Chapter 186: Your First Love Isn't Beautiful (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 186: Your First Love Isn't Beautiful (3)
Her heart raced at all hours.
Thump! Thump!
‘Ah, not again…’
It was beating so loud and fast that whenever she focused on the sound, she found herself instinctively glancing around.
She was worried that the people nearby might hear her heart pounding.
“Nuna, what are you thinking about?”
Suddenly, her younger brother, Kim Jeong-hun, who had been eating quietly across from her, spoke up.
Snapping back to her senses, Kim Eun-bi shook her head with an awkward laugh.
“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing! Hehe… I just had something on my mind.”
“…Really?”
Hearing her answer, Kim Jeong-hun’s gaze grew even more probing.
‘Something’s definitely up.’
His sister was acting strange.
That was the conclusion he’d reached after observing her closely for the past few days.
‘Normally, she would have been clinging to me every chance she got…’
Kim Eun-bi loved physical affection.
She would always stick to him whenever she had the chance, claiming that physical contact was the ultimate proof of a close relationship. But even though they’d seen each other countless times over the last few days, she hadn’t pounced on him once.
And that wasn’t all.
She had also completely stopped pestering him to go places with her or shoving her smartphone in his face for a picture.
He frowned, feeling as if they’d been demoted to the level of just moderately close siblings.
‘This feels like shit.’
Was it always this shitty when something you were used to every day just disappeared?
‘Did I do something wrong?’
He thought it over, but nothing came to mind.
He might act differently with others, but in front of her, wasn't he always as gentle as a lamb?
‘Besides, it’s not in her nature to hold a grudge.’
Kim Eun-bi wasn’t like other women who would get upset about something and stay mad for days.
She had a surprisingly easygoing side to her. If there was something she didn't like or that upset her, she was the type to talk about it immediately and resolve it.
‘…Then what is it?’
No matter how much he thought, he couldn't come up with anything.
There was no logical reason why their once-great relationship would have become so awkward in just a few days.
If he had to pick one thing…
‘No way.’
Maybe she got a boyfriend.
But Kim Jeong-hun quickly shook his head.
‘That’s impossible.’
Having spent his entire life with her, Kim Jeong-hun knew.
He knew just what kind of absurd love his sister dreamed of.
A love where you feel the powerful pull of destiny? As if something like that actually existed in this world.
‘I don’t know.’
Unable to find an answer, Kim Jeong-hun gave up thinking.
What was the point of wracking his less-than-brilliant brain over it? It wasn't like an answer would just appear.
“Nuna.”
“Yeah?”
She looked up, uncharacteristically picking at her rice.
“I mean… if you have something on your mind, talk to me about it. Don’t just suffer in silence.”
It was the best he could offer in a situation he didn’t understand.
At that, Kim Eun-bi smiled brightly.
“Is my little Jeong-hun worried about his big sister?”
“No, well…”
Finding his bashful, trailing words adorable, Kim Eun-bi immediately reached out and patted his head.
“Aww, you’re such a good little brother!”
She wondered if there could be another younger brother in the world as sweet as him.
She’d heard that other siblings fought every time they saw each other, but her brother was just so gentle.
“Thanks for worrying about me.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
After finishing dinner in a slightly more cheerful atmosphere, Kim Eun-bi went straight to her room to get ready.
Comfortable jeans and a cozy knit sweater.
A coat to block out the cold, and a fuzzy hat to add a touch of cuteness.
“Perfect!”
Standing in front of the mirror in her simple yet stylish outfit, she nodded in satisfaction before leaving her room.
“Time to go blow off some steam.”
Sometimes, stress builds up to an excessive degree.
The reasons vary.
Maybe you’re in a bad mood, something bad happened, or something is weighing on your mind.
Usually, it was a mix of everything, but this time, it was clearly the third reason.
The man who had appeared out of nowhere to save her, only to leave after telling her to forget him instead of giving her his name or number.
That man had been on her mind for days.
Was it fate, or was it not?
‘The situation itself was incredibly heart-pounding…’
The circumstances had been so coincidental that you could only call them fateful.
But the fact that she didn't even learn his name and they immediately became strangers made it seem like it wasn't fate.
Yet, to say it wasn't fate, she couldn't seem to forget him, and her heart pounded every time she thought of him.
‘So annoying.’
Stuck in a situation where she could do nothing, her stress just kept piling up.
So today, to relieve that stress, she had decided to go to a club with a close friend.
She wasn't a huge fan of loud places.
But whenever her stress reached a certain point, she paradoxically found herself drawn to that kind of atmosphere.
