Chapter 129: Ji-eun's Confession
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 129: Ji-eun's Confession
“You’ll do it for me?”
Yu U-jeong asked, looking at me.
“After I hear what it is.”
“Then let’s have sex.”
“Shit, not even worth listening to!”
It really wasn’t worth hearing.
In that instant, Yu U-jeong vanished.
As I slowly lowered my gaze, I saw Si-ho with her hand outstretched toward the spot where U-jeong had been.
There was no light in Si-ho’s eyes.
“...Si-ho, where did you send Yu U-jeong?”
“We don’t need a woman like that.”
Her treatment of Yu U-jeong was getting harsher by the day.
Si-ho then wrapped her arms tightly around my waist.
“...You should only do things like that with me.”
I didn’t ask what she meant by “that.”
Instead, I soothed Si-ho and had her bring Yu U-jeong back.
A moment later, when Yu U-jeong returned, she flinched and looked around nervously.
Her hair and clothes were covered in snow.
“Where have you been?”
“...It was a mountain with nothing but snow. The sky felt so close. The air was thin, too.”
For a brief moment, the world’s highest mountain crossed my mind, but I quietly buried the thought.
“Stop with the nonsense and tell me what you want again.”
“Nonsense? I was being completely serious.”
“Should I make it so you can never spout nonsense again?”
Si-ho, still hugging me, glared, and Yu U-jeong flinched before letting out a dry cough.
“Then, go on one more date with me.”
“A date?”
“It ended so abruptly last time. I had a bunch of things prepared, too.”
Hearing that, I thought it was a reasonable enough request.
“You have to go on one with me, too.”
Just as I was about to answer, Si-ho cut in.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t really spent any personal time with just Si-ho.
We had been through so much hardship for a while, so I stroked her hair and said.
“Alright. Si-ho, let’s go together later.”
Si-ho smiled happily at my answer.
“...I was the one who asked for a date, so why are you two the ones making plans?”
Yu U-jeong looked at us with a wronged expression.
“I’ll go with you, too.”
“You sound totally reluctant, you know?”
“Then don’t.”
“Aargh! You’re only mean to me! I mean, I kind of like it, but still! It’s true what they say, the one who falls in love first loses.”
She grumbled, ignoring Si-ho’s glare.
For someone so easy-going, I had no idea why she was so hung up on me.
With her abilities and looks, she could find any number of other good men.
“So, what’s the method?”
I asked, thinking how long it was taking to get a simple answer. She placed her hands on her hips.
“About that...”
And the method she described was one that, surprisingly, I found quite persuasive.
*
* * *
A puff of white breath escaped my lips in front of the cafe.
As I watched the clouds drift by, a familiar figure came into view in the distance.
Seeing her, I let a small smile grace my lips.
Her yellow-dyed hair swayed gently.
Through her fluttering hair, the marks from her piercings were also faintly visible.
“Oppa!”
Waving her hand enthusiastically, Ji-eun ran over. She was in her school uniform, having just finished classes.
“Why are you out here in the cold? Aren’t your hands freezing?”
She rushed over, took my hands in hers, and blew on them to warm them up.
As I watched her for a moment, Ji-eun looked around and tilted her head.
“By the way, where are Si-ho and U-jeong-unni?”
“Ji-eun, can we talk, just the two of us, today?”
At my words, Ji-eun looked up at me.
She’s always been perceptive.
She must have had a vague idea of what I was about to say.
Ji-eun let go of my hands slightly and gently clutched the hem of her skirt.
“...Is it something important?”
“Yeah.”
After hearing my answer, she hesitated for a moment before nodding.
“It’s cold. Let’s go inside first.”
She quietly followed me in.
After ordering our drinks, we sat in silence until they arrived.
Where should I begin?
I tapped the table for a moment before finally looking at Ji-eun.
“Ji-eun.”
“Yes, Oppa.”
She looked at me when I called her name.
Her eyes held a hint of anxiety.
Looking at her, I slowly parted my lips.
“First, I’ll tell you about what’s been happening with me lately.”
The many things I had kept hidden from Ji-eun all this time.
I had hidden them all because I thought that since she was a normal hunter, it would be better for her not to get involved.
But I realized that wasn’t being considerate at all.
By doing that, I was basically shutting her out.
I slowly began to recount the events of the past days.
Ji-eun, who had been listening quietly to my story, looked down at my hands.
They were covered in various wounds from recent training and incidents that never seemed to heal.
It seemed she now understood why I came home injured every day.
“...I thought it was strange. I wondered if someone’s powers could really go that berserk just because they awakened as a hunter.”
“I’m sorry. I hid it because I was afraid you’d get caught up in it. It wasn’t considerate of me at all.”
“It’s okay. You did what you thought was best, Oppa. I was a little hurt, but I understand.”
Ji-eun handled it more maturely than I did.
She was someone who had already been ostracized at school.
She had confided everything in me, yet I had kept secrets from her.
I would have no excuse even if she cursed me out.
“Why are you telling me all this today?”
At her question, I clasped my hands together.
“Ji-eun, as I said before, you understand that Si-ho and Yu U-jeong are S-rank, right?”
“Yes. I don’t know much about U-jeong-unni, but I always felt like Si-ho wasn’t just an A-rank.”
Ji-eun answered, fiddling with her cup of hot chocolate for a moment before looking at me.
“Do I have to leave the team?”
At the same time, her eyes began to well up with tears.
“Am I... hic, a hin-drance to you, O-Oppa?”
Large teardrops began to stream down her face.
But I couldn’t wipe them away.
