I Became the Drug-Addicted Childhood Friend

Translator: Elisia

Editor/Proofreader: SemiPickle

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Yoo Seo-Ah asked if she was still alive.

If there was a possibility of returning to an ordinary life with her.

Han Si-Hoo wasn’t someone who struggled with academics.

He accurately understood what school had taught—that there was always a chance.

Flipping a coin ten times and getting heads each time.

It was possible.

Even if it was a hundred times, it was possible.

What about a thousand?

Possible.

Ten thousand flips?

Still possible.

The probability of getting heads every time, even if you flipped it millions of times, always existed.

Even if it was close to zero, it wasn’t zero.

In some ways, a miracle wasn’t really a miracle.

It was just an unbelievably low probability.

So, theoretically.

Theoretically, Yoo Seo-Ah could still be alive.

Or she could be brought back to life.

If the probability was low, he could somehow increase it with his abilities.

Just being an Awakener was miracle enough.

So there was always hope.

Bang.

Was the doctor’s shot real?

Did Yoo Seo-Ah get shot?

Was it all just a hologram?

Neither the doctor nor Seo-Ah had been found in the rubble of the building.

Then, could she actually be alive?

That thought crossed his mind only after the purification penalty disappeared.

It was a simple deduction.

The problem was, he wasn’t entirely sure if it would be a good thing for Seo-Ah to survive.

It felt like something from one of those strange photographs.

Whether the photo was real or fake.

If it was real, who took it, and when?

And why did they decide to show it to him?

Still, it would be better for Seo-Ah to be alive rather than dead.

A thousand times better.

So he hoped the photo was fake, but at the same time, he wanted it to be real.

But even if the photo was real…

He still didn’t know if Seo-Ah was alive.

“I think I have an idea.”

Who could be behind this prank?

The Saintess.

Why would she do something like this?

“Huh…?”

The Saintess looked at me, as if bewildered.

An act.

But it was a clumsy one.

Was she surprised because it wasn’t the reaction she expected?

Han Si-Hoo pondered his next move carefully.

He wondered how much he should play along with the Saintess.

“Si-Hoo, what’s this picture?”

He suppressed the urge to snap back, “Are you asking because you don’t know?”

What would be the best approach?

What path would lead him to extract information from the Saintess?

“Yeah, what do you think this is?”

There was no helping the slight tremor in his voice.

Because he was angry.

His childhood friend was lying trampled, smiling, and he actually wanted to interrogate the Saintess right away.

The Saintess stood there, pretending to be ignorant.

Han Si-Hoo thought it over.

And over.

And reached a conclusion.

“What is it?”

“…It’s hard to talk about it here.”

The alleyway was too open.

And it wasn’t the right place to have this conversation.

So where should they go?

The Academy was off-limits since the Saintess wasn’t a student.

The bookstore might have watchful eyes.

“Then…?”

Let’s go to the Saintess’s house.

“How about going to your place?”

“My place?”

The place filled with information.

Honestly, he planned to enter, even if she refused.

“Oh, um? Uh… the place is kind of a mess, but, uh… fine. Are we going now? It’s a bit far.”

“Yeah.”

Where did the Saintess live again?

***

She had a house on the outskirts of the city.

An area where a new city development had failed in the past.

Almost no one lived in this region.

If you went ten more blocks, it wouldn’t even be the city anymore.

She never thought she’d end up coming home with Si-Hoo.

Especially not today.

Before she knew it, they were at her front door.

“Uh, could you wait just a second? I need to clean up.”

The house needed tidying.

“Sure.”

Wow.

Si-Hoo came to her place.

Si-Hoo.

She unlocked the door and went inside.

The place was clean enough.

There were just things that were hard to show.

Like syringes, for example.

Thunk.

The door didn’t close.

When she looked back, Si-Hoo was holding the doorknob.

“Si-Hoo?”

“……”

It seemed he had something to say.

“Si-Si-Hoo, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, I just have something to ask.”

“Huh?”

She felt uneasy.

Something was off.

Thud.

The door hit the wall.

Si-Hoo had opened it completely.

“So, where did you get this photo?”

Huh?

The photo I found just earlier.

Was he asking me?

Where I got it?

“What?”

What exactly was Si-Hoo saying?

Her mind went blank.

“I know you’re the one behind this.”

He knew?

How?

Si-Hoo’s anger—could it have been because of her?

He seemed so sure.

Would he believe her if she denied it?

“Why…?”

“The reason is what I want to know.”

“…It’s… there’s some misunderstanding.”

“Alright. If that’s how you’re going to be.”

Si-Hoo stepped a little closer.

“Uh, yeah.”

Caught.

She was caught.

But she didn’t know where she’d been caught.

Seol Ha-Jin’s words came to mind.

He had said that Han Si-Hoo wasn’t normal.

Now she was starting to understand why he said that.

This wasn’t the Si-Hoo she was used to seeing.

It was intimidating.

Thud.

Si-Hoo gripped her shoulder.

“Please, just tell me everything right now.”

“Ah…”

“Please.”

This was her fault.

Maybe it was best to confess everything from the start.

To tell him everything.

Why hadn’t she just been honest?

Because he might suspect her of being the one who put Seo-Ah in the lab.

Even if it wasn’t her, Seo-Ah would have been taken somewhere else anyway.

“……”

How should she explain this?

Her mind went blank.

“If you don’t say anything, I’ll find out myself.”

“Uh, well… I mean…”

I just wanted to get closer to you.

