102 – Dongmin Lee (37)
Dongmin Lee (37)
“Originally, Ms. Lee Da-mi wanted me to participate in this play. To that end, he wanted me to play the role of the villain who is imprisoning Mr. Lee Da-mi…”
“…For what?”
I murmured while staring at my phone.
[Thank you, Dongminah. Thanks to you, I lived.]
With just that sentence, the understanding of the situation was delayed.
What the hell did I do?
“Originally, I shouldn’t have talked about this. I’m really sorry, but actually Lee Da-mi and I were still negotiating.”
That was a shocking comment.
To think that the missing sister, or at least the older sister who was believed to be missing, was in contact with Harin.
I was also surprised that Haerin cheated on me.
I told her everything from her laptop to my frustration with my sister.
So I thought Harin would be like that too.
He shares his plans with me without exception.
Perhaps, arrogantly, I might have mistakenly mistakenly thought that she could not lie to me because she was the strong Rin in 『Journal』 Who loved me.
But she was cheating on me.
The intention was to hide the truth anyway.
“What are you talking about?”
“Ida-mi asked me for her trade. She knew what was going on, and she fit in…”
Harin quietly crossed my arms.
“Let’s talk while walking.”
There are many listening ears around us.
I started walking after her.
We moved by car.
What Haerin rode today was a black sedan.
I don’t know what type of car it is, but it’s coming to a funeral, so the red Mercedes was excluded.
She opened the driver’s door.
I was in the passenger seat.
Bang.
After the door closed, Haerin spoke.
“Stories are solid when the reader is looking at them, but change fluidly when they are not. By analogy, it is a novel in which the author is constantly refining.”
Her story clearly referred to the current situation.
A novel in which the author repeats revisions would refer to the aspect of a novel that is continuously revised.
Although ‘story’ means not only 『Journal』 But also events that happen in reality.
“But what if the reader keeps watching?”
Haerin asked a question.
“… I don’t think there is such a reader.”
I timidly tried tackling.
“If you think there is.”
“…Whether the author edits or not, the already loaded file will remain the same, right?”
“And?”
“… Wait, does that mean?”
“Did that pervertedly obsessive reader contact my little Dongmin and me directly?”
Haerin smiled faintly.
Although her title for me changed to something overly cute, such as ‘baby’, it was not the time to pay attention to such trifles.
“Mr. Lee Idami knows. The mechanism by which this story goes back. Of course I noticed it long ago.”
“………”
It was hard to follow.
What is the ‘story’ that Haerin is talking about?
A fight where my sister is trying to take over her younger brother and Haerin is trying to protect me?
Or the fearful reality of villains materializing?
“I don’t know how I got it, but I want to evaluate it as pretty smart. I figured out pretty quickly that there is a set of rules for how fiction reflects reality, or how fiction outpaces reality.”
I don’t know what kind of genius conversation this is.
As a writer myself, I didn’t know about those settings.
In the first place, the things happening to me now were already far away from the main part of 『Journal』 I wrote.
“… Yes, my sister was on the smart side.”
At best, that’s the only answer.
“…When we lived together, he looked after math problems and taught me a lot.”
My sister had good grades when she was in school.
In short, IQ scores were also high.
People themselves tend to turn their heads quickly.
A person who originally only read pure literature, after I wrote 『Journal』, I did market research related to web novels, and my analytical skills were quite good enough to even give me quite professional advice regarding development.
Not to mention Haerin’s intelligence.
Due to the setting, her IQ is unmeasurable.
“……”
I know it’s really childish.
But the key point is that no matter what stupid settings I put into 『Journal』, They are all being implemented into reality anyway.
Haerin’s unrealistic beauty, ability, wealth, and family background were all realized in one of my sentences.
So, I had no doubts about the abilities of the two, but it seems that I, as the writer, was playing a pretty intense reasoning and psychological game without knowing it.
Perhaps what Haerin did in the studio while I was writing was preparation for war like that.
“… I didn’t know.”
I said desperately.
“That means, sister…”
“Right. Mr. Lee Da-mi threatened me. If you want to protect Dongmin, leave Dongmin. That’s an interesting logic. It’s a paradox, a contradiction.”
