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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Why Do All Your Words Seem Like Lies?
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Jun-woo slowly approached A-jin.
No, it was A-jin's red, plump lips that were drawing him in.
She didn't pull away.
He took that as her answer to his confession.
The distance between them narrowed until their noses were almost touching.
At that moment, the sound of someone punching in the door code rang out: beep-beep-beep.
He quickly straightened his leaning body, and A-jin lifted her face from between her legs and turned her head toward the entrance.
"Mom? I think my contact slipped. I can't see well."
A-jin fumbled around with her fingers, saying she couldn't see.
She hadn't pulled away because it was her answer to his confession—it was just because she couldn't see.
He felt disappointed and deflated, but for now, he had to set those emotions aside.
He came face-to-face with her father.
Jun-woo tensed up and bowed at a perfect ninety degrees in greeting, while A-jin removed her contact and asked,
"Mom?"
"It's Dad."
"Huh? Mom said she'd come in first."
"Dad's here. Mom's throwing out clothes. But who's this?"
Her father's eyes were filled with wariness toward Jun-woo.
He hadn't done anything wrong, but he shrank back as if he had.
Even so, he tried to introduce himself like a man, but A-jin spoke first.
"He's a classmate. Jun-woo. I told you about the top student in our grade? This is him."
"The top student in the whole school?"
"Hello."
Jun-woo bowed his head once more in greeting.
"Uh. Yeah."
Her father nodded back in response.
But the wary look in his eyes remained.
*He's got the looks to make girls cry,* he thought.
"But why are you two alone in our house?"
"Oh! We ate dinner together."
"Dinner? Why eat it here? Did a student come to visit?"
"He didn't exactly visit. He walked me home, so I told him to eat before going."
Her father looked at his daughter as if she were so innocent.
"Even if you invited him in, with no parents home, shouldn't he hold back from just coming inside like this?"
He seemed even more worried because the boy was handsome and good at studying, on top of having an ordinary face.
There was jealousy in her father's expression too.
When her father scolded her, A-jin stood up for Jun-woo, asking why he was doing that.
"Why are you like this, Dad? I asked him to come in."
Jun-woo was touched that she was taking his side, while her father looked deeply hurt.
"'Come in'? Not even 'let's go in'? No, daughter, do you like this student?"
Both of them were flustered by her father's question.
A-jin waved her hands excessively and pushed her dad toward the master bedroom.
"What are you talking about? He helped me out a bit today, so I thanked him by feeding him dinner. Dad, didn't you say you were taking Mom's clothes? Don't make my friend uncomfortable—go inside."
She pushed her father into the master bedroom and closed the door.
Then she approached Jun-woo with an apologetic look.
"Sorry, you must've been startled. Dad can be a bit playful."
It wasn't playful—it was guarded.
Even knowing that, Jun-woo nodded as if he understood.
"I should head out now. You okay being alone?"
"Yeah, I'm fine now. Thank you so much today—really. I'll definitely repay the favor."
"Okay. I'm going."
Jun-woo left the house before her father came out of the master bedroom.
* * *
As soon as Jun-woo got to school, he came looking for Cho-hee.
The kids whispered when they saw him enter the classroom, wondering what his connection was to her.
They seemed jealous, saying they were in their own little clique.
Normally, she would have basked in those gazes and welcomed him warmly.
But today, she felt uneasy.
Cho-hee followed him out, anxious that her scheme might have been exposed.
"What's up?"
She asked as casually as possible.
She didn't know why he'd called her out, so she couldn't give away anything first.
"You really didn't know?"
His eyes were full of suspicion.
From that look, which had already concluded it was her doing, she could instinctively tell he was the one who'd run away from the studio with Kang A-jin.
But she played dumb.
"What are you talking about out of nowhere?"
"You told Kang A-jin to go to that studio."
"I wasn't feeling well, so..."
"You knew they were going to take weird pictures too."
"Weird pictures?"
"You really didn't know?"
"I have no idea what you're saying. Explain it so I can understand."
He furrowed his brow in frustration, unable to press her hard since it was just suspicion.
She had to keep playing dumb to the end.
If he found out about her misdeed, she wouldn't even be able to face him like this.
Her throat trembled with tension.
"You have the studio people's numbers, right?"
"That's... why?"
"To report them."
"Report them?"
A-jin was too timid to even think of reporting.
But Jun-woo was different.
She grew scared that things were escalating more than expected.
"What happened that you're going as far as reporting?"
"They made her wear weird clothes. I reported it, and the police went, but they hid A-jin. There must've been physical contact and threats too—shouldn't we report that?"
Jun-woo knew everything.
She was annoyed at the botched plan and annoyed that he'd found out.
But for now, she pretended to worry about Kang A-jin.
"That happened? What about A-jin? Is A-jin okay?"
"You saw her this morning."
"Oh! Right, yeah. But she doesn't show it much."
He slowly shook his head at her response and then spoke.
"It's weird."
"What is?"
"Why do all your words seem like lies?"
"L-Lies?"
"You said you were sick, right? To A-jin?"
"Yeah. I wasn't feeling well, so I asked A-jin to go instead..."
"If you were sick, how'd you make it to the theater?"
At the sharp question, Cho-hee lost her words for a moment.
But she quickly came up with an excuse.
"Didn't A-jin tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
A sneer flickered at the corner of his mouth.
*Go ahead and make your excuse,* his face said.
He wouldn't believe it, but she had to try.
She had to get through this crisis.
"A-jin said she couldn't reach you."
"So she asked you to go to the theater?"
