Chapter 128: How a Genius Loves (3)
“Noa. I’ve liked you since we were little.”
At my confession, Arimura Noa made an indifferent expression.
“Hmm…”
She pondered for a long time before finally speaking.
“Sorry, but you’re really not boyfriend material.”
“Ah… I’m sorry.”
At Arimura Noa’s rejection, Honda Daisuke hurriedly turned around and ran home.
On the way back, tears streamed endlessly from my eyes.
Until I started university, I stayed shut inside the house, phone turned off, living like a shut-in.
I obsessively analyzed why I was rejected, what I lacked.
Becoming an idol or a professional athlete—either one is incredibly difficult, yet I had achieved both.
But no answer came, and the conclusion I reached was simply that I wasn’t Arimura Noa’s type.
When I finally sorted out my feelings and stepped outside again, it had become a slightly chilly spring day after the cold snow had melted.
Since my confession had been rejected, I now had to go to university alone.
‘If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve just gone to the school I originally wanted instead of applying down.’
I had been so certain she would accept my confession.
Otherwise, there would’ve been no reason for her to stick with me all those years.
But the result was rejection.
I thought sadly that our connection had come to an end.
At least, that was what I thought—until I heard the voice calling from behind on the university entrance ceremony day.
“Hey! Minion. Let’s go together.”
“…”
Arimura Noa called out to me in her usual tone, as if making all my worries meaningless.
But I avoided her and ran away, and she chased after me like crazy.
After safely finishing classes and heading home,
She was waiting in front of my house.
“Hey, why are you avoiding me? Is it because I rejected your confession?”
“What?”
The face of Arimura Noa, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, had become even more beautiful.
The new clothes she bought for university, the makeup she started wearing as an adult—seeing her again made my heart waver once more.
“What do you mean ‘what’? We’ve been friends for thirteen years, and you suddenly confess? How am I supposed to react?”
“…”
“No answer?”
“If you’ve said everything you wanted to say, can you leave now? I’m tired.”
I answered coldly, went inside the house, and collapsed.
My face felt like it was about to burst.
“Why did she get even prettier….”
I thought I had given up, but the moment I saw her again, my heart started pounding wildly.
While I tried to calm my racing heart, I heard Arimura Noa shouting from outside the door.
“Hey! Tomorrow we’re going to school together! Got it?”
I didn’t reply, but my heart had already tilted heavily.
Like a fool…
The next morning.
I woke up with dark circles under my eyes.
Last night, thoughts of Arimura Noa’s face and voice, and the idea of being with her again, had kept me awake.
No matter how I thought about it, I felt like an idiot.
I thought I was a genius, but in the end, I was just a fool who couldn’t even control his own feelings.
“Sigh…”
When I stepped outside for class, Arimura Noa was standing there—looking slightly different from yesterday.
“Hey, hurry up. I’m going to be late.”
“Huh? Uh…”
As we walked to university together, Arimura Noa asked curiously.
“By the way, don’t you ever ride a car?”
“It’s just… the university is close, and…”
“You have plenty of money—buy one. I’ll ride with you too.”
“Got it… I’ll think about it.”
I almost answered “Got it” right away, but barely managed to change it to “I’ll think about it.”
After that, my relationship with Arimura Noa remained exactly what it had always been—close friends, nothing more and nothing less.
We just went to university together and ate meals when our schedules aligned.
Then one day, while driving to school in my newly bought car, Arimura Noa suddenly shouted as if something had just occurred to her.
“Hey! I’ve been set up on a blind date.”
“…”
“Ah, did I say something I shouldn’t have? Do you still like me?”
“…”
At my silence, Arimura Noa also fell quiet, and the inside of the car was filled with silence all the way to school.
As revenge for her casually bringing up a blind date in front of someone she had already rejected, I didn’t wait for her that day and went home alone.
The next morning.
“Hey! Are you going to keep leaving early every day just because I mentioned a blind date?”
Of course, since she had been waiting in front of my house every morning, a confrontation was unavoidable.
“Why didn’t you just ask your blind date guy to pick you up?”
“Come on, don’t be so petty… What’s that supposed to mean? Anyway, I already dumped that blind date guy. His face was my type, but he was kind of dumb. I think I prefer someone smart. What about a lawyer or a doctor? Isn’t that super sexy?”
“It’ll probably change again anyway.”
“Come on, dating and marriage are different. I think being a housewife suits me perfectly.”
In that moment, the word “marriage” lodged itself firmly in my mind.
‘Marriage?’
I was in law school, after all—I could become the lawyer she wanted.
Because I was a genius.
With a new goal in sight, from that day on, I ran toward marriage with single-minded focus.
Even when she occasionally got new boyfriends in between, I stayed by her side, thinking only of marriage.
Of course, very few people could handle Arimura Noa’s high standards, so most of her relationships ended quickly.
Time passed, and I turned 28.
Excluding early graduation, I had gone through university and law school at a normal pace, taken the bar exam, and become a lawyer at the youngest possible age.
I had achieved it.
I could have graduated early, but I deliberately took the normal route so I could attend the same school as Arimura Noa.
Now that I was finally a lawyer, it was time to confess to her once again.
Not dating—marriage.
But the first news I heard was of her upcoming wedding.
“Hey, I’m getting married. You’re coming, right? And since you’re loaded, make sure the congratulatory money is generous. Oh, and sing me an congratulatory song too. You sing well, don’t you?”
“…”
The wedding invitation she handed me during our first meeting in a long while (due to my judicial training) showed a photo of her in a wedding dress next to a man.
The man in the picture was less handsome than me and had less money—just an ordinary guy.
