The Loner Visits Lee Narin’s House
Saturday, the day of Lee Narin’s birthday party, we gathered in front of the building before going inside her home.
The reason was simple: we wanted to swap the gifts we’d brought so that Narin wouldn’t be able to guess in advance who had brought what.
After all, one of the biggest events at this birthday party was watching her unwrap each present and try to figure out who it came from.
"Gaaah... this is heavier than I expected."
I handed my prepared samdanbong to Han Sia and took the present Yu Somi had given me in return.
But the rectangular box she’d brought was so heavy it felt as if it were packed solid with dense books.
...Huh? Wait. A rectangular box... and books...
"Oh. Could there be manga in here? Judging by the size of the box, it’s probably about five volumes’ worth."
"Shh! That’s a secret until Narin opens it!"
"...Isn’t it only a problem if Narin doesn’t know?"
In truth, if anyone picked up this rectangular box, they’d immediately think, Okay, I don’t know what it is, but whatever’s inside is definitely a book.
And with that many volumes lined up together, it had to be either a novel series or a manga series.
Still... now that I knew the contents of her gift box were manga, I found myself curious about what kind of series Yu Somi had recommended.
The present-opening ceremony was getting interesting.
...
Then Song Changwon, who had received his gift from Han Sia, spoke in a tone that made it clear he thought the whole thing was absurd.
"What is this giant teddy bear? You knew there was going to be a present-opening ceremony, Han Sia, so why didn’t you even try to hide the gift?"
"Who wraps up a giant teddy bear as a present? Something like this is supposed to be hugged the moment you receive it, touched properly, and then photographed on the spot for the memory of it."
Honestly, packing something that large so it couldn’t be seen would be difficult anyway.
It would only make the shape of the gift weird.
Even so, Song Changwon’s expression as he held the black bear plush still looked dissatisfied.
Well... there was no way a guy like him had prepared something like that, so from Narin’s perspective, it would at least be easier to guess who the gift came from.
For reference, the present Song Changwon had prepared was neatly wrapped in a square, boxy gift package, with nothing at all to hint at its contents.
.
.
.
"Welcome. Thanks so much for coming, everyone."
Lee Narin’s officetel had two rooms besides the living room, so it was quite spacious.
It was clearly built with the idea that at least two people would live there.
But no matter how nice extra space sounded, if you were trying to use the place alone, the monthly rent would be the kind of number that made ordinary office workers wince when it left their bank accounts.
If a chaebol family hadn’t been covering Narin’s food, clothing, and living expenses, it would have been impossible for a high school girl to use a place like this by herself.
And yet... once we stepped through the entryway and took in the living room, it felt oddly strange.
The dining table, which clearly had been pulled out in a hurry for this party.
The TV, which looked like it had been sitting there since before she even moved in, never once used by anyone.
And the glittering decorations pasted up for this birthday party.
That was everything in Lee Narin’s living room.
There was no sofa, no cushions, no exercise equipment, no potted plants.
If you cleared away the table and decorations prepared for the party, nothing would be left at all.
At that point, I realized that Narin was not using her living room at all.
"Where should we put the gifts? Should we leave them in the room for now and bring them back out later?"
"Put them in the room on the left for now. It’s empty."
Thanks to Yu Somi asking where to leave the presents, I naturally got the chance to check the state of the other room as well.
But... the room we looked into really was completely empty, just as Narin had said.
There wasn’t a single piece of furniture or any stacked belongings, and yet there wasn’t even a speck of dust, which meant she must have been cleaning it.
Normally, people would at least use an extra room as storage, but in this case it almost felt as if...
She didn’t consider the living room or the spare room to be part of her home.
In the end, I couldn’t hold back and decided to ask her why.
"It looks like you barely use the living room or this room on a normal basis. Is there a reason?"
"Not really. It’s just that this place was too big for one person to live in. Even if I’m alone in a huge space, it doesn’t feel all that comfortable, so I prefer staying in my room. After that, there just wasn’t any reason to keep things in the living room or the other room."
"Then why not use it as storage, at least?"
"The built-in closet is enough for storage already. Besides, if I stack up unnecessary things, cleaning the floor just becomes a pain. Like I said, this place is too big for one person to manage on their own."
Was that all it was?
Everything Narin said made sense.
And yet, an inexplicable sliver of unease still lingered in my heart and wouldn’t go away.
.
.
.
Until the food we’d ordered for the birthday party arrived, we had time to sit around the table and talk.
Since the actual party hadn’t started yet, our conversation naturally drifted toward Lee Narin’s everyday life.
Especially Yu Somi and Han Sia, who had never lived on their own, seemed curious about how Narin, who had been living alone for years, actually got by.
"So if you live alone, you have to do all your laundry and cleaning yourself, right? Just keeping up with schoolwork is a headache, so doesn’t it get exhausting when you have to handle all the housework too?"
"I suppose. But since I keep everything outside my room empty, cleaning is easy, and laundry and dishes are only for me anyway, so it’s not a problem."
Narin answered Yu Somi with confidence.
