"Ugh..."
Seul-ah felt a wave of nausea before she even opened her eyes. When she did, a dull pain drummed at the back of her eyes and prompted her to close them again. She groaned and curled inside her blanket, feeling grateful that the light was dim enough to not hurt her eyes...
She froze and opened her eyes wide, brain whirring through the throbbing headache. Seul-ah, ever since returning to the past, had never slept without her lights fully on.
She gasped and immediately got up--only to keel over as she felt like her head was pricked with needles struck by a hammer. But she gritted her teeth and collected herself to look around and figure out where she was.
"Where am I?"
Just by looking at the bed she was sleeping on, it clearly wasn't her bedroom. The neat bed and pristine sheet...this standard arrangement...she was clearly in a hotel room. Seeing the slightly open door that showed another room outside told her it was a suite, too. She could see a little light coming beneath the curtain, which told her the day had changed already. But...
"How did I end up here?" Seul-ah narrowed her eyes--in confusion, but also because her head was throbbing so much.
And then, gradually, her memory returned. After pushing herself to get out and face the chief secretary, making sure she would indeed be sent abroad, she found herself extremely, extremely exhausted. She had to do a whole drama and acted like she couldn't believe she hadn't been re-admitted to S-university, making all kinds of trouble just to make sure those people would be so eager to send her away. She made a whole speech about what kind of shit she would do if she wasn't sent to somewhere decent--the whole shtick.
And it was tiring. She'd made sure to get some acting lessons once she was abroad.
On the last day before she was scheduled to leave, she took a taxi and stayed outside the columbarium for a long time. Oh, how she wanted to come inside and talk to her mother. But she held back.
Her mother had always been her weakness and her strength. It was for her she worked hard to be a good, praiseworthy child, but it was also for her that she endured all the mistreatment and harassment that her 'family' gave her. Your mother won't receive her allowance if you rebel; we'll send someone to hurt your mother; you don't want to make your mother sad, won't you?
Even in her death, Seul-ah couldn't help but think that those people might do something awful to the ashes. If that were to happen, Seul-ah didn't think she would be strong enough to continue her revenge. No--she would probably strap herself in a homemade bomb and explode herself during family dinner.
But that wasn't what she wanted, and Seul-ah knew it wasn't what her mother wanted. In fact, her mother probably wouldn't want her to take any revenge and just live in peace.
How, though? How could she live in peace before finding out what truly happened with the accident? How could she live in peace without making all of those people who had made their lives miserable pay?
No. She had to endure, including holding back from visiting her mother's ashes. She couldn't risk those people using her mother's remains to sway or threaten her. The first thing she requested when Song Yonghwa gave her confirmation was asking him to watch over her mother's ashes.
And after taking care of her business, the exhaustion came crashing at her all at once. The night before her departure, all she wanted to do was let go of everything. Just for a few hours, she didn't want to think of anything. She had been acting like a drunkard every time she came back from Helios, but she had never actually gotten drunk before.
So that was what she did; shutting herself in a private room and chugging drink after drink until she couldn't think anymore. Or at least, that was what she thought. In the end, she remembered feeling all depressed and angry and frustrated. Someone even came into her room and...
Seul-ah widened her eyes.
Someone came into her room. And she ended up in a hotel room she didn't remember booking.
Who...who was it? Damn it--damn it! Seul-ah looked around to search for her phone, feeling the panic spreading inside. It would be fine if it was Lee Sol or one of the staff, but--
"You're up, Princess?"
A voice, low but playful, greeted her from the bedroom door. A very, very familiar face which jolted further memory of what she did last night.
Seul-ah gasped, gathering her blanket in reflex as she was filled with dread. Fortunately, she could feel that her clothes were intact--except for her night coat. She reached down beneath the blanket to feel her pants, and everything was in place.
She exhaled in relief, before snapping back to the man smiling at her in amusement. "W-why are you here?!"
"Because I bring you here?" he shrugged.
"A-and why did you bring me here?!"
Ryu Hajin stepped inside the bedroom, and Seul-ah pulled her legs closer, scooting back against the headrest. She knew she should find an exit instead of putting herself in a corner, but what could she do if the exit was behind the man coming in her direction?
