Chapter 192: Love Triangle (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 192: Love Triangle (1)
After leaving the movie theater.
“…I need to use the restroom for a second.”
With those words, Ryujin headed for the bathroom without a single glance back.
She slumped onto the closed toilet lid and let out a small sigh.
My heart feels like it’s about to give out.
She clutched her chest, which was pounding relentlessly.
It had been like this for two hours.
Two hours of her heart beating faster than usual.
He’s someone I shouldn’t get close to.
He gave off a dangerous scent.
Just being near him felt like it could shatter the life she had so carefully built. That feeling kept setting off red alarms in her head.
That sense of unease was a constant warning to stay away from him, but it wasn't working as intended.
To be precise, her body was trying to pull away, but her heart kept trying to draw closer.
She slapped her cheeks, trying to fix her broken heart.
Smack!
Get a grip, Ryujin. He’s the first guy your best friend has ever shown interest in.
Perhaps that was what spurred her heart on even more.
Her best friend, Kim Eun-bi, was loved by everyone, anytime, anywhere.
And the man Eun-bi was so openly interested in was showing interest not in her, but in Ryujin.
A love triangle straight out of a drama.
The sense of betrayal that naturally arose from the situation made her want it more, even though she knew it was wrong, even though she knew it was a bad situation.
“Hoo…”
She took a deep breath, trying to steady her heart.
I can’t lose a friend over a single guy.
Kim Eun-bi wasn’t just any friend; she was someone Ryujin wanted to have by her side for the rest of her life.
She didn’t want to lose a friend like that over some guy.
Let’s just leave quickly. If I don’t contact him anymore, I’ll naturally forget about him.
Her heart was only pounding because she had been too close to him.
Once she put some distance between them, her heart would naturally erase his existence as if he’d never been there.
Having finally settled her thoughts, she finished her business and stood before the bathroom mirror.
As she unconsciously straightened her disheveled clothes and smoothed her messy hair with her hands…
“Jina…?”
A familiar voice came from her left.
Ryujin turned her head and, without thinking, jumped back in shock.
It was no wonder. The person standing before her was Kim Eun-bi, one of the main culprits behind the chaos in her mind just moments ago.
“E-Eun-bi, what are you doing here…?”
“Me? I came to see a movie with my little brother… What about you, Eun-bi?”
“I, I…”
She couldn’t say it.
She couldn’t tell her that the guy she liked had contacted her and they had just watched a movie together.
“I-I was bored, so I came to see a movie. I happened to find one that looked interesting.”
“Hehe, really? It’s so good to see you here! Since we ran into each other, let’s grab a bite to eat!”
“Uh… s-sure.”
This was actually for the best.
She could leave the bathroom with Kim Eun-bi and then send Kim Do-jin a message saying she had to go…
“Oh…”
However, the world was not as simple as she had hoped.
As she left the bathroom with Kim Eun-bi, she witnessed an even more astonishing sight.
To top it all off, her friend’s younger brother, Kim Jeong-hun, and Kim Do-jin were apparently high school classmates. It was a ridiculous story.
Ryujin mentally tore at her hair.
What kind of fucked-up fate is this!
The man who saved her friend Kim Eun-bi and became her fated partner was interested in her, and now it turns out he was high school classmates with her friend’s younger brother?
Even a bad novel would flop if it was written like this.
The absurd chain of connections, the kind even a third-rate author wouldn’t use, was enough to give her a headache.
With a strange look in her eyes, Ryujin watched as Kim Do-jin and Kim Eun-bi finally introduced themselves.
They looked surprisingly good together.
Maybe it was because both of them had faces that looked like they were drawn for a romance comic or a novel illustration.
A little—just a tiny bit of jealousy she didn’t even notice herself—was etched into her heart.
Meanwhile, Kim Eun-bi, who had been chatting away, began to look back and forth between Ryujin and Kim Do-jin with suspicion.
She was at the movie theater with her brother.
And there, she had run into both the man she wanted to see again and her best friend.
Is this… a coincidence?
It felt too fishy to be a coincidence. Something kept poking at her mind.
Maybe.
It was a possibility she didn’t want to consider, but.
Could the two of them have come to see a movie together?
The sudden question tickled her lips.
“Um, this might be a weird question, but…”
Kim Eun-bi struggled to get the words out.
“You… you two didn’t come to see the movie together, did you…?”
At her question, Ryujin felt her heart drop to her stomach.
Just as Kim Do-jin was about to say something with a smile, she felt a surge of anxiety and hastily cut him off.
“I-I! I came alone!”
She then shot an intense glare at Kim Do-jin.
Please get the hint, please!
In that moment, as she desperately prayed he wasn’t a clueless idiot…
Kim Do-jin let out a small smirk and parted his lips.
“I came alone, too. I prefer watching movies quietly by myself.”
“Ah~ I see.”
Seeing Kim Eun-bi smile again, Ryujin let out a sigh of relief.
This is going to be the death of me, for real.
She felt completely drained, as if she’d been walking on thin ice.
She was done with all of it.
She just wanted to go home.
But Kim Eun-bi had absolutely no intention of letting her go.
“Hey…! We’re about to go get dinner, Do-jin-dongsaeng, would you like to join us?”
The “we” she mentioned also included Ryujin.
Ryujin, and Kim Jeong-hun.
For their own different reasons, both hoped Kim Do-jin would refuse her offer.
“I’d love to. It’s a good chance to catch up with an old friend.”
Kim Do-jin replied with a smile and immediately slung his arm around Kim Jeong-hun’s shoulder.
“You’re good with that, right, Jeong-hun?”
Kim Jeong-hun was seething inside.
