“I’ll take everything off and dance.”
Jingi curled his lips up triumphantly. He recalled every hellish drunk habit he had witnessed while working in the office.
“I’ll end up crying, clinging to people, acting all clingy and cute—it ruins the whole atmosphere.”
“T-take it… off?”
“I’ll bolt out of the room, break a soju bottle in front of the teachers, and do a sexy dance.”
“D-don’t lie to me.”
Baek Jaehui shoved Jingi’s shoulder with a horrified expression.
Jingi, now even more excited, turned his whole body toward Baek Jaehui and started rattling off a list.
“Then I’ll take your pants off too, and cry while holding onto you.”
“W-why would you take my pants off?!”
“I don’t know. I guess that’s just what I want to do when I’m drunk.”
In reality, a manager had once pulled down a team leader’s pants, causing a massive scene in the middle of the street.
Both were dead drunk and had fought like dogs before splitting up; the suffocating atmosphere the next day had been truly legendary.
The manager had looked apologetic, but since he was still bothered by the curses the enraged team leader had hurled at him, he never ended up apologizing.
The team leader had clenched and unclenched his fists several times, muttering, “Damn it, should I just quit?”
“If you do that, you’re dead.”
“Don’t wanna. I’m gonna do it.”
“I’m gonna tie you up if you get drunk.”
“I’ll take your pants off before you tie me up.”
“I’ll tie you up before you can take them off.”
“I’ll take them off before that.”
Childish bickering went back and forth.
By then, it looked like they had finished their rounds, as Go Yeol and Joo Unyoung could be seen walking toward them with bored expressions.
The homeroom teacher for Class 2 and a few other students were with them.
“What’s this? Jingi, were you skipping?”
“Oh? Oh.”
As if he had been looking for them, Joo Unyoung walked over with his long strides and wedged himself between Baek Jaehui and Jingi.
Jingi laughed playfully and reached behind to tap Baek Jaehui’s head—not hard, but enough to be annoying.
“He skipped too.”
“Ow! Why’d you hit me?”
“Just felt like it.”
“Is it only about what you feel like? Don’t you care about what I feel like?”
Jingi quickly scooted over and stuck to the side of the mascot statue so Baek Jaehui couldn’t reach him.
The guy sat next to Joo Unyoung, fuming, before slumping over.
“Fine, damn it. I lose.”
“I didn’t ask you to play.”
“Hey!”
‘He’s actually fun to tease, that guy.’
He didn’t look like it, but his naive and childish reactions made him so entertaining to mess with.
Jingi covered his mouth with his hand, chuckling.
He could see students heading out one by one.
It seemed like it would take a while for everyone to leave.
Knowing that leaving early would just mean waiting inside a sweltering bus, Jingi and the three others stayed seated for a while longer.
It was around 4 PM when they finally arrived at the hostel after a long drive.
The place was very different from what he had expected.
It was an incredibly tall hotel, and he worried that if the kids went stampeding in, yelling and playing, it might cause trouble.
Thinking it must have been quite expensive, he got into the elevator.
Some kids were so full of energy they took the stairs, but he had no desire to walk up 13 floors.
Jingi giggled as he watched Baek Jaehui, who had been forced out because the elevator was full.
Their room number was 1308.
Jingi watched the kids get off starting from the 10th floor, which was packed, and then hopped off quickly at the 13th.
Room 1308 was at the end of the building, so the three of them—excluding Baek Jaehui—walked all the way down the hall.
As soon as Joo Unyoung opened the door, he walked inside and dumped his bags.
Aside from the living room, there were three rooms.
Two were bedrooms, each occupied by two single beds.
The remaining room had a karaoke machine installed, with a balcony next to it.
The balcony was quite spacious, furnished with a round bathtub and a sunbed.
It was too hot for Jingi to use, but beyond the boundary of the tub and sunbed, the beach was clearly visible.
“I’m taking this room!”
Jingi took a quick look around and ducked into the room with sky-blue beds.
Go Yeol and Joo Unyoung followed him right in.
“Oh, you guys too?”
“Hmm? Yeah. I like this room, too.”
“Yeol, you too?”
“Yeah.”
There were spare beds, so there was no need for all three of them to cram into one room.
Thinking it would be faster for him to leave than to try and push one of them out, Jingi tossed his bag into the next room.
That’s when the problem started.
Joo Unyoung and Go Yeol followed him into that room, saying they liked that one better.
Jingi told them to use that one and went back to the original room.
Then, the two of them followed him back.
So he moved rooms again, and they followed him again.
“What is this?”
The two guys trailed him like goldfish droppings without a word.
After bouncing from room to room, Jingi eventually dumped his luggage in the hallway.
“Hey, if you’re going to be like this, you two decide first. I don’t care where I sleep!”
“I’m doing this because I want to sleep with Jingi.”
Joo Unyoung made his move first.
Go Yeol was just about to say, “Me too,” when Jingi quickly grabbed Joo Unyoung’s arm.
Hiding behind him, he peeked out.
“I, I want to sleep with Unyoung.”
“……Why?”
