Chapter 170
Chapter 170
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 170. Foresight
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"How about this one?"
Yoo Daon muttered as she fiddled with a large bed.
A bed, out of nowhere.
Wasn't it way too big even for one person?
"Don't we already have a bed?"
"You never know."
You never know what?
Under my gaze, Yoo Daon awkwardly replied and pulled her hand away from stroking the mattress.
"You gonna buy it for me?"
"Didn't I mention it back then?"
If my memory served right, Jang Chaeyeon and Song Arin had bought the chair, dining table, and TV.
What I'd promised to get this time was...
"A fridge."
"Oh, you remember?"
Yoo Daon widened her eyes.
"Why wouldn't I remember?"
If anything, forgetting would be the weird part.
As I stared at her, she let out a small laugh.
"Well, you talk to so many people, Jaeheon, I figured you'd forget."
"I don't think so."
As a working stiff bouncing between the office and home, I could confidently say the people I actually talked to were pretty limited.
"Mostly work stuff with the Team Leader, and with Arin."
The Team Leader went without saying, but Song Arin's grasp of the job was downright impressive.
She whipped up charts in a snap, organized files in a snap.
If she'd joined a regular company as an assistant instead of the Management Bureau, I'd have trained her up and pushed her toward something better—her absorption rate was that good.
She'd thrive anywhere, Bureau or not.
"And casual chats... with Ye-eun and Arin."
Sorry to the others, but Park Ye-eun was great for pointless banter.
Specialized in playful jabs, you could say.
She dished out jokes and took them with effortless flair.
The type who'd have a ton of friends in school, no question.
Song Arin griped a bit but rolled with every conversation just right.
She'd gripe through the jokes but play along like a real buddy sometimes, making it fun.
Not that Jang Chaeyeon and Yoo Daon were boring.
They both enjoyed talking, but how to put it—they took things way too seriously.
Case in point: once when I was messing around with Park Ye-eun, she teased me, and I shot back, "Don't make me mad." She loved it and kept ribbing me.
But when I joked the same thing to Yoo Daon—"Don't make me mad"—her face went sheet-white, and she apologized on the spot.
Apologized over and over until I said it was a joke, then she paled again, mortified for not realizing, and that's when I decided to watch what I said around her.
Jang Chaeyeon just seemed distant from jokes altogether.
Or maybe not? Thinking about what she pulled yesterday, she might have a killer sense of humor after all.
I'll pay her back double later.
With that in mind, I checked Yoo Daon's expression.
"Y-Yeah, you're right."
A gloomy look.
What was there to be gloomy about?
"I'll... try to be more fun to talk to."
She stared at me like she'd made a big resolution.
"Huh? No, it's fine."
Not everyone can be entertaining.
The world needs its boring types for balance.
We kept chatting as we headed to the fridge section.
"But Daon."
"Yeah?"
She gave me a puzzled look, so after a moment's hesitation, I asked the question that'd been nagging me.
"What happened between you and Arin all of a sudden?"
...
Yoo Daon fell silent.
I'm not an idiot.
At some point—no, precisely after seeing the Military Studies register—her attitude toward Song Arin had shifted.
Sharper, maybe? Or more at ease? I couldn't pin it down.
After a brief silence, Yoo Daon spoke up.
"Jaeheon."
"Yeah."
"When you look at Arin, what do you think?"
She stopped in front of a fridge.
A massive one.
Ridiculously oversized for one person, obviously.
She tilted her head up to peer at the top.
"Hmm."
What I thought of when I saw Song Arin.
"...Not sure."
I'd never really dwelled on it. She was just... her.
"I do."
With her back to me, Yoo Daon gripped the fridge handle.
*Clunk!*
She swung it open and peered inside.
"Arin is a liar."
...
My breath caught for a second.
Did Yoo Daon know about Song Arin's story?
How? I'd never told anyone.
The branch chief?
Still facing away, Yoo Daon continued.
"I get Arin, though."
...
*Thud.* She shut the door firmly and turned to me.
She was smiling, like she was enjoying this.
"I don't hate Arin."
Her smile unwavering, she went on.
"If anything, I feel a sense of kinship."
"Kinship?"
"That feeling of crawling on the floor, whether you want to or not."
...
"And the certainty that someday you'll sink even deeper."
Her unfocused eyes stared into space as she murmured, then *clap*—she clapped her hands.
