Chapter 189
Chapter 189
"Of course I'm going."
Ha-neul answered without hesitation.
"......Really?"
When I asked again, she just nodded.
"Why wouldn't I? It's finally a chance to meet your relatives."
She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Well, that tracked. Ha-neul was a sensible person.
No matter what kind of incident she went through, no matter how much she thought about it, even while attending a school that was clearly not normal, she never lost that thread of common sense. Which made sense for the protagonist, I suppose. The genre was a classic dating sim, not a catharsis-fest.
So of course she'd think you should meet your blood relatives. Not immediate family, but still—relatives.
"But is it really okay?"
Su-a, beside me, voiced her doubt.
"Most of Sara's relatives are going to be people connected to the Yujin Group, right? Won't some of them use the party to approach Sara with ulterior motives?"
To everyone else, I, the person inside Sara, am invisible anyway. Only a few people around me know I exist, and of them, only Sara really knows how old I am.
When I brought up Sara's birthday, none of my friends asked about my own. That confirmed what I already suspected: I'm being treated as just "another Sara."
So from a business-world perspective, I could look like a very easy target.
Ugh...
And of course, Sara absolutely hated that situation.
She'd finally thought she was free of the person who had been suffocating her. She probably never imagined another shackle would clamp down so soon.
I understood that feeling completely. Honestly, if you just looked at the situation and set aside the specific people involved, I was going through the exact same thing.
"Ah... That makes sense."
Ha-neul nodded as if the thought hadn't occurred to her.
"Hmm... but I still think attending is the right move. The more information, the better. How can you tell if someone's going to try and trick you without seeing them first?"
I'd already given my friends as detailed an account as possible of Ye In-hyeok coming to see Sara. I'd said I hadn't found anything suspicious for now... but honestly, I was the only one who had a proper conversation with him. Yang Hye-in had just stood silently beside me.
Seeing that he didn't seem particularly aware of Yang Hye-in's presence, I could guess he'd lived in that kind of wealthy household from a very young age.
When you're having a conversation and someone is standing nearby saying nothing, it's bound to be incredibly awkward. The fact that he didn't spare a single glance at Yang Hye-in means that situation was extremely familiar to him.
Like someone who keeps servants at home, or at least is used to having a secretary present during this sort of conversation.
...Well, that's just my personal theory.
"They said we can all go together anyway, right? The senior and I will stick right by your side. Nothing major should happen."
...Though if something major did happen at the birthday party of the richest teenage girl in the world, that would be its own problem.
Still, even if someone tried to sweet-talk me, it probably wouldn't manifest as a "major incident." Unless they tried to work me over in secret. Who knows.
"I will also be nearby, so please rest assured."
Yang Hye-in, who had kept her mouth shut and just listened until then, bowed her head slightly as she spoke.
Uh....
How should I put this? I feel a bit bad saying it, but honestly, when Yang Hye-in says something like that, it's a little scary.
Because if a "major incident" did break out, it feels like she'd just plant her fist right in the other person's face.
I'm not saying she shouldn't, of course... but honestly, it's better for everyone if we avoid things that could get legally complicated in the first place.
...Still, Yang Hye-in worked for years under someone like Choi Na-kyung, so there shouldn't be any real problem, right?
"Ah, by the way."
As I was thinking that, Su-a clapped her hands together.
"Since it's a birthday party, is there some kind of dress code?"
"What?"
For a second, I thought I'd misheard.
A dress code? For a birthday party?
So... like, "For today's celebration, we kindly ask guests to arrive wearing black~"? That kind of thing?
No, why would you need that for a birthday party?
When I made a bewildered face, Su-a tilted her head and said,
"So it looks like there's no specific outfit planned."
"A dress has already been prepared for you to wear."
At Su-a's words, Yang Hye-in spoke up as if to guide me.
......A dress?
"Not just Sara. We should probably dress up as much as possible too. A lot of people from the Yujin Group will be coming."
No, I said it's just a birthday party?
You're telling me this isn't the kind where you buy a cake, stick candles in it, make a wish, sing a song, blow them out, and get presents...?
