“Are you crazy, Yoon Na Eun?”

Seung Joo’s stern voice, which had sounded similar before, somehow rang in her ears.

That day, both Sun Jin and Seung Joo looked at her with disbelieving eyes and reprimanded her.

Even though she had never mentioned a single thing about what happened with Seo Hee Won, for some reason, the two were convinced that something had happened between her and him.

Recalling how she had made excuses and left the scene, Na Eun’s lips quivered as she was about to speak.

The moment she raised her bowed head and tried to open her mouth, Na Eun’s eyes widened upon seeing the expression on Hee Won’s face in front of her.

“…Seo Hee Won.”

She stammered in surprise. You, you…

“Are you crying?”

Realizing that the glimmer in his eyes, which had been staring at her blankly, was not due to the moonlight, she was shocked.

She couldn’t properly see his face as he soon turned his head away from her and covered his face with his hand.

Na Eun was at a loss witnessing Hee Won’s hand covering his face tremble slightly.

As she approached him in confusion, Hee Won stopped her with his other hand and took a moment to collect his emotions.

He scoffed, swallowing his tears.

He never thought he would end up crying on the street at this age. Yet Yoon Na Eun had managed to make it happen.

About a minute passed. Hee Won, who had barely escaped the unsightly scene, lowered the hand covering his face and bowed his head. He still wasn’t looking at Na Eun.

“That bastard Seo Jae Won asked me the other day.”

In the midst of the unexpected events unfolding, Na Eun, who didn’t know what to do, blinked at the sudden mention of Jae Won.

Hee Won continued with a smirk.

“If you had to choose between saving one person’s life or twenty people’s lives, which would you choose?”

Why would he ask such a question…? Clutching the handkerchief she had hurriedly pulled out of her bag upon seeing Hee Won’s tears, Na Eun made a puzzled expression.

Finally facing her, who still looked pretty despite the situation, Hee Won spoke as if resigned.

“I couldn’t answer him.”

“…”

I’ve never lost to that bastard in an argument or anything, but for the first time, I lost. Hee Won had to admit it.

“If such a situation arises, I would have saved you.”

“…”

“My judgment says twenty people is the right choice, but I still would have run to you.”

Having never made an irrational decision while working as a member of the center, even in a fleeting moment of imagination, his choice was Yoon Na Eun.

Hee Won despaired upon realizing that he wouldn’t regret that choice even if it put his own life in danger.

“You’re a hindrance.”

Na Eun blankly faced Hee Won, who spoke to her in a voice still tinged with tears.

“You cloud my judgment and consume my reason. When I’m with you, I… I’m not myself.”

It took a painful amount of time to deny it and finally acknowledge and accept it.

And now, he gritted his teeth, feeling like he was prostrating himself before her with a dying face.

“If you’re in danger, I feel like I’ll throw away everything I have, turn a blind eye, and only look for you. Only go to save you.”

“…”

“Yoon Na Eun.”

Na Eun, who was well aware of what Hee Won’s words meant, remained silent with a stunned expression.

In front of her, Hee Won muttered as if cursing.

Comfort…

“Does what I gave you that day seem like mere comfort?”

If asked if she had ever been a bad person to anyone, the answer “I’ve never been like that” wouldn’t come out immediately.

There are no perfect people in the world, and even if you’ve lived honestly and uprightly, it’s nearly impossible to remain a good person to everyone.

But Na Eun swore she had never unintentionally hurt someone like this, and she rolled on the floor with her cheek pressed against it.

It didn’t have much meaning; she was just expressing the feeling of becoming trash rolling on the ground.

“At this rate, she’ll roll all the way to the trash can.”

Seung Joo, who had just taken out a new can of beer from the refrigerator, casually commented on his friend’s antics.

Na Eun didn’t deny it and muttered while lying on the floor of her studio.

“I can roll there. I’m trash…”

“So self-aware.”

Seung Joo chuckled after taking a sip of beer, and Sun Jin squatted down beside Na Eun’s head, gently stroking her bangs as if to comfort her.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. You didn’t know.”

“…Since when did you guys know?”

