Chapter 104: Shall I Help You?
TL: Aniea
“Did something happen between you two?”
“No, not really.”
On the way back from the stage.
Kang Han-na, who had spotted us, approached. She scrutinized my expression, then readily spoke with a smile on her lips.
"Do you know what? Woo-ju oppa is so good at lying that it actually gives you away?"
“Hm?”
"How should I put it, it feels like you copy and paste the characteristics of an honest person? Ah, it's like a model student's textbook-perfect answer!"
"...Could you think about the feelings of the model student listening?"
Heh-
Kang Han-na raised the corners of her lips even higher. The whole exchange was very natural.
Part of it was probably because she’d just been practicing, but lately, it seemed like she was spending more time wearing her 'doll mask' even in daily life.
Though rather than trying to perfectly imitate Kim Eun-ha like before, now it felt more like she was taking parts of her and blending them with herself.
‘Looks way better than before.’
Just as Kim Cheol-su had grown internally through this play, Kang Han-na had gone through a lot of external changes.
For starters, she clearly stuttered much less, and not only to me, but she also started initiating conversations with others more often.
Even if all of this was just acting. If she kept it up, she might eventually make it truly her own.
“...Kang Han-na.”
Hiccup-!
When Kim Eun-ha called her name, Kang Han-na flinched noticeably. As expected, no matter how many masks she wore, she still couldn't handle her.
Kang Han-na quickly raised both hands and took a step back. A posture of total surrender.
"Did, did I do something to upset you?"
“Han-na, you did it on purpose, didn’t you?”
“W-What did I do!?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“.......”
Kim Eun-ha stared at her quietly. In response, Kang Han-na, perhaps feeling guilty, averted her gaze to the side.
“...I really don’t know?”
Kang Han-na, who I naturally thought would admit her mistake, feigned innocence.
Oh ho-
Kim Eun-ha curled one corner of her lips. Even I, standing next to her, flinched at the chill in that smile.
Of course, there was no way the person involved, Kang Han-na, could endure it. Startled, she quickly hid behind my back.
“O-Oppa! Please save me!”
“Huh?”
Eek-!
As Kim Eun-ha's smile deepened further, Kang Han-na's body began to tremble like an aspen leaf. It was clearly not an act.
Thinking I should probably step in, I was about to move forward when Kim Eun-ha suddenly turned her head and met my eyes.
The cold smile that had been aimed at Kang Han-na now turned toward me. The air around us instantly froze.
Though Kim Eun-ha said nothing, sometimes silence conveys more.
“Here you go. Milady.”
“Hoho. Well done.”
“O-Oppa!?”
Following my survival instincts, I offered up Kang Han-na, who had been hiding behind me. She looked up at me with wide eyes, like someone who’d been betrayed.
I couldn’t bear to meet that gaze, so I turned my head awkwardly toward the empty second-floor seating.
Of course, I didn’t let go of the grip I had on her shoulder to keep her from running.
“...So cruel.”
“Society is a cruel place.”
Especially if someone like Kim Eun-ha, who has both money and power, marks you, you’re done. I’m sure Kang Han-na knows that better than I do.
Of course, this was all half in jest, but still, isn’t this how everyone learns?
“Uuuugh-”
In the meantime, Kim Eun-ha, who had approached calmly, grabbed both of Kang Han-na’s cheeks and pulled on them. She looked like a mom scolding a mischievous child.
"I was using it quite handily, so how could you tell him about it without even consulting me?"
“Bu-buuut-”
“No excuses. You did something wrong, didn’t you?”
“Aaah I'm sorrrrrrry-”
Kang Han-na admitted her fault obediently. But in that exchange, I couldn’t ignore something I had just heard.
“...Wait. You knew too, Eun-ha ssi? That I sound too textbook when I lie?”
“...Uh, well? Probably not?”
Uncharacteristically, Kim Eun-ha avoided my gaze. But when I didn’t back down and stared at her, she finally admitted it.
“...It hasn’t been long.”
"That's a lie too!!"
“Han-na, be quiet now.”
“.......”
Unlike before, Kim Eun-ha was genuinely pinching Kang Han-na’s cheeks. It was obvious to anyone that she was trying to shut her up.
Judging by the reaction, it seemed to be quite an old habit. Realizing that made cold sweat trickle down my back.
Up until now, I hadn't really lied to Kim Eun-ha, but you never know what might happen in life.
Sometimes, depending on the situation, a lie is unavoidable. If I had a habit I wasn’t even aware of, it could become a fatal flaw. For example.
“When we played board games with the kids the other day, I thought it was suspicious how well you read my hand. So this was your secret?”
“.......”
“Now that I think about it, even when we made that bet before, something felt off. Just how long were you planning to milk this!?”
Tsk-
Kim Eun-ha clicked her tongue dramatically. Her reaction made it seem like she was disappointed she couldn’t use it more.
That reaction was pretty cute, but a sulky feeling began to rise in a corner of my heart all the same.
“Seriously. That’s so petty. If Han-na hadn’t told me, you were going to pretend not to know for the rest of your life, weren’t you?”
“No way.”
“That’s a lie.”
“...Do I have any habits too!?”
“...Huh.”
Puhuhu-
When I let my disbelief show clearly on my face instead of hiding it, the two women burst into laughter at the exact same time, as if they had planned it.
“Don’t laugh. Where do you think you’re going with this?”
“Hoho. How cute.”
“Yup yup. So cute.”
“.......”
Just a moment ago, they were enemies, but now they were teaming up to tease me.
“Just wait and see.”
“Sure~ I’ll keep watching you.”
“.......”
