Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Change in Mindset
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I lay on my bed, fiddling with my phone.
Peering into the quiet group chat, I tapped on each of their profiles one by one.
Lee Sea's profile, filled with memories from old photos taken over the years;
Lee Soyun's, posted with quotes that could have come straight from some book of sayings;
Hong Yeonseo's, packed with award photos from competitions and shots of food;
And Seong Yurin's, covered in group photos with us from the start of the semester right up to now.
It was Lee Soyun's birthday yesterday. I looked at the photo we'd all taken together.
It was a commemorative shot after the party wrapped up.
"Ah."
Suddenly, things I hadn't noticed yesterday started jumping out at me from that photo.
The direction Lee Sea's soft smile was aimed at,
The person Lee Soyun, her face flushed, was shyly leaning her head against,
The one Hong Yeonseo, beaming brightly, was pressing her body close to,
And the shoulder where Seong Yurin, avoiding eye contact, had carefully placed her hand...
All of them were me.
Not Yoon Jiu, but me.
...It's ridiculous that I hadn't realized it before.
It hit me anew just how oblivious I'd been.
Fine, Lee Sea and Lee Soyun were one thing, but Hong Yeonseo and Seong Yurin too?
My face burned hot. I grabbed the water bottle from the nightstand beside my bed and chugged it down.
A dazed feeling, embarrassment, bewilderment, and somewhere in there, a sense of happiness bubbling up.
Complicated emotions wrapped around me.
I couldn't even imagine when these feelings had started, but I'd definitely sensed that nagging familiarity before. Now I reexamined it.
Come to think of it, maybe I'd been fooling myself all along, telling myself I had no real interest in them.
And yet, I'd reacted when I saw Lee Sea alone with Yoon Jiu at the movies,
Or when I'd gone out of my way to grab Hong Yeonseo as she was leaving.
Thinking back on those actions, I realized subconsciously that I'd harbored some kind of feelings for them too.
Not full-blown passionate love yet... but at least a small fondness.
What I hadn't realized until now was that I'd been clinging to lingering attachments from my past life or the original story.
Sticking around them under the pretext of watching the protagonist Yoon Jiu and the heroines' tale.
Even consciously trying to keep my distance from them.
I might not have taken this life seriously at all.
I'd never been very ambitious to begin with, but settling for this talented body without pushing harder might have been part of that mindset too.
As these serious thoughts kept swirling, I opened Seong Yurin's chat.
If all my realizations so far weren't just delusions but the truth, there was something I needed to ask her.
Conveniently, I'd been planning to set up a meet with her tomorrow anyway.
And the promise with her was tied to exactly what I wanted to ask about.
About what happened that day we went out together about a month ago.
I suddenly wanted to hear the full story seriously.
>Kkorrrk—
The gurgle signaling the end of my musings also reminded me that I'd skipped dinner.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
>Bzzz—
A single message popped up on the phone screen as it lit up with a vibration.
The girl sitting at her desk, book open, quietly focused on studying, turned her gaze to the phone. Her blue eyes widened in a flash.
"...Ah."
Startled, she let go of the pen in her hand.
Leaving the pen to roll across her notebook where she'd been diligently taking notes, she clasped her hands together and carefully picked up the phone.
[You free tomorrow? About that thing from before—want to meet up in the city for a bit?]
No selfies, just the default profile and the name beside it, along with the message.
The girl, Seong Yurin, thought that the moment she'd been waiting for had finally arrived.
Last night, after things between Lee Sea and Yoon Jiu had been resolved.
She recalled the conversation she'd had with Lee Sea about how to tell Seo Ijin about that day.
And at the same time, the story Hong Yeonseo had shared in the girls-only group chat, right up until Ijin's message came in.
Hong Yeonseo hadn't said the words "I like you" outright, but her tale of clashing all her emotions head-on had slowly started changing everyone's attitudes.
It made them think that if they kept waiting, it might be too late—they needed to make a move.
Watching those exchanges with blank eyes, ripples had stirred in Seong Yurin's heart too.
She felt the door to her heart, which she'd thought was firmly locked, rattling.
'I... I...'
A moment later, Seong Yurin squeezed her eyes shut, steeled her resolve, and tapped at her phone.
[Yeah. Let's meet at lunch tomorrow.]
