Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Learning (4)
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Do Ji-hyeok was flustered.
"Why... why are you here?"
There were only a few people who knew the passcode to his house, so he'd naturally assumed it was Im A-rin. Seol Ju-hee's unexpected appearance left him utterly thrown.
"What, did you think it was A-rin?"
Seol Ju-hee felt a twinge of annoyance at Do Ji-hyeok's instinctive search for Im A-rin. She clicked her tongue with a cold expression, glaring at him.
"You trash bastard... After messing around with that slut Lee Hye-ri, you dare mention A-rin?"
"...What?"
Do Ji-hyeok's face twisted at her sudden outburst of profanity.
Seol Ju-hee grew even angrier at his reaction, condemning his promiscuity.
"How can a person be such a mess? Spreading your legs like a whore for anyone who comes along?"
"Seol Ju-hee. What the hell are you...!"
Unable to take it anymore, Do Ji-hyeok tossed his bag aside and tried to rebut her words...
"Shut up."
Her fury from ten years of unrequited love being betrayed was far from over.
"You filthy traitor. You abandoned us for Sejin Guild, and now you're seeing A-rin? She falls for it because she's too kind, and now you think you're untouchable?"
Do Ji-hyeok felt utterly wronged.
He'd never abandoned Queens, never joined Sejin Guild, and certainly hadn't deceived Im A-rin.
Even so, he tried to stay calm and resolve her misunderstanding through talk.
"Ju-hee. I don't know what misunderstanding this is, but I...!"
At that moment.
"One more word."
Seol Ju-hee cut him off, radiating chilling killing intent.
"I'm barely holding back from ripping that disgusting face to shreds, only because of our past ties."
"You..."
"Don't hurt A-rin any more. End it with her now."
It was a one-sided declaration.
Do Ji-hyeok's fingers began to tremble under the sharp killing intent aimed at his throat. Resisting the survival instincts screaming in his head, he shot back at her warning.
"...And who are you to say that?"
"What?"
He didn't like it.
Her arbitrary misunderstanding, unleashing killing intent on him, and now meddling in his relationship with Im A-rin.
"Whether I date A-rin or not... who are you to keep interfering?"
"...Ha."
Seol Ju-hee let out a hollow laugh of disbelief as she withdrew her killing intent. Do Ji-hyeok caught his breath and pressed on.
"...I don't care what you think of me, but A-rin is different."
"You call that words? Toying with a naive girl, and what?"
Do Ji-hyeok closed his eyes briefly at the word "naive," then opened them and responded calmly.
"She's not naive—she trusts me. Why do you keep forcing your views on her?"
"What? Forcing?"
"A-rin is an adult. She's not a kid you get to boss around!"
As his voice rose, Seol Ju-hee shot to her feet. She stepped close, locking eyes with him, and whispered coldly.
"A-rin is like family to me—a precious friend. I can't stand seeing her hurt."
Friend.
That single word instantly quelled Do Ji-hyeok's boiling emotions.
"...Then what am I?"
The first emotion Do Ji-hyeok felt upon falling into this other world was crushing loneliness.
Over twenty years of life vanished in an instant,
No one recognized "Do Ji-hyeok" anywhere, despite shared language,
And there wasn't even a tiny space to rest.
Floundering in extreme isolation, if he hadn't "by chance" met Im A-rin, he probably wouldn't be alive now.
"I..."
Having started a new life, Do Ji-hyeok had devoted himself without hesitation to saving Seol Ju-hee, his favorite character from his favorite novel.
For the true protagonist "friend," not the fake one like himself.
Having treated them with nothing but sincere heart all this time, he couldn't shake the emptiness.
"Wasn't I your friend...?"
Seol Ju-hee froze at the sadness in Do Ji-hyeok's eyes,
"I... thought you saw me as a friend."
Do Ji-hyeok met her wavering gaze and poured out the heavy truth buried deep in his heart.
"...Even when you showed up with that damn video. Even when you cursed me as trash without hearing me out. Even when the team I devoted ten years to discarded me like trash, without a single word. Until now... I've never once thought of you as anything but a friend."
"That's...!"
Seol Ju-hee panicked at Do Ji-hyeok's earnest confrontation.
Her mind screamed he was trying to deceive her,
But the Do Ji-hyeok before her spoke only unadulterated truth.
