"Here's the medicine."
When Chaeyujeong returned after a while, her face looked much calmer than before. Contrary to my concern, it didn't seem like she had cried—her eyes looked fine.
In her large hand was a small, crumpled ointment. I examined the medicine she handed over.
"This is the kind you use for cuts."
"…Will this not work?"
"I've got a bruise, not a cut."
Hearing that, Chaeyujeong looked flustered and asked,
"I-I didn't know. I'll go to the pharmacy right now and buy something. Should I ask for medicine for bruises?"
"It's fine. I don't need any."
"I'll be sure to prepare something in advance next time…"
Next time? Why would there even be a next time for me to come to this house?
I sighed, handed the ointment back, and brought up something that had been bugging me for a while.
"The house is clean, but there's not a lot of stuff. And this dried-up old ointment is the only medicine you have. You said you've lived alone for a long time?"
"Yes…"
"How the hell have you been living to end up like this?"
Looking slightly embarrassed, she hurriedly hid the almost-empty ointment in her hand and gave a sheepish smile.
"I haven't really gotten hurt much… After I turned twenty, I moved into the team dorms, so I only come home once or twice a year. I don't really have time to decorate. A cleaning lady comes by to tidy up."
So she's barely been home since she moved into the dorms after turning twenty… meaning she's been living in this house since before she turned twenty?
"Didn't you take a year off after last year's Hold Cup?"
"The director and coaches know I live alone, so even during my break, I went back and forth between the dorms and home."
Looks like the LVS team kept an eye on her to some extent. Good thing one of the coaches is her cousin.
Didn't she say her parents aren't very affectionate? And it's a remarried family too.
Even if they're aloof and remarried, is it really okay to let a kid live alone before they're even an adult? Or was there some other circumstance?
As my expression grew more serious, Chaeyujeong seemed to misunderstand and became flustered. She carefully spoke up.
"Hyung, are you really okay? There's a pharmacy nearby, I can go get something quickly."
"It'd be funnier to put ointment on just from bumping into something. Can you stop worrying about my butt now?"
I did scold her because suddenly yanking my arm was wrong, but I didn't want to keep her walking on eggshells around me.
So I threw in a joke on purpose. Chaeyujeong blushed like a peach and shook her head wildly.
"H-Huh? No, no! I'm not interested in your butt!"
Oh really? Is that so?
She's blushing like crazy over a dumb wordplay. I patted her shoulder and stepped into the bedroom.
"Let's just finish tidying up."
As expected, packing up the belongings didn't take long.
All I had to do was sort clothes and miscellaneous items into boxes, so even taking it slow, an hour was more than enough.
"Hyung, are you really going to leave without eating?"
Chaeyujeong, who had been sneaking glances at me the whole time while we were cleaning, asked the moment she closed the lid on a box.
"There's a good place just a short drive from here. What do you think?"
Maybe she felt bad for messing up earlier while trying to get me to have lunch, because her repeated invitation was laced with nervousness.
A good place, huh… Surely it's not somewhere fancy like the place where we had beef last time?
Back then, I let her treat me since she'd messed up in several ways, but this time was different. I didn't want to freeload something expensive just for helping with some packing.
After a moment of consideration, I crossed my arms and said,
"I'll eat and stay if we just eat at home. Going out and getting in the car is a hassle."
"Really? It's totally fine to eat at home! What should we have?"
"Delivery's fine, or just whatever you have lying around. Is there even anything in the fridge?"
"Ha… I'll just order delivery."
Of course. As Chaeyujeong pulled out her phone, I asked as naturally as possible,
"Mind if I look around the house until the food gets here?"
"Sure! Feel free to take a look."
I've never seen anyone look that happy about someone snooping through their home. Leaving the bedroom, I started with the living room and slowly looked around each room.
All the doors were open, so walking around and looking inside was easy. Honestly, it almost felt like she'd opened them all on purpose so I would look.
The more I saw, the more I noticed how sparse the furniture and decor were. No plants or flowers, no calendars or clocks. The whole house felt cold, like it was missing any sense of warmth or life.
