He’s coming in? Coming in where?
His fingers wandered over the keyboard for a long while. Unable to grasp what it meant, he couldn’t figure out how to respond either. Seungyeon deleted the apology he’d been writing and hesitantly moved his fingers. Only after agonizing for a while did he finally manage to compose a single question.
[Me: What do you mean?]
But no answer came. He glared at the screen with its blinking cursor, but there was no response. The more time passed, the more Seungyeon’s anxiety grew.
What is it? What the hell does he mean? Seungyeon gnawed at his nails and added a question mark.
That’s when he heard his mom’s voice from beyond the living room asking, “Who is it?” His ears perked up at the inexplicably bustling atmosphere outside.
He could only hear his mom’s voice intermittently, as if she was talking through the intercom. After exchanging a few words, the sound of the front door opening followed.
Unable to contain his curiosity, Seungyeon immediately sat up from where he’d been lying down. A visitor? But there’s no one who would come by.
The moment he pushed open his door, filled with anxiety, another door appeared right in front of his nose.
No, it wasn’t a door—it was a person’s chest as large as a door. The solar plexus area of a man dressed in black, looking like a black wall, filled Seungyeon’s entire field of vision. When he lifted his head with a bewildered expression, his gaze met a face that seemed both familiar and unfamiliar.
“Uh…?”
It was definitely a face he’d encountered before. Such a distinctive appearance couldn’t be confused or forgotten. Seungyeon blinked his wide eyes and looked the man up and down.
“That hospital rooftop back then…?”
It was definitely that man. The one who’d suddenly grabbed the back of someone’s neck on the hospital rooftop and gotten angry! The face was so unusual there was no way to forget it, and Seungyeon mulled over the man’s name he’d seen in the wallet. Meanwhile, the door swung open once more. It was Seungyeon’s mom.
“Really, Seungyeon, if a friend was coming over, you should’ve told me in advance. You startled me. I didn’t know our Seungyeon had such a handsome friend.”
The man who’d been silently looking down at Seungyeon slowly turned his head. Despite his overbearing gaze, the man bowed his head politely with courteous manners.
“I apologize for visiting without prior notice, ma’am.”
“Oh my, no, I always welcome Seungyeon’s friends anytime! I’ll bring out some drinks, so you two chat. Hohoho.”
Whether it was because of his handsome appearance or his polite demeanor, a beaming smile spread across his mom’s face. The door closed with a thud after her bustling figure disappeared. After a long silence, the man spoke first.
“That’s why—why’d you cut off contact? Happy to see me acting like a stalker?”
With a face that seemed to be holding something back, he furrowed his brow and immediately glared at Seungyeon. Under that resentful gaze, like a victim who’d been robbed of their savings, Seungyeon shrank his shoulders without understanding why.
“I clearly told you that if you cut off contact without a word, I’d come find you at your house.”
The man slowly ran his fingers through his hair. Even that, combined with his fierce eyes, felt like a threat from a handsome thug. Seungyeon looked the man over with confused eyes. He was definitely the man he’d met at the hospital, and no matter how much he racked his memory, it absolutely wasn’t a face he’d encountered in the original drama.
Then was he Baek Seungyeon’s friend? But something seemed off about that. If they’d known each other, there would’ve been no need to act like complete strangers on the hospital rooftop. But then again, just listening to him talk, he seemed like someone who knew Baek Seungyeon well…?
Perhaps interpreting Seungyeon’s confused expression somehow, the man suddenly let out a sigh. Looking down at Seungyeon with a crooked posture, he continued slowly.
“I’ll tell you in advance in case you think I’m some pervert. I did investigate you, but even though I knew your address, I deliberately didn’t come find you, and if I hadn’t run into you at the hospital, I would’ve kept not coming. Fuck, that’s why—why were you trying to jump off the rooftop? Do you really want to die?”
With each step the man took forward, Seungyeon stumbled backward. Only when his back touched the wall and there was nowhere left to retreat did Seungyeon finally manage to speak.
“Uh, well, I, I mean I got hurt recently so my memory’s a bit hazy… So, are we… do we… know each other?”
Seeing as he’s calling me hyung, he must be younger than me, but just looking at his face, he definitely doesn’t look like a younger guy. What kind of relationship did they have for him to barge into the house so recklessly like this?
No matter how much he racked every bit of sense and sensibility he had, it was just going in circles. He couldn’t move a single step beyond ‘So who exactly are you?’ The man’s eyebrows twitched at the confused gaze.
“You don’t know who I am?”
His face crumpled as if he’d been terribly insulted. At his furious appearance, Seungyeon shrank his shoulders again.
“Who are you…?”
“Ha… really, fuck…”
The more the man cursed, the more Seungyeon’s body proportionally shriveled up. While he was steeling his resolve to throw something if necessary and escape from the room, the man took a deep breath. His face, irritable yet still actively expressing handsomeness, stared straight at Seungyeon.
