NOVEL NEXT Chapter 94
“Unnie, you used the bathroom in my room again! Please stop coming in!”
Haru shouted as she saw the bathroom floor transformed into a flooding sea while she was briefly out.
Her unnie would slip in and take a bath every time Haru was away, just because her tub was a tad bigger.
“It’s not that much different from mine! And if you’re going to use it, at least keep it clean! What is this…!”
“Your mom.”
“Ugh…! I really hate this!”
Haru glared with a fiery glare. How was she supposed to react when her own sister threw shade at her?
Despite being seven years older, Haru couldn’t argue back against her older sister, Lee Bo-reum.
It wasn’t just about the age difference; once her sister mentioned their mother, it turned into an unwinnable battle for Haru.
Since their mother passed away, it was an understatement to say their family was on the brink of collapse.
Their father was so buried in work he was rarely seen at home, while Bo-reum squandered money mingling with bad friends.
Haru felt frustrated with her sister, but her resentment naturally shifted more towards their father for not stepping in.
“Mom…”
Burying her face in her pillow, she called out the name that echoed in her heart, but all she got back was the empty noise of the city.
Haru always thought of her mother as a kind and warm person.
Even though she was frail and spent more time in hospitals than at home, only her mother would listen intently to Haru’s stories every time they met.
‘This isn’t the time for this, I should hurry up and get ready.’
There was no need to tell her father about sleeping over at a friend’s house.
Seeing his recent lack of contact, she vaguely guessed he was likely on a business trip overseas.
“Miss, are you really planning to take all that with you?”
Chief Park, who acted as Haru’s bodyguard, assistant, and now driver, asked awkwardly about the enormous carrier in her hands.
“This is already a lot less than before…?”
“Understood. Let’s take it with us.”
Once in the car, Haru gazed blankly at the whizzing scenery.
Her world was tinted gray.
She hadn’t always been totally color-blind.
But every time she faced stress, her chronic issue resurfaced.
For instance, when her dad broke his promise to take her to the amusement park or when she was prepping for the academy entrance exam.
And after watching her mother’s passing, she thought she would never see colors again until she met NoName.
Her mother’s death was a shock that literally crushed Haru’s memories.
She could barely recall the blurred image of her crying while holding her mother’s hand all day long.
Even in the hospital, no issues were found with Haru’s cone cells, so they couldn’t cure her.
The prevailing theory was that it wasn’t total color blindness but a problem with her brain.
“I want to see her soon…”
“Are you looking forward to it?”
“Ahh…! Yes…”
Haru blushed and nodded, accidentally spilling her inner thoughts.
Originally, Na-me had planned an event for her to reconcile with Yuna, but for Haru, meeting Na-me on the weekend was even more significant.
Being next to her brought a spark of vitality back to the world.
Wanting to savor the beauty of things and beings even more, Haru urged her attendant to hurry.
*
“Hello, Uncle!”
“So you’re Yuna! Just as Na-me said, you have pretty hair!”
“Ah, thank you! But did Na-me really say that?”
“Yuna, you need to get in quickly, or I can’t. There’s a car behind us.”
“Okay!”
Hastily nudging the dawdling Yuna into the backseat, I slid in beside her.
Today, Yuna was hyper and wouldn’t let her bottom settle in the seat.
Leaning her head between the front seats, she incessantly threw questions at Professor Cheon.
“Where does Na-me live? Is it far from here?”
“It’s not too far. It takes about 10 minutes by car.”
“Is Na-me’s room big? Is the bathroom big?”
“You’ll find out when you go, haha. I see Yuna is very curious about the house.”
“Hurry and fasten your seatbelt, Seo Yu-na.”
“Eek!”
I tugged on Yuna’s sleeve to set her in the proper posture.
She seemed fascinated by Professor Cheon’s car, looking every which way and listening closely to the navigation and self-driving AI’s voice.
“Na-me, Na-me.”
Yuna lightly tapped my thigh and whispered in a small voice, as if she had something secret to share.
I tilted my head a bit. Then Yuna brushed my hair aside with her hand, covering her mouth with her left hand to keep the words from slipping out, and whispered to me.
“Is Na-me’s family really rich?”
“A little?”
