The Official Wife Descends
They say dreams are the expression of the unconscious.
True to that saying, in reality I had managed to put Lee Ha-rin to bed without so much as brushing a fingertip against her.
In the dream, though, it was the opposite. Towel-wrapped and breathing hard, Ha-rin stood before me, and my hand was already reaching for her.
I shouldn't do this…
I knew that. But unlike reality, the dream refused to let me rein the impulse in.
In the end my hand moved of its own accord, closing around the damp softness of Ha-rin's thigh—
and the pliant sensation under my fingers jolted me awake.
"Hoo… just a dream."
I muttered it and started to sit up—
"Ahnn…"
The faint moan from beside me forced my head to turn.
And what met my eyes was pure disaster.
"……"
Lee Ha-rin was staring straight at me, my hand still locked around her thigh.
No wonder the touch felt too vivid for a dream.
It wasn't a dream. It was real.
With that thought, I closed my eyes again.
…Please let me be reborn into a better world next time.
Contrary to my fears, A-yeong at least showed no major reaction on the surface.
"…So that's what happened."
After hearing everything, A-yeong looked at Lee Ha-rin with a dark expression.
"…Ha-rin. I'm sorry."
The sudden apology threw Ha-rin into flustered denial, hands waving, but A-yeong pulled her into a hug anyway and whispered quietly,
"…I should have been there for you when you were going through all that."
"A-yeong…"
At those words, Ha-rin's face crumpled as if she might cry, and she sank into A-yeong's arms with a soft poof.
I watched the two of them with a warm, satisfied smile.
I came ready to apologize—even to commit seppuku if it came to that… and it resolved this easily?
That was what I thought, until—
…Ha-jun.
Still holding Ha-rin, A-yeong looked at me with eyes so chilling that I froze on the spot.
She was smiling, sure… but there was killing intent in it. That was the only way to put it.
"…Ha-rin. If anything like this happens again, you tell me. Okay?"
"…Yeah."
If Ha-rin could see the expression A-yeong was directing at me right now, she would never have answered that casually.
Of course, oblivious as ever, Ha-rin simply clung to A-yeong, sniffling and soaking up the comfort.
In the end, the debt for all of this was mine to pay.
The two of them spent a long while genuinely consoling each other before slowly pulling apart.
And even then, Ha-rin—honestly, I didn't know what to call this.
"A-yeong, I'm really sorry."
"…It's okay, Ha-rin."
"No… still, sleeping over at your boyfriend's place without saying anything…"
Is she teabagging her on purpose at this point?
Hey! Look at A-yeong's face right in front of you!
Someone's going to die like this!!
I wanted to shout it. Instead—
"Ahaha… Ha-rin, it's really fine."
After the previous incident, I knew A-yeong's smiles came in different versions. Cold sweat ran down my back.
"…Really?"
"…Yeah."
One thing was certain: someone was scheduled for murder today.
Do you know what an invisible person is?
In fiction it can mean someone the eye, the camera, and every other device simply fail to catch. In ordinary speech, though, it also serves as slang for someone with no presence—someone everyone ignores.
Unfortunately, I seemed to be the latter.
"…A-yeong."
I called my girlfriend's name with all the desperate longing I could muster.
"……"
A-yeong didn't so much as glance my way as she walked on.
The one mercy was that we were still holding hands the way we always did.
But the feeling in that hand was anything but ordinary.
Until a moment ago it had been a warm, loving squeeze…
Now it felt as if she were trying to crush someone outright—like the bones might grind any second.
…Is it time to prepare for seppuku, that neighboring country's traditional pastime?
The thought was seriously taking root when—
"We're here!"
The root of all this trouble, Lee Ha-rin, announced it with a bright, cloudless smile.
Counseling Club
We opened the classroom door marked with those words and stepped inside.
This was my chance.
If the same seniors who had drawn aggro last time were here… I might still escape this crisis.
But—
"Oh my…"
What waited inside was not seniors mid-awkward play.
"A-yeong."
It was a girl reading a book, radiating a quietly elegant air.
"…J-Ju-yeon unnie!"
A-yeong, who had been holding my hand a second earlier, bolted forward and threw herself into the arms of the person she called Ju-yeon unnie.
Ha-rin and I stood there blankly, forcing awkward smiles.
