Liar and Liar - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 20

“What, Freddy. Did you think Daniel would only accept you? Romance doesn’t go as planned either, does it?”

“….”

“But I think.”

“….”

“The competitor you should be most careful of doesn’t seem to be ‘us.’ There’s someone who has all the qualities your girlfriend would like.”

Joshua’s snickering laughter grated on Frederick’s nerves even deeper.

Though he didn’t know exactly what this emotion was, he was certain that something inside him he hadn’t known existed had been touched.

* * *

Wow, I was really surprised. Truly.

Danielle thought this as she checked Chris’s text message that had arrived on her phone once again.

We fellow Koreans should help each other out.

Chris’s text was written in Korean.

If he had simply used a translator, he would have sent something like ‘Fellow Koreans should help each other.’ Chris’s text definitely felt like it came from a Korean speaker.

You can speak Korean? How?

My maternal grandmother is Korean. Do you trust me a little now?

Chris Fassbinder knew one thing but not two. The feeling of kinship and trust that comes from being the same ethnicity only applied to native Koreans.

Not everyone would be like this, but Korean-Americans living in Los Angeles were particularly notorious among Asians for backstabbing people from their own homeland.

That’s why many Korean-Americans in Los Angeles deliberately avoided interacting with Korean people.

Even so, Danielle was genuinely surprised that he spoke Korean, and felt somewhat pleased. She was the only Korean in the entire school after all.

‘So he has Korean blood. If it’s his maternal grandmother, he’d be about a quarter Korean.’

Chris Fassbinder had come to this school during Middle School, and it seemed no one still knew he had Korean blood mixed in.

Even though his hair was brown, with his brilliant blue eyes and distinct facial features, there was no trace of Asian heritage anywhere.

Perhaps.

If Chris Fassbinder had transferred during Lower School instead of Middle School, would they have become quite close friends?

Back then, Danielle was still living her school life no different from other kids, and it would have made sense since they would have had their own language throughout the entire school.

Of course, now that she knew Chris Fassbinder was a two-faced deceiver, it was a meaningless hypothetical.

Well. Can we have a conversation? I’m not planning to choose easy words out of consideration for you.

No need. Should we talk about LA Sharks player Sun Woo Kang’s homerun in the first division game?

Danielle was surprised again. This story was 10 times more interesting than Chris Fassbinder being able to speak Korean. It was bait that Danielle couldn’t help but bite.

‘Homerun, he says.’

Danielle chuckled. Writing words phonetically was exactly characteristic of Korean expatriates. Setting aside the trivial details, Danielle quickly typed her message.

You’re a fan of player Sun Woo Kang!?!?

Since I’m Korean, I should support Koreans.

His way with words was quite smooth. Still, Danielle didn’t dislike it. Any conversation about her favorite sports player was welcome.

When she was still in Korea, Danielle used to go to baseball games with her dad. Among the players from the team her dad supported back then, the player Danielle came to like was Sun Woo Kang.

He was a rookie at the time, but after advancing to Major League, he was currently playing for the LA Sharks.

Despite the amazing coincidence, due to financial circumstances she hadn’t had the opportunity to see him in person, but Danielle always checked his highlight videos and watched games live when she had time.

Having returned from rehabilitation, he was still in a slump without producing proper results, but Danielle firmly believed in his spectacular comeback.

I think the division game 1 homerun is the beginning. He’ll definitely accomplish something in the games that follow.

You really know your stuff!!! The division game 1 was a solo home run, but Sun Woo Kang’s specialty is crisis situation home runs. I even watched that in person when I was young in Korea. So, I mean grand slam.

Thinking Chris Fassbinder might not fully understand the text, Danielle added English at the end of her message.

‘What a shame.’

As soon as she happily typed and sent the message, a strange emptiness swirled within Danielle.

The first Korean person I’ve met at school. And he likes baseball, Sun Woo Kang no less.

‘So even if someone likes a good player, they can still be a bad person.’

Well, of course that would be true. Just because a player is good doesn’t mean their fan is good.

Danielle, who had been quite excited, lifted her head and glanced at the screen showing a boy lying on a tube entering the ocean.

Given the situation, there was definitely a shark in that ocean. Danielle’s face contorted. Now that the movie caught her attention again, her heart began beating rapidly.

Should I just accept this for the duration of this movie, just that long?

Like I decided to do with Frederick Bastia….

‘I’m not being deceived. I’m not being taken advantage of either. I’m just using this.’

Thinking this, Danielle turned away from the screen while gripping her phone tightly with both hands.

‘If it’s baseball talk, there’s plenty to discuss.’

October, when MLB postseason was underway. Currently, the LA Sharks had beaten the Cincinnati Reds 2:0 in the wild card series and were playing in the division series.

Past mid-October, the championship series would be held, and around the end of October, the World Series was scheduled.

Even during Lower School, Danielle used to go watch baseball games with her dad like she did when she was in Korea, but starting from Middle School when her younger sibling got sick and the family began to falter, attending postseason games became unthinkable.

So even while living in Los Angeles, even while many Korean-Americans went to games to watch and cheer for Sun Woo Kang, Danielle alone couldn’t go to games and only watched through videos.

In complete contrast to Danielle’s situation, as everyone knew, Frederick Bastia was the only son of the LA Sharks’ owner. Some people couldn’t attend games despite being fans because tickets were expensive.

‘And someone else is the son of that very owner.’

It was a vast class difference that made reality feel blurred. In other words, Frederick Bastia was above the clouds, above the troposphere—

‘Above the stratosphere, above the mesosphere, above the thermosphere, above the exosphere….’

He could be said to be an existence living in space.

Like some unreachable star that everyone looked up to….

Danielle shook off her thoughts and typed a message.

By the way, how did you know I was a fan of LA Sharks player Sun Woo Kang?

You did a Science Project before. Using Sun Woo Kang’s data.

Her mouth fell open. The conversation with Chris Fassbinder was full of surprises.

‘He knew that was Sun Woo Kang’s data?’

Moreover, that science project was already such an old story.

How did you know that was Sun Woo Kang?

I’m also a Sun Woo Kang fan. I was curious about analyzing variables to predict home runs, so I looked into it more. (Sorry, I just looked up the words so they might be wrong.)

Along with an embarrassed feeling, Danielle stared at the message.

‘Searching for each word individually is incredibly tedious work.’

I’m constantly using spell check, translator, google while writing. I’m busy.

Then don’t overdo it. Use English.

Think of it as dressing it up. It seems better to follow proper spelling. You’ll keep in touch with me if I use Korean, right? Let’s keep talking about baseball.

Even though Danielle had switched to English, Chris continued to maintain Korean.

Eventually Danielle also returned to Korean. The strange feeling continued as well.

When using Korean, the identity of ‘Ryu Danielle’ rather than ‘Daniel Ryu’ was activated. In fact, there was a huge difference between the two.

The screen lit up once again, and Danielle’s gaze fell on the newly arrived message.

I’m in a position where I have to make an effort.

To clear up the misunderstanding.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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