Chapter 6: Kim Soo-jin's Past

Till Kim Soo-jin went out of the nursing room, I was rooted in place, seeing her dazzling smile. I was mesmerized for a few moments; I didn't know what I was supposed to do.

As I shook my head and slapped my forehead, I spoke to myself, "Snap out of it, Joon-ho. Wake up to reality. What are you doing?"

Saying this to myself, I went out of the nursing room. After I closed the door, the doctor who had dressed my wound earlier arrived. Seeing me leave, she spoke, "Wait a while before you go. Take this."

Removing something from the inside pocket of her doctor's coat, she handed me a medicine. Seeing me stare at it, she said, "It's a pain relief medicine for swelling or skin injury. Take it. The girl from earlier, is she gone?"

"Yes," I replied.

I was really confused. Did she know I was lying, or did she find out I was beaten? The first one sounds possible. As she saw me confusedly taking the medicine, her right eyebrow rose.

"Did you honestly expect me to believe the lie from earlier? I didn't want to expose your lie in front of that girl. After all, you were obviously begging me with that intense expression from earlier."

Clutching the medicine in my hand, I ran off without looking back, shouting, "Thank you, doctor."

Arriving home at 6:00 and changing, the pain in my leg due to the applied medicine had died down slightly, but it was still stinging and slowing me down. Anyway, I did my daily four-hour job, known as gardening chores. After sunset, the lights in the garden were switched on. These lights are beautifully arranged so that they don't sting the eyes and aren't so dim that nothing is visible—it's as perfect as it can get. Time passed quickly, and by the time I finished, it was already 10:30 p.m. After that, I started reading Kim Soo-jin's story for the short film. While reading, I thought, "It's pretty good, as expected from an acting major, I guess."

Thinking of when she said, "I am really, really afraid of ghosts," unknowingly, a smile formed on my face, thinking she is cute when she is embarrassed. Let's go with this story, Murder Mystery, that Kim Soo-jin wrote, because isn't it obvious? After all, I can't make a girl uncomfortable, especially a beautiful girl like Kim Soo-jin. That's why I decided to go with Murder Mystery, and the story is good too.

While I was thinking that, a maid came from the mansion to deliver dinner. Thanking her for the food, I ate it silently while reading a webnovel on my PC. For a few years now, I have been obsessed with anime, manga, and webnovels.

This is the one thing I enjoy the most besides gardening; it takes me away from reality. I can be any protagonist I want. My first anime movie was A Silent Voice. It was so great that it blew my mind, and I started loving anime.

My first anime series was Death Note. I watched it because it was highly recommended, and I was slightly bored of watching only anime movies. But Death Note was the craziest, and it still comes in the top 10 of my most liked anime series.

The time I started reading manhua was because of Highschool of the Dead. I was so hooked after the anime series, desperately wanting to know what happens next, that I couldn't sleep at night. That's how I started reading its manhua, and it became my first manhua.

My first webnovel came from a manhua; it was I Alone Level Up. I started reading I Alone Level Up manhua while it was not completed, and, same as earlier, desperate to know what happens next, I ended up completely reading the I Alone Level Up webnovel.

Anyway, my point is, this is how I managed to escape reality for many years. Whatever happened to me in real life, after reading webnovels, I could escape reality, and my mind would be fresh and cheerful after reading.

After eating and applying the medicine that the doctor gave me, I went to sleep. I wanted to listen to music, so I plugged in my MP3 player because my phone was broken and I couldn't play songs on it. The MP3 player didn't have the latest songs; it had been a long time since I had used it. It brought back memories of when I had no phone.

It's almost become a habit to wear earphones and listen to music; now it's hard for me to sleep without them. As I lay on my bed, closing my eyes and listening to "Infinity" by Jaymes Young, the image of Kim Soo-jin's smirk while leaving the nursing room kept appearing in my head.

Her face wouldn't leave my mind, and it was making it hard for me to sleep. After tossing and turning, I finally fell asleep, but her beautiful smirking face was etched in my mind and wouldn't leave for the rest of my life.

As I woke up, the first thing I did in the morning after washing was to eat a hearty breakfast. After eating, I went out for the university. I was the first one to arrive, and the lectures went on smoothly, but today too, I was unable to make any friends. Not to mention, no one approached me to speak. I don't know why, but my classmates were giving me weird stares anyway.

After class, without any incidents like yesterday, I was able to arrive near Kim Soo-jin's class. Waiting for her outside, as the class ended, she waved and ran towards me.

As she arrived, there were a lot of people staring at us. I could feel the hatred they were giving me. I could even imagine their internal voices; it should be something like, "Who the heck is he to speak to our goddess?"

Well, I wasn't shocked because she is an incomparable beauty, and there must be dozens of men wanting to court her. I mentally noted to change our meeting spots. As she arrived, I could hear her sweet voice.

"Hi there, Kim Joon-ho. How was your day?"

I didn't answer her; instead, I asked a question seriously.

"Do you know you are incomparably beautiful?"

When she heard my question, she turned tomato red, not speaking and looking down. I didn't notice her reaction as I was busy looking around me, and the stares from the other students were making me uncomfortable. So I spoke, "Let's go from here to a quiet place."

