Chapter 51
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 51
The moment I saw her, I knew.
This was the other personality Eun-seol had warned me about.
Her outfit and way of speaking were just that assertive.
I had already risen from the sofa and was now silently staring at the girl who had come to stand before me.
Her eyes were tilted upwards in a haughty glare.
She came right up to my chin, looked up at me with a prim face, and spoke.
“Hey, you. The princess said she wants coffee.”
The moment I heard her, my jaw dropped.
A single thought flooded my dazed mind.
What is this crazy bitch?
Calling herself a princess, that bizarre fashion sense…
They were things my mind simply couldn't comprehend.
As I stared at her blankly, feeling my mind go distant, her expression soured and she snapped at me again.
“Hey! Are you ignoring the princess right now?!”
Even as she yelled, I could only remain in a daze, my senses of sight and hearing completely overwhelmed by her presence.
Then, after glaring at me for a moment longer without getting a response, she scrunched up her face, lifted her right foot, and pulled it far back.
“Hnngh…!”
Following the furious sound, the right foot that had been pulled back shot forward with all its might.
“Keuk?!”
As she swung her leg, she lost her balance and toppled backward in a spectacular fall.
Thud—!
She landed right on the back of her head.
For a moment, her body froze.
“Aaaaaaaahhh!!!”
An instant later, a scream echoed throughout the entire house.
Finally snapping out of my stupor, I felt a dry laugh escape my lips at this unprompted one-woman show. I watched her as she rolled around on the floor.
Clutching the back of her head and tumbling about, she looked utterly pathetic.
The wariness that had been cautiously peeking out vanished completely, not even given a chance to take hold in the face of her grand collapse.
A question rose in my mind.
What was that? What was she even trying to do?
I was baffled, but she looked like she was about to clean the entire floor with her clothes if I left her there. Coming to my senses, I helped her up and asked a question.
“Are you okay?”
“Hic…”
As I asked about her condition and checked her head, she glared at me with teary eyes while rubbing the back of her head and started to shout.
“What were you doing! If the princess falls, you’re supposed to catch her!”
It was a completely ridiculous demand.
Seeing her make such an absurd claim with tears welling in the corners of her eyes, I once again felt a sense of disbelief. I let out a hollow laugh and continued.
“You fell all on your own, so why are you getting angry at me?”
“Eek…!”
She flinched slightly when I countered with logic.
Even so, she couldn't seem to contain her temper. Her face flushed red as she stomped her feet on the floor, huffing indignantly.
“W-Well, you’re supposed to catch me anyway! It’s common sense to catch me!”
Oh, will you listen to this?
In that moment, I was able to deduce one thing from her words and actions.
This personality’s mental age was probably around that of a kindergartener.
Her speech and behavior were incredibly childish.
Her unreasonable tantrum was on the exact same level as my six-year-old cousin’s.
Once I got a handle on her, the tension drained from my body. I offered a half-hearted apology.
“Ah, yes. I’m sorry.”
When it came to kids, it was best to just play along.
Trying to stand on my pride and fight back would only hurt me in the end.
After my apology was delivered, she, who had been glaring at me, finally turned her head and scoffed.
“Hmph!”
Suddenly, a wave of exhaustion washed over me.
I felt so pathetic for spending all last night racking my brain, coming up with countermeasures for the new personality.
If I’d known it would be like this, I would’ve just gotten a good night’s sleep.
I had tossed and turned, so worried I’d bolt upright from my sleep.
I had worried about what I’d do if she came at me with a knife, or if the car’s owner showed up and demanded compensation for me using her car without permission. All that worrying seemed laughable now. The girl in front of me was exuding an aura of utter insignificance.
Letting out a small sigh, I moved the hand covering the back of her head and spoke.
“Let me see. I need to check if it’s bleeding.”
At my words, she flinched, then slowly lowered her hand to reveal the spot.
I lifted my hand, parted her hair, and checked the back of her head. I could see a slightly swollen patch of scalp.
No blood.
It didn’t seem to be cut or anything.
Was her head harder than I thought?
I let out a sigh of relief and continued to examine the swelling. As I glanced at her, quietly entrusting the back of her head to me…
A sudden mischievous impulse surged through me. I moved my finger and poked the swollen spot.
“Ouch!”
A short scream followed immediately.
She jolted, scrambled away from me, and began to pour out a resentful tirade, her voice full of anger as she covered the back of her head.
“Wh-What are you doing!”
The face she made as she huffed and puffed at me was truly desperate.
Yeon-ji acts just like this.
My cousin’s face superimposed itself over the image of her screeching at me.
In that instant, watching her, I realized that for the first time in a long while, I had met someone I could easily handle. A mischievous grin spread across my lips as I spoke.
“Oops, my hand slipped.”
“Eeeek…!”
The way she glared at me, gritting her teeth in desperation, was nothing short of pitiful.
Watching her, I felt a sense of catharsis welling up from deep within my body.
Ah, this is a great stress reliever.
How long had it been since I’d been in the dominant position? With Eun-ah, I couldn’t act carelessly. With Eun-seol, I was in a thoroughly subservient role.
Feeling like I had the upper hand for the first time in about two weeks, a sense of delight began to fill the emptiness in my gut.
That’s right. A man can’t just get pushed around all the time.
You have to be able to hit a punching bag every now and then.
That’s how you overcome a crisis smoothly, isn’t it?
It was exhilarating. The feeling of all my accumulated stress instantly melting away was simply delightful.