"Ah, you must've been really pissed. Even I get it—looks just like me, easy to misunderstand. I figured once time passed and I cleared it up as a misunderstanding, we'd go back to being friends."
Just like the day she saw him collapsed, pity began to well up deep in Seol Ju-hee's heart.
'No. I...!'
Overwhelmed by inexplicable anxiety, Seol Ju-hee desperately tried to stop him...
"That's not...!"
"...But you weren't."
Spilled water couldn't be gathered back.
'Ah, no, no...!'
Seol Ju-hee felt like her brain had turned to mush.
Her thought process was in chaos.
"...Ah, no... No!!!"
In her confusion, she clutched her head and finally noticed the anomaly.
A clear contradiction in accepting Do Ji-hyeok as a traitorous sleaze.
The only reason she believed he was trash was that "video."
At first, she'd doubted it was fake, insisting he wouldn't do that. But the moment she saw him with another woman and felt "betrayed," it became undeniable fact.
Like a hole had formed, the middle process was blank.
"Ugh..."
While Seol Ju-hee drowned in confusion,
Do Ji-hyeok, having bared his soul, took a deep breath and spoke plainly.
"Thank you for saving me before. I truly owe you my life, so I'm sincerely grateful."
A stiff, formal thanks.
No emotion left.
"If you need compensation, just say the word. That's... all I can offer."
"You...!"
"Think what you want of me. See me as a womanizing scum or a backstabbing betrayer who ditched our ten-year team like trash. Whatever."
"Do Ji-hyeok!"
"I'll... end things with A-rin soon too. I don't want to see you two fighting because of me."
Seol Ju-hee clenched her innocent fist in suffocating frustration.
He was the one she'd loved enough to promise spending their first night together on the same day, same place as her friends.
The person she'd cherished more than anyone, whom she'd assumed would naturally take her purity.
Learning he was a dirty man sleeping around felt so unjust, yet he was turning it around on her—it was maddening.
'Why...!'
But she couldn't voice that injustice.
The moment she did, she'd have no way to explain her own contradictory shift from "precious" to this.
"...Just leave now."
"!"
Seol Ju-hee's emotions surged at Do Ji-hyeok's eviction order.
That wasn't why she'd come.
She truly hated him, wanted to kill him even, but she'd come out of genuine worry.
She'd just gotten mad on the way, hearing about Sejin Guild.
But.
Like before, Seol Ju-hee couldn't utter a single word.
"......"
Seol Ju-hee glanced at Do Ji-hyeok,
And left to pack and go, leaving his sunken gaze behind.
Dark house.
Im A-rin, watching the large screen alone, let out a sigh of disappointment.
"...She's gone..."
Slumping into the plush chair, Im A-rin averted her gaze from the screen and fumbled across the desk, searching for something.
Grab─
Soon, an unidentified pill in her hand.
Im A-rin examined the foil-packed tablets, checking the remaining count.
"Hmm..."
About eleven left.
The pills inside were milky-white liquid, with no drug info or labels anywhere—not a standard medication.
Pop─
She extracted one from the foil and deeply inhaled the faint scent wafting out.
"...Haaa..."
Her face melted in melting bliss as she sighed wistfully.
Setting the rest aside, she swallowed the pooling saliva and licked up the pill.
She rolled it between her inner molars, then slowly crushed it.
Crunch──
The soft capsule burst under pressure, spilling its milky contents,
And Im A-rin threw her head back in intense pleasure from the fragrant fullness and satisfaction flooding her mouth.
"Urgh..."
Shuddering head to toe like reaching climax, lost in ecstasy.
Savoring the potent body scent piercing her brain, she held her breath—not wasting a drop,
Then, at her limit, exhaled hot breaths with faint moans.
"Huuu..."
Like being high on illegal drugs...
Gulp─
But what she'd swallowed wasn't illegal.
"...Haa..."
Leaning deep into the chair, savoring the lingering pleasure, Im A-rin cautiously opened her eyes and stared blankly into space.
Sitting dazed in the chair for a while, she shifted her gaze to the massive monitor on the desk,
Watched Do Ji-hyeok drinking alone solemnly, placed a hand between her breast and thigh, savored his undeparted scent, and whispered softly.
"...Just wait a little... I'll save you soon..."