‘Anyway, I really don’t know.’

What did I do wrong to Yoo Hee Na?

There was no way I could figure it out by thinking about it.

Why? Because I didn’t do anything wrong!

‘Sigh, I don’t know. Let’s just wait.’

What can they do if I don’t say anything?

If it’s really urgent, they’ll speak up first.

The stares from all around were a bit burdensome, but once I got used to it, it was bearable. I kept my mouth shut tight and pretended not to notice.

But Yoo Hee Na was a formidable opponent.

‘What, you’re still not going to say anything?’

It seemed like quite some time had passed, but Yoo Hee Na remained immovable.

I glanced at Yoo Hee Na discreetly.

Yoo Hee Na was glaring at me with her arms crossed and an irritated expression.

‘……’

Looking at that face reminded me of the day I first met Yoo Hee Na.

‘I was really surprised then.’

That’s because the ‘villainess’ Yoo Hee Na was so different from what I had imagined.

Light brown wavy hair.

Fair skin.

Pretty face.

Up to here was fine.

The problem was that Yoo Hee Na looked too young!

‘How can that face be the same age as me?’

That’s right.

17-year-old Yoo Hee Na looked like a middle school student, or even an elementary school student at worst.

Even now, with two followers by her side, they honestly looked more like an older sister with younger siblings.

Of course, Yoo Hee Na is the younger one.

Maybe that’s why, due to my preconceptions about ‘villainesses’, I was quite shocked, having imagined Yoo Hee Na would naturally be a mature beauty.

At the same time, I thought:

‘No wonder the male lead always gets pushed around by her.’

I found myself understanding the male lead without realizing it.

Actually, when I first read the original story, I didn’t like the male lead.

That’s because Sung Ji Chan, the male lead of this novel, was particularly frustrating and indecisive.

Of course, the virtues of male leads during this period were generally sweet potato-like… but Sung Ji Chan was extreme.

‘To think such a guy is the male lead……’

Sung Ji Chan never got angry no matter how badly Yoo Hee Na behaved.

He even committed the atrocious act of taking the villainess’s side when he happened to see the female lead retaliating, even though the villainess had struck first.

Because of that, as a reader from the 2020s, I couldn’t understand it at all.

What’s the charm of the male lead?

Why is he the male lead?

Why is the male lead like that?

And all those questions were answered the moment I saw Yoo Hee Na’s face.

‘It must have been hard to get seriously angry at that face……’

Even now, Yoo Hee Na was pouting, but it looked more like a child throwing a tantrum than anything scary.

The male lead must have thought of Yoo Hee Na like his own little sister.

If so, it certainly made sense.

Of course, I couldn’t give back his lost qualifications as the male lead, but still.

‘Anyway, is she really not going to say anything?’

Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore and opened my mouth.

“Um, I’m sorry… but I really don’t know. Can’t you just tell me?”

Even though I knew we were the same age, I couldn’t help but speak politely.

I take back what I said about her looking like a younger sibling.

I’m originally weak to the strong and strong to the weak.

At my words, Yoo Hee Na’s eyes changed.

“Don’t lie! Are you trying to make fun of me now?”

No way!

I don’t know what button I pushed, but suddenly Yoo Hee Na’s switch seemed to turn on as she fiercely rushed at me.

Her sharp voice echoed in the alley.

“Look at this! What you did! There’s even evidence, are you going to keep denying it?”

Yoo Hee Na roughly thrust her phone forward.

It was almost like she was going to stab it into my face.

At this rate, I couldn’t see even if she told me to look. Sorry, but could you please be a bit more considerate?

I painfully pulled my neck back.

‘Alright, let’s see! Why on earth is she acting like this towards me!’

I managed to look down.

After all that struggle, there was a photo displayed on the phone screen.

It was a photo of me and Sung Ji Chan standing together intimately.

……

Huh?

‘What is this? Have I gone crazy?’

I closed my eyes tightly and opened them again at the unbelievable sight.

It was still the same.

Is this a dream?

I blinked once more.

Still, the photo on the screen remained unchanged.

“Do you have something to say now? Then explain!”

Interpreting my dumbfounded expression somehow, Yoo Hee Na shouted even more triumphantly.

No, forget about having something to say… What is this? Is it photoshopped?

The image quality was so poor that I couldn’t tell if it was fake or not.

Although I don’t know about Sung Ji Chan, there’s no one who would do such a pointless thing with me, so it’s probably not photoshopped.

‘Then when was this taken?’

I had never seen Sung Ji Chan up close before today.

……Ah.

Only then did I realize how this photo might have been taken.

Earlier, when Sung Ji Chan snatched that man’s phone, he had leaned slightly towards me. It must have been taken at that moment.

‘They caught that.’

It was just for an instant, but someone happened to capture it.

This was truly the worst luck.

Moreover, that crazy guy, Ban Ha Min, and Seon Woo Jin who were there with us were nowhere to be seen in the photo!

‘This is fraud!’

Whoever took this photo must have been determined to set me up.

They even went as far as to send it to Yoo Hee Na.

I can feel the malice overflowing all the way from here.

What on earth did I do so wrong!

“What were you talking about with Ji Chan? What kind of relationship do you have? Since when? Doesn’t Ji Chan ever talk about me? Do you really have nothing to say to me?”

Yoo Hee Na persistently interrogated me as I realized the truth and felt dejected.

I looked at Yoo Hee Na helplessly.

So she thought something had happened between me and Sung Ji Chan and dragged me all the way here…? Just like she had done to other girls before…?

In other words, I was now experiencing what it’s like to be the female lead.

