Transit Love After Revenge – Chapter 17

Author: amourtentia

“What?”

“You don’t get it? Haeyoung eonni doesn’t know you’re planning to break up. She still thinks you two are going to get married, right? And she acts like that right in front of you, like you’re invisible. It’s totally disrespectful and deceitful.”

“…You think so?”

“Obviously. Look at the way you act, and look at the way she does. She’s just excited because she’s finally getting attention for once. You’ve been together for 6 years, how do you not see it? That’s why she’s getting all smug and acting like she can ignore you.”

“But it’s not like there’s anything I can do about it.”

“Why not? Just one word from you, and she would go right back to how she used to be. She’s ridiculously nice, what else does she even have?”

Seongjun looked down, deep in thought. At this rate, cleaning up Hae-young would be easy.

“And from now on, send your text votes to me.”

“Huh? Why?”

‘Why? You’re seriously asking me that?’

“You don’t want to?”

Minji widened her eyes innocently. Seongjun’s gaze wavered.

‘Yeah, no way this wouldn’t work. Jo Seongjun, I was already annoyed that you voted for someone else instead of me.’

“You saw I didn’t get a single vote, right? I’m scared I’ll keep getting zero. Can’t you at least vote for me? Please, Jun-ah. You’re the only one on my side here.”

“…But won’t that look bad on the show? If I start texting a friend from the beginning, people will say we’re basically dating already and question why we even came on the show.”

“So that means you don’t want to?”

“No, it’s not that…”

Seongjun trailed off.

‘You’re seriously hesitating? That’s ridiculous.’

“Thanks… I knew I could count on you. If things go well here, should we just date after we leave?”

“Really?”

Seongjun’s voice shot up. Minji quickly covered his mouth and leaned in.

“Shh. I mean… now that I’m here, I realize no one compares to you. That’s just how I feel right now. Don’t take it too seriously.”

Seongjun still looked dazed. Minji gave him a tight hug.

“I’m glad you’re here with me,” she whispered, then pulled back. Seongjun’s ears had turned bright red.

That was enough.

“Then I’m not feeling too great, so I’m gonna head up and rest, Jun-ah.”

She waved quickly and scurried inside. She felt a whole lot better now.

Now, Seo Haeyoung would start keeping a lower profile, and she would finally dodge the zero votes. Perfect. Now it was time to focus on her own loveline.

Dojin had gone on a date with her but ended up voting for another girl, so he was clearly hopeless. Chanwoo… not even worth considering. Jaeyoung was the best bet.

Planning for tomorrow, Minji headed back to her room.

Meanwhile, back where Minji had left him, Seongjun lit a cigarette.

Vote for Woo Minji?

But then what about the other contestants he was building something with? Gaeun and Taeri were clearly waiting for his vote too.

Seongjun’s cheek twitched up in a smirk. A puff of smoke shot from his lips.

“Isn’t Woo Min-ji acting like that because she wants my vote that bad?”

That’s fair enough. He got two to three votes every round, while Minji hadn’t gotten a single one yet.

He had been looking forward to the shoot, but he hadn’t expected every woman here to fall for him.

Has he been too timid all his life? Come to think of it, he was way better than Woo Minji.

What a waste of time, moping around after her and letting her string him along.

* * *

‘I felt refreshed when I woke up late. It seemed like it was because I had slept well.’

After getting washed up, Haeyoung headed downstairs. All the female contestants were gathered and chatting.

Chanwoo had gone out to run errands, and Seongjun, Dojin, and Jaeyoung were off doing their interviews.

Minji clung to Haeyoung’s arm tightly.

“Haeyoung, are you feeling okay? I should’ve taken care of you, but I got sick too… I’m really sorry. Maybe it would be better for you to rest today?”

Minji felt especially fake today.

Haeyoung already knew everything. After her fake illness got exposed yesterday, Minji had gotten so pissed that she cursed loudly in the bathroom.

Not only that, she kept stomping around the room and flicking the lights on and off all night, clearly annoyed that Haeyoung was asleep.

Of course, the more worked up Minji got, the more peacefully Haeyoung slept. So that part was nice.

