IIMFL 09

Chapter 09

You Don’t Seem to Understand the Severity of the Situation

Unable to say no, Eun-jae had no choice but to nod.

“…Yes.”

“You live in this neighborhood.”

Moon-young stood in front of the window.

The officetel he was planning to sign for had a decent floor level as well.

There was no need to think further.

“I like it. Let’s go with this place.”

Having dug her own grave, Eun-jae gave a bitter smile.

“Then I’ll go to the real estate agent tomorrow at an arranged time.”

Moon-young decided to visit the real estate agent separately to sign the contract, and the two got into the car together.

Eun-jae had adamantly refused, saying she could walk since she lived in this neighborhood, but Moon-young insisted on driving her.

*’What if Hee-won is at home? It would be awkward if we run into each other after walking all the way to my door.’*

It seemed better to get off at a place a little distance from her house.

Eun-jae deliberately gave directions that took a longer route instead of the short one.

“I should buy you a meal. How can I just make do with coffee?”

“No, it’s fine. I really like coffee.”

“Still, I won’t feel at ease, so let me treat you to a meal later.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to.”

In the car’s drink holder sat Eun-jae’s Americano, its level unchanged from the very beginning until now.

Seeing her stubbornness in keeping the coffee she hadn’t even drunk, he smiled invisibly as he turned the steering wheel.

“Team Leader, turn right up ahead and pull over right there.”

“There are only shops around here.”

“There’s a shortcut between the shops.”

“I’ll take you to your door.”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll get there quickly by walking. Just drop me off here.”

Moon-young changed lanes and was waiting for the right-turn signal.

Eun-jae, who had been looking straight ahead, suddenly let out a silent laugh with a completely unguarded expression—he followed the direction of her gaze.

Among the crowd crossing the crosswalk, there was a woman carrying a small puppy in her arms.

*’Cute.’*

Moon-young confirmed her defenseless face once more and smiled faintly.

Eun-jae, realizing she was being watched, belatedly controlled her expression, but it was a pointless effort.

“Do you like puppies?”

“No.”

“Why? Do you have a puppy allergy too?”

Unable to come up with a proper excuse, Eun-jae ended up nodding.

The lies were snowballing.

That meant there would be more and more things she had to be careful about in front of Lee Moon-young.

She worried about whether she’d even be able to remember all of this later.

“You must have a lot of things to be careful about because of your constitution.”

“Yes.”

At her sullen reply, Moon-young held back a laugh.

If she couldn’t even lie well, why did she keep trying things she couldn’t handle?

*’If I push her too hard, she might run away.’*

It seemed best to adjust the pace.

“I mentioned last time that you resemble my high school junior. But looking at you today, there are a lot of differences.”

“…Is that so?”

“That girl really loved dogs and cats—she couldn’t contain herself when she saw small, pretty things. She loved sweets so much she could barely put anything bitter in her mouth. I don’t know about her coffee preferences since she was young, but I’d guess she wouldn’t drink Americano. Your tastes are quite different.”

“Right? I was really surprised every time you said I looked like that person you know. How many people are there who look alike, have such similar constitutions, and even have the same tastes?”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”

“I like big and flashy things. I don’t like small and pretty things either.”

Hearing something she liked, her face brightened as she enthusiastically explained her tastes.

The earlier sullenness was completely gone.

Her likes and dislikes showed so clearly on her face that Moon-young felt a little disappointed.

*’Does she dislike me from ten years ago that much?’*

Hiding his bitter feelings, Moon-young turned his gaze forward.

Confirming that the right-turn signal had just come on, he started the car and pulled over to the shoulder.

“Eun-jae, thank you for today. Be careful going in.”

“Yes, Team Leader. You be careful too. I’ll see you on Monday.”

“Yes. See you on Monday.”

Eun-jae deliberately walked along the narrow path between the shop buildings.

She felt relieved that their earlier conversation seemed to have erased some of Moon-young’s suspicion, but at the same time, she couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling.

“Why does he remember all of my preferences?”

Muttering softly, Eun-jae looked back.

She’d expected him to have already left, but Moon-young’s car was still there.

