ReLife Player

Unlocked chapter (8/13)

[Star, star, star (2)]

Minji ran away from home.

After hearing the story from Minji’s mother, the family searched the neighborhood for Minji in the middle of the night.

«Hello? Yes, mom. I found Minji. Here’s where I am….»

Minji was at a park playground not far from their house.

As soon as Eunha and Euna spotted her, Euna immediately called her mother.

«I… Should I wait here?»

After ending the call, Euna looked at the slide.

Minji’s concerns would be resolved somehow by Eunha.

Sneaking up on them unnecessarily could make it uncomfortable for her to speak.

She decided to wait.

«That’s Eunha’s star, my star…, and next to it is Eunae’s star….»

The stars are very clear tonight.

Looking up at the night sky, Euna labeled each nameless star with the names of people she knew.

The reason why the night sky is so bright is because the moon is out and there are so many stars shining.

Not because any one of them is particularly bright.

«…….»

There are as many stars as there are people.

Euna vowed to herself again.

She wanted to become a player to protect those stars.

☆

«Everyone’s looking for you. Why aren’t you home?»

«…I don’t know, I’m not going in.»

Minji shook her head and turned away as if to say don’t talk to me.

Eunha, leaning back against the railing, smirked at her behavior.

Eunha could see that she was being stubborn.

They had been childhood friends since they were very young, so there was no way he wouldn’t recognize Minji’s behavior.

«Okay, then don’t go in. Sleeping here will be a memory for later.»

«…….»

Biting her lip, Minji buried her head between her legs.

He wouldn’t comfort her, but she couldn’t help but feel sick to her stomach.

No Eunha, you bastard, if Hayang was like this, you’d be worried about her…!

Of course, Minji would have been worried too if she heard that Hayang had run away.

The thought of her walking the streets at night, alone, when she’d been so scared and prone to crying since she was a little girl, was enough to make her worry.

On the other hand, Seona seemed unexpectedly strong-willed and lively, so I would feel less worried about her.

As for Eunhyuk, he seemed to be able to find his way home on his own, even if she didn’t have to look for him.

No matter what…, isn’t it okay to worry a little?

Even after a while, Eunha was still watching, and she felt a surge of unnecessary resentment.

She buried her face between her legs and snapped at him.

«If you’re going to do this, why are you here? Leave me alone.»

«I’m not here for anything. I came to see you.»

Despite the tinge of resentment in her voice, Eunha retorted cheerfully.

It was the kind of condescension that made her want to dig her fingernails in.

«You’re just going to stand there and watch?»

«Well, what else are you going to do?»

«I thought you were here to convince me! Are you really just going to stand there and watch?»

Minji raised her head in disbelief and screamed.

She was burning with anger inside.

Once she started speaking, the next words were just a matter of time.

«Why don’t you care why I left!? You came here just to see me like this!?»

She poured out the words she had kept inside like a waterfall.

She was out of breath.

She stood up from the slide and faced Eunha, her shoulders bouncing up and down.

Eunha, who had been listening as if he had been waiting for this moment, spoke.

«Of course, I came to find you because I was worried. Your mom told me the reason you left a long time ago.»

«Is that supposed to make me feel better? If you were worried, you could’ve at least pretended to care. What good does it do if you worry and don’t show it?»

«So if it makes you feel better, I’ll listen… but it won’t.»

«…….»

He was right.

I didn’t run out of my house to have someone worry about me.

Even if she asked Eunha to comfort her, she knew there was nothing he could do.

«Did you say everything you wanted to say?»

Eunha asked under the stars.

Only then did Minji realize that she had been acting in a way that seemed to vent all her pent-up frustrations.

Even though Eunha was irritating for keeping his calm, that was their usual dynamic.

Regret flooded in as she remembered the harsh words she had spewed out at Eunha unexpectedly.

Minji, feeling pathetic, covered her face with both hands and slumped down.

«…I want to be a player, but my mom says players are dangerous.»

