## Chapter 40 – Normalizing the Abnormal (1)
“……Is she your girlfriend?”
My mother asked, breaking the short but heavy silence. But even she seemed to doubt her own words, her voice hesitant.
Of course, she couldn’t possibly imagine that just moments ago, a girl in the uniform of the school I’d transferred to had tried to stab me to death with a kitchen knife, and that after dodging her attack, I’d beaten her in return under the pretense of subduing her.
And I was even hiding from my mother the fact that Yujin, standing behind me, had accused me of sexual assault.
In the very brief moment I hesitated, flustered, I saw Yujin moving the kitchen knife she held toward herself.
I snapped to attention.
I tried to turn to the side, ready to face her.
I had to hit Yujin.
And not like before, aiming for her breasts, thighs, and fleshy areas that would only hurt without causing much impact. I had to aim for her face, even if it meant scarring her, and knock her out or incapacitate her with a single blow to the jaw.
Doing so would reveal my cruel violence to my mother, but if it was to prevent Yujin from harming her with that knife, it had to be done.
So, as soon as Yujin’s pretty face came into view, I tensed my fist, ready to strike, and turned my head.
But the moment I saw Yujin’s face, the strength drained from my clenched fist.
Partly because Yujin had put her hands behind her back, hiding the knife, but more decisively, it was because of her expression.
In her refined demeanor, which didn’t suit her flashy features and brightly dyed hair, there wasn’t a trace of the madwoman who had tried to stab me to death with a kitchen knife.
“Yes, that’s right, ma’am. A friend. Not a girl, just a friend.”
Yujin said in a cheerful voice, the same Yujin who, just minutes ago, had been trying to kill me with the knife hidden behind her back.
Now I understood why Yujin’s fans had been so desperate for her to become an actress before the regression.
“A friend……?”
However, my mother’s suspicion wasn’t completely dispelled by Yujin’s answer. She still seemed to sense something was off, looking at Yujin with a face half-filled with confusion and suspicion. Just as her gaze was about to shift to Yujin’s shirt, where I had wiped the blood from my hand, Yujin smiled brightly.
Yujin’s bright and cheerful smile. The kind of smile adults really loved.
As if her heart had been won over, my mother hesitated for a moment, then, as if realizing it was strange to hesitate when entering her own house, she stepped inside the entrance.
Standing in front of me, my mother finally noticed my lip, torn by the knife Yujin had wielded, and fussed over me with a worried expression.
“Oh, honey! What happened to your face!”
She had been so focused on Yujin’s face that she only noticed her own son’s face after coming inside and closing the door, but it wasn’t surprising.
Yujin was known among many girl groups as the definitive center material.
There were a few idols with faces as pretty as Yujin, but the consensus among fans was that no one captured people’s attention as surely as she did.
“And your hand! What happened to your hand? It’s bleeding so much!”
I avoided my mother’s hands as she reached out to grab mine, checking Yujin’s reaction.
Yujin had been wearing a demure smile just moments ago, but as soon as my mother’s attention shifted to my hand, she changed again.
-Die, you bastard.
Yujin mouthed the words at me, making sure I saw. But despite holding a knife in her hand, she didn’t seem to have any intention of actually using it on me.
That was a relief.
No, it was only natural.
Her attempt to kill me had already failed, and she had been punched in the stomach and breasts by my Forced Mental Injection Punch, so she seemed to have regained some sanity. It was only natural that she wouldn’t consider committing murder in front of others.
Yujin was hot-tempered, prone to outbursts, and arrogant, but she wasn’t an idiot.
“Disinfectant, disinfectant…. It should be in the room….”
My mother, who had been hurrying to take off her shoes and enter the house as soon as she stepped inside the entrance, suddenly stopped.
It seemed to be because she had seen the overturned and scattered shoes and the drops of my blood on the floor.
Her eyes, which had been scanning the surroundings as if sensing something was wrong, turned back to Yujin.
Once again, Yujin smiled as if to say, “I’m innocent,” but─
Even if she was hiding it behind her back, there was no way the knife in her hand could go unnoticed.
