A Peaceful Day.
A Peaceful Day.
Before I knew it, I'd become a middle schooler.
Reminiscing briefly about the distant days when I was smaller,
I struck a pose in front of the mirror like a model.
"Damn... I get more dazzling the bigger I grow!"
My face increasingly resembled my mom's, while the faintest traces of my dad's features also peeked through. It was as if, on top of my mom's beauty, my dad's genes had fought tooth and nail to squeeze in even a single scrap of gene prettier than hers...
Whenever people tell me I've got overpowered genes, a glance in the mirror makes me nod in agreement. A face the size of a fist, a short stature of 158 cm, but with body proportions that are absolutely insane. When I stared into the mirror with a blank expression, I was flaunting a visual so intimidating it was hard to even approach.
And then there's my parents' wedding photo...
While my mom boasts perfect beauty, from her sharply defined, curving pelvis to her long, slender legs, the one regrettable thing is her chest. Even thinking about it again, her legs and slender waist were magnificent... But the chest swelling in my own reflection... it reminds me of Grandma.
Ooooh...
Holding out hope that my dad's genes still had some influence, I was kneading my own chest when my dad caught me in the act.
"...What the hell are you doing."
Dad stared at me with a strange look in his eyes.
"Don't mind me, it's a massage session. Gotta make 'em grow."
"...?"
"For the sake of perfect beauty..."
Dad shook his head back and forth and then headed toward his studio. I kept gazing into the mirror, striking various poses and continuing my narcissistic high.
Teacher Go Min-su opened his own academy, and I became Teacher Go Min-su's first official protégé. Thanks to Teacher Go Min-su's fame, the academy soon filled with students prepping for the Korea Comprehensive Arts University entrance exams, and the money he brought in was staggering even compared to when I attended the private elementary school.
I'd been seeing a lot of sides of Teacher Go Min-su lately, now that he was dealing with high school students. The way he drew a strict line and acted decisively, the way he spoke firmly—it seemed to fit his temperament far better than teaching elementary schoolers ever did.
Ji-hoon had persuaded his parents to let him stick close to me, declaring that his dream was to become Si-yoon's bodyguard. His parents were puzzled at first, but he insisted that he wanted to become my personal bodyguard. It looked like their son was volunteering to become Si-yoon's slave, but once they understood that he simply liked me and wanted to stay close, they gave their approval.
I made my way to the apartment complex to go swimming with Da-yeon.
Da-yeon's body had matured into an adult's even faster than mine. I'm developing extremely fast myself, but... Comparing Da-yeon's body to mine, I practically look like a little kid... she's ridiculously, unbelievably... and that's as far as I'll go.
Thanks to my efforts to boost Da-yeon's self-esteem, she no longer feels ashamed of her body, but... she doesn't flaunt it either.
Back in the day, after Da-yeon and I got out of the shower together, Park Ji-hoon asked me about it. He asked whether bathing with a girl didn't give me a sense of taboo.
Given Da-yeon's overwhelming presence, I might have started feeling that sense of taboo if I'd let myself become conscious of it. But from the moment puberty started, I'd let go of all of that. After living fourteen years as a girl, Kang Han-seong from my previous life felt like nothing more than memories I carried. I remembered it with the sense of, 'That's how things used to be.' More than anything, I was Kim Si-yoon.
And... that thing that still came irregularly... made me face reality at least once a month.
Da-yeon showered me with affection, as if she was pouring out all the love she'd had to bottle up because of Kim Tae-oh. And since she considered me her closest female friend in the world, she'd also come to me for all sorts of advice. After swimming for a while, Da-yeon called to me while I was floating on my back. I spotted her watching me from outside the pool and climbed out.
"Si-yoon! Now we're really going to the same school!"
"We sure are~"
As I dangled my feet into the pool, Da-yeon came over beside me and leaned against me.
"Finally... the same school as Si-yoon... I'm seriously so excited!"
As I pictured the kids who'd ostracized Da-yeon, the corners of my mouth curled into a grin.
"Me too..."
I'd heard from Lee Jin-seok that even though he'd assigned Kim Tae-oh to Da-yeon, all that happened was she drifted apart from the people who disliked her. They said she still spent her days by herself. More than anything, since Da-yeon is shy around strangers, I figured that part couldn't be helped. But now at least, I could be right there by her side.
