Chapter 257: Guidance-4
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 257: Guidance-4
The electric sting still pulsed through her body, leaving her skin tingling. Shin Jeong-ah gasped for breath.
Cold sweat poured down her face, but the eyes peering through her tangled long hair burned with pure animosity as she glared at Yun Si-a.
Yun Si-a maintained a safe distance, observing her.
She scanned Jeong-ah from head to toe, her tongue clicking against the roof of her mouth when her gaze landed on the small blade in the girl's hand.
"I had a feeling, but I see I was right... You really are a hopeless case."
Si-a spoke flatly, as if reinforcing a self-evident truth.
"So what...!"
Jeong-ah growled, rubbing her still-numb limbs.
"This is your fault! If you hadn't gone poking around where you didn't belong...! None of this would have happened!!"
Overwhelmed by emotion, a single tear welled up at the corner of Jeong-ah’s right eye.
"What was so wrong? Did you hate me being by In-ho’s side that much? Is that it?!"
Jeong-ah began to edge closer to Si-a.
Si-a pressed a button on the device in her hand. From the tip, which resembled the mandibles of a stag beetle, blue electricity crackled and hissed.
Before Jeong-ah could lunge, Si-a delivered another shock.
"I knew what kind of person you were from the moment you tried to lynch me in the park, but still..."
Si-a looked down at Jeong-ah, who had collapsed again with a scream, her expression one of utter disgust.
"You... you're truly extreme, aren't you? To think you'd actually try to kill someone..."
"F-fuck... Who do you think you are, trying to take In-ho away? In-ho... he has to be with me."
"Why?"
"What?"
"Why does In-ho have to be with you?"
Si-a raised her foot and gave Jeong-ah’s shoulder a light nudge. The girl, who had been crouching in an unstable position, tumbled backward onto her rear.
"B-because..."
Jeong-ah stammered, struggling to find the words.
"Because! It’s In-ho’s fault I ended up like this!! If—if In-ho hadn't called me that day! If he hadn't kept asking me to hang out!! If he hadn't been the one to show me how to drink and smoke!!"
Jeong-ah shrieked, her voice laced with spite.
"Phew... Fine, let's say that's true. Let's assume In-ho is the reason you started living a 'delinquent' life."
Si-a spoke softly, her voice weary.
"Is In-ho still threatening you to live that way now?"
Jeong-ah fell silent, the question scraping against a truth she had been desperately trying to ignore. She could do nothing but huff and puff in indignation.
"If you were doing those things because In-ho threatened you... because you were afraid of his violence... then you should be happy right now."
"As far as I know, In-ho tried to distance himself from you... and you're the one who clung to him, aren't you?"
"I think what In-ho did to you in the past was wrong. Truly. But... that's not the case anymore. In fact, he's trying to walk the right path now."
Si-a tucked her phone into her shirt's front pocket.
"If you had intended to follow the right path like In-ho, I might have even cheered you on. But... you didn't, did you?"
"You just keep blaming your circumstances while you continue to wallow in the mud."
A faint, mocking smile played on Si-a’s lips, though it was hard to see clearly in the dark alley.
"I..."
"I admit you were a victim. And I even felt sorry for you..."
Si-a had indeed felt a flicker of sympathy after hearing the hidden story from In-ho.
"But... the person you are now is just a perpetrator. A perpetrator who gave in and settled, making excuses like 'I had no choice' or 'the situation was just like that.'"
The words pierced Jeong-ah’s chest like cold needles.
"Shall I list everything I found out while I skipped my tutoring today? Everything you've done at school, and everything you've done outside of it?"
"......."
Jeong-ah glared at her.
"Extortion, theft, smoking, drinking, and..."
"Manipulating a man by faking a pregnancy just so you could control him..."
Si-a shook her head slowly.
"So... what..."
Jeong-ah stood up once more.
She took a stance, her grip tightening around the silver blade in her hand.
"One of us is going to die here anyway, and then In-ho will never know."
"Your lie will be exposed eventually, won't it?"
"I'll just make it real. I'll just actually get pregnant."
"Sigh... You really are beyond guidance."
Si-a pressed her fingers against her temples and let out a long sigh.
"But you know, you said no one would know if you just got rid of me, right?"
Having calmed her headache, Si-a opened her eyes and looked directly at Jeong-ah.
"......"
Jeong-ah furrowed her brow at the sudden shift in the atmosphere. Si-a spoke like an instructor providing the correct answer to a student.
"Why do you think I talked about my schedule today loud enough for you to hear?"
"And why do you think I bought this self-defense weapon and waited for you?"
"What are you...?"
Just as Jeong-ah opened her mouth, failing to grasp the meaning of the words, Si-a cut her off.
"You think In-ho won't know? Well... I wonder about that."
Si-a pulled the phone from her front pocket and turned the screen toward her.
"...!!!"
Jeong-ah stared at the screen, her eyes widening in horror before she collapsed back onto the ground.
[...Is that true?]
On the video call screen that had been active all along was Kang In-ho, his face frozen in a mask of shock and betrayal.
"I-In-ho...! T-that's...! I can explain everything—"
Jeong-ah snapped out of her daze and reached out desperately, but the call was already disconnected.
Si-a kicked the blade away from Jeong-ah’s hand and leaned down.
Bringing her face close to Jeong-ah’s ear, Si-a whispered.
"I told you, didn't I? I wouldn't be so gentle the second time."