BJ Villainess

As I stared coldly, Chae Bohyeon became more aggressive.

“Is it so hard to pick up something right in front of you? You’re getting to live in a nice house for free, so you should at least do that much.”

I noticed the hired maids hesitating and not passing by due to the sudden commotion.

I picked up the broken metronome and placed it on the piano. Chae Bohyeon then threw it again.

“

, I made a mistake again. Can you bring it to me? You know I can’t practice without a metronome.” As expected of someone who would later get involved in school violence, he was quite good at being a b*stard.

Picking it up again wasn’t difficult. It didn’t hurt my pride, and I just found Chae Bohyeon amusing. However, I had no intention of continuing this game of fetching like a trained dog.

“No. I don’t think so.”

Chae Bohyeon got up from the piano bench and stood in front of me, displeased with my response. “You’ll regret it if you don’t pick it up. I’m going to tell Mom right away.” He deliberately provoked me, involving our mother, and showed how much studying abroad meant to him.

I sneered. “Can you still not play without a metronome? You should practice more. If you were any good, you’d already be studying abroad.”

Chae Bohyeon’s expression changed dramatically. “What did you just say?”

“I said, if you want to play the piano well, you should practice instead of thinking about studying abroad. Do you know how much I hate listening to your Chopin? Even I could play better than that.”

“Hey.”

I pushed Chae Bohyeon, who was approaching threateningly and stood in front of the piano.

“Hey!”

Then I pressed the keys.

“Do you want to die? Don’t touch my piano while I’m being nice.”

“You always mess up here.”

Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor. It was the piece Chae Bohyeon was intensely practicing, aiming to participate in the Chopin International Piano Competition before adulthood.

I deliberately played the part where Chae Bohyeon always yelled and banged the keys. Even though it was my first time playing the piano, the performance was unusually smooth.

Honestly, I had anticipated this. Although I had never learned piano before returning, why was this happening? It was puzzling but not unpleasant.

For the past ten years or over twenty years, including before my regression, I had been tormented by dreadful performances. So much to the point that I began to dislike the sound of the piano, but not anymore.

I finished the short performance and lifted my hands from the keys, feeling very light-hearted. “See? It’s easy.”

Chae Bohyeon, almost on the verge of fainting, yelled with his shoulders shaking. “Get off my piano-!” And he didn’t stop there but lunged at me with a devilish expression.

Predicting a punch, I coldly warned him. “You’d better stop if you don’t want to regret it.”

“…!”

At my chilling warning, Chae Bohyeon, unbelievably, froze with his fist raised right in front of me. His eyes shook with shock. “You, your eye color…”

While Chae Bohyeon muttered incomprehensibly in a hoarse voice, I quickly headed for the entrance. Even though I pretended to scare Chae Bohyeon, I knew I couldn’t physically fight him off. Cursing inwardly, I fled the house and hid in the busy streets.

I made a mistake. I had managed to stay safe by minimizing conflicts with the Chae siblings based on my memories before returning.

“Just two more years until adulthood.”

With the end so close, I finally caused trouble.

Even though Chae Bohyeon ignored me, we didn’t have much interaction, and now it would be hard to stay safe at home.

Despite the house being large, I only hid in my room. Unless I was running errands, I didn’t even go to the second floor. But ironically, the moments when my stepfather was around were the most comfortable for me to move around.

Wandering aimlessly, I found myself in a bustling area. I headed towards a nearby internet cafe as initially planned and saw a familiar back.

“

? Chae Jiwon?”

“Jin Wonwoo.”

It seemed Jin Wonwoo was also heading to the internet cafe with his friends as we met right in front of the elevator.

“Are you going to the internet cafe too?”

I nodded and awkwardly greeted Jin Wonwoo’s curious friends. “Hello.”

The boys, excited, repeatedly exclaimed, “

, awesome,” or “Crazy.”

“It’s my first time greeting Chae Jiwon.”

“Me too.”

“I’m Kwon Eunmin, do you remember? We were in the same class last year.”

“

…”

Jin Wonwoo, embarrassed, pretended to punch his friends. “Hey, stop it, you idiots. It’s so embarrassing.”

Just then, the elevator doors opened, and we all crowded in. Even with just five of us, the elevator felt cramped, so I hunched my shoulders.

Jin Wonwoo pulled me to a spacious spot and asked. “So, what are you going to do at the internet cafe?” His tone suggested he couldn’t imagine me playing games.

“I’m here to play games, of course. What else?”

“

, what game are you going to play?”

“Anything. Maybe some LoL since it’s been a while.”

“

? We’re going to play that too. What’s your tier?”

“Unranked, probably. I didn’t do placements last season.”

The boys reacted as if it wasn’t surprising at all. It seemed they didn’t consider the possibility that I could be good at games.

“Do you want to play with us? Jin Wonwoo will carry you. He’s a Diamond.”

Diamond? I smirked.

“Sure.”

How laughable.

So, the five of us sat down and launched the game. It was an hour later.  The boys gathered around my seat with disbelief in their eyes.

“What the heck? Why are you so good?”

“Did you see that dodging? How did you do that?”

“

, look! I searched, and Chae Jiwon was a Master last season!”

I struggled to maintain a haughty expression to hide my twitching lips. “It’s nothing. I might not reach that tier again since I don’t have much time to play anymore.” I felt a bit cool, even to myself.

[Sender: The Ugly Side of 18 Years Old Jiwoo]

[Look at you, pretending it wasn’t hard after trying your best at the game

ㅋㅋ

. So childish.]

Trying my best? It was just my usual skill.

“Hey, hey, let’s start the next game quickly.”

The boys excitedly returned to their seats. At that moment, all their phones, except mine, rang simultaneously.

“What? My mom’s calling.”

“

? Mine too.”

“

, Mom. What is it?”

I watched them regretfully end their calls.

“I have to go home. My grandma just arrived and wants us to eat together.”

“Damn it. My brother broke the computer. I have to go fix it.”

“I have to go home too.”

Suddenly, they were all leaving.

Just as I was getting into it, a sense of regret washed over me.

Jin Wonwoo ended his call and asked me. “Are you going to keep playing?”

“Yeah. Do you have to go home?”

Jin Wonwoo scratched his cheek and nodded. “Yeah. Sorry.”

“Why are you sorry? I came here alone anyway. Go on.”

“Okay, see you on Monday.”

The boys left the internet cafe in a group, and I returned to my seat to continue the game. But ironically, playing alone didn’t feel fun anymore. I even lost, making it worse.

I had nowhere to go, and all the money I had was 10,000 won, so there wasn’t much I could do.

“Should I go to the bookstore?”

Reading a book seemed more fun than playing games.

At that moment, my phone lit up with the word ‘Oz.’

Yesterday’s events replayed in my mind, making my face heat up. I wanted to quickly change his contact name to Ozworld, but the person in question didn’t give up calling me. 

I sighed, put my phone on silent, and turned it over.

Then Jin Wonwoo came back.

“You’re still here. Thank goodness.”

“Don’t you need to go home?”

Looking puzzled, Jin Wonwoo casually sat next to me and answered. “It wasn’t a big deal, so I decided to stay longer.”

“Really?”

Strangely, hearing that lifted my mood, and I couldn’t help but smile. Despite not being a kid, I was excited to have a friend to play games with.

Jin Wonwoo didn’t log into the game but just stared at me. “I’ve never seen you smile like that.”