"No. I just went because I was worried. I like you, after all."
He stared at her silently.
After glaring for a long while, he held out his hand.
"Give me the number."
"You're really going to report them?"
"Yeah."
His expression was firm.
If he reported, she'd be in trouble too.
Cho-hee shook her head.
"I don't know. I only got a call from the mall sister."
"Yeah? Then give me the mall number."
At his persistent question, Cho-hee racked her brain again.
"That... I already did."
"Did what?"
"Reported them?"
He sneered.
It was a mocking laugh at her lame excuse.
"I didn't say anything so A-jin wouldn't worry. I was afraid she'd be scared. I found out yesterday—they're habitual offenders. The mall sister reported them."
"Yeah? Then I'll go as a witness. Since A-jin would be scared, like you said."
"No. There are plenty of other victims besides us, so we don't need to go. I'll let you know the results. I'm heading in first."
The more they talked, the more she felt her lies would unravel.
Cho-hee tried to hurry away.
Then Jun-woo called her back.
"Han Cho-hee."
"Yeah?"
"I never tossed my battery."
At the sudden topic change, Cho-hee tilted her head.
"Battery?"
"A-jin definitely gave you my battery."
"Yeah, she did."
"Then why'd you say you threw it away?"
He'd flustered her again.
This was why she'd desperately tried to keep him from getting close to Kang A-jin...
"I misspoke. Mom threw it out saying it was dirty, and A-jin misunderstood it as me throwing it away."
"Oh, really?"
Surprisingly, he accepted her words right away.
But that felt even more unsettling than if he hadn't believed her.
* * *
"Here's your phone."
As soon as the class president opened the phone storage case, the kids swarmed it like zombies.
Jong-min pushed through, grabbed Jun-woo and A-jin's phones, and handed them over.
"Thanks."
A-jin flashed a bright smile, and Jun-woo took his phone without a word.
Jun-woo's mind was a mess.
Everything was uncertain, but one thing was clear: Cho-hee was pretty dangerous to A-jin.
"I'll walk you home."
He said it to her, who might still be uneasy.
"I'm going with Cho-hee today. We have stuff to talk about."
"What about?"
"Figured I'd ask about the studio thing from last week too."
She'd just lie anyway.
He wanted to tell her not to go.
But she needed time too.
Time to look Han Cho-hee straight in the eye.
After she left, a message arrived.
It was a text from Cho-hee about the report being filed.
"What the..."
It had seemed like a total lie.
His head grew even more complicated.
* * *
"Why'd you call me here too?"
Jun-woo scowled, annoyed at being summoned to school on the weekend.
"Hee-won can't make it suddenly. I have to pair with you for mixed doubles."
Jang-hoon pleaded for understanding with a cute eye smile.
"Who else plays basketball as well as you? And honestly, skipping a day of studying won't hurt you much."
Jang-hoon flattered him to stroke his ego.
Jun-woo found even that annoying and coolly held out his hand.
"Whatever. Just give me the uniform."
"Here."
Jang-hoon reverently placed the uniform in his hands with both palms, full of gratitude.
Jun-woo rolled his eyes at the overkill and headed into the changing room.
* * *
A-jin entered the cooking room.
Her oven had exploded while baking.
It was secondhand, but it was her prized number one treasure, bought with money she'd saved from her part-time job at her parents' shop.
Parting with it sooner than expected left her regretful and sad.
She'd come to school with the homeroom teacher's permission because she needed to upload the promised cookie-making process to her blog.
The recently remodeled cooking room had a state-of-the-art oven.
"Wow!! This must cost a fortune?"
She gawked at the oven, like something from a big bakery or hotel, unable to tear her eyes away.
"Baking with this would taste even better."
Compared to her home-use oven, the performance was incomparable, and she was excited even before baking the cookies.
She wanted to try baking recipes she'd never attempted due to her oven's limitations.
Someday, she'd become a patissier who could make anything she dreamed of.
Her dream solidified further.
Lost in her swelling aspirations, the cooking room door opened.
"Your oven exploded?"
It was Cho-hee.
Last week, she'd had a long talk with Cho-hee.
Cho-hee had apologized a lot for the studio incident.
A-jin had been honest, saying she'd actually resented her.
Cho-hee had said it was natural.
And she'd shown A-jin the report details, saying she'd reported the studio guys.
Her shock had mostly subsided.
She welcomed Cho-hee entering the cooking room.
"Yeah. I was really startled."
"You didn't get hurt?"
"No."
"Good. But they let you use this place?"
"Yeah, I got permission."
Cho-hee took A-jin's phone and hopped up to sit on the opposite table.
She played some music that matched her mood for the day.
She took selfies with A-jin's phone.
The silver sink acted like a reflector, making the photos come out better than usual.
A-jin ignored it as if it were routine and went about her work.
A moment later, Cho-hee, uploading photos to SNS, suddenly scowled.
"So annoying."
"Why?"
A-jin asked what was wrong.
"Why does this person always freak out on my account?"
"Who?"
"You know, that one who always comments that I over-edit."
"Just ignore them."
"If I'd over-edited, I wouldn't mind. But I can't show them in person."
A-jin focused on making meringue with her eyes while chatting with Cho-hee.
"Just don't let it get to you."
After the brief exchange, Cho-hee dove back into SNS.
She gave a thumbs-down and posted the photo.
As she scrolled further back, her hand stopped.
Then she turned off the phone and said to A-jin,
"Gonna hit the bathroom real quick."
Cho-hee left for the bathroom, and A-jin kept focusing on her task.
