A case of Transmigrating as a Sick Villain chapter 101

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“― Just do what you can. Don’t stress yourself out for no reason, okay?”

“……Alright.”

“― Good. You’re so pretty. I should get going now. Sleep well, I’ll call you tomorrow.”

The call with Soohyuk ended just like that.

Jingyeom placed his phone next to him and laid back.

The coldness of the floor pressed against his body.

He shivered for a moment, but didn’t feel like getting up.

‘Is this really okay?’

The only thing he was sure of was that Soohyuk and Wonbeom were showing interest in him.

Should he distance himself now?

Or is it okay to keep things as they are? He hadn’t made up his mind yet.

‘……What about the app?’

He hadn’t opened his diary app since their drive-in movie trip.

The thought of writing about that day made him hesitate.

He hadn’t even decided if he should delete the app.

Jingyeom ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

His mind was filled with useless thoughts, leaving no room to focus on his studies.

Time kept slipping by as he remained indecisive about everything.

A few days later, Jingyeom ran into Jeong Sanho again, this time on his way to a café.

He had told him to reach out when he was ready, but it seemed like Sanho couldn’t wait.

But Jingyeom still didn’t know enough about him to act casually, so he was hesitant to make a move.

He even considered sending a message, pretending he had amnesia and lost all memories of him.

He was curious about who Sanho really was.

‘If that person was really close to Baek Jingyeom, maybe I can get some information from him?’

One of the things Jingyeom wanted to know was why Baek Jingyeom had disappeared.

Of course, he could have suddenly been possessed.

But typically, possession happens for a reason—either the person dies by suicide or due to a major accident.

That’s why he was even more eager to find out.

What had Baek prepared, if anything?

Jingyeom glanced up at Cheongoh, who was walking beside him. He was always dressed in black suits, with a stoic expression.

He never left Jingyeom’s side.

While his presence gave him a sense of security, it also restricted his actions.

Even after arriving at the café, Jingyeom couldn’t stop thinking. He decided it was time to contact Sanho before it got too late.

Sitting here, pondering, wouldn’t give him any answers. It seemed better to just confront him.

With that thought, Jingyeom closed the book he had been absentmindedly flipping through.

“I think I’ll stop for today.”

“I’ll take care of the cups.”

Cheongoh got up and returned the empty cups.

Ever since Jingyeom started feeling guilty about eating alone, he began ordering drinks for Cheongoh, and now they took turns buying each other drinks.

‘Wonbeom hyung will probably cover the costs, right?’

Going to a café every single day wasn’t cheap.

With these trivial thoughts, Jingyeom gathered his belongings and stood up.

As expected, the café was packed with people.

‘Guess I’ll need to find a new café tomorrow.’

The place was much more crowded than before, making it hard for him to focus, and his concentration had never been great to begin with.

Jingyeom ignored the stares following him as he left the café.

Thanks to Jinwoo’s care and his own efforts, Jingyeom looked healthier and had gained a little weight.

Though still pale, his face had a livelier glow, making his features more striking.

Maybe that’s why people seemed to be glancing at him more than usual.

It wasn’t just the stares that made him want to change cafés.

He also felt like switching his environment to create a bit of tension for himself.

Back home, Jingyeom sat on the floor, gripping his phone tightly, deep in thought.

‘Should I call him or not?’

Despite always circling around him, Sanho hadn’t rushed in recklessly.

He didn’t seem like someone who acted without thinking.

Feeling oddly familiar, Jingyeom checked his gallery again, wondering if there were any traces of him.

Aside from photos with Baek Jingyeom, there were none with other people.

It seemed like confronting him face-to-face was the only way.

Jingyeom took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.

“Let’s do this.”

He couldn’t just leave things hanging any longer.

Me: Hello! Do we know each other? (1:23 PM )

Jeong Sanho: You’re still mad at me? (1:23 PM)

1:24 PM

Me: Actually… I have amnesia… (1:24 PM)

Jingyeom decided to be honest.

Pretending to be Baek Jingyeom would only lead to awkwardness after exchanging just a few words in person.

The moment he sent the message, his phone rang. It was Jeong Sanho.

“……Hello?”

“― Amnesia? What kind of lame excuse is that? That’s weak.”

“It’s not an excuse, I’m serious.”

“― Not funny at all. Weren’t you going to accept my apology?”

Sanho clearly didn’t believe him.

‘Well, I guess it would be hard to believe…’

Even though Jingyeom understood his disbelief, he had to keep insisting that he really had amnesia.

After throwing out a few rapid-fire questions, Sanho finally realized something was off and changed his tone.

“― Did you really get into an accident or something? You said it was just a routine checkup last time.”

‘How does he know that? Were they really close?’

Among all the messages, none mentioned hospital stays or illness.

This was the first time he’d had contact with someone who knew such personal details about Baek Jingyeom.

Jingyeom’s curiosity suddenly spiked.