Even handling just Kim Eun-ha was overwhelming. But now there was a clone who copied her exactly. It was never a fight I could win from the start.
For now, I had no choice but to be satisfied with the fact that I had discovered a serious weakness of mine. A gentleman’s revenge is never too late, even after ten years.
“Then, I’ll go ahead and get back to practice.”
“Oh? Woo-ju ssi is running away.”
“He must be embarrassed.”
“Seems like it.”
“.......”
Huhuhu-
With the two women’s laughter in the background, I shook my head and walked away.
***
After Kang Woo-ju left.
A silence fell, so quiet that it made the previously cheerful atmosphere feel like a lie.
Now that the two of them were left alone, neither was quick to speak.
“Then I’ll get going too....”
“Unnie.”
As she was about to leave, Kang Han-na stopped her. Kim Eun-ha gave her a look as if to ask why she was calling her, and Kang Han-na spoke in a rather serious tone.
“Have you finally made up your mind?”
“Oh my, what could you be talking about?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“.......”
In a situation the complete opposite of earlier, Kim Eun-ha pressed her lips together. She stared silently at Kang Han-na with eyes that had grown noticeably colder.
But this time, Kang Han-na didn’t back down. She even raised the corners of her lips with ease.
For a moment, Kim Eun-ha felt like she was looking into a mirror. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.
“Just how far can our Han-na see with those eyes of yours? You’re so lovable, I almost want to keep you all to myself.”
“You don’t have to be so guarded. I’m on your side, unnie.”
“I really wish I could believe that.”
“I know. The more I say it, the more suspicious it sounds. But even so, I felt like I had to ask. Just how much have you let go?”
“.......”
It seemed like she had been preparing those words for quite some time, as Kang Han-na spoke fluidly without a single pause.
Kim Eun-ha looked at her with somewhat complicated feelings. Being in front of Kang Han-na made her feel oddly exposed, like she was standing naked.
A bad girl who peeks into the heart that no one else has ever been allowed to see.
To be honest, she wanted to hide her away somewhere out of sight. But she lacked the justification to do so.
‘...Strangely enough, I don’t even want to.’
Rationally, it would be better to eliminate any future threats in advance, rather than leave loose ends.
No matter how much someone claims to be on your side in front of you, there’s no way to know what expression they make when your back is turned.
However, when she just stood there quietly staring at Kang Han-na like this, she couldn’t help but pause without realizing it.
It wasn’t simply because she was a minor, or because she was a child from the orphanage she cherished.
It was something much deeper than that.
A feeling black and sticky like tar.
‘...Han-na understands me.’
Maybe even more than she understands herself.
Not just the surface-level profile like background or education, Kang Han-na was the only person who had fully interpreted the person called “Kim Eun-ha.”
Perhaps because of that, when talking to her, there were often moments when Kim Eun-ha came to realize parts of herself she hadn’t even known. Just like now.
“I haven’t let go of anything.”
“Even though you could lose everything that way?”
“Of course, that could happen. But I’m a greedy woman, so I can’t give up on anything. I’m going to have it all.”
Whatever it may be.
Kim Eun-ha swallowed the rest of her words.
Kang Han-na also silently looked at Kim Eun-ha. In her clear and mysterious eyes, like a lake, Kim Eun-ha was reflected exactly.
How much time passed like that?
Kang Han-na slowly nodded.
“...Of course. Because you’re Kim Eun-ha, unnie.”
“Was that a compliment?”
“Who knows.”
Kang Han-na gave a light laugh and shrugged her shoulders. It seemed she now had the ease to joke around too.
“Well, I already knew it when you suddenly kissed Woo-ju oppa in front of everyone. But hearing it from your mouth hits differently.”
“Don’t tell me you’re jealous?”
“I am.”
“You little....”
Pfft-
When Kim Eun-ha narrowed her eyes at her, Kang Han-na quickly raised both hands again, signaling that she meant no harm.
“But honestly, I’m not even sure myself. I don’t know if this is truly my own feeling, or something I picked up from you. I’m just not certain either way.”
“It’s something you picked up from me.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Well....”
Kim Eun-ha was about to respond reflexively, but suddenly closed her lips. She’d just realized that Kang Han-na was leading the conversation exactly where she wanted.
Sure enough, watching Kang Han-na smiling brightly, Kim Eun-ha once again felt a complicated emotion.
It was like curiosity peeking out, even knowing full well it was dangerous.
“Should I take a guess?”
“.......”
“The truth is, unnie, you already knew. Maybe even from the first moment you met Woo-ju oppa. That would’ve been around this time last year?”
“How do you...!? Gasp!”
In that moment, Kim Eun-ha, flustered to the point of raising her voice, quickly shut her mouth, realizing she’d walked right into a trap.
But even that was enough. Kang Han-na, now sure of it, smiled gently and said,
“I don’t know the details, of course. I just gathered all the data I could and made an educated guess.”
“There shouldn’t be any data left.”
“When there’s nothing, that absence becomes new information. Your sudden hiatus, your actions afterward, they form a pattern.”
“.......”
Even counting the girl standing in front of her, Kim Eun-ha thought there probably weren’t five people in the world who could pull something like this off.
Though she didn’t say anything more, that silence was no different from an admission. Kang Han-na’s smile deepened even further.
...This girl really is dangerous.
Just as Kim Eun-ha’s expression began to chill.
“Shall I help you?”
“What?”
“I told you, didn’t I? I’m on your side, unnie. Woo-ju oppa doesn’t seem to remember that incident, but if you’ll allow it, I can subtly bring it up for you.”
Smile-
Kang Han-na gently raised the corners of her lips.
*****
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