Chapter 274 – Chapter 274 – The Protagonist Is Captured (14)

What I heard were the voices of two women. The side where the sound came from is the opposite side of the hallway from the one I’ve been walking on so far. Looking at the information board, it was written that it was for officials, so non-affiliates were prohibited from entering.

‘Still.’

Hmm. I can’t stand the question

Especially the fight scenes.

I went into the hallway marked for official use, put my body on the wall that curves in the letter ‘ㄱ’, and only slightly poked my face out to see the situation.

“Because I know what to do!”
“Ha… Are you really going to do that?”

At the end of the hallway, a woman was slamming the hotel door with her feet, looking inward at her.

‘Yes?’

I was watching the fight with an interesting face, but when I looked closely, the face of the woman standing outside the hotel door was a bit familiar.

‘Uh? That woman must have been at the awards ceremony earlier…’

The woman shouting is the piercing-eyed woman who briefly reflected her face at the Winter Comics Awards a few hours ago.

Hey, somehow

When I saw her eyes, I thought they were very sharp, but it was also very scary to get angry.

But she’s pretty, she’s so pretty, I wanted to know who she was, but I never thought I’d see her again here. While I was admiring the woman a little, this time I heard a voice from inside the door.

“Anyway! Get out quickly!”
“This is really…! Ah!”

The woman shouted from inside the hotel room and pushed the sharp-eyed woman away with her arms before she quickly closed the door.

Bang-
Clap-!

“Hey! Open this!”

Thump-

“Hey!”

Bang-

“Are you really not going to open this?”

Bang-

“Get the master key from below!?”

The woman outside her hotel abruptly pushed her away and yelled angrily at her closed door, but no answer came from inside her door.

No, more than that. I opened my eyes wide.

‘Isn’t that Harin…?’

It was only a glimpse, but in the process of chasing that sharp-eyed woman away, I felt as if Harin’s face was peeking out from the inside of the hotel door.

No, I don’t feel like it.

Come to think of it, her voice was also the same as Harin’s.

So, does Harin live in that room? She’s more than that, she’s the woman she’s fighting for right now……

When you’re thinking

“Are you a hotel guest?”

When did she come this far? A woman with sharp eyes who had been fighting with Harin spoke to me in an emotionless voice.

She had a chilly expression on her face, wondering if it was unpleasant that I was standing in the hallway for officials, or if she was still angry.

I nodded her head without embarrassment.

“Yes.”
“……Guest. There is no guest lake in this hallway.”
“Oh, I see. Sorry.”

When I answered as if I didn’t know, the woman raised her eyebrows weakly and spoke in a calm voice with no ups and downs.

“This is not allowed to enter except for the officials. It must have been written before entering the hallway. However, I’m sorry for making a fuss. Then.”

She spat out her words like a rapid-fire cannon, and then passed me by with a whirk.

She didn’t even wait for the elevator and disappeared from sight through the stairs. She really was who she was.

Looking at her like that, I scratched her head with her slightly bewildered expression, then turned her gaze toward the door of the hotel room where Harin was presumed to be living.

‘No, but… Isn’t this a bit like going to say hello?’

First of all, she knew which room Harin was living in, but after having such a bloody fight, she went in peace and said goodbye.

It was almost the first time I had ever seen Harin get so angry.

“……”

Still, just send me a message?
Now?
Right Now?

‘No, no matter how bad the timing is.’

I shook my head and let out a sigh.

Today, I tried to build up a little bit of good feelings while saying hello, but it seemed to have crossed the water.

‘I can’t help it. Should I just go down and take a walk before coming up?’

After all, sooner or later, Harin and Eunju will move near her cafe. There will be plenty of opportunities.

I looked at her door, which was closed so tightly, and then went down to the first floor of the hotel.

* * *

“Ha.”

Juharin’s parents were capable people.

She now owns a hotel brand, so you might think it’s natural, but even when she was young, her parents’ backs to her always seemed taller than others.

The two always earned people’s trust.

They would proceed with something with someone with faces full of confidence, but Joo Harin looked very proud and cool of her parents.

Is that why? She initially wanted to be like her own parents.

However, her dream soon began to falter.

Her parents did not give her only her envy. They were very strict at the same time. Even if he vaguely listened to the two of them and tried to follow them, it was too difficult for Harin.

It was difficult for her to learn Korean, but she had to learn English and Chinese at the same time, and she even taught liberal arts. There was too much to do.

When I finished a book and went to his father’s room with a smile on his face, he didn’t give me a compliment, but gave me another book with an expressionless face.

[Ah, Dad and I…]
[Well, yes. Please read this next time. ]

There are no carrots, but there are sticks. So I got a little tired.

My parents seemed to take it for granted. Her older sister, Joo Ah-rim, was a genius who did it as if it were natural.

[Mom, I hate you, Dad! ]

Then one day, I was so sad that I ran out of the house.

It was the first time I had been out alone in almost seven years.

Still, I ran and ran and arrived at a park I didn’t know where. She was terrified, but she was barely calming her sadness by sitting on the swing because she didn’t want to go home.

And then, a boy and a girl approached.

[ ……? ]

It wasn’t often that she met kids her age, and she became nervous over a trivial thing.

In the midst of not knowing what to say, isn’t the other person suddenly telling him to come out, saying that it was his seat?

[ Uh? Hey! Are we sleeping there? ]

It could have been just a conversation between normal kids, but Joo Harin suddenly cried, thinking that she was destined to be scolded in the end, whether at home with her parents or in this place without them.

