# Chapter 15
It felt like my body was floating. Rather than feeling drowsy, my head felt completely empty and dizzy, my vision went dark, and my breathing became irregular. For a moment, nausea rose up and I covered my mouth. But since I hadn’t eaten anything, there was nothing to throw up.
I was clearly standing on the floor, but I couldn’t feel my feet, as if I were floating in the air. My arms and legs were limp and weak, and that’s when I started to feel dizzy.
Someone muttered “disgusting” toward me as I stood there, barely supporting my sweat-drenched, staggering body. Though it was a small sound, the voice struck my ears clearly, and tears fell drop by drop.
I’m not sure if it was because of those words or if it was a reaction to feeling unwell.
As I raised my hand to wipe my face through my blurred vision, a small, chubby white hand filled my sight.
When I lifted my head, I saw children. The gazes fixed on me, nearly slumped on the wooden floor, were sharp. What I saw were various emotions: surprise, pity, displeasure, contempt.
None of them were positive reactions. The moment I blinked, everything went dark.
“Huk!”
I opened my eyes wide, exhaling a sharp breath.
In the silence, though the surroundings were peaceful with no trace of danger, I couldn’t regain my composure, as if I were engulfed in fear, so I closed my eyes for a moment.
I recalled how I had fallen asleep like I’d passed out, probably because yesterday had been really tough. Thinking I must have slept straight through until now, I sat up and felt cold sweat covering the back of my neck.
The sky was faintly brightening at dawn, with reddish morning glow spreading across it.
“…Damn it.”
As my labored breathing settled down, a curse escaped me. I could have dismissed it as a weird dream or a nightmare, but it was too vivid to brush off lightly.
Even though I hadn’t experienced it directly, my fingers and toes tingled. I massaged my body, then quickly threw off the blanket to shake it off.
Then I felt hungry. As soon as I thought about food, my stomach growled, so I got up from the bed and left the room.
Looking at the clock, it was just past 6 AM. Looking around, it was quiet as if no one had woken up yet. Yoon Taean seemed to be sleeping, but where were the parents? I hadn’t seen them.
Is it okay for me to walk around like this when it’s not even my real house? I worried briefly, but then thought, I’m Yoon Taeho now, so what does it matter? I opened the refrigerator and rummaged through it.
As I looked for something simple to make, I noticed the box Oh Seulbi had given me yesterday.
“Ah, that’s right.”
Cake seemed a bit much for early morning, but looking at the clean and tidy kitchen, I didn’t feel like I should cook. I probably wasn’t in the habit of cooking often, so I wasn’t sure I could prepare a proper meal anyway. I immediately gave up on cooking and took out the box and some milk.
When I placed it on the table and opened the box, I found that she had indeed put in one of each cake, with everything I had seen yesterday inside. As I ate the half-eaten chocolate cake, I suddenly felt a sense of reality, perhaps because my stomach was gradually filling up.
“I really fucking don’t want to go to school.”
Why couldn’t it be the weekend? It was sad that there were two more days left, but I couldn’t believe only one day had passed so far. I wanted to deny both the unpleasant dream and the reality that I was still in Yoon Taeho’s body, unable to return.
But the cake was delicious, so the sad feeling didn’t last long.
“School… should I skip it?”
“What are you talking about?”
As I muttered to myself, Yoon Taean, who had come out to the living room, looked at me with puzzled eyes and asked:
“What’s going on? Are you really sick somewhere?”
“No.”
If I were really sick, that would be fortunate. I swallowed a sigh inwardly and drank the remaining milk. With him around, I couldn’t skip school without permission, and since this wasn’t even my real body, I couldn’t make such decisions carelessly.
I said I’d wash up and entered the bathroom. After a thorough shower, I remembered the uniform I had hung on the chair yesterday. I needed to wear it right away, but the uniform I had forgotten to grab wasn’t visible, so I went to Yoon Taean.
“Yoon Taean.”
“What? What is it?!”
Yoon Taean frowned when he saw me standing in front of his room. When I looked at him questioningly, he covered his eyes with his hands and said in an incredulous tone:
“Why are you naked?”
“Because I just came out of the shower.”
Besides, I had covered the important parts with a towel. Thinking that this guy, my own brother and a fellow man, was making a fuss over nothing, I quickly asked about the purpose of my visit:
“Have you seen my uniform that I hung on the living room chair?”
“I put it in the washing machine to wash it.”
“Ah, then what about my uniform?”
When I asked what I should wear if that was being washed, Yoon Taean lowered his hands but didn’t look at me as he replied in an irritated voice:
“You have another uniform. Why are you asking when you can just wear that?”
“Ah, right. But where is it?”
“Ah! It should be in your closet, hyung.”
Makes sense. Feeling a bit embarrassed, I said I understood and apologized before heading to my room. I immediately rummaged through the closet and found a neatly hung, new uniform.
I let out a deep sigh as I took out the uniform along with underwear and put them on. Unlike yesterday, I checked that nothing was out of place and neatly combed my hair.