*’Why is he still there? Just go already!’*

Giving an awkward smile, Eun-jae quickened her pace.

Watching Eun-jae’s back as she walked lightly in comfortable sneakers, Moon-young recalled Da-eun from ten years ago.

Even the habit of walking alone without anyone calling her, occasionally glancing around—it was all the same.

She seemed a little taller than back then.

*’Though only by a tiny bit.’*

Eun-jae’s retreating figure completely disappeared from view.

He lowered his head and looked down at the drink holder.

“She said she liked it, but she left it behind.”

He reached out and shook the coffee.

The amount was still the same.

“Then and now, she’s really bad at lying.”

What kind of stubbornness made her order it without syrup, of all things—

It was a little disappointing that she was rejecting the idea of being Yoon Da-eun with her whole body, but Moon-young wasn’t in a position to complain.

He was just grateful to have met Da-eun again.

*’There were times when I thought I might never see her again in this lifetime.’*

Whenever he had those thoughts, Moon-young would become overwhelmed by the regret that came crashing down on him.

She had hidden herself so thoroughly that there was no way to find Yoon Da-eun.

And just when he’d given up all hope, she appeared before him like a lie.

“What do I do now…”

A simple misunderstanding. A confession aimed in the wrong direction.

And yet, the letter that went to its original owner.

And another misunderstanding that arose.

Because of Moon-young’s past pettiness, the two had gone astray—badly—and by the time he’d tried to set things right, Da-eun had already disappeared from his sight.

It was a memory that had stuck in Moon-young like a thorn.

*’This time, I won’t let go.’*

Reaffirming his resolve, he started the car.

—

***

—

To get her stolen letter back, Da-eun followed Moon-young around whenever she had time.

But there was no real progress, and a whole week passed without her getting the letter back.

“Well, the fact that no rumors have spread so far means he’s tighter-lipped than I thought.”

In the meantime, Moon-young hadn’t blabbed the letter’s contents to anyone or used it maliciously.

It just seemed like he enjoyed teasing Da-eun.

Thinking it wouldn’t cause any more problems, Da-eun let her guard down.

Yesterday, she hadn’t even waited for Moon-young’s practice to end and went straight home—and there was no reaction from him.

*’So he was just having fun teasing me.’*

Da-eun eventually decided to give up on getting the letter back, and the tumultuous confession incident seemed to be buried.

It didn’t take long for her to realize that was her misconception.

“Ah, it’s so hot. This heat is killing me.”

Da-eun, who had been solving problem sets relying on just one fan, couldn’t take the heat anymore and eventually got ready to go out.

Even if moving around was a hassle, it seemed better to go to the study room with air conditioning.

Just as she was zipping up her bag, which she’d packed with writing tools, problem sets, and scratch paper—

Her phone rang.

“Hello.”

-Yoon Da-eun?

The voice on the other end spat out her name without preamble, and Da-eun checked the number on her phone.

Tilting her head at the unknown number, she brought the phone back to her ear.

“Yes, that’s me. Who is this?”

An unexpected name came from beyond the phone.

“Who did you say?”

-Lee Moon-young. The Lee Moon-young you’ve been following around calling “Senior, Senior.”

Da-eun screamed silently.

A single call from Moon-young made the sweltering heat vanish in an instant, and she even felt a chill run down her spine.

“How did you get my number…”

-I asked Geon-wook.

“You asked Oppa? Why?”

-Come out right now.

*No. Why should I?*

Da-eun opened her bag and took out all the carefully packed items, placing them back on her desk.

Deciding she’d just study at home, she made another excuse.

“What a shame. I have a performance assessment tomorrow, so I can’t go out right now because I’m preparing for it.”

-Really?

“Yes.”

-Then I guess I’ll call Geon-wook and hang out.

“…Geon-wook Oppa?”

-Geon-wook has been showing a lot of interest in you and me lately. He asks a lot of questions. And Ji-soo said she’d come out too.

Why did she have to bring up Geon-wook and Ji-soo?

Realizing what Moon-young meant by this, Da-eun urgently shouted.

“No! I’ll go out! I’ll go! I’m leaving right now.”

-How long will it take?

