Chapter 218

Maru called Daemyung out to the hallway with his phone.“How’s the club right now?”“They’re all asking Bangjoo a bunch of questions.”“Jiyoon?”“A lot better than before. She’s smiling at least.”“That’s good. She was really hard to approach a while ago.”“You really should be the one talking instead of me...”“Nope, this needs to be done by you. She told you her story, so handing the baton to me is going to hurt your credibility. You’re also the president.”Daemyung paused at the word ‘president’.“Um, Maru...”Maru knew exactly what the boy wanted to say, so he cut Daemyung off.“Just take this to the end, I’ll help you. You should talk with Jiyoon. She’s calm now, so this shouldn’t be as difficult as before.”“I don’t know what I should say. I feel like I’m going to give her useless advice again.”“I’m not telling you to go in without a plan. Here, I’ll give you some useful advice. You guys need to talk about her relationship with her parents first. The thing with her heart during tests might actually be a real health issue, so we can worry about that later.”“What do I tell her?”“You’re not bad at talking as long as you stay calm so just remember two things. First, find out if Jiyoon has bad feelings against her parents. If she hates them, cheer her on a bit and end the conversation. We definitely can’t touch that.”“If she doesn’t?”“If she likes them, but she’s in constant turmoil with them, ask her this.”“What?”“Ask her, ‘have you ever told them what you want face to face?’”

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Daemyung looked at Jiyoon nervously.

After coming back to the classroom, Maru dismissed the club. By the time everyone started leaving with their bags, Daemyung asked Jiyoon to come to talk with him privately. This was because Maru believed that Jiyoon might feel pressure from being singled out of the group with everyone present. After that, he moved forward with the conversation according to Maru’s advice. Since Jiyoon was a lot calmer than before, things went pretty smoothly. Daemyung was able to learn some new things and he could carry through with the conversation with the new information.

He was able to get an understanding of how Jiyoon thought of her mother. Surprisingly, Jiyoon cared a lot about her mother. She was beating herself up too much because of her inability to meet her mother’s expectations, this feeling of hers exploded when the guests came over last time.

Daemyung was enraged from hearing what the guests said about her, to think they would look down on someone else’s child just because they were so proud of theirs… Daemyung even called them ‘damned cackle of crones’ out of sheer anger. His face reddened with embarrassment when he saw Jiyoon staring at him in shock, but he was satisfied with what he said after seeing a smile float on her face.

Jiyoon looked very bright when she talked about her past. She didn’t stutter either. Daemyung had a feeling that this was an easy problem like Maru told him. The trouble only began because her communication with her parents was severed, so Daemyung asked Jiyoon a question. The one that Maru told him about.“...I don’t think I have. Mom didn’t look like she wanted to talk to me.”“How about you try it, then?”Jiyoon’s mother in her memories was a person who kindly listened to their child’s words. Maybe they were just misunderstanding each other deeply? Even parents and children misunderstand each other from time to time. Actually, it was probably because they were so close that they got so many misunderstandings.“I’m afraid my mom might get disappointed. She’s already disappointed about having a daughter like me, so if I rebel...”“I was actually the same...”Daemyung smiled, thinking back to himself before meeting Maru. Jiyoon apologized. She was a nice kid. She apologized too much, but Daemyung could tell that they were all sincere. Meaning, Jiyoon still had the energy to empathize with others when she was already going through so much pain. Could parents so easily hate a child who was as kind as this? No. No way. There had to be a misunderstanding.- If you decide to help someone once, you need to take responsibility until the end. That’s what it means to help. At least, to me.Daemyung felt a lot of things from that line Maru told him. He really wanted to help this girl, not just give her his condolences. He wanted to truly be of help to this person.“I’m not actually good at many things, but I’m good at listening. If nothing changes after talking with your mother, I’ll listen to your story many times over. You can just complain to me all day if you want. So could you please try this once?”Daemyung felt his cheeks burn up with embarrassment, at least he was being honest. A silence formed between them. Jiyoon only opened her mouth after two minutes of staring at the floor.“I’ll try it. I think I’m getting a bit of courage thanks to you. Breathing’s gotten easier for me as well.”“R-really?”He got the answer he wanted in the end, Daemyung felt the energy sap out of him. He had no idea consoling someone was this difficult. How did Maru manage to do all of this? Being a wall for someone to lean onto meant that you had to share their pains, Daemyung had no idea how Maru could shoulder so many painful stories from other people.‘If I take on consoling as a job...’He had no idea how much the club members would even rely on him, but at least he could try to be of help. For Maru’s sake.“...Thank you. This is the first time I talked like this.”“No, thank you for telling me your story.”Jiyoon smiled, making Daemyung’s chest flare up with pride.‘Looks like it’s over for now, thankfully.’He told her everything, so he just needed to send her back now. Daemyung turned to look at Jiyoon.“I’ve kept you a while. You should go now.”“What about you, senior?”“I need to organize some of the props.”“I’ll help.”“Nah, it’s just sweeping the floors, really. You should go. You have something to do, don’t you?”Daemyung spoke as he opened the classroom door, Jiyoon hesitated for a second before grabbing her bag. She stopped in front of the door to look at Daemyung, her cheeks were a little pale.“...Are you sick again? Tell me if you’re dizzy.”“N-no. It’s nothing like that.”“Really? I thought you ran into another problem. Thank goodness. Take it slow just in case though.”“...Right.”Jiyoon turned back with her head drooped down, Daemyung waved her goodbye. Their eyes met for a second when Jiyoon turned her head, but for some reason, she immediately looked down again. She must be embarrassed after telling him her life story.‘I mean, I would be as well.’“I won’t tell anyone your story from today, so don’t worry.”“What? No, that’s not really a problem...”“Oh, really? I’ll keep it a secret anyway.”Daemyung waved again, prompting Jiyoon to finally start walking towards the staircase. Only after seeing her walk out of his vision did he finally sigh, this took way too much out of him.“Phew, at least I acted like a proper senior for the first time.”The word ‘senior’ sounded a lot different to him for some reason today. It made him… feel a sense of responsibility, he planned to be a good senior from now on.

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