"It's been a while, A-yeong."
"…Unnie, why didn't you tell me you were the club president?"
"…Sorry. Unnie got busy and completely forgot."
After that brief exchange, Go Ju-yeon—no, Senior Go Ju-yeon—turned a small smile on us as well.
"Hello, kids."
"Hello."
"…Hello."
Ha-rin and I bowed in greeting. Senior pointed to the chairs inside the clubroom.
"Shall we sit and talk first?"
At the suggestion we immediately took the seats across from her. She gently settled A-yeong into the chair beside her, then finally began her introduction.
"You've seen me before, haven't you, junior?"
I nodded.
She was right—I'd run into her once at the snack shop A-yeong and I had visited, when she had been helping out at the store.
"And our cute junior over there is meeting me for the first time."
"Y-yes…"
Ha-rin nodded, a little tense.
"Then I'll introduce myself first."
Senior set the glasses she'd been wearing on the desk.
"My name is Go Ju-yeon. Third year, and president of the Counseling Club."
We bowed and gave our names in turn.
"I'm Lee Ha-jun… first year."
"I'm Lee Ha-rin… also first year."
Senior smiled with her eyes.
"Nice names."
The sudden compliment left us scratching our heads.
"Including A-yeong, this is the second time all three of you have come to this clubroom, right?"
I hesitated for a beat. Ha-rin answered for me.
"Yes. The first time, Yeon-woo and Kyung-min seniors were…"
"Ah—I'm so sorry."
The moment she heard those names, Ju-yeon senior's face darkened and she apologized at once. Somehow we both knew exactly what that apology meant.
"They're not weird kids, exactly… just a little… unique, I guess?"
Saying so, she touched her cheeks, faintly flushed with embarrassment. My eyes snagged on that alluring look for a second—
"…Lee Ha-jun."
—until a freezing gaze from beside me made me shut my eyes and pretend I hadn't seen a thing.
"Nothing strange happened, did it?"
"……"
All of us fell silent at the question.
Ju-yeon senior looked flustered and apologized again.
"I'm sorry, kids. One of us—me or Yu-jin—should have been here…"
She looked so downcast I wanted to say it was fine, but the memory of that bizarre club play on day one and Yeon-woo senior's deranged performance made any comforting words stick in my throat.
"Still, from now on either Yu-jin or I will always be in the clubroom… so you don't need to worry too much."
Ha-rin's cute little lips twitched as if she wanted to ask something.
"Um… the incident-and-accident files…"
"…Hm?"
"…Never mind."
In the end she closed her mouth. We hadn't come to the club today to clear up that particular mystery.
"…For reference, Yu-jin is a second-year senior, one year above you. I'll introduce her when we get the chance."
She moved past it that briefly. In the quiet that followed our long talk, I opened my mouth.
"Um, senior. The reason we came to the clubroom today…"
"…Ah."
She tilted her head slightly, giving me her full attention. I carefully trimmed the story of what had happened to Ha-rin and explained it.
When she had heard everything, senior pressed a finger lightly to her lips, then nodded.
"Of course I'll help. You're juniors who joined our club…"
The ready answer lit every face around the table.
"So you think someone is targeting Ha-rin right now?"
"Yes. We're not completely sure, but…"
"Circumstantial evidence without physical proof… and you want to borrow a camera to get solid evidence."
"Y-yes… exactly."
She was so perfectly on the same page that I could only nod.
Coming to the Counseling Club really was the right call.
"All right. I think Kyung-min had an old camera. I'll go look for it."
"Th-thank you so much!"
Ha-rin especially seemed moved by the help; her eyes sparkled as she looked at Ju-yeon senior.
"…Ha-rin."
Senior stepped closer and gave her a light hug.
"You've had it really hard, haven't you?"
"N-no… yes."
Ha-rin, startled at first by the sudden embrace, gradually melted into the warmth of it.
I watched from the side with open envy—
Zzt—
—no, I simply stared blankly into space.
"Could you wait just a little? I need to check the next room we use as storage and find the camera."
With that she walked past Ha-rin toward the door.
"…Unnie, should I come with you?"
"…Senior, shall we go with you?"
Smiling, she declined the offers from the two little chicks already gazing at her as if spellbound, then looked at me.
"Ha-jun, could you help me for a moment?"
…Me? Right now?
