“Jjang Nayeon. When we debut, let’s eat three chocolate conch breads each.”
“Wouldn’t we not be able to eat as much after debuting?”
“We’ll eat them. Are they going to cancel our debut just because we ate some chocolate bread? It’s awkward if I’m the only one eating, so you have to eat too. Got it?”
“Okay. Then I’ll eat six in front of the president so you don’t feel awkward.”
“What’s that. Six is just pigging out, isn’t it?”
There were nights they had stayed up laughing, imagining the future.
“Jjang Nayeon. When we debut, let’s wear heart-shaped sunglasses and go to Garosu-gil. If anyone recognizes us, we’ll say it’s not us.”
“Okay.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah, let’s do it.”
“You just like everything I suggest.”
“I like everything you want to do.”
A bond that had promised to do anything and everything together.
“……You Awakened?”
“Yeah. They say I’m A-Rank.”
“Wow, as expected of Jjang Nayeon. You made it. Congratulations…….”
And so, when Nayeon Awakened right after turning nineteen, they had grown apart as she garnered too much public attention thanks to her high rank and beautiful looks.
Nayeon pressed down on her pounding heart.
She was overjoyed to see her face even like this, her body itching to surge forward. She wanted to embrace her immediately and tell her how much she had missed her.
But Romi asked with a displeased expression.
“What brings you here. Why did you come?”
“Romi. I didn’t know I’d see you here. I went to the agency a few times too, but they always said you were busy. You should take it easy with work. You’ve always been weak.”
Romi gritted her teeth, turned her gaze away from Nayeon, and crossed her arms.
From the moment she spotted Nayeon, anger had blazed in her heart like fire, and she couldn’t stand it.
Sin Nayeon hadn’t changed a bit. Back then and now, openly giving offense without even realizing it. Without any tact.
“Don’t tell me you shamelessly came here to see me?”
“Ah, I followed my precious little brother here. He said he met Wooju at an amusement park and they became friends. How do they even meet like that? Isn’t it fascinating?”
Unable to read the atmosphere in the fierce voice, Nayeon simply smiled broadly and spoke.
That completely unchanged appearance still churned her insides and finally made her snap.
“Hey, you have things you cherish?”
“Huh?”
“You don’t have things like that. You’re good at throwing things away, aren’t you.”
“What, that’s not true. I have lots of things I cherish. You too…….”
At Nayeon’s gentle answer, Romi twitched the corner of her lips.
Nayeon never knows. What kind of thorns are hidden in words.
“I’m talking about how our debut was ruined because of you.”
“Huh?”
“Why do you think I gave up being a singer to become an actor? Our debut group was disbanded after you left. And you think I’d want to meet you?”
She had only grown older while belonging to a small-to-medium agency. The company’s circumstances changed rapidly by the day, and Nayeon leaving was a convenient reason to disband the debut team.
“Nayeon is pretty and dances well too. She works hard at whatever she’s told, so she stands out more. You need that kind of star quality to do well after debut, but she just up and left without any sense of responsibility after Awakening, so we’re in trouble too.”
The president had rattled on about things Romi hadn’t even asked. She didn’t listen anymore to talk about the company’s circumstances. She couldn’t even hear it.
And so, at the same time Nayeon left, Romi’s dream also ended.
Everything they had drawn together every night, all of it.
“What do you mean…….”
“You came to the agency? Busy? Busy my ass. After my debut fell through, I worked part-time jobs. But you kept coming by. So I asked them to tell you I was busy.”
At first she had been ashamed. Embarrassed to show Nayeon, who was in the spotlight, that she had become nothing, so she avoided her.
Nevertheless, the second emotion she felt toward Nayeon, who kept knocking on the agency door, was resentment.
She didn’t believe everything the president said, but still, in a hopeless situation, anything she could latch onto became a justifiable reason for rationalization.
“Oh, no…… I didn’t think…… I didn’t know it would turn out like that.”
Only then did Nayeon blink her large eyes a few times.
