Kwon Jia and I didn’t have any conversation as we returned to the association after finishing our business.
I didn’t think we needed to talk, so I kept silent, but she seemed to have a different reason.
A slight discomfort or hesitation towards me.
She didn’t show it, but I was so sensitive that I felt it clearly.
“Jia.”
Finally, I couldn’t stand it and opened my mouth first before we arrived at the office.
“Hmm?”
“Do you have something to say to me?”
“Me? To you?”
“Yes.”
I thought she would snap at me with her usual stiff expression, saying ‘Don’t talk nonsense’.
But she frowned her flawless forehead and said in a hesitant voice.
“…It’s about what just happened.”
“Oh? You really had something to say?”
“What?”
“No. Never mind. Go on.”
“It’s about how you were… harassed.”
When I heard the rest of her words, I had an idea why she showed me that attitude.
She felt a very slight guilt towards me.
“I don’t even remember the name of that woman, but anyway… She was definitely my problem. Surely, you got involved here because of me. What happened this time is partly my responsibility.”
She made an uncomfortable expression, as if she remembered Kim Ji-yu, who tried to blame me for her wrongdoing.
But she was so pretty that even this face became a picture.
“Well, honestly, I was a bit surprised by what happened too. But it ended well, right? Then, isn’t it fine?”
“My pride doesn’t allow it.”
She said it was her pride, but maybe it was something else.
She made a contract with me as an equal regressor, but she wanted to somehow fix the trouble she caused unknowingly…
Hmm. How should I say it?
A competitive spirit that doesn’t want to owe anything to that guy?
[Isn’t it hatred? Hehe.]
‘Die. You.’
I ignored Baekryeon’s words and stared at Kwon Jia’s face.
She felt my gaze and maintained her shameless face as a regressor.𝔫𝙤𝑣ℯ𝙡𝗯Ꭵ𝙣.𝖓𝚎𝚝
But if I looked closely, her cheeks were slightly red.
“So what I’m saying is…”
“It’s okay.”
It wasn’t Kwon Jia’s fault for what happened this time.
Kim Ji-yu moved for her sake, but it was unreasonable to blame Kwon Jia for that.
“It’s not your fault, Jia. The one who did wrong was the one who did stupid things because she couldn’t overcome her inferiority complex. Why are you sorry?”
“Who, who said I was sorry?”
“Jia.”
She pursed her lips for a moment and then shook her head roughly.
“No. Not at all. Are you in some kind of delusion?”
“If you’re not sorry, then that’s fine. The point is, there’s no need to bring up something that’s already over.”
Even if it was something I didn’t want, it turned out well in the end.
Rather, I was able to relieve some stress and feel a bit relieved.
“…Didn’t you reveal your identity?”
Kwon Jia said in a low voice.
Well, surely the rumor about Teller Kang Yu-hyun who came down in summer would spread among the collectors.
The clan that was already gossiping about me would have guessed my identity and confirmed it with this incident.
Considering that I tried to be secretive, this might be a blow to her eyes.
“I already thought it would happen someday. It was something I had to do anyway, so there’s nothing to regret.”
Rather, I had no regrets because a good opportunity was prepared for me.
Hyerim also got confirmed, and now all Kwon Jia had to do was grow up.
Looking back, what happened today was a good timing.
“But…”
Even though I said I was fine, Kwon Jia didn’t seem to give up on something.
I wondered why she was like that and asked her carefully when I thought of something.
“Are you worried that something similar might happen in the future?”
“…”
That was the answer.
“Is there anyone else you’re hiding besides Kim Ji-yu today?”
“I didn’t hide anything! …I just don’t remember. You never know. Someone I don’t know, someone I’ve forgotten, might have ill intentions towards me and try to attack you again.”
“Even as a regressor?”
“Do you think regressors are omnipotent? I don’t even know what I want, how can I remember someone who had a relationship with me before regression? It would be nice if there was only that Kim Ji-yu or whatever, but I don’t know what will happen. There might be someone else besides her.”
In the end, that’s what Kwon Jia meant.
She was worried that the grudges she had made in the past might not only affect her, but also me.
She told me with a confident and shameless look because of her regressor trait, but her true feelings were clearly conveyed to me.
“Well, sure, someone might be grinding their teeth behind us and targeting us.”
——————
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“So…”
“But it’s okay.”
I looked straight into Kwon Jia’s eyes and said.
“Whoever it is, I won’t run away.”
“…Even though you didn’t do anything wrong?”
“How can you live in this world doing only what you want? Sometimes there are dangers that I don’t know about.”
The important thing is this.
Even if I stumble on an unexpected stone and lose my balance and fall.
Can I get up and run again?
“Sure, it’ll be annoying. But if I get annoyed, the world won’t say ‘Yes, I understand.’ and back off. You have to accept that there is such a thing as force majeure in the world.”
“…Even if you don’t want it?”
“If I don’t want it, I’ll try to prevent it from happening. But what, will everything work out just by preparing for it?”
Just look at the religious group that was protesting outside the association today.
