superior
Rival or love.
Written by Malranggong.
*The material for this article was kindly provided by LOYA-S.
*Please note that this article contains scenes of violence, profanity, and domestic violence.
Choi A-yoon, eighteen, and Park Jimin, eighteen. The two were friends attending the same prestigious high school and rivals in the world of pianists. Whenever they ran into each other at school, they would exchange mischievous glances and fake smiles to avoid the attention of others. Having become quite famous at a young age, they had to manage their expressions from the start. However, A-yoon didn't hate Jimin all that much. In fact, she began to like him more and more. Of course, when she first felt love for Jimin, she denied it. She thought, "There's no way I could like Park Jimin." But as she grew closer to Jimin, A-yoon realized he was a decent person, and she was thrilled by his affectionate, if fake, way toward her rival.
When Ah-yoon started to fall for Jimin more and more, Jimin just hated and resented Ah-yoon. Jimin, who didn't have much money and couldn't practice or take lessons much, hated Ah-yoon, who came from a wealthy family, who whined that it was hard and that he didn't want to take lessons. Jimin didn't know that he was blessed and he hated seeing Ah-yoon constantly whining. He didn't even know Ah-yoon's real family history. That's because Ah-yoon had never brought up her family history with Jimin, and Ah-yoon thought her family history was embarrassing and scary to tell anyone.
“Jimin, do you want to come to the lesson with me today? You can come too.”
Ayoon had said those words purely for Jimin's sake, but to Jimin, those words sounded quite cruel and self-deprecating. However, since it was in front of others, and since it was still a chance to receive lessons from a famous teacher, Jimin smiled warmly and readily thanked him. Ayoon mistakenly thought that his answer was genuine gratitude.
“Oh my, are you Jimin? I’ve heard a lot about you from Ayun.”
“Nice to meet you. Please take care of me today.”
“Ayun said she wanted to continue taking lessons with you, not just today. Oh, and don’t worry about the money. Ayun has agreed to pay for your share as well.”
Ah-yoon's pure consideration. To Jimin, that consideration felt so cruel. But he knew that shouting at her, scolding her, would only hurt him, so he bit his lips and thanked Ah-yoon. Ah-yoon mistook those words of thanks for genuine gratitude. Perhaps that's why his confidence in his love began to grow, to the point where others noticed, but ironically, Jimin, the person involved, didn't notice. Around that time, her mother, who had noticed Ah-yoon, was watching.
“…Thanks for today. See you at school tomorrow.”
“Okay. See you tomorrow, Jimin!”
Ayun's cheeks were flushed. It must have been because her love for Jimin had grown so great that even just being still made her excited.
Ayun and her mother were the only ones left in the house. Unlike the sweet atmosphere from earlier, which had felt so sweet that it made her mouth taste sweet, a chill suddenly ran through Ayun's body. Ayun knew what this atmosphere meant. This atmosphere was familiar yet unfamiliar. This atmosphere was scary. Ayun noticed her mother's hand and squeezed her eyes shut tightly. With the loud sound of skin touching skin, one side of Ayun's cheek flushed red, and tears welled up in her eyes, aching and sad despite the familiar pain.
“You really like him? Mom said you couldn’t love, didn’t she? Huh? I told you liking someone would ruin your career. Why didn’t you listen to me?”
“…”
“Aren’t you going to answer? Is it because you haven’t been getting enough of it lately?”
"sorry…"
“Get your mind straight. I wasted money because of you, because of that bitch. Why bring in some punk? If you’re going to like someone, like someone who’s on the same level as you.”
You beggar. Like someone who's on par with you. Ayoon could tolerate the insults directed at her, she could endure them with all her heart, but she couldn't tolerate the insults directed at Jimin. And on top of that, he's not on par with her, you beggar. For the first time, Ayoon was angry at her mother, the person she'd been so afraid of. And that anger only came back to her as an even bigger one.
“A beggar? You say he’s not worthy of the title? Why are you saying that, Mom? He’s so low-class. That’s just how you feel about being beggarly.”
A long silence from her mother. At that moment, Ayun guessed that it wouldn't end with just a slap.