After she slightly recovered from the earlier statement, thinking, "When did he become so bold?" she heard his voice again.

"Let's go quickly, or else everyone here is going to kill me for speaking to their goddess."

After she heard what I said, her face flushed once more. When she heard the word "goddess," she was going to scold me but started to look around and realized that everyone was looking at her. Wanting to avoid their gaze, she started moving, and I followed her as I spoke.

"So, where are we going?"

"Today, Professor Lee, who gave us the task of making a short film, told me that he has registered our names under the film club and told me to take you with me to check it out. He also said it has many props that we can use in our film."

As we arrived in front of the film club, it looked abandoned. When I looked towards Kim Soo-jin, she dodged eye contact and spoke again.

"Professor Lee told me the last member of this club graduated this year, and currently, it has no members. So, the university was going to disband this club, and Professor Lee didn't want to see that happen, so he registered our names."

I was angry, literally angry. That devil gave my name without consent. The next time I meet him, I will definitely choke him to death. As I didn't show my anger on my face, I changed topics and asked,

"Did you arrive home safely yesterday?"

"Yesterday, huh..."

---

The Previous Day.

After Kim Joon-ho said, "It's getting too late. You should go now. You'll be scolded if you're late any longer," the color drained from her face, and her smile vanished for a moment.

Kim Joon-ho wasn't able to see the expression on Kim Soo-jin's face, as he was under the blankets. But if he had seen her terrified and terror-stricken face, he would have been shocked. Who could make this cheerful lady so afraid after hearing the word "home"?

As Kim Soo-jin trembled in fear, she hurriedly started to pack her things and said in a flustered manner, "Yeah, it's getting late. I should leave now. Let's meet tomorrow. Don't be late after class, and call me if you're not coming."

Due to Kim Joon-ho's embarrassment, he didn't notice anything. After realizing her mistake, that she was too anxious to go home, she stopped at the door, looking back, thinking if he noticed something.

After a few moments, when she was sure that Kim Joon-ho didn't notice anything, she sighed in relief. Wanting to get home as soon as possible, she saw that Kim Joon-ho was getting up from his bed. She smirked, thinking of the word "ma'am."

Looking at him and smirking once more, she said, "Bye-bye," and ran off home.

After arriving home, the mask of a cheerful girl vanished as she was treated like a servant in her own house by her own family.

While mopping the floor, a loud voice came from the guest room of the house, speaking, "Soo-jin, bring some snacks and tea for the guests."

"Ok," she replied.

This was a daily occurrence. Mother would bring some of her friends from the tea party home to play mahjong.

My family is neither too rich nor too poor; you could say we are in the lower rich class.

As I opened the door of the guest room and delivered the tea and snacks that Mother requested earlier, I saw a new face joining Mother's friends today. Not speaking anything, I went out.

While closing the door, I heard them speak.

"Lee Min-seo, I didn't know you had two daughters."

As my mother heard this, she instantly replied, "She is not my daughter; she is a maid."

When those words fell on my ears, the steel tray in my hands fell down, making a loud noise. Picking up the tray, tears already falling, I ran towards the kitchen.

Until now, I endured everything my mother and father said and how they treated me because I thought they were still angry at me. I thought that they would accept me one day and realize I was telling the truth.

It has been 15 years since that incident when my brother died. Until then, everything was going smoothly.

My brother and I never got along; we were always fighting and had opposite opinions. I was jealous of my brother because Mother and Father would give him more attention than me because he was younger, and I was the older one.

I merely wanted Mother and Father to pay attention to me too, which is why I started to harass my brother, and when I did that, Mother and Father would give me attention.

On that day, when my younger brother wanted to go to the beach, I declined and told my parents that I didn't want to go. I was not feeling well and wanted to stay home. But when my brother started to cry and beg, Father started to convince me, talking about how beautiful the ocean was and all. Regardless of my wishes, we went to the beach.

After that, everything is blurry. I was small, only 5 years old, and in shock. When my brother was playing in the ocean, for some reason, he went missing, and coincidentally, I found him; he was drowning.

As I wanted to save him, I don't know how, but I too fell into the ocean and lost consciousness.

When I woke up, I saw Mother crying and found out my brother was dead. From that day on, my mother and father never looked at me with affection. They thought I was the one who pushed my brother from the cliff into the ocean.

Even when I explained that it wasn't me and that I wanted to save him, they didn't listen and blamed me for his death because I was the one who was saved, and he was the one who died.

Sometimes I think if I was the one who died, would they treat my brother the same way they treat me now? Ha, probably not.

After his death, especially my father was very heartbroken, and I became the killer of his successor. From that day, I was never the apple of his eye nor his precious daughter; I was just a killer to him. He would scold and punish me for every slight mistake I made.

They both started to treat me like a servant and not as a daughter. Growing up, they made me do cooking and cleaning for the whole house. There was no rest for me until sleeping hours came, and every day was the same until now.

I had thought that one day my parents would forgive me for what I had not done. But I was utterly wrong. After hearing my mother call me a servant unhesitatingly and not her daughter, my heart was in pain, like it physically hurt more than the words and abuse I have suffered until now.

As Kim Soo-jin went to her room, she locked the door. Lying on her bed, she cried her heart out until the tears stopped falling, and sleep finally took over.