“I’m ‘shhh,’ who chatted with you every single day for 6 months without missing a day. That’s me.”
Seungyeon’s mouth fell open at the shocking truth. When he pointed at his laptop, the man nodded as if to confirm.
“No way…”
So when he said he’s coming in, he meant he’s literally coming in? Like, for real? Bewilderment and confusion mixed together. He’s coming at this timing? He’s not joking, he’s serious? No, but why? What kind of relationship did they have that he’d come barging into the house just because they lost contact for a bit?
“How did you even get my home address…”
The moment Seungyeon opened his mouth to ask, a status window popped up before his eyes. His mouth fell open again at the unexpected information.
[A ‘Specific Person’ has been added! The currently registered Specific Persons total 2, with a maximum of 3 possible. Once registered, a Specific Person cannot be changed.]
*
shhh’s real name was Jung Sanho. As Seungyeon had confirmed from the wallet, he was twenty years old this year and currently enrolled in the business administration department at a famous prestigious university.
His meeting with Baek Seungyeon had occurred through an anonymous forum. As Seungyeon had confirmed, Jung Sanho had given advice in response to Baek Seungyeon’s false claims of illness, and they’d become close. They exchanged conversations, and in the process came to share personal stories, and soon their hearts matched so well that the lip service of “let’s meet someday” developed into genuine sincerity, or so he said.
Listening to Jung Sanho’s story, Seungyeon realized how this strange and peculiar relationship could have developed.
At a glance, Jung Sanho didn’t have a personality that was friendly toward others. He didn’t seem to have ill will, but he was fundamentally sharp-edged, and when that attitude combined with his intimidating appearance, it created a rather unpleasant synergy. In other words, the first thought when you saw him was something like ‘scary person’? He himself wasn’t the type to approach others first, and since no one would approach him first either, it would’ve been more comfortable to have conversations online.
And to make matters worse, that counterpart was Baek Seungyeon. To Baek Seungyeon, who’d sweet-talked his hyungs and older sisters to regularly extract spending money, what an easy prey this must have been. Deceiving Jung Sanho would’ve been a piece of cake for the real Baek Seungyeon.
Up until that point, Seungyeon had intended to tell Jung Sanho the truth and apologize. His ultimate goal was apology and a safe breakup. Appease Jung Sanho, who seemed to have quite a temper, as much as possible while cutting ties. Of course, it was also important not to get carried to the hospital again due to a penalty in that process.
After contemplating, Seungyeon headed to a cafe near his house with Jung Sanho. It was difficult to have such a serious conversation at home where his mom might overhear. Fortunately, Jung Sanho was cooperative too.
Stirring his iced americano, Seungyeon watched for the right timing. Let’s lighten the mood a bit with some ice-breaking, and when Jung Sanho looks least angry, let’s talk seriously. Even if a penalty occurred while talking about the possession and whatnot, he planned to trust in the nullification right for now.
It was still nagging that Jung Sanho had been registered as a Specific Person out of nowhere, but what could he do? The kid was a bit thug-like and scary, and maybe slightly stalker-ish, but that didn’t make Baek Seungyeon’s wrongdoings disappear.
So, he needed to unbutton the wrongly fastened button and set it right, even if he had to redo it.
“Um… so, Sanho… ya? But can I call you by your name?”
“…Do whatever you want.”
Jung Sanho nodded with a strangely embarrassed face. What’s there to be embarrassed about being called by your name? Seungyeon gave himself a dry face-wash and focused his eyes seriously.
Even if I get slapped by Jung Sanho and an 8-ton truck hits me directly, let’s be honest. I can’t become trash like the real Baek Seungyeon, right?
“So, listen. I don’t really know how to say this… but don’t get angry and just hear me out. I think… I deceived you. No, I did deceive you. It’s definitely deception.”
Seungyeon hung his head low. A silence followed his confession for a while. Cautiously raising his head, he sincerely apologized to the expressionless Jung Sanho.
“I’m truly sorry, Sanho. What I said on that site, it was all lies… I don’t have any illness, I’m healthy. Of course, I was recently hospitalized, and I am in a cast right now… but anyway, I’m healthy. And I really wasn’t trying to die—”
“I know.”
Huh, what? Seungyeon couldn’t understand the answer and questioned back. Jung Sanho glared at Seungyeon with eyes that said ‘what’s the problem?’
“I said I know. That you deliberately approached me pretending to have an illness you don’t have, that you’ve never gone to college and have been unemployed for a long time, even that you were subtly trying to gaslight me—I know it all. But you know what? So what?”
“Uh, what?”
Seungyeon asked back with a stupid face again. Jung Sanho provocatively raised the corners of his eyes.
“As long as I like hyung, that’s all that matters. What’s the problem with that kind of stuff?”