“Where is it?”

-Do you know the building with Roem? The fresh fruit place on the 2nd floor.

“Fifteen minutes is plenty.”

Grabbing only her wallet and phone, Da-eun left the house at a fast pace.

Contrary to her expectations, things were heading in a strange direction.

What was with that tone, as if he’d caught hold of her weakness?

“I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not like I knew—it was a confession made in ignorance.”

If she’d known from the start that Ji-soo and Geon-wook liked each other, she would never have voiced those feelings.

Da-eun had done nothing wrong.

She just hadn’t known, and because of the terrible timing of her confession, her position had become awkward.

Even as she thought that, she couldn’t shake her anxiety—Da-eun irritably bit her lower lip as if crushing it.

“I’m going crazy, seriously.”

Even though she thought she’d done nothing wrong, she still didn’t want anyone to know the truth.

Especially Ji-soo and Geon-wook—she wished they wouldn’t find out.

She was also afraid of being bullied again because of baseless rumors blown out of proportion, like before.

And she’d recently learned that Ji-soo had once had her boyfriend taken away by her closest friend.

—

*’I cried so much back then. You must never betray me. Got it?’*

—

When she said that, Ji-soo had even sounded tearful.

That’s why Da-eun absolutely couldn’t tell Ji-soo the truth about what happened.

*’I only liked Oppa for a few months. Ji-soo is much more precious.’*

She didn’t want to fight with Ji-soo over Geon-wook.

So Da-eun quietly sorted out her feelings for Geon-wook on her own.

She thought that Moon-young getting tangled up in this incident that could have been quietly passed over was just a simple collision accident.

But Da-eun felt things were becoming increasingly complicated.

“*Sigh*, Senior.”

Arriving at the fresh fruit place in exactly twelve minutes, Da-eun spotted Moon-young and sat down across from him.

Her breathing was rough from how urgently she’d run.

“Did you run? You could have come slowly. Do you want something to drink?”

“No, I’m fine. I’ll just have water.”

Da-eun had no intention of sitting here long.

If she ordered juice, she’d have to face Moon-young at least until it arrived.

Wanting to finish the conversation quickly, she brought cold water and gulped it down.

“You didn’t come yesterday?”

“You seemed annoyed by me, Senior. And I had to get home early anyway.”

“When a kid who used to follow me around like a puppy doesn’t show up, it feels a little empty.”

*Completely treating me like a puppy.*

Feeling the anger rising inside her, Da-eun got up and refilled her water.

Then, without pausing for breath, she downed it in one go.

*Thump—* Slamming the cup down with an angry force, she looked Moon-young straight in the eyes with a resolute face.

She felt she had to ask now what she hadn’t been able to ask while being cautious all this time.

“Senior, there’s something I’m really curious about.”

“Go ahead.”

“Why did you tell that lie in front of Geon-wook Oppa back then?”

“Lie?”

“When Geon-wook Oppa asked, you said I confessed to you.”

After taking a sip of juice, Moon-young tilted his head, resting his chin on his hand.

Then he asked back in an annoying way.

“What was I supposed to say there? Did I have a decent excuse in that situation?”

“Well…”

“Setting aside the letter, a girl who has nothing to do with the basketball club not only entered the clubroom but was hiding inside a locker. How were you going to explain that?”

“Well… that’s true.”

“And you, you don’t seem to understand the severity of the situation.”

Severity of the situation? What severity?

Just as Da-eun wore a bewildered expression—

“While you were inside that locker, thirty grown guys were changing their clothes in there.”

—

She’d been trapped in darkness, so she hadn’t seen anything.

But who would believe that even if she said it?

Beyond the thin locker door, thirty male high school students were changing their clothes.

A situation where she’d have no excuse even if she were treated like a pervert.

At that moment, a dangerous headline naturally came to mind.

—

**[T High School, Student Y. Secretly Hides in Boys’ Basketball Club Locker Room!]**

**[Interview with First Witness L. ‘There was a strange girl inside my locker that day.’]**

—

Seeing Da-eun’s pale face, Moon-young smiled brightly.

“Big trouble, isn’t it?”

It was the world’s kindest threat.