Chapter 512 – Childhood Friend (6)
The early 20s are sloppy in many ways.
Although we are now at an age where we are called adults, we have just taken our first steps.
This is because most of those who have become adults are still unable to stand on their own.
Economic independence was not achieved, and neither was mental independence.
Being a 20-year-old adult is not a stage where you can do everything on your own, but a stage where you step away from your parents’ embrace to do so.
So it’s sloppy and clumsy.
Because I have to do with my own hands the things that my parents did for me as if they were natural.
Since it is the first time, it is naturally crude and full of loopholes.
What can a chick that has just escaped its mother’s embrace and is about to become a chicken do?
Twenty-one years old.
The same was true for Yoon Si-hoo’s confession plan, who was no different at age 20.
‘Oh, what should I do?!’
I suddenly had courage that I didn’t have before and asked to meet up with the intention of confessing, but I wasn’t prepared for anything.
Even money is not that much.
The down payment I received as a guild trainee has long since been used up to purchase equipment.
Regret comes flooding in like a flood.
‘Why on earth did you talk so recklessly! ‘Aaaaah!’
For a moment, I let out a silent scream and cursed my past self.
‘This is not the time.’
You can’t put back water that has already been spilled.
There is no time for regrets.
All we have to do now is show the best we can.
‘Okay. You always say this, right? You can’t fill up after the first drink.’
It was one of the words that Kim Do-jin lived by while teaching Yoon Si-hoo and Jin Ha-rin.
Unlike Jin Ha-rin, who can do it perfectly after doing it once or twice, he used it to criticize himself whenever he got impatient because he was unreliable and had to master something only after doing it hundreds of times.
‘Confession is only the first step.’
A step that will lead to another relationship with the woman who has been with her for almost her entire life.
Because she will have plenty of time to show off her affectionate feelings to her.
‘Rather than overdoing it, let’s focus on conveying our feelings.’
He barely managed to control his mind, which was racing in all directions, and left the lodging where he stayed for three days and two nights and arrived at the entrance of the association.
While she was worrying and suffering, Jin Ha-rin was waiting there, quickly packing up her luggage.
Her face heats up as she looks at her standing quietly in the crowd of people.
‘It’s gorgeous.’
I once again realize her beauty.
A truly violent beauty that forcibly fixates the gaze of the surrounding men.
It’s pretty no matter what angle you look at it, and its charm changes depending on what kind of facial expression you make.
Yoon Si-hoo raised her voice more than necessary without realizing it.
“Harin!”
Her gaze returns to herself.
And the gaze of the men around her follows, stinging her entire body.
A sense of superiority that she had never felt before seeps into her heart.
This woman is my woman, she said, suppressing her desire to shout and walking towards her.
“Sorry, did you wait long?”
“No.”
Jin Ha-rin shakes her head.
With a clear look of discomfort, her eyes turn to the surroundings.
“… Let’s go somewhere first. It’s a bit burdensome here.”
“Okay, let’s do it.”
Yoon Si-hoo takes a step ahead to break through the crowded crowd.
Even though I was worried, my steps are gaining strength.
Because while walking here, a pretty good idea came to her mind.
“Are you hungry?”
“Yes, a little.”
“Is there anything else you would like to eat… ?”
Yoon Si-hoo asks carefully.
Looking at his expression, she read his thoughts and shook her head.
“Nothing in particular. Anything is okay.”
“Okay? Then…, I have a place in mind, let’s go there.”
“Good.”
Just then, I hail a taxi approaching from a distance, get in it, and head towards my house.
After getting off the taxi, we walked a bit and arrived at an old and shabby snack bar.
Jin Ha-rin arrives there and scans the wall full of graffiti.
“Here is…”
“Remember? “We came here often in the past.”
“… “It was like that.”
When she was in elementary school, it was a snack shop she often visited after school.
With the pocket money Yoon Si-hoo saved, she would occasionally buy it.
I remember her ordering a serving of Jjajang Tteokbokki and eating it deliciously with her mouth turning black
The taste was special, though.
‘It’s not a very good memory.’
It wasn’t a memory I really wanted to recall.
“I suddenly remembered the tteokbokki here, so I came here… “No big deal?”
Yoon Si-hoo asks carefully only after everyone has already arrived.
After much deliberation, he decided on today’s theme: reminiscence.
“Are you okay. “I thought about it sometimes too.”
He immediately laughs at her words.
“Madam! Two servings of our Jjajang Tteokbokki and assorted fries!”