But just as I opened my mouth to object, a memory suddenly flashed through my head.
'So, I was thinking—how about holding a small congratulatory party to coincide with that day? You haven't been able to meet your own blood relatives until now, because of Chairwoman Choi Na-kyung. Why don't you attend that day, see everyone properly, and greet them?'
That man had said that.
If he were not a director of the Yujin Group but a genuinely friendly uncle-like figure, then the party might be on the scale of the birthday parties I was imagining... But yeah. That man was one of the directors of the Yujin Group.
And apparently, a very important one among them.
...If someone like him is attending, that means all the important relatives of the Yujin Group will be there, which means their chauffeurs, secretaries, and the like will be coming along too.
Of course, the servants won't enter as guests of the congratulatory party... but even just the number of "relatives" won't be one or two.
And on top of that, people in important positions within the group who aren't even relatives might come to pay their respects.
The venue isn't a problem. This mansion alone is more than enough to accommodate everyone.
But once you prepare food and drinks for all those people, the scale of the "party" inevitably becomes huge.
And given that most of the humans attending that party will be the ultra-wealthy, they are certainly not going to show up in cheap clothes.
"If your friends also need attire, I will have it prepared right away."
"......Yang Hye-in."
"Yes."
"Prepare one for yourself, too."
"......Understood."
Even if the servants don't enter the party hall, I absolutely have to bring Yang Hye-in in with me. At the very least, the faces of the group's VIPs stored in Yang Hye-in's head will far outnumber the ones in mine or Sara's.
Even if she's as in the dark as I am, Yang Hye-in can investigate. She'll know how to do research, at least. She's a multi-talented person in so many ways.
...I'm lucky this person is on my side.
"Uh... so."
So-hee, who had been listening to the whole conversation, spoke up as if summarizing it for us.
"This 'party' you guys are talking about is different from the at-home birthday parties we're thinking of, right? You're talking about a party on a scale you'd only see in movies or dramas, right?"
"Seems that way."
When I answered, So-hee made a completely fed-up expression for the first time in ages.
"......We'll have to hold the real birthday party later, just the few of us."
Ha-neul muttered that.
Seriously.
At a party of that scale, with that many people, you wouldn't even be able to comfortably give and receive birthday presents.
...This whole thing got complicated fast.
I let out a deep sigh.
*
...And then, with only three days left until my birthday, the invitations arrived.
Not invitations for me, I mean. More like, "If you have any close friends, hand these invitations to them."
The problem is, I have almost no friends I'd go out of my way to hand an invitation to.
Only about two came to mind... one is Son A-reum, the other is Nam Da-un.
But while I could just invite Son A-reum without a second thought, I'm a little cautious about Nam Da-un.
His presence has become so faint it makes me wonder if he was ever the male lead originally, but surprisingly, I'm still in an engagement that hasn't been broken off.
Getting out of it hasn't been easy.
If it were a marriage, you could just dissolve a state-recognized relationship and be done with it, but an engagement isn't like that. It's not so much a legal system as it is just publicly declaring a promise to each other.
The problem is that the person who could retract that public declaration is currently on the run.
Even if I declared I was quitting on my own, there's no telling how their family would react.
Come to think of it, they might even be pleased. The fact that I'm now alone.
Maybe this party is being held partly for that reason, too.
So inviting a guy is a bit awkward. I'm worried it might cause some weird misunderstanding.
But, yeah. This means I can invite as many girls as I want without any major issues.
"So, here."
While we were all gathered to eat lunch as usual, I handed an invitation to Son A-reum.
"What's this?"
"An invitation to my birthday. Apparently my relatives are trying to turn it into a grand affair."
"Uh, uhh...."
Son A-reum took the invitation, her mouth half-open, looking dazed.
...Yeah, I bet you're thinking, what the heck is this.
In elementary school, you might pass around print-out invitations for fun, but this isn't a wedding invitation. Handing out a birthday party invitation like this must seem bizarre.
...And maybe because of that.
It had gotten incredibly quiet all around us.
Everyone was sneaking glances at the invitation.
...Ah, this is embarrassing.
Maybe I should've given it to her somewhere with fewer people around...?