“S-Sure.”
But he couldn’t refuse.
One wrong move and his true self, which he had so perfectly hidden from his sister until now, might be exposed.
And so, a party of four was formed, each shouldering a different kind of awkwardness and discomfort.
* * *
It was a family restaurant in Gangnam that the Kim siblings frequented.
The atmosphere, more casual than formal, gradually warmed up.
“Wow… so you’re a student at Korea University right now?”
“That’s right.”
“And here I was, thinking you were a Hunter, Do-jin-dongsaeng!”
“Not yet, haha.”
To be precise, among the four of us gathered here, the atmosphere was only warming up between me and Kim Eun-bi.
Her interest was focused entirely on me, and I answered her questions faithfully.
Kim Jeong-hun? He was just a bump on a log. As for Ryujin, I made sure to look after her.
I passed her a few pieces of cut meat so she wouldn’t feel left out, and after clinking beer glasses with Kim Eun-bi, I’d clink with her too, occasionally highlighting her presence so she wouldn’t be forgotten.
So that Kim Eun-bi wouldn’t forget she was there.
“How’s the food here? Good, right?”
“Yes, it’s delicious. How about you, Ryujin-nuna?”
“Huh? Oh… yeah, it’s good.”
It went on like that.
Kim Eun-bi would ask me a question, and after answering, I would pose the same question to Ryujin.
A bit of a chain reaction.
Thanks to that, the mood at the table was becoming quite interesting.
Kim Jeong-hun was stewing in his own anxiety, worried I might let something slip. Kim Eun-bi was starting to seem bothered by Ryujin’s presence. And Ryujin, while feeling the pressure from her friend’s glares and my attention, didn’t seem to hate it.
It seemed I was the only one who could truly enjoy this situation.
“Alright, how about another round?!”
As an overly cheerful Kim Eun-bi raised her beer glass, Kim Jeong-hun stepped in to stop her.
“Nuna, you can’t even handle your alcohol. Why are you drinking so much?”
“Aww, whyyy! I’m not drunk yeeet.”
A classic sign of a drunk person: insisting they’re not drunk.
“She’s right, nuna. You seem a little tipsy, you should drink slowly.”
“Hehe… okayyy.”
She had thrown a fit when her own brother tried to stop her, but as soon as I said something, she put her beer glass down.
Thanks to that, Kim Jeong-hun was now glaring at me like he wanted to kill me.
Though he wasn’t the one I wanted to make jealous.
“Ryujin-nuna.”
“…What.”
This was where I wanted to stir up jealousy.
Between Ryujin and Kim Eun-bi.
“Eun-bi-nuna seems a little drunk, so let’s just the two of us have a toast.”
I deliberately added the unnecessary preface to provoke Kim Eun-bi.
The reaction was swift.
Kim Eun-bi puffed out her cheeks, her fingers fidgeting on the handle of her beer glass, before she lifted it again.
“Nooo, I can still drink more! I wanna toast too!”
A faint flame flickered in her eyes. It was a look of fierce determination, as if she would never allow the two of us to do something without her.
“Are you really okay? Your face is red.”
“Y-Yeah! My face is just red because it’s hot, that’s all. Hehe, so, shall we cheers?”
And with that, Kim Eun-bi drained the rest of the beer in her glass.
Kim Jeong-hun’s claim that she was a lightweight must have been true, because despite not drinking much, she started swaying her head like a sick chicken.
It would be trouble if she got any drunker… I guess it’s about time to wrap things up.
I spoke to the bump on a log.
“Jeong-hun. Your sister seems really drunk. Let’s get going.”
“…Fine.”
The guy answered through gritted teeth and immediately stood up to support his sister.
“Nuna, let’s go home now.”
At that, her head, which had been hanging low, shot up slightly.
Her hazy eyes searched for me.
“Huh, whaaat…? Nooo, I can still hang ouuut more…”
“Don’t push yourself too hard, nuna. We can just meet up and hang out again next time.”
At my words, Kim Eun-bi asked with a silly grin.
“Heh… you’ll meet me again next time?”
“If you’re okay with it, nuna.”
“I’d love that! Anytime!”
Leaning on Kim Jeong-hun’s arm, she waved her other arm around like a little kid.
Her face, at least.
Below the face, she was a very fine adult. Mmm.
After paying with Kim Jeong-hun’s card, we went outside and stood on the street.
Kim Jeong-hun and Kim Eun-bi, and me and Ryujin, stood facing each other in pairs.
“I’ll take Ryujin-nuna home, so you two can go on ahead.”
As I subtly closed the distance between us, Ryujin’s posture stiffened and she waved her hands dismissively.
“N-No. I can just go by myself…”
“It’s dangerous for a woman to be out alone at night. I’ll just walk you nearby.”
As I pushed, Ryujin’s resistance faltered.
“…Then just for a little bit.”
Kim Eun-bi was watching and listening to our conversation clearly with her half-drunk eyes and ears.
The way her cheeks were slightly puffed out suggested she wasn’t too pleased with the current situation.
“Ah, there’s a taxi.”
I hailed a taxi approaching from a distance and put the two of them in.
“I’ll see you next time, nuna.”
“Huh? O-Okay… yeah, next time… definitely…”
I closed the car door before she could finish her sentence.
Then, as the taxi slowly pulled away, while she could still see us…
I closed the distance with Ryujin and spoke to her with a smile.
“Shall we get going, then?”
“…You were speaking formally just a moment ago.”
I wanted Kim Eun-bi to see this and burn it into her memory.
“Do you prefer it if I speak formally, nuna?”
“Never mind. Just speak casually.”
Hey, you don’t have to shudder like that.