Dip the steaming hot Jjajang Tteokbokki with your fork and put it in your mouth.
The unique taste of jjajang that comes up every time you chew the rice cake.
Yoon Si-hoo is impressed.
“And…, The taste is the same as before.”
Jin Ha-rin asks back with a shocked expression.
“… Okay? “I think I’m a little different.”
“Oh, no. It tastes exactly the same as before, right? It’s amazing!”
Jin Ha-rin realized when Yoon Si-hoo answered in a confident tone.
What changed was not the taste of tteokbokki, but myself.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
She recalls memories buried deep in her heart, starting with the snack shop she frequented when she was in elementary school.
After that, she moved from place to place, following the remnants of her memories that permeated throughout the neighborhood.
A karaoke room where I occasionally go to relieve stress.
The playground where she often played with her friends.
Finally, to the park at night.
“You remember this place, right? “The park you used to come to whenever something upset happened.”
“I can’t fly.”
When something upset happened, she went to this park.
There is no particular reason.
I wanted to be alone to let go of my emotions, but this was the only place I could do that.
When she was about to let go of her anger and go home, Yoon Si-hoo came to visit her, as if he had been waiting for her.
-“Are you all relieved? Let’s go home now.”
When that time comes, I return home.
What was so urgent? I held his hand, which was covered in sweat from running all the way here.
“I felt anxious at that time for no reason?”
“… “What?”
“I’m afraid you’re not here. So I ran every time. “I felt safe only after seeing that you were here.”
“I see.”
It was my first time hearing it.
I never thought the reason I ran so hard was because of anxiety.
Sitting on a bench in the park, where he always expressed his anger, he looked up at the sky and expressed his sincerity.
“Actually, I didn’t want you coming here.”
“Why?”
“I hoped that if something bad happened, you would tell me and look forward to it.”
A shy confession.
“Harin, every time I see you sitting here alone from afar, I realize how weak I am.”
She was angry not at herself for not being able to lean on herself, but at herself.
“I thought you couldn’t rely on me because I wasn’t trustworthy or strong.”
“That…, No.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s just that my heart was like that.”
So, I made up my mind every time I held out my hand and smiled with a sweaty face.
Let’s become stronger.
Let’s become a more trustworthy person.
“After meeting the minimum qualifications… “Let me confess to you.”
“… !”
Jin Harin opens her eyes wide.
Yoon Si-hoo, who lifted her body from the bench, walked towards her and knelt down on one knee.
And in a short period of time, he took out the ring she had chosen without her knowledge.
A plain, ordinary gold ring with no special patterns.
“Harin.”
Honestly, I don’t know.
I wonder if the person I am now can be her strong support or not.
She’s still stronger, and she’s just continuing to chase after him.
But it was a limitation.
The relationship of childhood friends can no longer contain the love that grows every year.
You just have to work harder.
Didn’t Kim Do-jin say that?
She says she can become stronger.
I’m excited about my future.
To believe in him and in myself.
I pressed down and let out the feelings I had kept for over 10 years.
“Let’s go out with me. “I will be your support for the rest of your life.”
No.
“I want to be.”
The end of a long unrequited love.
“Sorry. I don’t think I can accept your feelings.”
The end was rejection.
* * *
I realize that the world has become very comfortable.
“I am a senior.”
My junior told me to come out after seeing my senior.
And that too late, close to midnight.
“I got kicked today!”
Even drinking alcohol.
If this isn’t a good world, what is it?
Back then, I couldn’t even imagine something like this.
Anyway, the main point is as above.
“Ugh…, Yes, it must have been heartbreaking.”
I confessed my sincerity to my childhood friend, but he was harshly criticized.
No.
In fact, isn’t it a bit absurd to say that it was a car?
“That…, Cheer up. “They said it wasn’t a complete rejection.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Think about it carefully, Sihu.”
“What…”
“Why did Harin refuse?”
“I have no intention of dating right now…” .”
“Yes, that’s it.”
The core of the rejection message is ‘I have no intention of dating right now.’
What does that mean?
“In other words, I don’t hate your confession, but I can’t accept it under the current circumstances, isn’t it?”
“Uh… “How dare it happens again?”
“Sure, man.”
The guy who was crying with a bright red face asks in a hopeful tone.
“Then… “Are you afraid that there is still hope, senior?!”
She smiles at that guy and nods her head.
“Of course, man.”
I asked Harin to give me that small hope.
