Life, Once Again!

Chapter 852. Sequence 12

The door opened and Gaeul came in. Bitna hesitated a little outside, but the moment she saw Woofie running towards her at the sound of the door lock opening, she took a big step inside.

“Hello.”

“It’s been a long time.”

“It has.”

She bowed with a smile, but her eyes were glued to Woofie walking around. Maru grabbed the dog by the scruff of her neck and put her down in front of Bitna. Bitna kept watching her without reaching out, but she eventually gave in and patted the dog on the head.

“It’s the first time I got to touch one like this.”

Woofie seemed to have taken a liking to Bitna’s cautious hand and stayed docile. She had grown up after all this time, but she was still very innocent.

“It’s a shiba-inu, isn’t it?”

“You’re knowledgeable.”

“I read about them in a book. They’re bright and cheerful and loyal towards their owners. They also have a great homing instinct and will return home easily. But the dog’s leg looks injured. Is it a congenital handicap?”

She was as knowledgeable as always as well. Put a blind in front of her and they would mistake her for a college student from the way she spoke. Her generosity was better than most adults too. While Bitna played around with Woofie, Maru heard the details from Gaeul.

“She deduced everything from just a few words. She’s really smart,” Gaeul said as she looked at Bitna in the living room.

“There’s no way such a smart kid wanted to see me without any reason, right?”

It was 10 p.m., quite late to knock on someone else’s door without reason.

“She said she wanted to throw a tantrum in front of you.”

“What do you think that means?”

“I do have an idea of what it might be about, but you better hear about it from the person herself. It’s a secret for now after all.”

Maru poured some grape juice into a cup and went to the living room. Bitna, who had been smiling while looking at the dog, immediately sat upright when she saw the cup. She seemed to be about to explain the reason she came here.

“Sorry, even though I didn’t come here to see the dog.”

“It’s fine. I can listen to your story any time you want. Did you tell your mother about this? It’s quite late, you know?”

“I told mom on the way here that I will eat with Gaeul-unni before going back.”

“Then that should be fine. Your mother won’t be worried, and it looks like you’ve doted on Woofie enough, so may I hear why you wanted to see me?”

Gaeul sat on the sofa as well and got ready to listen. What brought that child all the way here? And what wasn’t she able to tell Gaeul?

“First up, I want to ask you something, Maru-oppa. Back when we shot Apgu, do you remember the middle-aged man who had to go back early because of broken fingers? As far as I remember, you lied down next to him while playing the role of a corpse.”

“I do. His fingers swelled up, so he had to go to the hospital midway. But what about it?”

“That was the first time I felt that someone was scary. Mom used to tell me this from the time I was little: bad people never look like bad people. That was the day I found out what she meant by that too.”

Bitna put her hands together. She clasped her hands as though to calm down her nervous mind. If it was about Apgu, Maru still remembered that event clearly to this day. Kang Giwoo’s friend – his name was Lee Uljin – had stepped on a man’s fingers even though that man got by on payment he received every day. It was purely intentional, and he put his weight into it. The way he apologized after doing it made Maru accept that humans were innately born evil.

“That day, I was worried about the middle-aged man because he was sweating too much. I approached him and saw that his fingers were severely swollen. He said he was okay, but I thought that I shouldn’t let him be and tried to tell the others. But he said that I must absolutely not do that. I didn’t understand back then, but I know now. To him, the fact that there was an accident was more grave than the fact that he was hurt. He said I couldn’t say it, so I tried to find my own ways to help him. I first tried to give him some cold water and that was when I saw senior Kang Giwoo walking next to the bus.”

“Kang Giwoo?”

That wasn’t a name he wanted to hear. His name always brought problems.

“Back then, senior Giwoo looked like a really kind person. He always smiled at other people on sets and asked if I was okay, even though I was just a child actor. I thought that he would solve the problem in a way that the middle-aged man wouldn’t be uneasy. That’s why I followed him… and heard what he said over the phone. I know that listening to someone without permission was not good, so I tried to make my presence known, but his expression as he made the call was too scary. He was smiling, but I found his smile disgusting. I hid in surprise and ended up overhearing everything that he said over the phone. At first, I couldn’t hear it. There was some distance as well, but I was so startled. But then I heard him say this: How did you feel when you stepped on that man’s hand?’”

Bitna had difficulty talking. As it was definitely something that she would not want to tell other people, Maru understood how she felt. Maru told her to drink a little. After sipping some grape juice, Bitna continued talking,

“I thought I heard wrong. I thought he was not the type of person to say that, and there was some distance between us as well. After that, I observed senior Giwoo until the end of the shoot, and indeed, he treated everyone kindly. I believed that I was mistaken. It’s not good to doubt other people after all.”

