My Girlfriend's Fortune: 3,141,592,653,589-Chapter 88: Thump thump!

TL: Aniea

She was embarrassed.

Kang Han-na tried her best to thoroughly hide the fact that she was from the orphanage while at school.

Of course, it wasn’t like she chose to be an orphan, nor was the orphanage a facility to be ashamed of. But the looks she got from others were always cold.

- An orphan?

- You don’t have parents?

- Uh... um... sorry. I don’t know what to say.

Most people would say “I’m sorry” when they found out she was an orphan. They themselves didn’t even seem to know what exactly they were sorry for.

After that, a wall would form between her and others, knowingly or unknowingly, and everyone found her difficult to approach.

‘...I’m the same as anyone else.’

Having grown up without ever knowing her parents’ faces, it didn’t matter to her what kind of people they were. She didn’t care whether they were dead or alive from the start.

But people treated her differently just because she didn’t have parents.

- My mom told me not to play with orphans.

There were those who discriminated against her outright.

- Sorry... something urgent just came up.

And some slowly distanced themselves from her.

- What the, you were there?

Most treated her like she was invisible. Kang Han-na, who had been especially sensitive to others’ emotions since childhood, noticed it easily.

Even the kids she once called “friends” weren’t any different. At some point, Kang Han-na closed the door to her heart.

'...It's exhausting.'

Not only gestures and body movements, but also the movement of eyes, even slight trembling of the legs.

Kang Han-na had a knack for sensing people’s emotions and the atmosphere around them, even when she didn’t want to.

The ever-changing emotions of people for the pettiest reasons. To feel all of that directly was nothing short of living hell.

Their casually thrown looks and words stabbed at her heart like sharp daggers.

- Hey... Han-na, could you listen to my problem for a bit? I’m thinking of giving the class president some homemade chocolates this Valentine’s Day...

But kids who had no way of knowing how she felt would often ask such clueless questions.

Instinctively sensing her uniqueness, they would come to her with love problems or even requests to get rid of ghosts.

- The class president likes me too, right? Right?

- .......

At first, she was excited at the thought that she could be of help to others, so she sincerely took on their problems and gave advice.

But that only lasted a day or two. She grew tired of being treated like a lie detector by kids who only came to her when they needed something.

Maybe that’s why.

One day, she got a little spiteful.

- He doesn’t like you.

- Huh? What did you just say...

- The class president doesn’t like you. Didn’t you notice he keeps his distance whenever you cling to him?

- Th-That can’t be true! Last year, he even bought me Pepero and we went to karaoke on Christmas Eve!

The moment she heard the teary, trembling voice that sounded like it might burst into sobs any second, guilt welled up deep inside her.

But the resentment that had built up to its limit overflowed like a dam breaking, and she poured out her emotions.

- Mi-jin went too, right?

- Huh? How did you...

- They’re dating. Probably have been for a few months now? The class president is only being nice to you because you’re Mi-jin’s friend.

- N-No way! I asked Mi-jin not long ago, and she said she didn’t have a boyfriend!

- That’s because it was so obvious you liked the class president. That’s also why they’ve been keeping their relationship a secret.

- .......

Kang Han-na still couldn’t forget the look on that friend’s face. Her face showed plainly the pain of losing both love and friendship.

Though she inwardly realized she had gone too far. Still, she hadn’t said anything wrong, so she wondered what the problem really was.

- Crazy bitch.

Smack-!

Before she even realized it, her head snapped to the side with a burning pain in her cheek. The one who struck her was none other than Mi-jin.

- It was you, wasn’t it?

Though the sentence was a mess with all the objects missing, Kang Han-na still got a rough grasp of how things had unfolded.

Kang Han-na touched her burning cheek and looked up at Mi-jin, who had just gifted her with a fiery slap.

Tremble-

Mi-jin’s body shook, and her gaze quivered. Her right hand flailed about, lost without direction. Finally, a teardrop rolled down her cheek.

She was the one who had been slapped out of nowhere, so why was Mi-jin the one crying like a victim?

‘I should be the angry one...’

Yet this damned talent of hers made her fully empathize with Mi-jin’s feelings too.

Mi-jin had genuinely cared for the friend she had consulted about earlier, and in her own way, she had tried hard not to hurt her.

- What do you know about me that you can just talk about my life like that?! Because of you... because of you... hngh!

- Mi-jin, are you okay?!

- Hey, Kang Han-na! Apologize right now!

- .......

No one cared whether what Kang Han-na had said was true or not. The entire process that had led up to this point had become meaningless.

What remained was the jagged blade of injustice, made up of sadness and anger swirling together. With no sheath to put it back into, the emotion couldn’t be withdrawn.

And so, someone had to be cut by it. Mi-jin, lacking the courage to wield it herself, ultimately turned the blade toward Kang Han-na.

What happened next was obvious. All sorts of dirty rumors about Kang Han-na spread around school, and she became even more isolated than before.

‘...Maybe it’s for the best.’

With her mind full of distrust in humanity, Kang Han-na let it be.

She laid her head down on her desk, shut off her eyes and ears, and distanced herself from the other kids.

Sometimes, the so-called bullies tried to mess with her. But fortunately, thanks to her quick thinking and high grades, she enjoyed the protection of her teachers.

‘...It’s all meaningless.’

She quietly graduated middle school and entered one of the most prestigious high schools in South Korea. But nothing really changed there either.

Even as she bit her lip every night against the deep loneliness that visited her, she never once reached out to the outside world.

Inside her cramped, dark room, hugging her knees alone, she sank deeper each day into a sea of depression.

- So you're Han-na.

- .......

It was then. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net

That light entered her world.

Kim Eun-ha.

