Help Me
Help Me
In the end, I didn't do anything that day until it was time to leave work.
No, to be precise, I couldn't do anything.
After all, it wasn't a situation where I could work normally in the first place.
"...I'm home."
"Welcome back, seonsaengnim."
As I opened the door and entered the house after work, Saori came out to greet me at the entrance just like yesterday, welcoming me warmly.
I hesitated for a moment, then asked Saori.
"Did you eat?"
"Not yet. I was waiting to eat with you when you got home, seonsaengnim."
Saori puffed out her chest proudly as she said that.
She probably said it hoping for praise, but I had no choice but to betray her expectations.
"Sorry, but I think you'll have to eat alone today."
"Why? Did you eat out?"
"Just... I don't have much of an appetite."
But Saori didn't give up easily.
"Don't say that, at least eat a little. Even if you don't have an appetite, you have to think about your health and eat your meals regularly."
This felt just like a mother's nagging, but thinking about her sincerity in preparing dinner, I figured I should at least try to eat something, so I said okay.
"Then I'll get it ready right away!"
Saori ran off to the kitchen happily when I agreed.
'Is she that happy?'
I watched her retreating figure with a bitter smile, then went into the bedroom to change into comfortable clothes and came back out.
"I prepared a special menu today."
Whether she had finished preparing in the meantime, Saori placed a ttukbaegi on the table with a confident expression—a pot I couldn't even remember buying.
Of course, because it was covered with a white lid, I couldn't see the contents.
"Go on, open it."
Accepting Saori's suggestion, I carefully lifted the lid.
"...Kimchi jjigae?"
I was completely dumbfounded by the appearance of a dish I never expected.
Because I thought she only knew how to make Japanese food.
And as if reading my thoughts, Saori said with a confident smile.
"I saw a meal kit at the mart and ordered it. Following the instructions on the back, it wasn't that hard to make."
After hearing her explanation, I nodded and carefully picked up my spoon.
Then I scooped up some broth and took a big slurp!
"...How is it?"
Saori asked my opinion with a nervous expression.
But I couldn't answer right away.
"......."
Because no matter how much I tried to hold it back, tears kept flowing, and I couldn't speak properly.
All the resentment I had been holding in burst out like a floodgate with that one spoonful of kimchi jjigae that reminded me of home.
Saori looked flustered, probably not expecting me to suddenly cry.
But even as tears streamed down my face, I didn't stop eating the kimchi jjigae.
The kimchi jjigae I was having after so long was different from my mother's, but it carried a warmth beyond that.
When I eventually choked up and couldn't eat anymore, putting down my spoon, Saori—who had been at a loss for what to do—came over without a word and hugged me.
And so I stayed in her arms for a while until my crying subsided.
Since it was no longer the mood for eating, Saori and I eventually moved to the living room.
"Seonsaengnim, have you calmed down a bit now?"
"......."
When I nodded with a face flushed from embarrassment, Saori let out a small sigh and handed me a mug filled with hot water.
"Seonsaengnim, you lied to me yesterday, didn't you?"
When our eyes met as I took the mug, I couldn't help but flinch.
Because her eyes seemed to already know everything.
Since I hadn't confided in her first, she might have been deliberately pretending not to know.
I eventually felt there was no point in hiding anymore, so I opened my mouth obediently.
"...You're right. I said I was fine when I wasn't."
"Why did you do that?"
"...Because it's not like an adult to confide their worries to a child who's a full twelve years younger."
The 'me' she thinks of is the 'seonsaengnim' depicted in the game.
An ideal adult who leads all students by example.
In a way, the seonsaengnim portrayed in the game is the most upright and the most benevolent being, which might be why he so easily captivated all the students.
But the real me is a fake adult, incomparable to that perfect adult.
I don't really have any outstanding qualities, and my heart isn't much different from when I was young, but only my body has grown, forcing me to pretend to be an adult.
That's why I didn't want to be found out.
Maybe because I thought if she found out this truth, she would be disappointed in me.
And when I confessed these inner thoughts, Saori gave a bitter smile and said.