“So sorry about that, you know?”
“Grrk…!”
She glared at me again, her eyes narrowing.
What are you gonna do, glare at me?
This pathetic girl, who had shown her true colors the moment she appeared, was no match for me.
It seemed I could act as I pleased while she was out.
Just as I was savoring the catharsis welling up inside me, she, who had been glaring at me, began to act strangely.
“Hic…”
A sob escaped her. Feeling that something was wrong, I looked at her.
“Hic… ugh… sob…”
I saw her shoulders shaking as her sobs grew louder.
Huh?
Tears began to well up in her upturned eyes.
Her face was scrunched up, her nose wrinkled. Her breathing became a ragged mess.
Don’t tell me…?
The moment I grew flustered at the sight, she burst into tears.
“Waaaaaahhhh!!!”
A wail loud enough to shake the entire house erupted.
Oh, for fuck’s sake!
Panicked, I scrambled to her side, but she had already collapsed onto the floor and began to cry even harder, as if she carried all the sorrows of the world.
“Waaaaaahhhh!!!”
“H-Hey…”
On top of my shock, a sense of embarrassment washed over me.
I didn’t think I had bullied her that badly, but she was wailing like this. I was completely flustered.
Even as I was thinking this, her crying only grew louder.
“Waaaaaahhhh!!! Unni!!!”
Unni. [Older sister]
A sense of crisis surged.
From the context, the unni she was calling for had to be Eun-seol.
A bead of sweat trickled down my forehead as I listened to her cries.
I’m so screwed…
I didn’t know how, but based on what Eun-seol said yesterday, there was some method of communication between these personalities.
In other words, Eun-seol might find out that I made this girl cry today.
Finally realizing what I had done, I felt a chill run down my spine and hastily began to soothe her.
“Th-There, there!”
“Waaaaaahhhh!!!”
I tried to comfort her.
“That’s enough! If you cry, Santa won’t come!”
“Waaaaaahhhh!!!”
I tried to placate her.
“I-I was wrong, so please just stop…”
“Huuuuuhhh!!!”
I even apologized, but she showed no signs of stopping.
This was bad.
I admit it. Seeing how she acted, my guard dropped and I acted childishly. If she hadn’t burst into tears right away, I probably would have acted even more childishly, stooping to her level.
As panic filled my mind, a potential future scenario flashed before my eyes.
Eun-seol wouldn’t kill me for making this girl cry, but she would look at me with the deepest contempt I had ever seen.
I didn’t have the confidence to withstand that gaze.
I didn’t have the confidence to endure the shame that would wash over me in that moment.
Deeply flustered, I tried to calm her with frantic, clumsy movements, but the more I apologized, the louder she cried.
I’m really, truly screwed…
I could feel my back getting damp with sweat.
*
After crying like that for a long time, as if she had exhausted herself, she slowly began to stop.
“Sniffle…”
Seeing her cries subside and her start to sniffle, my face finally brightened. I quickly grabbed a tissue, held it to her nose, and said.
“Here, blow!”
“Hnngh!!!”
Following my command, she blew her nose hard. Her crying had stopped, and she was now staring at the floor.
Judging by the lingering tremor in her shoulders, I decided it was best to humor her for now. I put on a smile and spoke cautiously.
“Um… are you okay now?”
“…Hmph.”
When I spoke, she turned her head to the side and scoffed.
Watching her, I felt my fists clench, but I didn’t have the confidence to handle the fallout if she tattled on me. I adopted a subservient attitude once more and spoke.
“Excuse me…”
“What.”
“Um, how about we keep what happened today a secret, just between the two of us?”
I offered, putting on a bright smile. She, who had been staring at the floor, glanced at me before looking away again and opening her mouth.
“…I’ll think about it.”
The answer I got was a deferral.
At that, I felt a faint breath escape me. I kept the smile on my face and spoke.
“Thank you! Is there anything you need? Coffee? Food?”
It was a pathetically servile attitude.
Deciding I needed to get on her good side to turn that deferral into a yes, I asked the question obsequiously.
A moment later, an answer came from her lowered head.
“…The princess is hungry.”
So she wanted to eat.
Forcibly suppressing the twitch in my lips, I manufactured a cheerful tone and replied.
“Of course! Just wait a moment. I’ll go make something right away!”
With that, I shot up and walked quickly toward the kitchen.
Seeing as she kept calling herself a princess, it seemed she wanted to play a princess game. Fortunately, I had a sandwich I’d bought the day before.
A sandwich and some instant coffee should do the trick.
My mind made up, I opened the fridge, took out the sandwich, boiled some water, and grabbed a packet of coffee mix from a corner of the shelf to make coffee.
Then, I placed the sandwich on a reasonably nice-looking plate, set it on the table with the coffee, and even demonstrated the courtesy of pulling out a chair for her as she approached.
“Here you go. Nothing like a sandwich for breakfast, right?”
“…”
The response I received was complete silence. She didn’t even look at me as she picked up the sandwich.
Then, after taking a bite, her mouth, which had been closed until now, opened.
“…This is gross.”
“Excuse me?”
As I let the word slip out with a dumbfounded expression, the self-proclaimed ‘princess’ looked up at me with her haughty eyes and continued in a snappy tone.
“This is gross. Bring the princess something else.”
Squeeze—!
My hand, which was holding the chair, tightened.
The corners of my mouth, which had been turned up, began to twitch.
This little brat was being a picky eater.
This little bitch?
I sincerely wanted to give her a good flick on the head.