Chapter 5
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 5: Rice-Eater (4)
"Live together?"
Yoon-seo dropped a bombshell statement.
"Serious?"
"Serious."
I felt like I knew the reason.
The money we make isn't great. Rent is expensive.
"If we live together, we can save half the cost. We're living facing just one wall anyway."
Since our houses are right next to each other, her opinion was that we could save significant money if we lived together.
"...."
I was slightly negative.
Saving money is good, but right now we can live a daily life as long as we don't overdo it.
If we steadily grow like this and just pass level 200.
Once we cross that critical point, the amount of money we make changes.
The flow is going smoothly and flatly.
Cohabitation here would mean a huge variable arising in that flow.
What if while living together, we catch feelings, make a mistake, and Yoon-seo suddenly gets pregnant?
Can't do Rice-Eating, money goes into raising the kid, stress piles up like crazy.
Of course, pregnancy is a leap of imagination.
Even if we don't go as far as that, if I touch Yoon-seo and a crack forms in our relationship.
I was too afraid of the future after that.
Come to think of it, she's my only friend.
Might I lose her because of my mistake?
"No?"
"...Let's think about this a bit carefully."
We continued to exchange opinions about cohabitation.
"A young man and woman living alone in one room, will really nothing happen?"
"...It's been like that until now."
"It might have been like that until now, but there's no law saying it won't happen in the future. I'm not confident."
"...Why?"
"You know too. Whose blood flows in me."
The blood of a child abuser and human trash father flows in me.
I couldn't trust even myself.
"No means no."
I voiced my refusal stubbornly.
However, Yoon-seo's next words were more shocking than the first proposal.
"...Then what if I say you can?"
"What?"
"If I say it's OK to just kiss and suck and do everything, will you live with me?"
"...Are you saying that seriously?"
Sex OK?
Schrödinger's Virgin just becomes Schrödinger?
Some might say, Where is the man who can resist this?
But hearing this, I actually got angry.
"...I'll pretend I didn't hear that."
Yoon-seo opened her eyes roundly.
"Huh?"
"I said I'll pretend I didn't hear it. Let's just erase this conversation from each other's memories."
As if she couldn't understand my words.
She asked back with a puzzled expression.
"Why pretend you didn't hear it?"
I sighed, Haa, and grabbed my heated head.
"Doing it for money is a bit wrong, isn't it."
Perhaps those words of mine became a fuse, Yoon-seo's attitude suddenly changed.
"Seo Do-hyun, by any chance are you treating me like a whore right now?"
"What?"
That day, we fought big for the first time.
There had been some arguments until now, but this was the first day we fought this big.
"Why does that word come out here?"
"You just treated me like a woman who gives it up for money."
"Then what about you? Looking at it, didn't you see me as someone doing compensated dating?"
"You shouldn't take it that way!"
.
.
.
The argument continued.
That day, and the next day, we didn't mix a single word.
However, our bodies had to be stuck together.
Because we have to make money.
"...."
"...."
Watching the side profile of Yoon-seo silently hunting, I had all sorts of thoughts.
Is this what a crack in the relationship is?
Am I fucked?
What if she says let's go our separate ways like this?
Still, she's my only friend.
Why am I really like this.
Then the conclusion I reached.
Let's just apologize.
A man should do this kind of thing. I did speak wrongly.
I bought a piece of sweet cheesecake at a bakery and headed to Yoon-seo's house.
In the villa hallway, I ran into Yoon-seo who had packed bulgogi burgers, which I like.
"...Uh."
"...Mm."
We burst into laughter at the same time.
"Pfft."
"Pu-heup."
Maybe because we've seen each other's faces for so long.
It seems we were thinking the same thing.
Right, we are partners.
Inseparable partners.
Like the first day we drank, we sat in a corner of my room and shared delicious food amicably.
And resolved the piled-up misunderstandings.
"I'm saying this because you seem to misunderstand, but I never saw you like that even once. I did it because I just cherish you."
"Cherish?"
"For a good woman like you to come to Seo Do-hyun's house is, well... should I call it a loss for the world."
Maybe because I spent so much time without friends, I, lacking eloquence, spoke while stuttering a lot.
"I told you every day you're pretty. You need to cherish yourself."
"...."
"So, so it's just like that."
Still, it seems my thoughts were conveyed properly.