By then, it was already past 7 AM. Thinking how quickly time passes, I finished preparing for school. I really didn’t want to go, but there was no avoiding it.
* * *
Yoon Taean seemed busy and went to school first. Though I had no intention of walking together cozily, I didn’t mind, but on the way to school, I felt gazes from around me and wondered if I should have come out alone.
That’s because as soon as I came out of the house, Moon Seoheon was waiting outside. He waved as soon as he saw me. He had said he would go together every morning, and he really was waiting. No, how did we end up going to school together every morning?
Without realizing it, I had thought Moon Seoheon would always be with the main characters, so being alone with him like this felt a bit awkward.
Honestly, I was surprised, but I casually waved back and went to his side.
“You look fine today.”
“Huh? Yeah.”
“Is it because you’re not late?”
I gave him an embarrassed smile in response to his joke about my lateness yesterday.
Afterward, on our way to school side by side, we walked quietly without conversation, having nothing to talk about and perhaps lacking the talent to say anything interesting. At first, it was so quiet that I thought I should say something, but Moon Seoheon seemed unbothered, so I kept quiet too.
Well, honestly speaking, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking as he walked looking straight ahead. I was afraid the atmosphere might get worse if I tried to break the awkwardness by starting a conversation, so I just kept my eyes forward as well.
As we approached the school, many students in the same uniform appeared. With that, I could feel the stares directed at us more clearly.
Moreover, whatever rumors had spread, the gazes looking at me were quite blatant. Those who didn’t know who I was didn’t seem to pay much attention to me beside Moon Seoheon, but the occasional glances were equally uncomfortable.
Well, being next to a celebrity, the students’ reactions were understandable. Anyway, the important thing was that I had established yesterday that I wasn’t a threat to the main characters and Moon Seoheon. That alone should be reassuring enough.
Having reached the classroom door, I silently prayed for today to go smoothly as I entered. However, until I sat down, the students didn’t look at me or whisper as much as I had expected, which made me feel awkward again.
Maybe I had been too sensitive on the way. As I was just flipping through my books, embarrassed by the lukewarm reactions contrary to what I had anticipated, Moon Seoheon abruptly asked:
“Did you eat well what you took home?”
“What?”
After making a confused expression at his sudden question missing a subject, I remembered the box Oh Seulbi had given me and nodded.
“You mean the cake? I ate some this morning.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Moon Seoheon nodded, saying he understood, and went back to his own business. He was looking through a workbook, perhaps intending to study, and though I wondered what that was about, I soon decided to focus on my books as well.
Listening to classes was okay, but trying to study with an open book, I found it hard to concentrate. It had been a while since I’d studied, so I wasn’t sure how to approach it.
Just as I was half-heartedly scanning the text with my eyes, I felt the surroundings grow slightly quieter.
“Moon Seoheon!”
I raised my head at the sound of someone calling Moon Seoheon. There was only one person who would call him that loudly.
As expected, the person standing at the door was Byeon Seungha. Moon Seoheon, who had confirmed it was him looking this way, stood up from his seat.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Oh, okay.”
I nodded vigorously and waved my hand as if to say “have a good time.” Moon Seoheon smiled slightly at my behavior before approaching Byeon Seungha.
During that time, my eyes met with Byeon Seungha, who was looking this way. Though it was very brief as he quickly turned his head away, I found myself staring at the two of them.
Soon, Byeon Seungha and Moon Seoheon left the classroom together.
Only then did I turn my head and massage my neck. Where do they go when they leave like that? Although I was a bit curious, I decided not to care. One shouldn’t interfere with others’ love affairs.
I thought about going to the bathroom before the homeroom teacher arrived, so I got up from my seat.
After finishing my business and washing my hands, I heard what sounded like sobbing from somewhere.
“Let… let me out. That’s, that’s enough… let me go.”
What’s this sound while I’m washing my hands? Surprised, I turned my head, and the sobbing grew louder. Looking around to see where it was coming from, I realized it was coming from the farthest stall in the bathroom. That stall was used as a storage room, but since it was locked, I knocked on the door.
Judging by the hiccupping sound from inside, this must be the right place. Having a pretty good idea of what was happening, I calmly spoke up:
“I’ll open the door for you.”
When I unlocked it, the door opened slightly from the rebound. Through the gap, I made eye contact with the boy inside and stepped back. This startled him, and he flinched, not coming out but shrinking further inside as if hiding.
“Aren’t you coming out?”
“Ah, I’m… I’m coming.”
The boy, seemingly flustered, stuttered as he carefully came out.
He was small with a chubby build. With his hamster-like appearance, he gave the impression of being quite weak. His nametag read “Ko Kyungsu.” He was in the same grade and class as me.
“Th… thank you, Taeho.”
“Huh? Do you, know me?”
When I quickly asked about his familiar attitude toward me, he flinched and replied:
“We’re… in the same class.”
“Ah, right. Sorry.”
As I spoke with a forced smile out of embarrassment, Ko Kyungsu laughed self-deprecatingly and said:
“No, no. I don’t have much of a presence anyway…”
Somehow, I felt even more sorry.