“You, what’s that in your hand─”
“We were cooking.”
I answered.
It was a ridiculous statement, but it was much more plausible than saying that Yujin in her school uniform had just tried to kill me with that kitchen knife.
After all, kitchen knives were usually used for cooking.
“I cut my hand while cooking.”
I said firmly, as if that was enough and no further explanation was needed.
“……Oh. So, that’s why your hand is like that? You’re so clumsy, inviting a guest over and making such a mess.”
My mother said, grabbing my hands and lifting them up, but then she lowered them as if something was strange, looking back and forth between me and Yujin.
“But why were you standing in front of the entrance while cooking?”
“I came because I heard a noise.”
“With a knife?”
My mother asked, looking at Yujin.
“Yes!”
Yujin answered brightly, as if it wasn’t strange at all to walk to the entrance with a knife in her hand while cooking.
My mother still looked unconvinced, but she was naturally good-natured and not one to be suspicious of others. And now, treating my hand was more important than questioning the oddities, she walked into the living room.
As my mother passed between our shoulders, walking ahead of us, I moved closer to Yujin. And I took the kitchen knife from her hand.
Yujin readily handed over the knife. The impulsive act had already failed, and she seemed to think there was no point in holding onto the knife any longer.
Clinging close, we watched my mother’s back as she walked ahead, whispering curses into each other’s ears so she wouldn’t hear.
-Die, you bastard.
Yujin said.
-What was that expression just now? Did you think you were here for a matchmaking meeting? You were trying to kill someone until just now, and now you’re acting all demure.
I retorted.
-I told you to die already, didn’t I? Someone like you isn’t worth living. You should die.
-Why don’t you try it? Oh, did you already fail? What should I do now? I have everything recorded on camera, you trying to kill me. Should I go to the police station today and report this? So Yujeong can watch her daughter go to jail.
Whether Yujin was only now thinking about the aftermath of her impulsive act, or because she couldn’t think of a suitable retort, she now turned to action rather than words. She swung her elbow, trying to hit me in the stomach.
She had been thoroughly beaten while restrained last night, and she had just been thoroughly beaten again, so she should have keenly felt the difference in strength and physique, but she wasn’t discouraged and tried to hit me.
At this point, I was starting to feel more impressed by Yujin than angry.
But admiration was one thing, and there was no reason to let her hit me. I lightly blocked Yujin’s elbow swing with my palm, then pinched her wrist with the hand that had blocked her elbow. Then, I put my lips to Yujin’s ear and whispered in a small voice.
-Were you a honey badger in your past life?
Yujin turned her face towards me. We were whispering in such small voices so my mother wouldn’t hear, our faces almost touching as if we were about to kiss, but the words we exchanged were anything but affectionate.
-Honey…? What are you talking about? You’re the only one who eats that kind of nerdy food. Pig. You get fat like a pig because you eat stuff like that. Pig.
-Never mind. You’re so stupid. And look at your tits. They’re bigger than a sow’s.
-Ugh, don’t sexually harass me, you bastard.
Yujin pulled the arm that was being pinched towards her chest. Then, rotating her waist, she swung her elbow at my side again.
I blocked it lightly again. Even though her determined attack was blocked, Yujin didn’t give up and clenched her fist, hitting my thigh with the side of her hand.
The distance was so close that she couldn’t put any real power into it, so it didn’t hurt. It only delivered the force of a massage.
But I had to repay her for that, so I flicked Yujin’s nipple with my finger, just like I had done to Yujeong last night.
This seemed to hurt quite a bit, as Yujin flinched greatly for a moment, then stretched her neck towards me, bringing her lips to my ear.
When I straightened my back as if I wouldn’t listen, Yujin reached out and hugged my waist.
Pretending to be unable to resist, I tilted my face to Yujin’s height, and Yujin’s breath entered my eardrum. But Yujin’s words that followed were completely different from her warm and soft breath that had entered me.
-That hurts, you fucking bastard!
-Then why would I hit you if it was supposed to feel good? Oh, your mom was hitting you to hurt you last night, but you were squirting out your pussy like you liked it. Haha.
