“What are you doing? Honey, bring it here right now.”
“Oh, u-uh! Wait a second!”
“Oh my, our baby. You’ve become so much more affectionate after living away from Mom and Dad. Right? You’re just as calm and pretty as you were when you were little.”
His mother touched his cheeks and stroked his hair, beaming with joy.
At the comment about him becoming more “affectionate,” Jingi thought, ‘Me?’ and couldn’t find the words to continue.
It was so different from what he’d expected.
The parents of a perfect protagonist—who lacked nothing—were supposed to be cold and strict, like in novels and dramas.
But they resembled the parents Jingi had always dreamed of.
Kind, warm, and domestic people who loved their son.
Soon, his father came running from the inner room carrying several shopping bags.
He could hear the staff members, who had been making side dishes, giggling quietly.
“Jingi, this is a new release that just came out.”
“Honey! Not that one. Give him the one I picked out.”
“Hey, who was it? That model who was on the variety show recently. The price skyrocketed after he wore it. This is really hard to get, really.”
“That overbearing fool, seriously.”
What his father pulled out was a watch.
Anyone could tell at a glance that it was expensive.
Having never even looked at one, let alone worn one, Jingi stared blankly at the box being offered to him.
Sensing his hesitation, his father lifted the watch from the box, gesturing to ask if he wanted to try it on.
When he carefully took it and put it on his left wrist, it fit perfectly.
Then, his mother pulled some clothes out of a shopping bag.
The price tag attached to the hem had so many zeros that his hands shook just looking at it.
She held the clothes up against Jingi one by one, laughing and asking whose resemblance made him so incredibly handsome.
Strangely, his chest tightened. It wasn’t because he was in pain.
It was because it felt like a dream.
He was probably more shocked now than on the day he had possessed this body.
Even if what they were handing him had been something picked up from the street, his reaction would have been exactly the same.
It hurt with a stinging rawness, as if tears were lodged tight in his throat.
In the end, when his mother placed a hat on his head, Jingi completely bowed his head.
His father, who was holding a gaming console, jumped up in shock from the opposite sofa and rushed over to kneel in front of him.
“My son, what’s wrong? Hmm? Are you sick somewhere?”
“N-no…”
“Hye-ok-ssi! Could you bring some cold water?”
Tears rolled down his cheeks and dripped onto his lap.
Before they could even stream down, they pooled heavily, soaking through to the carpet on the floor, throwing the two into a complete panic.
Jingi covered his face with both hands and replied in a trembling, choked-up voice, “Thank you.”
“Did something happen to our baby? Hmm? Tell Mom. Did something difficult happen?”
“Honey, this is a talk between men. Our Jingi might have just become a man.”
“You, seriously! Are you a fool? Wet dreams are taken care of when they’re little. How old do you think our baby is for him to be doing that now?”
“No, when did I say it was a wet dream? He could have found a friend he likes. Isn’t that right?”
“Then he needs me even more! Don’t you know a woman understands a woman’s heart best?”
The two bickered back and forth before patting Jingi again, then fighting over telling each other to move out of the way.
Jingi licked his dry lips and shook his head vigorously.
“No, it’s nothing. Nothing happened.”
“Oh, dear.”
“I’m just so grateful. …I’ll do well from now on.”
When his father remarked, “He’s finally growing up,” a loud smack followed as his mother slapped his father’s thigh.
Jingi accepted the cold water brought by the staff and drank it.
He felt embarrassed that his eyes were all red.
‘So this is how warm the presence of parents is. They love me just for being me, even though I haven’t done anything.’
He felt a pang of pity for his past self who had never known this, and felt incredibly fortunate to have met these people.
He couldn’t believe how the two of them could be so touched by a cheap cup of coffee and so overjoyed by a simple word of thanks.
‘This is what family is.’
“If you lie down right after eating, you’ll get acid reflux.”
That was what Kim Hyeyeon used to say so often that his ears would practically bleed.
However, as soon as Jingi finished dinner and brushed his teeth, he went straight to bed.
Thanks to turning the cool air conditioner up on full blast and feeling at peace after the encounter with his parents, sleep came easily.
Then, he was startled awake by his phone ringing loudly.
Squinting his half-open eyes at the screen, he saw it was Go Yeol.
Jingi stared blankly at the time, then glared at the name again.
It was 11:00 PM.
Since it was Go Yeol of all people, and not some other guy, he pushed himself up.
There was no way that guy would call at this late hour for nothing.
“…Hello.”
— Ah, were you sleeping?
“Yeah.”
Rubbing his eyes thoroughly, he leaned his back against the wall.
Feeling a bit chilly after waking up, he wrapped himself in his blanket.
“What’s up?”
— Sorry.
“It’s okay. I just went to bed early.”
Well, even though he called late, he was a close friend, so he had to just let it slide.
Jingi mentally filled in the “for waking you up” that should have followed the guy’s “sorry,” scratched the back of his neck, and let out a massive yawn.
Turning his head sharply, he spotted the full-length mirror in the distance.
His hair was sticking out all over the place like a bird’s nest, but perhaps due to his face, he looked like a sexy, decadent man.
Jingi tilted his head slightly and tried imitating a model’s pose.
To emphasize the sexiness, he defined his jawline and arched his back, even trying out a suggestive posture.
