Chapter 191

Anyway, since Mira has come, it’s finally time to deliver this. I took a fairy tale book from the bookshelf and handed it to Mira.

“Here.”

“What is this?”

“Um, I stumbled upon this fairy tale book by chance. I thought you might like it.”

“Heh… The cover is cute. What is this? A rabbit?”

“It doesn’t seem like it’s drawn with a specific animal in mind.”

“What story is it about?”

Well, what should I say this story is about?

“The lonely beast wants to find a beast like itself. But it can’t find a beast like itself anywhere, and the beast remains lonely.”

“Does it eventually find one?”

“Isn’t it better for you to read it yourself?”

“I guess so. Thank you for the gift.”

I couldn’t tell Mira it was a spoiler, but this was ultimately a story about ‘me’ becoming ‘us’. Is being trapped in ‘us’ a happy ending? What even is the concept of ‘us’ in the first place? To be confined means to be protected as well.

Either way, I think I’m still far from it.

I struggled to become ‘me’ but ultimately accepted that the ‘me’ I was struggling to become was already ‘me’. The idea of ‘us’ was still a very distant concept.

“Thank you for today…”

“You can come by anytime in the future.”

“I won’t have the time.”

Mira’s expression as she left was bittersweet, but not lonely. It might not be enough, but still, I hope you’re not in pain. Thanks to meeting you today, my walk ended right in front of the house.

After Mira left, I briefly watched her leave through the window. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks. Why did she stop? It seemed like she saw something, but the angle didn’t allow me to see. Then she suddenly turned around. What on earth did she see?

Before the doorbell rang, I opened the door first. Mira entered and immediately closed the door behind her. She had an urgent look on her face.

“Uh, what’s wrong? Why did you come back?”

“Call the police. There’s a stalker.”

At Mira’s words, chills ran down my spine, and scary thoughts began to surface. It would be a misunderstanding to say that, as I had already become quite well-known, and the people around here surely knew I lived here. If someone wanted to do something, it was entirely possible.

I had already had a similar experience before.

Seeing me flustered and scared, Mira immediately took out her smartphone. She intended to call for help instead of me. Right, I had to call the police. That was the right thing, but I was too flustered to even think of that. I’m worse than a girl who just turned adult.

But just when Mira was about to call the police, a loud, intense knocking sound came from outside, accompanying a voice I recognized.

“Wait, hey! I’m not the stalker! Seol-guk! No, sir! Bro? Sis? Hey, do you remember me?”

At the same time, the doorbell rang. When I checked through the intercom, I saw someone I knew, wearing a hat and sunglasses, trying to make his face recognizable.

“Mira, it’s okay. We don’t need to call the police.”

“What?”

“It’s someone I know.”

It was a bit sudden, but still.

Mira looked worried but opened the door for him. There stood Ji Kang-hyeon, a somewhat famous young actor, who had sent me a text to apologize just a while ago. And Ji Kang-hyeon greeted us with a shy wave.

“Uh, hello?”

Ji Kang-hyeon was holding his hat and sunglasses in one hand and was dressed in an oddly unfashionable Hawaiian style. Honestly, I didn’t even know what Hawaiian fashion was or if it even existed, but nothing else came to mind to describe it.

I was so taken aback by the sight that I couldn’t find words. A moment of silence passed, and the first to speak was Mira.

“Should we call the police again?”

“Yeah.”

“No way!”

~

A sitcom is the best weapon in a script. Whatever happens, if you turn it into a sitcom at the end, you can gloss over the scene. You could think of it like a cheat code.

That said, I didn’t want to stage such a sitcom-like scene in reality. I stopped Mira, who was genuinely thinking about calling the police, and we three came into the house. I handed Ji Kang-hyeon a glass of cold water.

“How did you find this place?”

“Uh, I didn’t find out in a strange way, it was just that when I asked, they told me….”

“Who?”

“It’s a rule not to pry into the identity of informants, you know?”

“Mira, call the police again.”

This time, Mira knew it was a joke, so she didn’t really try to call. She just lifted her phone slightly.

“Ah, stop it. I thought my heart would drop just now. The nine o’clock news is going to cover it again.”

“You’ve been on the nine o’clock news?”

“Just saying that.”

Right, she was still the same overly talkative person. As we were talking like this, it seemed clear that they knew each other. Mira asked.

“What’s your relationship?”

“He’s the son of the president of my publisher.”

“Hello. I’m Ji Kang-hyeon, an aspiring superstar actor.”

“Shut up.”

“Wait, are you actually Ji Kang-hyeon and not just someone who looks like him?”

Mira was having a hard time believing that Ji Kang-hyeon was the real deal. Ji Kang-hyeon was relatively well known for appearing on TV, but it seemed that during the break, he suddenly grew a lot taller and perhaps changed his impression a bit.

I had seen him just recently on TV and knew he had grown taller, but Mira must not have seen him since she was busy with her studies.

“Suddenly grew much taller during the break….”

“Right? You’ve really gotten tall. You were just a little taller than me before, but now there’s a difference of two heads. Are you in your first year of high school now? Are first-year students really this tall these days?”

“Probably not, right? Oh my. Up until last year, he was adorable.”

