Chapter 82
Chapter 82
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 82
Chapter Title: The Journey Begins from Now
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"Soo-jeong... Auntie?"
"Mm..."
The girl looking up at me from within my arms,
Seo Han-sol.
She was Seon-hwa's friend, so she'd told me to call her casually, but the title of 'Auntie' still... didn't sit right with me at all.
'Well, that's not what's important right now...'
Given the situation, I quickly sorted through my stray thoughts,
and looked at Han-sol, who was staring blankly while nestled in my arms. With a careful voice, I asked,
"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Ah... Uh... Uu..."
At that moment, Han-sol's eyes belatedly began to tremble.
Tears soon welled up in her eyes.
And then.
"Waaahhh...! Waaahhh...!"
"..."
The fear that hit her late.
Watching her cry over the fact that her life had nearly been in danger,
I silently pulled the child close into a tight embrace.
'She must have been really shocked... Well, even so, she probably wouldn't have actually died...'
In my past life, the point when this child died was much later.
Of course, since the situation had changed a bit from then, it could have been truly dangerous,
but judging from the visible circumstances alone, it didn't seem like anything that serious had happened.
The car that had drastically slowed down at the last moment and barely stopped,
and the bodyguards who had nearly jumped out from right behind me but subtly turned back—
it probably ended with minor injuries in my past life too, in a similar situation.
However, regardless of these facts,
I felt the need to have a serious talk with this child crying in my arms.
Not for her physical body,
but for the wound in her heart.
*
"...Sniff, sniff."
"Are you okay?"
"...Yes, I'm... okay."
Han-sol wiping her tears with the towel Soo-jeong handed her.
Then, as Soo-jeong asked what had happened,
she began recounting everything that had gone on.
"Ever since I was little... that... So... I hated always having to move just the way Grandpa wanted... I wanted to think and act freely on my own too... but it always ends up like this..."
"...That must have been really hard for you..."
Even so, it was the story of a girl who was only just 12 years old.
Even if she tried to organize it, the tale couldn't help but come out in a very disjointed manner.
She herself was aware of this, but knowing it in her head didn't make up for her lack of expressive skill.
However, separate from this clumsy storytelling,
at this moment, Han-sol's heart was starting to feel a bit more at ease compared to before.
It was the first time.
The first time she'd opened up her true feelings to someone like this.
Not even to her grandfather, nor to the bodyguards always stuck by her side—
she had always swallowed her pain alone,
never properly voicing her own hurt.
And listening to Han-sol like this, simply nodding and empathizing,
was her, Chae Soo-jeong.
Even though she hadn't given any specific answer yet,
within this feeling of already receiving comfort,
Han-sol finished her rather long story.
"What should I do...? Even this time, I thought I'd finally seized something on my own... but in the end, even this was a lie... Will I... have to keep living a fake life like this from now on too?"
A question filled with desperation.
A query containing worries about the 12 years she'd lived so far, and the decades she might live ahead.
In response,
Chae Soo-jeong quietly reached out and gently stroked her head.
A warm, comforting touch.
A sensation that made her think, If I had a mother, it would feel like this.
Watching her savor the comfort from just this gesture alone,
Soo-jeong spoke in a calm voice.
"I'm not that much older myself... but one thing I've felt living until now is this."
"Wh-what is it?"
"Nothing in this world happens all at once."
"...Pardon?"
Words that seemed the least fitting from the person they came from.
Chae Soo-jeong, who had seized the protagonist's spot from her very first appearance, and in just over a year, was skyrocketing toward those lofty heights.
Seo Han-sol felt bewildered that such words had come from someone like that.
Looking at her, Soo-jeong continued with a smile tinged with bitterness.
"People talk about it. That I'm a rookie, a genius who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. But... I'm not some genius. I just... didn't get attention for a little longer than others."
"That can't... be..."
"It's true. I don't know how it ended up like this... but I failed multiple times too, and sometimes experienced setbacks that made me feel like collapsing. It's just that the process of achieving my goals was so dramatic that my past self isn't visible."