“― This is driving me crazy. Let’s meet and talk. You’re at home, right? I’ll come over.”

“You know where I live?”

“― Yeah. I’m nearby. I can be there in 10 minutes.”

The idea of him coming to the house made Jingyeom pause.

If Sanho knew his home, it meant he’d been there before.

That would explain why he’d been hanging around the area. Still, inviting him inside felt a bit uncomfortable.

Maybe it was Jinwoo’s influence, who didn’t like people coming over.

“No, I’ll come out. Do you remember the café where we ran into each other? Let’s meet there.”

“― Why bother coming out? I’ll just come over.”

“It’s fine. I’ll see you there.”

Stepping out the door, Jingyeom knew Cheongoh would follow him.

Sure enough, after a few steps, Cheongoh quickly caught up.

“Do you have CCTV set up at home?”

“Only in the stairwell.”

“……You’re serious?”

“Just kidding.”

Jingyeom stared at him in disbelief.

‘You can’t just say that with a straight face. It’s too convincing!’

He’d have to check later just in case. It seemed too realistic to be just a joke.

On the way to the café, Jingyeom asked Cheongoh to give him some space.

Maybe they had built enough trust over time because Cheongoh agreed to keep his distance, although he wouldn’t disappear completely.

When Jingyeom arrived at the café and looked around, he spotted a man waving his hand high in the air.

“Jingyeom, over here!”

Sanho was sitting in a spot with a clear view of the entrance.

“Hello.”

“Ha… Hearing that from you feels so weird.”

Up close, Jingyeom’s first impression of Jeong Sanho was that he looked like a Doberman—sharp, pointed ears, narrow eyes without double eyelids, and a sharp face, though his smile softened his features a bit.

Although it wasn’t possible to let down his guard completely in a situation where he didn’t know much about the person, he relaxed a little, thinking that this person might actually know Baek Jingyeom.

Jingyeom sat across from him with a noticeably more comfortable demeanor.

“Wow… You’ve completely changed!”

“Can you tell just by looking?”

“Yeah. Normally, your eyes are always a bit sharper, and your lips stick out like you’re pouting all the time.”

Sanho mimicked Jingyeom’s usual annoyed expression by pulling up the corners of his eyes with his fingers.

“You said you know me, right? …What kind of relationship did we have?”

Jingyeom tried to recall if the name Jeong Sanho had ever come up in ‘Gray’, but he couldn’t remember a character by that name.

If Sanho was a friend of Baek Jingyeom’s, he might not have appeared in the original story.

Perhaps he wasn’t a significant character.

“We were friends. Close friends, or ‘real friends,’ as they say. We’ve been friends since high school.”

“High school? So, you’re also friends with Jinwoo?”

As soon as Jinwoo was mentioned, Sanho’s expression stiffened for a moment. Though he quickly smiled again, Jingyeom didn’t miss the brief change.

“Baek Jinwoo hated me. Probably… because you only hung out with me. We don’t talk or meet anymore.”

“He’s not the type to hate someone for no reason…”

Jingyeom murmured quietly, causing Sanho’s lips to twitch slightly.

“You and Baek Jinwoo seem to be getting along well?”

“Of course, we’re twins.”

Jingyeom answered with a bright smile, but he quickly tilted his head in confusion when he noticed the odd expression on Sanho’s face. Sanho was smirking.

“Have you lost all your memories? Do you not remember what Baek Jinwoo did to you? Did you really forget everything?”

“What did Jinwoo do?”

Jingyeom had always believed that he was the one who had mistreated Jinwoo, so Sanho’s reaction was unexpected.

“Jinwoo took all your family’s money and blew it.”

“…What?”

“He wouldn’t even let you leave the house, so I had to come by your place every day. He hated me so much that he wouldn’t let me inside your house. That’s not all. He stopped you from having any hobbies, even though you were sick and just wanted a small one.”

Jingyeom struggled to match the Jinwoo he knew with the version of him that Sanho was describing.

He wondered if Sanho had misunderstood Jinwoo since he only heard about him through Jingyeom.

“These days, you still only go out at certain times, and I noticed there’s always someone with you.”

Sanho’s eyes briefly glanced towards the table where Cheongoh was sitting.

“…You seem to know a lot about me?”

“You used to tell me everything. When you stopped contacting me, I even wondered if you were being held captive. So, I watched you for a few days.”

“Jinwoo would never do something like that.”

When Jingyeom smiled as he spoke, Sanho’s eyebrows twitched in annoyance, and he clicked his tongue in irritation.

“Wow… You really are a different person now. I thought it was a lie, but it’s true? This is the first time I’ve seen you defend Baek Jinwoo.”

“Did I dislike Jinwoo before?”

“Dislike him? You ‘hated’ him. You were probably the person who prayed the most for Baek Jinwoo to die. Of course, I was next in line.”

Facing Sanho, who was saying such terrifying things with a casual smile, sent chills down Jingyeom’s spine.