Chapter 161

When Erica opened her eyes, she beheld the familiar sight of an ordinary home’s hallway and the CCTV installed within—it was a scene so commonplace that Erica chose to close her eyes again, as if to avoid seeing it.

“Did I fail?”

Engaging in combat with the protagonist hadn’t been predicated on the certainty of victory, but Erica had underestimated the possibility that the confrontation might not even warrant being called a fight for the protagonist.

The girl, having been pushed far away from the battle location in an utterly one-sided and overwhelming manner, found herself back at her own house. Yet, she remained motionlessly in her place, neither considering a return to the battlefield nor to the house of the woman upon whom she had temporarily relied.

The reason Erica opened her eyes again was simple: she had suddenly sensed someone’s presence inside her house, despite knowing it should have been empty.

Someone, caught in the act of speaking on a phone, stood paralyzed in the hallway, awkwardly suspended between the entrance and the kitchen.

Realizing someone was inside the moment she walked in, Erica had promptly closed her eyes, thus missing Inna who had been lingering at the edge of her vision.

“Why are you here?”

As soon as Erica voiced the question, she understood the answer.

Worried about a student who hadn’t returned from school, it would only make sense for the school to send a close friend to check on them. This friend could have been Erica, or someone else, but knowing that Erica didn’t want to meet anyone, she must have sought refuge elsewhere.

And wouldn’t this refuge, familiar even to Inna, be the place where she was aware, thanks to the shared CCTV feed, that Erica wouldn’t be present?

There had been an error—an assumption on Erica’s part that, knowing Inna’s exact location, the protagonist would have no reason to send someone else. Perhaps the protagonist, believing he understood Erica’s actions, had miscalculated.

But such details weren’t what mattered now. Erica decided to remain silent as Inna began the conversation.

Fortunately, Inna spoke without hesitation.

“Why did you try to prevent Kim Ha-neul from coming to see me?”

There was no need to wonder how Inna knew about this fact. As soon as Erica saw the phone Inna held, she immediately grasped the connection to Kim Ha-neul’s sincere inquiries about Inna.

Truly, he was a man without flaws. It was clear that he had cleverly used his feelings of guilt towards Erica to transmit his own answer through Inna.

She had initially thought his plans didn’t extend too far. She assumed he wouldn’t act rashly with people watching. However, everything that had transpired had likely been orchestrated by Kim Ha-neul.

And the fact that he had sent her back here indicated another variable. If his plans were indeed to be disrupted, so be it.

Observing Erica’s serious expression, Inna then bluntly spoke.

“You look down on me. You didn’t even need to stop me, right?”

“…I didn’t look down on you.”

Reflecting on the previous night, Erica recognized this comment as something that struck her painfully. Although Erica didn’t understand why Inna perceived it as a slight, considering all Inna had done for her, it made sense that Inna might feel otherwise.

When people give more than they receive, they naturally grow disappointed.

“Stop lying. Your refusal to give me permission to use your name—I’ve always known it was because you look down on me.”

Ah, it was about that. The girl’s face, recalling the chaos of the night before she left, transitioned from one of embarrassment to its original color.

The act of giving or withholding permission to use one’s name.

Initially, Erica believed it stemmed from a fundamental act of disdain. However, upon realizing that Inna possessed knowledge that Erica might have overlooked, she finally understood: By not allowing the use of her name, Erica wasn’t showing disrespect but rather an intense fear of being conquered.

This fear meant she wasn’t ignoring Inna but was instead acknowledging her deeply by refusing to let her become too familiar.

Still, realizing this truth came to Erica only after accumulating multiple pieces of information. For Inna, who lacked access to such information, there was no choice but to interpret it as disdain.

“I merely continued to want to approach you, even knowing you looked down on me. So, I ask again: why did you stop Kim Ha-neul from coming to see me?”

Was Inna interrogating her, or just truly curious? There was no way to tell from her blank, cold demeanor.