That said, it didn't feel completely abandoned either… There were plenty of clothes in the dressing room, a phone charger plugged in, and books lying around on tables. She lived here, but it didn't feel like she cared about the space itself.
"I ordered chicken and pizza since that felt like a safe choice. Is that okay?"
"Good call."
Chaeyujeong spoke up from behind me as I was checking out a book tossed on the couch. I gave her a light compliment, and her eyes lit up as she beamed.
"I'm going to take a quick call."
Her phone buzzed, and with a polite excuse, she returned to the bedroom. Judging from her voice, which had turned low and stiff, it seemed like a work-related call.
Once I confirmed she was out of earshot, I took out my own phone.
[Yuchae: Hyung, this is super cute]
[Yuchae: (link)]
[Yuchae: It's the puppy you like, hehe]
[Yujihan: lol cute]
[Yuchae: >ㅡ<]
Messages I'd gotten earlier this morning before meeting with Chaeyujeong.
Tapping the screen with my thumb a few times, I hesitated for a moment, then made up my mind and opened Yuchae's profile. I hit the "Call" button.
I used the voice call feature on the messenger app, so I didn't need her actual phone number. As I held the phone to my ear, a soft ringtone chimed in my ear.
While waiting for the call to connect, I kept an ear out for any vibrations or notification sounds from another phone somewhere in the house.
But there was nothing. Not a sound.
"..."
Even though I waited until the ringtone stopped, the call never connected. I'd had a feeling it might not, but that didn't make the disappointment any easier.
Letting out a deep breath, I stared at the messenger window until the connection dropped automatically, then turned off the screen. Right then, Chaeyujeong, who had gone into the bedroom, came back into the living room, apparently done with her call too.
"Sorry. I'd already told the team I'd be packing and moving stuff today, and they were just calling to confirm."
"It's fine. It's your house—no need to worry about how I feel."
"Still. We've got some time until the food gets here… Want to play a game or something? Not on the PC—I've got a PlayStation and Xbox too. Or I can install something else if you want…"
With a shy smile, Chaeyujeong rambled on, clearly enjoying the moment.
I'd been thinking this since the day we went to the PC café, but—this kid really likes playing games with me. That's when it happened.
My phone vibrated in my hand with an incoming message.
"…!"
My eyes widened as I caught a glimpse of the preview text.
[Yuchae: Hyung?]
My hand holding the phone trembled slightly. Completely caught off guard by something I hadn't even imagined, I couldn't hide my reaction as I turned to stare at Chaeyujeong.
How… How is this possible?
Chaeyujeong didn't have her phone in hand. The messenger app didn't have any sort of message scheduling feature. No, even if it did, hitting this kind of perfect timing was practically impossible.
This… This is definitive proof that Yuchae and Chaeyujeong are two different people…
But even with that answer in front of me, I didn't know how to react. I had just proven they weren't the same person, so why was I feeling this tangled, conflicted mess inside?
As I stood there dazed, lost in the web of my own thoughts, Chaeyujeong noticed something was off and grabbed my shoulder with a worried look.
"Hyung, what's wrong?"
"…It's nothing."
I quickly shoved my phone into my pocket and forced a smile, but Chaeyujeong narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"Nothing? You looked totally shocked just now. What happened?"
"It's really nothing."
"You can't even tell me?"
Why's she so persistent? I avoided her gaze and blurted out the first excuse that came to mind.
"You remember that guy I told you about in the car last time? I forgot to block him, and he just messaged me."
"You mean… Kim Uichan? That guy messaged you again?"
"Yeah. I'm blocking him now, so don't worry about it."
Just then, the doorbell rang—our food had arrived. Chaeyujeong opened her mouth like she wanted to ask something else, but she gave up and headed to the entrance to grab the delivery.
Watching her walk toward the front door, I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket again and typed a reply to Yuchae.
[Yujihan: I'll log into Zeno tonight. Wait for me.]
[Yujihan: We need to talk.]
READ MORE CHAPTERS HERE-https://payhip.com/Beastnovels