Chapter 48
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Next Time, You Should Join Us
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Next time, you should join us.
Ju-hee’s day began at 6 AM.
It was due to her belief that a healthy mind resides in a healthy body.
Ju-hee had already changed into her school uniform and finished getting ready. There was still plenty of time before she had to leave, but she didn't spend it idly.
She used this time to pull out her vocabulary book and memorize thirty English words. It was a morning routine she hadn’t skipped a single day since becoming a high school student.
It was also the secret to how Ju-hee maintained her top-ranking grades. Her entire 24-hour day was perfectly scheduled, detailing how every moment would be spent.
“Deny, consume, provide…”
The time to leave for school was drawing near. She quickly memorized the words before the morning was over.
She had also prepared her math workbook to solve problems in the classroom during the morning hours.
Ju-hee was frighteningly organized and meticulous. It was a product of her personality, which utterly despised laziness and idleness.
One could say this personality made Ju-hee who she was today. To others, she appeared perfect, lacking in nothing.
But that was only from an outsider’s perspective. No matter how much of a model student she was, Ju-hee wasn't so different from anyone else.
“…So annoying.”
Ju-hee muttered to herself with a sigh, her gaze having incidentally fallen upon the table.
She stared at the frame sitting there by itself. It held a warm and affectionate family photo.
Was she about seven years old?
The picture was taken at an amusement park.
Her memory of her childhood was hazy, but the moment the photo was taken was crystal clear.
Ju-hee looked at her younger self in the picture.
A small child, dressed up to the nines, was holding a balloon and smiling brightly.
Her parents stood beside her, side by side. Of course, both of them were smiling too.
A picture that seemed to drip with happiness.
But now, it was nothing more than a needle piercing Ju-hee’s heart.
Because a scene like that could never be seen again.
“I really shouldn't have put it here.”
Ju-hee turned the frame face down.
She didn’t want to look at the face of someone she hated any longer.
That person had left her and her mother behind long ago.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was a complete stranger now. Ju-hee couldn't bring herself to call her father ‘Dad.’
“Dad, my ass…”
He had left only a letter, saying he had something urgent and important to do, and then disappeared.
It happened just as Ju-hee was starting middle school. Yet, even after all these years, he hadn't returned.
She didn't know where he lived or how he was doing. Aside from the living expenses he deposited every month, they had completely lost contact.
She didn't even want the money and had tried to send it back, but for some reason, the transaction was always rejected. And through it all, he never came back.
…Not even when her mother was hospitalized.
An inexplicable fever had afflicted her mother ever since he left without a word.
What started as a simple cough grew progressively worse over time.
Then, a year ago, she suddenly collapsed and hadn't regained consciousness since.
Watching over her mother, whose condition showed no sign of improving, Ju-hee’s heart burned with anxiety. At the same time, a deep-seated hatred for someone welled up inside her.
“Why…”
Overcome with rage, Ju-hee gritted her teeth.
He was clearly the one at fault.
He had irresponsibly abandoned them and left for some unknown place. Yet the one suffering was her innocent mother.
She had searched for any way to contact him, but all traces of him were gone.
As if intentionally erased.
This confirmed her suspicions.
He had betrayed them.
He had probably run off with some other woman overseas and started a new family.
The thought of him living peacefully, oblivious to their dire situation, made her blood boil.
“I’ll never forgive him.”
Ju-hee hated him.
She hated the man who abandoned her.
She hated the man who had brought her hardworking mother to this state.
So she strove. She didn't want to end up irresponsible and pathetic like him.
She wanted to climb to a high position in life so that if he ever came looking for her, she could say:
My life has been far more valuable without you than it ever was with you.
Don’t you ever show your face to me again. Just live like a mouse and stay out of my sight.
She wanted to shout it at him. This was Ju-hee’s true goal in life.
It was also the side of her that no one else knew. The flawless model student was born from this reason.
That wasn't to say her current self was a lie.
Getting along with her classmates, achieving high grades, and serving as the class president were all based on her true personality.
There wasn't a hint of pretense in that image. It was just that his existence had shaped her into the person she was today.
“…That’s enough.”
Ju-hee finally closed the vocabulary book she had been studying. It was time to head to school.
She slung her pre-packed bookbag over her shoulder.
It was heavy, stuffed with several workbooks.
Still, the walk from home to school wasn't very long, so she didn't mind much.
