The Weight of Her Tears
I honestly couldn't tell if my food had gone down the right pipe or the wrong one.
"Um, Hajun... I'm sorry."
As soon as we stepped out of the snack shop after finishing our meal, Jo Ayoung apologized to me.
I did my best to keep my expression neutral and laughed it off.
"...It's fine."
Honestly, it wasn't fine.
How was I supposed to eat normally when there was someone staring daggers at me from across the room the entire time?
Of course, knowing that those glares only came out of concern for Jo Ayoung made it hard for me to truly resent them.
But that didn't make the experience any less uncomfortable.
"But hey, at least she gave us lunch on the house."
Just as I said, she hadn't charged us a single won for the pork cutlet and rabokki we ate.
...Though, to be completely fair, after making such a scene, it would have been downright shameless of her to actually take our money.
"Still..."
Jo Ayoung seemed to agree, as she kept stealing anxious glances at me, repeatedly murmuring apologies.
Pointing toward a budget coffee shop just ahead, I spoke up.
"If you really feel that bad, you can buy me a cup of coffee."
"Okay!"
Only then did Jo Ayoung look relieved, nodding her head eagerly.
Just to be safe, I decided to double-check one thing first.
"Before we go, you don't happen to know anyone working at that coffee shop too, do you?"
Jo Ayoung's ears flushed bright red as she cried out.
"No, I don't!"
Thank goodness.
Just to make one thing clear: if I wanted to drink something bitter without any syrup, I would have just grabbed an energy drink instead.
Naturally, my choice was a sweet vanilla latte, while Jo Ayoung opted for a cafe latte with plenty of fresh milk.
"You're not adding any syrup?"
"Mm-hmm."
With a brief reply, Jo Ayoung popped the lid onto her cup.
I watched her for a moment before pushing the cafe door open and stepping outside first.
Jo Ayoung quickly followed, her small steps pattering right behind me.
"Want to head to the park nearby?"
I casually tossed out the suggestion. Jo Ayoung took a sip of her coffee through the straw and nodded gently.
Perhaps because we had eaten a late lunch, the streets were quieter than usual.
The small park we arrived at was even more deserted.
"Let's sit over there."
We sat side by side on a bench nestled under the shade of a tree.
A gentle breeze blew, rustling the leaves above us.
I took a sip of my vanilla latte, watching the leaves dance.
The atmosphere was nice.
There was no one around to make us feel self-conscious, the breeze was cool, and the distinct scent of spring carried by the wind was wonderfully fragrant.
"...This is nice."
While I was fully immersing myself in this rare moment of peace,
Jo Ayoung hesitated for a moment before speaking up.
"Um, about earlier... I'm really sorry."
We were back to the same topic.
I thought we had put this to rest already.
I was about to wave my hand and tell her it was fine once again, but
Jo Ayoung was quicker, diving into a deeper, more personal subject.
"My sister... she's a bit sensitive about those kinds of things..."
Was it because we were sitting under the shade of the tree, or was it the shadow of her own heavy heart?
For some reason, Jo Ayoung's face looked unusually dark.
"Um... I guess you could say I'm just lacking in some ways?"
Perhaps noticing her own gloomy expression, she tried to brush it off with a self-deprecating laugh, but
"Maybe that's why, but... I used to get bullied by my classmates a lot in the past..."
The memories of her past, pouring out like a broken dam, were far too heavy to be taken lightly.
I straightened my posture and looked at Jo Ayoung as she struggled to find the words.
"It happened a really long time ago, but I guess my sister is still worried about it."
A breeze blew. Unlike before, it felt somewhat chilly.
"That's why I did that."
With every dark memory she dragged up, Jo Ayoung's head sank a little lower.
"I was afraid that if she found out I was already having trouble on my very first day at the academy, she would worry too much."
Now, I finally understood.
I understood why she had forced a smile back at the snack shop and lied, claiming we were old friends.
She simply hadn't wanted to get caught.
She didn't want her sister to know that at the academy—where she had enrolled with a fresh determination to do well—she had already been targeted and ostracized by the other girls on day one.