Na Eun, who had been lying on the floor in an “I am a sinner” pose, suddenly got up and alternately looked at her friends who had come to hang out at her place.

Her friends, who were all in pajama pants and comfortable clothes to sleep over for the night, looked at each other and shook their heads.

It meant they had noticed it a long time ago. Na Eun looked at them a little resentfully.

If you had told me earlier…

“Then I wouldn’t have made such a mistake…”

“We weren’t sure right away either. You know how his usual behavior was. Did you really think he was sincere with you?”

Seung Joo said as he walked over to them and plopped down.

“We only found out after watching for a long time.”

“Why didn’t I know? Am I stupid?”

As Na Eun blamed herself as if she was about to tear her hair out, Sun Jin spoke in a calm voice.

“Seo Hee Won must have been a total jerk. Honestly, we’re refraining from saying it because of our long-standing friendship, but before he started liking you, he was even worse than you think.”

Even with Sun Jin’s cold assessment, Na Eun didn’t regain her energy.

No matter what kind of person Seo Hee Won was, if he really liked her sincerely, it wasn’t just one or two skeletons in the closet that would pop out.

Na Eun revisited all the actions she had done to Seo Hee Won and screamed again, collapsing on the floor.

“I must be crazy, really…”

When it’s cold, begging him to take off her clothes, asking him to give her a piggyback ride when she’s tired, letting him into her house late at night, eagerly eating the food he makes, and even begging for a kiss.

Moreover, last night…

Thinking about what happened that night, Na Eun wanted to hide in a hole if there was one, feeling like she was a real jerk.

She was convinced that if a character like her appeared in a drama or movie, they would be heavily criticized.

What else could it be called other than taking advantage of someone who likes you? Even if she didn’t know, it was clear that her actions were very rude to him.

After lying down for a while, Na Eun suddenly lifted her head and tried to deny reality.

“Could it be that Seo Hee Won is also mistaken?”

At her monologue, Seung Joo and Sun Jin, who were taking out snacks for the table, looked down at her.

Na Eun sat up straight and spoke to her friends.

“He just hasn’t met a girl like me before. I really hated him at first. You know, there’s a type like that among internet novel male leads. ‘You’re the first girl like this to me,’ something like that.”

“…”

“Plus, he feels sorry for me, so after seeing me for a long time, he mistook… Something like that, right?”

Seung Joo, who was eating a snack, said to Na Eun, who was desperately trying to turn on the circuit of hope.

“Why don’t you say that directly to Seo Hee Won later when we’re there? If the reaction is interesting, take a picture.”

Seung Joo, who had no idea that Seo Hee Won had even shed tears in front of Na Eun, asked if he could capture the team leader crying.

He intended to save it and tease him for a long time. On the other hand, Sun Jin, who now felt a little sorry for Seo Hee Won, smiled bitterly.

This is why people should live kindly. Everything comes back to you.

“But the team leader is funny too. He acted like he could never confess, but in the end, he spilled it out to you.”

“…”

Can that be called a confession? Na Eun remembered the sorrowful look in Hee Won’s eyes that evening and closed her mouth.

It was more like a groan of pain that leaked out rather than a confession. He couldn’t hold it in anymore, so it burst out.

Of course, the one who made him unable to endure and bear it was Na Eun herself.

“So, what are you going to do?”

“About what?”

Na Eun weakly got up at Seung Joo’s question. Seung Joo asked again in a blunt voice.

“About Seo Hee Won. Are you going to date him?”

“…”

Na Eun avoided his gaze. That alone was enough for her friends to read her answer.

For whatever reason, their friend didn’t want to accept Seo Hee Won in that sense.

It was a completely different issue from developing a personal liking for him.

“…I just want to get along well like before.”

“Is that possible?”

Seung Joo reprimanded her. He meant that since he had already confessed and she had no intention of accepting it, was it possible to return to their previous relationship?

Na Eun, a little discouraged by those words, hugged her knees and muttered.

“Then should I just date him?”

“What?”

“Hey.”

Sun Jin called out to her in surprise, and Seung Joo put down the beer he was drinking and glared at Na Eun.

Na Eun shrank her shoulders like a child who had done something wrong.