Chapter 77: Wanna...?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 77: Wanna...?
“Should I call you Domi, too?”
“...If you’re trying to kill me, go ahead.”
“Hmph, we used to do much more than that. We even washed up together after getting covered in mud.”
“Th-That was a long time ago.”
“I’m still fine with it now.”
As she said this, her face turned bright red.
She took a small step away from me and asked.
“Wanna...?”
I gulped without thinking.
“...Please stop joking around. I think I might run away.”
“Not yet, right?”
Her words, “not yet,” stabbed at my heart.
The woman who, until a moment ago, had been Baek Seol-hyang, the chairperson of the World Returnee Association, had instantly reverted to my childhood friend, Jin Seol-hyang. I couldn't get my head straight.
At the same time, it was almost funny how the distance I’d felt between us just moments before vanished, and suddenly she was right in front of me.
Her silver hair and eyelashes, shimmering in the sunset.
Her eyes, like blue sapphires, focused only on me.
Her cheeks, flushed a deeper red than the sunset, as if to prove this wasn't my imagination, and the sweet scent that tickled my nose, carried on the wind.
And even the fluttering of her heart, a mix of tension and anxiety, that I could feel through the hand holding mine.
Everything pointed to one thing.
Seol-hyang liked me.
To her, I was both her past and her present.
Just as she was for me.
For her, I must have been the happiest memory from a past she had lost.
Recalling that time, she couldn't help but wish for that memory to connect to the present.
“Ha-chan.”
I could feel the anxiety in her touch.
She and I had walked different paths for a long time.
I felt sorry, but she was a memory I had forgotten to the point that I’d only just recalled her name today.
“Even if we can’t be like we were back then, can I still be with you again, Ha-chan?”
That’s why Seol-hyang must have been so anxious.
Worried that I might have forgotten her for good.
That her memories were hers alone.
That must have been why she had held back and said nothing until now.
So, to dispel her anxiety, I squeezed her hand tightly.
Seol-hyang flinched with a slight shiver, and I told her,
“You can. It’s not a big deal.”
Hearing my words, Seol-hyang’s eyes widened.
“Then, at the company too...”
“No, not that, Chairperson.”
“You’re so mean.”
Seol-hyang puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction.
She had always shown a perfect facade, but right now, in this moment, she seemed to have returned to the Jin Seol-hyang of the past.
“How did your last name change?”
“My mom remarried.”
As a child, I never knew why Seol-hyang had transferred schools.
I was too young to understand the adults’ conversations.
“My new father’s last name was Baek. So we changed my name while we were at it. My mom really liked him.”
“And now?”
“They’re both doing well. After I returned, my father helped a lot with establishing the Association.”
So it was only Seol-hyang who got caught in the dimensional shift.
My heart ached thinking of her, swept away to another dimension as an elementary schooler, having to survive and return on her own.
“I’m sorry. If only I had known sooner.”
I ended up rambling.
The thought that if I had just remembered and found her, I might have been able to do something, anything, for her.
“What are you sorry for?”
Seeing me like this, Seol-hyang raised her other hand and gently placed it over mine.
She then brought our joined hands to her face, holding them as if they were precious.
“I told you. I found stability while playing the game. You were helping me all along, Ha-chan.”
“All I did in the game was...”
“I liked that you hadn’t changed. Because you were the you from my most precious and happy memories.”
I was at a loss for words.
“Back then, I couldn’t get along with anyone. My dad went to jail after hitting my mom and me, and my mom, divorced from him, had to work every day to support me.”
Seol-hyang’s eyes closed as she reminisced.
“I had no energy for anything. The places my dad hit me had healed long ago, but they still hurt, and I was always alone when I came home.”
To a child, their parents are everything.
Seol-hyang’s life without them must have been so painful and lonely.
“At some point, being alone became normal. I didn’t even know what it meant to make friends, and I couldn’t bring myself to complain to my working mom. She must have been so worried about me.”
That past was a pain that would never disappear for her.
“But then, by chance, I became friends with a kid next door. Well, not really friends... he approached me first. He was such a bright kid that I tried to avoid him at first, but he was so persistent.”
“Sorry about that. You were just too pretty. Even little kids like pretty things.”
“Hehe, you smooth talker. But that kid who rang my doorbell every single day eventually started going to school with me, sitting next to me and playing pranks. We’d eat lunch together after school and play until we didn’t know where the day had gone. Then, night would come, and we’d fall asleep together. Those days continued, one after another.”