She left the house and started walking. It was a ten-minute walk to school.
Ju-hee walked at a leisurely pace.
Though it was only a short ten-minute walk, it was a moment of pure bliss for her.
For now, she could enjoy a moment of peace.
She was walking with a light step, listening to a currently popular pop song, when her feet came to a sudden halt in front of a certain building.
“This is…”
A small studio apartment building. The face of someone who lived on the second floor flickered in her mind.
…It was none other than Lee Hyeon. Just thinking about him was enough to make her annoyed.
Lazy, idle, never trying to get along with the other kids, just holing up in a corner of the classroom to sleep all day.
Lee Hyeon was the very antithesis of the word ‘plan.’
But he wasn't always like that.
…Not before that incident.
Having gone to the same middle school as Hyeon, Ju-hee knew this better than anyone.
Was that why?
She couldn't stand him.
Instead of changing after middle school, he had become even more lazy and idle than before.
He spent his days wasting away, with no concern or worry for his future.
Ju-hee found Hyeon pathetic. His irresponsible nature, abandoning even important things, reminded her of *him*.
That’s why she disliked Hyeon.
He was pathetic.
She couldn't stand him.
She would try to give him a sharp warning, telling him to get his act together, but it was all in vain.
He would just give a listless, annoyed reply, and by the next day, he’d be back to his old self.
He was utterly hopeless. At this rate, his future was bleak.
Did he even realize how thoughtlessly he was living his life?
Ju-hee was burning with frustration.
“He obviously didn't finish the assignment either. It's so predictable.”
The deadline for the math assignment was a whole month. Yet Hyeon, true to form, hadn't done it, even on the last day.
He claimed he would pull an all-nighter to finish it, but no matter how you looked at it, the assignment was too large to be completed in one day.
Hyeon wouldn't have the assignment. This wasn't a guess; it was a certainty.
So she didn't have any expectations. He had surely gotten bored and given up halfway through.
*Of course.*
She shook her head.
“I’ll have to give him a piece of my mind when I see him.”
Just as she was about to continue on her way to school.
She noticed something lying on the ground in front of Lee Hyeon’s door.
“A doll?”
Curious, she picked it up. It was a cute cat doll with fluffy fur.
Did someone throw it away?
Ju-hee fiddled with the cat doll.
For something discarded, it had no tears, stains, or signs of wear. The cat doll was practically new.
“Why would anyone throw this away?”
Ju-hee pinched the cat doll. She felt its soft texture through her fingertips.
As she was fiddling with the doll, the door right in front of her suddenly opened.
A familiar face appeared. The sight alone was enough to make her blood boil.
*Finally came out, did he.*
Ju-hee took a deep breath, preparing to give him a stern talking-to. But an unexpected sight unfolded before her eyes.
*Huh?*
She was so stunned that the words she had intended to say wouldn't come out.
Ju-hee stared blankly at Hyeon.
A female student was trotting along behind him. It was Dayeon, the new transfer student who had just arrived at their school yesterday.
*Dayeon? Why is Dayeon coming out of the same apartment as Hyeon…?*
Ju-hee’s mind went blank.
It felt like… opening a Pandora’s box that should have remained shut.
Ju-hee froze on the spot, stiff as a board. Hyeon did, too.
He seemed to understand the situation perfectly well and remained silent.
“…”
“…”
A brief silence, five seconds that felt like five hours, passed. Ju-hee finally snapped back to her senses.
Her face flushed crimson as she shouted urgently.
“Y-y-y-you two! Why are you coming out of the same apartment?!”
**
In this world, there is a thing called causality.
Simply put, it means that cause and effect are inextricably linked.
A result exists because there is a cause, and a cause exists because there is a result.
A perfect example of causality would be this very moment.
“T-tell me what’s going on! Tell me right now!!!!!”
Ju-hee shouted, her face turning beet red. Looking at her, I was naturally reminded of a carrot.
How could I get out of this situation unscathed? I clutched my throbbing head and cautiously offered an excuse.
“I know exactly what you’re thinking, but it’s all a misunderstanding.”
“A m-misunderstanding?! Don’t think you can squirm your way out of this! Spit it out!”
Of course, it had no effect.
I mean, a boy and a girl coming out of the same apartment—it was only natural for her to get the wrong idea.
Especially since we were high school students, a time for rebellion. It was a perfectly reasonable misunderstanding.
But to get caught the moment we stepped out.
