Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: White Lies Are Still Lies
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I had a dream.
In my hazy consciousness, I tried to recall it. But nothing came to mind. Dreams are always like that. No matter how vivid they feel, they blur just as you're waking up. All that lingered was a strangely bitter aftertaste, enough to guess it hadn't been a good one.
What fragments I could remember were just scattered bits and pieces. Breathless moans, a faint vibration against my cheek from the floor beneath me, and an intense emotion stabbing at my chest.
But even those soon slipped away into the depths of my mind. In the ebb and flow of my drifting consciousness, the vague memories scattered like sand swept away by waves.
Fleetingly. Pointlessly. They vanished.
Before I could even feel regret over it, my awareness sank back into the deep abyss of sleep. In that pitch-black world where nothing could be seen, heard, or felt, the boundaries of my self crumbled away, leaving only perfect silence.
"……Ah. ……Can you hear me? ……Look."
A noise pierced the silence, making me frown.
"Mm… ngh."
"……Haneul? ……I told you."
External stimuli gradually pulled my consciousness back to the surface. As it did, my dormant senses awakened. And with them came a throbbing headache.
"Ugh… ngh…."
It was a familiar headache, one I'd experienced a few times before. What was this again? Right, it was exactly like the hangover after a night of heavy drinking.
'……Did I drink?'
A thick alcoholic scent wafted from my breath. Yeah. I must have drunk something.
'……Why did I drink?'
Amid the pounding headache, I tried piecing together the jumbled fragments of memory. But the pain made it a slow, frustrating process.
"Haneul. You okay? Can you get up?"
"Ngh…?"
Someone was shaking my body, loudly calling my name over and over. Irritation bubbled up. My head already hurt like hell, and this wasn't helping me focus.
"Ugh, be quiet for a sec. I'm getting up now…."
I snapped a little as I forced my heavy eyelids open. Bright light poured in dazzlingly. In the midst of it, a man's shadowed face looked down at me.
The moment I saw his face, my foggy mind cleared a bit.
"S-Su-ho oppa?"
What? Why was Oppa here?
"You're awake. You okay? Anywhere hurt?"
His words jolted me fully alert, and I pushed myself up.
Then.
-Ping.
"Ugh."
A dizzy spell hit me right after, making me scrunch my brow. Su-ho oppa looked at me with concern.
Staring at his face brought back various memories. Right. I'd come to Ye-won's place yesterday, drank… We were talking about stuff, played truth or dare….
"Ah…."
No good. I couldn't remember a thing. It was like my brain had been scooped out from the middle onward. How much did I drink?
"Looks like a bad hangover. I got some remedy from the convenience store. Want it?"
"No, I'm fine. A hangover like this'll disappear if I just activate my ability…."
I activated my superpower right away. The black hair veiling my vision turned sky blue.
But.
"Urp!"
The hangover didn't fade. If anything, it got worse. Weird. The avatar's state and my real body's shouldn't be linked….
'Oh, right. I drank in avatar form yesterday too.'
I realized too late. My avatar ability wasn't really transformation—it was more like substitution or replacement. Calling forth a separate body existing somewhere outside reality and swapping it with my real one. That was the power this character, Kang Haneul, possessed.
That's why if the avatar took serious damage, I couldn't activate it until it recovered somewhat. Even after recovery, aftereffects lingered for a while. This drunkenness must be one of them. No matter what form I took, the buzz wouldn't go away. There was only one avatar body swapping with the real one, after all.
Even though the avatar's recovery was superior to my real body's, it was odd for the hangover to linger this much. Probably because I'd drunk way more in avatar form.
"Um, Oppa. I think I do need that hangover remedy…."
As I released the ability, Su-ho oppa handed me a small bottle with a wry expression. I downed it in one go.
The cool liquid flowing down my throat eased the headache a little.
Only then did I look around. The room where we'd had our drinking session yesterday was spotless. Ye-won, the owner, was busily preparing something in the kitchen. No sign of Chae So-yeon.
"Where's So-yeon unnie…?"
"She's washing up in the next room."
"Oh, right. You and Ye-won unnie are neighbors…."
A sudden question popped into my head, and I asked Su-ho oppa.
"Hey, Oppa. Where did you sleep last night, by any chance?"
"Me? In my own room."
"What about Ye-won unnie?"
"She slept here with you guys, obviously."
No hesitation in his immediate answer. It was the response I'd hoped for, but the lack of even a slight pause felt off somehow.
'Ye-won slept with us?'
I racked my brains, but that part was blank. I couldn't even remember how I'd fallen asleep myself, so how could I recall someone else's actions? My earliest clear memory was glaring at Ye-won while downing penalty shots.
'……Wait. Does that mean I passed out before Ye-won?'
I glanced at Ye-won's back as she cooked in the kitchen. She looked perfectly fine, no sign of a hangover at all. That alone made it obvious who'd tapped out first last night.
Unease started creeping in. There had to be a gap between my last memory and when I'd passed out from the alcohol. What if I'd done something stupid in that time? That worried me.
Yeah.
Like, maybe confessing to Oppa that I liked him without realizing it in my drunken state.
'That's entirely possible.'
I ran a simple scenario. If, during truth or dare, Ye-won had passed out drunk right in front of me? I'd have definitely asked if she liked Su-ho oppa. That's why I'd joined the drinking session in the first place—to grill her.