Seol-hyang slowly lowered her head and rested it on my shoulder.
“That... that made me so happy. I, who hadn't even known what loneliness was, became so lonely without him that I’d wait for him day and night. I’d look forward to the next day, just hoping it would come.”
Her voice, thick with emotion, trembled.
“Every single day was different. Waking up in the morning, getting ready with the thought of seeing him, going to school together... all of it. To me, it was so precious and huge that it was my salvation.”
I raised my hand and gently patted the back of Seol-hyang’s head.
At my touch, Seol-hyang rubbed her cheek against my hand and let out a small laugh.
“If it weren’t for those days, I wouldn’t have been able to survive until now. Whenever I was scared, or struggling, or exhausted, just thinking of those days would replenish my strength.”
I looked up at the sky.
The sun had completely set, and the night sky filled my vision.
“I like you.”
And then, Seol-hyang’s voice, which she had been holding back, reached my ears.
“I liked you so much back then, and I still like you so much now, Ha-chan.”
The night breeze swept past us.
I met Seol-hyang’s eyes as she lifted her head between the streetlights that had begun to flicker on, one by one.
The emotion in those eyes was so immense, so precious.
I couldn't bring myself to speak.
Her face slowly drew closer.
I could feel the heat from her face as it came within inches of mine.
And just before our lips could touch...
Seol-hyang stopped.
“And I know it’s not the right time yet.”
In that moment, I felt a soft touch on my forehead.
Finally snapping back to my senses, I flinched. Seol-hyang pulled her lips away from my forehead and gave me a gentle smile.
“I don’t want to push my feelings on you just because of our past. So I’ll wait until I find a place in your heart, Ha-chan.”
She wore a variety of expressions I had never seen before today, as if to say she would be content with this for now.
“Just don’t make me wait too long.”
“...Okay.”
That was all I could say right now.
After learning she was my old childhood friend and realizing the feelings she had for me, I couldn't speak carelessly.
Seol-hyang met my eyes, then stood up and turned away from me.
“This is it for today. I don’t think I can hold back much longer either.”
As she said this, her ears were flushed a deep red.
She seemed to think that if I couldn't see her face, I wouldn't know how red it was.
Seeing that, I understood just how much courage she had mustered today.
“...Is it okay if I call you again when I get home?”
She glanced back at me and asked shyly. I had no choice but to nod.
“You can call every day.”
“Hehe, aren’t you leading me on a little?”
“My head’s a mess right now from taking in so much at once, but I have a lot I want to talk about, too. From why you created the Returnee Association to how you’ve lived your life. I have a mountain of questions.”
Even if I couldn't immediately answer her feelings, there was so much for Seol-hyang and me to talk about.
A dense pile of stories waiting to be unraveled, one by one.
“So, it’s good to see you again, Jin Seol-hyang.”
Seol-hyang’s eyes widened for a moment, then a smile bloomed on her face along with welling tears.
I thought that smile was more beautiful than any I had ever seen.
“Yeah, Ha-chan.”
My long-lost childhood friend was still the same as she’d always been.
*
4
Having practically fled from Ha-chan, Seol-hyang sat in her car, her cheeks still burning red.
Jin Seol-hyang.
Her old name.
The moment Ha-chan said it again, memories from that distant past flooded her once more.
‘I like him. I like him so much.’
Inside the car, she cupped one cheek with her hand while wildly flailing her other arm.
It felt good.
To know that the owner of her one and only happy memory remembered her.
She was happy.
That the person from those wonderful memories was still the same.
‘I like you.’
Those three words, which made her heart feel like it would explode just by saying them, threw her mind into turmoil once again.
On top of that, the memory of Ha-chan’s expression when she revealed she was ‘IKnowit’ made her start shaking her legs uncontrollably.
‘He was so cute.’
Perhaps because she had harbored these feelings for so long, she couldn't control herself right now.
She couldn't remember the last time she had felt this happy.
However, there were still a few problems with the current situation.
Ha-chan would surely spend a long time mulling over her confession.
Given his personality, it was obvious he would be reluctant to date anyone until he found Kang Ma-ri.
Knowing this, she had deliberately structured things to postpone his answer.
Instead, she had made a decisive move to make him conscious of her.
The problem was, she wasn't the only woman attached to Ha-chan.
‘Heavenly Demon.’