Before I regressed, I’d had my own experience with living alone, and I remembered how miserable it felt to lose so much time to mundane tasks like cleaning and laundry... She really did seem to be unusually capable at handling life.
"Though... when something like a light bulb needs replacing, it can be inconvenient. For safety, it’s better if someone’s there watching."
"My, how dangerous. So that household doesn’t even replace a light bulb for you? ...Ahem. What about meals? If you’re living alone, cooking every time must be a lot of work."
Han Sia subtly—no, openly—criticized Song Changwon’s family right in front of Narin.
Song Changwon’s face soured at her words, but he didn’t have much to say, apparently because he hadn’t realized she was handling even electrical work by herself.
"I usually just cook for myself. Supermarkets sell ingredients that are already prepped, so it’s not as much work as you’d think. Still, since I can’t eat much by myself, I don’t often make meals that require buying a lot at once. That part is a little disappointing."
The inconveniences Narin felt while living alone were less about being short-handed and more about the problems that simply couldn’t be avoided because she was alone.
Cleaning and laundry could be handled if she just worked a little more diligently... but the fact that no one was there to keep an eye on her during dangerous tasks, or that she had no one to eat with and thus had limited meal options—those were things she couldn’t solve just by being more hardworking.
...
Still, it seemed like Narin wouldn’t have to worry about those problems anymore.
Because her friend was Yu Somi.
"Narin! If something like that happens, don’t hesitate—call me from now on! It’s not even far from school, so it’s no burden at all, and I can definitely help replace a light bulb or eat a meal with you."
"Can you really do that?"
"Of course! That’s what friends are for—living for each other until death parts them, right? In fact, if you don’t say things like that quickly, it’s basically betraying your friend!"
"...Was that really what friendship meant?"
Narin seemed to find Yu Somi’s words a little unsettling, but beyond that she didn’t react much.
It would probably take more time before she realized she was in a rather strange situation.
Ha. Give up, Lee Narin. This was already over the moment you bit down on Yu Somi’s anime bait.
In the end, the girls resumed their ordinary conversation as if nothing had happened.
"Since this officetel is close to the busy district, there are hospitals and supermarkets nearby, and the school is close too. For living alone, I think this is about the best location possible."
"Wow... my house is close to school too, but I have to walk forever just to get to the shopping district."
"And compared with those villa-style monthly rental rooms, the common spaces are managed much better, and there’s even a security guard, so it’s reassuring even if you live alone."
"Ian. What do I do? If Narin handed me a real estate contract right now, I think I’d accidentally stamp it before I knew what I was doing..."
Pull yourself together, Yu Somi. We’re here for a housewarming, not to buy a house.
"Of course, the rent is just as high, and the maintenance fees are steep too. If Song Changwon’s family weren’t paying for it, I would never have lived somewhere like this..."
At Narin’s words, Han Sia suddenly looked serious as she spoke.
"...If some chaebol family ever uses that as leverage to ask you for something strange, refuse them outright. No matter how rich they are, if they mess with a high school girl the wrong way, they won’t enjoy the aftermath."
"Han Sia, just what kind of image do you have of our family? We don’t do things like that."
Listening to my friends talk, it seemed that Narin was, in her own way, pretty satisfied with life in this officetel.
When I’d seen that the living room and one of the rooms were completely empty, I’d even worried there might be something wrong with the place... but that wasn’t it, was it?
By the way, I’d heard that some officetels didn’t have proper soundproofing and could end up with problems from noise between floors.
I’d never lived in an officetel before my regression, so I wasn’t sure, but maybe this was a good chance to check.
"Do you ever have problems because of the neighbors? Like noise from upstairs, or cigarette smoke drifting in from another unit?"
"Fortunately, nothing like that has happened so far. Though... I don’t know which apartment it is, but every Friday night it seems like a couple nearby spends the evening drowning in passionate love, so when the house is quiet, I can hear it pretty clearly, which is a little annoying."
...
At Narin’s utterly unanticipated remark, everyone present froze for a moment.
Come to think of it, this was an officetel with two rooms.
It was an excellent setup for a couple working nearby to live together.
During the week, they were probably too tired and busy from work to do much besides collapse, but when Friday came around and they knew the next day was a holiday, they spent the night acting on instinct.
The casual hints Narin had dropped had made the neighboring couple’s situation far too vivid in my imagination... and that was embarrassingly specific.
But she continued speaking without the slightest concern for our reactions.
"It’s not loud enough to be much of a problem, but when I’m lying in a quiet house... it’s surprisingly easy to hear. Still, these days I’ve been watching the anime Somi recommended, so it hasn’t really bothered me. It’s no problem at all."
So Yu Somi dragging Narin onto the path of an otaku had actually been helpful in this regard. Small mercies.
...
Even so, hearing such blunt talk directly from a classmate was apparently still too much for minors to process.
Song Changwon was still wearing an awkward smile long after Narin finished speaking, clearly embarrassed.
Yu Somi, for some reason, kept glancing my way with her face bright red.
And Han Sia...
"How much is a place like this in rent? If I become independent someday, maybe I should live somewhere like this too..."
What exactly are you seriously thinking about right now?
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