Forcibly, at that.

‘This is crazy!’

At this point, it really seemed like heaven had abandoned me.

Otherwise, there’s no way my luck could be this bad.

I looked back on everything that had happened today.

Starting with that crazy man, I met Ban Ha Min, Sung Ji Chan, and now I’m facing Yoo Hee Na. It’s like I’ve encountered all the people I’ve been trying so hard to avoid in one day.

“Alright, you don’t need to say any more. I guess you’re not that special of a relationship. There have been many girls who went this far before.”

I didn’t even get that far though…

I felt a bit wronged, even though I never wanted to have that kind of relationship in the first place.

While I was in a daze, Yoo Hee Na was already summarizing the situation on her own.

“You’re just one of them. So don’t read too much into what happened today.”

Hey, I’m sorry but could you not get so ahead of yourself? I’m not mentally prepared yet!

Even as this was happening, Yoo Hee Na continued to talk excitedly, playing both sides of the conversation.

“Right, that’s it. I’m not even curious anymore. You’d probably say the same things as the other girls anyway. I’m different from the others. I’ll be Ji Chan’s last. Something like that. But you know what? Do you know how many girls like that I’ve met so far? And in the end, what happened? …Enough. There’s nothing more to say. I’ll just ask one last thing. What did you two talk about?”

At the end of her long monologue, Yoo Hee Na finally asked.

I carefully recalled the events of today.

First, that crazy man grabbed my arm, and shortly after, Ban Ha Min came running to pull him off.

Sung Ji Chan and Seon Woo Jin came a bit later. After arriving, Sung Ji Chan verbally chased away that man, and then…

As my thoughts reached that point, I suddenly found myself at a loss for words.

“…I didn’t talk to Sung Ji Chan though?”

That’s right. I had never once had a conversation with Sung Ji Chan!

I could be certain. I had only spoken with Ban Ha Min the whole time.

Even when I thanked Sung Ji Chan, he didn’t respond!

…Come to think of it, this is a bit annoying. Couldn’t he at least have acknowledged my thanks?

“Stop lying!”

As expected, Yoo Hee Na didn’t believe me.

“How can you expect me to believe that when there’s even a photo like this?”

But that’s what actually happened…

I felt wronged. I was really only telling the truth.

Should I explain in more detail here?

But I was afraid that if I did, I’d be bombarded with questions like ‘Why did Ji Chan help you? Who are you to him? How could you not exchange a single word after he helped you? Are you lying to me?’

…Still, I needed to say something to end this madness. Where should I start?

I felt like my head was going to overload from thinking too much.

That’s when it happened.

“This won’t do.”

Yoo Hee Na suddenly signaled to her friends on either side of me.

They nodded and snatched my belongings from my hands before heading out of the alley.

What’s going on?

“You come out too, quickly.”

Yoo Hee Na pulled me along as I stood there bewildered.

The street had already grown dark.

The neon signs of the busy area were flashing brightly.

Yoo Hee Na walked a few more steps, then roughly pushed me onto the street and said haughtily:

“It looks like this will take a while. We need to change locations. Wait here for a moment until the others come back.”

What is this, really?

I briefly worried that she might be taking me to a bar or something, but soon relaxed.

Right now, Yoo Hee Na looked like a middle school student at best.

They say that in the world of fiction, even minors can freely enter bars, but I didn’t think they’d let someone like this pass.

As if to support my assumption, Yoo Hee Na said:

“We’re going to a quiet cafe. Somewhere where others can’t eavesdrop. It might take some time to find such a place, but those two will come back soon. When we get there, I’ll even buy you an Americano or something.”

“……”

I was left speechless.

No… Even if you’re supposed to be the villainess, isn’t this too cute and innocent?

Seeing my dumbfounded face, Yoo Hee Na looked at me for a moment before turning her head away with a haughty “hmph”.

No matter how much you try to act haughty after saying something like that…

Suddenly, I realized Yoo Hee Na’s true nature.

‘She’s just a kid!’

Yoo Hee Na wasn’t just young on the outside. She was just as young on the inside. Looking at it now, she might be even younger on the inside. I seriously began to doubt Yoo Hee Na’s mental age.

‘Now I think I can understand Sung Ji Chan a little…’

Yeah, it would have been hard to say anything to a kid like this.

Plus, if they’ve been close since childhood, she really would be like a little sister.

At the same time, I could understand why Sung Ji Chan couldn’t love Yoo Hee Na. Sadly.

‘So that’s why.’

Despite causing trouble everywhere, Yoo Hee Na didn’t have many enemies, and now I knew the reason.

‘But why did she go that far in the original story?’

The ‘Yoo Hee Na’ I remember from the original story, while sloppy, was undeniably worthy of being called a ‘villainess’.

For a person to change so much in such a short time. What happened in between?

Something did happen. The appearance of the female lead.

…Is this the power of love after all?

That’s when it happened.

“There! They’re over there!”

A man’s shout echoed loudly across the street.

At the sudden commotion, everyone in the busy area turned to look in that direction at once.

Following that, a group of men came running while pointing somewhere.

“We finally found them!”

“Hurry and catch them!”

“Don’t let them get away!”

The direction their fingers were pointing was towards where Yoo Hee Na and I were standing.

What’s this, did someone eat and run without paying… It seemed like they had committed a very serious offense.

‘What on earth did they do?’

I looked around trying to find the target.

Then I suddenly realized.

Everyone on the street was looking at Yoo Hee Na and me.

“…Huh?”

Three seconds later, I grasped the situation.

“Us?”