I got a girlfriend. (2)
I got a girlfriend. (2)
"I got a girlfriend."
Stachys said with a shy yet happy-looking smile.
Looking slightly shy about telling us, yet hoping for our blessing.
..... It was as if time was stretching out infinitely.
Kkamppak kkamppak.
I blinked my eyes several times, wondering if I had just heard correctly.
His articulation was so precise that it didn't seem like I misheard.
..... What.
There was no strength left even in the questions I asked inside my mind.
Along with me, Lily-ssi and Vien were frozen too.
Not that I had the mental capacity to worry about them, but...
An eternity-like silence passed, and Stachys opened his mouth.
"... Uh, kids? Noona?"
Thanks to Stachys anxiously reading our expressions, I realized.
He was waiting for some kind of reaction.
Ah..!
Ah!!!
Ha... It was a prank.
All the tension drained right out of my body.
I really... thought I was going crazy.
That awkward look he gets when he plays a prank and gets no reaction from us is so cute.
He became even more endearing.
"Ha.... Ah.. haha. Chis-ya, you really scared me. It was a joke, right?"
At my words, Lily-ssi and Vien snap back to reality as well.
Their frozen expressions also melt into beautiful smiles.
"Stachys-ssi, you almost got me this time for real. Huljjeok.. huhu..."
"Why would you trick us like that! You scared the hell out of me, seriously!!"
However, at our words, his expression slowly changed.
From that slightly goofy face scanning our reactions
It morphs into a puzzled expression asking what on earth we mean.
In sync with his expression, my chest freezes over.
Ahahaha.... That was fun enough.
No.... Please... Don't...
Please.... It's a lie... It was a joke...
Why are you starting to make a face like that.
Smile again. Scan our reactions again.
Think it's strange that we're not laughing
At that absurd joke of yours.
He slowly opened his mouth.
"What are you talking about? A joke? It's no joke, I really, really got one."
A death sentence is handed down.
Strength drains completely away. My vision goes hazy.
My legs tremble. My whole body feels heavy.
I could no longer look at his face.
Now I was scared. Scared that when I looked at his face again, I wouldn't be able to find
Any playfulness in it.
Scared that he might really, genuinely mean he got a girlfriend.
Unable to even lift my head, I stared only at the floor.
Eh...?
Really...?
Ah.... Is this a dream?
I didn't pathetically slap my own face to check if it was a dream.
In hopes that he wouldn't think I was weird even in a dream.
Instead, I bit my tongue so it wouldn't be noticeable.
Ah...!
It didn't hurt.
The pain of biting my tongue didn't hurt at all.
Right, of course this is a dream.
It was a dream.
What a relief. Thank goodness.
Yet, a corner of my body keeps aching.
The pain in my chest showed no signs of fading.
It was truly... a vicious dream.
"L-Liar!!"
Vien's voice woke me up.
"You haven't met anyone other than us lately!! It's a lie~!! You haven't had time to meet anyone new~!!"
At her words, my head turned on its own to examine Stachys's face.
However, when I saw his face, I had no choice but to avert my gaze once more.
Because his eyes seemed to ask, 'You did know that, huh?'
Even with my eyes lowered, my ears awaited his answer.
Because I, too, agreed with Vien's words.
Right... Frankly, there was no time.
You were exhausted just from meeting us.
"How did you meet her then! Tell us! You can't, can you?? You can't!"
Vien was desperate.
Moisture welled up within her strongly driven voice.
"Uh, well... I mean..."
A ray of hope flickers.
He was hesitating.
Vien also starts getting excitedly happy.
"Look! You can't say it because it's a lie!"
"No, Vien. That's not it..."
He scratches the back of his head.
"... It's just a bit embarrassing."
As if cold water had been dumped on us, Vien and the rest of us fell silent in an instant.
Even exhaling breath was difficult.
My heart was beating way too fast.
Instead of me, who couldn't even budge, Lily-ssi opened her mouth this time.
"... Embarrassing, hum! hum! Even so... Vien is right.. You didn't have time to meet anyone. Was it someone you already knew? Is it someone we know?"
Lily-ssi's voice shook like a goat's.
She cleared her throat several times as she spoke.
It was proof of how nervous she was.
"She's someone you guys don't know."
Stachys says.
"And um... the time we met was after dropping you guys off at your homes, um... on my way to my place... I carved out those times to meet her."
You met her after dropping us off?
You met her after our dates ended?
Stachys keeps speaking haltingly and frustratingly.
I want to quickly prove it's a lie and untie the knot in my heart.
For the first time, I genuinely glared at Stachys.
The anger that I might have lost him encroaches upon the fear of whether I really lost him.
