When I opened my eyes, what I saw wasn’t a shabby inn room. It was a white ceiling that felt both familiar and unfamiliar. I habitually tried to use magic, then realized there was no mana in my body.
Even though it had only been three years, I tossed and turned a bit at the strange feeling of not sensing mana. The thin blanket rustled with friction. I was even covered with a blanket, as if I had fallen asleep in bed last night and just woken up. For some reason I didn’t want to move, so I only turned my head and took in the room I was facing after three years.
Next to the bed, a book with a bookmark and a water bottle on the drawer. The wardrobe that didn’t close completely because it was broken. A disheveled outer garment hanging on the chair. The room I saw after three years was a bit unfamiliar, but it was unchanged.
Rather, it was so full of lived-in traces that it was hard to believe it had been three years, to the extent that I could physically feel that time in this place hadn’t passed while I was in the other world.
During that time, I suddenly became curious whether they had discovered the note. I had only been able to write one line, but I’d feel a bit regretful if they hadn’t seen it.
While recalling my companions whom I could no longer meet, something caught on my fingertips. It was a fountain pen.
“……Why is this here?”
It was true that I had been holding the fountain pen before I lost consciousness. But normally when you lose consciousness, doesn’t your hand lose strength? It was utterly absurd.
I carefully caressed the initials engraved on the fountain pen and got up from the bed. It’s regretful, but it’s already over no matter how much more I think about it. So it was better to focus on the present.
I forcibly erased my thoughts and first looked for the modern person’s essential item—my phone. Fortunately, without needing to search every corner, my phone was in its usual spot.
8:20
Looking at the time and date, I barely had enough time even if I hurried to put on my uniform and go to school. After switching my whining phone to silent, I opened the wardrobe. The uniform I was seeing after three years was still the same.
Well, there wouldn’t be any changes. Except for me.
Feeling once again that three years—time that hadn’t passed here—I spaced out for a moment, then quickly changed clothes and packed my bag. Except for hesitating briefly about what I needed to pack, it wasn’t much different from three years ago.
“Ah.”
On the desk that entered my field of vision before leaving, there was a memo with a bankbook, card, and password written on it. It was compensation for acting as a Hero.
I packed those too and put them in my bag, then turned the doorknob. As if everyone had left, there was no sign of anyone in the house.
I left the house as usual and headed to school, turning on my phone on the way. The route to school that I was seeing after a long time was quite unfamiliar, and perhaps because Ruvlian had followed me everywhere for three years, the silence of being alone now felt awkward.
My stomach churned at the already-felt absence of Ruvlian. After taking one deep breath, I shifted my attention elsewhere. It was the chat window displayed at the top of my phone.
[♥Read the chat you dog-like friend^^♥ 4]
When I entered the chat room, the first thing that caught my eye was the consistent room name. It was bothersome to change the room title that Lee Rihyung and Park Sichan had changed on their own, so I had left it alone until now.
When I dragged to read the unread messages in order, I saw messages betting on me.
[Park Sichan]
?
wtf Baek Shun isn’t coming 8:10 AM
[Kim Minsik]
bullshit no
you should make your jokes more believable
so unfunny; 8:11 AM
[Lee Rihyung]
fr lol 8:11 AM
[Park Sichan]
this is so unfair
10,000 won bread go? 8:12 AM
Going down, conversations continued with Kim Minsik’s wailing after losing the 10,000 won bread bet and teasing Kim Minsik with things like “Park-under-Kim”—Park Sichan under Kim Minsik.
At the pathetic behavior, Ruvlian and Montrio came to mind. Those two were like this whenever they talked too. A sense of reality rushed in for a moment, but I didn’t take any particular action. I just walked.
Before I knew it, I was at school. Checking the time again, it was 8:44, so as expected, I was late. The first place I went after entering the school was the staff room. It was because I knew the homeroom teacher called those who were late to the staff room.
“What were you doing that made you late?”
