“Therefore… yes, therefore, I couldn’t just leave the young lady as she is.”
Yang Hye-in said that.
“Seeing the young lady smile, I just couldn’t leave myself alone, thinking that it was finally okay.”
So it seemed she was determined to help in a way Sara would understand.
i…
Sara didn’t say anything upon hearing that.
Well, I also had no idea what to respond. I was just quietly listening to the conversation.
What Yang Hye-in was ignoring wasn’t me but Sara, and the outcome of this situation depended on how Sara would take it.
Sara may have cut off her interest and sorted out her feelings, but Yang Hye-in’s guilt would probably remain.
Of course, there was no reason for Sara to worry about Yang Hye-in. Forgiving something wrong should be up to the person who directly faced that injustice, not a third party witnessing it.
“So, you didn’t plan on taking a vacation either?”
“…No.”
Well, Yang Hye-in realized her mistake only after I awakened in Sara’s body. If she had been planning to stay close to me for that reason, she couldn’t explain why she hadn’t visited her hometown before that.
“I disliked being here.”
Hmm.
There are many reasons one might dislike a place, but honestly, I couldn’t guess what Yang Hye-in thought about spending her childhood here, coming from the city. The reason city folks hesitate to live in the countryside is because they can’t forget the conveniences unique to the city, while there are countless reasons to leave the countryside.
My parents, on the other hand, said they wanted to leave the chaotic city and live back in the countryside, so it made it even harder to predict her reasoning.
“Can I ask why?”
It looked like Yang Hye-in nodded.
“…It reminded me of my parents.”
And the reason was much simpler than I had thought.
“Did your parents pass away during your childhood?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Yang Hye-in said that and paused for a moment.
“It was a forest fire.”
“Ah…”
I couldn’t continue speaking.
“My mother brought me out while I was sleeping, and my father was bringing my grandmother out… and in trying to save whatever little we had from our poor household.”
“….”
“So I disliked being here. Even if the house is newly built, the place remains the same.”
…Hmm.
That was certainly a memory that would leave a scar of trauma.
“….”
And I cradled my head internally.
I shouldn’t have poked at this!
Ah, of course, I think it’s great that Yang Hye-in and her grandmother could meet after a long time. Her grandmother was a nice person.
The problem is, I took the liberty of touching another person’s trauma without knowing anything.
“….”
“….”
It was an awkward silence.
…Ah, I should have just held my tongue.
*
Thanks to that, I couldn’t sleep properly all night.
After kicking my blanket with my feet and tossing and turning for a while, I finally fell asleep, only to wake up to Sara tapping my shoulder in a dream.
“Hey, don’t take it too much to heart. You’ll forget embarrassing stuff like this with time.”
I opened my eyes upon seeing that.
…
Hmm, now I feel like I might be able to pull Sara out.
Don’t even dream about it.
…It seems Sara doesn’t want things to get any more uncomfortable.
“Sara, are you okay…?”
Eventually, the next morning, I woke up with bloodshot eyes, and Ha Neul asked me that with concern.
“Oh dear, what should I do? It looks like you were uncomfortable because your sleeping place changed.”
My grandmother honestly seemed worried, and it made me feel incredibly uncomfortable. Thinking that the reason I came to the home of someone with such a heartbreaking story was purely my guest karma made me feel sorry.
“…….”
Yang Hye-in still hadn’t said a word.
Well… at least I hadn’t completely missed sleep; I could sleep again and not be out for hours.
My grandmother had prepared a breakfast spread that could break the table’s legs.
With all sorts of side dishes and meat. Honestly, it seemed like she made some of those just for us.
“Delicious!”
“Really…”
Sohee and Sua reacted that way upon tasting my grandmother’s cooking.
It was indeed delicious.
After coming this way, we had only eaten steaks and bread almost every day. We hadn’t completely avoided Korean food, but strangely enough, most meals coming from the mansion were of that kind.
Sometimes, something as home-cooked as this felt pretty good, and the breakfast spread that was a bit bland was quite tasty.
…Wait a minute.
