Hidden Conspiracies and the Path to Salvation
"That's enough thinking." Once the decision was made, there would be no more hesitation. I held no belief that I alone was the absolute good and justice, the way Seo Moon-hyun did. Seeing that kind of arrogance and self-justification only strengthened my resolve never to become like him.
Rotten doesn't seem inclined to move anytime soon, so I might as well enjoy dinner tonight. Still, it probably wouldn't be long before I saw Arian Liberin lying on this very bed.
"Min-hye isn't picking up." Seo Moon-hyun couldn't believe that Seo Moon-min-hye had blocked his calls and refused to answer at all. He had always thought they were genuinely close. As she grew older, he had noticed her putting some distance between them, but he chalked it up to the natural differences between boys and girls. He assumed Seo Moon-min-hye, now more aware of her femininity and the things she wanted to keep private, was simply maintaining a polite distance even from her father, Seo Moon-kang-hyuk, and her only brother.
Seo Moon-jin. Seo Moon-hyun's expression hardened. The image of Seo Moon-min-hye in the arms of that unknown successor of the Yucheon Group flashed through his mind. The way she had linked arms with him and called him "oppa," as if they were lovers—it had only happened yesterday, yet it still felt unreal.
Has Father not finished his investigation yet? He had requested that the Seo family look into Seo Moon-jin, but no answer had come. Apparently, uncovering the identity of the Yucheon Group's successor was proving more difficult than expected.
"Hyun-ah, what are we doing for dinner?" Lee Se-na's gentle voice reached him, asking about his evening plans. Seo Moon-hyun offered her a warm smile in reply.
"I was thinking of eating at the cafeteria around six."
"Okay, then I'll join you then."
Having promised to have dinner with Lee Se-na, Seo Moon-hyun spent some time training before heading to the cafeteria with her. Along the way, he tried to find Arian Liberin so he could introduce her to his childhood friend, but she was nowhere to be seen in the dining hall.
"Hyun-ah, what's wrong?"
"No… I just don't see Arian. Now that I think about it, her friends Yee Eun-chae and Yoo Eun-chae aren't here either."
Perhaps they had eaten early or were planning to eat late. Setting his curiosity aside, Seo Moon-hyun felt a twinge of disappointment.
I was hoping to introduce Se-na to them. It seemed he would need to make proper arrangements starting tomorrow. He would also have to explain to the princess that making her friends worry like this wasn't right. With that thought, he ordered steak and lobster and enjoyed a delicious meal with Lee Se-na.
It's really good. Even someone like him, who had grown up eating only the finest cuisine as the heir of the Seo family, found the food here surprisingly excellent—especially considering it was free. He had heard that Seo Moon-jin, the Yucheon Group's successor, had spent money lavishly. Despite his wariness toward the man, Seo Moon-hyun had to admit this was one thing he could praise him for.
"Um… Hyun-ah." While they were eating, Lee Se-na called out to him with a complicated expression.
"What is it?"
"That person called Seo Moon-jin… are you really not acquainted with him at all?"
Seo Moon-hyun was puzzled by the sudden question, but then he understood as he glanced at their meal.
She's probably thinking about Seo Moon-jin because we're eating here thanks to him.
Seo Moon-hyun also thought of Seo Moon-min-hye, who still wasn't answering his calls, and worried that she might be with Seo Moon-jin even now.
No, surely not. She wouldn't do something so thoughtless.
What Seo Moon-hyun didn't know was that Seo Moon-min-hye had already informed the Seo family that she would be living separately, and Seo Moon-kang-hyuk had chosen not to pass that information along to his son. Any information regarding Seo Moon-jin would likewise be withheld from him. Yet Seo Moon-hyun, completely unaware of this, continued to wait for his father's contact.
Father is probably looking into Min-hye as well, so no news must mean everything is fine.
In Seo Moon-hyun's mind, it was unthinkable for the righteous and flawless Seo family to hide anything from him. After all, he was Seo Moon-kang-hyuk's only son and sole heir.
"I have no idea who he is." Therefore, Seo Moon-hyun once again told Lee Se-na that he didn't know.
"Seo Moon-jin… I wonder why he shows such hostility toward me. Maybe he just doesn't like Min-hye paying attention to me?"
Lee Se-na looked unconvinced, but she didn't press further. She seemed to sense that Seo Moon-hyun wouldn't appreciate being questioned about it again.
