The cool air outside the performance hall washed away the stifling heat of the rowdy boys.
The sun had almost dipped below the horizon, leaving only a sliver of itself at the western edge, and a few clouds drifted aimlessly across the sky.
Jingi followed Joo Unyoung into the hotel’s first-floor lobby.
Aside from the students, there were quite a few other guests.
They sat on the terrace or at indoor tables, chatting leisurely.
“This way.”
Joo Unyoung pulled Jingi, who had been gazing around blankly.
A sign for the restroom was attached to the far left corner.
Inside, the sinks and a large mirror were immediately visible.
The bathroom was unnecessarily large, and it was clear they had put a lot of effort into the interior design.
The sinks, which featured motion sensors for the water, were round and made of black, sturdy marble.
Jingi took the opportunity to use the facilities and washed his hands.
It was fascinating to see how neatly everything was arranged, from the wallpaper to the small potted plants placed by the windows.
Of course, he’d seen things like this in big buildings like department stores, but they were rarely decorated this lavishly, so it felt special.
The mirror covered the entire wall, and the detailed touches—the pretty patterns framing the edges, the floor tiles, and even the ceiling—stood out.
Humans are truly visually susceptible.
To think that just decorating the place where one takes care of business could make it feel like you’d arrived at some upscale destination.
“My back hurts from sitting for so long.”
Joo Unyoung approached Jingi, who was finished washing and drying his hands with a tissue, muttering a small complaint.
He punched his own back with a fist and twisted his body, causing his bones to crack with a satisfying pop.
Was that the sound of cartilage rubbing together?
Memories of getting scolded for cracking his knuckles constantly when he was a kid came flooding back.
“Are you bored?”
“It was pretty much the same back in middle school, you know.”
Thinking about the guys grinding on the floor to “Sex on the Beach”—a song so embarrassing it was hard to even listen to—he figured it wouldn’t be much fun to see it over and over again.
And honestly, it wasn’t like that song had only played once or twice.
It was as if that was all the high school boys had in their heads, as the song kept repeating.
Then there were the guys who wore suits and strutted around, pretending to be cool while dancing to whatever was trending on social media.
Naturally, the other high school boys didn’t pay them any mind.
But while the stage might have been boring to the students, the teachers seemed to score it highly; they’d probably win the talent show first prize.
Honestly, they were good dancers.
“Actually, if you weren’t going, I wasn’t going to go either.”
“Hm?”
“Group activities aren’t fun. It would’ve been more fun if just the two of us came.”
“Ah, that’s true.”
Joo Unyoung washed his hands thoroughly for exactly 30 seconds and pulled a tissue to dry them.
The way he kept his eyes lowered while wiping his white hands looked like something out of a photoshoot.
He didn’t feel much of anything toward handsome guys like Go Yeol, Baek Jaehui, or Joo Hyeonje, but for some reason, Joo Unyoung looked spectacular every time he saw him.
Even though they were just friends, every single movement, gesture, and tone of voice felt elegant.
‘Maybe it’s Choi Jingi’s body reacting,’ he thought.
Jingi turned his gaze to the mirror and roughly fixed his hair.
There wasn’t really anything to fix, but he kept fussing with it anyway, until Joo Unyoung threw the tissue away and stepped up beside him.
He reached out and swept Jingi’s hair back in one fluid motion.
“Sweeping it back really suits you.”
“Oh… really?”
“Yeah. Maybe because your features are a bit rough. When you start working later, keep wearing your hair back. Your forehead is pretty, so it looks much better exposed.”
Now that he mentioned it, it really did look better.
Because he had a sharp face with slightly upturned eyes, keeping his hair swept back looked much cleaner and more masculine if he just kept his mouth shut.
After he graduated from university smoothly, he’d probably get a job.
The thought of himself in a suit, with his hair neatly slicked back, made him feel good.
“I am, ahem, pretty handsome, I guess.”
“Ah… heh heh, yeah. You’re masculine and handsome.”
“You’re handsome too. Honestly, the trending face these days is closer to yours.”
Thinking about the recent idols, there were more guys who emphasized a pure, innocent image rather than a wild one.
It meant the era of pushing “beast-dols” as a first concept was over.
Just a few years ago, there were so many male idols on TV emphasizing muscles under labels like “beast-dol” or “wild-dol.”
“Which style is your type, Jingi?”
“Type… hmm, type?”
“Yeah.”
In a normal conversation, that would be a question about who you wanted to resemble, but Joo Unyoung’s question sounded different.
It sounded like a question about who he felt drawn to.
Jingi licked his dry lips, thought for a moment, and answered.
“I like the rougher type. You know, when you see guys who work out a lot and they have veins popping on their arms?”
“Right.”
