Side Story 59. Epilogue (1) (1/2)

Seol Jihu kept his promise. Only after helping Valhalla take care of their problems did he return to Earth.

He resumed the plans he had to halt to go back to Paradise in a hurry. Before doing anything, Seol Jihu explained the situation and sought help.

Kim Hannah, Seo Yuhui, Ian, Jang Maldong, Phi Sora, and others—everyone encouraged Seol Jihu and praised him for his decision, but also advised him not to be hasty when going about this.

Since ordinary people who knew nothing about this side would find it hard to believe, they recommended Seol Jihu to take things slow, step by step.

Seol Jihu agreed with this wholeheartedly. He had planned to take things slow as he heard, but he didn’t quite know how to go about it. There were limited ways he could implement this, so he was having trouble choosing the best option.

But thanks to everyone’s help, he had an idea. The first thing he did was bring Seo Yuhui home and introduce her to the family. This wasn’t much of a problem since everyone liked Seo Yuhui.

Yoo Seonhwa wasn’t a huge problem either as the family members assumed that she and Seol Jihu had settled things properly and broken up on good terms.

Of course, it still weighed on his mind. And so, Seol Jihu picked out a day to talk to Yoo Seonhwa to settle their past relationship once and for all.

To be honest, he was uncomfortable and nervous about meeting her. Although Yoo Seonhwa was the one who broke up with him, Seol Jihu knew he was the one who was at fault.

Judging by her expression, which seemed to say, ‘You dare?’, he was worried that Yoo Seonhwa would play the victim card and say, ‘How can you do this to me!?’ But...

“...Okay.”

Yoo Seonhwa unexpectedly accepted.

“I understand what you’re saying.”

Seol Jihu’s eyes widened. He was expecting to be slapped, have water thrown at his face, or have all sorts of mean words thrown at him.

“I respect your wishes. Thank you for telling me. It helped me reaffirm my determination too.”

Currently, Yoo Seonhwa was giving her all to her cafe business. Not only was she expanding the franchise in Korea, but she was also looking to expand overseas.

“At first, I wanted us to end up together… You know, like a success story of two childhood friends-turned-lovers. It has a nice ring to it.”

Though she smiled sadly, that was it. Yoo Seonhwa understood what Seol Jihu was saying, and Seol Jihu decided to root for Yoo Seonhwa’s dreams.

“Then are we going back to just being childhood friends?”

When Seol Jihu asked with an awkward smile, Yoo Seonhwa did not give a clear answer. She flashed her eyes.

“Yeah… I am still a little shocked, though….”

Yoo Seonhwa trailed off before looking at Seol Jihu innocently.

“Do you want to grab dinner?”

“Dinner?”

“Yeah. We’ve known each other for a long time, almost 30 years, in fact. It would be a shame to end everything here.”

Yoo Seonhwa sighed and then continued.

“Plus… there’s something I’ve meant to say, but I don’t think I can say it with a sober mind. So I want to talk with you over a few drinks… What do you say? Do you have time today?”

“Drinks….”

Seol Jihu scratched his cheek. He swore never to drink alcohol again, but this invitation was hard to refuse. Not only did Yoo Seonhwa’s words make sense, but he also felt too indebted to her.

Just saying goodbye here and walking their own paths… it indeed sounded too cold.

“Well… okay… if it’s just for today…”

When Seol Jihu agreed, the corner of Yoo Seonhwa’s lips curled up. She clicked her tongue, saying, ‘Jeez.’ Then she flicked Seol Jihu’s forehead.

“Ow.”

“Stupid.”

Seol Jihu blinked dazedly while rubbing his forehead. Despite looking so pitiful a moment ago, Yoo Seonhwa was smiling like a kid.

“You swore you’d be careful about drinking alcohol. How can you agree so easily?”

“But still…”

“I know. I’m happy you’re thinking about me, but you have to be clear on cutting ties.”

Yoo Seonhwa spoke astutely and crossed her arms.

“I thought you changed, Jihu, but it looks like you’re still the same softy. You can’t be this weak-hearted when you’re going to be a dad soon.”

Yoo Seonhwa reached out and squeezed the dazedly staring Seol Jihu’s cheek.

