Who Is The Liar?

Chapter 53. The Sound Youth Makes When It Drowns (9)

Eunkyo couldn’t believe her eyes, no matter how many times she blinked.

A pounding, uneasy throb rattled in her chest and echoed in her head. She hadn’t done anything wrong, but it felt like something was chasing her—an intense, irrational pressure.

‘Could it really be… Lee Dohyun? No. Maybe it wasn’t.’

Three years had passed—he might have changed his number. And if it was him, maybe that bastard had called her by mistake.

Three years had already gone by. What remained wasn’t love, but a lingering attachment.

Even while staring at his number, Eunkyo couldn’t believe it.

She had started avoiding that name, pushing it away, ever since she opened Café Haeda.

Lee Dohyun was the man who had drowned the brightest moment of her youth.

Back then, she hadn’t even been able to scream. No—she had screamed, but no one heard her.

She had submerged herself in ice-cold water, wrapped her own hands around her neck, crying for help.

Quietly. So no one could hear.

Have you ever heard the sound youth makes when it drowns?

Have you ever covered your ears while sinking into depression?

Obsessed with love, she had lost her appetite, her laughter, her friends. As she stood on the edge of giving up everything that mattered, it was Kim Haeda who reached down and pulled her back up.

In the moment her parents didn’t even reach out their hands, Haeda did—and held her tight.

「I’m home. Where are you?」

She relaxed and texted Haeda, who immediately called.

– Great. You vanish out of nowhere, drive people crazy, and now you’re staying out overnight?

Eunkyo pouted, rolling over with a dramatic sigh.

“We’re over thirty, you know. Isn’t this a little much? Why’d you turn me down when I proposed, if you were gonna act like this?”

– Oh, come on! Just wait at home. Don’t do anything stupid, Jung Eunkyo.

“What stupid thing?”

– Just wait. I’m coming over. Did you eat?

“I’m not hungry… Can you bring some pain patches? My body’s aching all over.”

Haeda clicked his tongue and hung up. He was born in the wrong body—should’ve been a woman. That way, she could ask him to hold her when she felt like this.

Hold her tight.

Like last night…

She bit her lip, brushing her arm, chilled by the air conditioner. Cold, and hot at the same time.

***

“Tch… I was too easy on her.”

Jaeheon’s muttering dissolved into the silence. It was fun, she said. Spend time with your friends, she said…

He let out a dry laugh and stared at the cigarette butts scattered on the ground outside the building entrance.

All the same brand.

It meant one person had stood here for a long time, waiting.

He knew one chain-smoking, obsessive bastard who would do exactly that.

Jaeheon returned to his car and started the engine. As it warmed up, a message came through from his friend Byungjoon.

「You’re really not coming? Everyone’s looking for you. At least show your face.」

He felt like a kid pretending to be an adult. That’s what this was.

He’d never felt like this with people his own age. They had always seemed small, insignificant—he never thought of his relationships with them as important.

Childish, really.

They were just kids, with fickle moods and bursts of chaotic energy that annoyed him. He laughed along, played along, but always kept his distance. He didn’t want to be part of their world. He fooled himself into thinking that made him an adult.

But with Jung Eunkyo, it was the opposite.

He was the one whining, the one bursting with energy for no reason, the one struggling with unpredictable feelings.

Her every glance, every word—sent his emotions swinging from heaven to hell.

‘This isn’t why I waited for her.’

The time he spent trying to catch up to her—every step—was starting to feel unstable.

Staring at the darkened café, he finally called Byungjoon.

– Hey! Jaeheon! Where are you, man?

He could hear others crowding around, excited to hear from him.

Jaeheon chuckled and said,

“Hey, Byungjoon. Do you know Kim Seontae? From Computer Science. Two years younger than us, hasn’t returned from leave yet.”

– Kim Seontae? Oh… yeah, the pretty-looking guy?

“Yeah, the pretty-looking one. Do you happen to have his number?”