Chapter 275 – Episode 275 – The Protagonist Is Targeted (15)
“Huh? Jin… Hyun? Why, why are you here?”
Harin, startled, jumped up from her seat and stared at me with a surprised expression.
She clearly hadn’t expected me to suddenly appear here, her eyes wide as she met mine.
Why am I here?
Because I followed you, of course.
…But I obviously couldn’t say that honestly.
I shrugged.
“I was just taking a walk and ended up here.”
It wasn’t a lie.
I never imagined that while buying a simple late-night snack at the convenience store and eating it while walking around the hotel grounds, I would see Harin.
I wanted to talk to her, but the timing wasn’t right, so I just followed her for a while as she strolled.
Then, when she sat on the bench, I quickly approached her.
“No…! Not that!”
Harin shook her head, as if my answer wasn’t what she wanted.
“Then what?”
“The hotel…! Why are you staying at this hotel?”
Ah.
I smiled faintly.
“Well, because I came to the hotel?”
“Ugh… Who doesn’t know that!”
Harin’s eyes narrowed at my lame joke. I chuckled.
“There was a winter cartoon contest awards ceremony here today.”
“Oh… a cartoon?”
“Yeah, you might know? It was at the buffet on the third floor.”
Well, since she lives in the hotel, she probably would know. Harin nodded.
“I know. I do know… Did you draw a cartoon by any chance?”
Her eyes widened like they did when she was surprised to see me earlier.
What is it?
Do I look like I shouldn’t draw cartoons…?
Anyway, that wasn’t the case, so I shook my head.
“No, not me. A close younger sibling did.”
“Ah… then.”
“I came as an award recipient’s guest. The ceremony ended around 6:30, but it felt a bit awkward to go straight home, so I’m staying at the hotel for the night.”
Harin nodded as if she understood.
“Alone?”
“No, with my sibling. Everyone except me is asleep right now, but I couldn’t fall asleep. So I came out for a walk.”
“Ah, I, I see…”
Harin closed her lips as she answered. The air, which had been bustling, suddenly became quiet.
The cold winter wind brushed past her hair.
‘Wow.’
Looking at her like this, she’s really pretty. Like a female lead in a movie.
I watched her fidget with her fingers awkwardly for a moment, then took a step closer.
“More importantly, want a drink?”
“Huh? What…?”
“This. It’s still unopened. I’ll give it to you as an apology.”
I shook one of the canned drinks I was holding and held it out. Harin quietly took the can I offered, then tilted her head.
“…Apology? But what are you apologizing for?”
“For putting the drink on your cheek.”
Her cheeks were flushed. I pointed to her right cheek, where I had touched her with the drink earlier, with my eyes and continued.
“I didn’t know you’d hate it that much. I didn’t think you’d even cry.”
“C… Cry!?!”
Harin looked at me with a very flustered expression. I looked at her, who was denying it, and said as if I didn’t understand.
“No, you were just crying.”
“No, I wasn’t?”
“You weren’t?”
“Yeah…”
“Then, what are those tear marks there?”
“Ah, this…!”
It was almost midnight. But because it was the hotel’s walking path, even though it was dark, the lights illuminated the bench, making Harin’s face clearly visible.
There were slight tears and a few water droplets on both of her eyes.
It was probably because of the fight earlier.
Harin turned her face away from my gaze and quickly wiped her eyes with her hand.
“This is… just because the night air is cold, I just came out for a bit.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
When I smiled meaningfully, Harin glared at me.
“Hey, I told you I didn’t cry!”
“Haha, okay, I was just kidding.”
Harin glared at me for a moment, then shifted her gaze to the drink I had given her.
“But this.”
“Yeah?”
“Wasn’t this originally for you?”
“Yeah, but there’s another vending machine. I can just get another one.”
I quickly went to the vending machine shining near the bench, got a drink, and quickly returned to sit next to Harin.
I held out the can towards her.
“Here, cheers.”
“Why a sudden cheers?”
“Just because.”
“Pfft…”
Harin laughed as if to say, “What’s that?” but still tapped her can against mine.
She brought the drink to her lips, and I watched her expression carefully as I drank mine.
Even though we had only exchanged a few words, she looked much more relaxed than when she first sat on the bench.
When the drink was half empty, I looked at her and asked softly.
“By the way, you.”
“Yeah?”
“Did something happen?”
When I asked that, Harin flinched.
“Huh? Why, why…?”
“It’s just that you look like you have a lot on your mind.”
“How do you know that…”
Harin mumbled. With that attitude, anyone would know.
“I know because you have a worried look on your face.”
“Is, is that so?”
“Yeah. You’ve always kept things to yourself when something happened. But no matter how much you suffer, it all shows on your face.”
When I said that, Harin looked at me with a strange expression for a moment, then snorted.
“Geez, what are you talking about? You couldn’t even recognize my face when we first met this year.”
“Hey, that’s cheating. It’s been almost 10 years since we last saw each other, how could I recognize you?”
“Pfft.”
When I made a dumbfounded expression, she smiled faintly. I stared at her quietly, then opened my mouth.
“Anyway, if you’re okay with it, tell me. I’ll give you some advice.”
“Hmm… advice, you say?”
Harin glanced at me with a sly look for a moment. She wrapped her hands around the canned drink I gave her and let out a soft sigh.
“It’s nothing much… I just had a fight with my sister.”
“With your sister?”
I immediately thought of the fight I saw in the hotel hallway.