“There’s no need for dinner. Just come see me off. I am also busy but made time for you.”

Yoo Seonhwa turned around without regret.

“Ah, okay!”

Seol Jihu snapped out of his daze and belatedly chased after Yoo Seonhwa.

He was moved by what she said. As expected, she was different from most people and really knew how to think about others. She was truly a best friend he could trust and rely on.

“By the way, Miss Seo Yuhui was pretty harsh.”

Yoo Seonhwa suddenly mentioned on the way out.

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“About Princess Pink, I mean.”

Yoo Seonhwa cleared her throat.

“I’m not saying what Princess Pink did was right.”

“....”

“But isn’t she an important person to you? Almost as much as Miss Seo Yuhui.”

Seol Jihu didn’t say anything. Yoo Seonhwa must be talking about how Teresa helped him out ever since he was a low-leveled Earthling, not how she helped send his emotions to the past.

In any case, Yoo Seonhwa was right as the current Seol Jihu would not have existed without Teresa.

“She made it clear that she had feelings for you multiple times. You also responded in a half-hearted way that made her think she had a chance.

“You should have made it clear as you did with me today.

“You told her you’d give her an answer once the war ended and then forgot all about it. Don’t you know you should be chewed out for that?

“Miss Seo Yuhui is acting ridiculous as well. It’s like the pot calling the kettle black. How can she criticize anyone? And she already accepted one person. Why not another one?”

Seol Jihu listened quietly. Everything Yoo Seonhwa said seemed to be right.

“Anyway, I think you and Miss Seo Yuhui are partly to blame for the extreme measure Miss Teresa took.”

After finishing off with an invincible logic, Yoo Seonhwa glanced at the sullen Seol Jihu and coughed.

“Kuhum, well, I’m not in any position to be pointing this out… The two of you should talk about it and come to a resolution.”

She then changed the subject right away.

“Oh, you know Uncle Seol’s birthday is coming up, right?”

“Yeah, of course. I’m going, don’t worry.”

“That’s obvious. But you should come alone this time. Don’t bring anyone with you.”

“Huh…? Why? I was going to go with Yuhui.”

“Because I’m going too.”

Yoo Seonhwa continued.

“I’m sure Uncle, Aunty, Wooseok Oppa, and Jinhee all know, but we should make our relationship clear. That way, they’ll be able to be at ease.”

“But…”

“Stupid. Imagine being there with your girlfriend and ex-girlfriend when you’re telling your parents you broke up with your ex. What do you think the mood will be?”

Seol Jihu did a double-take.

“I know we shouldn’t be telling them about our breakup on a festive day. But it’s not like we broke up on bad terms, and we only chose to say goodbye for a bit so we can achieve our own goals.”

“Mm….”

“I’m sure they have an idea as to what happened, so it should be fine to just clear things up lightheartedly.”

What Yoo Seonhwa said made sense, so Seol Jihu nodded.

“Anyway, you should take a step back on this one. Time will solve everything. There shouldn’t be any problem next time we see each other at a family gathering.”

“Okay, got it.”

“And one more thing. I know it might look like I’m nagging, but I’m only saying this since this is the end. Be careful of alcohol. If anything, Miss Seo Yuhui was right about that. If you really want to drink, do it when you’re with your family or your wife… wives. Basically, only drink when you’re with someone you trust.”

“Of course.”

“Good. Then I’m going to leave for work. Good luck with yours too.”

With a smile, Yoo Seonhwa walked down the subway staircase. Seol Jihu waved his hand while watching Yoo Seonhwa grow further away.

Time flew, and before long, it was Seol Jihu’s father’s birthday.

A festive birthday party was held, and laughter did not stop in the Seol family household. After toiling for years, a peaceful day without a worry truly felt like something to celebrate.

“We can’t not drink on such a great day!”

Seol Jihu’s father must have been overjoyed too as he took out his prized liquor that he kept on the display stand. It was the hard liquor Seol Jihu had gifted that cost over 100 million won.

Furthermore, hard liquor generally had a strong alcohol content of over 40 percent.

“Seol Jihu!”