“Just because! I just want to sleep with Unyoung.”
Since Go Yeol had been cut out, Jingi knew better than anyone that letting Baek Jaehui and Joo Unyoung room together would be the right choice.
But honestly, wanting this story to go smoothly or trying to play matchmaker for Joo Unyoung wasn’t more important than Jingi himself.
Right now, Jingi felt a sense of crisis regarding Go Yeol.
It was a gut feeling—a sense that if he just sat there, he’d be devoured whole—that made his heart pound.
“Okay.”
He grabbed his luggage and stormed out of the room.
Jingi sat in the room he’d initially chosen and let out a long sigh.
If Go Yeol hadn’t given him that flower, he would have roomed with him, no questions asked, just because it was comfortable.
The purple flower he’d carefully left in a corner of the room flashed faintly in his mind.
It wasn’t the time to think about Go Yeol’s feelings.
Not wanting to dwell on it, he rubbed his face with his hands and shook his head vigorously.
Watching him with a smile, Joo Unyoung picked up his own bag and asked, “Which bed are you going to use?”
“Can I take the one by the window?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you take that one!”
As Jingi moved his bag toward the window, he noticed the expansive view outside and let out a gasp.
The beach stretched out wide.
Given the hot weather and the peak vacation season, people were walking sporadically across the sand.
“It’s pretty.”
“Do you like the ocean?”
“Yeah. I like it.”
Joo Unyoung approached smoothly and rested an arm on his shoulder.
Jingi stared blankly out the window with his mouth slightly agape.
He couldn’t help but smile, his eyes wide, taking in the entirety of the blue sea.
Tomorrow, he could go play at the beach.
Jingi mindlessly scanned the blue water and the waves rolling over it.
He’d seen the ocean while traveling for work, or when he was sent to live with other relatives when he was young.
It wasn’t that he’d never seen it in his life; it was more accurate to say he’d never been there to play.
“I want to go in there.”
“Let’s go play tomorrow. Since the free time today is in the evening, it might be cold.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. The sea breeze is chilly.”
The train he’d boarded when moving from relative to relative had made a loud, terrifying sound.
Sitting in a corner seat, watching the vast expanse of water outside—whether it was an ocean or a river, he didn’t know—had made him feel strange.
It felt like looking down at the sea from a high place, like a lighthouse.
He felt helpless, like someone in a position where they had to admire it from afar, unable to reach out or get close.
‘What if I just fell into the sea? What if I sank deep down, into the endless abyss?’
“Hey, damn it… Hey! Are you not going to open this?!”
If he hadn’t been possessed by Choi Jingi, he might never have had the chance to go play at the beach for as long as he lived.
Jingi took his hands off the windowsill and turned around.
Baek Jaehui was pounding on the door and shouting.
He walked quickly to open the door, and Baek Jaehui stomped inside, dragging his luggage with a look of extreme annoyance.
Come to think of it, he was quite late for someone who just missed one elevator.
“Why are you so late?”
“Ah, forget it. You damn jerk, I was abandoned so miserably! And you were just laughing in there!”
“So, what? You wanted me to get off the elevator with you?”
“You have zero loyalty.”
Baek Jaehui, who had come inside, let out a scream when he saw that the rooms were already decided.
Even though the room he’d be sharing with Go Yeol had the same beach view and was similar in size, he was still upset.
“Hey! We were supposed to be roommates!”
“That was for the bus ride.”
“Daaamn it. That’s so mean.”
He tossed his bag aside and went into the living room to lie down.
Jingi looked around, found the air conditioner remote, and quickly set it to 20 degrees.
The unit on the ceiling began blowing cool air in four directions.
He cooled off his heated body—having moved from room to room—under the breeze.
Perhaps it was because of the excitement of seeing the ocean, but his mood was soaring.
Forget about Go Yeol and Cupid and all that; he was going to enjoy this school trip, forgetting everything.
Joo Unyoung had said he was going to confess on this trip, hadn’t he?
He’d even bought a ring in front of Jingi.
Honestly, he’d been shocked to see him buying something so expensive for a student.
It wasn’t even plated; it was silver-gold—meaning he’d ordered a custom design with silver layered over gold, making it even more costly.
What had Joo Unyoung said when he was paying?
He’d asked, “Is this too low-key?”
Jingi had wanted to suggest just buying a silver ring, but since he wasn’t the one receiving it, he’d just told him it was perfect.
He’d told him that whoever received it would be surprised, and that nobody gives a ring while confessing—it wasn’t like a 100-day anniversary gift.
……Especially not one with a diamond embedded in the center.
But seeing that ring, custom-ordered as if he already knew the size, made Jingi think that Joo Unyoung must have been dating someone behind his back.
At first, he’d thought it was Go Yeol, but judging by Go Yeol’s attitude, that didn’t seem right.
It could be Baek Jaehui, or someone else Jingi didn’t know at all.
With the story already flipped upside down since his possession, what did it matter who was the lead and who was the extra?
Yeah, honestly, these days it’s trendy for the extra to end up with the male lead anyway.