Then, I recalled an important fact that I had forgotten until now during that meal.
Now that I think about it, all the staff in the mansion were fired, right?
The only thing outsourced was security for the mansion. Naturally, there were absolutely no cooks to prepare meals.
“…….”
I glanced at Yang Hye-in, who was quietly moving her chopsticks at a spot a bit far from me. Our eyes didn’t meet.
…No way, has Yang Hye-in been taking care of all the cooking in the mansion by herself since then?
If she was intending to cook, it wouldn’t be impossible—but it is definitely a lot of work. Especially since we eat lunch at school.
However, that didn’t mean cooking was easy. In the first place, cooking wasn’t something Yang Hye-in was responsible for, and she would have to handle all the rubbish produced in the cooking process and do the dishes too.
She’d have to clean the kitchen all by herself—
“Sara?”
While I was lost in thought, Ha Neul called me back.
“Huh?”
“What are you thinking about so deeply?… Do you happen to have some worries?”
Ha Neul glanced around and asked in a hushed voice.
Worries… if I had any worries, they just appeared a moment ago.
And it was a pretty big one.
…Right. Yang Hye-in definitely said she wouldn’t take a vacation. Although we fought verbally about it, the real reason must be this.
Because I had fired all the other staff.
If Yang Hye-in were to leave too, the mansion would really not function properly.
No, of course, if we didn’t have Yang Hye-in, we wouldn’t starve because we had to eat separately. We could get by with disposable food or brew ramen; honestly, it wasn’t because we lacked money that we wouldn’t have food.
But… perhaps Yang Hye-in seemed reluctant about that.
She might dislike the idea of me eating like that.
She might think I wouldn’t want my meals to change all this time.
Or perhaps it was simply out of guilt. She might think she must serve me like this no matter what.
“…….”
I shifted my gaze back to Yang Hye-in once more.
She was still picking at her food.
Although our eyes didn’t meet, I strangely felt like she was deliberately avoiding making eye contact with me.
*
“Sohee, wait for a second.”
“Yeah?”
When my grandmother briefly left her seat during the day, I called Sohee aside. As I stopped the other kids from following, Sohee seemed to grow a bit anxious.
…Well, up until now, we had always been together as a group of four.
“What’s wrong, is there something?”
“Well, actually…”
I hesitated for a moment, then asked.
“By any chance, is Yang Hye-in the one preparing our breakfast and dinner?”
“Uh…”
Sohee hesitated for a moment with a slightly awkward expression at my question, but then nodded.
“Uh, yeah, that’s true. I help a bit, but mostly it’s her.”
I pressed my forehead.
“Ah, sorry….”
Seeing Sohee lower her head, I waved my hands.
“No, it’s just that there’s a shortage of staff.”
Considering how big the mansion is, thinking of only using two staff members is abnormal.
No, rather, it would be more accurate to say I thoughtlessly overlooked that.
“Senior told you not to say anything to me…”
“…….”
I continued to rub my forehead as if to calm myself down.
“…Do we need to move…?”
But even moving would be a problem.
There aren’t many places on the market that are large enough for staff to work, and it’s not easy to find buyers and sellers in such a simple transaction.
I might have a house under my name, but even if I was to move, I couldn’t be sure if that place would need staff.
Even if Sohee, Sua, and Ha Neul were just here for fun, I didn’t think Yang Hye-in would feel like she was here just “for fun.”
But if I ended up firing Yang Hye-in…
Hmm, how should I put it.
It feels like something undesirable would happen.
I have no evidence, but my instincts were telling me so.
And yet, leaving it as it is seems like it could lead to something bad too. The last time I saw Yang Hye-in, she seemed a bit more stable, but at least there was no doubt that she wasn’t in her right mind.
Facing Sohee, who was anxiously fidgeting, I also found myself fidgeting for a while.
Well, I should be glad about the current situation.
Knowing about Yang Hye-in’s condition is fortunate, but at the same time, I regret coming here…
Honestly, it would probably be much easier to deal with someone who is simply awful.