Yet, if she was asking for a reason, Erica at least had something to say. First, however, she took a deep breath, given that divulging these truths could malign someone else.

“You might not realize it, but Kim Ha-neul didn’t like you and was trying to make you like him for his own purposes, and I was trying to stop that.”

Inna’s reaction to this statement—Erica imagined her being shocked—was instead met by a sigh.

“Huh, I’ve known that for a while.”

This revelation was equally shocking to Erica.

“Since when did you realize he was trying to trap you?”

Since the basic premise—that Inna had no idea—had collapsed, Erica’s eyes wavered helplessly. Inna gestured toward the living room.

“How long do you plan to stand here and talk? Let’s sit down. Your legs must be sore.”

“But I can stand for this lon—”

“Come on in. It’s your house anyway; there’s no need to talk uncomfortably.”

Though Inna had previously showered Erica with limitless affection, her tone was now tinged with a coolness. Still, there was a remnant of warmth, evidenced when she noticed Erica’s trembling legs and motioned for her to sit.

Once seated side by side on the living room sofa, Erica thought of continuing their interrupted conversation and decided to ask what had been on her mind all along.

“How long have you known all this?”

“Well… wasn’t it right after Kim Ha-neul set his goal to make me fall in love with him? You may not be great at reading people, but it’s pretty easy for ordinary people to pick up on his schemes.”

Though Erica’s sentences lacked subjects and proper grammar, Inna, having lived with Erica for years, understood immediately.

Though Inna’s words contained a barb directed at Erica, they were not sharply cruel, and Erica didn’t feel overly hurt.

“So you knew that but still chose to remain friendly?”

“Actually, I’m more curious about this: how did you find out about Kim Ha-neul and me being friendly?”

“Of course, I’m not completely oblivious.”

Naturally, she had heard through the system that Kim Ha-neul was trying to pursue Inna. Perhaps her initial assumption about being oblivious had been a reaction against hearing it from someone else. Instead of sticking to her inability to answer, Erica defended that her own observation was keen.

“Aha, so you do know? Then you might also understand why I let him pursue you even after knowing his ulterior motives?”

“…I don’t.”

“I figured.”

Though Erica had been quickly subdued, Inna continued, absentmindedly massaging her neck but not moving to fetch water despite her evident thirst.

“To be honest, it didn’t matter much to me. After I was rejected by you, whether I gave my heart to him or not was immaterial. Besides, unless I was being psychologically manipulated or something, I never thought I would be swayed by him.”

Though she understood Kim Ha-neul’s motives from the get-go, Inna had let him approach her if it meant he could provide advice that might help in wooing Erica. As long as Kim’s actions didn’t interfere with her pursuit of Erica, she cared little about his hidden agenda.

“If Kim Ha-neul had interfered with you, though, I would have likely reacted differently.”

In light of this, Inna had approached their conversation with an open mind… until now.

“If I’d met Kim Ha-neul first, I might not have asked this, but since I met you first. So, why did you try to stop him from coming to me? Just in case. I thought you might have given up on me, but it wasn’t entirely.”

Given the possibility that Kim Ha-neul could make her fall in love with him…

And that Erica had tried to prevent him from visiting her…

And considering that the words she had heard from Kim Ha-neul were not meant for Erica herself,

“―I want to try holding onto some hope. One last time.”

The woman was both hoping for Erica’s response and in the process of letting go.

If Erica, contrary to the assumption that she had been treating Inna with complete disdain, had been acting out of gratitude for what Inna had done for her, and if stopping Kim Ha-neul was simply Erica’s attempt to help her, then…

Inna waited, but Erica remained silent for a long time. Speaking would be the worst option, and staying silent would be just as bad—it was his way.

Yes, it had been.

But she was no longer the passive heroine waiting silently. She had resolved to be the proactive protagonist, and a protagonist in such moments would open their mouth and express their true feelings.

Erica spoke.

To reveal her feelings for her counterpart.

Even if the outcome would hurt them both.