«Your mom told me. Why do you want to be a player?»

She wasn’t expecting a solution.

This issue was between her and her parents.

Minji just brought up the topic of her future and her argument with her parents.

Then Eunha asked a question, and Minji realized that she hadn’t explained her true reasons.

Instead of revealing her various reasons for wanting to become a player, she simply blurted out that she wanted to be a player without providing any proper explanation.

«…….»

«Mukminji? What’s wrong? Why did you stop talking?»

«I want to live freely… I want to live as myself. I want people in the world… to know me and…»

I want to stand side by side with you.

Minji, who had kept her mouth shut, spoke up.

There were so many reasons why she wanted to become a player that she couldn’t put it into one word.

But to her parents, she only wanted to be a player because she wanted to live freely.

Her parents didn’t tell her the real reason either, just that she should pursue a stable and happy life.

Yet, she had simply stated that she wanted to be a player without explaining her complex feelings.

«I…, I didn’t tell my parents why I want to be a player….»

«You should have told them. What would they think if you just said you wanted to be a player? Why didn’t you tell them?»

«Well…, I thought mom and dad would understand.»

«That’s not true. How can your parents understand how you feel?»

«Yeah….»

Minji agreed with a despondent tone.

She hadn’t understood how her parents felt, even though she had thought she did.

«If I told them now…would they understand?»

«I don’t know, it’s not your mind, it’s your parents’ mind.»

«Yeah….»

As much as she didn’t understand her own feelings, she couldn’t accept how her parents had decided her path.

«…A hyung I know once said something like this.»

«A hyung you know? The one who thinks he’s more handsome than Hyun Bin?»

«What are you expecting from Geum-joon?»

«Well….»

Eunha suddenly changed the subject.

Minji, her legs stretched out, looked up at the night sky.

The sounds of crickets filled the night, and there were so many stars tonight.

«The hardest thing in this world is to know your own heart, and the second is to know the heart of another.»

«…….»

«It is a great mistake to think that you know your parents’ minds when you don’t really know your own.

Or vice versa, to think that you know your parents’ minds.»

«…I see.»

Minji accepted, unable to retort.

If she didn’t know her own mind, how could anyone else know her mind?

On the contrary, it was arrogance to think that you could understand someone else’s mind without knowing your own.

At the root of her parents’ never-ending arguments was the misunderstanding that they thought they understood each other.

There was no way the other person would understand if you just asserted your point without explaining why.

«There are a lot of stars, aren’t there?»

«Why stars?»

«That hyung, he said so. If you look up like this, the stars seem to be densely packed in the night sky, but the distance between them is immeasurable.»

«…Eunha»

«What?»

«You, when you get down to it, your emotions are quite childish, aren’t they?»

«What? Hey, Mukminji, what did you just say? I gave you advice that could be the bone and flesh of your life, and what? Now you say my emotions are childish?»

«Ah, it’s so childish. If I say you’re childish, you’re childish.»

Minji burst into laughter.

Although Eunha was getting annoyed and was about to retort, she no longer paid attention to what he was saying.

She gazed blankly at the night sky.

It suddenly occurred to her that the stars were shining lonely.

It occurred to her that the stars, which seem so close when viewed from the slide, could be so far away that a human being could spend all his life running to reach them.

Maybe it’s the same with people.

We may seem to be right next to each other, but we may actually be so far away that we can’t understand each other.

Maybe the gap was something that couldn’t be overcome.

«But, if you listen to your childish words… people might live lonely, unable to understand someone and die alone without meeting someone who understands them.»

«Uh, could that be true? Well, whatever. Anyway, when I enter the grave, I’ll be entering alone, right?»

«…….»

Unable to find a suitable answer, Eunha slid down the slide.

Even though he could feel a stare on him, he pretended not to notice and continued to slide down.

Then, when the silence became uncomfortable, he groaned and rolled his eyes.

Finally, the answer he gave had the feeling of «I don’t know» written all over it.

