The Story Of The Young Sweet Oak

There was nothing desired from the family that had returned.

It was the family that had abandoned her from the beginning, and Lee Seyeong had never benefited from the honor of the Oak family.

She had simply come to help with work. Of course, it wasn't just that simple. The desire for recognition from those who had once rejected her drove Lee Seyeong.

She had grown like this. Unlike my father, who said she couldn't do anything. She grew up like this. She shouted confidently in their faces.

"Selfish bitch."

Her sister, Lee Seohyun, said to her.

It was a reflexive outburst the moment she saw Lee Seyeong return to the family.

"…What?"

They faced each other in the company hallway, their faces contorted with irritation.

She didn't expect gratitude, but she didn't expect to be cursed at by her sister either.

She realized it was because her father had been spreading slander about Lee Seyeong.

The reason for their arranged marriages, that was, their forced connections, was actually because of Lee Seyeong. He had concocted such ridiculous stories to tell his daughters.

"Lee Seyeong, you lived like that… Do you enjoy escaping alone?"

"Escape? Who did?"

It was her, who played along with such trashy words. Why was she considered an escaping bitch when she didn't even bring a single piece of clothing from the family?

"Bullshit."

Although she felt a surge of anger, Lee Seyeong knew how to navigate the situation from her past experiences. She was not so meek as to lose in a verbal fight.

"I'm not the one running away. You brainless bitch."

She remembered almost dying while breaking through a dungeon. She recalled the wages that had been extorted under the guise of protecting minors by members of the same guild.

"You accepted an engagement with such a small-minded guy from this crappy family. But I didn't."

"What, what?"

There was even a time she had knelt for a mere 20,000 won.

"I didn't expect a damn welcome. But, but… Damn. It feels disgusting."

There were many foods she couldn't buy due to a lack of a few hundred won, the clothes she wore repeatedly, and the childhood endured with only water. Fortunately, due to her wooden nature, she could survive for a long time with just water.

Still, Lee Seyeong knew how to live.

"So what are you doing?"

"…What?"

"I came to expand the dungeon. Are you gonna keep cursing?"

She got an apology in her own way, but it didn't bring any satisfaction.

Instead, only the emptiness of having lost a place to return to lingered with her.

Lee Seyeong, an A-rank hunter, had just become a high school student.

Even though she had secured a place in the family late, despite her sisters' cautious behavior, her mood didn't improve at all.

'...'

Lee Seyeong had no family.

She had never felt the warmth or affection of another person.

The last time she held someone's hand for more than two seconds was in elementary school.

She had never had eye contact with the opposite sex, let alone a hug, during her young days.

The few thousand won before her eyes were more precious than interactions with others.

Love or romance? There was no time for that.

No, from the start, trusting people was impossible for Lee Seyeong.

Unless someone forced their way into her heart to share warmth, it wouldn't happen.

But no one had the ability to do so.

No one wanted to read all of Lee Seyeong's dark interior, and with the rumor that she was the only woman with power in the Oak family now, no one could force her heart open.

Only a few had forcefully opened her heart.

It was the day she entered the university. The academy.

Group projects sucked.

These damn professors didn't consider people who didn't have friends at all.

"Pair up with people you like in groups of three~"

Why was she learning theory when I came here to cut and hammer?

It's not because she didn't have friends.

Twenty-year-old Lee Seyeong looked around sharply.

Just… she had to put up a front again.

It's not that she didn't have anyone to call a friend. She had plenty of classmates' phone numbers.

There were also cadets who pretended to be friendly without knowing anything. Forming a group was no big deal if she put her mind to it.

But today, one person caught her eye.

-Wandering around.

A girl with yellow hair and mouse-like eyes looked around nervously. Lee Seyeong was surprised by her star-shaped pupils.

"Uh, um… Gr-"

The girl with star-shaped eyes cautiously spoke to the kid next to her. But her voice was too small to be heard.

"Hey, wanna join us?"

In the end, the girl with star-shaped eyes missed her timing to join another group of cadets.

"…Sniff."

She looked so downhearted that her shoulders drooped just by watching her.

"Hey."

"…Hic, yes? Ah, hello!"

"Forget 'hello'. Let's use informal speech. We're the same age. Wanna join our group?"

The common group project, and the awkward ones make an amazing ppt.

And she seemed to be in some trouble.

"What's your name?"

"Byeol… Byeol."

Lee Seyeong, Byeol, and… another cadet who joined them.

The three who met through the group project naturally stuck together whenever something came up afterward.

"…Um."

"Eh?"

"Do you like games?"

Since that day, Byeol started showing interest as if they had become friends from just one project.

Seeing Byeol's water-soaked-cat-like look that seemed to wilt if rejected, Seyeong slightly furrowed her brows.

"…What?"

"Games! Let's play together. I have a lot in the dormitory."

Annoying girl. But it wasn't bad to get along since there was no harm in badmouthing her. She was also curious since she hadn't had much experience hanging out with others.

So, for a week…

"Want to play Kart?"

"I don't have time."

"…Sniff."

"Let's go."

"Yay!"

A month…

"Seyeong-chan!"

"…What's with that nickname?"

"Why, don't you like it?"