Yes, that did seem to suit Ji Kang-hyeon perfectly. The cute type that older girls would like. But now that he had grown taller, he had shifted from being cute to looking handsome. He hadn’t lost that previous vibe, but he felt distinctly different.

“I want to grow that tall too.”

“Eh, that much wouldn’t suit you.”

“When I get taller, will you stop being friends with me?”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

Is it such a good thing to receive a normal response? Perhaps I had suffered too much from Han-bom and Seo Eun-a. Please stay just like this forever, Mira.

“But I’m cute even now, sis.”

Don’t interrupt. Plus, ugh, calling her “sis” with that face. I know it was directed at Mira, but it gave me the creeps. Of course, he’s a first-year high school student, so he’s three years younger than Mira.

Mira seemed to feel a similar vibe, trembling slightly.

“You’ve become creepy.”

“No, why? I’ve grown up well enough.”

“Look at him. You’re making a fuss because of him.”

“That’s not really true….”

Huh? Mira’s reaction was a bit strange. What’s not true? Is there something that shouldn’t be here?

“Sis, am I really creepy?”

“N-no.”

…Wait. Please, this development isn’t right.

It seems that my comment about him being creepy, in fact, triggered a flutter in Mira’s heart. What? Why? What on earth? Thinking of the Ji Kang-hyeon I know gives me the creeps. Plus, why is he speaking formally to her when she’s older?

“Do you like that kind of thing?”

“No, it’s just that the Ji Kang-hyeon from last year felt more like an adorable younger brother.”

“I didn’t think so.”

“It’s because you’re tall.”

“Please don’t play with Eun-a.”

Why is he only learning bad things?

“Anyway, it’s because he’s suddenly grown much taller that it feels so different.”

Ji Kang-hyeon was looking at me with an attitude of disbelief, as if to say, “Did you see that?” No, no, no, this isn’t right. If it comes down to it, Mira is much more precious compared to Ji Kang-hyeon. How could he be so kind and cute? Although it seems he might have gotten a little influenced by the bad one (Seo Eun-a), he’s still a pure kid.

“Mira, you might not really know, but that guy is bad news. You should really know how awful he is….”

Um… what can I say?

“That kid is a Silver 4 rank loser!”

…I felt a bit guilty saying that. But if Mira knew what an awful tier that is, she’d understand, but unfortunately, she was the model student far away from gaming. For reference, I hadn’t checked rankings and had quit gaming, becoming invincible.

“Now it’s Silver 2, though?”

That’s his bragging moment.

“Honestly, it’s because my team is not good that I can’t rise.”

“Shut up for a second. I’m trying to persuade her. That guy is completely a punk, and he only watches trash like otherworldly anime! Falling for a guy like this is dangerous.”

“No, I didn’t fall for him.”

His eyes were already dazzled. What’s with the blush on his face?

“Hey, that’s genre bias. Want to add to the Seol-guk (author) controversy page on Seed Wiki?”

“Shut up…, what? A wiki?”

Out of nowhere, Ji Kang-hyeon brought up a topic I didn’t want to know. There’s a document about me on a wiki…? Why? Why on earth is there a document about me on a wiki?

“Surprisingly, there’s not much content on it.”

Why do you know about this, Mira?

…Let’s set that aside for now. What’s important is stopping Mira from falling for him, as he doesn’t even count as boyfriend material.

“Anyway, that guy is a total bad apple, so don’t play with him.”

“Hey, that’s too harsh. Let’s keep it fair.”

“Just be careful; he has a preference for older girls. What was the name of his previous girlfriend? Kang Chae-eun? Some idol with a big chest.”

“Whoa, that’s a dangerous conversation. That’s confidential, confidential. I helped stop Chae-eun from becoming a mess with a few things I did.”

“What did you do?”

“I published an article saying I was hitting on her.”

“That’s true.”

I’m not sure about it, but it seems like it might be true. Let’s just assume it is.

Even though we hadn’t met in a long time, even though we hadn’t spent much time together originally, we continued the conversation without hesitation. It should have felt a bit awkward, but considering my unstable state back then, this seemed much better.

However, it seemed that instead of focusing on the handsome Ji Kang-hyeon, Mira had her attention on something else.

“You two seem very close?”

…Is this what close is?

“It feels like we’ve known each other for a very long time.”

“The total time I’ve spent with him is probably less than two days, I think.”

“Well, since he stayed overnight at my house, it’s been three days, right?”

The moment that sensitive topic popped up, I glanced at Mira, but thankfully she didn’t seem to think much of it. If it were Seo Eun-a or Han-bom, they would have made a fuss right there. I’m really grateful to you for being so kind, Mira.

But Ji Kang-hyeon, please keep your mouth shut.

“It doesn’t seem like you met recently, so how did it happen? Now that I think about it, there was that news article…”

“That’s right, it’s because of that.”

“About that?”

“It’s because a scandal broke out between me and him, and he unilaterally cut off contact. This is the first time I’ve seen him since then.”

As soon as Mira heard my words, the blush disappeared from her face. She looked at Ji Kang-hyeon as if he were trash and said…

“Trash.”

I should have said that first.