After that message, they sorted out the details for the place and time, then she closed the chat. She sent a message to Lee Sea.
[Ijin's asking to meet tomorrow.]
Not long after sending it, the notification number vanished. And Lee Sea's call came right in.
Taking a deep breath, Seong Yurin answered.
After picking up, a brief silence stretched before Lee Sea broke it from the other end.
[What are you going to do?]
To Lee Sea's question, Seong Yurin answered without hesitation.
"If you tell me not to say anything, I'll dodge it all the way."
Telling Seo Ijin the details of that day would naturally mean confessing Lee Sea's feelings for him through her own mouth.
That's why Seong Yurin's response was firm.
Hearing that, Lee Sea hesitated before speaking.
[......No, about that... you can tell him.]
Lee Sea caught her breath and continued.
[You know that's not the only thing I want to ask, right? Yurin?]
Seong Yurin bit her lip and couldn't respond, so Lee Sea let out a deep sigh.
Hearing that sigh, Seong Yurin lowered her eyes as if Lee Sea were right there in front of her.
[I want you to be more honest. I know what you're thinking... but as your close friend, I don't want you suffering like this.]
Lee Sea's sincere voice traveled through the phone to Seong Yurin's ears.
"I..."
"Do I... even have the right to feel that way?"
Lee Sea fell silent after Seong Yurin squeezed her eyes shut and forced out those words.
A moment later, her voice returned.
[Yurin. Can you come out for a bit? Let's meet at the park.]
"Ah..."
The call ended without waiting for Seong Yurin's reply.
Seong Yurin stared down at her phone with a complicated expression, frozen in place.
Then she jumped up, threw on her coat, and dashed out of the room.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ It was a quiet residential neighborhood, where moonlight pouring down from the bright full moon mingled with streetlamp glow, softly scattering faint light around.
Seong Yurin arrived at the park from home in one breathless sprint, her body heating up.
Unlike the daytime when she'd already felt hot under the blazing sun, the night's cold air wrapped around her now—was this even the same day?
"Haa... huu..."
Half from her racing breath making her chest tight, half to cool her feverish body, Seong Yurin shrugged off her coat.
Her abundant golden blonde hair cascaded down along the soft fabric, spilling over her thin T-shirt.
Standing there dazed, waiting for Lee Sea, Seong Yurin's body gradually chilled.
"Yurin! Aren't you cold? Why'd you take your coat off?"
That's when Lee Sea appeared from behind her.
And she draped her own coat over Seong Yurin's shoulders.
Led by Lee Sea, they sat on a nearby bench, both hyper-aware of each other, stealing glances.
Seong Yurin debated whether to hand back the coat Lee Sea had given her or offer her own from her hands, then finally extended it.
"...Here, wear this."
They swapped coats.
After eyeing each other awkwardly, Lee Sea broke the ice with some casual chit-chat.
In the conversation that followed, Seong Yurin deliberately steered clear of the main topic, but Lee Sea cut straight to it.
"I said it on the phone earlier... that you don't have the right to like Jin."
Lee Sea pressed the point at Seong Yurin, who had her head bowed.
"What do you need 'rights' for? The only one who can stop your feelings is you."
Seeing Seong Yurin hesitate at those words, Lee Sea kept going.
"Sure, it'll hurt. A first love that fades without even trying... That sounds heartbreaking, doesn't it?"
"But it's my fault..."
Lee Sea cut Seong Yurin off.
"I'll forgive you. For what you did."
"...Ah."
Seong Yurin felt the sincerity in Lee Sea's eyes.
"So stop shrinking away like that. Show him the real you."
Lee Sea's arms wrapped around her tight in an embrace, so warm that Seong Yurin buried her face deeper into it.
That gesture from Lee Sea made it impossible for Seong Yurin to voice what she'd planned to say.
She erased all the words she'd meant to spill upon seeing Lee Sea, repeating just one question in her mind.
"Why...?"
"We've only known each other a short time, but... I think of you as a precious friend."
"Friend... friend... friieeend..."
Seong Yurin's voice, laced with tears, echoed in Lee Sea's embrace before quietly fading.
But the two there shared those words and the emotions within them.
"So tomorrow, get forgiveness from Jin too... and go clash your feelings against his."
"......Yeah."
Strength returned to Seong Yurin's hazy blue eyes.