And she probably felt the same. She'd only let me join to probe my relationship with Su-ho oppa. So if, midway through, a drunk me was asked the same question by Ye-won, and I'd answered yes…?
'No way…….'
I desperately prayed that scenario hadn't happened.
I'd already made several plans for how to confess to Su-ho oppa. And naturally, none involved blurting it out drunk at a group drinking party. If it were just the two of us, maybe—but confessing out of the blue in front of everyone? That had to be the worst way possible.
"Um, Oppa…?"
But judging by the situation, there was a real chance I'd botched the worst confession imaginable. I looked up at him anxiously.
"Did I do anything stupid last night, by any chance?"
"Stupid? Hmm? Nah, nothing like that."
Another instant reply. I watched his face closely for any change, but he looked utterly calm. As if there really hadn't been any slip-up.
'Is that true? Or is he acting?'
But that only made me more anxious. It wasn't logical—it was just pure dread. Like I'd forgotten something crucial, something I shouldn't have.
'Please. It didn't happen, right? It has to be fine. It has to be.'
I prayed desperately. I tried forcing positive thoughts. But an uneasy hypothesis crossed my mind.
What if I'd confessed my feelings without remembering and gotten rejected?
That thought made my voice tremble naturally.
"R-Really, nothing happened?"
"……I told you, nothing."
A clear hesitation just before his answer.
It could have been annoyance at repeating himself, or guilt from lying to me.
"Haneul. Go call So-yeon over?"
Then Ye-won, who'd been quiet until now, spoke up. As if cutting my question short.
"Food's almost ready, so tell her to come here. Can't send Su-ho."
"Uh, yeah, okay…."
I answered reflexively and headed to the entrance. But my head was still filled with anxiety and doubt.
The unease persisted. We four ate breakfast, I washed up at Ye-won's place, then headed to the Academy with Su-ho oppa and Chae So-yeon. They were going to work, me to the dorms.
"By the way, Haneul, you snuck out last night, right? Gonna get penalty points now?"
"……Yeah, looks like it."
I nodded vaguely at Chae So-yeon's question. Penalty points didn't matter. All I cared about was what happened last night that I couldn't remember.
I looked up silently at Su-ho oppa. He glanced down at me with a gentle smile as we walked.
"What's up? Something to say? Wondering why I shrank?"
"No, not that…."
Chae So-yeon was definitely at least 20cm shorter than yesterday. Of course, I'd already heard from Su-ho oppa that it was a superpower side effect.
What I was curious about was….
"Um, by any chance…."
"Any chance?"
"Could you tell me what happened after I fell asleep last night?"
"You remember nothing?"
"Yeah. My memory's all…."
"……Really?"
Su-ho oppa let out a thoughtful hum at my answer. His distant gaze toward the far mountains looked somehow wistful.
"Nothing much. So-yeon kept picking on the questioner until she passed out from her own drinks, then you conked out from penalty shots right after. Probably relaxed and crashed. You drank a lot too."
"And then?"
"With two of you out, we wrapped up. Ye-won and I tidied the table roughly and went to our rooms."
Was that really it? I wanted to press, but he kept staring ahead, avoiding my eyes.
'……Yeah. Guess that's all there was.'
The feared disaster hadn't happened. I'd just passed out normally. Thinking that eased my chest a little.
……Though it still felt a bit off.
"Oh, right. Haneul. Got some time soon?"
Su-ho oppa suddenly said that, as if diverting my attention.
"Time? When's good for you?"
"Any evening or weekend when you're free? Got something to talk about."
"T-Talk…?"
"Yeah. About what happened in the double dungeon last time. Your ability. Not the avatar one—the other."
"Ah."
Oh yeah, I still needed to explain about Yeon-sim's cherry blossoms. Remembering that late, I asked back.
"How about this weekend?"
"Weekend means Saturday?"
"When are you free, Oppa?"
"……Saturday I'll probably be busy. Sunday? Somewhere quiet."
"Sure. We'll figure out the spot later. Sunday it is."
"Okay."
Throughout the conversation, Su-ho oppa never once looked my way.
As if deliberately avoiding my gaze. Like he felt sorry about something.
"……."
His attitude made the suppressed anxiety bubble up again.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Hello! Good morning, everyone!"
Chae So-yeon chirped brightly as she entered the office. No trace of a hangover.
She checked the duty roster on the wall, then bounced excitedly to the break room. Said she was grabbing coffee and cookies first thing—looks like she meant it.
Lee Tae-ho watched her back and sighed deeply.
"……At least she checks the roster now. Progress, I guess."
His hollow mutter echoed emptily in the office. Leaving him behind, I headed straight to the team leader's room.
-Knock knock.
"Coming in."
Min Chae-ryeong sat at her desk, waiting for me.
-Crunch.
Her hand held a rectangular chocolate bar, wrapper half-torn. Crunch. The sound of it breaking in her mouth was faint but clear.
"Chocolate?"
"I relieve stress with sweets."
"Something stressing you out?"
"Not yet. But it feels like it's coming."
She narrowed her eyes and offered me the chocolate.
"Want some?"
"I'm good."
I replied instantly and plopped onto the reception sofa in the corner. Facing her right side. Leaning back casually, elbows on knees, fingers loosely interlocked. Hardly a polite posture.
But neither of us cared about such formalities.
"Team Leader. Let's talk."
"……Sure."
-Crunch.
Another snap of chocolate in her mouth.