Close Yet Distant (7)
"Marry me?"
"No."
"Ugh. At least pretend to agonize over it."
By now the sun had fully set. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows of the living room, the apartment complex's night view unfolded, and the moment the smell of incredible food drifted my way, Yujin woke up from her nap.
"Kimchi stew. Egg roll. Grilled tofu. Stir-fried potatoes. Seasoned bean sprouts. And on top of all that, roasted seaweed… Can I really eat all of this?"
"If you'd just wiped the seaweed powder off your lips before talking, it would've been perfect."
"It's delicious!"
Yujin grinned and tucked into the side dishes with vigor. Her reactions were great, and she ate so heartily that a smile crept onto my face on its own.
"If you need more rice, just say so."
"At this rate I need at least five more bowls."
"Sorry. I should've gone to your place and brought some back."
"Did you know there's instant rice on that shelf over there?"
"…How did you know that?"
Maybe she knows our apartment better than I do. A brief worry flickered—what if she knows my stock account password too?—but…
"Eat up!"
"Eat a lot. I'm not going to cook for the next five years anyway."
"Then I should ask you to cook for my birthday as a gift~."
"Then I'll reject that request on my birthday. You know I was born two days before you, right?"
"Then I'll just bring the birthday gift request up a year early."
"Sorry. Let's stop since you're being so childish."
A dinner eating rice while watching YouTube alone would've been boring. This was considerably more fun.
…
"You should head home now…."
"Ah, I should've brought my school uniform~."
"Your house is 2302, not 2102. And it's my bed you should be sleeping in, not yours."
"Yuseol, if you keep talking like that, am I gonna get jealous? Where does mine end and yours begin between us?"
"Then am I supposed to sleep over at your place?"
"Yeah. I'll allow it."
"……."
9 PM. She'd showered and brushed her teeth, yet the princess showed no sign of leaving. Instead, she'd set aside clothes to change into and was waiting for me to come back while watching YouTube. Or rather—why did she keep putting on my training clothes? There's another bathroom anyway, so why was she waiting?
"…Whatever. I'm going to sleep."
I sighed lightly and went to the laundry room to toss the dirty clothes in the machine.
"Aaah~. Don't go. Play with me a little longer."
Yujin couldn't stand waiting the moment I came back to the living room, so she raised her voice. I trudged back and replied.
"…The exam's over, but today's Wednesday. Aren't you going to school tomorrow?"
"That's why. Can't you just let me take a sick day?"
"Did you ever hear of something called 'legally mandated school days'?"
"…Our Yujin is really talented at killing the mood."
"Should I apply to become a master of living?"
"Shut up! At least relate to me!"
Yujin scrunched her brows furiously and charged at me with a da-da-da run. It's impolite to dash around the living room at night, so I immediately held up both hands in a surrender gesture. But that wasn't going to work.
"Refree…! Referee stop…!"
"I'm the referee here! Didn't you learn at school that if a friend tells you to relate, you relate?!"
"They never taught us that kind of thing…?!"
"I'll teach you Spartan-style, so learn!"
She immediately tossed me onto the sofa and cleanly executed a rear naked choke. I'm supposed to not know Brazilian jiu-jitsu, so how does she know this technique? More importantly, I'm dead. This is genuinely a dangerous technique.
"You gonna take it out or do I use force?"
"Huh? Are you saying you want to use force on this fragile Yujin?"
"I don't want that, so please take it out."
"Please, Eye-kid. If you say it like that, I'll let you."
"…I'm just going to die like this."
"Okay. Then die."
When I humbly chose death, Yujin nodded without changing her expression. …Ah, right. …This kid.
"W-wait?!"
"Is that declaration of last words? Are you okay sending me off like that?"
A mount position followed the rear naked choke. As a seven-year practitioner of jiu-jitsu, she was definitely a talent I'd want to recruit. But… "…Punch me or something, I guess."
Yujin's two arms passed right beside my head. Her upper body tipped forward, and her hair naturally fell downward. Naturally, her chest was now plainly visible. I had no idea when she'd undone the shirt buttons, but I confirmed it again today. Chae Yujin, as a jiu-jitsu practitioner, has tremendous talent—of course, the fact that she doesn't see me as a man at all. But she can't exactly execute escapes on random people on a narrow sofa either…
"…Fine."