“I wasn’t feeling well, so I overslept.”
“You’re a senior. Get it together, you punk.”
At my words mixed with a bit of a lie, the teacher briefly nagged with concern, then waved his hand. It meant to go since class was about to start.
I finished a simple greeting with a bow and headed to my classroom. When I turned on my phone, there were more messages.
[Lee Rihyung]
oh Baek Shun read it
why didn’t Baek Shun come nya >.< 8:47 AM
[Kim Minsik]
fuck
stop with the aegyo 8:47 AM
[Lee Rihyung]
hing
Minsik is jealousㅠ
sorry but Minsik isn’t my type nyaㅠ 8:48 AM
[Kim Minsik]
fuck
gtfo;; 8:48 AM
[Park Sichan]
Chu Minsik Kim hada 8:48 AM
After reading all the messages up to the last one, I was in front of the classroom. I opened the door, went in, and headed toward Kim Minsik. Then I said calmly,
“I didn’t know you liked Lee Rihyung. I don’t need him, so you take him.”
“Fuck. I wouldn’t take him even if you gave him to me! The bastard who came late has a lot to say.”
Kim Minsik opened his eyes sharply. Even so, his eye shape was gentler than the demons or rough-looking mercenaries I’d seen when I was a Hero, so it wasn’t scary at all.
However, perhaps because it had been three years, I felt slightly awkward one-sidedly. So the moment I was about to move away from Kim Minsik, I felt weight behind me.
For an instant, Ruvlian flashed through my mind and disappeared. There’s no way he’d be here. I turned my head slightly and Lee Rihyung was wrapping his arm around my shoulder and clinging to me.
“Baek Shun is so mean~ How can you hand over someone as cute and adorable as me to someone like Kim Minsik?”
“Ah fuck. Aegyo! Stop! Doing it!”
“Baek Shun, he’s hitting me!”
I removed the hand of Lee Rihyung who, even while being thoroughly beaten by Kim Minsik hitting him rhythmically, didn’t let go of me. Then I gifted Lee Rihyung directly to Kim Minsik.
“Crazy. Baek Shun, are you really going to be like this?”
“Yeah.”
Leaving the two of them, I belatedly found my seat and moved there. It should have been hazy since it had been three years, but perhaps because I came late, my seat stood out particularly well.
“What. Baek Shun came. I thought you weren’t coming today?”
“Park Sichan.”
“Huh?”
“We’re seniors.”
With one sentence, Park Sichan made an expression as if he understood everything. Then he pretended to cry as if tears were blocking his vision. Watching such Park Sichan, I said one thing.
“Doing that makes you really ugly.”
“Wow really. I’m handsome even with this face. Don’t you know my nickname, Baek Shun?”
“Was it soccer maniac?”
“It’s not! I’m, like. The future of our country’s looks. Got it?”
Park Sichan puffed out his chest and laughed confidently. He seemed to be trying to look cool, but it was just cringey instead.
“The future of our country’s looks is ruined.”
“That nickname was given by my mom.”
“……”
“My mom said that, Baek Shun.”
He looked determined to get agreement. Park Sichan also knew how high my standards were. So he was trying to get me to say yes somehow.
But didn’t it become an awkward timing to go along with it?
Without giving Park Sichan an answer, I looked for my textbook. I could feel a gaze drilling into the back of his head, but perhaps because I had endured even more intense gazes when I was a Hero, I didn’t particularly feel I needed to say what Park Sichan wanted to hear.
“Really won’t say it? Wow, I’m gonna get hurt.”
I checked the timetable and found the first period textbook and placed it on the desk. The first period teacher was originally famous for coming in late.
Normally, I had no complaints about the teacher’s tardiness. However, because Park Sichan was becoming increasingly blatant and annoying, I wished he’d come in early just today. Though he was already late.
“Baek Shuuun. Are you really going to be like this?”
