Unrequited Love Obsession Diary - Chapter 8
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Episode 8
With a dazed expression, she stared at the text message, then this time made a phone call instead of replying.
It didn’t even occur to her that this was something she wouldn’t normally do.
“What do you mean by that?”
-What do you mean what do I mean. It’s exactly what the text says.
“Really?”
-Yeah. Really.
“If you’re messing with me, I’m really going to kill you.”
No matter how drunk she had been, it was hard to believe she would have done such a thing.
But what if, just maybe, by any chance, could it really have happened?
-No, I’m telling you it’s real.
Hyeonoh’s voice was more honest than ever.
I really got drunk and kissed Dohan senior?
Really?
Crazy.
Crazy. Crazy. Crazy.
Crazy!
-Are you at school?
“No, at home.”
-Don’t you have class next?
Only then did she remember that today was a class day. And it was a morning class, of all things.
She pulled the phone away from her ear to check the time. The sun was already high in the sky, and being late was a certainty.
Even if she went to school right now without washing off last night’s alcohol smell, she would still miss the entire class.
This was a disaster…
But there was no way to undo what had already happened.
‘Can’t help it.’
Since she’d already be marked absent anyway, she decided to buy today’s class notes from Eta for a coffee gift card.
Having quickly calculated everything, Yeon-jae made her decision.
She would skip her first ever class (voluntarily).
So she was about to answer that she wouldn’t go to school.
-Want to cure your hangover?
Hyeonoh’s suggestion came faster than Yeon-jae’s next words.
* * *
She met Hyeonoh at the school-front soup restaurant.
For a hangover cure, there was already bean sprout soup that her mom had made, but she thought it would be better to hear the details of the incident directly from Hyeonoh.
Perhaps remembering that she couldn’t eat sundae, this time Hyeonoh led her to a bean sprout soup restaurant.
‘Bean sprouts everywhere.’
Yeon-jae only thought this to herself.
When the two sat down, it was already well past lunchtime. There were people at the surrounding tables, but not many.
“You seem to know all the soup restaurants in front of the school.”
Yeon-jae said to Hyeonoh, who had finished ordering as soon as they sat down.
“Well, I live alone.”
“Aren’t you from Seoul?”
“Half right.”
Why only half? But Yeon-jae didn’t ask further. She just thought that if his family home was in Seoul but he still lived alone, his family must be quite well-off.
“Wait.”
“What.”
“We won’t run into Dohan senior around here, will we?”
“It’s in front of the school, so we might.”
“What? I want to go home.”
“Ah, is this because of the kiss?”
“Ah, shh.”
Yeon-jae put her index finger to her lips, shushing Hyeonoh.
“If you think about my hard work, getting up from this seat wouldn’t be right.”
Having done something wrong, Yeon-jae quietly set down her utensils without complaint.
Unlike Yeon-jae with her dying expression, Hyeonoh looked very cheerful today as well.
“Remember? Yesterday I kept going out to smoke on purpose to leave just you two alone.”
Hyeonoh grumbled that thanks to that, his lungs still felt rotten.
“Now, now. Let me see. The reason I called you today is because I thought of another brilliant method. Now that you’ve even drunk together, we need to quickly move on to the next chapter.”
“Next chapter?”
“First, let me hear a progress report. Did you do anything yesterday?”
“…No.”
“But you at least exchanged numbers, right?”
Yeon-jae kept her mouth tightly shut.
“Don’t tell me you really didn’t do anything?”
“…Yes.”
“This girl can’t even eat when the table is set for her.”
“Ah, I’m really sorry. You went through all that trouble for me.”
Yeon-jae bowed her head so low it looked like she might bang it on the table.
“I know it was a difficult opportunity you created for me. Bringing a complete stranger to a one-on-one appointment isn’t easy, you know.”
It was a situation he had deliberately created. No matter how close they were, it couldn’t have been easy.
Even with ten mouths, she had nothing to say.
“But I just got drunk alone and made a huge mistake.”
