“What is this… no, I, how did this…”
“I think this is Baek Jaehui’s account.”
The account profile featured that exact photo Baek Jaehui had been so adamant about me seeing, even calling me on the phone for it.
The one taken in the morning sunlight, with that lazy, languid expression on my face.
The number of likes had already crossed 3,000, and there were nearly 100 comments.
Half foreign, half Korean.
I stared blankly at the video, then turned my head to look at the ocean through the hotel window, before letting my head loll back toward the ceiling.
“That son of a bitch…”
I wanted to run over and rip his hair out right this second, but thinking about him in the middle of preparing for his stage caused my blood pressure to skyrocket.
“No, I… I made him delete this! When did he… No, I specifically made him delete it! I really did!”
“Didn’t it auto-upload to his Drive?”
“I deleted that too…”
I stumbled over to a nearby table and sat down.
The chair was incredibly plush, enveloping my whole body, but it didn’t make me feel any better.
This was a violation of image rights, you asshole.
“Are you okay?”
“Uh, yeah…”
“Wait here a second.”
Joo Unyoung patted my shoulder and walked toward the back.
Whether it was the quality of the hotel floor or the quality of his sneakers, I couldn’t even hear his footsteps.
I slumped completely into the sofa-like chair, letting out a sigh as I wiped my face with both hands.
Was the +99 notification earlier a foreshadowing of this?
That thing, it’s being watched by people all over the world, right?
Right, so out of a population of 7 billion, only 3,000 people have seen it?
Only 3,000 people have seen that video of me… acting all c-cute…
No, damn it.
That means ‘3,000 people have already seen it.’
“Ah… Aughhh…”
Heat rushed all the way up to my earlobes.
Even though the air conditioning was on, it felt sweltering.
I could feel my face burning bright red.
I used my palms to cool my face, breathing in and out repeatedly.
When I see him later, I’m going to make him delete it immediately—you jerk, you moron, you idiot!
Just as I was calming down, telling myself, “Anyway, people just watch once and move on; nobody’s going to remember my face. If becoming famous was that easy, everyone who posts there would be a celebrity, right?”
“Jingi, drink this.”
“Oh? Oh… thanks. You didn’t have to buy something like this…”
“You seemed really shocked. Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Uh, anyway, you said normal people post stuff there all the time, right? So, like, it’s not the end of the world, is it? Right?”
“Yeah. It only has 3,000 likes. It’ll probably hit 30,000 in a few days, but… just because a YouTube video hits 30,000 views doesn’t mean it’s a big deal, right? It’s like that.”
‘Is that how it works?’
Since I didn’t know anything about YouTube or Instagram to begin with, I nodded earnestly at Joo Unyoung’s words.
Joo Unyoung sat down, exhaling as if he’d traveled far for my sake.
“You took your wallet with you to the bathroom?”
“Hm? No. I paid with TalkPay.”
“……What even is that? No, never mind. I don’t want to ask. There’s just too much I don’t know about phones.”
In my past life, I only used my phone for calls, texts, and messaging, so there was no way I’d know about any of this.
I took a long sip of the fresh strawberry juice Joo Unyoung had bought me.
Small bits of strawberry, the size of the straw, slipped into my mouth.
The cool, refreshing strawberry flavor cleared my head.
Come to think of it, it’s strawberry again.
“You like strawberries.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You’re always eating strawberry-flavored candies.”
Joo Unyoung raised an eyebrow, as if he found it slightly unexpected.
He opened the lid of his own strawberry juice, swirled it with his straw, and took a sip from the cup.
“You’re observant, aren’t you?”
“Hm. Am I?”
“Yeah.”
It was the first time anyone had called me observant.
I thought people only ever called me slow…
Now that I think about it, the things Joo Unyoung did always stuck in my memory.
If it had been anyone else, I probably wouldn’t have known what they ate or what they liked.
Was this, too, just a remnant of the feelings left behind in this body?
I sucked on the straw and turned my gaze outside.
First, I’ll go back and film Baek Jaehui’s pathetic attempts at the cross-dressing contest.
Then I’ll post them just the same to get my revenge.
When he comes back, I’m going to beat him to a pulp.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Oh… thinking about how to crush Baek Jaehui.”
“Pfft… You’ve really changed a lot. Compared to the beginning of the semester, you’re like a completely different person.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
‘Well, of course, I am a completely different person.’
I stared half-lidded at the remaining sliver of the sun.
In summer, the sun always set late.
Maybe that’s why the nights felt so short.
Since I was sensitive to heat, I always found summers annoying, but I actually preferred summer to winter.
In the summer, the sun set late, so even after I got off work, it felt like I was going home in the middle of the day.
