Storyteller | JHS ✓

Chapter ten; Hope World

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𝙼𝚢 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎

𝙰 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚟𝚒𝚋𝚎

𝙰 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚊 𝚗𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚢𝚙𝚎

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He exhaled the final words through a wistful breath as if he was saying goodbye to yet another friend, and by telling me this story, he was letting them go.

At this point, he might as well be since none of the previous characters had ever made a re-appearance. Except for Kim Namjoon. If Hope really did use the method of story-telling to forget, then why did he want to erase this "Kim Namjoon" so much? Why can't he succeed?

Hope suddenly cleared his throat, "Christ, I haven't talked that long in ages. I need some herbal tea."

Despite this statement, he never made any movements to get the said, tea.

"Your voice sounds fine. In fact, I'm going to bring you a parfait so that your voice and everyone else's voice are that of the same."

He shoots me a weird stare, "Girl, just say you like my voice and go."

I cleared my throat as my cheeks flushed, "Anyway, I can't figure out who was the real villain in your story."

My attempt at changing the subject went noticed, although Hope didn't say anything about it. But it was something that bothered me all throughout the story. Who was the villain in the story of the two manufacturers?

I continued when I received no response, "It has to be Isabel, right? I mean, she purposely pinpointed their weaknesses and used them against them. Jimin's was being a simp, and Namjoon's was being afraid of imperfection. She was the one who brought them to ruin."

"Well," he began, clearly unsure, "That's entirely debatable. But how did Isabel benefit from ruining their careers?"

"I mean...maybe less competition? Namjoon was 'Korea's most eligible bachelor,' after all."

"But what was she competing against them for?" A wicked smile crept onto his features, similar to a truant schoolboy provoking his teacher.

Fake-irritation laced my voice, "I don't know, you made the story, didn't you?"

He looked out towards the window where the moon shone, "Sometimes, even the author doesn't know all the answers. Jimin being a 'simp' and Namjoon being afraid of imperfection wasn't it. If Jimin hadn't been so shallow, then he wouldn't have been brought to ruin, for the only reasonable assumption would be that he only liked Isabel for her looks. She never said any polite words to him, and made no attempts to get to know him personally. And yet, he fell head over heels for her."

I pondered over his words: it was true. Isabel left the shop after she had done her business without even a backward glance. She barely even exchanged words with him. And even so, Park Jimin still stumbled after her wake, trying to please her.

It reminded me of someone I knew--someone I once knew very well--but not anymore.

"But," I started, "what about Namjoon? Is feeling insecure about one's imperfection truly a flaw?"