A scene from the book came to mind where extras were swearing about how this school always goes on trips right before finals.
I glanced at Go Yeol, feeling a bit disappointed. Was this a change caused by the plot deviating from the original?
Actually, I had spent less time talking to Go Yeol than to Joo Unyoung. Even so, I felt more comfortable with Yeol.
“Are you disappointed?”
Unyoung leaned in, resting his hand on my thigh as he looked up at me. His leaning body felt sturdier than I expected. If he grows taller, he’ll get even bigger.
The weight shifted onto the hand on my thigh, making it feel a bit heavy. Feeling pressured by the proximity, I pulled my chin back and answered:
“A little?”
“Do you not want to hang out with me?”
“It’s not that. It’s just better when everyone hangs out together.”
“Well… we can call Baek Jaehui at night and play together. You really look out for Go Yeol.”
“He’s a friend. I would’ve been just as bummed if it were you who couldn’t go.”
The hand on my thigh fidgeted before lightly slapping my knee. Startled by the ‘smack’, my eyes widened, and Unyoung laughed with a mischievous face.
“It can’t be helped. He has to practice. Let’s just focus on having fun when we go.”
That was true, but I was disappointed because I had hoped to further advance their relationship during the trip. I rubbed the back of my head and replied:
“Yeah… but, is there anyone you’re interested in lately?”
I was talking about Go Yeol. I had already noticed the subtle atmosphere between them earlier. I remembered how Unyoung had visibly distanced himself from Yeol and stuck to my side when we were coming up to the study hall.
Just like in the original, Unyoung was quite the shy type.
“…Huh? Oh. Not really.”
There was about a 2-to-3-second pause before he answered. I narrowed my eyes and scrutinized him, but he didn’t say anything more.
It’s just a matter of Unyoung making up his mind. Go Yeol and Baek Jaehui probably already like him. Even if they don’t yet, it’s fine. They are destined to fall for him, which means they wouldn’t feel much of a burden about dating someone of the same sex anyway.
I was a bit disappointed but didn’t pry. After all, we haven’t even reached the middle of Volume 2 yet. I was anxious, but it’s not my business anymore. I’m just here to help.
Break time ended quickly, and the teacher came in to wake the sleeping students. He lowered the air conditioning temperature, chilling the air that had been warmed by the students’ sleep.
At the noise, Go Yeol woke up with a groggy face and stared blankly at his desk. The chair looked far too small for his large frame.
“Yeol, sleep more. I’ll tell the teacher.”
“Ah… okay.”
His sharp eyes flickered toward me before closing again. Maybe I should have told him to just go practice. But since he’d already said he’d skip and come here, I figured he wouldn’t want to go back, though his sleeping posture looked incredibly uncomfortable.
The desks in the study hall were smaller than the ones in the classroom, making them too narrow to contain Go Yeol. Of course, he had managed to stubbornly fold his body into it. Looking at the back of his head, I once again reached out and tousled his bristly buzz cut.
My long-held desire from my past life to touch a buzz cut has been fully satisfied. It feels like a hedgehog, or a round potato. I used to think you couldn’t pull off this look unless you were handsome, so I gave up on it back then. ‘Should I try it too?’
Did I just see a faint smile on Go Yeol’s face when I patted him, or was it just the lighting?
What was that “secret keyword” the author mentioned again?
“Joo Hyeonje”… that name keeps bothering me. Is there something in the second half of the book I missed?
The night had descended quietly, casting a deep ink-black darkness against the window. Jingi pushed himself up from his bed and sat at his desk.
He pulled out the crumpled note he had tucked away in the corner of a drawer. On it were the words he’d written on his very first day:
‘Solution 1: Become a “Bad” Choi Jingi.’
Jingi drew two lines through it and scribbled underneath: ‘Solution 1: Joo Unyoung ♥ Go Yeol.’ After meticulously coloring in the heart, he felt a surge of pride, as if the two were already a couple.
As things stood, this was the most likely pairing. It was also Jingi’s fervent wish.
In the original novel, Go Yeol had suffered through a one-sided heartache alone, never even attempting to make a move. Rather than resenting the fact that he’d fallen for his friend’s lover, he had simply grieved over the pain of the emotion itself.
He was that kind of guy—decent and selfless. Though he never confessed, he sincerely wished for Joo Unyoung’s happiness. In Jingi’s opinion, Go Yeol loved Unyoung even more than the “Main Lead” Choi Jingi ever did.
Joo Unyoung, too, seemed to waver whenever Go Yeol took care of him in those quiet, unnoticed ways. It wasn’t a stretch to think that if Choi Jingi stepped out of the picture, these two would gravitate toward each other.
In the original story, the two were constantly forced together because of Choi Jingi. That’s why Jingi hoped something would spark during this school trip.
‘Well, there will be more chances later.’
Jingi flipped the paper over. Since he had committed to playing Cupid, he decided to organize the potential “bombs” that might go off in the future. He left his own name out and began scrawling the names of the characters.
‘1. Joo Unyoung, 2. Go Yeol, 3. Baek Jaehui, 4. Ju Hyeon—’
“Wait.”
Jingi froze, terrified by the name he had written unconsciously. He dropped the pen. It hit the wall and rolled behind the desk. Goosebumps broke out across his arms. The paper only said “Ju Hyeon,” but the final syllable flashed vividly in his mind.
The name of the final villain.
The pen rolled across the floor and tapped against his toe. ‘No way.’ How could he have heard that name and not realized who it was? Had he really been acting like a fool in front of a literal time bomb?
“Is it… a different person with the same name? Please tell me it’s a different person.”
Images of the “Sunbae” flashed through his mind in a chaotic blur. ‘Oh, god. This can’t be happening. I was smiling and acting like an idiot in front of HIM? Truly?’
“No, no, no… please, no.”
True, the image was very different from what he’d imagined while reading…
“Aaaaagh…”
Jingi slammed his forehead onto the desk with a thud. Still, how could he have missed such a unique surname and name? His past-life IQ must have been lower than a dolphin’s. No, comparing him to a dolphin would be an insult to the dolphin.
Glaring at the desk through the strands of his hair, Jingi bit his lip. He had only sat down to do a light bit of organizing, but if he hadn’t, he might have walked straight into a catastrophe.
Jingi let out a long, shaky breath and straightened up. ‘Get it together.’
He crawled under the desk, curling his body to retrieve the pen. His fingertips were trembling. He had tried so hard to avoid the villain, yet the realization that they had already met was impossible to ignore.
“It’s still okay. Right. I just have to make sure Unyoung never meets him.”
”Bring me Choi Jingi.” That line kept echoing in his head.
It must have meant: ”I’m going to deal with Choi Jingi so I can have Unyoung.” In the novel, kidnapping Unyoung and planning to crush his boyfriend seemed like typical villain behavior, but realizing it was his reality made his skin crawl.
Jingi sat back at the desk and wrote “Sunbae” in small letters next to Joo Hyeonje’s name.
Then, using a red pen, he drew a star, wrote “CAUTION!”, and drew a thick line between Unyoung and the villain, topping it with a massive ”X”.
