Little Sister's Friend (6)
Night had fallen, a hazy moon hanging overhead.
A faint warmth threaded through the cool breeze.
Spring had been skipped entirely; summer was already drawing near.
Kim Chaeeun, gazing into Park Seoh-ah's round, innocent eyes, spoke.
"There's no reason that man would change except for Oppa. There was a time he wanted to raise me as a prostitute, and now every time we meet he just keeps apologizing. He even treats me like some kind of treasure."
"…"
"But it's not really that he's being good to me. He's just worried about how Oppa will see it. He feels guilty for trying to do that to Oppa's little sister."
"What did Jiwoo Oppa even do?"
"He's got a lot of weird corners to him. Won the lottery first prize twice. Got a military exemption even though he's perfectly healthy."
Park Seoh-ah's eyes went wide.
"That does sound fishy. So Oppa has something? The debt collector changed because of Jiwoo Oppa?"
"Yeah. The odds are high. That gum…"
Kim Chaeeun started to say something, then trailed off into a blur.
Park Seoh-ah, reading the room, pretended she hadn't heard and moved on.
"So that's why you said you'd give me Jiwoo Oppa? Because he's loaded, so I should use him as a puppy?"
"You get money and a puppy. I get to find out what happened with that man—what he's hiding. And while we're at it, with Oppa I can se…"
The rest came out so quietly that Park Seoh-ah couldn't quite catch it.
Kim Chaeeun continued.
"I already told you this morning—no monopolies. I have to be Oppa's master too."
"So we become co-owners?"
"Even if we're co-owners, I'm not going to do anything special. Instead."
"Instead?"
"If Oppa starts clinging to me… no. As long as he listens to me better than he does now, that's enough."
"Ah, honestly I thought you might be a brocon or something. Good thing it's not that. So there was a reason for all of it."
Kim Chaeeun's face went flat.
"As if I'd be some kind of psycho like that. Say something that makes sense. Absolutely not."
"Hehe, right."
The two of them, chatting intimately, made their way to the playground inside the apartment complex.
Play equipment of every color and unidentifiable purpose filled the space—elegant swings and seesaws, a zip line, a trampoline. Off to the side, an array of exercise machines and a track looked almost majestic.
"Waaah~ What am I supposed to do when even the playground is this fancy?"
Park Seoh-ah scampered off and explored the playground in a whirl, bright as a little kid. Kim Chaeeun snorted a quiet laugh at the sight.
Whooosh!
Park Seoh-ah rode the zip line all the way across and back, then returned looking refreshed.
"Chaeeun, you're not going to ride? It's so fun! Hehe."
Kim Chaeeun swept her long black hair back with an elegant flick of her hand, then answered more curtly than she meant to.
"I'm fine. I'm not a little brat. I don't ride this stuff."
"Uh…? Really? That's a shame. It's fun."
The air turned a little awkward, so Kim Chaeeun changed the subject.
"What did you decide about the casting? You have to give them an answer soon."
Park Seoh-ah turned her head. Her short brown-streaked hair swayed. She answered while looking out at the Han River visible between the buildings.
"Mmm. Honestly I was completely lost and had no idea what to do. Then I met Oppa, and I decided."
"…"
"I feel like I'll regret it if I don't try now, so I'm going to give it a shot. Acting. Studying doesn't really suit me anyway, hehe."
Seeing Kim Chaeeun's blank expression, Park Seoh-ah added,
"We were supposed to go to Korea University together. Sorry. Like Soyul said, I guess we were born to be celebrities."
"Celebrity faces?"
"She said superior women like us naturally become top stars."
"…Truth is, I wasn't that happy with the retake year either. I only stuck with it because it felt like you were retaking because of me. That was all."
"Oh, really? You don't need to feel guilty at all. I chose it because I wanted to. Still do."
Park Seoh-ah went on.
"So Chaeeun, what are you going to do now? You've got plenty of business cards already."
"I don't really have any thoughts right now, so I'm just going to rest."
"Ah, right. No need to rush. For now you've got to play with my puppy."
"…Yeah. Got to play with him."
Kim Chaeeun was slightly irritated by the words "my puppy" instead of "our," but she didn't show it.
Park Seoh-ah, as if she both knew and didn't, simply drew in a deep breath of anticipation.
"Whenever we hang out with the others, we were the only ones without a 'puppy.' Won't be boring now. And Oppa already has a friend from the start, so he won't be embarrassed."
"…"
"We're meeting in four days. I'll have to train him properly so I can show him off. Everyone's going to flip when they hear he's Chaeeun's oppa, right?"