"It sounds a bit dumb."

"…Well, dumb it is!"

A year. As they spent more and more time together, Seyeong began to think that this was what having a friend was like.

She felt it inside the dorm room.

"…I got an SSR!"

Byeol, lying on Seyeong's thigh, playing a mobile game collecting wooden girls, blinked her big eyes while eating shrimp chips.

"What's so fun about that game that you keep playing it?"

"It's not the game that's fun… it's the joy of raising our characters."

"Enough. Let's watch a movie. I want to watch the one that just came out. Should I turn on the TV?"

"Ah, don't move, the snacks… Agh! My bed!!!"

"Sorry."

As they were shooting all kinds of sitcoms…

"…What are you guys doing?"

Unhyang, who often hung out with Seyeong and Byeol, sighed and watched over them.

"I want cake. Seyeong-chan's will be very berry blueberry strawberry cake. I want cheesecake."

"Go buy it yourselves. And it's not 'ginkgo', it's 'kumquat'."

"Aren't they the same?"

"Not at all. Do you call 'starfruit' 'carambola'?"

"No. I like the refreshing name better!"

As they became closer, they started drinking together, and Seyeong, who first encountered alcohol, began to open her heart. Realizing it, all three had many scars in different ways.

Lee Seyeong, Byeol, Unhyang.

Even though they were born in different places, they felt a sense of kinship. And since Seyeong had never felt others' warmth, she began to cherish the relationship more than anyone. That was the same for all three of them.

But Lee Seyeong was a little more obsessively attached.

Especially when Unhyang, one of her friends, died.

It wasn't much. Just a fatal accident that happened once or twice a year at the academy. It was just that the person involved was her friend.

To be more precise… there was a rampage in the dungeon. Unhyang saved Seyeong and Byeol and got trapped inside.

At the last moment before the dungeon closed, Unhyang made a quick decision to die instead of Seyeong and Byeol.

Someone dying in her place. She had never imagined such a thing, and above all, she never expected to be the beneficiary.

"Hey."

"…Yes."

Unhyang couldn't return. A closed dungeon.

At the funeral of her comrade, Seyeong stood dazed and spoke to the seated Byeol.

"…You… aren't."

She had thoughts, but they didn't come out as words.

Having lived a life without connections, Lee Seyeong lost one of the first connections she made. It happened not long after she thought it was precious.

She didn't know what kind of emotion it was, but it felt very lousy.

After losing it, she couldn't talk to this friend anymore. They couldn't train against each other as they did before.

"Seyeong-chan, are you crying?"

Although Seyeong didn't know, Byeol had some understanding. Having heard about Seyeong's past and observed her behavior closely.

Her heart was empty, and to fill that void, she clung on.

Having grown up alone after hearing harsh words from her family in her childhood, the affection she didn't receive then, she mentally clung to from somewhere else.

But despite that, she couldn't express her emotions well. So maybe that's why her actions preceded her thoughts.

When Byeol was ignored by someone, she almost beat them to death… That's probably the case.

That was Byeol's conclusion about Lee Seyeong.

[…There might be many missing parts, but that's probably correct.]

When I checked the call duration on my phone, two hours had already passed. Asking and answering various questions, time had flown by.

[Seyeong is that kind of person, she has a tendency to give everything, her liver and gallbladder too.]

Of course, it's rude to judge a person hastily. However, a best friend's words always had a reason, and they were not entirely wrong.

[She's… sensitive about death, especially when it comes to a lover.]

"Is that so?"

[Shiheon, you… actually. Your life is in danger, isn't it?]

The more I listened, the more I realized that Lee Seyeong had told Byeol all my secrets.

Did she even talk about the rape? If so, Byeol's words seem more credible. Byeol was that important to Lee Seyeong; there were no secrets between them. This person who was so tight-lipped with others.

[…So, what I want to say is.]

Byeol spoke.

[I want you to give Seyeong some certainty.]

"…"

How? I wanted to ask, but I held back.

[Even though she has stepped back now, if you're in danger, she will come to die for you. Not just for you, but for me too. She'd try to stop me from dying too.]

"I knew she was like that, but I didn't know it was that serious."

[Hehe. She's extremely obsessive. If she sees me without you, she clings to me.]

"I don't think that's the case."

[Oh, did she get caught?]

We both laughed lightly.

Anyway, I knew that Lee Seyeong was unreasonably kind to me. That had always been one of my questions since I joined the academy. Now that I think about it, she was similar to Jindallae. Why are there only people with some kind of deficiency around me?

[Ah, by the way, Shiheon.]

"Yes?"

[Seyeong took a plane to your place yesterday.]

A voice echoed from the phone. At that moment, I felt a presence behind me.

"Hey. Idiot."

The sensation of someone sticking close to my back while I was on the phone. Her ample chest pressed against my shoulder blades.

"Finally found you."

Was Byeol just good at taking action, or was Lee Seyeong too reckless? Why was the timing like this?

I stiffened and put down the phone. Seyeong's long green hair tickled the back of my neck.

Her voice whispered in my ear, with her chin resting on my shoulder.

"…Heard everything from that little Byeol."

Her words were mixed with anger and a bit of playfulness.

"Who are you talking to?"