“Trainee Han Seungbeom!”
“Seungbeom-hyung!”
“Seungbeom-ah!”
When I, who could easily ride attractions like roller coasters and Vikings back to back without a problem, suddenly turned place and froze in place, everyone around me started to panic.
Well, even I, the person experiencing it, couldn’t understand why my body was in this state, so how could anyone else possibly remain calm in such a situation?
“Are you okay? Would you like me to take you to the infirmary?”
“…No thank you. I think I just got a little motion sickness.”
An attendant in charge of the attraction rushed over and asked me a question. Shaking my head in response, I leaned on Lee Hwayoung’s arm, which was supporting me, and got up from my seat.
But before I could take more than three steps, I collapsed back to the ground. The slightest movement seemed to turn my stomach inside out.
‘I feel like I’m going to throw up.’
“Han Seungbeom!”
“Seungbeom-hyung! Are you okay?”
“Lay him down. Don’t force him to stand up.”
At that moment, Jay pushed past the trainees surrounding me and rushed over. My vision was still tinged with red, but his face was so familiar that I recognized him immediately.
“What happened!”
He was breathing heavily. He probably saw the trainees gathering together and found it strange, so he rushed over from the exit.
“I don’t know. He got off the ride, and suddenly his condition seemed unwell!”
“What? … Why on earth!”
Judging from the fact that he even abandoned the polite speech he had maintained throughout the program, he must have been quite anxious.
“Don’t ride that.”
Jay was naturally quick-witted and perceptive. He had likely noticed something was off with me, even before I realized it myself, and offered me advice based on that intuition.
‘I should have just listened to you. I forgot that you probably know me better than I do.’
“I told you not to ride it!”
As soon as I saw the look on Jay’s face, a mix of frustration, anger, and anxiety, I realized just how careless my thinking had been.
‘Damn…….’
After living a life where a moment’s hesitation could lead to failure, the path of life I’d learned was to always look ahead and keep moving forward without rest.
I felt as if I could run forever if I just kept running without stopping to consider how tired my legs were, how thirsty I was, or how fast my heart was racing.
“He’s in really bad shape. We need to get him to the infirmary.”
“Get the PD-nim!”
The life I ran under that belief was actually quite efficient, and as a result, I was able to achieve the success I had dreamed of once. Feeling a sense of fulfillment as if I had marked my life with a big red circle for that one success, I continued to live without changing my approach to life.
‘I’ll probably keep repeating this foolishness for the rest of my life.’
It was thanks to that aspect of me that I was able to take the next step in my life so calmly, even though I had just escaped death. How could I possibly abandon such a convenient side of myself?
I couldn’t bear the fact that the weakness that exists in all humans also existed in me, and I poured all my energy into ignoring it.
“If you’re afraid of heights, you should’ve said something! What were you doing riding it so foolishly!”
The problem with that behavior, however, was that with such a numbed sense of crisis, I wouldn’t be able to protect my own Achilles’ heel, even in these mundane situations.
‘… Seriously. I did something really stupid.’
My stiff, rigid muscles began to tremble against my will. My mind was fully intact, but my body was completely out of my control. In that unbearable sense of disconnect, I could hardly breathe, unable to even close my eyes.
“If you treat my nephew’s body recklessly, I won’t let it slide.”
I remembered what Lee Seungbeom’s aunt had told me before. I wanted to keep my promise to her, so I quit smoking and started exercising diligently, but other than that, I wasn’t sure what more I should do.
‘It would be easier if I just lost consciousness.’
“Pull yourself together, Han Seungbeom!”
“Hyung, just a little more, hang in there! We’ll take you to the infirmary!”
Lee Hwayoung and Do Yuda shouted in alarm as they saw my condition getting worse and worse. I appreciated their concern, but it only made my headache worse.
Just then, the only person who knew that my condition wasn’t just a physical problem pushed them aside and approached me. Then, applying firm pressure to my body that kept twisting, he soothingly spoke to me.
“It’s okay.”
“…….”
“….I’ll always stay by your side. It’s okay.”
As soon as I heard those words, my vision, which had been entirely red, cleared up and returned to its original state. Then, the strange sensation that had been making my body move on its own gradually faded away.
I lost consciousness.
***
“…….”
When I opened my eyes, I saw a familiar sight.
But something was off.
My body wasn’t moving at all. Unlike before, physically.
I glanced down at my body, wrapped in the blankets, and turned to the group of guys surrounding me.
“…What is this?”
