LNMBU 04

Chapter : 04

“Really?”

Nayeon blinked her large eyes behind her glasses.

“Why?”

Just then—

Rrrrr- Rrrrr- Rrrrr-

A loud ringtone rang out from Jaehyuk’s phone, which was still in her hand.

She quickly looked down. The screen displayed the name “Han Yebin — Classmate.”

“Oh? Oppa, you’re getting a call…”

Jaehyuk glanced at the screen and then took the phone from Nayeon’s hand.

He looked at the screen for a moment before pressing the call button.

“Yeah. What is it?”

Perhaps because the car was enclosed, the woman’s voice coming through the phone could be heard remarkably clearly.

Judging by the caller’s name, “Han Yebin,” Nayeon had already guessed that she was a woman.

“Tell Hyungju about it. I’m off today, remember.”

She must be a doctor who worked at the same hospital.

“That patient has an open fracture from trauma. We performed irrigation on our end first, and there were no problems. Check the chart.”

Since the screen had identified her as a classmate, she was probably another doctor who had studied alongside Jaehyuk since medical school and gone through internship with him.

Jaehyuk soon ended the call.

In the silence that settled over the car, Nayeon wished she could simply disappear.

She had already felt uncomfortable standing beside Narin earlier, and now she had to hear about one of Jaehyuk’s successful female doctor colleagues, too…

Somehow, it feels like everyone except me is living such wonderful, glamorous lives.

Nayeon felt pathetic as she compared herself to other women.

Just then, Jaehyuk pulled the car over in front of a convenience store in a shopping district.

Nayeon quickly bowed her head.

“I’ll get going now. Thank you for giving me a ride.”

Jaehyuk merely nodded once.

After taking her phone from his hand, she opened the car door and hurried out as though she were escaping.

The car soon disappeared into the distance.

Nayeon slowly turned around.

Even after entering the convenience store and choosing some snacks, she still couldn’t relax.

“But… why did Oppa ask me to try calling him when he gave me his phone earlier?”

She hadn’t been able to talk to him any further because of the call from his fellow doctor.

“It probably wasn’t anything important.”

Nayeon shrugged and headed toward the register.

That afternoon.

As she had told Nayeon in advance, Sukjin prepared to leave for her mother’s house in the countryside.

“Mom’s going to Grandma’s today and will stay the night. I’ll come back tomorrow evening, so make sure you lock the doors properly before you go to bed. Got it?”

Nayeon nodded.

Unlike her, Narin would be going out to have fun and probably wouldn’t return until late at night.

Since Nayeon had nowhere to go, she would have to spend the night alone at home, sleeping by herself in the lonely house.

“Yes. Have a safe trip, Mom.”

Leaving her obedient eldest daughter behind, Sukjin packed her things and left the house.

After eating dinner by herself, Nayeon spent the evening alone at home, lounging around.

“I’m bored. So bored…”

While everyone else would be dressing up nicely and going out on a Saturday night to go on dates or have fun with their friends…

“If I want to go outside, I have to cover myself up from head to toe again… I’ve gotten so used to hiding at home, even on Saturdays.”

It upset her. She envied ordinary women.

Suddenly, she thought of Gi Jaehyuk, whom she had encountered that morning.

‘Your younger sister has changed so much that I couldn’t recognize her… But you haven’t changed at all.’

The older boy from upstairs whom she had admired and looked up to had grown older with the passing years, becoming even more mature and strikingly handsome.

Meanwhile, she was still embarrassed by her appearance—dressed in clothes that concealed herself, with her cropped hair and round glasses, just as she had been back then.

I should have greeted him while showing him what I really look like. A remarkable man like Jaehyuk Oppa must have plenty of women around him who are impressive in both their careers and their looks.

Nayeon’s face flushed with embarrassment and plummeting self-esteem.

“…I want to live while showing people who I really am, too.”

With a small sigh, a slightly resolute voice escaped her lips.

“Narin said I’d be pretty if I wore makeup, too… I want to take off this wig and go outside without hiding who I really am.”

I can’t keep living like this forever.

She was already twenty-five. If she had to live like this for the rest of her life…

My life would be so pitiful.

“…I want to break free.”

Yes. Today, she would just make up her mind.

“Let’s do it.”

And today, her mother happened to be away from home.

There couldn’t be a better opportunity.

She felt that if she let today pass, she would have to keep living such a miserable life.

Nayeon immediately called her best friend, Hyeseon.

The phone rang several times before Hyeseon answered.

—Hello?!

She seemed to be outside. Along with the noisy background, Nayeon heard her cheerful voice.

“Hey, Hyeseon. It’s me.”

—Oh! Nayeon, what’s up?

“I was wondering where you were right now.”

—I’m out drinking with a friend on Rodeo Street. But my friend is leaving soon. I want to drink some more and have fun. Hiiing.

At Hyeseon’s disappointed voice, Nayeon’s eyes lit up.

And, having finally worked up the courage, she made her announcement.