“Having lean muscles is popular, but that’s for the girls… I prefer a bit of that wild, rugged energy.”
He’d been that way since his previous life.
He’d tried working out to build muscle himself, but exercising at home just wasn’t enough.
He’d wanted to go to a gym but didn’t have the money; he’d bought cheap equipment and tried various things at home, but there was a limit given his naturally small, slender frame.
Of course, it was different now.
Choi Jingi’s body was naturally robust and solid.
The body he’d kept exercising until the day before the possession still had lean muscle on his stomach, and he loved the angular lines of his hands, arms, and shoulders.
If he started working out properly at a gym, he could probably build his body up in no time.
Imagining himself sitting in a gym, lifting heavy dumbbells, made him feel excited.
Maybe he should look into a gym near his house.
If he worked out there, his shoulders would get wider and his chest would fill out, which would look pretty good.
“Right, I’m planning on working out during vacation, too.”
“You? What kind of workout?”
“I don’t know… you know how the middle-aged guys call it ‘iron pumping’? Something like that?”
Jingi looked away as if contemplating, then thought that Joo Unyoung would look spectacular if he bulked up, too.
It would be very different from his image in the original story, but since the plot was already twisted, what would it change if Joo Unyoung exercised a bit?
He wasn’t going to end up with him anyway.
“By the way, why did you make that bet earlier? Were you just feeling impulsive?”
“Hm? What bet? …Ah! You mean the height thing?”
“Yeah. I mean, 190 is a bit much. How are you going to grow over 10cm in two months? Even if you grow, it’s not like you can control it.”
“Well, if I lose, isn’t that good for you?”
‘I guess so.’
Wasn’t the bet supposed to be just with Baek Jaehui?
Honestly, there wasn’t anything worth asking Joo Unyoung for even if he won, so he’d wanted to back out.
Jingi pushed the bathroom door open and stepped outside.
“I don’t really have a wish… what are you going to ask for if you win?”
“It’s no fun if I say it beforehand.”
“Hey, you’re going to lose anyway, just tell me.”
“Who knows, I might win.”
Come to think of it, sometimes there are kids who have a massive growth spurt during vacation.
But whether that would happen to Joo Unyoung felt more like a gamble.
“They say guys grow until they go to the army… but we’ve grown this much, so it should stop soon.”
“That’s something we’ll have to see, isn’t it?”
“Fine, fine! Just make sure you don’t hit 190cm. I’m going to make you do something incredibly embarrassing.”
“Like what?”
“Um… dancing in the middle of Myeongdong wearing only your underwear?”
“What?”
It was the only thing that popped into his head when he was asked, but as he said it, Joo Unyoung’s eyes widened, and he started to chuckle.
“Is that all?”
“J-just that?”
“I can do that much. There are a lot of kids these days who do weird stuff just to post it on social media.”
The tiles on the hotel lobby floor were large and shiny.
Jingi thought about the hard work of the employees who cleaned them day and night, and tilted his head with an “Hmm.”
“Why would you post weird stuff on social media?”
“Jingi, don’t you use Instagram? There are things called Reels, where people post themselves dancing. Of course, they don’t do it while stripping, but…”
“Insta? Isn’t that just for posting pictures?”
“You know TikTok, right? Just like how you post short videos there, Instagram has a feature for short videos too. You really don’t use social media, huh?”
To Jingi, social media started and ended with Facebook.
And even that was just from when he was young and made an account because his friends did.
He never had any photos to post or anything to say, so he’d never actually gone into Instagram.
“Check this out. You post it like this.”
Joo Unyoung pulled out his phone, opened Instagram, and showed him a short video.
A couple appeared, running from a distance, and danced energetically to some strange Japanese music.
The short video, which couldn’t have been more than 30 seconds, had tons of comments.
“Is it like YouTube?”
“No, it’s a bit different. Look at this.”
As he swiped the screen, this time it was schoolgirls in uniforms dancing in a park.
Unlike YouTube, the people who posted the videos were replying to comments and communicating with others.
Then, he swiped one more time, and music with subtitles began to play.
[Who has the cutest animal on the internet~]
It looked like an animal video, but looking closely, he saw a familiar human shape.
A male student sitting on a chair next to a large character statue was dressed appropriately, stretching his arms out…
“Oh…?”
“Huh? Wait, Jingi, isn’t this you?”
Even from a distance, anyone could tell the student stretching his long arms and legs was handsome.
Then the subtitles changed.
[I’ve got this guy!]
At the same time, the camera zoomed in on his face, eyes squeezed shut as he stretched.
That was Choi Jingi… stretching with an incredibly cute expression, scowling with all his might.
Honestly, it was a face closer to “cute” than “ugly.”
