Jingi tried his best not to let it show. He pressed his lips thin, looked away, and finally spoke.
“I thought we needed time. Both you and I are juniors. We need to start preparing for college… and more than that, I, well, you.”
“Me?”
“I… don’t think I like you in that way. I mean, I’m not even gay in the first place.”
“…”
For every step he retreated, Unyoung moved forward.
Joo Unyoung blinked quietly, listening intently. Jingi tried to speak with as much sincerity as possible.
Perhaps he had underestimated this by thinking of him as just a novel character.
The two had already shared their feelings. But now he had to say it wasn’t true anymore, and Jingi felt uncomfortable even sitting there with him.
It felt like he had accidentally stolen someone else’s lover.
“It’s not that I dislike you. It’s just… I think I liked you as a friend. I don’t know why you… why you asked that.”
“…I see.”
“…Yeah.”
“Hmm, I see.”
Joo Unyoung didn’t get angry, and he didn’t cry. He just nodded along.
Despite that, Jingi felt a chill settle in his chest. It was so cold he worried the sun—which had been scorching just a moment ago—had vanished.
Unyoung’s long, pale hand still rested on the back of Jingi’s. His fingers shifted slightly, looking as if they were half-intertwined.
“Oh, your button is undone.”
After a moment of silence, Joo Unyoung finally pulled his hand away. He reached his elegant fingers toward the two undone buttons below Jingi’s neck.
His straight fingers were a bit thick at the joints, and his nails were neatly trimmed.
He leaned his head down, blinking his long lashes as he slowly fastened the buttons. Strangely, the sight seemed to pass in slow motion, like a movie.
The sensation of his fingers brushing against Jingi’s collarbone and the skin of his chest, combined with a cozy scent—something like soap or cologne—hit him all at once.
Jingi swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing, and stammered out his words.
“D-don’t do things like this either.”
“I’m just fastening your button, why?”
Joo Unyoung acted as if it were nothing. Jingi was the only one being shaken to his core.
With a slight smile, Unyoung finished the last button and pulled away. A strange, inexplicable tension lingered in the air.
Jingi cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck.
He tried to recall exactly what he had just said, but he had spoken so breathlessly that he couldn’t quite remember the details.
Still, he felt he had expressed his stance well enough.
Joo Unyoung seemed to have understood. Didn’t he just describe the button-fastening as “just fastening a button” in response to Jingi’s protest?
No matter how much of a BL novel this was, not every man in it could be gay. So, rejecting Unyoung on the grounds of not being gay shouldn’t be strange.
Joo Unyoung was the protagonist of the story, so he could just find another “Top.”
If that were the case, this novel wouldn’t be a romance between Choi Jingi and Joo Unyoung anymore; it would become a story about Unyoung and someone else.
Jingi just had to play his part. If he firmly pushed Unyoung away and they grew distant, he could dream of a “future” for himself.
“…Class is starting. Let’s go.”
“Sure, five minutes left.”
Joo Unyoung didn’t waver, get flustered, or cling like last time, but for some reason, Jingi felt an odd sense of unease. He hesitated before adding one last thing.
“…I’m sorry. If you felt that way, it’s because I… well, I didn’t act the right way.”
Jingi didn’t wait for an answer; he practically ran toward the school building.
He felt even more anxious because he couldn’t hear any footsteps following him. But he didn’t have the courage to look back.
The sensation of Unyoung’s hand on his lips and the back of his hand still felt itchy, as if the touch remained. Jingi rubbed his lips vigorously with the back of his hand and disappeared into the building.
Watching his retreating back, Joo Unyoung looked down at his own hand.
“It was almost over.”
That day, he was sure he had “The Perfect Choi Jingi” in the palm of his hand.
Before he could even realize how to use him or what those emotions were, things had changed.
From the day Choi Jingi began to change—specifically, from the moment he asked if he liked him—the atmosphere had shifted like a rustling breeze. Like a sprout pushing its head out of the ground alone in the quiet dawn.
Well, his grip on him had been clumsy anyway. And…
“A difficult prey is always the most fun to hunt.”
His voice, scattered by the wind, faded until it was barely a whisper.
“Isn’t this, like, a total win?”
Jingi stood in front of the mirror for a long time, covering his mouth in shock. His heart fluttered at the sight of his sparkling face.
Joo Unyoung was one thing, but Choi Jingi also possessed an inhuman level of good looks. He truly was a novel character.
Jingi felt his long limbs and solid muscles, his lips twitching.
“I’m really handsome…?”
He vaguely recalled Kim Hyeyeon saying that the main Top should have everything and be capable of anything. He certainly lacked nothing.
He was good at studying, came from a wealthy family, was tall, and handsome. Surely, it wasn’t that big too, right?
Jingi briefly lowered his gaze and then forced himself to look away. No matter if it was his body now, he didn’t have the courage to check. Since he was the Top, it should be big, right?
He organized his bag and changed his clothes. The smooth, silky feel of the pajamas was also unfamiliar.
Perhaps because he had always slept in old t-shirts he was planning to throw away, the very existence of pajamas was fascinating.
Jingi flopped onto the bed and stared at his phone screen. It was the latest model he had only seen in advertisements. The screen was clean without a single scratch, looking brand new.
Suddenly, he saw his face reflected in the black screen. The face pressed against the pillow looked blunt. His eyes were half-closed, and his double eyelids became distinct every time he blinked.
“This is seriously killer…”
His skin, which showed no pores, was smooth, and the mole under his lip created a mysterious atmosphere. From the reddish skin beneath his dark pupils to his straight nose and neat lips. He was the very definition of the ‘handsome man’ Jingi had always admired and envied.
When he carefully turned on the phone, the lock was released via facial recognition. The date and time appeared clearly on the home screen.
“July 3rd… Ah, no wonder it was hot.”
Only basic apps were installed on the phone. He looked around to see if he could find any records, but he couldn’t even find a common game.
When he read the description in the novel saying the character only exercised and studied, he had just skimmed past it, but seeing it in reality was a bit surprising.
Why does a guy from such a rich family live so diligently? Jingi grumbled and tossed the phone aside.
Then he turned over and buried his face in the bed. The mattress was made of cooling material and the room was chilly from the air conditioning, but he felt frustrated for some reason.
In high school, he had reduced his study time to work part-time jobs.
He did everything from working at meat restaurants to manual labor, and after graduating high school, he couldn’t even dream of going to college and immediately got a job at a small company.
And there, in a place that didn’t care about academic background, he was treated like he wasn’t human.