"Ah..."
Soo-jeong's words carried genuine sincerity, not some story fabricated just to comfort her.
A glimpse of pain from the person she'd thought shone more brilliantly than anyone,
someone she'd inwardly admired as a goal.
Toward Han-sol, who felt bewildered witnessing this,
Soo-jeong offered a serious gaze.
A gaze that was warm yet unshakably firm...
Such a gaze.
"Certainly, escaping completely from your grandfather's grasp right away won't be easy. But even looking at just this time, from some point on, didn't you move forward with your own strength?"
"Well... Seon-hwa helped me..."
"Was it because your grandfather wanted it that you moved Seon-hwa's heart, or that you walked together with that child?"
"!"
Words that pierced straight to the core.
Grasping Han-sol's hand, who fell silent for a moment in response,
Soo-jeong spoke in a voice filled with conviction.
"You said it to Seon-hwa before, right? That the journey for your dream starts from now. Just like you said, Han-sol, you've only just tied your shoelaces at the starting line. You've only just finished preparing to run, and you're already thinking of giving up?"
"..."
Gentle words that simultaneously rang like a wake-up call.
Han-sol, who kept silent for a moment in response,
lightly gripped Soo-jeong's hand that held hers.
A touch that felt so much larger compared to her own.
A tender sensation comforting her frail self.
Realizing that even someone with such hands had tasted the same frustrations as her,
harboring the hope that she too might one day become like her,
Han-sol suppressed a surging emotion and spoke in a trembling voice.
"I won't... give up... I too... someday, definitely..."
"Hee-hee..."
Han-sol choking up differently from before.
A tender smile graced the lips of Soo-jeong as she once more pulled her into a tight embrace.
An exceedingly gentle... mother's smile.
*
"Thank you so much. Then... I'll see you next time."
"Yes, let's meet again soon."
Han-sol's receding figure departing with the bodyguards.
Watching her, I let out a quiet sigh of relief inwardly.
'I hope the comforting worked out somewhat...'
Comfort I might not have been able to offer easily without my past life's experiences,
and my current life raising my daughter as a mother.
It wasn't easy, but feeling like I'd helped the child even a little filled me with a sense of pride.
'Just hearing the story, it seems like her grandfather is overly protective...'
From the perspective of a child entering puberty, having things imposed from all around could feel unpleasant.
To the point of perceiving it as restraint.
However, from a parent's viewpoint looking at their child, honestly, the envy for having the ability to go that far outweighed worries about excessive obsession.
Moreover, even if the way of expressing it had some issues,
I could tell that her grandfather truly cherished the child a great deal.
'Well... as a third party, it would be excessive for me to get more involved than this.'
Not being the child's mother, all I could do was offer advice like now.
The deeper issues had to be resolved by the parties involved themselves.
Putting thoughts about this matter to rest here, I shifted my gaze to the people who had been watching the situation from afar.
Thud thud thud thud boom!
Right after, our daughter rushing over on her short legs and leaping into my arms.
Feeling her clinging with a subtle intensity, a smile tugged at my lips as I stroked her head.
"Shall we go?"
"...Yeah."
As she spoke, Seon-hwa hugged my body even tighter.
Sensing something like an odd possessiveness in her actions, I felt a bit of doubt,
but started walking home with my daughter anyway.
"A contact came from the Asaha side in the meantime."
"Is that so? Their response is faster than expected."
Manager Yu A-ram handing me the phone.
Confirming the contents inside, I slowly nodded.
"The progress is faster than I thought. They want to have a meeting next week if possible."
"Seems like they want to promote aggressively before Queen Kaguya's popularity fades. They say time is tight, so PV filming has already started. They'll probably discuss that first. Let me see... In that case, the schedule would roughly be..."
Currently only handling one movie and one variety show, so there was some leeway.
Watching A-ram coordinate the schedule, I steeled my resolve in my own way.
As an actress, the drama was a drama,
but above all, as a fan of the original work, with the mindset to give it my all.
'At the very least, I have to make sure there's no talk of ruining the original...'