Kang Giwoo was someone who managed himself meticulously from a young age. The young Bitna would not have seen him as a youth who would commit something so evil. Maru also needed several steps in order to see through him.

“Of course, you might not believe me. You might not believe that senior Kang Giwoo is someone who would do such evil things….”

“I believe you.”

“What?”

“I don’t doubt you at all. I believe everything you say, Bitna, so keep going, slowly.”

Bitna’s eyes trembled a little. She seemed curious. This wasn’t something that was easy to accept, or so she seemed to think. Maru did not say anything and looked at Bitna. He had no intentions of reading her mind, so no speech bubble appeared. There was no need to read anything from her as he fully trusted her. After organizing her thoughts, Bitna nodded and spoke,

“I forgot about that matter. I never had to meet him again after that. But then I met him again at the shoot this time. The terrifying expression and the horrible words he said came back to me, but I ignored as much of it as possible. It was something that happened in the past, and I believed that I was mistaken. But I still couldn’t help but be concerned about it. The impression of him in my memories was just that intense. I thought that avoiding him was not a solution and talked to him again. Just like before, he was a kind senior, and I was about to come to the conclusion that it was my mistake after all. It was then that I saw that scene.”

Bitna shriveled up as though she was feeling cold. Gaeul, who sat next to her, grabbed her hand.

“It’s fine to say it. We’ll both help you out as much as possible.”

Bitna spat out a short breath before continuing to speak,

“The unni with the short hair and the skull t-shirt is the one who styles you, Gaeul-unni, right? I saw you two together a lot. I don’t know her surname, but her given name is Mijoo.”

“Mijoo is indeed my stylist. What about her?”

“It was yesterday. I saw senior Kang Giwoo talk to your stylist. The two of them seemed really close. I didn’t mind it since senior Kang Giwoo normally treats everyone well, but then I saw his smile. It was the same smile he made when he asked over the phone how it felt to step on the man’s fingers. It was the same smile, but it looked different to me. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen him that way once.”

“So?” Gaeul asked cautiously.

“I felt uneasy. I kept remembering what happened back then; his disgusting smile as he spoke to the phone. I thought that there was a need to check. I knew that I shouldn’t overhear other people’s conversations, but when I came to, I was already listening in to their conversation from inside the closet. It wasn’t anything much. They talked about when the shoot was going to end, whether either of them had it hard, and when they should eat out together like they promised before. I was feeling ashamed of my wrongful delusions. Just as I decided to apologize after the stylist-unni left, the stylist-unni said that thanks to him, the stylist-unni managed to get out of trouble with Lee Miyoon. I didn’t know what that was about, but it seemed quite secretive. Senior Giwoo told her that it had been resolved and to not worry.”

Bitna stopped speaking and looked at Gaeul. Gaeul, who was listening calmly, also turned quite serious.

“Kang Giwoo helped her out after getting into trouble with Lee Miyoon?”

“Yes.”

Gaeul seemed to know something about it as well. Maru asked what happened.

“I told you a while ago, right? That something bad happened between me and Le… senior Lee Miyoon.”

Bitna was listening, so Gaeul addressed her as her senior. If they had enough time, he wanted to warn Bitna about why she had to be careful of Lee Miyoon, but listening to her was the priority.

“Right.”

“That day, Mijoo tried to tell me something while twisting up her body. She usually does that when she makes a big mistake, so I asked her what happened, but she said it was nothing bad and that it had been resolved already. From what Bitna said, it seems like Mijoo made a mistake in front of senior Lee’s stylist that day.”

“And Kang Giwoo covered up for her?”

“Probably. I’m not entirely sure though.”

Kang Giwoo might have helped her in order to show his good side like he usually did. That wasn’t a big problem. In fact, it was something to be grateful for if she received help. Maru turned around to look at Bitna. Her next words were what was important.

“Did something happen after that?”

“Senior Kang Giwoo told the stylist-unni this. I’ll say what he said word for word: ‘Don’t tell Gaeul, okay? If you tell her, it might not end with a scolding if you do, so don’t say it.’ His voice sounded kind, but it was a rebuking tone. The stylist unni also promised to never say it before turning around.”

“Mijoo said something like that?”

Gaeul started fidgeting with her phone. It seemed like she was about to call Mijoo at any moment. The reason she was holding back was probably since Bitna’s words hadn’t ended yet.

“After the stylist-unni left, I was going to leave the closet to apologize. But senior Kang Giwoo’s eyes looking at the stylist-unni… were too scary.”