After my words, Yujin, who had been walking behind my mother while exchanging fists, curses, and kicks with me, suddenly stopped.
Yujin raised one leg high. Seeing her intention to stomp on my toes with her heel, I took another step forward with my left foot instead of walking in the usual way, alternating between my left and right feet.
Bang! There was a sound, but Yujin’s foot only hit the floor.
“Ouch!”
“Haha, you idiot.”
“What did you just say…?”
Just then, my mother, who had stopped in front of the drawer with the bandages in the living room, turned around and said.
My mother had entered the spacious living room after passing through the hallway, and she stared at me and Yujin, who were standing close together, as if something was strange.
Her eyes, which had been looking at us as if wondering why we were standing like that, soon changed to the same gaze as the middle-aged pharmacist who had looked at me when I took Yujeong to the pharmacy this morning.
I didn’t want to be misunderstood like this, especially by my own mother, so I quickly took the bandages my mother had taken out of the drawer and said.
“I’ll take care of it, so go and rest. You worked all day and late into the night yesterday.”
“How did you cut yourself so deeply while cooking?”
“Oh, it’s okay, it’s nothing.”
I shook my head, tearing open the bandage box.
“But why are you holding that knife? It’s scary to see in front of others. Put it down in the kitchen quickly. ……But was that knife even in our house?”
My mother asked, staring intently at the kitchen knife I had taken from Yujin.
I didn’t have a good answer, so I was thinking of an excuse when Yujin chimed in.
“Th, that’s mine. I brought it.”
Then, Yujin reached out towards me and grabbed the hand holding the knife.
I turned my head towards Yujin so my mother wouldn’t see my expression, glaring at her with eyes that said, ‘What are you trying to do now, you crazy bitch.’ But Yujin was arrogant. She put even more strength into her hand, trying to take the knife from me.
Yujin couldn’t take the knife from my hand with just her arm strength, so she put her weight on her legs as if she was about to have a tug-of-war. It was ridiculous.
I hesitated for a moment. Should I show my mother the sight of me and Yujin fighting over a bloody knife in the middle of the room, or……?
I didn’t think Yujin would attack me again now. And since it was my house, I was familiar with the terrain.
I had only been injured because I was ambushed earlier. I was confident that I could easily stop Yujin if she tried to attack me again.
I handed the knife to Yujin. I suddenly released my strength, and Yujin almost fell, but I managed to keep her balanced by wrapping my arm around her waist.
The enraged Yujin looked like she wanted to swing her elbow at my side like before, but she couldn’t even try because my mother was watching her.
Yujin said with an awkward smile.
“I, I was going to cook. I was going to cook for you.”
As if her own excuse sounded strange to her, Yujin quickly ran towards the kitchen, which was connected to the living room, to avoid being questioned further.
My mother’s expression, which had been detecting something strange from the moment she entered the house, became even more stern. She leaned towards me so Yujin wouldn’t hear and asked me in a small voice.
“Your girlfriend…… that girl. Isn’t she a bit troubled?”
“Yes, she has a lot of problems. And she’s not my girlfriend.”
“Coming to someone’s house in a school uniform at this hour without her parents’ permission, and even bringing a knife…. Even if it’s to cook for you.”
“That’s right, Mom. She’s a little crazy.”
I happily agreed with my mother’s words, which were scraping away at her liking for Yujin.
“But she’s really pretty….”
However, as if Yujin’s pretty face alone was enough to easily cover up her strange behavior, my mother’s voice became wistful. It was a voice that seemed to be steadily increasing her favorability.
Then, my mother entered the kitchen, watching Yujin’s back as she opened the refrigerator without her permission, and said again in a wistful voice.
“She’s tall too. And has long legs. ……She’s a bit too good for our son.”
“Huh… huh?”
I told her that I would apply the disinfectant myself and pushed my mother into her room. I told her to wash up and sleep quickly since she must be tired from working all night.
But since my mother was still reluctant, I quickly approached Yujin.
Yujin, that bitch, was really about to cook, as if that’s why she came to our house, and was even wearing an apron.
But why is she holding a fork when she’s about to cut cabbage?