Come to think of it, that woman. I thought she looked like someone, and it was Harin. Then that woman is Harin’s sister? Really?
“Yeah… I graduated from college early this time. I told you, right? That my dad owns the Hanz brand.”
“Yeah.”
I nodded.
I found out that Harin’s parents owned the brand a few days ago when I met her with Eunju.
When Eunju asked where she lived now, Harin replied that she lived at the Hanz Hotel. Eunju was surprised and asked how she could live at the Hanz Hotel, which led to the discovery that she was the daughter of the hotel’s CEO.
Harin continued.
“So, I was supposed to go under my parents after graduating from college… but I insisted.”
“How?”
“I just said I wanted to live my life as I pleased.”
Harin looked up at the sky.
“Haa… but of course, it wouldn’t work out. My parents naturally refused. But I somehow persuaded them to let me do what I want for a year, but my sister didn’t know about it.”
“Is that why you fought?”
“Yeah.”
Harin nodded.
“My sister came to see me today. She said it’s a waste of time.”
Harin twirled her hair.
“My sister has always been a genius. No matter what you ask her to do, she just does it perfectly like a machine… but that was hard for me. I can’t be like my sister, I just want to live freely like everyone else…”
Harin fidgeted with her fingers.
“After hearing what my sister said today, I also wondered if I was just being spoiled. Anyway, it’s nothing big, that’s just how it is. Haha…”
After speaking, Harin blushed slightly and scratched her cheek. I asked her softly.
“So, is that year confiscated?”
“Huh?”
She tilted her head at my question, then immediately shook her head.
“Ah. No? No, it’s not. It’s just that I fought with my sister. I just got a lot of nagging, ugh.”
I asked her.
“Then have you decided what you’re going to do for that year?”
“Huh? Of course.”
“You’re not preparing hard, are you?”
“I am! It’s not going that well… but yeah, I’m working hard.”
“Then that’s good enough.”
I said lightly.
“The year hasn’t even started yet, so there’s no reason to think it won’t work out. You’re very diligent, so I think you’ll definitely do well.”
“Diligent?”
Harin tilted her head. I nodded.
“Yeah.”
“Hmm…? How do you know I’m diligent? What’s your basis for judging that I’m diligent?”
I didn’t expect her to ask that suddenly.
I thought for a moment about what to answer, then opened my mouth, remembering her old self.
“You never didn’t do your homework in elementary school.”
“Wh… Homework?”
When I answered that with a serious expression, Harin made a face as if she had misheard me, then suddenly burst out laughing.
“Puhahaha, what’s that? Is that being diligent?”
“Of course. And you never came late to school either.”
“What are you talking about, then 50% of the world’s population would be diligent.”
Harin made a dumbfounded expression, but she had a faint smile on her face.
After that, I threw out a few jokes and led the conversation in a way that would lighten her mood.
Harin, with a smile on her face, laughed softly with a much more relaxed expression.
“Hey, this isn’t working as advice. What are you going to do?”
“If it did, I’d be a counselor. Well, isn’t that how advice from friends usually goes?”
“Pfft, you’re so great.”
She flicked her black hair. I looked at her and chuckled.
Well, with this, I guess we’ve at least said goodnight.
I stood up from the bench, feeling quite satisfied, threw the empty can into the nearby trash can, and stretched for a moment.
Harin looked at me and asked.
“Huh? Are you going in already?”
“Already? It’s almost 12 o’clock.”
“Ah…”
“Why, don’t you want to go in?”
“Ah, no, no! I have to go too.”
Harin flinched at my words, shook her head, and quickly got up from her seat.
She also threw her can into the trash can and stood near me. I looked at her.
“But, well.”
“Yeah?”
“If you don’t want to go in yet, we can walk a bit more. I can do that much with you.”
Harin stared at me intently.
But it wasn’t a look that said, “Don’t say weird things,” but rather a look that seemed drawn to me.
What is it, why are you so tempted?
Is this possible?
I continued.
“Or do you want to eat something? Forget about advice, honestly, eating is the best way to relieve stress.”
“Huh? Late-night snack?”
“Yeah.”
“…What if I gain weight and get more stressed?”
“That’s for tomorrow’s me to worry about.”
When I gave her a thumbs up and said it was a good idea, Harin burst out laughing again.
“What are we going to eat, and you’re going to buy it?”
“Yeah. Thinking about it, I think I got a lot of things from you like this in the past. I’ll pay you back for that too.”
Chicken, pizza, tteokbokki, sundae, odeng, junk food, etc…
During the six years I went to elementary school, there was nothing I didn’t get from Harin.
Especially whenever I went to Harin’s house, there was always a feast. Harin also stayed at my or Eunju’s house often, but I don’t think we ever really prepared anything for her.
When I said that, Harin glared at me.
“Hmm…? So, you’re going to settle all the things I bought you in the past with this one time, is that it?”
“Sigh… Is that not okay?”
Harin crossed her arms.
“Well, it’s not that it’s not okay. But if you want to pay back everything you got from me in the past… it’s not a joke, you’d have to buy me at least 10 chickens. No, no. 50 chickens.”
“50 chickens?”
“Yeah, I probably bought you about 1 million won worth. Maybe even more?”
Uh… it probably was much more than that.
But, I didn’t do the foolish thing of saying that out loud.
As she walked along the night path, she listed all the things she had bought me in the past, reminiscing about the memories.
I quietly listened to her story and occasionally added interjections.
Well, what…
Not a bad walk.
