Han Tae-ryeong silently closed the classroom door and came over to them.
“What are you doing here? Skipping class?”
His question was no louder than a whisper.
“I don’t feel well.”
“Sure you don’t.”
Han Tae-ryeong scoffed, making no attempt to hide the sarcasm in his voice. Yoo Si-eon only shrugged and looked back at Min Yu-un.
“What about you, Han Tae-ryeong? Where were you going during class?”
“To the nurse’s office. I’m sick.”
“Sure you are.”
A short laugh passed between them.
A mild breeze slipped through the window and brushed past the three of them. Min Yu-un shivered slightly, as if even the warm air felt cold.
Is he really that cold?
Just as Yoo Si-eon was about to take off his jacket, Han Tae-ryeong moved first. He removed his light outer layer and draped it over Min Yu-un. Little by little, Min Yu-un’s breathing returned to its natural rhythm.
An unmistakable sense of déjà vu washed over Yoo Si-eon.
His eyes narrowed faintly as they settled on Han Tae-ryeong.
Han Tae-ryeong stood there shamelessly for a moment before finally speaking.
“You’ve got a wound on your face. Who hit you this time?”
“A flowerpot came flying at me.”
“And you dodged?”
“If I’d dodged any later, it would’ve hit me properly.”
There was not a trace of concern or sympathy in their exchange. With their flat, indifferent voices, they might as well have been talking about what they had eaten for dinner the night before.
“What about your hand?”
Han Tae-ryeong’s gaze dropped to the back of Yoo Si-eon’s hand.
Yoo Si-eon rubbed it absently. The skin was swollen, scratched with thin red marks that looked like the traces of a cat’s claws.
The faint smile Han Tae-ryeong had worn when he entered the classroom was completely gone.
Yoo Si-eon, meanwhile, let a slight smirk cross his lips.
“Min Yu-un.”
“What?”
“It wasn’t on purpose. Just an accident.”
Yoo Si-eon thought back to last Friday.
Trying to check the fallen picture frame had clearly been his and Lee Soo-hyeon’s mistake. And in the struggle to snatch it away, Min Yu-un had scratched him by accident.
He could easily tell Han Tae-ryeong that Min Yu-un had hurt him.
But he did not want to.
Rather than watch Min Yu-un bow his head and apologize over and over, Yoo Si-eon preferred seeing him stand upright and face him properly.
“Yoo Si-eon, hold on.”
Yoo Si-eon snapped back to himself.
Han Tae-ryeong was now staring at the sleeping Min Yu-un with unsettling intensity.
Then, in a slow, deliberate voice, he called his name.
“Min Yu-un.”
Min Yu-un’s body flinched violently.
*****
“Min Yu-un.”
I could not help jolting at the sound of my name.
My heart pounded violently.
“I know you’re awake.”
I knew I could not keep hesitating. If I did, it might only create another misunderstanding.
Forcing my stiff body to move, I sat up. Two pairs of sharp eyes stabbed into me at once.
Should I rub my eyes like I just woke up? Maybe yawn naturally?
My hesitation did not last long.
I avoided their gazes slightly and spoke.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.”
“No one accused you of that, Min Yu-un.”
Even as Han Tae-ryeong said it, his voice was bitterly cold.
“Sorry.”
“Since when were you awake?”
Yoo Si-eon asked flatly, right as I apologized again.
I searched my memory.
When I had first woken up, their conversation had not really reached my ears. I had still been dazed and exhausted. But the first words I had heard clearly were—
“You said I hurt your hand.”
I slowly looked down at Si-eon’s hand.
The marks left by my nails were plainly visible, and there was nothing funny about them.
Just this morning, I had been crushed by guilt over the small cut beneath Yoo Si-eon’s eye. And yet I had hurt him twice now.
Once with the glass shard.
Again with my nails.
Of course, Min Yu-un hurting Yoo Si-eon was nothing new. Scratches, bruises, all kinds of marks—those were normal.
But I was not Min Yu-un.
I was Seong Yu-un.
“…I’m sorry.”
In the end, all I could do was apologize again.
A vicious cycle of apologies and desperate pleas for forgiveness.
But the more I apologized, the more people doubted me. To them, my apologies sounded like nothing more than habit, hollow and devoid of sincerity.
“Tsk.”
An irritated click of the tongue rang in my ears.