“You’re a happy kimbap.”
1
‘What do you mean?’
When I tilted my head at Do Yuda’s ambiguous response, Woo Kangwon, who was sitting beside him, chuckled and started to explain.
“I’m sorry. We were told to, ‘
Tie him up tightly so he can’t crawl out
‘… but it’s a relief. It’s fortunate that you’re not seriously ill. I heard it was the sudden release of tension that caused you to get severe motion sickness?”
“Who said that?”
“It was Trainer Jay-him. He helped move you all the way to our room and had to go back because of his schedule. Seriously … I told you so many times to take it easy, hyung! I was so surprised.”
“…….”
‘As expected of that guy.’
That Mr. So-and-So showed off his true knack when he managed wrap up the situation and convince the trainees with such an absurd excuse like “
the tension eased
“. I couldn’t even fathom how he pulled it off.
As I lowered my gaze, thinking of that guy’s face, Do Yuda placed a tablet in front of me.
“Here, don’t crawl out, just lie down and watch a movie.”
“…….”
What was playing on the tablet was a cartoon movie aimed at children. Definitely not my cup of tea. While watching it, I let out a forced smile, and said in a monotone voice.
“Uh, okay. Thanks. Haha. Thanks to you, I’ll be able to rest well.”
And once my roommates, reassured by my obedient attitude, returned to their own spots, I secretly raised one arm and operated the tablet.
What happy kimbap? I’m a kimbap with a ripped side.
‘It’s too much of a waste of time to just stay still.’
Wanting to clear my mind with something productive, I secretly turned off the movie and immediately logged into the community. Since there was no performance to prepare for, and I was unable to move, all I could do was monitor the reactions.
When I entered the community, I saw a post at the top that caught my eye.
[(Hot!) Guys, isn’t Han Seungbeom really really really weird?]
I clicked on the post and read the content.
— When writing something like this, you should also write down what’s weird about him. There are two ways to make someone angry, the first one is to leave your sentences unfinished.
— Why would you go to a community packed with the Captain’s fans and say “Isn’t Han Seungbeom weird”? You want attention?
└ No haha I’m not insulting him, I’m a fan of the Captain too, calm down ㅠㅠ… It’s just something I thought after Baek Kiryang’s family was revealed. It’s really weird that there aren’t any stories about his past, whether from his school days or anything else. Usually when someone gets this much attention, everything about their past is out in the open.
└ I heard a rumor that his aunt has a shop in Cheongdam
└ Not like that rumor, what I mean is, when someone gets this famous, their school friends usually post things like “
he was like this in school
“. But nothing like that comes up about Han Seungbeom. Seriously, nothing at all, whether it’s bad or good. I mean, he wasn’t bullied or something like that, right?
└ Does he have some kind of backing? But even if he does, what good would that do? Haha. We live in the world where everything gets exposed on SNS, whether you’re from a big entertainment company or a chaebol…
└ I saw a post from a friend of the Captain not long ago.
└ Whoa, isn’t this the first time? Can you send me the link?
└ I will upload a new post. Check it out.
I caught my breath as I looked at the community’s comments.
It was the first time. It had already been months since I first showed this face in front of the camera, and finally, finally, an acquaintance of Han Seungbeom’s had appeared.
‘They finally showed up, Han Seungbeom’s friend.’
When I first looked through Han Seungbeom’s phone, his contact list was completely empty and there were almost no conversation records left. So, I had expected that he didn’t have many acquaintances, but I never thought that not a single soul would even pretend to know anything about him until this late in the program.
As I was refreshing the community until the person who just commented posted something, a new post soon appeared.
[(New!) Han Seungbeom’s school days story posted by his classmate]
I clicked on the post and saw a bunch of screenshots taken from a Q&A site.
[Q. Is it true that you were Han Seungbeom’s classmate? Can you provide any proof….?]
[A. Yep. I just posted a photo from the yearbook and a personal photo.]
[Q. Wow, it’s real … You’re the first person to talk about Seungbeom. I thought he just fell out of the sky to become an idol.]
[A. Seungbeom is the type who tends to have narrow and shallow relationships, so he doesn’t have that many acquaintances.]
‘What’s with having narrow and shallow relationships?’
2
Seungbeom-ah, how on earth did you manage your relationships with your friends to hear such things?
If he had such a relationship with his family, at least he should have enjoyed his life by making friends, but he didn’t even do that. I couldn’t help but wonder, what was the joy in Han Seungbeom’s life then?