Even to his own eyes, it looked pretty decent.
…If I have nothing else to do, should I become a model?
“It’s probably hard for models to maintain their physique, right?”
— Huh? Yeah.
“Anyway, why did you call? Are you bored?”
Since Kim Hyeyeon also used to call him whenever she was bored, he asked, making a reasonable guess.
Go Yeol hesitated to answer.
When Jingi pressed him out of frustration, the guy finally let out a small sigh and spoke up.
— Can you come outside for a second?
“Right now?”
— Yeah.
Having spent quite a while striking model poses, he slid his hand under his t-shirt and rubbed his stomach.
Stroking his belly, which felt cold like a kid who had indigestion from eating too much ice cream, his stomach felt bloated.
This is exactly why you shouldn’t lie down right after eating.
“Where should I go?”
— In front of your house.
“I’ll be right out.”
Jingi kicked off his blanket with the phone still pressed to his ear.
He staggered out of his room, but Go Yeol hadn’t hung up the phone yet.
He wondered if the guy had more to say, but since there was only silence, Jingi finally spoke up to hang up first.
“I’m hanging up.”
— Don’t hang up.
“Huh? Okay.”
But the guy stopped him with a hurried voice that was uncharacteristic of him.
Jingi roughly shook out his hair as he walked down the stairs.
He carefully went to the front door and slipped into his sandals.
As he threw the door open, a humid breeze rushed in.
He thought it would have cooled down since it was night, but the daytime heat remained entirely intact. His face contorted automatically.
Jingi instantly went limp and walked straight across the yard as slowly as a snail.
When he opened the main gate, the security guard standing outside widened his eyes slightly and bowed his head.
“Thank you for the coffee, young master.”
“Ah, no. It was nothing.”
“It’s good to see you smiling so much lately.”
He hadn’t expected to receive words of gratitude.
Jingi laughed, “Hehe,” and shook his head.
“Thank you. But aren’t you getting off work?”
“I’m on the afternoon shift, so I’ll be leaving soon once the guy taking over the night shift arrives.”
“Ah… you’re working hard.”
“Not at all. The boss, your mother, and the young master all treat us so well that my colleagues are envious.”
He gave a small laugh at the complimentary remarks that flowed smoothly as if greased.
‘Just how well did we treat them for his colleagues to be envious? Everyone probably does at least this much.’
“Anyway, keep up the good work. I’m just going to see a friend for a bit before going inside.”
“Yes, it’s late, so please be careful. If anything happens, don’t forget to press speed dial number 0 to call us.”
“Okay.”
Perhaps because he was a security guard, he was incredibly tall.
Even taller than Go Yeol.
Jingi gently massaged his stiff neck, lowered his head again, and looked around the surroundings.
He searched for a while because the guy who told him to come out in front of his house was nowhere to be seen, but then the streetlamp on the opposite side flickered on.
When it did, the dark figure standing beneath it appeared and vanished repeatedly, looking just like a cartoon.
“Were you there?”
“Yeah.”
As Jingi approached him in a single stride, the guy nodded and greeted him with his eyes.
He was wearing athletic clothes, as if he were on his way home after just finishing practice.
Jingi poked the cylindrical bag slung over the guy’s shoulder and looked up.
“Why did you call me out?”
“Are you close with that person?”
Following the guy’s gaze at the sudden question, he saw the security guard hyung.
It seemed he had seen them talking.
“No. I was just wondering when he gets off work, so I asked.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. But why?”
Go Yeol parted his lips slightly, appearing to hesitate.
‘A friend can just call you out, so if you ask why, what am I supposed to say?’
Jingi narrowed his eyes and pondered.
“…Did you go, today?”
“Where? Ah, with Unyoung? Yeah. I went.”
“Nothing happened?”
At Go Yeol’s words, he remembered not replying to the morning message.
He flinched for a moment when asked if anything had happened, but Jingi flatly denied it.
“No, nothing happened.”
“Liar.”
“Nothing happened, seriously. Why would I lie?”
“Your eyes.”
‘Ah, shit…’
He thought the guy wouldn’t be able to see because it was dark.
The words he used to hear constantly from Kim Hyeyeon flashed through his mind: “You suck at lying, so don’t even think about pulling a fast one anywhere.”
It was exactly as she said.
Whenever Jingi lied, his pupils would tremble automatically.
It made him look like a liar to anyone watching.
Jingi let out a deep sigh and leaned his back against the wall.
“It was nothing much. Just, I met a strange person at the study room… but it ended fine.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“What about Joo Unyoung?”
…Uh?
‘No way. Is it… could it be?’
Suddenly, his heart began to thud wildly. It wasn’t out of shock or fear.
“Unyoung finished his studies and came out fine. Why? …Are you worried about him?”
The corners of his mouth twitched.
Jingi covered the lower half of his face under the pretense of rubbing his cheek.
It seemed the guy had been anxious about Joo Unyoung and himself going to the study room completely alone.
The moment he realized that, he found it so cute and amusing that he couldn’t control his expression.
It was obvious that he had called him out precisely because of this.
But because asking outright was awkward, he was clearly beating around the bush.
The warning-like words the guy had spoken on the bus before must have been bothering him the entire time.
