Chapter 2
Chapter 2
I Just Like Her
“Unni, wake up! Wake up already! You have to go to the academy. Aren’t you going to see Marie unni?”
As Yuri forced her heavy eyelids open, her blurry vision caught sight of brown hair shaking her awake.
“Ji-eun… I’m so tired.”
“Then whose fault is it for running around so late with Marie unni? If you came back earlier, that unni could rest properly and sleep too.”
“Mmm… but yesterday was fun.”
Yuri mumbled and tried to bury her face back into the pillow, but the blanket covering her was immediately snatched away.
“If you keep this up, you won’t get to see Marie unni today.”
“No. Wash me for me… I can’t move.”
“What do you mean wash you? Get up already!”
Ji-eun wasn’t her real younger sister.
Five years ago, around the time Yuri had first awakened her ability, she had rescued Ji-eun from the ruins of a collapsed building.
Since then, they had lived together.
Ji-eun was just an ordinary twenty-year-old with no special abilities at all.
But to Yuri, she was family—more precious than anyone.
And honestly, even if her nagging was a bit much, without Ji-eun around, Yuri would probably forget to eat altogether.
Twenty-year-old Ji-eun.
Twenty-two-year-old herself.
And twenty-four-year-old Marie unni.
Even their ages lined up in neat even numbers.
It had to be fate.
“I’m heading out. Stay home and don’t go anywhere. Outside is dangerous.”
“It’s not like I have anywhere to go. You’re the one who should stop causing trouble and come home early.”
“Yes, yes.”
The sky was especially clear today.
Under the cloudless blue sky, the leaves of the roadside trees swayed gently in the breeze.
Adjusting her bag strap, Yuri walked lightly toward the academy.
When she arrived and peeked through the classroom window before opening the door, just as expected, Marie unni was already sitting in her seat.
Yuri smoothed down her magically disguised brown hair with her hand and opened the door with a bright smile.
“Marie unni!”
“Oh, Yuri. You’re here?”
It was the same warm greeting as always.
But Yuri noticed the slight crease of dissatisfaction in Marie’s brow.
“What are you looking at so seriously?”
“Haah… the morning news.”
As Yuri set down her bag and leaned closer, Marie silently showed her the phone screen.
A bold headline filled the display.
[Exclusive] S-Rank Hero Jo Marie Fails to Capture Pink Witch! City Rooftops Covered in Glitter Dust… Special Cleaning Companies on Emergency Alert! Is National Tax Money Being Wasted Again?
“Ah…”
The culprit was sitting right there in her seat.
Thinking of the cleaning crews who had probably struggled all night peeling off adhesive glitter, Yuri felt a tiny bit guilty.
She awkwardly shifted her eyes and gave a dry little smile before sitting down.
“When I catch her, she’s seriously going to be in trouble. I won’t let it slide.”
Marie’s voice was cold as ice.
A drop of cold sweat slid down the back of Yuri’s neck.
Outwardly, Yuri blinked like she knew nothing at all.
But inside, she made a firm vow.
She absolutely could not get caught.
“Ahaha… sounds like things got pretty big again this time. If even you couldn’t catch her, she must be really impressive.”
Enduring the cold pressure radiating beside her, Yuri carefully spoke.
Marie frowned as if that idea itself was absurd.
“No. A villain can’t be impressive. They’re just… troublesome existences.”
“I guess so… I wouldn’t know. My ability is just making pink gum.”
Yuri lowered her eyes, acting discouraged about her own ability.
Marie stiffened for a moment, then hurriedly tried to comfort her.
“No! Abilities can improve the more you use them. And you never know how they might evolve later. So cheer up.”
Yuri smiled faintly at Marie’s clumsy but sincere comfort.
How could people call someone this kind iron-blooded or cold-hearted?
Of course, Marie did seem cold on camera.
Thinking about it, with how stiffly she answered reporters, it was easy to see why people misunderstood.
“But if I’m too lacking in ability to make it as a hero, I’m planning to stay in the academy and get recommended for an office job at the Association. But why are you here, unni? You’re an S-rank hero. And you enrolled right after I did.”