"So... yeah."
It was a common phenomenon.
The victim, rather than the perpetrator, feeling ashamed and desperate to hide the truth.
Even though it wasn't their fault, they grew so accustomed to the abuse and slander of their tormentors that they stopped looking for the cause externally. Instead, they searched within themselves, only to end up deeply disappointed.
Disappointed in their own existence.
Consequently, they blamed themselves, believing the bullying was due to their own inadequacies, which made it even harder to reach out for help.
It was the vicious cycle of abuse.
"I just... hope you don't think my sister is weird..."
Looking at the pitiful victim sitting beside me, I whispered softly.
"She's not weird at all."
At my response, Jo Ayoung lifted her head and looked at me.
I repeated myself.
"Neither of you are weird..."
I added one more word.
"Especially you."
Jo Ayoung looked taken aback by my unexpected words.
Rather than offering overly emotional comfort, I spoke calmly, as if merely stating an undeniable fact.
"What's so lacking or weird about you? You're completely normal."
Before I knew it, the breeze had turned warm and gentle again.
"You didn't do anything wrong. The people who bully you are the ones in the wrong."
The shadow cast over the bench swayed slowly, allowing warm sunlight to filter through the gaps.
"If you asked a hundred people, they'd all tell you the exact same thing. That's how any decent person thinks."
That the bullies are the bad guys, not the victims.
I spoke with absolute sincerity.
"......"
Hearing this, Jo Ayoung stared at me with a bewildered expression before quickly lowering her head again.
But her expression was different from before.
Sniffle.
Pretending not to hear the soft sniffling beside me, I closed my eyes and focused on the passing breeze and the sweet scent of flowers.
How much time had passed?
After sniffling with her head down for a long while, Jo Ayoung finally looked up. A natural, genuine smile graced her lips.
"...Thank you, Hajun."
By now, the shadow that had covered the bench had completely vanished.
Was that why?
It felt a bit warm. My face was slightly flushed.
"...It's nothing."
I knew I might sound like a total creep if I said this out loud, but...
Well, Jo Ayoung definitely looked prettier and more alluring when she cried.
The tear mole beneath her large, watery eyes stood out even more against her reddened skin.
If people had status screens, I was certain her charm stat would be skyrocketing right about now.
"......"
"......"
Lacking the courage to look her in the eye, I turned my head away in silence. Jo Ayoung, likely embarrassed about having cried, kept her head lowered.
Time flowed by relentlessly.
Carrying away both my fluttering heart and her lingering embarrassment.
"Um... Hajun."
Hearing my name spoken with a distinctly different weight than before, I turned back to look at her.
"You know, about me..."
Jo Ayoung began to share a longer story.
"Looking back, I think I've been hated ever since elementary school..."
It was a story I already knew the outline of.
In the erotic game, it was just a setting summarized in a few brief lines of text.
But hearing it directly from the person who had lived through it felt entirely different.
"The boys were always obsessed with my body or my face, and the girls hated me for hogging all that attention..."
These were feelings she had probably never voiced to anyone before.
"I think that's why I could never bring myself to open up to anyone."
It felt surreal that I was the one she was finally confiding in.
"Even when I tried telling the teachers, the female teachers would just look uncomfortable, and the male teachers... they would say weird things to me..."
She must have bottled it up for so long.
"If it weren't for my mom and my sister, I probably..."
Overwhelmed by emotion, she choked up and trailed off. I didn't know what kind of expression to make.
"I just don't know."
Lacking the strength to say any more, Jo Ayoung quickly wrapped up her thoughts with a fragile smile.
"Why they all hate me so much..."
Having heard her entire story, I struggled to find the right words.
Telling her that time heals all wounds felt too irresponsible, yet offering to actively help her felt like it would be too much of a burden.
What should I do?
Since we weren't even that close yet, my options were extremely limited.
All I could do was keep my mouth shut and think.
Meanwhile, Jo Ayoung muttered quietly to herself.
"...Maybe things would get better if I just got a boyfriend."
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity had just presented itself.