Even though I left work, showered, and rested at the same time every day, the feeling of doing so while the sun was out versus staring into a pitch-black sky was completely different.
“Unyoung, do you like summer or winter?”
“Hmm… I didn’t have much of an opinion, but now I think I prefer winter.”
“Why?”
“The person I’m planning to confess to gets overheated easily.”
The topic I’d briefly forgotten surfaced to the surface.
I immediately turned my head and straightened my posture.
“Same as me. That person must have a hard time, too.”
“Right? They seem to struggle with it.”
“Is that why you grew to hate summer?”
“Hmm, no.”
It was a pretty romantic reason.
But Joo Unyoung hesitated, as if he had more to say, before continuing.
“Because it’s hot, they cling to people with cold bodies. I hate that. Since I tend to run hot.”
‘So, it’s less about being lovely and more about jealousy, huh.’
I figured that whoever Joo Unyoung caught, they’d be in for a tiring time.
I mean, even I liked that Go Yeol’s body was cold, so I’d clung to him all day, hadn’t I?
If they started dating, he’d probably make sure to stop that first.
“And it’s too hot to hold hands in the summer. That’s why I think I’m growing to like winter.”
“You’re surprisingly… a romanticist. Other than that, is there anything you hate or like?”
“No. I don’t really get bothered by the heat or the cold.”
‘I see.’
Whoever meets Joo Unyoung is going to have a hard time.
When someone as pretty as him tells you not to do something, you won’t even have the heart to fight back.
Since Joo Unyoung is kind and observant, he might even pack you an ice pack to hold instead of him. In that case, well, you’d have no choice but to follow his orders.
“But about the confessing part.”
“Yeah.”
Joo Unyoung seemed to be the type to drink in large gulps, as his strawberry juice was already empty.
I set my own cup—not even half-finished—on the table and asked carefully.
“When are you going to do it? Uh… weren’t you planning to do it during this school trip?”
“Ah, well. I haven’t decided yet.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I said I was going to confess, but I never said I was going to do it this time.”
‘That’s true.’
I glanced outside and felt a sudden, inexplicable nausea.
It felt as if someone was poking my heart with a needle.
It stung, and the chest that had been pricked several times throbbed with pain.
‘I need to get some fresh air. I need to end this conversation,’ I thought.
That seemed like the only way to cast off this strange feeling.
“The homeroom teacher is going to think it’s weird. Let’s go back now.”
“You haven’t finished your drink yet, though?”
“Oh… I’m going to carry it with me.”
“Alright, then.”
Joo Unyoung answered lightly and immediately stood up, walking to the trash can to toss his empty plastic cup.
I stood up slowly.
The back of that blonde head, which I thought I’d gotten so used to, felt unfamiliar.
Strangely enough, it felt like he was about to drift very far away.
The closer they got to the performance hall, the louder the cheering became.
It was louder than I remembered, and women’s voices were mixed in, too.
I widened my eyes and quickened my pace toward the hall.
Was it because it was a hotel near the beach, or because it was peak vacation season?
People who had come out for a walk after dinner were standing, surrounding the stage.
They were laughing at the high school boys acting half-naked and ridiculous, and cheering them on, saying how handsome they were.
While I’d lost track of things for a moment, Joo Unyoung was already walking ahead.
I hurried to follow him, feeling surprised.
It was strange.
If it were the usual Joo Unyoung, he would have reached out a hand to me and cleared the way, telling me to follow him.
‘Is he acting like this because he doesn’t like me anymore? Now that he likes someone else, is that why he’s treating me so coldly?’
“Unyoung, Unyoung-ah…!”
I called out to him, but the platinum-blonde boy entered the crowd of people without hesitation.
Even though he was tall and had a distinctive hair color, I couldn’t get close to him.
I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
The emotions I’d felt inside the hotel lobby a moment ago surged up again, making my head spin.
‘Joo Unyoung likes someone else now.’
Why did the story that he really liked someone else hit me like such a shock?
I’d told him to stay friends, and I’d tried to help him get together with someone else.
I’d hoped he wouldn’t like me, so why was this so strange?
“Excuse me… let me… huff… pass…!”
I pushed through the people with difficulty and stepped inside.
I saw the homeroom teacher in the distance. I also saw Class 7 students sitting next to him.
And I saw that the seats they’d been sitting in earlier were empty.
Music blared from the speakers, making my head ache.
The male students on stage danced to the loud music, flirting and winking at the audience.
It was supposed to be a moment for everyone to enjoy.
But I couldn’t.
“Jingi.”
At that moment, it was as if all the noise and people surrounding me were erased and it went quiet.
No, it felt quiet.
A large arm grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward him.
When I looked up, I saw Go Yeol, half-drenched in the orange glow of the sunset.