“Huh? Ah, right. Well… I have a lot of personal time, and learning never really ends, right? Haha.”
Marie laughed awkwardly, stiff like a robot creaking.
Watching her, Yuri tilted her head.
Well, whatever the reason, Yuri was just happy to have her sitting beside her.
But class was as boring as ever.
Even the instructor looked half-dead while teaching.
Yuri had long stopped looking at the board.
Her eyes were only on the seat beside her.
Under the sunlight, Marie’s black hair shimmered strand by strand.
“What are you looking at?”
“Your hair. It looks so smooth. It’s pretty.”
“Haha, what?”
“I mean it.”
Truthfully, it wasn’t just her hair.
The smooth, elegant hands that moved during class.
The slight furrow between her brows whenever she was thinking.
Everything about her looked beautiful.
Why was Marie unni really attending this place?
Yuri scratched her cheek while staring at Marie, who blinked blankly at the board.
No matter how she looked at it, it didn’t seem like Marie was focusing on class at all.
It had already been almost a year since they started attending together.
If it were just about the lessons, Yuri should have quit long ago.
But she had been watching to see how long Marie would stay.
And when Marie quit, Yuri planned to quit too.
Still, there were extra benefits.
Talking outside class was far more fun.
Because those moments were the only times Marie, usually so reserved, showed her emotions honestly.
“That rocket-launching villain from before was seriously annoying. He fired so recklessly that all the heroes were too busy stopping missiles to protect civilians instead of actually catching him.”
“Wow, there must have been a lot of missiles.”
When Marie talked, Yuri listened with sparkling interest.
“Don’t even mention it. They were tiny, but there were so many it was disgusting. And he kept creating more with magic. It felt like endless catch.”
Shaking her head like she was sick of even remembering it, Marie drank down her iced coffee.
Yuri sipped her sweet chocolate smoothie and smiled softly.
“But you caught him in the end and sent him to prison, right? Since you were there, unni.”
“Of course. I had teammates supporting me. No matter what, one person can’t beat a group.”
Marie’s face remained calm, but a trace of pride was hidden beneath it.
Watching that expression quietly, Yuri asked with pretend curiosity.
“Then what about Pink Witch?”
For a moment, the muscles in Marie’s face stiffened.
Yuri laughed to herself but kept her face innocent.
“That villain causes even bigger trouble if a bunch of heroes rush in, right? That’s why only you handle her personally. And she’s the only S-rank.”
“She… hmm.”
As if a headache had suddenly struck, Marie pressed her fingers against her temple and drained the rest of her coffee much more aggressively than before.
Thunk.
She set the empty cup down on the table with force and spoke, her expression slightly twisted.
“Pink is an S-rank villain, but honestly… she’s hard to call a villain. And Pink Witch is an exception to ranking altogether. No matter what happens, she never gets caught.”
“That’s a relief. For such a troublesome villain, at least she doesn’t hurt innocent people. Ah… except for that one time, right?”
Yuri spoke lightly through her straw, her face innocent.
Three years ago.
That was the day Yuri had secretly watched Marie fighting another villain and had been discovered for the first time.
At the time, Marie had been worked up from battle.
Yuri desperately ran only toward places without people, trying to avoid her attacks.
But in the end, Marie completely failed to control her power.
With a single strike, an entire old neighborhood on the outskirts vanished.
The next day, the media reported it as Pink Witch’s horrific terrorist attack.
Marie stayed silent about the truth.
Only the two of them knew what had really happened in those ruins.
“…Let’s go, Yuri.”
Watching Marie pick up her bag with a hardened face, Yuri swallowed a bitter smile.
Serious and upright as ever, Marie still seemed burdened by the fact that her mistake had been placed entirely on a villain.
But Yuri herself, the actual person involved, didn’t care at all.
So what if she took the world’s blame in her place?
If it made unni feel lighter, that was enough.
Though really, Yuri wished she would let it go by now.
But maybe…
That sense of responsibility was exactly what made Marie who she was.
A serious, upright person.
Someone who carried her mistakes alone.
Maybe that was why Yuri liked her even more.
“Yes, let’s go.”
Yuri picked up her bag and hurried after Marie’s back as she walked farther ahead.