At that sight, a petty joy welled up. Romi sharpened her tongue further.
What should I do. Now, the face you make when you’re hurt brings me joy.
“Even after succeeding like that, looks like you still haven’t developed any tact.”
“……Sorry.”
I don’t want to see your face anymore.
Remembering the gazes concentrated on Nayeon earlier, she felt miserable again. It was the gap between Nayeon and herself that she still couldn’t close.
Yi Romi smoothed her thumbnail where the manicure had peeled off. No matter how desperately she climbed, Nayeon’s position remained distant.
What should I do.
“Really the same. Nothing has changed at all, Jjang Nayeon.”
Actually, the mission her teacher had given was the easiest thing for Yi Romi.
Me, who has known you best since middle school.
For me, who probably knows you best in the world, it’s easier than taking candy from a child.
Choosing and picking words that will hurt you.
“Your nickname from middle school, do you know why it was Jjang Nayeon?”
Just a little more…….
Nayeon raised her head and met her eyes.
“Because you’re annoying. That’s why you’re called Jjang Nayeon, you.”
Nothing had ever been difficult for Nayeon.
A life without worries. No concerns about grades, family, or future — nothing but happy days.
For children going through their own complicated times, the inability to properly form empathy among peers was a fatal flaw.
“You didn’t even know you were an outcast, did you? That’s why I took you around with me.”
“…….”
For a while, Nayeon couldn’t speak.
It was a face even Romi, whom she had known for so long, had never seen before.
“Romi, you too…… thought that?”
Nayeon remembered those days when Romi affectionately called her Jjang Nayeon.
The tiny dorm where beds were crammed right next to each other. The choreography practice room where they had lain drenched in sweat like rain. The days when they had lain using your knee as a pillow, sharing one pair of earphones to listen to music.
“This song is really good. I wish we’d get a song like this for our debut track.”
“Can’t we just ask for something similar?”
“Like that would work. How long did you think life would be that easy? So typical of Jjang Nayeon. ……What, why are you smiling?”
“Because I like it when you call me Jjang Nayeon.”
“Why do you like that?”
“Because we’re the only ones who call each other nicknames. We look like we’re the closest, don’t we?”
“You really. If you like it that much, I’ll keep calling you. Jjang Nayeon. Jjang Nayeon. Jjang Nayeon.”
Yi Romi opened her mouth.
“Yeah.”
Nayeon touched the area around her heart.
The feeling of her heart dropping with a thud was unfamiliar.
She had often been told that she was fearless and lacked tension. It was a disposition that would greatly help her in raids as a Hunter.
Even when dealing with various media,
though not at all in human relationships.
Being told she lacked tension actually meant that her ability to read situations acutely fell short of others.
She overlooked subtle undercurrents and was just as unskilled at delicately handling others’ emotions.
Her mouth felt gritty, as if she had fallen into a sand dune.
“I always hated you too, Jjang Nayeon.”
[Skill ‘Black Leaf in the Mouth’ activates.]
[Entering a fatal debuff state.]
She couldn’t move an inch, as if she’d fallen into a sticky quagmire. Her tongue hardened like stone, and soon her mana began to drain away.
The mud seemed to rise up to her throat, blocking her breath.
She couldn’t move her body.
At that sight, Yi Romi instead wore an expression showing she herself was bewildered.
Then, a woman’s voice flowed into Yi Romi’s mind together with laughter.
— Your friend. She has an excellent body, doesn’t she?
It was a very beautiful voice, like a marble rolling on a silver tray.
‘Teacher?’
Intuitively, she realized that the woman was her teacher.
After blinking for only a moment, Yi Romi moved her feet and lifted the stiffened Nayeon’s chin.
*
“So you’re that ‘Nayeon.’ I’ve heard much about you.”
Frozen, Nayeon could only watch as Romi’s lips moved.
It wasn’t Romi.
The voice was Romi’s, but her eyes, tone, and expression had all changed.
A chill entirely different from before slammed into her mind.