Not completely sure whether the ば is acting as a conditional or the grammar is
something else because I can't quite understand the sentence.

Context is the guy was feeling a bit troubled before changing his mood again.
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2021-04-05T02:16:01.630
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question
grammar
開き直ってしまえば気が楽だった. Is the ば working as a conditional here?
Yes.

Aすれば、Bだった means "I would have been B had I done A". In this case, A is
開き直ってしまう.

I can provide more explanation if you expound on what exactly you don't
understand with the sentence.
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2021-04-05T05:20:38.530
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answer