Chapter 227: Problem Child-5
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 227: Problem Child-5
The solemn face of Maria flickered over Jeong-ah’s face as she tried to seduce me with her own brand of sex appeal.
[Saint, lascivious behavior is forbidden.]
For a moment, I had the illusion that I could hear Maria’s voice from somewhere.
Wait, isn't Maria the last person who should be saying that?
As I indulged in these useless thoughts, my mind grew calm.
I stared down at Jeong-ah, who was waiting for something beneath me.
"Kiss me."
She slowly closed her eyes.
Over her youthful face, several other faces flickered by.
"Get out."
I stood up and moved away from her.
"...What?"
Jeong-ah seemed to doubt her own ears.
"You heard me. I said get out."
My voice turned cold as stone as I pointed toward the bedroom door.
"Hey, stop joking around."
As I moved away from the bed, she stood up and followed me.
She habitually tried to grab my arm, but I twisted my body to avoid her hand.
"......."
Jeong-ah’s eyes wavered, looking shocked by the blatant rejection.
"What’s wrong with you all of a sudden? You’re being weird."
A face mixed with equal parts worry and annoyance turned toward me.
I took a deep breath and let my shoulders drop.
"Like you said, I guess the medicine didn't agree with me. I'm just tired. I have to do my tutoring homework, too."
There was no need to get into a fight.
"I'm not really feeling it today, so let's see each other next time."
Making up a vague excuse, I grabbed her shoulders and pushed her.
She was forced out of the room by my strength.
"Hey, you really... what is wrong with you today?"
Jeong-ah didn't stop talking even as she was pushed down to the first floor.
"Sorry. See you later. I'll call you."
"No, why are you suddenly—"
Her resistance didn't last long.
I forcibly moved her to the front door. Realizing that I wasn't going to change my mind, she put on her shoes irritably and glared at me.
"...Fine, I'll be hanging out with Jin-tae, so call me if you change your mind."
"Got it. Get home safe."
I saw her out the gate, and as soon as she stepped outside, I slammed the iron door shut with a loud bang.
I could feel her presence standing blankly outside the gate, but I went back inside without looking back.
Ironically, the first thing I did after kicking Jeong-ah out was to scour KakaoTalk.
I had to memorize who I usually hung out with, what their names were, and what kind of relationships I had with them.
...In the long run, it seemed right to cut off all these current relationships entirely.
If I kept hanging out with these punks, the hardships that were already bound to come would surely double.
*
After a few hours of digging through KakaoTalk, I got a handle on the friends I usually hung out with.
First, Shin Jeong-ah.
The girl who had just visited the house. She was saved as [Jeong-ah♡] in my contacts.
I wondered if she was my girlfriend, but looking through various records, it felt more like she was the one making the moves.
But based on the way they talked, it seemed like they might have already slept together even though they weren't officially dating.
The girl had feelings, but the guy didn't...?
It wasn't something I had done, but it made me feel a bit unsettled.
Next was Kim Jin-tae.
He didn't have a huge share of the group chat, but seeing as his word carried a strange amount of weight, he seemed to be the group's... not the leader, but the second-in-command.
Who was the leader? It was me.
I set the topics of conversation, and I made the final decisions.
Was I... actually kind of popular?
Anyway, seeing as we called each other "bastard" and "punk," Kim Jin-tae and I didn't seem to be on bad terms.
Then there was Sung Yoon-ho.
He was the one with the most messages in the group chat. However, he only said useless things, and the other kids didn't really respond to him.
Okay, you're at the bottom of the food chain.
Besides them, there were girls named Jeong A-ra and Lee Mi-jung, but they didn't seem to have much of a voice.
It looked like Shin Jeong-ah played the central role among the girls.
The chat had gone quiet after a series of messages asking for each other's locations to see if they were at the karaoke room.
They were probably meeting up, drinking, and having a blast.
"Now... that's the basic lay of the land...."
After lying on the bed and killing time for a few minutes, my stomach gave a loud growl.
"There's nothing to eat at home, either."
Maybe it was because I spent so much time out, but there was no food in the house.
I figured I should go to the convenience store and grab some cup ramen.
*
"Hey, are you mad about something?"
As Shin Jeong-ah frowned at the loud accompaniment coming from the karaoke machine, the man drinking next to her leaned in and asked.
After glancing briefly at Sung Yoon-ho and Jeong A-ra, who were holding microphones, Shin Jeong-ah downed her drink in silence.
"Did something happen?"
The man's question came again through the noise.
It was awkward to keep pretending she hadn't heard him, so she finished the rest of her canned beer and looked at the man sitting to her right.
"In-ho..."
"What? I can't hear you."
Her small voice couldn't pierce through the noise.
At the man's words, Shin Jeong-ah raised her voice a little.
"In-ho told me to get out of his house. He treated me like a total stranger."
Perhaps she found it sorrowful, as she began to sniffle repeatedly.
At her expression, which looked like she might burst into tears at any moment, the man's face contorted slightly.
The man took another drink and leaned even closer to her.
"Hey, Kang In-ho isn't even here right now. Why are you thinking about that bastard when you came here to have fun?"
"But..."
"Just forget about him for now. You haven't sung a single song since you got here. What do you want to sing?"
The man, Kim Jin-tae, forced the karaoke remote into her hand.
"Hey, just drink and think about it."
With a smirk, Kim Jin-tae continued to pour alcohol down his throat.
"......."
Shin Jeong-ah stared blankly at the karaoke remote in her hand.
For a moment, Sung Yoon-ho’s unpleasant voice signaled the end of a song, and Shin Jeong-ah downed another beer from the table.
After feeling the bitter, stinging sensation of the beer going down her throat, she wiped the remaining alcohol from her lips with her hand.
Then, she began to press the buttons on the remote with force.
'Fine, let's just play for now.'
That was what she thought.
*
The mobile phone sitting on the cafe table lit up briefly.
A call was coming in.
Yun Si-a, who had been working on school assignments and preparing for her tutoring sessions, turned her gaze toward the phone.
"......."
Her brow furrowed slightly when she saw the caller's name.
Yun Si-a took a deep breath and picked up the phone.
"Hello."
[Oh, right. It's me.]
"Yes. Is something wrong? I already sent the money."
The topic of money came out of Yun Si-a’s mouth immediately.
[Goodness, do I only call you when I need money?]
The person on the other end spoke as if they were hurt, and Yun Si-a let out an involuntary hollow laugh.
"Then, what is it?"
[Well, you see...]
Yun Si-a’s intuition flared. They were going to ask for more money than usual.
It was always like this when her mother trailed off.
"It's about money in the end, isn't it?"
Yun Si-a gave a self-deprecating laugh.
[It's for your father's treatment...]
She knew. She knew her parents weren't inherently bad people...
Even as she understood that fact with her head, her heart felt heavy.
Her disabled father, her helpless mother, and her younger brother who had run away from home so long ago that she didn't even know if he was alive.
They were the shackles bound to her feet.
Yun Si-a tried to shake off the feeling of sinking into an endless swamp and forced a bright tone.
"How much more do I need to send?"