With looks so pretty that even mid-tier celebrities would slap their own cheeks and cry out of jealousy, and the granddaughter of the chairman of South Korea’s top Mirae Group.

‘...The world is so unfair.’

She couldn't help but think that.

Just her very existence was so dazzling that Han-na didn’t even dare to look her in the eyes.

Why on earth would someone like that come to the orphanage? The answer popped into her head without a second thought.

‘...Obviously an image makeover. She’ll shine for about a week and disappear.’

She had new school uniforms made for the kids. Hired a professional nutritionist to revamp their diet. Even promised to renovate the worn-down orphanage.

Deep inside, Han-na thought it was a ridiculous waste of money, but the kids’ faces were so bright that she couldn’t say a thing.

Whatever Kim Eun-ha’s reasons for donating were, Han-na was still someone benefitting greatly from them.

- Studying again today?

- .......

- Han-na, you’re really a model student.

- .......

- A tablet PC with the full package of South Korea’s best online lectures. Don’t need it?

- ...Give it to me.

- Hoo-hoo. You finally spoke.

However, as time passed, Kim Eun-ha’s visits to the orphanage became more frequent.

From the melting snow, through the rainy season, as leaves fell, and until snow came again.

She didn’t come every day, but at least once every two weeks, she would show up to personally check on the kids. Sometimes, she even volunteered to do the dirty work.

- I’ll help with the dishes.

- Oh my, it’s okay!

- I may look like this, but I'm actually quite goo... ah!?

Clatter-!

Perhaps because she had grown up so sheltered, she was completely clumsy when it came to housework.

- Are you hurt!?

- It’s okay! I’ll clean- oops!

Crash-!

Shatter-!

Thud!

- .......

- Th-the dishes and furniture were, uh, really old! I was going to replace everything soon anyway, so I did it on purpose. On purpose! Ahaha...

Pfft-

Seeing her, so unlike herself, blushing red as she fumbled for excuses, a laugh escaped before she realized. Even someone that perfect could make mistakes.

- You just laughed, didn’t you?

- No, I didn’t.

- Wow, look at her lying without even batting an eye.

It was probably from that moment.

That she began to observe Kim Eun-ha closely. Out of pure curiosity about what kind of person she really was.

How she acted when playing with the kids, how she spoke with the nuns, and what she was like outside the orphanage. She even looked into those things.

Deep down, Kang Han-na also wanted to find the answer she hoped for, that Kim Eun-ha was just like everyone else, two-faced.

Whatever the reason, through that process, she naturally became familiar with Kim Eun-ha’s emotions, way of thinking, and behavioral patterns.

And in the end, she realized that Kim Eun-ha wasn’t volunteering just for the sake of image cleansing.

‘There’s not even a single promotional article.’

Volunteer work done by the rich was typically glorified by dozens, hundreds of news articles.

But no matter how much she searched, there was no mention of Kim Eun-ha volunteering at the orphanage.

‘...Then why?’

That question soon arose. And the answer quickly followed, as if trailing it like a shadow.

Though Mirae Group had strictly controlled her past, thanks to her own unique ability, Kang Han-na could fully understand who “Kim Eun-ha” was even from fragmented information.

‘...It’s trauma.’

Kim Eun-ha had lost her parents in an accident as a child. Unlike herself, who never had any from the start, Kim Eun-ha must have felt a fundamentally different kind of loss.

‘...A fire accident?’

Of course, she didn’t know the detailed circumstances of the accident.

But judging from the large-scale reconstruction of the house Eun-ha had lived in and her severe claustrophobia, Kang Han-na could picture the situation in her mind.

She also came to understand why Kim Eun-ha kept risking everything in dangerous power struggles, competing with relatives.

It was a secret far too enormous for Kang Han-na to bear, so she couldn’t bring herself to tell anyone.

Gulp-

The typhoon swirling within Mirae Group was far beyond anything she could control.

In fact, to avoid it, she deliberately turned her gaze and faced Kim Eun-ha.

‘...Amazing.’

She was genuinely impressed.

Even though the worries she had dealt with so far were nothing but childish trifles compared to the despair Kim Eun-ha was enduring,

She stood tall without wavering, raised her head against injustice, seeing that made Kang Han-na admire her.

She was jealous.

Jealous of someone who, despite harboring such dark emotions inside, could completely control herself and reveal none of it outwardly.

So she copied Kim Eun-ha.

And copied, and copied again.

Dreaming of the day she too would shine like her.

- Think of it like wearing a mask.

The voice of Kang Woo-ju echoed in her ears.

He really was a warm person.

Though he acted cold on the outside, he couldn’t fool her eyes.

If ever the phrase “kind at heart” applied to someone, it was him. In some ways, he was the complete opposite of herself... no, of Kim Eun-ha.

Inhale- exhale.

She took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts. Following his advice, she imagined placing the “Kim Eun-ha” mask over her own skin.

“Ah-”

Thump thump!

No matter how many deep breaths she took, her heart kept pounding out of control. The more she immersed herself into the role of Kim Eun-ha, the wilder it beat.

‘...Whose feelings are these?’

Twitch-

At the sudden question that popped into her mind, the corners of her mouth twitched. She almost laughed out loud.

No, don’t. I can’t.

I can copy everything else, but this one thing, I absolutely must not take. I don’t want to be hated.

She shook her head once to cast out the idle thoughts. Forcing her heavy eyelids open, she gazed upon a new world, a new universe.

"Is this how I do it?"

“.......”

A heavy silence settled around her.

Having lived her life blocking her ears from the constant noise of people, Kang Han-na found this silence so lovely that she couldn’t help but let the corners of her mouth lift.

*****

For more chapters check out my patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anieatl

If you enjoy this novel, please review and rate it at Novelupdates. Thanks! 😊