This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 332

What on earth is going on this time?

With a mix of worry and curiosity, I turned my gaze toward the direction of the voice and found my senior standing there, both hands awkwardly raised and frozen in place.

What more can I say?

The cause this time was indeed the apron.

“It seems like I tied it too loosely…”

Unlike Yoonseo, who had been a mess because she couldn’t tie the same apron, my situation was slightly different; the apron I had managed to tie suddenly came undone.

If it were a normal day?

My senior would have easily fixed such a problem herself.

However, right now, she was not in her usual state.

After all, she had been busy kneading cookies and bread for the party scheduled for the evening.

As a result, her hands were covered in flour and the bright yellow dough ingredients, making it impossible for her to retie the loose apron strings.

“I’m sorry, but could you help me tie this again? My hands are like this right now…”

With an incredibly apologetic tone, my senior asked for my help.

“Just a moment. Please stay still.”

Using those words to stop her, I moved closer, knelt down in front of her, and tied the loose apron strings tightly to ensure they wouldn’t come undone again. Then I returned to the task I had been doing…

“Ow…!”

This time, the sound came from Yoonseo’s direction.

When that sound first echoed in my ears, I thought Yoonseo had cut her hand while chopping ingredients.

“What’s going on? Did you get hurt?”

Even though Yoonseo had gotten accustomed to using a knife while helping prepare the ingredients, being experienced doesn’t mean the knife will automatically avoid her fingers.

If she made a small mistake, she could easily get hurt, so I immediately paused what I was doing and turned to look at Yoonseo…

In that moment I turned my head, there she was, scrunching her face in pain, clutching her fingers that were dripping with blood, or rather, there were her eyes, bloodshot red as if she hadn’t slept all night, with tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Ugh…”

Before her wailing, there was a half-chopped onion lying beside her, along with the knife.

“My eyes sting…”

Were her eyes really that painful?

“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t rub your eyes!”

She instinctively reached her hands towards her face, and I panicked and scolded her.

If she got her fingers, soaked with onion juice, anywhere near her eyes after having chopped onions like crazy just moments ago—who knows what kind of disaster would ensue?

So I had no choice but to stop her.

“Keep your eyes closed and just stay still. I’ll wash your hands first.”

After scolding her in that way, I led Yoonseo, with her eyes tightly shut, to the sink where I carefully washed her hands.

While I watched her hand over her nose and sniffling, I felt a strange urge to tease her.

“Here, hey.”

I held my finger just below her nose as I spoke.

“I-I’m really going to die…”

“I just thought you were being all baby-like and sniffly.”

“I am!”

“Ugh—!?”

“Don’t!”

“Cough—!”

“I said no!”

Though it wasn’t as bad as before, my eyes still stung enough that I felt like I might die. Perhaps it was because Yoonseo was scratching at it lightly that I almost teared up.

With a voice like a growling beast, Yoonseo launched a combo of elbow, headbutt, and a foot stomp that was surprisingly ferocious for her.

Thanks to that, as I slumped down by the sink, clutching my side and groaning, I lost track of how I got there, but my senior’s voice filled with concern soon asked me about my well-being.

“Are you okay? Dogun?”

“Huh? Ah… Yes.”

The problem was, of course, what happened next.

After staying by my side for a while to check on me, my senior’s gaze suddenly sharpened.

Then it swiftly turned toward Yoonseo.

“Hey, Oh Yoonseo.”

As for my senior?

Her usual default was a soothing, persuasive voice.

It was quintessentially the voice of an ideal leader.

But when that voice turned cold, far beyond normal, directed straight at Yoonseo, it was no wonder she would be taken aback.

“W-what?”

Maybe because of that, Yoonseo replied to my senior’s call, her voice slightly trembling.

After all, there was no way she wouldn’t react that way.

Even from my position as an observer, I felt stunned, so for Yoonseo, who was facing it directly, it must have been even more intense.

As Yoonseo slightly tensed up, my senior’s voice continued.

“I know too. You and Dogun are close.”

“…So?”

“You’ve known each other since kindergarten, so by years alone, you’ve been friends for over ten years, which is certainly understandable.”

“…So?”

“But you know, if you’re close, does that mean you can just hit someone like you did just now?”

The question directed at Yoonseo from my senior had returned to her typical student council president mode.

So it sounded even colder.

Well, it was a perfectly reasonable reaction, but Yoonseo didn’t remain silent in response to my senior’s inquiry.

“That’s not the case…!”

Of course, she couldn’t deny it.

After all, the one who had caused Yoonseo to act that way was none other than me.

“She started it first…!”

Maybe because of that, Yoonseo tried to argue back, saying I teased her first, but even before she could finish, my senior’s response was quicker.

“I know. Dogun did tease you first.”

“…”

“But that doesn’t justify your actions just now.”

A razor-sharp remark.

“You’re a hero now.”

And that extra sting must have hit harder than she intended.

For a moment, Yoonseo, who was going to say something, simply bit her lip.

And then, after a while, Yoonseo finally spoke…

“It’s not that I’m jealous or anything, okay?”

Those were her words.

“W-What…?”

It wasn’t only my senior who looked surprised at Yoonseo’s statement.

I had been awkwardly standing between them since I missed my chance to interject, and I was also just as astonished.

As I stood there gaping, Yoonseo continued her declaration.

“She despises me, doesn’t she?”

“What do you mean…?”

“Why? Did you think I wouldn’t notice? You were so obvious about it!”

“When did I ever…!”

“When we went to school together!”

“…!”

“I could see how your expression changed every time I came to meet Dogun!”

Yoonseo’s expression was as cold as my senior’s.

“Thinking back on it, that’s actually pretty funny.”

Then, a crooked smile added itself to her icy expression.

“It was her who cut in first, after all.”

“…”

“It was probably the rumor about Dogun becoming your temporary manager, right? That you two were dating?”

“How do you know that…”

“That’s none of your business. Anyway, isn’t it funny? You made me uncomfortable, and instead of helping me with it, you just made use of me.”

Her mocking demeanor toward my senior felt oddly unfamiliar.

“You’ve never had the experience of being popular like me, so you wouldn’t know. That was the best I could do at the time.”

And my senior’s retort felt just as strange.

“What? Should I just ask people outside who’s more famous between you and me?”

Maybe that’s why…

“And you say that was the best option? Wasn’t it something you intentionally orchestrated?”

“W-What…?”

“Back then, I honestly just accepted it as it was… but now that I think about it, it seems a little weird.”

“What nonsense are you trying to say…”

“Honestly, isn’t it true? No matter how many times you lived in the same neighborhood, how could you run into each other that often without knowing each other well?”

“…”

“If it wasn’t something intentionally sought after…”

As I watched the argument heat up between the two, I felt a headache coming on.

“What? Are you trying to imply I was stalking Dogun?!”

“That could be the case…?”

“What?”

“There were kids like that in middle school. They were so persistent…”

Having remained quiet until now, I must have looked like a lump or something.

Unable to take it any longer as they continued their childish and absurd argument, I slammed my hand down on the nearby cupboard and yelled.

“Enough!”