Side Story 28. Kim Hannah vs. Seol Jinhee (1/2)
Seol Jinhee headed to her old college early in the morning. Although she had already graduated, she had a meeting with a professor regarding job hunting.
Seol Jinhee’s complexion wasn’t the brightest. Like all job seekers, her head was in a jumble.
‘I don’t want to do any additional specialized training…. Should I just bite my tongue and enter grad school? No, I’d rather just get a job….’
Seol Jinhee walked out of the main gate while mulling over her career path.
“?”
Then, she came to an abrupt stop.
She was already in a foul mood, and now seeing the person standing in front of the main gate, she got more annoyed.
“Ooh, Jinhee.”
Seol Jihu, who was looking up at the sky while leaning on the wall, waved his hand with a smile.
Seol Jinhee scowled.
“You… What are you doing here?”
Seol Jihu lowered his hand at his sister’s not-so-kind attitude.
“I texted you this morning. Did you not see it?”
“....”
She did. She just ignored them. There were other times when Seol Jihu offered to take her out to eat or go shopping. He must have come directly because she disregarded his previous messages too.
Seol Jinhee sighed. She tried to walk past him, but Seol Jihu quickly got in front of her.
“What are you doing? Move.”
“C’mon on, let’s go eat~ We can go to the mall afterward, get some new clothes, take pictures together, and…”
“What are you on about? Why would I eat with you? Wait. Take pictures? Are you crazy?”
“I have no choice. I have to send pics to prove that I did it.”
“?”
“Father said to send him pictures by the end of the day….”
Seol Jinhee raised her eyebrows.
“Ah~ So you don’t want to do it, but Dad is forcing you to.”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
“It’s perfect then. Just tell him I said no. I’m sure he’d understand since you made the effort of coming all the way to my school.”
Seol Jinhee snorted and walked past Seol Jihu. However, she couldn’t help but come to a stop as Seol Jihu again obstructed her path with a strange dance.
“What are you doing, idiot!? Aren’t you embarrassed?”
Seol Jinhee shouted while looking around in a hurry.
Seol Jihu did not stop. He continued to block Seol Jinhee’s way while singing, ‘Food~ Food~!’
“Ugggh! Are you actually crazy? What do you think you’re doing in broad daylight!?”
“Food.”
“You… Argh, okay, okay! Fine! We can go out to eat and take some pictures!”
“Clothes.”
“Clo…. Listen, don’t go too far. Do you really want to go at it?”
Seol Jinhee grunted while glaring at Seol Jihu. However, Seol Jihu was unresponsive.
“If you don’t go out on a date with me today, I’ll lay down in front of the gate and scream, I’m Seol Jinhee’s oppa!!!”
“Crazy bastard. Do it then.”
“I’ll also hide under your professor’s desk and put post-it notes on his back that say I’m Seol Jinhee’s oppa! in a large font.
“Do it! I dare you! People will think you’re the crazy one, not me!”
“Okay, you said so.”
Seol Jihu immediately got down on his back.
“I’m…!”
As he opened his mouth to shout, the frightened Seol Jinhee hurriedly bent down and blocked his mouth.
“Are you… serious….”
Her throat trembled.
Seol Jihu blinked.
“Huuuuu….”
Seol Jinhee dropped her head. She bit her lower lip and then slowly got up.
“...Fine, you asked for it.”
She looked down at Seol Jihu with a cold, resolute gaze.
Sensing that something was about to happen, Seol Jihu quietly got up.
“Alright, let’s do it. Food? Clothes? If you’re so desperate to take me out, I don’t see why not.”
Seol Jinhee said arrogantly before curling the corner of her lips up.
“You’re not going to back down after going this far, right?”
“Of course not! Anything you want to eat, anything you want to buy, just tell me, and I’ll get them for you!”
Seol Jihu spoke squarely.
Seol Jinhee snorted.
“Can I call my friends?”
“Call them! Call however many you want!”
“Oh, really?”
Seol Jinhee immediately took out her phone. She called her friend and spoke.