“Right! Are you really going to be like this? How could you leave cutie Rihyung to that terrifying Kim Minsik!?”
“Lee Rihyung. You stay out of this. Me first.”
“What. Rihyung is absurd, right? Rihyung was abandoned by Baek Shun first, right?”
Lee Rihyung was constantly watching for an opportunity to cling to my shoulder. Continuously pushing away Lee Rihyung who clung hotly, I was harassed by these two punks who wouldn’t listen.
Because it had been three years, I was even more drained. In this chaos, I wanted to smack the back of Kim Minsik’s head as he watched like it was a fire at someone else’s house. It was more so because that bastard was deliberately grinning.
“Kim Minsik. Stop them a bit.”
“It’s karma. Pay off your debts well.”
Kim Minsik didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping them. In other words, I had to shake off these tireless punks on my own.
“Haah. The person who stops first, I’ll treat to the snack bar.”
“I was immature. For Rihyung to bother Baek Shun~”
Lee Rihyung quickly let go and backed away. Soon after, Park Sichan also backed away, but it was too late.
“Lee Rihyung, decide what you want to eat.”
“Yes! Park Sichan is so slow.”
“I deliberately delayed one beat, you know?”
The moment the two were about to exchange well-wishes disguised as curses, the front door opened. In an instant, Lee Rihyung and Kim Minsik headed to their seats.
When class started, the classroom that had felt hot gradually cooled down. The class I was hearing after a long time was boring and tedious. However, my hands were moving diligently, so I didn’t fall asleep.
[Baek Shun]
A name was written on the notebook I was taking notes in. When I saw it but didn’t respond, Park Sichan poked the back of my hand with the back of his mechanical pencil.
[What]
[Will you accept a girl’s number?]
[No]
As if surprised by my immediate answer, the conversation was cut off for a moment. I didn’t see his face because I was looking at the blackboard, but I could roughly predict what kind of expression he had.
It seemed to be the aftermath of seeing him since first grade of elementary school. To think I’ve been seeing this guy for 12 years already. Thinking about it is disgusting.
[Why? You know I only introduce you to people who are your type, so you don’t refuse]
It was true. Perhaps because I’d been seeing him for a disgustingly long time, the people Park Sichan introduced always matched my ideal type.
[Have you seen me date anyone you introduced?]
[Not that, but you usually accept them first]
[I accept to see their face and then reject them]
There was an incident before when I didn’t accept a girl’s number and she found out my address and came to find me. I didn’t tell Park Sichan, but after that time, I tended to see their face and reject them.
Thinking about it now, I wondered why I went that far. Was it because my parents were important then? It’s useless to think about it now since they’re people I don’t care about anymore, so I stopped falling into thoughts and readjusted my pen grip.
[And I have someone I like separately]
“What?”
At the words I wrote down without hesitation, Park Sichan asked back with a surprised face. Perhaps because the classroom was quiet, his voice rang out particularly loudly.
That meant it was loud enough for the teacher to hear too.
“Park Sichan. Go to the back.”
“Ah, teacher! Please let it slide just once. I was listening to class really diligently.”
“The guy who presents a new book every time I check notes talks a lot. Get out.”
Park Sichan, who was very curious, eventually had to go to the back. Even in the midst of that, the back of my head stung, wondering if he kept glaring at me.
Even so, there’s no way my mouth will open. While calmly continuing my thoughts, the last sentence I wrote caught my eye.
He’s someone I’ll never see again, yet he has no intention of leaving my head. I took out the fountain pen I’d packed in the morning from my pencil case and rubbed the initials out of habit.
He’s someone who will only live on in my memories now, yet he left too big a mark on me. Little by little from moments I didn’t even realize.
Falling into thoughts about him, I couldn’t concentrate on class at all. My stomach churned with a feeling of not knowing what to do. I intuitively realized that today was already ruined and mechanically moved my hand. Nothing was entering my head, but at least my notes were perfect.