To be precise, I didn’t have the right.
“Ji-eun, I’m not telling you to leave the team. And of course, you’ve never been a hindrance.”
“But I’m not S-rank like Si-ho or U-jeong-unni. I’m only a B-rank.”
“Honestly, at first, I thought about putting together a new team that would be a better fit for you.”
She lifted her head at my words.
“But I figured you wouldn’t want that either.”
“You’re right. I want to stay on this team. I like Si-ho, I like U-jeong-unni, and I like you, Oppa...”
Hearing her last words, I gave a bitter smile for a moment.
“That’s right. We all like you too, Ji-eun. So I thought of a way.”
“A way?”
When a question flickered in Ji-eun’s eyes, I explained everything Yu U-jeong had told me.
Ji-eun, who listened in silence, looked quite surprised.
“...I can do something like that?”
“I looked into it myself. You might fail at first, but I think it’ll be possible once you get the hang of it.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be easy.
Above all, Ji-eun would have to work the hardest.
“And it’s not just Yu U-jeong’s side. I’ve also asked for advice from someone I know. They’re skilled in this area and said they’d help.”
I said as much and looked at Ji-eun.
“...Do you want to give it a try?”
Everything depended on Ji-eun’s choice.
So when I asked for her final decision, Ji-eun’s expression was burning with more determination than I had ever seen.
“I’ll do it. I want to try.”
“It’ll be pretty tough. You’ll have to go all the way to Iceland. You’ll have to miss school, too.”
“The CSATs are almost over anyway. I can just explain my situation and stop going after that; the teachers won’t care. Actually, they never really cared much in the first place.”
It was already a given that Ji-eun would be working as a hunter.
Her YouTube channel was also doing well, so she wasn’t a student who needed to take the college entrance exam.
That’s why the school didn’t bother her.
“The kids at school don’t bother me anymore either. They started trying to get close to me after they found out I do YouTube. But I don’t need friends like that anymore.”
Ji-eun looked incredibly resolute as she said this.
Without me realizing it, she had been growing up.
Teenagers grow up fast.
Because there is still so much to learn and so much to see.
They grow and change with each passing day.
Realizing that fact, I smiled.
“Alright. If you’re willing to do it, Ji-eun, I’ll support you with everything I’ve got.”
After all, I was her manager.
“Is that why you wanted to see me alone today?”
Her words made me pause.
As Ji-eun had guessed, that wasn’t the only thing I wanted to talk about.
The conversation we just had was for Ji-eun’s future.
It wasn’t a conversation to resolve things between her and me.
“You know, don’t you, Oppa? That I like you, Ha-chan-oppa.”
And she brought it up first.
Perceptive as ever, Ji-eun had already seen through to what I was trying to say.
“In your eyes, do my feelings just seem like a teenage crush?”
I remained silent.
That was indeed how I saw it, and I thought that as time passed and she experienced a wider world, someone better would come along.
“You know... I dream about you every night, Ha-chan-oppa. I think of you when I lie in bed, I wonder if you've eaten when I'm having a meal, and I miss you even when I'm at school.”
I listened to her honest words.
“The reason I started liking you might have been because you were the kindest older brother figure around.”
Ji-eun clenched the hem of her skirt so tightly her knuckles turned white.
I could feel how much weight the words she was speaking held for her.
“Still, I don’t think I’ll ever find someone I like as much as you, Ha-chan-oppa.”
With that, Ji-eun looked at me again with tear-filled eyes.
“Because you’re my first love, Ha-chan-oppa.”
They say first love is always painful.
Because it’s your first time, you make many mistakes, and because of that, it’s filled with regrets.
“Even if it’s the reckless love of a teenager, it’s still love. I like you, Ha-chan-oppa.”
Hearing that honest confession, I slowly lowered my head.
“...Ji-eun, I’m not that great of a person.”
“To me, you’re the best person there is. Because you’re my one and only first love.”
Ji-eun covered her mouth and smiled.
“Ah, of course, there are so many women around you it makes me jealous. I don’t think it was like this when I first met you. I guess they all know how great you are.”
She was smiling, but the tears in her eyes didn’t disappear.
It seemed she already knew what my answer would be.
Looking at me, Ji-eun said one last thing.
“I like you, Oppa. What about you?”
At her question, I slowly gave her my answer.
“I’m sorry.”
An apology can hold many meanings.
Hearing my apology, Ji-eun slowly smiled through her tear-streaked face.
“I’m okay.”
There was no way she was okay.
The proof was that her body was trembling uncontrollably.
“Since I’m okay, can I be the first to leave today?”
I nodded.
Seeing my nod, she finally couldn’t bear it any longer and covered her face with both hands as she ran out of the cafe.
Unable to stop her, I slowly swept my bangs up and then let them fall.
Just then, I saw that bastard Baeksan leaning against the wall outside the window.
He must have thought this was between Ji-eun and me, so he had waited outside instead of eavesdropping.
I wonder what the Ji-eun from Baeksan’s world was like.
She probably had no connection to me at all.
I wasn’t sure, but I quietly reflected on how difficult it is to reject someone’s feelings.
Just then, my phone buzzed softly.
There was a message.
[ I’m going to get stronger, no matter what. ]
The message was from none other than Ji-eun.
As I looked at the message with a bitter smile, another one came in.
[ And once I’m stronger, I’m going to confess again. ]
The words that followed made me freeze.
Ji-eun’s will was stronger than I had thought.
[ So I haven’t given up yet. ]
Is that so?
I stared at the message for a moment before putting my phone down.
All I could think was that I was surrounded by truly strong people.