1. A Friend of 20 Years Broke Down.
1. A Friend of 20 Years Broke Down.
"Why am I cleaning my room so hard because of you?"
"It's filthy. Go die."
"Then don't come over."
"It's not like I can invite you over to my place."
"Where the hell did you sell off my privacy?"
Me, sitting on the edge of the bed with a phone in one hand.
Her, sitting at my computer desk, surfing the internet.
Baek Serin. A college student.
It has already been almost 20 years since we've known each other.
A terribly familiar sight, having seen each other long enough to be sick of it.
Anyway, what on earth did my parents like about a girl like her to keep us attached to each other since we were little?
Because she comes over every single day like it's her own home, weekends don't even feel like weekends.
"Hey, since you're in college, go hang out with your classmates on weekends."
"Bullshit. Why the fuck should I cater to their moods?"
"Fair enough. You don't even cater to my mood, so how could you do that?"
"Why would I cater to your disgusting mood? Are you insane?"
Contrary to her decent looks, her mouth is dirty and foul.
At this point, I'm worried she might be getting ostracized by her classmates.
Baek Serin, who was closing internet windows, is now naturally checking my PC messenger as well.
I didn't particularly stop her.
In the first place, I had nothing to hide, and even if I tried to hide it, she'd whine that she was going to see it no matter what.
"...Hey, just in case, don't read that."
"Hey, read it at this point. What the hell is a personal chat notification count over three hundred?"
"Don't you know that person? They changed their name, so that's why the name pops up like that."
Ddalgkak, ddalgkak─
"Ah, that girl who kept following a guy like you around because she liked you?"
"Unlike someone, at least my personality is normal."
I thought she had given up out of exhaustion, but after quite a long time, the notification popped back up to the very top.
Back in high school, there was a junior girl two years younger than me.
She was pretty, but had a personality where she could barely refuse anything.
Should I say she was the type who unfortunately caught the eye of the bully group right from the start of the semester?
Then one time, I helped her when she was about to be dragged away by force.
After that, she just unilaterally stuck to me.
A relationship roughly like that.
The reason I let the notifications pile up without reading them was simple.
As she revealed later, that girl was the daughter of a mudang.
I didn't particularly have any interest in that junior anyway.
Well, after that, she babbled on about bad energy around me, sunbae, and all that, and I detested that kind of talk.
The accumulated notifications were probably all of that kind, right?
Ddalgkak── Deureureuk...
"......Hey, why are you scrolling down to make me nervous?"
There shouldn't be any reason to scroll down.
She came over yesterday too and searched through everything.
It's not like there's anyone else contacting me either.
"......."
Dalkak dalkak─ Deureuk-
Just as I was lost in thought for a moment, the double-click sound breaking the silence startled me, making me spring up from the bed.
Sure enough, Baek Serin had clicked open the messenger chat I had let pile up for a long time.
Aigoo. My life, seriously.
How hard did I hold back from opening that.
.......
Sigh. Since Pandora's box is already open, let's at least check what's in it.
Letting out a deep sigh, I turned my eyes to the monitor and stared intently at the messenger window.
.......
What is this?
How unpleasant.
『╎༒╎༒╎』
『╎༒╎༒╎』
At least within the current scroll range, those unidentified special characters were all that was visible.
Because I had preview prevention turned on, this was the first time I even realized what the content was.
For a long while like that, I frowned as if possessed while looking at the monitor before belatedly snapping out of it.
Something didn't feel right.
As if it were some kind of curse.
...Anyway, why is she acting like this?
"Hey, Baek Serin. What are you doing?"
"......."
Seeing her not answering even when I called her name, I tapped her shoulder gently.
Only then did Serin flinch slightly and throw her gaze at me.
"......Ugh, what is this? It feels weird."
"Why did you have to open that of all things? I don't say anything about other things."
"Sorry, seeing some unknown bitch's name pissed me off."
"......."
"Uh─?"
Making a dazed sound, Baek Serin covered her mouth.
"...What did you just say?"
I blinked my eyes blankly for a moment.
For a moment, I doubted my ears.
'Seeing an unknown person's name annoyed me.'
This? No?
Honestly, that part is nothing.
Because she always prays for my misfortune anyway.
I'm plenty used to this level of stuff.
The problem was before that.
I mean.
"Did you just say you were sorry?"
"......."
"Wow... It seems she's finally become a human."
"What are you talking about? I was human to begin with."
"Yeah, if you fucking eat grass for 20 years, I guess you'd become human."
"Who do you think I fucking eat only grass because of?"
.......
Strange.
She's someone who always sang to me about how she only eats meat.
Always teasing me, asking if I was jealous because she has a constitution that doesn't gain weight.
That was just a comment I made because a girl like that only eats salad whenever she comes to my house.
Could it be that a girl like her finally got a boyfriend?
Was today the day of liberation?