When he suddenly cried, the two of them seemed to be extremely embarrassed, so they rushed to comfort him. Well, I told them that they cried because they were sad about her sister and her parents…

Ju Harin still couldn’t forget the two of them.

The reason didn’t matter. It was the first time in my life that I had cried so coldly. And it was the first time I wasn’t scolded after luck.

Normally, her parents would scold her if she showed a weak side, so it became a habit for Harin to hide her expression no matter how sad she was.

Her father’s theory was that emotions and facial expressions should always be thoroughly managed and used only when necessary.

The first time that thoroughness was broken was when I met the two, and it got worse as I happened to go to the same elementary school and always hung out with them.

Even if her expression is usually closed, when she is playing with the two of them, Joo Harin doesn’t have to hide anything, she can reveal all of herself.

I was so envious of being free. Inspired by Jinhyeon or Eunjoo’s image of her doing whatever she wants, Harin lived similarly to them during her six years of elementary school.

However, as they went up to middle school, they separated from each other, followed by thorough management as before.

Inevitably, Harin lived a life like a machine again. Her grades never came down from first place, and she got into the best colleges.

The six years of elementary school, which were somewhat free, and the six years of middle school and high school that were like machines. When I went to college, my body was inevitably sore.

The other kids just hang out and live freely, even while going to college. No, I wondered if I would have no choice but to continue living like a machine even after college was over.

So Harin made a deal with her parents. If I graduate early, I will do whatever I want for the first year, and if I think I can live well in the future with the achievements of that year, I will live freely.

Of course, her parents didn’t accept the deal at once.

Still, she somehow persuaded her, and she was eventually able to get the consent.

However, after she graduated early and lived freely for a year, she told them to come back if what she had achieved during that time was not enough to move them.

In other words, she would not accept living on her own from now on, but once she studied hard and graduated early, she would let her play for just one year.

Still, Juharin was somewhat satisfied. While she thought that if she somehow achieved something, he would surely be able to move his parents’ hearts.

So, she was diligently planning how she would spend the coming year, and was preparing from now on.

Until suddenly her older sister shuts up and yells at her what a waste of time she is and tells her to get rid of her crap plans.

Of course, it was also true that the novel she was writing was not getting good grades. Still, the promised year hasn’t even started yet, and there are many things she wants to do…

“Isn’t it okay…?”

Harin stared blankly at the ceiling.

Her sister’s words over several hours pierced her heart.

To be honest, what she said was right. Theoretically, as long as she aims to make good money and occupy a high position.

However, her sister’s words were words that did not take any of her own feelings into account.

“Oh, really.”

Joo Harin buries her face in the blanket and thumps the bed.

This feeling never went away.

“Puh… I’ll turn around.”

After arguing with the futon for no reason, she opened the window and looked outside.

“Should I go for a walk…”

Harin used to go for walks often, but she didn’t dare go out until late at night.

The road is dark and can be dangerous.

But she couldn’t help it. In order to purify her broken heart, she had to be greeted by the refreshing wind outside rather than the stuffy air of the hotel.

“I’m sure he’s not waiting…”

Harin, who put on her clothes and opened the hotel door, looked around her with only her face peeking out.

Fortunately, I didn’t feel her presence.

Well, if it’s her sister, she’d rather be on standby. She really was the kind of person who would go into hotel security and fetch an emergency master key.

By now, she’s probably in the VIP room, reviewing her brand’s image-related business, muttering nervously, ‘Have you seen such a pathetic little sister!’

Joo Harin went down to the first floor of the hotel and walked slowly through her yard.

It was a walk with no destination in mind.

Yesterday was a walk because the novel wasn’t written well, but today was a different walk because the mood itself was so depressing.

10 minutes of walking like that.

Joo Harin came to her bench far away from the hotel yard.

“It’s quiet.”

The Royal Hans Hotel is a hotel built on the side of a mountain, so the site was very large. If you take a walk, you could say that the road is endless.

There were no people at all here, and it seemed like a good place to soothe the melancholy.

“Ha.”

Sitting astride her bench, she stared blankly at the glowing soft drink vending machine across from her.

Looking at it like this, it seems like 15 years ago.

I hate mom and dad! Memories of that childhood when I ran out crying while doing it.

She came out because she was in a bad mood because of her sister now, and she was like she used to be.

However……

“I’m sorry……”

She hadn’t changed her desire to cry.

I went out for a walk to calm her mind, but my eyes only got redder for no reason.

No, I wasn’t just blushing, I actually shed some tears.

She’s still trying to calm her down somehow, but she’s not as good as she thought it was.

‘Come to think of it, there’s another difference between now and 15 years ago.’

Back then, she had Jinhyeon or Eunjoo to comfort her even when she cried, but now she doesn’t have them.

Rather, she herself has degenerated… I suddenly thought that way.

No, that was when I thought about it.

“Why are you making such a dying face?”
“……?”

Suddenly, someone’s voice came from behind.

Shocked by the sudden voice, Harin Ju looked behind her and was taken aback by the sight of no one there.

Then, when something very cold touches the cheek on the opposite side of the side where he turned his head, heck! I was surprised.

“Oh!? Awesome! What, what?”

Jump-

Joo Harin was startled and got up from the bench and took a vigilant posture.

It was a really unexpected move.

Some guy comes out of nowhere and gives a stranger a cold drink!

‘The tears I was barely holding back also came out a little… Uh.’

The moment when Joo Harin finally opened his eyes and looked at his opponent.

“What are you doing here tonight?”
“Uh……?”

In her eyes, there was a smile on the face of someone she never thought would be here.