It seemed like you were hard to open up to.

Come to think of it, maybe it was a bit of a sneaky approach.

It seemed that way.

But after getting this far, it felt strange to just confess.

“Answer me.”

She couldn’t bring herself to speak.

She really didn’t know how she got caught.

Say something.

Anything.

“So, um. She’s already dead, she’s already dead…”

She blurted out that Seo-Ah was dead.

Her mind was a mess, and the words just came out.

“……”

She must be dead.

If she wasn’t, that would be a bigger problem.

“Explain the photo. Who took it, where, and why. And how did you end up with it?”

I didn’t know well myself.

“It was data I found during a raid on a government facility. I thought it might be your friend, but… it was scary to show you directly… I was curious about what you two were.”

“What are you talking about?”

“…Uh, I mean, the data said she was your friend, but there’s no way your friend would be in a photo like this, so…”

“What…”

Si-Hoo didn’t seem to understand either.

She had buried a lie with another lie.

A brief silence.

Si-Hoo, who had been about to step inside, stayed still.

It would be a problem if he came in.

She hadn’t cleaned up after using the drugs last time.

Actually, it wasn’t just the drugs…

She naturally tended to live messily, which was the issue.

Her house was just dirty.

Ah, why did she invite him?

No, Si-Hoo had come here with this in mind.

Because he suspected her.

Of course.

“So what do you mean Seo-Ah is dead?”

Si-Hoo spoke again.

“…It was already written in the data that she was dead.”

A plausible excuse.

“Where’s the data?”

She couldn’t read his expression.

“I threw it away…”

“Don’t lie.”

“……”

It was a lie.

She hadn’t intended for things to go this way.

“I’m coming in.”

“Ah, no, you can’t come in.”

She tried her best to block him.

There was no need to go this far.

“Then tell me the truth. What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry… I…”

She just felt a headache.

How had things turned out like this?

Why?

It was all because of the unnecessary thoughts she’d had.

Should she take some drugs?

Si-Hoo probably wouldn’t have much to say about the drugs, anyway.

“Uh, sorry, just come in. The place is messy, though.”

If Si-Hoo wanted to come in, there was no way she could stop him.

She had no right to say anything.

She had been in a panic all along.

Acting weird around Si-Hoo.

She had hated when someone dug up her past like this.

There was a first-aid kit containing drugs right in plain sight as soon as they came in.

She had planned to put it away, but there was no helping it.

She wondered if Si-Hoo even trusted her.

The trust had already been broken.

“Sorry for doing something strange. I’ll tell you everything, so just wait a bit.”

She just needed to live as usual.

Her relationship with Si-Hoo was now ruined.

Everything was messed up.

Well, Seo-Ah and she were similar, after all.

Seo-Ah just ended up going in a worse direction.

First, she’d calm down by taking some drugs.

“What are you doing?”

Si-Hoo grabbed her arm.

“I think I’ll be able to talk if I take some drugs.”

“You have healing skills, don’t you? What kind of drug is that?”

“Well, since I can heal, it’s fine to use it.”

“What?”

“Mostly, it’s fine with me. I just heal away any side effects.”

Yes.

Maximum convenience.

She could do anything.

“Want some, too? If I help, you can use it safely.”

Si-Hoo looked like he was at a loss for words.

He let go of her arm.

So he was telling her to use the drug.

She picked up a pen-style syringe and injected it.

Poke.

The drug effect kicked in right away.

Feeling a bit better.

Since everything was already ruined, she decided to show the very bottom.

“Where did you get the drugs?”

“…The lab.”

The problem was it made her feel drowsy.

“The lab?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s going on, exactly?”

She’d never really told Si-Hoo about her past.

In fact, she hadn’t told anyone.

“Seo-Ah seemed to have gotten drugs there, too. Or maybe not.”

“What do you mean?”

“Anyway… the photo, I was just…”

Trying to gauge his reaction through the photo had been a mistake.

She had done something terrible.

Why had she done something so pointless?

Last time, she hadn’t used her self-healing skill after taking the drug.

Since the drug’s effects had lingered, it seemed she’d made strange choices.

Even now, it felt strange.

It felt like she was back in the past.

Seeing it this way.

“Seo-Ah probably wasn’t in too much pain, either. As long as she used the drugs properly, she wouldn’t have felt hurt.”

The drug was primarily for reducing pain.

“……”

“So Seo-Ah probably felt happy, too. She was smiling in the picture after all—”

Her vision spun.

Thud.

Her head hurt.

She had fallen to the floor.

The ceiling came into view.

It seemed that Si-Hoo didn’t like what she’d said.

“As long as Seo-Ah was okay, wasn’t everything fine? She probably never thought of herself as unhappy.”

She couldn’t tell what part had angered Si-Hoo.

Crush.

“Urgh.”

Her abdomen was pressed under his foot.

He seemed really angry.

Si-Hoo spoke.

“Looks like this matches the photo pretty well.”

Right.

Was this what Seo-Ah felt like?

“Ugh…”

It became hard to breathe.

It felt like the oxygen was being cut off.

Si-Hoo continued speaking.

“So, what do you think now? Are you that happy?”

His voice was full of anger.

He was putting her in Seo-Ah’s shoes.

What an interesting experience.

If Si-Hoo was curious.

The honest answer.

How she felt.

“Yeah… I’m enjoying it. So… Seo-Ah probably liked it, too.”

Wasn’t she also smiling while being trampled?

Just like me.