"......Did you get a boyfriend?"
"You oblivious bastard. Who else would I like besides yo......"
"......."
...Hmm.
I quietly shifted my eyes to the bottom right of the computer screen.
June 7th.
It's definitely not April Fools' Day.
...Then what did she just say?
Turning my head back,
Baek Serin was covering her mouth with widened eyes as if flustered.
"Crazy bitch, don't pretend to be surprised. It's making my stomach turn upside down."
What on earth did she eat wrong?
Was the salad she ate after coming over today the problem?
No, for that to be it, I stock up the fridge every Friday, so that shouldn't be the issue.
...Is it a super fun hidden camera prank or something like that?
She looked to be in a weird state, so I tapped her shoulder and tilted my head.
It was one of the rules understood between us.
A meaning along the lines of "I have something important to do from now on, so get out right now".
You could call it a method used when you don't want to exchange words, but want to kick the person out.
Because when you spend a long time together, minor rules accumulate and gather.
......But.
"Hey, if you're gonna touch me, not there, but below...... Fuck, what is this?"
"...You've finally gone crazy, Baek Serin."
.......
Well, yeah.
I figured she'd go crazy sooner or later.
How long could that screwed-up mental state endure?
It is shocking though.
Shouldn't she really be sent to a mental hospital?
I feel like I need to visit one too.
"That's why I told you to be careful of mudangs......"
"......Ah."
Then, as if remembering something, both of us turned our eyes to the monitor at the same time.
Baek Serin's trembling hand grabbed the mouse and scrolled back down the page she had slightly raised.
Deureuk...
And we froze in place at the same time.
"".......""
Black text typed onto the pure white background.
『 Hoping that you will be honest with me, I prepared a small gift. 』
Whether Baek Serin realized the answer one step faster than me or not,
she jumped straight up out of her chair.
"Fuuuuuuck─ Cut the bullshit──!!"
Degureureu─
The computer chair rolled back to where the bed was and bumped into it with a thud.
Only then did I think I had sorted things out in my mind,
but precisely because of that, numerous questions began to bloom again.
"......Hey, Baek Serin."
"......Don't talk to me."
"......Do you, by any chance, like me?"
"Shit, fucking fuck, fucker. I fucking like you so goddamn muuuuuch──!!"
"......."
Is this a curse, a confession, or a scream?
Or did she think doing that would hide her words?
......We're fucked though.
My brain is failing to function to the point I feel like I've suddenly become stupid.
Thinking that even so, it must be a high-level bad joke, I hurriedly pushed Serin aside and grabbed the mouse.
"Heuak─ Ish, why are you pushing all of a sudden?"
"Just wait a second."
Seriously, why is she being so frantic?
I dragged the paused scroll all the way up.
『╎༒╎༒╎』
.
.
.
.
『╎༒╎༒╎』
Starting from about 6 months ago, unidentified special characters had been continuously spammed at one-day intervals.
Thinking there'd be no end to this, I scrolled all the way to the top.
Only then did I manage to find actual normal text, not special characters.
Baek Serin was leaning her upper body down and looking at the monitor before I knew it.
.......
We had no choice but to swallow our silence once again.
『 Sunbae-nim. I'm graduating soon. 』
『 Do you happen to have time sometime? 』
『 It would be better for you to distance yourself a little from that brown-haired woman who was next to you now. 』
Ah, I agree with this.
"Crazy bitch."
"Hey, how many years ago was this message sent?"
『 The two of you aren't even dating, so why is that woman looking only at you, sunbae-nim? 』
"...Was that so?"
"Shut up. Why ask something so obvious?"
"......."
From where I stand, neither of them is normal.
We weren't even in the same class in the first place.
......Wait a second.
Suddenly, a chill ran up my spine.
It was clearly a timeframe after graduation.
How did she know about what happened after that?
Did she just predict it because Baek Serin came looking for me every single day at school?
...It was unsettling, but swallowing it down for now, I scrolled back down.
『 Rather than sunbae-nim, oppa would be better now. 』
『 First of all, it's better to separate yourself from that woman who clings to oppa every day. 』
『 She is someone who will become harmful to oppa someday. 』
"...What the fuck does she know."
"......."
I really hated to admit it, but I guess the time has come where I have to admit it.
It definitely doesn't seem like a prank.
Baek Serin isn't the type of girl to do something like that either.
"Hey, my mood went down the drain. Let's stop looking."
"There might be a clue."
"You look like you're reading a love letter or something?"
"Honestly, this is more fun than a love letter."
Half of it was true, and half was a lie.
It's not that I have any interest in this junior at all.
It felt somewhat like a letter from the past, so it was fresh, I guess.
Although the unpleasant feeling was still slightly ahead.
More than anything, this current situation was the most unpleasant.
"You fucking bastard, look only at me...... Ah, fuck."
"......."
So what do I do about this....