It’s rude to say someone with a 40-pyeong apartment right in Gangnam District isn’t rich.
“I wish my house had a lot of money too. What’s the fastest way to get rich?”
“Why is a kid talking about money already?”
“But if you have a lot of money, you can do anything…! I’d like enough money not to have to lick off the Yo-plait lid.”
“Is that a big dream or a small one?”
I understood Yuna’s golden-rule attitude.
She had lived through all sorts of suffering due to a lack of money since childhood, so it made sense she’d think that way.
“If you earn a ton of money, what do you want to do first?”
“I’ll buy four houses!”
“Four? Why?”
“One for mom, one for Maru oppa, one for No-eul oppa, and one for me.”
“So you’ll all live separately?”
“Hmm… I still want to live with mom… So three would be enough! Hmm, also… I’ll buy the best Apple phone and capsule!”
For someone who talks a lot about money, it seems Yuna hadn’t thought about what she’d do with it in detail. Kids’ thoughts usually work like that.
“Isn’t marriage the easiest and fastest way?”
“Marriage?”
“Yeah, just marry a rich person.”
Marriage is an extremely sociological act and a path to social ascension, an inseparable system in humanity’s history.
Especially in my past life, sending wedding invitations to high nobility you never met just to solidify family ties, open new trade routes, or revive dwindling clans was commonplace.
While it was somewhat confusing to mix modern and medieval values in my head, many still disguise their desires for wealth and fame under the name of love, so human nature probably hasn’t changed much with time.
“Marriage should be with someone you love…!”
“If you live together long enough, you could end up loving each other, you know.”
Being in high society lets you understand the mindset and nature of noble women enough.
As long as there are no major flaws in their spouses, they can genuinely convince themselves they love their partners.
It’s a view I’ll never truly grasp, given the remnants of my male ego.
“I’d rather not. If I had to, I’d want to live with Na-me.”
“Eh?”
“Because Na-me is rich but not flashy like the others. She’s kind, gentle, and smart, like a prince from a fairytale.”
This is a flag that should have belonged to Yoon Si-hoo, which is pretty unfortunate.
Then he could use it later in middle or high school as a childhood promise.
“I’m not as good a person as you think! On weekends I just sleep all day, and if there’s no meat for side dishes, I refuse to eat, whine when shopping, and my hobbies are drinking and gaming. Would you still like a spouse like that?”
Of course, I had never even touched alcohol once.
“Eww… I’ll think about that…!”
Yeah. It’s not good to make those kinds of childhood promises too lightly.
After all, if it’s Yuna, she’s capable of achieving success in any field without even needing marriage.
How many kids from elementary school plan their lives independently?
As long as the environment supports her learning without worry, she’ll grow up just fine.
“Speaking of which, Yuna, can I ask you something? Is it okay?”
“Yeah! What do you want to know?”
“Do you remember when you printed and showed me the picture your oppa drew at school last time?”
“Yeah, Maru oppa really draws well, right?”
“Wasn’t that drawn on a computer? The picture seemed to move!”
“Probably! I heard it was made for a performance assessment in high school.”
I initially thought her dream of being an artist was just about painting on canvas, but this was a misunderstanding stemming from Yuna’s limited vocabulary.
What she showed me as Seo Maru’s work was a level of animating splash art that felt incredibly alive, like a game character.
“Say, would it be rude to ask your oppa if he would consider another job?”
“Another job? What kind?”
“A V-tube editor.”
“Editor? Oh… but we don’t have a computer at our house.”
“We can buy a computer.”
“If he becomes an editor, would he get stuff like that too?”
“Yep.”
While others might not know, at least I had the intent to provide.
Since I was starting a broadcast, it would be great to have a V-tube editor lined up beforehand.
Plus, I had a passing acquaintance with Seo Maru, which made it less awkward.
Though it was a proposal made for my own convenience, it couldn’t be bad for him either.
“Sure! I’ll ask him!”
[You have arrived at your destination.]
After chatting with Yuna, I suddenly found we had arrived home.
In the elevator, realizing I lived on the 39th floor, I felt a childish surge of fear wondering how to evacuate in the event of an earthquake, and it made me chuckle.
“Welcome to our home.”
The first day of the party was about to begin.