"What?"
"Please…."
I just obediently did as she wanted.
"Heh heh."
Only then did Yujin smile with satisfaction. The warmth of her breath brushed my face from close range, but soon she lifted her upper body, and the relatively awkward situation was over.
"But where'd Eye-kid go?"
"…Tch. Even though there's an older sister in the picture, you're a little…."
"Ugh! Why is the older sister topic coming up right now?!"
Right, I should've just said it. This kid's pride. "I'm annoyed because you keep getting compared to your older sister…!"
Yujin leaned her upper body forward again, trying to re-apply a full mount position.
"S-sorry! I'm begging you, older sister…!"
I naturally grabbed her two shoulders with both arms to try to secure some space.
"Too late! I already narrowed it down!"
The promising jiu-jitsu practitioner did her best to close the gap.
"Uuugh…!!"
"I really am sorry, okay?!"
An unrelenting back-and-forth. If we kept going, I'd be worn out and end up in some pathetic state, and the thought of going to school like that made me start considering pulling back. ♪ ♩ ♫ ♪— A phone ringing from beside my head. My phone was in the room, so it was Yujin's.
"Ugh."
Yujin shot me a glance, as if pleased by her luck. She released the mount position and grabbed her phone.
But… "……." An expression that anyone could see meant she really didn't want to answer. Still, there was only one person who'd call at this hour, so I spoke first. "You should head home soon, right?"
"…I was about to."
Yujin stuffed the phone back into her pocket without answering, her tone clipped. She looked so unwilling to go home that she stuck her lips out, sighed deeply, and squeezed her eyes shut.
"I'm leaving…."
But how could I let her leave like that? Yujin trudged toward the entrance with a dejected expression. I watched her retreating back and, just as the door was about to open, said offhandedly. "I have a favor to ask."
Truthfully, calling it "offhanded" was generous—regret hit the moment the words left my mouth. Apparently, even reincarnating twice wouldn't fix this.
"…What favor."
"If nothing's wrong, text me."
"…Ugh. What's that supposed to mean?"
Yujin grabbed the doorknob and turned her head to glare at me. Her expression suggested she thought I was joking, but there was no way. "Exactly what I said. If nothing's wrong, send me a KakaoTalk. If something's wrong, don't contact me."
"……."
"I'm serious."
"…You can tell just by looking at your eyes, can't you?"
Her eyes had narrowed slightly. Still, since I kept the same expression, Yujin seemed to have no choice but to sigh and look away. "…You're something else."
She muttered quietly, but because she'd turned her head straight on, I couldn't tell what expression she'd made or what she'd said.
"…I'll KakaoTalk you if nothing's wrong. Yuseol, you owe me for that favor—I'm watching anime reviews for the next hour."
"That's a bit scary."
"Hmph."
Yujin whipped her head around and slipped out through the door. The door closed softly behind her. Just one person had left, yet the silence settled in mere seconds.
"…Really, sticking my nose in was so damn unnecessary."
The self-reproach and the sigh were so vivid they didn't even feel like they were mine. "…I said I'd study hard, so this is me doing the same." I muttered an excuse along with it.
* * *
When you've been childhood friends long enough, there are things you learn whether you want to or not. One of them is routine and daily habits. Yujin finishes her shower in ten minutes flat. And if there's someone to talk to, she won't fall asleep mid-conversation—she'll at least make the phone call first. In other words—
"…I didn't think you'd wait for the anime appreciation session."
It'd been thirty minutes since I'd gotten home, and no contact meant something had happened. It was time to pay the price for meddling. "…Why did I do that?" I checked my phone and files once I got to my room. "…Why did I really do that?" Then I headed straight to the kitchen and pulled a packaged container of seasonal strawberries from the fridge. "…Why the hell did I?"
My body, having grabbed both my phone and the strawberry container, was already at the entrance before I knew it. "…ugh, Why did I even stick my nose into that?" Utter regret. I even muttered in English, which I almost never do, and before I knew it, a familiar yet unfamiliar front door was waiting in front of me. 2302. It was the door to my childhood friend's house. "…Shit."