"I never thought seonsaengnim would be worried about something like that."
But after hearing your story, my thoughts have changed a little.
"So seonsaengnim was enduring it too. Just like the old me."
She said that, looking at me with a gaze somehow steeped in nostalgia.
She was probably talking about her childhood as depicted in the game.
Because of the side effects of her psychic powers, she could hear the thoughts of everyone around her, so from a young age, she couldn't trust anyone—the past Saori.
Severe misanthropy made the girl once called the 'Queen' feel loneliness even in a crowd.
And what resolved Saori's misanthropy was none other than seonsaengnim.
In a way, it's safe to say that seonsaengnim is a lifelong benefactor to Saori.
That's why I didn't want to hide anymore.
"Saori, I have one more confession to make to you."
"What is it, seonsaengnim?"
I swallowed hard.
Then, steeling my resolve, I spoke.
"...Actually, I'm not the seonsaengnim you know. To be more precise, I'm someone who only has the memories of having had that experience—the same but different being."
At that, Saori let out a small "heu-heu" laugh and replied.
"I already knew from the beginning."
"...What?"
"You think I wouldn't notice something like that? But to me, seonsaengnim is still the same seonsaengnim. Even if the world we live in is different and the memories are a little different, that doesn't change."
With that, Saori showed me a photo in her smartphone gallery.
Surprisingly, the person in that photo was 'me'.
Not just Saori here now, but me with the other students from Red Asterisk, smiling brightly and making a V-sign.
"If you think that only memories define a person's existence, I would deny that. A person's essence doesn't change just because they lack memories. So seonsaengnim is the same person as the seonsaengnim I know. The one and only adult in the world who saved me when I was once fallen into despair with bad thoughts, and led me back to the right path."
"......."
"So if seonsaengnim ever has a problem, this time I'll help you. So just say one word to me: 'Help me.'"
With that, Saori looked at me with a gentle smile.
That smile was so dazzling that I felt my resolve weaken.
Would it really be okay to ask her for help?
Would it be okay to reach out to her, who has nothing to do with this matter?
The conflict was long.
But it didn't take long to reach a conclusion.
If meeting her was fate,
Then her extending a helping hand at this crucial moment must also be fate.
"Help me."
And so, swallowing my shame, I said those words to Tachibana Saori.
The next morning.
I went to work at my company in Pangyo with Saori.
The company lobby I usually entered alone.
But today, by my side was Saori, worth an entire army.
"Student, this area is off-limits to unauthorized personnel."
A building security guard, seeing Saori who didn't look like a company employee at all, approached her and said that, but Saori didn't bother to respond. Instead, she just stared intently at the guard's face.
Suddenly, the strength left his pupils, and as if nothing had happened, the guard stepped aside with a polite attitude.
"Ah, I must have been mistaken. Please go right in."
"Thank you."
As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Saori passed the security checkpoint on the first floor after acknowledging the guard's greeting. She asked me, who was staring dumbfoundedly, with a prim expression.
"What's wrong, seonsaengnim?"
I snapped back to my senses belatedly and asked.
"How did you do that?"
"I just implanted a suggestion in that guard's mind that I'm the daughter of a high-ranking person in this company."
"But you didn't do anything."
Normally, when hypnotizing someone, don't you need some special gesture or words?
"If they're an ordinary person without any protective measures, just making eye contact is enough to hypnotize them."
As she said that, she suddenly clapped her hands loudly right in front of me.
Jjak!
At that moment,
Everyone walking through the first-floor lounge simultaneously stopped moving.
As if they were mannequins.
"With a gesture like seonsaengnim said, I can do things like this too."
"Ah, I get it, so release them quickly."
"Heu-heu."
When she clapped her hands again, the company people started moving again as if nothing had happened.
As I was sighing in relief at that sight, the elevator arrived on the first floor.
Ding!
The doors opened, and the elevator was empty.
Saori, who had stepped into the elevator first, mimicked an elevator girl and asked me.
"Which floor would you like to go to, sir?"
I looked at Saori with an incredulous expression, then let out a small cough and answered.
"Sixth floor, please."