“Hyeseon, let’s go to a club tonight.”

—…

“I feel so stifled by my life. I want to go to a club at least once. I want to experience the noisy atmosphere and meet some new people, too.”

—…

For Nayeon, who rarely went outside—and even when she did, covered her entire body—the “club” she had heard Narin mention several times seemed like the ultimate act of rebellion.

So she simply blurted out whatever came to mind.

Hyeseon was silent.

“Hello? Hyeseon, can you hear me? Why aren’t you answering?”

—Excuse me. Are you sure you’re… my friend Im Nayeon? Did you eat something weird?

“Ah, what are you talking about? I’m Im Nayeon.”

—It’s nice to hear you say something like this for the first time, and I’m happy for you. But you can’t go somewhere with that many people.

Hyeseon knew why Nayeon hid her true appearance and dressed like a tomboy.

She was the only friend who knew Nayeon’s secret.

—Are you sure you’ll be okay? Clubs are chaotic places even under normal circumstances… What if something happens to you while you’re there? Oh, would it be okay if you covered yourself up completely? But would your mother even let you go out at this hour?

“Don’t worry. Mom went to the countryside today, so she isn’t home. I’ve never been to a club, so I don’t really know what it’s like, but if I cover myself up the way I normally do when I go outside… they wouldn’t refuse to let me in, would they?”

—Probably.

Nayeon answered in a dejected voice.

“If I don’t go out like that, I always carry a talisman with me, so wouldn’t I be okay? I’m depressed and upset today. I just want to do something rebellious.”

—Huh? What happened today to make you suddenly change your mind like this?

Nayeon didn’t answer.

She didn’t want to admit that her reunion with the older boy from upstairs was the very thing that had complicated her feelings and driven her to this sudden impulse.

—Okay. Then dress up as your real self and come. At eleven-thirty, meet me in front of Die Hard. You know Black King Café, right? Meet me there. I saw you putting on makeup in your room with Narin once before. You looked so incredibly beautiful it gave me goosebumps. Am I really going to get to see you like that today? Ah, I’m so excited. I’ll be waiting, so come carefully!

With that, Hyeseon shouted excitedly and hung up.

Nayeon lowered her phone, her eyes filled with determination, and began making thorough preparations for her first trip to a club.

Her heart gave a small, nervous flutter.

‘Ever since you were born, so many accidents kept happening to you that I searched everywhere for answers until I eventually heard about a Taoist practitioner.’

Once Nayeon had grown old enough, Sukjin began telling her the secret she had kept from her when she was young.

She believed her daughter was now old enough to hear about her secret and accept it to some degree.

‘I was always watching over you, but somehow things kept falling only in your direction. Cars would suddenly rush toward you. Stray dogs would run at you. Dangerous incidents happened one after another.’

Then, one day, Sukjin had taken young Nayeon up the small mountain behind their neighborhood for a walk.

The rock Nayeon stepped on suddenly shifted, causing her to fall. She was seriously injured, and for a while, her life hung in the balance.

Having lost her husband at an early age, Sukjin had been terrified when she saw Nayeon lying in the emergency room. The thought that she might lose even her eldest daughter sent her into a frenzy.

So Sukjin climbed to the summit of Woraksan, one of Korea’s three notoriously dangerous mountains, to seek out a Taoist practitioner who was reputed to possess extraordinary powers.

The old man, dressed in a white hanbok with a long white beard flowing down his chest, looked almost like an immortal.

‘This little girl is going to have a turbulent life. That’s simply how her fate is written. A woman who is too beautiful is destined to have a difficult and unfortunate life.’

The Taoist continued explaining.

‘Because accidents will happen so frequently, she’ll be bullied and troubled by people outside, surrounded by all sorts of trouble, and destined to suffer and struggle.’

‘What? Sir, what does that mean…? My daughter hasn’t even started school yet.’

‘She was born that way. The balance of yin and yang in the Five Elements is severely skewed toward yin, throwing her fate out of balance. Her destiny is filled with clashing energies and conflicts, and her saju has an excessive Gwimungwansal—the “gate through which spirits enter,” indicating a delicate and highly sensitive temperament.’

‘It’s too difficult. I don’t really understand what you’re saying…’

‘She has a strong Mokyok branch in her day pillar, giving her an energy that naturally draws attention from others and is often associated with beautiful women. But unfortunately, it is also a Gisin—a harmful energy that disrupts balance and harmony in one’s saju. The more she reveals herself and goes out into the world, the more tangled and difficult her life will become.’

‘Th-then, sir, what should I do about my daughter? I’m raising her all by myself without a husband. If she’s going to face hardships like this, how am I supposed to raise her?’

To Sukjin, it was like a bolt from the blue.

But the Taoist gave her one solution.

‘Then listen to me. Raise her like a tomboy! Especially when she goes outside, cover her body, hide her face, cut her hair short, and make sure she doesn’t mingle with people or attract attention. She needs to wrap herself up tightly and live as though she’s invisible, hiding from the world.’