Lee Jin-seok, perhaps hating the idea of Da-yeon having an ordinary life even if she went to a regular middle school, ended up getting her into Hanguk Jungang Middle School. It boasted the highest elite high school entrance rate in the nation and was considered one of the top middle schools in Korea, equipped with all sorts of facilities and top-tier welfare.
With the law revised, ordinary middle schools were supposed to admit students by random lottery, but schools were secretly taking money under the table, so competition was fierce. In practice, about half the students entered through the lottery and the other half through under-the-table payments.
But the most crucial fact of all is...
Even the lottery kids were mostly loaded kids who lived smack-dab in the golden heart of Seoul, so Hanguk Jungang Middle School could safely be considered far from a normal middle school.
Da-yeon and I wrapped up our swimming and went out for a walk to get some exercise. I put on a mask, pulled a cap down low, and changed into a comfy set of sweats.
These were matching outfits I'd coordinated with Da-yeon. Seeing the same clothes give such a different impression made me feel a little cheated. Didn't I look way too much like a little sister copying her big sister's outfit...? Da-yeon noticed my stare and laughed awkwardly.
We took the elevator down and stepped outside. In the distance, several unusually burly figures blended in like ordinary pedestrians while keeping us at the center of their movements.
"Wow... I didn't think Dad would ever allow this."
"Allow what?"
"Us walking around like this. My dad's really come a long way."
Da-yeon gave me a side-eyed, half-lidded stare at that remark, and just being on the receiving end of that look from Da-yeon stung a tiny bit.
"Si-yoon, you were the one who threatened my dad... told him to convince your dad."
"...You knew about that?"
"Mm."
I was watching the clear sky, and to change the subject, I spoke slowly.
"If I'm late getting back, I get grounded for a month, you know."
"Whoa... seriously? That's so mean..."
"By the way, where did Kim Tae-oh go?"
"Huh? I heard before he starts middle school, he's doing a month of overseas training."
There was no way Kim Tae-oh had been assigned to Jeong-yeon or Ga-yeon, so I'd been wondering lately why I hadn't been seeing him. I moved to stand next to Da-yeon, who was walking along with her hands clasped behind her back.
"Want to go grab some tteokbokki?"
"For real?! Yes!! That'd be awesome!"
Da-yeon latched onto me, and I promptly became her perfect human attachment doll. Felt a bit like I'd become the ill-fated Antonio. Laughing and messing around with Da-yeon, I made my way toward a street food stall. Maybe it was because my body had gotten bigger, but I was starting to eat a lot more than I'd expected. Brimming with anticipation that my chest would grow, I ate generously, just as my body demanded.
"Mmm~ so good~"
Da-yeon absolutely loved tteokbokki. I wasn't great with spicy food, so I preferred blood sausage, fried food, and fish cakes instead... When I casually opened my wallet, Da-yeon started looking hesitant.
"You always treat me, Si-yoon... I want to treat you too, though..."
I chuckled and wiped the tteokbokki sauce off Da-yeon's lips.
"Didn't I tell you not to worry about stuff like that?"
"Mm..."
It pained me to say it to Da-yeon, but... this was Lee Jin-seok's money... And honestly, most of the clothes I wore were bought for me by Da-yeon's mother, Kim Seon-hwa. If anyone asked why I was even letting them buy my clothes, I'd feel a little wronged—what could I do when Dad's eye for women's clothing was hopeless?
After buying and eating tteokbokki at a street food stall along the road, we stepped into a convenience store to grab some drinks. As we were trying to pick something out, Da-yeon spoke up.
"It's a 1+1 deal!"
"Want to share one?"
"Yeah!"
I grabbed a drink called "Ground Pear" and placed it on the checkout counter, only for the part-timer to stare openly at Da-yeon.
"Excuse me~ please ring this up."
"Ah! Sure thing."
Now that Da-yeon's figure and looks were starting to stand out more, I briefly considered whether I should have her start wearing a mask like I did. As we stepped out of the convenience store, we wandered around a bit before settling onto a bench.
"Si-yoon, what's your dream?"
The question came from Da-yeon as we were sipping our drinks. I rested my chin on my hand and pondered it for a moment.
My first goal used to be witnessing the end of S Company... the end of Taebaek. But now... growing up as the daughter of rapper and composer Kim Ji-ho, so many things had changed. After all, S Company was being kept under control through business maneuvers by the father of the kid sitting next to me, and I'd been born into Korea's top 0.001% ultra-elite, wanting for absolutely nothing.