I didn’t want their movement.
But my actions ended up making them more furious.
But I didn’t hate or blame them.
I don’t regret my past actions either.
“What happened happened. We who are moving towards the future can’t help but look ahead. We can stop for a while. Sometimes we can look back. But we can’t give up by being tied to it.”
“…Is that so?”
Kwon Jia muttered a little dejectedly.
I hoped that my words would somehow solve her problem, but that wouldn’t be easy.
“And you don’t have to be sorry to me for that.”
“I never said I was sorry.”
“What?”
***
Celine, an employee of the Celestial Corporation’s support department.
She was feeling a bit complicated as she recalled what had happened today in Kang Yu-hyun’s guardian’s room.
The first emotion she felt towards Yu-hyun was a bit of hostility.
She knew he was great.
He was undoubtedly a living legend of the Celestial Corporation, who had been promoted to Assistant Manager at an unprecedented speed.
But more than that, he was also the one who made her a political scapegoat.
She resented him for that.
‘He doesn’t seem to care even though he knows it.’
It was as if he was saying ‘Do your job anyway.’
His behavior was beyond Celine’s common sense.
Usually, her bosses would flip their eyes when they encountered her stiff and uncooperative attitude.
How dare a regular employee do that?
Do you think you’re so great?
Not only that, some of them would try to cut her down for no reason or hope that she would bow her head on her own.
‘Incompetent bastards.’
Celine felt angry as she recalled what she had gone through in the support department training course.
But she never let that emotion show on the surface.
‘But Assistant Manager Kang Yu-hyun was different.’
He gave up his protection as a teller and chose to mingle with humans.
Not only that, he also wielded a sword and fought in the world of ideas.
To Celine’s eyes, it was crazy.
What if he made a mistake and lost his life?
There were even tellers who followed him and disappeared.
He didn’t even bother to be careful, let alone be afraid.
But to Celine, Yu-hyun’s appearance was not that of a fool who didn’t know what his actions would bring.
‘He was ready to accept whatever the outcome of his choice was.’
She was sure of that because of what Yu-hyun had gone through at the collector association headquarters today.
The scene where he quickly took control of the atmosphere and casually threw jabs at the people around him.
Celine bit her lip without realizing it.
Her first impression of Yu-hyun was not that good.
But was he really that bad?
Did he really sin?
‘No.’
Celine realized that it was all a tantrum from her weak heart.
Yu-hyun was not bad.
She just thought he was bad.
And she wished he was.
I unconsciously justified my hatred for him.
It was unlike me, who always had to be firm and rational.
That’s how much I was cornered right now.
‘I am…’
As I looked at the books on one wall with a troubled gaze.
“Oh. You’re here.”
Yu-hyun, who had finished his work, came back to the guardian’s room.
“Did you come back?”
I quickly changed my attitude and bowed my head to Yu-hyun.
A courteous behavior without a trace of emotion.
‘I respect you as a boss, but that’s it.’
That’s what I was saying with my actions.
“So, how was today?”
Yu-hyun didn’t seem to care about that at all, and sat down on the chair in the guardian’s room and asked.
“What do you mean?”
“What do you mean, work. Was it hard or anything?”
“It wasn’t.”
“Is that so? I thought you might have done something wrong or had a hard time.”
Gulp.
I felt a slight emotion at his condescending words.
“…Are you teasing me?”
“Did it look like that?”
I realized that he was deliberately inducing my behavior when I looked into his eyes.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have such a serious face.
He tapped the armrest of the chair with his finger.
“Have you read the books on that shelf?”
“I haven’t.”
“Weren’t you curious? It’s the story of how I became an Assistant Manager in the shortest time.”
“Are you bragging?”
“If I’m bragging?”
“You didn’t tell me to read it, so I didn’t.”
“Geez. You’re so stiff. You can read them freely if you’re here.”
“Is that an order?”
“If it’s an order. Will you follow it?”
“…”
Freedom.
I chewed on the word he uttered in my mind.
It was not a word that a teller of the Celestial Corporation, who pursued infinite competition and valued hierarchy, would say.
He noticed my reaction in an instant and smiled softly.
“Why? Are you surprised that I said this?”
“No.”
“You must have seen it today. I’m different from other tellers.”
“…”
I decided to keep quiet.
The more I talked to him, the more I felt like some invisible flow was grabbing me and pulling me along.
His voice was like a wave that receded and came back again, slowly eating away at my mind.
It felt like my clothes were getting wet by the drizzling rain without me knowing.
“I’m not saying this myself, but I’m a bit of a weirdo. And this is how I do things. What do you think about that? Celine.”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you really asking because you don’t know? Or are you pretending?”
“So, what…”
“You’re not a real teller, are you?”
“…!”
The words that came out of his mouth were the truth that I had never told anyone.
How did he?
As if he had seen through my heart, his words made me lose my poker face for the first time.
“Celine. How does it feel to wear clothes that don’t fit your body? Isn’t it suffocating?”
“Wha, what are you…”
I felt scared by his smile for the first time.