Haerin’s voice rose a little.
“That sounds strange. I’m the only one who can hold her own, but I tell her to leave. Rather, it is not me who threatens her ego, but isn’t she the woman?”
She still had her singing tone and beautiful timbre, but it was clear that she was also disturbed.
I’ve never seen such an intense expression.
“But, leaving for me, what do you mean?”
I expressed my honest feelings.
“If you are my sister, you would know that I would have a hard time, but are you doing this on purpose? Are you trying to sabotage us?”
“She is that woman…”
Haerin smiled.
“Crazy.”
“………”
“As long as you can’t monopolize yourself, it doesn’t matter what the world will be like. She’s a scary woman Well, I don’t think you’ll understand.”
“………”
“Since Ms. Lee Da-mi, an obsessive reader, intends to stand by the tragedy that will come to Hwang Ji-young and Kim Yoon-a. So unless I leave you.”
“Is your sister a threat to us?”
“A threat, yes.”
Haerin readily acknowledged it.
She was a little surprised, as she knew she would reply, ‘Idami is not dangerous at all,’ of course.
Your sister is a threat even to Haerin?
“I repeat, but who knows the original content of the novel, can you change it? And maybe… The originals the two of them have are most likely not originals.”
Haerin pointed at the ceremony hall with her finger.
Some time ago, she was talking to Hwang Ji-young and Kim Yun-ah, and it was there that she ran into Baek Yoo-ram and I.
Come to think of it, three people were talking.
Were you talking about the novel?
Hwang Ji-young and Kim Yun-ah were strong and wary of Rin, but since she was about to die, she must have wanted to ask for help.
Haerin will be able to help them.
“How do you change it?”
“If a person who knows the original content of the novel intervenes in these events, that person can change the fate of those who do not know the original content. And that changes the shape of the 『Journal』 Again.”
Bite tail on tail.
To be honest, it was hard to follow her words now.
As a writer, the events of reality have been twisted to such an extent that I cannot guess the future.
In addition, the contents of the 『Journal』 Change each time.
That in turn changes the way the characters think.
At least change the ‘memory’.
Obviously, when I saw that the contents of 『Journal』, Which I had typed over hundreds of thousands of characters and worried about, were vague and rather distorted, the aftermath reached me as well.
Now I felt like I was in a novel.
I don’t know what principle this is, but Haerin Kang and Lee Da-mi are ‘using’ it.
For each individual’s desired goal.
And that’s probably ‘me’…
I clenched my fist.
Dami, why are you doing this?
If you see it in person, you want to question it.
Even though it wasn’t like this, she and I got along happily, and we were close siblings.
What the hell do you want from me?
My sister’s behavior was so different from what I knew, that even when I tried to accept that this was in fact her nature, I stumbled like a broken mechanism.
“You don’t have to worry about yourself.”
Haerin said while covering my cheek.
“You don’t have to understand all this. You just have to follow along. I have everything…”
Don’t think and follow me.
That word was reassuring and scary at the same time.
I thought it would turn me into a pet pig who doesn’t really think of me and only acts cute to the owner.
“What should I do?”
I repeated.
“… Maybe it’s good?”
“Maybe?”
Haerin asked again.
As if waiting for my choice.
“Would you like me to disappear?”
“……”
It was quiet in the car.
Out of the front window, I could see mourners passing by or gathered in groups of two or three.
“…Then…”
I hesitated.
“…Then what will happen?”
“You will get a sister, right?”
“………”
“Idami-san would say, ‘Kang Hae-rin let her go.’ Like a lie. And naturally, he will be by his side, and maybe he will pretend not to know and confess his feelings to him. Mr. Lee Da-mi will think that his secret has not been revealed, so he may be hypocritical and try to pretend to be an older sister. Maybe you’ll be satisfied with that.”
“………”
“But if the opportunity arises, it might change suddenly someday.”
Change suddenly.
That’s something I don’t understand.
How does it change?
Disgusting.
Is my sister confessing to me?
There’s no way that would be allowed.
It’s true that I care for my sister, but as an older sister, I don’t want more than that.
“Haerin, are you?”
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“I…”
Haerin laughed.
“It will disappear.”
“………”
It was a normal tone, but there was sadness.
