Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Excuse
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[But senior.
What's your relationship with Si-eun senior?
Are you two dating, by any chance?]
Receiving that message left me speechless for a moment.
They'd already formed a group, and now I was bringing in some other person. On top of that, someone who didn't even seem that close to me—an opposite-sex acquaintance at that. It was only natural for them to have questions.
"What do they say?"
Lost in thought, I heard Si-eun ask quietly.
"They say it's fine, but..."
"Then we're good."
"There's one problem, though."
She tilted her head toward me, as if asking, "What is it?"
Her face showed she had no clue at all. Had Si-eun not even considered this far?
"They're asking what our relationship is."
"Ah."
Only then did Si-eun seem to grasp the situation, letting out a soft sound. She hadn't thought of it either, apparently.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. It's a hard situation to understand."
"Right?"
If Si-eun was just pitying me and letting me tag along, that'd be easy to accept. But the other way around? No matter how you looked at it, it felt unnatural.
Even without this group, Si-eun could've easily found someone else to join. Yet here she was, insisting on coming into mine. It was bound to raise suspicions of something special between us.
Si-eun lowered her head slightly and touched her lips, deep in thought.
"What should we do?"
"Beats me."
Si-eun didn't seem to have any good ideas either. Of course, I hadn't prepared any countermeasures myself.
I tapped idly on the desk, racking my brain for an excuse, when Si-eun finally spoke up.
"We should probably settle on something now."
"Like what?"
"How we're gonna explain it, I mean."
With that, she crossed her arms and began explaining.
"It's not just this kid—other people might notice too down the line. What if someone sees us together in front of the house? How would you talk your way out of that?"
"Well, maybe say we just happened to bump into each other on the way."
"That might fly once. But if it keeps happening, suspicions are gonna build up, right?"
She had a point.
This apartment was pretty close to campus. Plenty of our schoolmates probably passed by here, and who knows—maybe some even lived nearby.
If one of them spotted us? "Coincidence" only works so many times. Once rumors started flying, there'd be no stopping them. We needed a consistent story for situations like that.
"First off, just one thing I wanna confirm."
"What?"
"You don't want anyone knowing you're working as a housekeeper at my place, right?"
"Pretty much."
Si-eun nodded calmly.
"Even putting aside the part about it being my house, I just don't want to reveal that I'm doing this kind of part-time job at all. It'd ruin the image I've built up."
She was that meticulous about every little detail? I figured telling people about a part-time gig like this wouldn't be a big deal—but living with me was another story.
Still, it wasn't my place to meddle in her life. I kept that thought to myself.
An excuse that hid her housekeeping job but still explained us being together without issues.
"One idea does come to mind."
"What?"
I took a breath to speak, eyeing Si-eun's blinking gaze—then promptly shut my mouth. On second thought, this might not be such a great idea.
But from my reaction alone, Si-eun seemed to catch on and tossed out a guess.
"You mean... say we're dating?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
Hearing my confirmation, surprise flickered in Si-eun's eyes.
It was the simplest solution, of course. Easy to explain why we lived together and ate the same meals. Cleaner than any other excuse.
But for Si-eun, rumors of dating a guy like me? She'd hate that. Totally understandable—she was already hiding her housekeeping job.
"Look, from your perspective, having rumors like that about us would suck, right? That's why I didn't say it."
"It's not that..."
She trailed off, lips twitching in some unreadable expression.
"Still, all things considered, it doesn't seem like a good idea."
"Yeah, thought so."
Scrap that plan, then.
We needed something else. Not dating, but a relationship where being seen together near the house multiple times wouldn't raise eyebrows. What could fit that bill?
"Um, it's a bit of a stretch, but..."
Si-eun looked at me again as I started. This time, I pressed on without stopping.
"What if we say you're my next-door neighbor?"
"Next-door neighbor?"
"Yeah. Then it wouldn't be weird if we're seen together around the house. Running into your neighbor out front isn't anything special."
"Well, true."
Si-eun gave a small nod.
"And for joining the group, I can say it's because you live next door and can come drag me into it if I slack off."
"That's a pretty violent excuse."
"People who don't pull their weight in group projects deserve a smack."
Fair enough.
At any rate, Si-eun seemed on board with the neighbor story. Who knows if something better would come up later, but for now, this was our best bet.
"Alright, from now on, we're next-door neighbors."
"Got it. Guess we'll both have to watch what we say going forward."
"Yeah."
Not like anyone talked to me anyway, so I probably wouldn't even get the chance to slip up.
With that in mind, I picked up my phone. Time to text So-hye as we'd decided.
[Truth is, she lives next door. Makes it convenient since she can come straight over if needed.]
Reply came quick.
[Oh, really?]
I typed back.
[Yeah.]
Next was a salute emoji with an "OK!" speech bubble. Looked like she bought it—no suspicions there.
I set the phone back on the desk.
Hired a housekeeper to avoid hassle, and somehow the hassles just keep piling up. How did it come to this?
Letting out a heavy sigh loaded with all sorts of frustrations, I noticed Si-eun peering at me from the side.
"You look annoyed."
"How'd you know?"
"Same face you make when I show up with snacks."
Then don't show up.
Si-eun fiddled with the ends of her hair and added,
"I'll try to keep it hidden so I don't cause you any trouble. Won't mention dinner menus or anything... Oh, and on days when our last lectures overlap, I'll have to take the long way around from now on."
She muttered "What else?" while folding her fingers one by one, like she was listing out every potential risk of us crossing paths.
I tossed out casually to Si-eun,
"Why go to all that trouble? It's a hassle."
"...What do you mean?"
She looked puzzled. Well, I hadn't thought too deeply about it myself, but basically:
"You've already got plenty to worry about day-to-day. You don't need to stress over bothering me too."
Saving money, maintaining relationships, focusing on studies, keeping up appearances—it was a full plate already. No need to burden her with pointless stuff like this.
"If it's just about you not wanting to get caught, fine. But if it's for my sake, don't bother."
That was the whole message.
I looked at Si-eun after finishing. She stared back, wide-eyed and blank.
Had she not gotten it? Then her mouth opened.
"You know,"
"Yeah?"
"You go on about how you don't like people, or how you don't care about anyone else—like some edgy middle schooler. But in the end, you're looking out for others."
"What?"
Her out-of-left-field comment made me do a double take, but Si-eun just smiled faintly and kept going.
"Isn't it? The room, the furniture. You find me annoying but don't kick me out. And what you just said was worrying about me, right?"
I reflected on it. Was I really looking out for Si-eun? No, this wasn't concern so much as...
"I did it 'cause I wanted to. Not out of any concern for you."
Si-eun burst into a quiet chuckle at my response, like it was hilarious.
"You're terrible at excuses."
"No, it's not an excuse..."
"Got it. I'll be more careful from now on."
She drew her own conclusion and stood up before I could even finish, then trotted out of the room without giving me a chance to stop her.
"Huh..."
Left alone, all I could do was let out another sigh.