I suppressed my complicated feelings and scrolled down one more time.
[Q. What was Han Seungbeom like when he was in school?]
[A. He studied hard and was really quiet. That’s not to say he was shy, though. We weren’t that close, so I don’t remember much. You asked me to open the Q&A, so I did, but I don’t really know much. Sorry.]
[Q. No, it’s okay! I’m just grateful that you’re sharing this with me hehe. By the way, was Seungbeom popular in school?]
[A. No, he was very low-key, as if he was there but not there.]
— Ah, so “
He studied hard
” < Of course, the Captain works hard in everything. “
He was really quiet
” < ? Who is this?? “
That’s not to say he was shy, though
” < Wait, is this really about our Captain? My reactions haha ㅠ My headcanon of him just got shattered.
└ Yeah, I agree. The Captain is on the quiet side, but not
that
quiet, right? Maybe it’s just that everyone has different standards… For me, ‘
really quiet
‘ = Baek Kiryang, so honestly, I was like “
huh?
“
— But honestly, does it make sense that someone with Han Seungbeom’s personality and looks could have quietly attended school?
└ This. With a face like the Captain’s, honestly, there would’ve been kids coming to the front of his classroom just to see his face, or people asking for his name on SNS. But there’s not a single story like that. At this point, it’s honestly kind of scary.
— It’s impossible to claim he only became good-looking because of plastic surgery, his elementary, middle, and high school graduation photos are already inhumanly handsome…
└ It’s not his face that’s the problem. Even kids with ordinary looks and ordinary lives, when they appear on TV once, have their acquaintances saying a lot of stories, but Han Seungbeom only has this one. Even that one is completely different from what we’ve seen … I’ve never seen someone like this in my 1x years of being an idol fan.
I couldn’t shake the creepy feeling I got from reading Han Seungbeom’s friend’s post.
‘Something is strange.’
As the comments pointed out, everyone had at least one flaw when you dug into their past. But it didn’t make sense that they couldn’t find any information, let alone flaws.
It was almost as if his life before I entered his body had been left completely blank.
‘Is it … too far-fetched to suspect that he had prepared to hand over his body to me?’
When I asked myself that question, a face naturally came to mind.
“I’ve made up my mind that if the day comes that Seungbeom suddenly disappears, I won’t be sad.”
The only person who had a proper relationship with Han Seungbeom. His aunt.
‘I have a feeling that this situation was eerily consistent with what Han Seungbeom’s aunt had said back then.’
A child with an appearance so extraordinary that he could never live an ordinary life lived a life so ordinary that he didn’t leave a big impression on anyone around him.
Then, was that child really an ordinary child?
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Translator’s Corner:
Idk if there’s anyone who doesn’t know. But well, Kimbap is a Korean dish made from cooked rice, vegetables, fish, and meat rolled in gim—dried sheets of seaweed—and served in bite-sized slices. Adding this makes me hungry. ↩︎
Actually I was torn between keeping it literally or changing it to more easy to understand, but in the end I just kept it literally, since it’s really been said as 좁고 얕게 사귀는 (narrow, shallow, relationships/interactions with others). Basically, it’s saying the type of people who doesn’t form deep, meaningful connections with others. Like, you know there must be someone in class who doesn’t have a close friend and just existing (I used to be like that lol, in my case I was the smartest in school and my classmates didn’t like me much because I refused to give them answers during exam, but well). This friend was saying Han Seungbeom was that kind of people. Not completely friendless since he knew a small number of people (that’s why narrow), but the relationship is limited at “he knew about them” “they knew about him”, that’s why it’s shallow. ↩︎
omg why the OG Seungbeom is too relateable … you guys should make proper friendships during school days or else it’s hard to get any … I became the popular kid of my year in college who friends with everyone and have my own close friendship circle but I already got too used in being alone that I didn’t like to say a lot about myself when my friends are practically oversharing every detail of their life to me …. I’m really jealous with people who easily confides in others.
Anyway the weather finally caught me with fever lol I tried to rest and shut down my laptop, but my minds are just going to strange place when I have nothing to do, and I already slept so much … so I just turned on my laptop again and continued this.
When I said this is break arc, I meant break from helping other people. I didn’t say anything about this being happy. Ah, I’m really glad I reached this chapter. I was afraid someone would write they didn’t like this novel because MC possesed new body so easily without thinking about the original owner before I could get to this chapter…. Everything has reasons ….. (I will riot if I saw someone said anything bad about our MC)