Haerin was also able to use this tone.
I felt it all over again.
Haerin said.
“Maybe, maybe that will be okay too? Of course, if he chooses that side, I’m willing to continue playing the role of an anti-hero for him.”
“Anti-hero?”
Haerin didn’t answer.
But she could guess.
I will kill the villains.
Because that’s her ‘role’.
If I didn’t stop by her side, Haerin would have no reason to put up with her own innate murderous intent.
It was my influence that made it bearable.
It was a sad rebellion.
Haerin continued.
“Idami-san won’t care whether the villains in 『Journal』 Are active or not. She said she actually didn’t care, but there was nothing she could do about it. That woman has good brains, but her other abilities are lacking.”
“……”
“Perhaps using the villains as an excuse, a brother and sister who can’t handle dozens of villains may start living like newlyweds away from them.”
A sneer appeared in Harin’s eyes.
“She will do a heinous performance like she is doing now. ‘Dongmin-ah, this is the only way to protect you. Let’s go further into the corner, to a safe place.'”
Haerin’s tone has changed to that of an older sister.
It gave me goosebumps that she looked the same to the point that I wondered if she was possessed by the soul of a sister somewhere.
“‘Dong Min-ah, that monster-‘ When Lee Da-mi returns, she pretends not to know, she is strong, acting as if she is suffering from the trauma caused by Rin, she might rely on herself.”
“… Stop, stop.”
I said.
“Hard to hear. Reverse. I feel sick to my stomach.”
There was a bit of sarcasm and cynicism in Haerin’s words, but it was unpleasant to hear that she was a ‘newlywed’ with half her blood mixed in.
I don’t want that.
“Is that so?”
However, as if Haerin was determined, she kept reminding me of that fact and made me suffer.
“Do you know that you are a good person to be gaslighted?”
Weak, followed by gaslighting.
I was a little annoyed.
From Haerin’s point of view, I seemed weak, easily swayed by others, and weak.
I have already heard that word several times.
But it’s gaslighting.
… Not wrong, though.
I have always lived my life being swayed.
“Besides, he has no desire to improve, and he is a person who always likes to stay. I like to stay still.”
“………”
I couldn’t come to my senses as Hae-rin’s unexpected curses continued.
That’s how I could feel that she treated me with pampering.
Her expression seemed to show sadistic pleasure. Could it be paranoia?
“Stop it. Why are you doing this to me?”
“When Ms. Ida-mi comes back, maybe she will argue with herself at first. Is not it?”
“Of course not. My sister is confessing to me? I don’t even want that, but I’m going to be serious. I’m going to question what my sister has done so far.”
“But will he keep that attitude to the end?”
“What do you mean?”
I was furious.
“Are you saying I’m going to marry my sister?”
“Is that all?”
“………”
I was speechless.
This was beyond absurd and even insulting.
But maybe this was also an opportunity.
I don’t know where my sister is watching us slyly, but it’s better to face it.
I wanted to see my sister.
I wanted to talk with Lee Da-mi, negotiate, and openly ask why he was doing this.
‘This is not like a sister.’
It made me feel very bad to receive such unreasonable suspicions from Haerin.
Perhaps it was the character I created when my paranoia reached its peak, Haerin Kang was also delusional.
There’s no way I could have a relationship like that with my sister.
“Okay. Then accept the offer.”
I said.
“It only takes a few months. No, just give me a few weeks. Haerin, you pretend to cooperate with this plan, and I will pretend not to know the plan. Let’s see what my sister does to me. I promise you, what you think won’t happen. If my sister confessed to me, I would cut myself off on the spot.”
I shouted with as much anger and disgust as I could.
“I promise!”
I didn’t have to be conscious of other people’s eyes because I was in a quiet car, so I conveyed my sincerity even more.
Wouldn’t it be better for Harin to make a decision rather than keep doubting me?
However, it seems that my answer, the decision I gave out with enthusiasm, was not what Haerin wanted.
The smile disappeared from her expression, which had been subtly floating throughout her desperate talk.
“That is not the correct answer.”
“……”
“Let’s pretend we didn’t talk about it today.”
After Haerin spoke briefly, she went outside.
Bang.
The car door is closed.