“Hey, come to the school's main gate. Right now.”
—Hm? What’s gotten into the stingy friend of mine?
“I’ll treat you to all the expensive food you can think of, so shut up and get your butt over here! Bring other people too!”
Seol Jinhee then made several more similar calls.
Soon, people began to gather in front of the school gate, the number quickly reaching a couple dozen.
Seol Jihu became dazed. His sister could get so many people to come along at a moment’s notice? He began to wonder what kind of a position she had at college.
“Guys~”
Seol Jinhee gave a gorgeous smile while looking back at everyone. She then glanced at Seol Jihu and announced aloud.
“My second brother wants to buy us lunch! And a re~ally expensive lunch, at that!”
A loud cheer erupted.
Seol Jihu, who was staring with a blank face, grinned. He took out his phone while everyone was watching and made a call to a restaurant.
“Yes, I’m the person who called to make a reservation a while ago.”
He then spoke.
“I want to rent out the whole place for lunch. Is it okay?”
*
About two hours later, Seol Jinhee had a completely stumped expression. She wanted to see Seol Jihu’s troubled face. But to her dismay, he really took them to a restaurant and paid for everyone’s meal. The bill was well over 80,000 won per person too!
The atmosphere was good. No, it was great. Seol Jinhee’s friends were either job-hunting students or recent grads, and Seol Jihu was a senior who had already assimilated into society.
‘Oh right, that bastard went to a good college.’
As a graduate from Soyoung University who was also working at a rising corporation, Seol Jihu naturally became a mentor to these younger juniors, and they talked about all sorts of things.
After lunch, Seol Jinhee, who had been dead silent the whole time, gritted her teeth and headed to the mall. She picked out everything she found decently good, including clothes, shoes, make-up, handbags, and other things. Many of them were for her friends as well.
She was very obviously trying to make things hard for Seol Jihu, but he swiped his card on each purchase as if it was no big deal.
Seol Jinhee gasped in shock, seeing Seol Jihu buy millions of wons worth of products at once.
“W-What? Are you crazy?”
“Oppa, aren’t you spending too much money?”
He was spending so much that even Seol Jinhee’s friends were feeling uncomfortable.
“Oh, it’s fine. I have lots of money.”
Seol Jihu spoke with a childish smile.
“It’s been a while… but you remember the Sinyoung incident, right?”
“Of course! It was huge news back then.”
“I was an employee of Sinyoung. And one of the victims too.”
“Ah….”
Gasps rang out from the surroundings. Seol Jihu continued as if it wasn’t a big deal.
“I received a lot in compensation.”
“But still….”
“It’s fine. Really. I didn’t want the money anyway, but it also didn’t feel right to decline it. Holding onto it gives me bad flashbacks, so I figured I might as well use it like this.”
“....”
“Besides, I have a lot that I’m sorry about to my sister….”
Seol Jihu sighed with a bitter smile. While Seol Jinhee’s friends gave him sympathetic looks, the surrounding atmosphere turned solemn. Some began giving sidelong glances at Seol Jinhee, who was treating Seol Jihu disrespectfully.
‘T-This son of a bitch.’
Seol Jinhee clenched her teeth. Before she noticed, she had become an evil bitch who was squandering the money her older brother made by risking his life.
“It would be a shame to say goodbye now. Do you guys want to get some coffee? I know a really good dessert cafe.”
Seol Jihu broke the awkward silence and tried to liven up the mood.
In the end, Seol Jinhee had no choice but to tag along with Seol Jihu for the rest of the day.
*
Seol Jinhee used the excuse of going back with her friends to escape getting a ride home. Seeing her phone vibrating incessantly, Seol Jinhee made a dumbfounded face.
—Jinhee~ I had a great time today, thanks to Jihu Oppa. He gave me a lot of great advice and even gifts. I want to thank him, so can you talk to your oppa about me?
—Yo, your oppa was really cool. Can you give me Hyung’s number? And if possible, what he’s into too….