I glanced up slightly. Yoo Si-eon was glaring at Han Tae-ryeong with a look that clearly said this was all his fault.
While the two of them waged a silent war of nerves, I looked around.
The classroom was quiet.
Aside from the three of us, no one else was there.
Just in case, I peeked out the window and saw our classmates running across the field for gym class.
“…Is it P.E. right now?”
“Yeah.”
The moment Yoo Si-eon answered, I shot up from my seat.
I rummaged frantically through my bag and grabbed my gym clothes.
“Then we need to hurry! Why didn’t you wake me?”
I had always lived a disciplined, orderly life. I could not help raising my voice.
Yoo Si-eon did not stand up to follow me. He did not raise his voice to match mine either.
He only looked up at me with an expression that said he found the situation strangely amusing.
“You never cared about class anyway.”
“What?”
“In the classroom, you’re always sleeping with your head down. And during P.E., you skip out to the snack shop.”
My face went pale, as if all the blood had drained from my head.
This world had universities too.
It had college entrance exams too.
There was no way Min Yu-un, who lived in this world, did not know that.
I pressed a hand to my forehead.
“Then what about my grades? My attendance?”
“How would I know?”
Of course Yoo Si-eon would not know.
Only Min Yu-un had the answers to those questions.
[I-I wasn’t as bad as he’s making it sound! I still showed up to class!]
This was not my life in the first place.
It was Min Yu-un’s.
Before long, I would have to return this body to him and disappear.
But that was beside the point.
If I could, I wanted to grab Min Yu-un by the collar and shake him senseless.
He wanted to be loved, and yet he had ignored the easiest path of all: studying.
I simply could not understand him.
Han Tae-ryeong let out a dry chuckle from where he sat.
“Who was it again that used to yell about not needing to study because he was rich?”
Ah. Now I get it.
Min Yu-un’s parents must have been extremely wealthy.
The fact that they had given him an expensive-looking house to live in alone was proof enough. They had clearly spoiled him rotten. He must have grown up never knowing scarcity, never knowing consequences.
Completely unlike me, who had always had to give something up.
The strength drained out of me.
Staggering slightly, I sank back into my chair.
Who am I to worry about him?
It was not exactly that I was jealous of Min Yu-un.
I had simply realized how different our worlds were.
The fact that I had been worrying about his future only moments ago suddenly felt absurd.
Then maybe I should just live freely while I’m here.
It was not my money anyway.
I might as well spend it lavishly before I left.
I began tapping my fingers against the desk.
What if I went to an expensive café after school, ate dinner at a fancy restaurant, and then bought a pile of useless, pretty things on my way home?
Spending a whole day at a claw-machine arcade and throwing money away recklessly did not sound too bad either.
My unfocused gaze softened as my thoughts drifted.
I need to take a picture too.
Maybe I could grab Lee Soo-hyeon after school and get a quick photo-booth picture before—
“W-wait. Isn’t that a bug?”
A trembling voice cut through the classroom.
I belatedly turned my head.
Yoo Si-eon had gone stiff, pointing at the window frame with a hand that was shaking badly.
Han Tae-ryeong and I followed his gaze.
A small creature was crawling along the windowsill.
It was not a cockroach. Just an ordinary spider.
“It’s just a spider.”
“It’s still a bug!”
Startled, I widened my eyes at Yoo Si-eon.
[Don’t tell me he’s scared of insects?]
Even Min Yu-un sounded disbelieving.
Yoo Si-eon sprang up from his seat in a panic. The chair behind him toppled over with a loud scrape against the floor.
His eyes filled with tears, and his face crumpled as if he were about to cry.
“Hurry up and do something about it!”
Still seated, I turned toward Han Tae-ryeong.
Yoo Si-eon was the main bottom, and a protagonist being afraid of bugs was a perfectly natural setup for triggering protective instincts.
Which meant it was time for the main top, Han Tae-ryeong, to step in and save him.
All he had to do was scoff at Si-eon’s fear and casually catch the spider.
Scene over.
Certain that was how this would play out, I stayed still.
But then I noticed something strange.
Han Tae-ryeong looked even stiffer than Yoo Si-eon. His sharp eyes were fixed on the spider, but he had not taken a single step forward.
No way…
My mouth fell open.
“Are both of you scared of bugs?”