“Yes?”

“Take a glass, you bastard!”

Seol Jihu obediently extended his glass cup. It was indeed a festive day, and it was his father giving him alcohol. What could go wrong with the entire family being with him?

“Here, you take this. Fill everyone’s glasses!”

“Yes, father.”

“Now drink it in one go. What are you doing, dear? You should pour Jihu a glass too in return!”

Both his father and mother took turns filling up his glass. After some time, empty bottles stacked up. Naturally, Seol Jihu’s face had turned quite red.

‘Why is there… so much…’

He drank and drank, but there was seemingly no end. It was only then that Seol Jihu felt something was off.

At that moment, he saw Seol Jinhee walking in with two new bottles, saying she would try a rice wine-raspberry wine mix technique she learned. Seol Jihu asked with incredible difficulty.

“Hey… where is all this alcohol coming from…?”

“Hmm? Ah, Seonhwa Unni brought it all. Though I have to admit, she brought a lot. But Dad likes alcohol, so he was ecstatic about it.”

“...Huh?”

“Oh, by the way, we need to talk about something.”

Seol Jinhee sat across Seol Jihu.

Seol Jihu, who was thinking about going home before blacking out, lowered his half-raised butt. It seemed like Seol Jinhee had something important to say.

“Do you remember that incident?”

“Hmm…?”

“When I barged into your company.”

“Ah…”

“You know, initially I didn’t think that I did something terribly wrong. Until recently.”

Seol Jinhee smacked her lips.

“I knew that what I did was wrong, but you had done something even worse to me. So I thought that much was justified.”

Seol Jinhee continued.

“But when I thought about it some more, I realized I was wrong.”

“…”

“It’s not like you didn’t try. In fact, you did your best to show that you had changed. I just… didn’t want to believe you back then. Because I hated you and resented you.”

“…”

“But I realized my mistake when I talked with Seonhwa Unni later. So I want to take this opportunity to apologize. Well, Seonhwa Unni kind of told me to, but I also think it’s the right thing to do.”

After this, Seol Jinhee paused momentarily and collected her breath.

Then, she spoke.

“I’m sorry.”

“...”

“I’m sorry for acting like a brat back then, and I’m really sorry for not believing you.”

“Jinhee…”

“Will you accept my apology?”

Seol Jinhee raised the bottle of rice wine-raspberry wine mix.

Seol Jihu had no choice but to raise his glass. Seol Jinhee had opened up and approached him. If he refused for whatever reason, with Seol Jinhee’s narrow-mindedness, she was sure to hold a grudge.

The room had also turned quiet, with everyone watching silently.

Seol Jinhee smiled as she poured the mix into his glass.

“Pour me a glass too.”

“Okay…”

“Good. Then everything is settled from now on. Here’s to a new beginning!”

The brother and sister toasted and took the shot.

“Keu! Excellent! I can’t be happier today!”

“Good, good. Well done, Seol Jinhee.”

The peanut gallery applauded.

Hearing the sound of claps fade away, Seol Jihu blacked out.

And thus, when Seol Jihu woke up, he saw a familiar ceiling. Only after blinking dazedly ten times did he realize where he was. It was Yoo Seonhwa’s apartment, which he had difficulty entering just a few years ago.

Seol Jihu shot up in fright, and the soft blanket slipped. When he lifted the blanket…

“...Ah.”

...he immediately became speechless.

He was naked.

“You’re up?”

Hearing a voice, he looked outside the door. Yoo Seonhwa was cooking while humming, wearing only an apron on an otherwise naked body.

“Ah, it’s been a while since I did it. Really makes me sore.”

She smiled sweetly while spinning the kitchen knife.

Seol Jihu could almost hear her sing, Did you think you could get away?

“Good job yesterday. Hurry on up. Let’s eat breakfast.”

Though he only found out later, Yoo Seonhwa had carried the unconscious Seol Jihu out, saying that she would take him home since he had to go to work the next morning.

What happened next was obvious.

In any case, Seol Jihu naturally thought a huge uproar would break out. Given Seo Yuhui’s personality, he doubted she would overlook this matter.

“Don’t worry. Just trust me.”