"Chis-ya, tell us quickly. How did you guys even get close?"
"I mean, I met her here and there after dropping you guys off at your homes."
Stachys speaks while avoiding my gaze.
He always does that whenever I glare at him.
It didn't feel like he had changed as a person, yet I felt such a profound sense of distance.
He was the exact same Stachys, yet he wasn't that Stachys.
I was puzzled.
Why isn't he telling me it was a lie yet?
When I'm getting this angry?
Chis-ya, I'm this angry.
Just clear this up already. Please.... Please, Chis-ya..
Even while feeling that the situation kept flowing strangely, I spoke up.
"You met her here and there after dropping us off at your homes? Chis-ya, do you think that makes sense? I've never seen you messaging anyone, so how on earth did you make plans to meet her!!"
My voice grows louder and louder. For the first time, I even scream at him.
"Why are you getting mad... I just ran into her by coincidence every time I went home. Really."
He was still avoiding my eyes.
"I mean... Ha, does that even make any sense, Chis-ya..!!"
As if pleading, I demand that he confess the truth.
After hesitating for a long time, with an 'Ah!'
expression, he turns his head.
Looking at us with those clear eyes that I love, he says.
"... Isn't it fate?"
My fiery anger instantly cools down into a chilling chill.
An intensely cold wind blew through my chest.
It hurt as if someone had struck right through my heart and passed.
I felt physical pain.
No.... No....
What kind of nonsense is that..
Chis-ya, my destiny is you.
What on earth are you saying right now.
As we continued to maintain silence, Stachys spoke up on his own.
"So... around two weeks ago, on my way home after dropping Vien off, I met her for the first time..."
"..... Two weeks?"
At my interjecting words, Stachys flinches.
Absurd words appear endlessly, tailing one after another.
To the point where it's hard to keep my wits about me.
Even for a dream, this is too much.
The first meeting was two weeks ago?
Even in this situation, a laugh escaped me. A hollow laugh drained utterly of strength.
"Ch...Chis-ya. Say that again. Your first meeting was two weeks ago...?"
"Aha... Aha hahahaha."
Lily-ssi also burst out laughing with dead eyes like mine.
At our appearance, he gulps dryly.
"U... Um. Well, is there... a problem?"
There are bloody well plenty of problems.
It's been 6 years.
It's been 6 years since I've known Stachys.
I've known him far longer than Vien and Lily-ssi.
A whopping 6 years.
6 years of entrusting my back to him, sharing joys, splitting sorrows, empathizing, achieving, and building memories together.
It was when 6 months had passed since meeting him that I started speaking informally to Stachys.
I fell in love with him in my 1st year.
I started calling him Chis in my 2nd year.
It wasn't until our 4th year that I got to go on a date with him
And not until our 5th year that I got to hug him and link arms with him.
I liked him before anyone else.
I liked him longer than anyone else.
Yet... my lover's spot was snatched away by some bitch who's only known Stachys for two weeks...?!
My everything?
My treasure?
My heart?
In just two weeks...?
I couldn't help but laugh.
I couldn't accept it.
I barely managed to hold back a sort of crying-infused laugh from bursting out.
What on earth does the time we spent together become...
Was it just that kind of trivial time, pushed aside by some bitch in just two weeks?
My legs gave out, and I slumped down into a squat.
"Uh..! Rus, what's wrong."
"....."
I couldn't answer.
Now, the only thing that could come out of my throat was crying.
Even trying not to believe it, he wouldn't put an end to this prank.
There had never been a prank this long.
Reality increasingly tightened its grip on me.
Tears force their way out of my eyes.
I lowered my head and buried it in my knees.
"Rus, why.... Um..."
That sweet voice could no longer be mine?
"Kids, noona. Well... I don't know why the atmosphere got like this, but anyway it's time to go back. I'll go to the guild office to deliver the horns, so let's part ways here. It's been a really long time since we've parted for this long, but.... See you in 5 days?"
Just like that, coldly and swiftly, he headed out first through the dungeon gate.
He, who always used to comfort me whenever I showed such a look, left me behind.
It felt as though he was leaving my side and running toward that lover of his.
Phew!!!
I wiped away the sweat on my hands.
I thought I was going to get caught several times. No, did I get caught?
I can't be sure, but considering I secured a 5-day vacation, isn't this a success?
When lying, I had only planned to say I got a girlfriend, and hadn't thought about the details after that.
Sharp questions poured in.
First,
Vien's question asking 'when on earth you had time to meet' was a strong attack.
Annoyed that she knew I had no time because I was meeting them, I couldn't even think of an answer.
