“…It’s different now, so it’s okay.”
As he brushed his hand against the blanket, the thought that this was truly reality sank in.
It wasn’t a dream. The basic common sense remaining vividly in his head told him so. His parents’ faces, the way home… even more so as high school education he had never studied came to mind.
Did God give me a gift because my life was so pitiful?
Jingi closed his eyes and hugged his pillow tight. Even though he knew it was reality, his heart pounded. He had jumped four years ahead. Opportunity had come along with a established background.
It wasn’t that he had wanted to only graduate high school. The him of the past had a desire to become something. At least someone who would be helpful to society, a person who could be a hope to someone.
Now, he could live however he wanted. Even if another hardship came his way, life was originally like that, so Jingi had the courage to fight back as much as needed.
As he closed his eyes tight, a strange fatigue washed over him. Even though he hadn’t done anything today, sleep pulled at him as if his previous life had exhausted him.
Joo Unyoung was popular. It had been that way since he was a child, and it remained true even in a bleak boys’ high school where only XY chromosomes swarmed together.
Returning to his seat for fifth period, Joo Unyoung swept the pile of snacks stacked on his desk and tossed them onto the lockers at the back of the classroom.
Notes with “I love you, Joo Unyoung!” scribbled on them half-jokingly fell into the trash can in clusters.
Jingi smacked his lips, feeling it was a waste to see the snacks thrown away so mercilessly.
He wanted to ask for them if they were just going to be tossed, but he had made a firm resolution not to say a single word to Joo Unyoung.
“Why? You want some?”
When the previously crumpled face brightened and turned toward him, Jingi was startled for a moment before giving an awkward smile and pointing at the snacks abandoned on the lockers.
“Don’t you think those are a waste?”
“If I leave them there, the other kids will eat them.”
Looking at the shy letters from the guys stuck to the snacks, Jingi could understand why he threw them away.
It wasn’t as if they were confessing with sincere hearts; there was no reason to be happy about some unknown guys pathetically leaving things behind and running away.
Jingi glanced once at Go Yeol, who had arrived at some point, and pulled out his textbook.
Then, the guy with half-closed eyes tapped on my wrist.
“I don’t have my textbook.”
“Huh? Why?”
“……I lost it.”
His downcast eyes and the small yawn he let out as if he were tired looked pitiful, so I pushed my textbook toward him.
His buzz-cut hair, like a hedgehog’s, moved closer.
Jingi turned the pages filled with meticulous notes and opened it to a clean section.
Soon, the teacher opened the front door and walked in, and the rowdy boys scrambled to their seats.
Class proceeded as usual, with about half of the black-haired heads buried against their desks. After the sluggish fifth and sixth periods, a wave of fatigue washed over.
As I let out a few wide yawns, Go Yeol tapped on the desk as if he were teasing me.
“Mmm…….”
Thump.
I slammed my forehead onto the desk. Naturally, my head was turned toward Go Yeol. Joo Unyoung was on the other side, after all.
Then, Go Yeol also lay down and met my eyes. Thinking that sleeping with his head turned only to the right since lunchtime seemed to be a habit, Jingi closed his eyes.
As he exhaled a long sigh, the drowsiness that had been building up from sitting at the desk for several hours since morning came rushing in.
The desk was too narrow to support two sturdy male students, so Jingi and Go Yeol touched elbows and began to breathe evenly. The sound of their breathing seeped quietly between them.
Go Yeol opened his narrowed eyes and quietly watched Jingi, who had fallen asleep. Over the past few days, Choi Jingi had become a bit different from the person he used to know.
The friend who was always composed was acting like a completely different person. Even the fact that he slept during break time was different.
Nevertheless, he didn’t think it was strange or bad. Rather, he felt a sense of curiosity toward the person who had always stayed by his side silently.
Since he started hanging out with Joo Unyoung, the guy who seemed to lack even a grain of emotion had changed.
And now, having changed once more, Choi Jingi was trying to distance himself from Joo Unyoung.
How much time had passed? Someone approached stealthily, grabbed Jingi’s shoulders firmly, and let out a loud shout.