"I said something weird, huh? Sorry."
"...No."
She smiled again.
"This fridge is too big, right?"
"...Yeah."
Like nothing happened, her face was all innocence.
"Should we get a smaller one?"
"Mmm, let's see," she muttered, hunting for another fridge.
In the end, she picked the tiniest one.
I eyed the black fridge.
Nothing flashy, and buying it wouldn't break the bank.
Still,
"Is this really okay?"
"Of course!"
Yoo Daon nodded with a grin.
"I don't eat much anyway."
"Even so..."
"And it's your money, Jaeheon."
"Money's no issue."
Working at the Management Bureau and worrying about cash?
What kind of lunatic gambles it all away daily?
"Anyway, I don't like it."
Unlike her usual self, she shook her head stubbornly.
"...If you say so."
It wasn't pricey anyway.
"But..."
"Yeah?"
"Can you walk me home?"
She looked at me smiling.
"Not a problem."
I smiled back.
*
Yoo Daon kept stealing glances at the man walking beside her.
"Something wrong?"
"No, nothing."
Right. He was sharp.
She quickly looked away.
"If there's something, tell me."
"O-Okay..."
He was kind.
Especially to her.
She knew it.
She'd watched him long enough.
To her, he was the one who'd built her world.
Not content with giving her a warm home when she couldn't even escape into death, he'd redefined her entire existence.
It was absurd to think she wouldn't notice the changes in someone who'd given her debts she could never repay.
He paid her more attention now.
Starting right after the Regressor incident.
Since then, he'd checked on her more closely, listened harder to what she said.
What had she done to him back then?
"Aren't you cold, Daon?"
"Oh, no!"
What burden had she dumped on his heart?
"Good."
Why else would he sometimes look at her with that guilty expression?
It was ridiculous, but she hated her past self for whatever she might have done.
First, for hurting him like that.
And second.
"...I can't."
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
She could never make him wear that face.
Her vanished past self had left something with him, and the jealousy was unbearable.
"Oh, almost there."
"The fridge comes tomorrow?"
"Who knows."
She closed her eyes slightly as he shrugged.
No, don't get greedy.
"Daon?"
"Ah. Yeah. Thanks!"
He tilted his head, and she hurriedly thanked him.
Stop thinking.
Be grateful just to walk beside him.
He had others, but she only had him.
She was always the one clinging, and Yoo Daon had no complaints about that.
*
[Office Manual]
[IDT - How to Win a Woman's Heart]
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Sincere apology.
"...I'm sincerely apologizing here. I'm sorry, okay?"
"Still at it? Don't pull that in front of others."
The sparsely populated plaza was bathed in dazzling sunlight.
Song Arin sighed heavily beside me and stood there.
"God, watching a guy who knows zilch about women twist himself up like this is driving me insane."
"Hey, how well do you think you know?"
"You messing with me right now?"
She glared at me with fierce eyes.
"I stand above people's hearts."
"When you say that, Arin, it sounds seriously dangerous, you know?"
"Shut up."
She grumbled and scowled at the manual.
"This is a tantrum."
"A tantrum?"
"Yeah."
...
I looked at the manual.
A tantrum?
"You apologized, right?"
"Yeah...?"
"But she didn't accept it?"
"Right...?"
"Idiot. Fights are about momentum. Momentum!"
She smacked my shoulder.
"Ever heard of push-pull?"
"Yeah."
"Then do it! If you give in too much while she's throwing a tantrum, it'll never end. Cut it off sharp."
"Sharp?"
"Yeah. No contact for a week."
I wasn't dating the manual, so whatever, but for a couple, that'd kill the relationship.
"You gotta steel your heart."
"Steel my heart."
"Close the manual."
...
After a moment's thought, I closed it at her words.
[Office Manual]
[Office Manual]
[IDT - How to Win a Woman's Heart]
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Sincere apology.
6. Don't do it again next time—
*Thud!*
The book shut.
Something flashed at the end there, but nah.
"...Sigh."
Song Arin let out a deep breath and looked at me.
"Alright, let's go."
"Where to?"
"Art gallery."
...
"...Don't give me that look. Not doing anything weird."
She mumbled awkwardly and tugged my arm.
"Argh. If you're gonna stare like that, just babysit me yourself!"
"Coming, coming."
I followed behind Song Arin as she dragged my arm, lost in thought.
An art gallery.
...Should I give them a heads-up?