"Hello, Princess Arian." Seo Moon-min-hye, dressed in a simple black dress, clasped her hands and bowed even more respectfully than the day before. In response to the greeting, Arian Liberin—still wearing her school uniform yet radiating an elegant grace that made her seem like a beautiful princess straight out of a fairy tale—smiled softly.
"There's no need to go that far. If you're Seo Moon-jin's younger sister, you can just call me Arian unni."
Arian gently told Seo Moon-min-hye that she didn't have to be so formal and offered a warm smile. Her pure and delicate smile carried a hint of goodwill in her pink eyes. It seemed that simply being her "little sister" was enough to earn Seo Moon-min-hye extra favor.
"Then I'll call you Arian unni."
After glancing at me and receiving a slight nod, Seo Moon-min-hye addressed Arian as her older sister.
"Min-hye, was it? As you probably know, I'm Yee Eun-chae, Cheon's friend!" Yee Eun-chae greeted Seo Moon-min-hye cheerfully, her black hair with a hint of purple swaying.
"I'm Yoo Eun-chae. Nice to meet you." Yoo Eun-chae also offered a shy greeting. However, Yee Eun-chae shook her head at her polite speech.
"No, that's not right. Hyun-ah, aren't you friends with me, Cheon, and Arian? Even if Arian speaks that way naturally, you should talk more casually, shouldn't you?"
I chimed in as well. "Eun-chae's right. Hyun-ah, just speak comfortably. Min-hye is younger than you anyway, and more importantly, she's my little sister and your friend. It would be strange if you spoke casually to me but used honorifics with her."
Strictly speaking, Yoo Eun-chae still wasn't completely comfortable speaking informally with me. But this was an opportunity she couldn't refuse. For someone who had been hoping for a chance to get closer to me, I had just taken the initiative to call her a friend and asked her to speak casually even to my sister Seo Moon-min-hye. Arian Liberin and Yee Eun-chae accepted it naturally, but for Yoo Eun-chae, it was essentially permission to drop the formalities.
"Okay, Cheon-ah… I will." Relief and joy mingled on Yoo Eun-chae's face. She looked so relieved that she might actually get close to me faster than expected that I worried her legs might give out.
"Min-hye, let's get along well." She greeted Seo Moon-min-hye with a gentle, friendly tone. Though she had approached with the goal of finding her mother, she genuinely seemed to like Seo Moon-min-hye. Seeing her beauty that didn't lose to any of them, it felt as if she had gained a pretty and adorable younger sister.
"Please take care of me, Eun-chae unni, Hyun-ah unni."
"Ah. You can speak casually with Min-hye too. No, I hope you will." Yee Eun-chae smiled and asked Seo Moon-min-hye to drop the honorifics in return. She wanted to become close with her as well. If Seo Moon-min-hye used formal speech without Arian's natural way of speaking, it would create distance, which she disliked.
"You can call me casually too…" Yoo Eun-chae said with a soft smile, her silver hair swaying.
"Okay, Eun-chae unni. Hyun-ah unni." Seo Moon-min-hye responded with a smile, addressing them both comfortably.
Once introductions were done, I picked up my phone and spoke. "So for dinner, I have three ideas. First, ordering a ton of pizza. Second, going to a steakhouse for steak. Third, going to a Korean barbecue place. Which one sounds good?"
At my three suggestions, Yee Eun-chae swallowed slightly and made a troubled face. "Hmm. They're all tempting. Cheon's ideas are all appealing! Choosing one is torture…"
"Oppa, wouldn't it be better to just order pizza?" Seo Moon-min-hye suggested.
"Pizza?"
"Yeah. It's your first day teaching at the academy… I thought it might be nice to eat pizza together at your place and hang out."
At Seo Moon-min-hye's suggestion, I looked at Arian and Yoo Eun-chae. "Min-hye thinks that. What about you two?"
"I like it. I've actually been a little curious about Seo Moon-jin-ssi’s dorm too. Hehe." Arian, with a playful glint in her pure eyes, agreed.
"I… I like it too." Yoo Eun-chae gave a somewhat passive agreement in a timid voice, still not used to speaking to me directly.
"Mm! Then I agree too." Yee Eun-chae also consented, and the decision was naturally made.
"Then we should head back to the dorm. Let's go." The apartment dorm was limited in size, but it was spacious enough for the five of us to eat pizza and hang out together.
It was around 53 pyeong, after all.