At times like these, she would go to a club with her friends.
Dancing to the ear-splitting music was a quick way to release her stress.
The men who occasionally… no, constantly tried to talk to her were a bit of a nuisance, but that was fine.
Everything in this world had its pros and cons.
‘Except for my little brother.’
Of course, her brother was the exception.
Coming downstairs, she spotted Kim Jeong-hun sitting on the living room sofa watching TV and tiptoed toward the front door.
Finally reaching a safe distance, she let out a sigh of relief.
“Phew…”
If her brother, who hated her going to clubs, had caught her, who knows how long the lecture would have been.
After leaving the house, she immediately took a taxi to Hongdae and met up with her friend, who had already arrived.
“Sorry I’m late! Have you been waiting long?”
“Nope, you’re not late. I was just early.”
“Hehe… I know.”
“…Are you crazy?”
Her friend’s name was Ryujin.
Unlike the bright and cheerful Kim Eun-bi, she was a woman who exuded a chic, decadent vibe.
Her fashion sense, which consisted entirely of black, only amplified that feeling.
The two, who seemed to be polar opposites in every way, were surprisingly best friends.
There had been many ups and downs in getting to this point, but to put it simply, it was because they were opposites that they were drawn to each other.
“Shall we go?”
“Sure.”
The two left the cafe and walked toward their usual club.
Amidst the noisy atmosphere, Ryujin asked in her blunt tone.
“So what are you stressed about this time?”
“Umm, well…”
Kim Eun-bi fidgeted with her fingers and averted her gaze.
Seeing the classic set of habits she displayed whenever she had to bring up something difficult, Ryujin waved a hand dismissively, cutting her off.
“Forget it. If it’s hard to talk about, just tell me later.”
Grateful to Ryujin for understanding her so perfectly, Kim Eun-bi linked her arm through her friend’s and snuggled closer.
“Ugh, stop clinging to me.”
“Aww, whyyyy♥”
“……”
Ryujin shook her head as Eun-bi hugged her arm even tighter, acting cute.
She was so used to it by now that she just let it happen.
Bickering playfully, they arrived at the club to find a long line.
It was impossible to guess when they would get in if they joined the queue now.
However, that wasn't a concern for the two of them.
“Hey, why has it been so long!”
The manager spotted them as they approached the club and rushed over to greet them.
“Can we go in?” Ryujin asked.
He immediately stepped aside, clearing a path for them.
“Of course! Go on in, hurry.”
Several factors were needed for a club to be successful.
A playlist that got people excited, an atmosphere that made them want to stay, convenience, and so on.
Countless things were necessary, but the most important thing was something else entirely.
The quality of the crowd.
A club’s revenue for the night often depended on how many attractive men and women were inside.
In that sense, the two of them might as well have had an all-access pass to every club in the city.
As soon as they entered, they grabbed a table.
Ryujin, who loved to drink, ordered a bottle of liquor, while Kim Eun-bi immediately stood up.
“I’ll be back!”
“Yeah, go have fun dancing.”
As mentioned, the two had opposite personalities.
Kim Eun-bi loved to dance, but Ryujin hated it.
So whenever they came to a club, one would only drink, and the other would only dance.
Ryujin sat alone, sipping her drink.
She had barely been at the table for a minute, but she was already drawing immense interest from those around her.
“Are you here alone?”
She shooed away a man who approached her with a sweet tone.
“They say pouring your own drink makes your luck run out. Why don’t you let me…”
“Fuck off.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
To the guy who tried to hit on her with a ridiculous superstition that would never work, she cursed without hesitation.
“Tsk, annoying bastards.”
She just wanted to drink in peace. Why did everyone have to bother her?
As someone who hated being disturbed while drinking more than anything, it was incredibly annoying.
After news spread that all the men had been shot down, things quieted down for a while.
Just as she was enjoying her drink at her own pace, another man approached.
He sat down across from her without even asking for permission and casually picked up the liquor bottle that she considered her precious treasure.
“What do you think you’re—!”
She was about to get angry, but the words wouldn't come out.
The moment she looked up and saw his face, she was rendered speechless.
This man had a completely different air about him than the others who had approached her.
He gave off a dangerous scent, the kind that warned you to stay away.
While she was flustered, the man who had taken her bottle asked with a faint smile.
“You know, there’s a way to make this drink taste even better.”
“……”
At his question, she found herself asking without thinking.
“…How do you do that?”
Perhaps the reason she’d rejected all the men who’d approached her so far wasn’t simply because they were interrupting her drinking.