Jingi couldn’t tell why, but the guy seemed desperate to be friends. It was unsettling, but a part of him wondered if he was being too harsh on someone who hadn’t actually ‘done’ anything yet.
‘No, but why does he keep messaging me when I’m being this dry…?’
Jingi sighed and shoved his phone back into his desk.
Right then.
A dark shadow loomed over him. When he turned his head, the teacher was staring right at him. So was the rest of the class.
“Whoa, crazy. Choi Jingi got caught.”
“A phone? Seriously?”
“Even a guy like him gets caught?”
Amidst the whispering, Jingi silently pulled his phone out of the desk. The teacher didn’t say another word and just took the phone.
“Come get it after school, Choi Jingi.”
“Yes…”
‘Ugh, how embarrassing.’
Jingi rubbed his ears with his palms and lowered his head. He’d only looked at it for a second; he didn’t think he’d get caught. He was looking under the desk—how did the teacher even know?
Just then, a folded note landed on his desk with a ‘tap’. He opened it to see neat, pretty handwriting: ”You’re a dummy, aren’t you? Sitting there makes you stand out even more.” Looking up, he saw Joo Unyoung glancing at him with a mischievous, beaming smile.
After class ended, he retrieved his phone from the teacher’s podium. It was lucky that Choi Jingi had a reputation as a model student. If it had been someone who caused trouble every day—like Baek Jaehui—he would have been dragged to the faculty office for a long lecture before getting it back.
As he returned to his seat—talk of the devil—Baek Jaehui’s crew was huddled there like a swarm of bees.
“Ugh, what. Move.”
“Heard Jingi got his phone snatched? It’s all over the school. Tough luck!”
“The break just started, how is there already a rumor?”
“A kid in your class texted a kid in our class and it spread like wildfire. Seriously… Jingi, what’s up with you lately? You act like you’ve got a screw loose. You’re making ‘Hyeong-nim’s’ heart race.”
‘Bullshit.’ Jingi waved his hand at Baek Jaehui, who was perched squarely in his seat, telling him to get lost. But Jaehui just sat there with his chin in his hand and gave a cheeky wink.
“I don’t wanna!”
“Move.”
“Aww, Jingi-yaaa, Jaehui’s legs hurrrt sooo much! How could you say such mean things?”
“Argh! Baek Jaehui, seriously! Are you moving or not?”
As Jingi kicked the chair and pulled at his arm, Jaehui laughed loudly as if he were on a theme park ride. He clung to his friend’s arm and screamed, “Save meeee!”
Realizing he wasn’t getting his seat back anytime soon, Jingi sat on the edge of the desk instead. He looked down at Baek Jaehui with a disgruntled face.
“You’re almost a senior and you’re not even studying…”
“Aaaaah! I hear that enough at home! What is wrong with him, seriously?”
“Did you get struck by lightning?”
“Right? Choi Jingi has been so weird lately.”
He glared at the guys who were whispering half-joking, half-serious, but it had no effect. It was strange. In the original novel, everyone except Joo Hyeonje was intimidated when Choi Jingi glared at them.
“Why? I actually like Jingi like this. I like him even more.”
“Exactly! I like him more too. I’m just saying, why is this normally stoic guy acting like this? Was it all an act before? Huh?”
Baek Jaehui rested his cheek on Jingi’s thigh and looked up, teasing him. Then, Joo Unyoung, who was sitting next to them, chuckled and spoke up.
“Jingi, stoic? Not really… he’s always been sweet to me.”
“What? Hey! Are you discriminating? Discriminating just because Joo Unyoung is pretty? Huh?”
At that, Baek Jaehui bolted upright and slammed his hands on the desk. ‘Please.’ As if he doesn’t like Joo Unyoung too. Jingi looked down at Baek Jaehui and gave him a light, painless thud on the crown of his head.
“You’re pretty too.”
“Huh?”
Silence fell for about three seconds. Jingi blinked, wondering if he’d said something wrong, and Joo Unyoung looked genuinely stunned. Then, Baek Jaehui’s friends standing behind them started boisterously slapping Jaehui on the shoulders.
“Whoa, shit! He called you pretty. All that ‘Jingi, Jingi’ whining paid off, you bastard!”
“Uh, yeah… I mean, it’s true I’m damn handsome, but why is this guy acting like this? Seriously?”
“I’ve got goosebumps. This is crazy.”
‘Ah, so that’s why…’
But Jingi figured he was going to live in this body for the rest of his life; how long was he supposed to care about what others thought? In the beginning, he tried to act exactly like the original, but he had no intention of doing that anymore. He’d already cursed, and he’d done plenty of things the original Choi Jingi wouldn’t do.
He didn’t know the way back to his past life, and he liked this life. Besides, he was too busy looking after Joo Unyoung, who had lost his chance at love because of him.
“Then go, just… go. Get out of here.”
As he pushed Baek Jaehui away, the boy—unlike before—didn’t resist and was easily shoved aside. Jingi sat in the chair still warm from Baek Jaehui, scowling. It was already hot enough without the lingering heat.
“Oh, right! About our school trip. Your class and mine are going to the same place! Isn’t that great?”
He already knew this, but Jingi just nodded and said, “Is that so?” He also knew that Baek Jaehui would swap places with someone in Jingi’s class to be in the same group. They were together throughout the trip in the novel, so he remembered that much.
“Really? Why? Your class and mine?”
“Yeah. ‘Hyeong-nim’ pulled some strings! I begged my uncle.”
He couldn’t remember if Baek Jaehui’s uncle was a donor or the chairman, but he was definitely connected to the school.
“So, I’m planning to stay in the same room as you guys. You, Unyoung, and Yeol were gonna room together, right? Stick this guy in somewhere else so I can swap in.”
Baek Jaehui threw an arm around the friend next to him. The guy scowled deeply.
“Suddenly? Ugh, I don’t want to. I don’t know many kids in Class 2.”
“I’ll set you up with a girl. How’s that?”
“Deal. And hook me up with Kim Seong-min’s group.”
“You got it.”
The thought of going on the trip with just Baek Jaehui and Joo Unyoung without Go Yeol already gave him a headache. Baek Jaehui hugged Jingi from behind and gave him a playful, sudden ‘mwah!’ on the cheek.
“You trust me, right? I’ll just hold your hand when we sleep.”
“Get lost.”
“Keke… Man! Why are you so fun lately? Are you under academic stress or something?”
As Jingi tried to elbow him in the gut, a pale arm reached out from the right. A set of fingers—stronger than they looked—pushed Baek Jaehui away firmly. He didn’t even have to look to know who it was. Joo Unyoung.
“It’s hot, so stay back a bit, okay?”
Unyoung’s mouth was smiling, but his eyes were not. Jingi took the opportunity to jump in.
“Yeah, I’m really sensitive to heat. Didn’t you know I collapsed from heat exhaustion the other day?”
“Wait, really? You?”
“…Yeah.”
It wasn’t something to brag about—collapsing from a ball after getting heat exhaustion despite this big frame—but was it his fault he couldn’t handle the heat? When he glared slightly, Baek Jaehui furrowed his brows and shoved his face close.
“Are you okay now?”
“Whoa, wait!”
Startled, Jingi leaned back, and the rear legs of the chair buckled under the strain. As he started to fall backward, Baek Jaehui and Joo Unyoung lunged for him at once.
“Hey, hey!”
“Sigh… Jingi, are you okay?”
Baek Jaehui, who was closer, supported his back, while Joo Unyoung grabbed his shoulders in a tight embrace. Thinking about how he almost cracked his head on the hard floor made him break into a cold sweat.