As she squinted her eyes to think of another escape plan, she heard the sound of rolling wheels. When she looked at Ryu Hajin again, the man was actually pulling a trolley, the kind that a hotel staff would bring while delivering a room service. She watched while blinking slowly as Hajin took out a folded tray and placed it over her lap. A bubbling sound came from the clay pot on the trolley, which was heated by a portable stove.
Before she knew it, a bowl of warm hangover soup and a glass of honey water were already placed in front of her.
"Well, where should I start?" Hajin held the tray and fixed its position to fit better over Sul-ah's lap. "The short version is that you're much too drunk and the manager told me to bring you here."
Ah...Lee Sol must have received direction from Yonghwa that it would be more dangerous for her to go home in a drunken state. The hotel style looked similar to the one she stayed on the first time she visited Helios, but slightly bigger. Hajin said it was on the floor dedicated to the arena's client--in other words, Helios's upper, upper-class members.
She had only taken from Helios instead of spending, so it was probably one of Yonghwa's support. Thinking about it like that made her sure that Hajin truly didn't do anything to her.
But damn it! To think she was so careless as to let herself so drunk she passed out...Seul-ah promised herself that she would never, ever drink again.
"Did he tell you to stay too?"
The side of the bed dipped when Hajin took a seat on the mattress. "No," he replied with a light smile.
"Then why are you?" Seul-ah frowned deeply.
The smile widened. "Because I want to."
"Why?!"
"Because I want to talk to you before you return," Hajin replied lightheartedly while placing the warm honey water in front of Seul-ah's hand. "Someone like me...when else can I do that once you're back in your castle?"
"You think this is a medieval time or something?" Seul-ah grumbled, but still took the cup for the sake of her throbbing head and parched throat. And damn--it truly warmed her up and made her feel much better.
Even in that state, with messy hair and a bad hangover, she still had a perfect posture akin to a well-educated princess of old. Hajin thought she was the one who looked like she lived in a medieval time. Must be very pretty in a hanbok and a braid.
"Fine," Seul-ah exhaled in relief after emptying the glass. "What do you want to talk to me about?"
"Before that, I want to ask a question," Hajin smiled and shoved the spoon into the girl's hand next.
Again, Seul-ah held the spoon and replied with a sigh. "What now?"
"Do you really want to take revenge on your family?"
She raised her head, eyes widened at the man's nonchalant, smiling face.
"You know, Miss--you really should be careful about drinking too much," Hajin chuckled. "You're the type who says everything that had been bottling up in your mind when you're drunk."
Swallowing nervously, Seul-ah asked while gripping her spoon hard. "What...did I tell you?"
"A lot of things," Hajin tapped on the tray, as if telling Seul-ah to start having the soup before it turned cold. "Like how your father's first wife is still casually going in and out of the house like she owned it despite already divorcing for decades."
Shit.
"Or how the third wife came when your mother was still at the house and demanded to stay there by flaunting her pregnancy," the man continued, folding his fingers one by one. "Or how she originally should be staying at the annex, but instead pushed your mother to stay there while she took the master bedroom."
The throbbing came back in waves and Seul-ah decided to start eating the warm but refreshing soup--otherwise, she felt like she would throw up.
"And to think they used to be best friends? It was even your mother who introduced her to your father?" Hajin made a dramatic gasping sound while shaking his head. "I can write a whole season of drama just from this alone!"
Not a drop. She wouldn't even drink wine anymore!
Seul-ah sighed in regret, but she wasn't too worried because most of what Hajin said was information obtainable outside if you went around the right circle. Even if he decided to sell it to the media, it would only help Seul-ah instead if her family's reputation plummeted.
"And for the second season, I can write about the kids instead," Hajin continued. "Although...it might be better to write to a prosecution? Phew...even I didn't dare to touch drugs and all that."
Seul-ah almost coughed out the soup at that. What? Drugs? Well...she knew the youngest would get involved with it in the future, but...not at that point. They were still in school anyway, and she did not recall the youngest using it this young--
No--did she...?
"Oh, right!" Hajin snapped his fingers as Seul-ah looked at him with shaking, anxious eyes. "You also told me about returning to the past after getting shot by the first son's wife."
With a loud clank, Seul-ah dropped her spoon.