“Choi Jingiii!”
“Ah, fu…ck, what the hell.”
A sudden surge of annoyance flared up. Jingi used his elbow to violently push away the person hugging him. Having just barely fallen asleep, he felt extremely unpleasant.
Then, four guys swarmed around Jingi. Three of them were classmates, and one was Baek Jaehui, whom he had seen during lunch.
‘That punk, dammit.’
Jingi cursed under his breath and swept his bangs back.
“Whoa. Hey, you know how to swear? Did you guys hear that? This ‘scholar’ just said ‘fuck’.”
“Fuck? Fuuuuuck?”
“Our kind Jingi has changed…!”
It took a few seconds for him to remember who the three guys making a fuss with Baek Jaehui were. They were the ones who had been in the student council with Baek Jaehui, and they used to gather in Choi Jingi’s classroom in their first year to make a racket every break.
He couldn’t understand how someone like Choi Jingi, who was close to a model student, ended up hanging out with guys like that. Jingi ruffled his hair and tried to lie back down, but Baek Jaehui grabbed his shoulder.
“You really swore, didn’t you? Right? You said you hate swearing. Are you pissed because I woke you up? Huh? Huh?”
Out of the four, Baek Jaehui was the most playful. As Jingi looked pathetically at the guy who was leaning down and poking his head forward, a large hand suddenly reached out from the side, grabbed the back of the guy’s head, and pushed him down.
Jingi was startled for a moment, but he recognized the cold, large, and firm palm as Go Yeol’s without even asking, so he just rested his cheek on his arm.
“Jingi is tired.”
“Jingi is tiiired?”
“……Just go, seriously.”
The four guys snickered and laughed. Yeol’s hand was still on top of his head. There was affection in the hand that gently stroked his slightly messy hair.
“Hey, Choi Jingi. Let’s go play soccer, okay? I couldn’t find a substitute.”
“Why are you suddenly saying you won’t do it?”
“I don’t know, this guy is being prickly today for some reason.”
“Oh my, honey…… why are you so prickly today?”
Jingi slowly turned his head to the right. Sure enough, Baek Jaehui was crouching there, grinning.
“Did you come here just for soccer?”
He wasn’t in a state to deal with their pranks right now. He didn’t have the mental energy to maintain Choi Jingi’s usual personality; he was just insanely sleepy.
When he glared with a deep frown, the guy covered his mouth, feigning shock.
“Choi Jingi looking grumpy is so damn sexy.”
“Fuck off.”
As soon as he tucked his head back into his arms, Baek Jaehui chuckled and suddenly hugged Jingi’s waist.
A strangely sweet scent wafted off him, as if he wore perfume.
“Let go.”
“Aing, whyyy.”
“I said I’m not doing it, just go.”
Joo Unyoung is right there; he didn’t know why the guy was acting like this toward him.
Since it was the beginning of Volume 2, shouldn’t he be starting to like Joo Unyoung now?
He wished the guy would spend this time saying even one word to Joo Unyoung instead. Jingi frowned and shoved the guy away as if he were a nuisance.
“Ah, he’s so cute. This guy. What’s up with him today? This isn’t like Choi Jingi.”
When Jingi closed his eyes again, Baek Jaehui didn’t harass him further and let go obediently.
It seemed he looked genuinely annoyed. Just before closing his eyes, Jingi spotted Joo Unyoung staring intensely at Baek Jaehui from among the boys.
The second sub-male lead, Baek Jaehui. Except for the fact that he goes wild once he loses it, he was a decent enough guy.
Well, as one of the leads, Baek Jaehui was also quite good-looking.
If Joo Unyoung liked men, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for him to quickly snatch up either Go Yeol or Baek Jaehui.
Jingi relaxed his body as much as possible to sleep, even if it was just for the short five minutes remaining. He fell asleep as if being dragged away by the god of sleep.
Right…… they say love is healed by a new love.
He had never dated anyone even in his past life, but that’s what he had heard, anyway.
Jingi began to breathe softly, hoping that Joo Unyoung would meet a good man and be happy.