"Pu-heup."
A chuckle returned from Yoon-seo who had been cold all this while.
"Pu-heu-heup, so me getting married to you is a loss for all humanity?"
"Marriage... isn't a good example, but anyway, right?"
A woman like Lee Yoon-seo should marry an alpha male with much more money than me.
To a man who copies 100 billion with a single click.
I'm just passing neighborhood friend number 1.
I mean that I am not good enough for Yoon-seo.
Yoon-seo, who laughed for a long time hearing my words, took a bite of the soft cheesecake and said.
"You're a more decent guy than I thought."
Yoon-seo propped her chin and stared intently at my face.
Really for a long time. To the point where it was burdensome.
"...Really clueless."
Yoon-seo, who lightly clicked her tongue, stretched out and stood up.
"Just live cluelessly like that."
And looked down at me and smiled brightly.
"I'll pretend the cohabitation never happened as expected."
It definitely went according to my opinion, but why do I feel so regretful?
I was quietly watching Yoon-seo open the front door.
Just as she was about to leave, she turned around slightly and said.
"Good night, Do-hyun-ah."
Mm? I think it's the first time she called my name without the surname.
Is it just my feeling?
Since that one fight, the relationship became even more solid.
Although we became more comfortable with each other.
Suddenly, I realized the fact that I know nothing about Yoon-seo.
I know what food she likes.
"Tteokbokki for meal today?"
"You know a thing or two?"
"I am a bit of a Yoon-Expert."
"Seok." (Note: playful sound/rebuttal)
"Stop there."
I also know what skills she uses often.
"I finally gathered the currency to gacha for skill enhancement stones."
"I pray that Sneak Attack The Chungmugong General pops up."
"...Since Luck 0 is empty, it won't come out?"
"Doesn't seem like my fault."
However, those were too trivial elements.
I don't know her past history. Not a single thing.
If you think about it a little, you'll know it's strange.
Unless it's a unique case like me, one would find a normal job rather than Rice-Eating.
Especially if it's a woman who speaks well, is smart, and pretty like Yoon-seo.
Store owners should be lining up to hire Yoon-seo.
Yoon-seo would be the one interviewing and choosing the store she works at.
Or let's say she buys a computer and cam to do streaming.
If I had a lot of money, I would have donated billions to a woman like Yoon-seo.
But why is she doing Rice-Eating so deeply like that?
Thinking about it, I have never seen Yoon-seo talking to anyone other than me.
Sending messages to someone, or talking on the phone either.
I don't know her.
Her past, her human relationships.
Why she is poor, why she sticks with me, why she insists on Rice-Eating, I know nothing.
'Don't tell me she has a criminal record like me?'
That's why sometimes I even think thoughts like that.
Well, she'll tell me when the time comes.
No need to bring it up first.
She might have a past that's hard to talk about like me.
Although I'm fucking curious.
Like that, another year passed.
Only when that time came could I know Yoon-seo's past.
In the worst way imaginable.
"Wow, I fucking want to die."
"...."
We hunted for days but there is no harvest.
Perhaps Yoon-seo is stressed too, acting sensitive towards me these days.
"Don't say that even as a joke."
"Why?"
"Just don't do it."
The strange thing is, even after a high-priced item worth millions of won dropped.
"Holy shit!"
"...."
Yoon-seo's tension didn't change.
"Not excited?"
"...Excited."
"Your expression doesn't look like it."
It's been like this for the past few days.
What is it? Is she sick?
"Are you sick somewhere?"
If she's sick, I should buy her some porridge or something.
I just asked with such a light heart, but suddenly Yoon-seo started wailing loudly.
"You fucking bastard, son of a bitch, bastard with absolutely no clue!"
What the, why is she like this, did she drink?
I remember we quit drinking together...
"Son of a bitch!"
"Ack, aack!"
Yoon-seo pummels my chest.
To me who went all-in on magic, Yoon-seo's fists were fierce one by one.
But compared to the truth to be revealed later, I didn't know that this hitting was at the level of a cotton bat.
"Aaaack! This fucking dog-shit life fuck!"
"C, calm down... what's wrong."
"I wish everyone would just die, really. Aaaaaack!"
One week until her truth is revealed.
Yoon-seo dropped a second bombshell statement.
"Do-hyun-ah... Lend me some money."