And even when I quickly came to my senses to answer the question, no proper excuse came to mind.
Even when I tried to think about when there could have been a moment for me to meet my imaginary girlfriend...
At first, I couldn't think of any.
Certainly, lately I'd always been with them.
Buying time with the excuse of being embarrassed and racking my brain further, [I remembered] the moment when parting ways with them.
That exact moment popped into my head, and I spat it right out of my mouth.
And at that moment, the second attack came in.
It was Rus. Asking how that made sense. Asking how we met every time.
I don't know why my party members only come up with such razor-sharp questions when driving me into a corner.
Just as Rus said, it didn't make sense.
I always met that person on my way home after dropping them off at late hours?
Without ever exchanging letters or anything?
That's why I thought of fate.
I didn't believe in it, but just now, it saved my life.
I'll believe in fate from now on.
Lastly, the lie I told was that we've been meeting for 2 weeks.
No matter how much I think about it, they wouldn't have accepted it.
If I said it was a woman I'd known for a long time, they'd ask why she had never met us before,
I figured they'd ask.
And yet, saying we started dating after meeting just 1 week ago... um... just didn't feel right.
It might be similar, but I said she was someone I met 2 weeks ago.
Yet, at this mention of 2 weeks, all of my party members' expressions changed together
Making me wonder if I said something wrong.
Thinking they might have caught onto some thread of a lie.
...Though Lily-noona laughed cheerfully.
After that, Rus slumped down into a squat, and the atmosphere cooled down so chillingly that I felt like I had done something wrong.
I've experienced situations like this many times, and whenever that happened, I always comforted them
But this time I didn't.
I just ran away.
Sseup... Did it go well...
I pondered, rubbing my palms out of habit.
Right. Why am I worrying about whether this went well or not.
All I need is a 5-day vacation.
If it turns out I got caught when checking next week, I'll ask hyung for advice again then,
And if I wasn't caught, I must make sure I never get caught.
But thinking about just now, I wonder how long I can keep this up.
It's not like I have a personality that's good at lying, and I need something.
Like a skill to lie well, or something.
Pondering, I headed to the guild office.
A petite male receptionist smiles at me.
I handed him the horns.
"Ah! You're here. Stachys-ssi, by the looks of it, it must have gone smoothly?"
"Huh? It didn't go smoothly though... Why did you think that?"
The moment I got hit by the King Boar and sent flying flashes into my mind.
Then I look at the receptionist.
The reason I didn't fight the Twiit Scorpion is entirely thanks to this man.
I need to express my gratitude.
However, the receptionist makes a fuss again at my words.
"Ah...! Did a problem arise in the party? I've made another slip of the tongue..."
"No, it's not, it's not. No major problem happened."
I waved my hands.
"Ah, I see... That's a relief. Well, a huge smile was plastered all over your face, so I thought you'd finished successfully."
Ah.
I brought my hand up to my face. Just as he said, a smile was plastered across it.
My heart had been fluttery indeed, but did it show this much?
Honestly, I received a whopping 5-day vacation, how could I not be happy?
I don't even know how long it's been since I had no schedule the next day.
With it showing this much, perhaps I really am bad at lying.
"Ahaha... There was another good thing. That aside, um."
"Yes...?"
"I survived thanks to you. Just as you said, there was something wrong with my body. It was a fortunate thing it was a King Boar... If it had been a Twiit Scorpion, I would've been in big trouble."
The receptionist chews over my words and gives a ssiik grin.
Then, patting his chest, he lets out a deep sigh.
"Truly. What a relief. Not just for Stachys-ssi, but for the entire Party Barefoot too."
"Let's grab a drink together sometime. I gotta repay you for saving my life."
"I won't decline."
Shaking hands with him, before turning back, I asked a question that popped into my head.
"Ah, Mr. Receptionist?"
"Yes?"
"It might be a weird question, but may I ask?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"By any chance, do you know how to lie well?"
He arches one eyebrow.
"Lying?... That certainly is a strange question."
He stroked his chin as if pondering.
"Hmm... There are many kinds of lies. It depends on what kind of lie you're talking about."
"Ah... Is that so? Sseup..."
It seemed I needed to be a bit more specific to get advice.
I leaned in toward him, covered my mouth with one hand, and whispered.
"You mustn't tell anyone, okay?"
"... Sure. What would I gain by talking about stuff like this."
After hesitating for a moment, I asked.
"So... like... saying something that doesn't exist actually exists, that kind of lie."
"Ah~."
He nods his head.
In a voice so relaxed, as if it were a very simple question, he informs me.
"If it's something like that, try imagining what you would have done if it actually existed. Then you can just put that imagination into action, I suppose?"