Chapter 53 …
A Dating Sim With No Romance
“Am I not annoying?”
Before I could even answer, Vanesa took a step back and asked again.
“Aren’t you mad at me?”
“I’m not.”
“Really?”
“Really, really.”
Should I pinky promise or something?
Her dejected expression didn’t brighten even after my reply. Her roughly bitten lips moved slightly.
“Then… aren’t you curious?”
“About what?”
“Why they treated me like that. Why the fight got so bad.”
“You want me to be honest?”
“…Yeah.”
“I can kinda guess.”
It wasn’t like I’d been walking around with my eyes closed.
Betrayal, friend’s boyfriend—words that made the situation easy to infer without much thought.
As I brushed away a bit of leaf debris tangled in her chestnut-brown hair, I explained.
“One of them probably liked a guy who confessed to you. Or at least that’s how it looked to them. Something like that, right?”
“Th—”
“Was I wrong?”
I didn’t need to hear the answer. Her face, soaked with sweat, looked exactly like a kid who’d been caught stealing.
“Sanha, do you think I—”
“Do you think you did something wrong?”
The wind blew. The leaves hanging overhead rustled with a heavy sound.
The eyes of the prettiest girl in school wavered darkly.
“I don’t know. I haven’t heard your side.”
“……”
“Whether you really stole him, or they just got pissed and started throwing accusations.”
“Do you really think I’d do something like that?”
“No.”
From what I’d seen so far, this girl wasn’t particularly interested in dating.
She barely ever talked about guys.
She’d mentioned it in passing a few times, but that was all.
And even if she had liked someone, she didn’t seem like the type to steal a friend’s boyfriend and stir up trouble.
“I don’t think you did.”
“The things they said to me… what if—”
Her unfinished sentence scattered into nothing.
Suddenly, I thought of a future version of “Beni,” much more grown up than she was now.
— I want to get closer to you, Sanha.
A playful gesture as she tilted a clear glass of alcohol.
Long eyelashes, flushed cheeks, a friendly nudge of her elbow.
— I wish we’d gone to the same school. I didn’t have any friends in high school.
Yet the Vanesa I met again later was always surrounded by people. So many people knew her. So many people called her name.
And yet, the Beni in her twenties said she had no friends.
“Sanha… why are you so nice to me?”
“Am I?”
Vanesa simply nodded without elaboration.
Was I? Well… maybe.
She—Vanesa—was the most welcome face among everyone I’d met here. Because…
“When we first met. Like, the very first time.”
“Yeah.”
“You smiled at me so beautifully.”
I recalled a past the eighteen-year-old girl wouldn’t know.
A drinking party full of strangers, dim lighting, glasses being emptied one after another.
And then, when the night was in full swing, a girl my age arrived.
— Oh my god, why did you pour so much alcohol?
— Beni, you’re here? Well, Sanha just lost a game, so—
— I’ll drink it. I’ll take it. I’m the black knight.
She naturally squeezed into the seat next to me, downed the large glass in one go, then smiled brightly.
— I’m Beni.
We only met once after that.
Maybe we could’ve become friends.
Maybe—
If I hadn’t gone back ten years and gotten caught up in some system’s nonsense…
“Beni, I really like your smile.”
“…Why?”
“Because it’s pretty.”
She’d probably heard that a million times, yet Vanesa frowned like she was hearing it for the first time. She bit her lips hard, completely flustered.
I pulled the young girl—the girl I might’ve become friends with—into an embrace.
“Reflecting is great and all, but for now, let’s just blame other people. Just blame them.”
I gently patted her back. The shoulder she leaned on slowly grew damp.
“You’ll get dehydrated if you cry like that.”
There was no reply. I kept patting her back until Beni stopped crying.
“Students, are you okay?”
“You did well staying calm.”
“Thanks to you giving us your location clearly, the search was much easier.”
Vanesa and I came down the mountain around lunchtime.
As soon as we emerged with the search party, I saw familiar faces. One was the PE teacher I’d called first. The other was—
“Sanha! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No.”
Kwon Chahyeok still didn’t seem reassured and examined me carefully.
So that’s why he was next to the teacher during the call.
I didn’t expect him to come all the way here.
Only after staring at me for a long while did Kwon Chahyeok finally shift his gaze toward the darkened ambulance. The ambulance carrying Vanesa had just left the parking lot.
“Is Vanesa badly hurt?”
“Not seriously. She twisted her ankle. Not dehydrated, but she was pretty shaken up.”
“What about you? Shouldn’t you go too?”
“I walked down on my own. I didn’t hit my head.”
And it’s not like I’d die here anyway.
I didn’t want to make a fuss, but even the teacher chimed in.
“Sanha, you should at least get a basic checkup. Come with me.”
“I’m fine—”
“Yeon Sanha.”
His icy voice sounded like it belonged to someone else.
The habitual smile was gone. Kwon Chahyeok spoke with a completely serious expression.
“You’re going to the hospital.”
“O-okay. I’ll go. I’ll go.”
Yeah, saying no would be dangerous.
His stiff expression didn’t relax even after my answer. His profile looked far too serious for the situation.
“Teacher, can I go with her? I’m worried.”
“Sure. She must be pretty shaken—take good care of her.”
“Yes.”
I wasn’t shaken at all, and I didn’t need comforting.
And just like that, for the second day in a row, I ended up sitting next to Kwon Chahyeok in the back seat of a car.
The car was filled with radio announcements giving live traffic updates.
And then—
[Kwon Chahyeok’s favorability has decreased by 5.]
[Kwon Chahyeok’s favorability has increased by 5.]
[Kwon Chahyeok’s favorability has decreased by 5.]
[Kwon Chahyeok’s favorability has increased by 5.]
What is wrong with him?
Is it because he thinks I’m hurt?
I smiled as brightly as possible and explained my condition.
“There’s really nothing to do even if we go. The doctor will probably ask why I came.”
“……”
“I mean, we’re going just in case, but nothing hurts. I’ve always had strong bones and stuff.”
“……You said you rolled down the mountain.”
“The slope wasn’t that steep. And the leaves were pretty soft.”
No matter how much I emphasized it, none of it got through to Kwon Chahyeok.
He’s never been like this before.
Like he’s angry.
But Kwon Chahyeok wasn’t the kind of person to get mad just because a friend got lost—
[Kwon Chahyeok’s favorability has decreased by 5.]
—or was he?
Is he docking points because I’m a weak human who gets stranded in the mountains?
I couldn’t read the thoughts behind that handsome face at all.
[Kwon Chahyeok’s favorability has increased by 5.]
Ding. Ding.
The consecutive sound effects made me dizzy.
I poked the boy who was staring out the window and emphasized again.
“Chahyeok, I’m really fine.”
“Fine?”
“Yeah. Want to check?”
“Then… take it off.”
“…What?”
