn't anything in particular. It's just that we don't have any memories of ever talking, and since we're likely to be seeing each other's faces for a long time going forward, I thought we should know at least a little about each other..."
I'd been about to say "I thought we needed to get closer," but I quickly changed my wording.
Saying I wanted to get friendly felt like it might be a bit burdensome.
Honestly, even saying that was a little burdensome for me.
In reality, the gap in our ages was almost negligible, she might even be younger than I was, but right now my outward appearance was far younger than Yang Hye-in. Yet saying "I wanted to get friendly" somehow left me with a weird sense of resistance.
If we just naturally became closer, that'd be one thing, but.
"I see."
Yang Hye-in simply answered politely.
....
Before I knew it, Yang Hye-in had folded her hands together and was assuming a posture of listening attentively to me.
Naturally, she had also stopped eating the snacks.
But deliberately telling her to go ahead and eat the snacks felt a little off. For all I knew, maybe she really didn't like this kind of thing. There are people in the world who dislike sweets, after all.
"......."
"......."
Silence again.
Ah, was she waiting for me to ask a question?
But what am I supposed to ask?
Should I ask about her hobbies?
"Ah, senior!"
In the end, the first person to crack under the awkwardness and open her mouth was So-hee.
"Didn't you say your hobby was cross-stitch?"
And the words that came out of So-hee's mouth were quite surprising.
"Ah, we had a lot of chances to talk."
When I stared at her in surprise, she smiled and said that.
True enough, not now, but until just recently they used to go down to the first floor together every morning to prepare for work. They wouldn't have kept their mouths clamped shut while working, so they must have had some kind of conversations.
"You do cross-stitch?"
Anyway, I couldn't just waste the chance So-hee had created, so I quickly asked.
"Yes, occasionally, a little bit when I have time."
Yang Hye-in looked slightly taken aback by my intense reaction.
Which made sense. Because until just recently, I hadn't shown any particular interest in Yang Hye-in's personal life.
In truth, I hadn't actually been interested, either.
It was just that now I considered her definitely someone on my side, so the thought had occurred to me.
"Cross-stitch..."
I tried to keep the conversation going, but my words cut off again there.
Right. Cross-stitch, huh.
I had never seen anyone in my circle whose hobby was cross-stitch.
Or rather, I'd never seen someone who did it as a profession either.
All the people around me were friends with heads stuffed full of nothing but games and comics.
...No, wait. Even if I'd had a girlfriend, her hobby probably wouldn't have been cross-stitch. Was cross-stitch even a mainstream hobby?
My level of interest in cross-stitch was weaker than the interest I previously had in Yang Hye-in. If I had to put words to it, it was about the level of "such a thing exists in the world."
"Was there a reason you started cross-stitch?"
I had no choice but to ask the kind of stiff, stock question you'd see in an interview with some artisan.
But luckily, after hearing my question, Yang Hye-in thought for a moment, then answered earnestly:
"Because it lets me spend time with a calm mind. When I'm concentrating on one task, I don't really notice time passing."
"Time?"
"Yes. After you go to school, young lady, there is little in the way of a schedule."
"Ah..."
So, it seemed this was a hobby she picked up after getting this job.
But still, to pass the time, aren't there plenty of other things to do? The internet, watching dramas or movies... or at the very least, reading.
Well, I mean... it isn't that cross-stitch is bad or anything.
...My gut was telling me. This person was definitely not an ordinary person even before she became a maid.
"Then... do you have, say, a favorite food, by any chance?"
Seeing that my words had stalled, Ha-neul quickly jumped into the conversation.
"A favorite food... let me see. Rather than a particular favorite, I prefer foods with clean, mild flavors."
Yang Hye-in answered earnestly again.
...With an array of extremely sweet and salty snacks laid out right in front of her.
Could it really be that she's not eating them because she actually dislikes snacks?
"Do you have a favorite singer or song, maybe?"
This time Su-a asked.
"I don't usually listen to music."
"......."
I tried to imagine what Yang Hye-in does while waiting for me at the mansion.
Yang Hye-in, sitting alone in the empty staff break room with no music or TV on, doing cross-stitch.
And doing it while in her maid uniform, no less.
...Strangely, it was an image that suited her terrifyingly well.
Thinking that, I couldn't really find it in me to tease her about it.
"......."
And then more silence.
Since Yang Hye-in wasn't picking up any snacks, the rest of us somehow felt too apologetic to eat them either. It gave the sense that we'd deliberately bought something she didn't really like and then called her over.
What on earth would I have to bring for this person to be able to thoroughly enjoy something?
I figured I'd have to seriously think about it at some point.
...I definitely hadn't expected to run face-first into this situation from the start.
I had no choice but to grudgingly admit that Choi Na-kyung had really picked the right person for the job, to an almost uncanny degree.