“Hey. Are you really going to cry at this rate?”
“How am I supposed to face Dohan senior now? He must have lost all interest, right? And I haven’t even properly started yet.”
Yeon-jae’s face looked deathly pale as she said this.
Then Hyeonoh said with a nonchalant expression.
“Lift your head. Anyone watching would think someone died.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“And that was a lie.”
“What?”
She didn’t understand immediately and asked back.
It wasn’t difficult content that she couldn’t understand right away.
It was because Yeon-jae had unconsciously believed that Hyeonoh wasn’t such a nasty person.
“The thing about you kissing him, that was a lie.”
But the content she finally understood was utterly absurd.
“No, what is wrong with you…”
Yeon-jae’s voice lowered. It was the result of momentary emotion preceding intention.
Yeon-jae found this situation absurd and ridiculous, and above all, disappointing.
“…Why would you tell such a lie?”
At Hyeonoh.
“Wasn’t it fun?”
Hyeonoh himself replied lightly. As if reminding her that she was the only one taking this situation seriously.
“Fun?”
“Nothing happened. Oh right. I couldn’t make Lee Do-han take care of a drunk person, so I put you in a taxi and sent you home. There was a bit of an incident… anyway, you don’t need to be too grateful. You’re buying today’s soup. Got it?”
Hyeonoh paid no attention to Yeon-jae’s hardened expression.
Still joking as naturally as breathing, he brought his spoon to the boiling hot bean sprout soup, then noisily exclaimed “Ah, hot!” repeatedly and put his spoon back down. Perhaps having burned the roof of his mouth, he gulped down cold water.
While Hyeonoh was making all this fuss, Yeon-jae remained still.
She didn’t even pretend to pick up her utensils. She simply kept both hands gathered below the table.
Only then did Hyeonoh glance at Yeon-jae and speak.
“Why don’t you eat something? It’s not like we’re holding a memorial service.”
Yeon-jae didn’t answer.
Perhaps sensing the unusual atmosphere, Hyeonoh also belatedly put down his utensils.
Silence lingered for a while. People at the surrounding tables engaged in trivial conversations, quickly emptying their bowls of soup and disappearing, repeating the cycle.
The air of late spring, somewhere between summer’s humidity and spring’s dusty smell, felt stuffy. Close your eyes and open them, and it would already be summer.
Yeon-jae slowly opened her mouth.
“Excuse me.”
Hyeonoh was someone who could make any situation light.
Yeon-jae thought this time would probably be similar.
He would surely brush off Yeon-jae’s mood with some pointless joke as he pleased.
“Are you angry?”
As expected, it didn’t stray far from her predictions.
He didn’t brush it off as lightly as she thought, but it wasn’t the attitude of someone who felt sorry either.
“Hey. Are you really angry?”
When Yeon-jae didn’t respond, Hyeonoh asked again as if to confirm.
She could roughly guess. Usually when Hyeonoh acted like this, most people would get swept up in his pace and let it slide, even if their feelings were hurt. Many people were probably lenient with the handsome and humorous Hyeonoh.
“…”
When Yeon-jae remained silent, Hyeonoh, sensing the unusual atmosphere, put down his utensils. And belatedly examined Yeon-jae’s expression.
“Hey, it was just a joke.”
Even if it meant things would become awkward with Hyeonoh from now on, she still had to say what needed to be said.
Having organized her thoughts, Yeon-jae spoke up.
“You might find it endlessly amusing to watch me fumble around like this.”
As she said this, Yeon-jae’s gaze was directed not at Hyeonoh but toward the restaurant window. College students from the same school wearing their department jackets were laughing heartily at Daehakro, as if something was so wonderful.
It was fresh, vibrant laughter.
“I’m being serious.”
At that moment, Hyeonoh looked quite flustered. As if he never dreamed that Yeon-jae would get angry over such a trivial joke.
“Don’t make a mockery of it.”
With those final words, Yeon-jae gathered her bag and stood up.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————