First, there was Cheon Hong-ryeon, the Heavenly Demon, Ha-chan’s gaming friend and "little sister."
Thinking of her, Seol-hyang’s eyes turned slightly cold.
Despite pretending to be direct, she was actually quite shy and couldn't bring herself to make an aggressive move on Ha-chan.
On top of that, Ha-chan had considered her a boy for so long that he was oblivious to her romantic feelings.
‘And Ha Si-ho.’
A girl who was the complete opposite of her, with her height and figure.
At first, Seol-hyang thought she would never get involved with Ha-chan, but after the deserted island incident, she started getting closer to him, and after the Kwak Sa-yeon affair, she had fallen for him completely.
The way Si-ho looked at Ha-chan, she was utterly captivated, seeing nothing but him.
Like a teenager burning with love, she did reckless things without a second thought, and her spatial teleportation was, frankly, cheating.
Moreover, due to the circumstances, Ha-chan saw himself as Si-ho’s guardian and couldn't bring himself to push her away.
But there was a blind spot.
For Ha-chan, who would live a virtuous life even without laws, the fact that she was a minor was a huge obstacle.
‘Three more months.’
The moment 2031 arrived, Si-ho would become an adult.
Then, the rule about her being a minor would disappear.
So, she had to make her move before then.
Besides these two, a few other potential figures were in Seol-hyang’s mind.
“Seriously, why is he so popular?”
She bit her lip with a slightly sulky expression.
She was happy that other people recognized the worth of the person she liked, but the growing number of competitors was a major source of worry.
“I liked him first.”
She muttered, leaning her head lightly against the window.
Should I just push him down?
Ha-chan would definitely take responsibility until the very end.
As the thought crossed her mind, Seol-hyang’s face began to heat up.
‘What am I thinking?’
Even so, she glanced down at her own body.
Even to her, a woman, she had large breasts and a seductive figure.
Ha-chan was a man, after all.
She was well aware that his gaze naturally drifted in her direction from time to time.
Wouldn't Ha-chan want it too?
He must have thought, at least once, that he wanted to do whatever he pleased with this.
“Ah, hngh.”
Even the breath escaping her lips was hot. She let out a small scream and slapped her own face.
What good would it do to just have Ha-chan’s body?
Unless she won his true heart, it couldn't be called a victory.
‘First, it’s Sister Mari. As long as her situation isn’t resolved, I can’t date Ha-chan either.’
She clenched her fists.
It was just like her to try and seize even love with her own two hands.
*
5
On the way home after parting with Seol-hyang.
A person appeared and fell into step beside me.
It was Baeksan.
He had vanished earlier, only to reappear now, walking next to me.
“Is it finally over?”
“Yeah. Baeksan, you knew from the beginning, didn't you?”
“...I did.”
He was Baeksan, a regressor from the future.
Of course, he would have known about my relationship with Seol-hyang all along.
But he probably didn't say anything because he wanted us to resolve it ourselves.
“Thanks. For waiting.”
“I didn’t do anything to deserve your thanks.”
I chuckled at his prickly response.
At the same time, I decided to ask a question that had been on my mind.
“Baeksan, can I ask you something I’m curious about?”
“Tch, I have a good idea what it is, but go ahead.”
“Seol-hyang’s mother remarried a man with the last name Baek. And there’s the way you reacted to Seol-hyang.”
This was something that had been nagging at me.
Baeksan’s unusually sensitive reactions to Seol-hyang had always bothered me.
“By any chance, is Seol-hyang’s stepfather your father?”
As I asked the question, Baeksan stopped walking and slowly scratched his head.
“Yeah.”
So that was it.
Now I finally understood Baeksan’s reactions.
“After I was caught in the dimensional shift, the Iron-Blooded Empress returned, and then I returned after her. That was the first time we met, but I’d heard all about her from my mother. So, yeah, legally, we were family. Though it was annoying how she tried to pull the older sister card just because she was born a few months earlier.”
He was grumbling, but I could see why Baeksan had been particularly close to Seol-hyang.
“So the reason you didn’t call Seol-hyang by her name was because you were embarrassed, huh?”
“What—No, you little shit! What kind of weird misunderstanding are you having?!”
“Ooh, gotta run!”
I laughed as Baeksan’s shouting echoed behind me.
At the same time, a thought crossed my mind.
I wanted to see with my own two eyes the day when Baeksan and Seol-hyang could bicker and get along together.