Anyway, that had all happened less than twelve hours ago.

“II’m fine.”

“No, seriously. Today’s the sheep ranch trip, remember? I overheard the staff saying it’s gonna be physically demanding. You should really stay home and rest.”

Minji looked at Haeyoung with a sad face.

‘Why do you want me to stay home so badly? Is it because things never go your way when I’m around? Huh, you’re more perceptive than I thought. You’ve clearly figured out exactly what’s messing things up for you.’

‘But the more you want me gone, the more I’m going to stick right by your side. Especially since today is important.’

They were going to a sheep ranch today. Nothing groundbreaking, this segment wouldn’t even get much airtime.

However, Minji’s appearance on camera became a hot topic, and her popularity skyrocketed because of that.

ෆ미소ෆ 👫@lshgo 5h

A pure, lovely, and refreshing girlfriend, she just works with anyone. Buy Woo Minji vote now. #FriendshipRomance #WooMinji #우정연애

↺1.5k ❤4.2k

A short video of Minji was attached to the post. She was standing on a hill with the blue sky in the background, smiled brightly as she held onto her hat blowing in the wind.

It was practically a picture-perfect scene, Minji sparkled in it.

―Who is she????? She’s seriously gorgeous; is she a rookie idol?? How did I not know her?

└She’s on a dating show called Friendship Romance.

└Oh, FR? Got it.

―An ordinary person looks like that? How did you avoid the agency until now??????

―I don’t usually watch dating shows, but maybe I should start…

Thanks to the explosive response, every item Minji wore that day, dress, hat, shoes, even socks was completely sold out.

That’s not all. Jaeyoung also completely made up his mind about Minji after that day.

And she wanted Haeyoung to skip out?

“I’ll go. I like sheep.”

Haeyoung smiled straight at Minji. ‘Yeah, I’ll go. I’ll definitely go.’

“Sure, let’s go together. You can rest in the car if it gets too hard. But seriously, is it going to be that intense?”

Taeri interrupted and asked Minji. he was following up on what Minji had said earlier, when she suggested Haeyoung stay home.

“Yeah, I still think you should rest. I overheard the staff talking, it sounded pretty tough.”

“Oh, really? Then what should we wear? I’ve been trying to decide.”

“There’s a steep hill on the dirt road there. They said we would go hiking or something.”

“Hiking? Out of nowhere?”

“Yes. So I think it would be better for everyone to wear comfortable clothes.”

Something about that made Haeyoung pause.

Strange. In the viral video, Minji had been wearing a clean, white dress. Had something changed?

“Oh no… I was going to wear the outfit I’ve been saving for a day out. I guess I’ll have to wear workout clothes instead. Gaeun, do you have any tracksuit? I don’t.”

“I do, but….”

They both suddenly looked serious, then rushed upstairs to find something to wear.

Haeyoung didn’t want to be left alone with Minji either, so she stood up and about to leave, but Minji grabbed her.

“Haeyoung-nim~”

What now? She hadn’t even said anything yet, and it was already irritating.

“I really like you, Haeyoung-nim.”

Haeyoung barely raised the corners of her lips.

“Haeyoung, you seem really kind. Your friend even said that in the intro letter. That word fits you perfectly.”

It sounded like a compliment, but it wasn’t.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. And it really suits you. Sweet Haeyoung. Don’t ever change, okay?”

Minji’s lips were smiling, but her eyes weren’t.

It wasn’t hard to read the subtext. She was giving a warning. ‘Stay in your lane. Don’t make any moves.’

Minji’s motives were obvious. She was still fuming from yesterday. Nothing was going the way she wanted since coming here, so now she couldn’t stand it without saying something.

‘Sure, zero-vote Minji. I get it. You’re anxious and pissed.’

Since Haeyoung didn’t respond, Minji must have thought her words landed. She started rambling even more.

“If a person suddenly changes, things just fall apart. You know the saying, the jjapsae ^[1] , will break its legs trying to walk like a stork? Everyone has their place. Haeyoung-nim, you should just stay nice and―”