We ran into Ju-hee as soon as we left the apartment. The timing was just impeccable.
Thankfully, there was no one else around. Ju-hee was the only witness.
We had narrowly avoided a disaster where rumors would have spread throughout the entire school.
*I’ll have to be more careful next time.*
Just as I made a mental note, Ju-hee snatched Dayeon away from my side.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did that guy do something horrible to you?!”
Ju-hee fussed over Dayeon, checking her condition as if she were a priceless piece of porcelain.
Dayeon, bombarded with a torrent of concern, could only tilt her head in confusion.
“Are you okay? Did anything happen yesterday?”
“Happen?”
Dayeon cocked her head. She seemed to ponder for a moment before her face lit up with an ‘Ah!’
Of course, it was clear she wasn't thinking what Ju-hee was thinking. It seemed Dayeon had mistaken ‘what happened yesterday’ for the homework.
“Tell me honestly, something happened yesterday, right?”
“Yeah.”
Dayeon replied, bewildered. She looked as if she couldn't understand Ju-hee’s reaction.
“Are you okay?”
“To be honest, it was a little hard…”
She was strictly talking about the homework.
Dayeon was just complaining about how hard it was to do the assignment all night.
But Ju-hee interpreted it in a completely different way and shot me a fierce glare.
Her hostility was palpable.
*What did I even do?*
A sense of injustice rose in my throat. But it wasn't like I could make excuses.
It was obvious she wouldn't listen to anything I said. I just kept my mouth shut.
“It must have been really hard, right?”
“But I got used to it as I kept at it.”
“…Huh?”
Ju-hee flinched at the unexpected answer. She asked again, looking slightly baffled.
“W-what do you mean by that?”
Dayeon continued to say things that Ju-hee would surely misunderstand.
“It was hard because it's been a while (ten years) since I've done it (math), but I got used to it. So later, I had fun.”
As Ju-hee listened silently, her face filled with horror. She turned into a carrot again and shrieked.
“Fun…?!”
“Yeah, it’s fun. I like it.”
She obviously meant that she likes math.
But Ju-hee interpreted it in a completely different way. Her face flushed, she averted her gaze and started stammering.
“Y-you can’t do this, Dayeon…. You’re still minors, and you’re not old enough to take responsibility…”
A model class president, trying to guide a delinquent student onto the right path.
But she seemed to have a weakness for this sort of thing, as she hesitated, completely flustered. Dayeon, however, spoke cheerfully to her.
“Next time, you should join us (for homework).”
It was clearly an offhand remark. But the listener didn't take it that way.
“T-t-t-together?!”
In an instant, Ju-hee’s face was a mask of pure shock. Her eyes spun, and cold sweat trickled down her face.
She looked completely on edge. Soon, she started muttering to herself nonstop.
From what I could overhear, her thoughts were running much deeper than I had imagined. It made me wonder if she was really a model student.
Still, Ju-hee’s current state could be summed up in one phrase.
*She's clearly not in her right mind.*
It was about time I stepped in to mediate. I reluctantly approached Ju-hee.
“Are you oka—”
“Stay away!!!”
Ju-hee suddenly screamed and started backing away slowly. She clutched the cat doll in her hand so tightly it looked like it might burst.
Her expression was grim.
She looked terrified. Then, Ju-hee hurriedly began to pour out a stream of words.
“O-oh my! Look at the time! I'm going to be late! I'll go on ahead! We can talk later! Well, bye!!”
Ju-hee shoved the cat doll into her bag and dashed off without a backward glance.
It happened so fast that I couldn't even think of stopping her. And so, we just stared blankly at her retreating back.
“She’s a bit of a strange one. Is she always like that?”
“It’s all your fault…”
“Huh?”
Dayeon tilted her head. She still didn't understand what had just happened.
*Of course she doesn't…*
As I was thinking about Ju-hee, I suddenly remembered the cat doll she was holding.
A doll. For some reason, it reminded me of the doll in Dayeon’s room.
What was it? The design was similar to that doll, so it looked familiar.
Are cat dolls popular these days, just like back then?
I glanced at Ju-hee’s retreating figure. Her bag was half-open from running.
“I hope she doesn't fall, running like that.”
“Well, she’ll probably be careful.”
My eyes were drawn to her half-open bag.
The cat doll was sticking out, its head peeking out.
…Maybe it was just my imagination, but it felt like it was watching us.