The me from my former life knew nothing but fighting, but this body was capable of so many things. Would I be happy if S Company collapsed...? Probably... not at all. That's precisely why I'd left S Company alone.
And Jae-hyeong—my former left hand—saw my lack of interest and stopped paying attention to S Company too. More than anything, as long as everyone was living fine on their own, why should I interfere? As for what someone like me, born wanting for nothing, could even call a dream...
What my real dream was... I gave it some genuine thought. Drawing was fun. No, to be perfectly honest, there were times it even made me feel something close to "happiness(?)." But the same goes for singing... The songs I'd made recently while messing around with my dad, and the moments when Kim Ji-ho, looking happy, polished up a melody I'd created—those were times I genuinely enjoyed too. Studying? Once, to test this body's memory, I'd tried flipping through pages, glancing at each page for a single second before moving on. When I did that, I didn't actually comprehend the content. But when I later "read" the pages stored in my memory, everything organized itself neatly inside my head and I remembered it. The time required for that? Five seconds per page... Once the organizing was finished in my head, I wouldn't forget it even after years passed.
Whenever I willed myself to recall something, it was like opening a drawer sorted by date and pulling out a stored sheet of paper to read... But was there any particular enjoyment in that? Not really. It just felt as natural as breathing. Swimming? Holding my breath brought a kind of peace, like everything had stopped, but that wasn't exactly a dream either... Fighting... I'd done it nonstop for thirty-five years until I was sick of it. But seriously, what century was this? Fighting in the 21st century?
And in everyday life, slap someone else's kid in the face even once and you could end up with a criminal record. On top of that, my dad Kim Ji-ho... was constantly under the scrutiny of every South Korean citizen, so scandals stuck to him far too easily.
Aside from smacking Ji-hoon around, if I ever slapped someone else, it'd be more than enough to hit the news as a second-generation chaebol power trip. A dream... a dream, huh... No matter how much I thought about it, enjoying this peace without lacking anything, just as I was, seemed like the best thing. Finishing my deliberation, I looked at Da-yeon.
"Hm... just continuing to be with Da-yeon?"
"Really?!"
Seemingly surprised by my unexpected answer, Da-yeon's eyes went perfectly round.
"I thought about it for a bit, and being together with Dad or you, Da-yeon, was the best."
"Si~yooooon~~~"
Da-yeon wrapped her arms around me and then drew a deep breath through her nose, like she was determined to inhale every bit of the shampoo scent from my long hair. I looked at Da-yeon and asked.
"So, what about you, Da-yeon? What's your dream?"
"Mm... being with Si-yoon too!!"
I chuckled and lightly tapped Da-yeon on the head with my fingers as she nestled in my arms.
Our walk done, I returned home, took a shower, and came back out. Then I plopped down naturally beside my dad, who was already gaming, and started playing myself. After going at it for a long while, I glanced over at him.
"Water."
"Go get it yourself."
"Water."
"Hey, you're all grown up now. Get it yourself. I think I've raised you up plenty, y'know?"
"Water."
At my resolute reply, Dad kept his eyes focused on the game and sighed.
"Haa... wait."
"Waaater~"
"You're gonna get it..."
"Ah, sorry~"
Mid-game, I stood up, grabbed both my dad's cup and mine, and headed toward the water purifier. I loaded them up with ice first, then filled them with water. By the time I got back to the gaming room, Dad was still laser-focused on his game. Suddenly feeling mischievous, I set the water cups down and teased my fingers over the veins standing out on my dad's arm, as if trying to seduce him.
But Dad just swatted my hand away with a *thwack!*, like he was waving off a mosquito.
"Tch."
I pulled out my fourth trump card. I ducked under the desk and popped back up in the space between Dad and the computer.
"Daughter...? Dad's trying to concentrate here..."
Dad kept trying to peer at the screen behind me. I climbed onto his lap and sat down, then gazed at him alluringly. He promptly swept me off to the side in one natural motion. Guess my fourth trump card was a little too weak.
"Whoa... that's cruel."
I stared at Dad like some tragic heroine, and Dad, focusing on his game again, spoke.
"Stop horsing around and sit."
"Yep."
"Sheen, pay attention, would you."
-"Unbelievable... you and your daughter both... why do you only do this stuff to me?"
After getting close with me through gaming, Sheen had also been building a rapport with Dad lately. There was a twenty-two-year age gap between me and Dad—he was thirty-six years old—while Sheen was thirty-eight.