«That’s why the stars are shining! It’s like saying ‘I’m here, look at me’

Burning one’s own life brightly and sending signals to the distant stars. The distance might still not narrow, but perhaps the light emitted by the star reaches other stars, right?»

«No Eunha, be honest. You’re just talking nonsense as it comes to your mind, right?»

«It’s not like that.»

«Don’t lie. I’ve known you for ten years. Even if you act like someone else, can you deceive my eyes? «

«Ha, are you pretending to be Kim Minji again?»

Eunha clicked his tongue.

Minji, seeing Eunha pouting his lips, finally burst into laughter.

It was a plausible excuse for Eunha.

Laughing heartily, she wiped away the tears forming in her eyes.

«Your words might be right.»

Perhaps people might never fully understand someone else.

It wasn’t entirely impossible to understand others.

People might live to show only a very small part of themselves.

Maybe people lived to show that part.

So, she wanted to shine brilliantly. More than anyone else, like him.

Like the stars shining under the moonlight.

«…I want to be a player. No, I will be.»

«Do whatever you want.»

«You won’t stop me?»

«It’s a once-in-a-lifetime life anyway. Just live as you want.»

«…You said you didn’t want Euna unnie to become a player. Are you sure you won’t stop me?»

«Why are you like this? Noona’s life is mine. Is Noona’s life the same as yours? Ah, Eunae’s life is, of course, mine too.»

«…My mom said that if you keep talking nonsense, it becomes a habit. Has the ‘siscon’ reacher this far?»

Minji looked like she was waking up when Eunha, who turned his head back, looked confident.

Minji faked a yawn and turned to see a car with its headlights on slowly approaching the park.

«Kim Minji!»

«Minji-ya!»

It was her parents.

As soon as her parents got out of the car, she spotted her parents running towards her.

«Eunha.»

«What?»

«I’ll try talking to my parents properly this time. I’ll tell them why I want to become a player.»

«Sure, go ahead. If it’s you, Minji, you can handle it without my help.»

Minji’s parents came right up to them. Seeing Eunha avoiding them, she decided it was time to stop running away.

Now it was Minji and her parents’ turn to resolve this.

«Do you know how worried I was when you suddenly ran away?»

«No matter how angry you are, you can’t leave the house!»

From afar, her parents’ voices, filled with concern, reached Eunha’s ears. They had been anxious throughout the time they spent searching for Minji.

In fact, when Eunha heard that Minji had left home, he was also incredibly worried.

«Yeah. There are so many stars tonight.»

«Yes! Isn’t it beautiful? I wish I could show it to Eunae, but it’s too bad.»

Eunha walked over to Euna, who was leaning against the wall in a dark residential area.

She was texting her friends when she smiled and hugged him from behind.

Together, they looked up at the night sky.

There were so many stars.

As if to say there were as many ways of life as there were stars.

«Eunha.»

«What?»

«What kind of life do you want to live?»

«Well… What about you, Noona?»

«I want to live happily with Mom, Dad, you, and Eunae for the rest of my life!»

«Wouldn’t it be hard to live together until we die? What will you do when I grow up and have a girlfriend and get married?»

«Hmm….»

He tore his gaze away from the night sky and smirked. She looked down at him, adding strength to her voice.

«Then I’ll move into your house and live there. I’ll be like a nosy big sister, making sure my little brother can’t live his life freely. 24/7 surveillance!»

«That’s a bit scary. Are you telling me not to get married at all?»

«Eunha, even if you get married, besides Mom and Dad, I’ll be the one who loves you the most in this world. You must never neglect me!»

«Even if the world is split into two, it won’t happen. Even though the world has already been split into two.»

Euna’s words were truly heartwarming.

Leaning backward, Eunha snuggled into her embrace.

«So, Eunha, what kind of life do you want to live?»

«I’m the same as you. I want to be happy with my family, and-«

He paused for a moment.

Lost in thought, he spoke with a hint of bitterness in his tone.

«─When I die, I want to die saying that I had a happy life with no regrets.»