A strange glint flickered in Park Seoh-ah's eyes as she asked so innocently.
Those pure, sparkling eyes somehow felt alien.
Kim Chaeeun let it pass without much thought and shook her head.
"How are you going to do that in a few days? Oppa isn't even that kind of person."
"Really? I thought Oppa was a total maso."
"Maso?"
"He got turned on by my breath, flinched when I stepped on him with my foot. The second I called him a premature ejaculator, he came."
Leaving Kim Chaeeun silent behind her, Park Seoh-ah spoke with bright, sparkling eyes. Her pretty voice, enunciating every word so carefully, simply would not match the things coming out of her mouth.
"You know what? First I'm going to take money from Oppa."
"…"
"I'll make him get more and more excited the more money he offers, until he's desperate to give it to me. Then I can quit my part-time job, pay off Mom's debt, wear luxury brands and live large."
"Do whatever you want. Oppa's got plenty of money."
Park Seoh-ah watched Kim Chaeeun's reaction as she spoke.
"I'll brainwash him thoroughly into my puppy, and make him so happy he can't live a second without me."
This time Kim Chaeeun crossed her arms, looking uncomfortable. Then she spoke with deliberate calm.
"…Oppa is decent-looking, so you'll be satisfied. But don't forget what we said about being co-own—"
Pfft.
Park Seoh-ah suddenly burst out laughing.
It was a girl's laugh that cleared out your head just hearing it.
"…What?"
Just as Kim Chaeeun looked at her with a suspicious expression, a shadow fell across Park Seoh-ah's face.
Moonlight and streetlight crossed, and a sinister air settled over her.
The clouds drifted on, and the shadow on her face lifted just as quickly.
Park Seoh-ah's face was bright and radiant again, as if nothing had happened.
She flung herself at Kim Chaeeun and clung, cooing.
"Aing, Chaeeun! How would I even live without you! You're really the only one."
"Oh, come on. What are you saying."
"Obviously you're going to help me train Oppa, right? Without you I can't finish the training in four days. Hmm?"
"Of course you couldn't do it alone."
Having her ego stroked first put Kim Chaeeun in a better mood, though she didn't show it outwardly.
I pulled an all-nighter.
My fingers felt heavy and the dark circles under my eyes had deepened, but my mind was wide awake.
I chewed the gum I'd been holding in my mouth for who knew how many hours, working it over and over.
Really… I had spent the entire day thinking only about Park Seoh-ah.
We even texted.
Even through text, her personality came through.
I never knew a block of letters could make my heart race like that.
I'd wanted to sleep deeply, but my heart had broken down on me and I couldn't fall asleep at all.
The moment I had a free second, she rose up in my head and set my chest fluttering.
Even now. Still ongoing.
I spat out the hardened gum and cracked the blackout curtains open a little.
A clear Han River view. Long rays of light glittered over the rippling horizon.
Time was crawling so slowly I'd been deliberately not looking at my phone.
I hit the limit of my patience and double-tapped the screen.
5:17
Two minutes since the last time I checked. That couldn't be right.
In the end I decided to use my last resort.
I opened the desk drawer and took out a small scrap of paper kept in a clear file.
It was a little bigger than my hand.
One edge was full of tear marks, crooked and ugly.
But among the things that came out of my Pocket, it was an extremely useful and clever item.
None other than a paper that showed the future.
Normally I only used it when something felt off during investing… but there was no need to hoard it that carefully.
If you punched a hole in the paper or tore it, you could see the future.
Punching a hole and tearing it had different effects; I usually used the tearing method.
Because tearing let you use the paper multiple times.
This paper had already been used about four times.
I could still get one or two more uses out of it.
Of course, tearing had its drawbacks too.
I couldn't specify the point in the future I was looking at.
If it showed me two seconds from now, it was basically meaningless; if it showed a hundred years ahead, that was just a problem.
Still, it usually showed a future related to what I wanted to know, so tearing was the more efficient option.
Seoh-ah had said she'd come wearing stockings today…
I simply could not wait quietly any longer.
I gripped the paper in both hands and tore it.
Following a random grain, the paper split with a smooth shhhk.
The moment I confirmed I was lucky enough to still have another tear left, my vision went black.
The sudden change in air and atmosphere made my body shudder.
As my five senses gradually came back online, I took in a field of vision glittering endlessly and surroundings so noisy my ears felt stuffed.
When I lifted my arm, the body followed naturally.
I had control—I could move as I wanted.
The instant I registered that the form of seeing the future was an "experience"—
"Why…"
Something completely unexpected was unfolding right in front of my eyes.