“Why are you getting married? You always liked good-looking guys.”
“Ah… Turns out looks don’t matter that much. This guy makes me feel at ease. He doesn’t have mood swings like me, and he accepts everything. He’s just… comfortably ordinary.”
“Fuck.”
For the first time, I cursed at her and stormed out.
“Hey, where are you going?!”
I couldn’t understand what that man had that I didn’t.
For over twenty years, I had been by Arimura Noa’s side, accepting and taking care of her.
Yet in the end, no matter what I did, I could never become more than a friend to her.
The realization brought an overwhelming sense of powerlessness.
After hearing about her marriage, I drowned myself in alcohol.
Naturally, I didn’t attend her wedding.
The very idea of her asking me to sing a congratulatory song made me furious.
After that day, dozens of missed calls and messages from Arimura Noa piled up on my smartphone.
But I ignored every one of them.
I thought our connection had finally been severed.
Then, on the day of her wedding, a photo arrived from her.
In the picture, she was smiling happily.
“Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!”
The only way I could endure after seeing that photo was alcohol.
I drank myself to sleep, and when I sobered up, I drank again.
Eventually, I ran out of liquor at home and had to go to the nearby mart to buy more.
While going downstairs from my second-floor bedroom to get alcohol, I missed a step.
In that instant, my body tumbled down the stairs and crashed to the floor, but thanks to the alcohol, I didn’t feel any pain at all.
Only my consciousness grew hazy.
Even in my drunken, foggy state, one thing was crystal clear.
Death was approaching…
‘I guess… I’m going to die… Will she come to my funeral at least?’
With those final thoughts of Arimura Noa—who had never once chosen me—I faded away quietly.
And if there really is a next life…
I vowed never to love like this again.
***
While watching the movie, Kim Si-woo thought it had turned out better than expected, but Lee Hae-soo became lost in thought.
‘Why does he go that far and still get rejected? And on top of that, he’s handsome, talented, kind… He’s basically exactly like Writer Kim Si-woo.’
Lee Hae-soo had fallen completely under the spell of the story.
‘Could it be that Writer-nim’s ideal type is someone like her?’
She began projecting Kim Si-woo onto the movie, letting her imagination run wild.
Crunch.
While she was lost in her daydreams, the sound of popcorn came from Kim Si-woo’s mouth.
When Lee Hae-soo turned her head at the noise, she saw Arimura Noa reaching into Kim Si-woo’s popcorn bucket—her hand overlapping with his. Jealousy flared up instantly.
‘That woman…’
Perhaps because of the movie she had just watched, her jealousy toward Arimura Noa burned hotter, making her seem even more unlikable.
‘I’m sure she’s just as bad a person as the one in the movie.’
With that, she turned her head back and forced herself to focus on the screen.
***
I, who thought I had died, opened my eyes.
It didn’t take long to realize I had returned to the past.
A light body and mind.
A familiar ceiling.
I had opened my eyes not in a hospital, but in my old bedroom.
The face I saw in the bathroom mirror was much younger, and the sharp pain when I pinched my cheek proved this wasn’t a dream.
‘High school? Or college?’
I had definitely gone back in time, but to find out exactly when, I checked my smartphone.
“…Senior year of high school.”
Back in my third year of high school, I dazedly ate breakfast, recalling memories of the past, and walked to school.
But differently from before.
On the familiar route, I arrived at high school. Students were already sitting around, and I naturally took my usual seat.
Even after so much time, I hadn’t forgotten my spot.
No—more precisely, I hadn’t forgotten Arimura Noa’s seat.
Because mine was positioned perfectly to see her clearly.
I opened my notebook, picked up a pencil, and began jotting things down.
A new life had been given to me.
I needed to plan how I would live from now on.
Should I go back to being an idol… or become a baseball player… or perhaps choose law or an entirely new career?
While I was lost in those thoughts, scribbling away, a familiar voice came from behind.
“Hey! Minion. What’s with you today! How could you leave first without even saying anything!”
It was a voice I could never forget, no matter how much I wanted to.
The first girl I ever liked.
The last girl I ever loved.
And… the girl I had come to utterly despise.
It was Arimura Noa.
“I’m just… planning to come to school early from now on.”
“What? Suddenly? Is it because you’re in third year? Just go with me like always. Come on? Walking to school alone is so boring.”
Arimura Noa suggested we go together at the usual time, just like before.
The old me would have been overjoyed at the offer and accepted immediately.
But not anymore.
“No thanks.”
At my short, emotionless reply, Arimura Noa looked greatly flustered.
“What? What’s wrong with you all of a sudden? Did I do something? Is it because I stole your ice cream last time? Come on, don’t be petty—I’ll buy you one today. Happy now? So just come with me…”
“I said no.”
Hearing my firm rejection, Arimura Noa’s face filled with confusion. Soon, looking hurt, she returned to her own seat.
“Fine. Do whatever you want, you loser.”
That day, at lunch and after school, I didn’t exchange a single word with Arimura Noa.
I even went home alone instead of waiting for her.
When I arrived home, I resolved to gradually distance myself from her and went to bed.
Completely unaware of what kind of butterfly effect this small action would bring.
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TL Note:
This novel is now translated and finished at Chapter 176
If you’d like to continue right away, the remaining 48 chapters are available on My Patreon Premium tier, along with extra chapters from my other 5 ongoing translated novels.
There’s also a Plus tier with 48 advance chapters, updated at 7 chapters per week.
Link: https://www.patreon.com/cw/Vritratls
For this novel specifically, check the collection under “Genius Writer”
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