♦ ♦ ♦
The wait felt eternal, but after only about five deep breaths, the door opened. I gulped down my breath and forced a friendly smile.
"…Yujin?"
"Hello, Aunt Seon-a. It's been a while."
Seon-a Aunt, who always greeted me with a smile, looked unusually down today. She'd just returned from bed rest, so it was unavoidable that her expression was dark. But I knew very well that the reason she couldn't smile wasn't because of that.
"I brought strawberries because you like them."
"Did you come all this way just for that? If so, you could've just given them to Yujin…."
"I wanted to see you, Aunt Seon-a."
"Oh my, really?"
"Yes. How's your health? Is Yujin being a pain by your side?"
"Pfft… There's no mother in this world who finds her adorable daughter annoying. Hmm. Sometimes I think her words are too long, but that's all because of our Mr. Jae-han."
What? Are you still telling my aunt about me?
"…Did you see the photos? The ones of me drooling in my sleep…?"
"Oh my. I guess I should ask you to show me later?"
"…Ah."
Dot dot. So the update hadn't reached that far yet. Watching me with a deflated expression, Seon-a Aunt smiled softly and patted my head. The atmosphere eased up unintentionally. Seizing the moment, I glanced past the half-open door and continued. "If Yujin's still awake, can I come in for a moment? I have something to give her. It's a file—she's not picking up her phone, and I need her confirmation right away… Ah, we're running out of time…."
With the mental maturity of an adult, I'd even half-acted like an infant—no, a newborn. I furrowed my brow with urgency and put on a troubled expression. Seeing this, Seon-a Aunt looked awkward and glanced over her shoulder. "…It's a bit late right now."
"Is that so? Just one minute is all I need."
I'm the type who doesn't argue with adults under normal circumstances, and Seon-a Aunt knew that about me. Which meant my errand must've seemed all the more important to her.
…Sorry, Aunt Seon-a. "…Then could you wait just a moment?" I nodded slightly, and Seon-a Aunt smiled and went inside. After waiting a short while, the door opened again.
"Come in."
"Sorry for the late hour."
"It's fine. Mr. Jae-han is like a son-in-law to us, after all."
"Well, if he were a son it'd be one thing, but as a son-in-law it's a bit… And Aunt Seon-a, even if he is a son-in-law, visiting at this hour isn't exactly proper—"
"Heh heh."
"…Yes. Sorry to intrude."
This really wasn't the time. I stepped inside, guided by Seon-a Aunt's hand. …Wow, the temperature dropped at least one degree the moment I walked in.
"What's that."
I spotted Yujin right past the hallway. Her tone was much more clipped than before parting. Her cheeks and the rims of her eyes were still flushed from excitement that hadn't faded. In an instant— I didn't say a word and walked straight up to Yujin.
"Hello, Uncle Jae-han. It's been a while."
The middle-aged man present at this hour could only be Yujin's father, Jae-han Uncle. Simultaneously, his presence here wasn't exactly normal. Think about it. Exam papers laid out on the living room table, a cold atmosphere. Considering Yujin sitting there with a sharp expression, he must've scolded her in a fit of worry.
Yujin's fiery temper comes from him, so naturally Uncle Jae-han would've raised his voice too… I appeared in the middle of this situation. Normally I'd have avoided it to keep a stern face, but Uncle Jae-han was sitting in the living room. He was angry too, which meant he was guarding his seat so he could scold Yujin again the moment I left. …I really won't stick my nose in again.
"Right. It's been a while. How are your parents?"
"Yes. Sorry for coming so late."
"No, no. If it's urgent, it can't be helped."
Luckily, Uncle Jae-han welcomed me with a smile. That secured a small opening. Now there was only one thing left: my persuasive power.
"Thank you. I'll wrap this up quickly and head out."
I smiled politely and bowed.
"U-um, about that video we recorded before…? You had something you needed to check…? So could I…?"
I smoothly turned the conversation to Yujin.
"Oh my, my, my…? Why are there exam papers here…?"
And I smoothly moved to the main topic.
"…What are you doing?"
You're the one who should hurry up. I'm saving you here!
"Just let me quickly check…?"
I said earnestly with my expression.
I held up the exam papers.