There was also an efficient plan to just cancel everything, break up cleanly, and then just take the money from Yoon Taerim. If only Jung Sanho would cooperate, they could finish cleanly without wasting each other’s energy.
However, Jung Sanho ruthlessly trampled Seungyeon’s expectations. His face snorting as if it was out of the question even had a hint of madness.
“I don’t want to. For whose benefit? I won’t die alone. I absolutely can’t do that.”
“What do you mean die? Just realistically speaking…”
“Whether it’s common sense or whatever, I won’t fall away alone. Looking at it, Yoon Taerim also seems as serious as me right now, so if I fall away here, only you two would be happy, right? I’d rather we all become unhappy together. I can’t stand to see that, even if I die.”
Rather than putting on a pitiful act crying behind them while wishing for the two’s happiness, he’d just all burn to death in hell together. At that point, Seungyeon could only purely admire him.
“You’re really… one of a kind.”
Jung Sanho’s thinking existed somewhere far beyond the general category. Like a villain stereotype from dramas or movies, but somehow going one step further from there?
[A rise in affection from a specific person has been confirmed! As a reward for this, 1 Penalty Nullification Ticket will be issued!]
Just seeing how even negative admiration was brilliantly interpreted positively to raise affection proved it. What is this guy really? It wasn’t sarcasm—he was now just purely curious. What kind of environment must one grow up in for a kid to grow up this transparently yet pitch-black?
‘How on earth did Baek Seungyeon get to know Jung Sanho?’
When you thought about it, at the starting point of all this was Baek Seungyeon’s fraudulent behavior. Even if deliberately approaching him was one thing, wasn’t there a reason why he picked out Jung Sanho specifically among all those people? Just being rich wasn’t enough of an explanation. Yoon Taerim also seemed to have considerable money, and Baek Seungyeon even had acquaintance with Yoon Taerim.
Or did he just pick him because he seemed easy? Just looking at the age of twenty, he was clearly young and inexperienced, so he might have judged he’d be easy to manipulate.
Whatever it was, four-character idioms kept coming to mind—karma, reaping what you sow, being caught in one’s own trap. Even if he didn’t know the inner core, it was certain that the original owner of this body was a total bastard, and Jung Sanho too… although there was his active consent, he was clearly a victim of the fraudulent scheme.
Seungyeon leaned his head against the car window with a bitter face. Thinking deeply only made his insides noisy. He focused on emptying his head as much as possible and blankly looked at the scenery outside the window. After moving like that for about 20 minutes, another question arose.
Even though they’d been traveling for a while, there was no sign of arriving at the destination. He stuck out his head to check the navigation route. If he wasn’t seeing wrong, there were still 30 more minutes remaining until the estimated arrival time at the destination.
“But where are we going right now?”
This is going too far for just coming out of the cafe to sign something? To Seungyeon’s question, Jung Sanho, who had been silent, briefly replied.
“You’ll know when we get there.”
***
“Kyaaaah!”
The roller coaster passed by their side in an instant. Letting the screams of people enjoying the thrill pass by, Seungyeon followed the trajectory of the roller coaster that had disappeared far away.
Everyone has good stamina. If they scream like that, don’t their throats hurt? To Seungyeon, who didn’t particularly like thrills or rides, they seemed like people from another world. He only thought that he’d like to go home quickly and rest with his legs stretched out.
“But do I have to keep wearing this?”
Seungyeon fiddled with the rabbit headband and looked at Jung Sanho. Jung Sanho, who had just been putting on a cat headband from behind, hesitated. Thinking he might not have heard, Seungyeon raised his voice again.
“Do I absolutely have to wear this?”
Tap tap, he touched the headband with his fingertips. This headband that was expensive, useless, and even cumbersome—none other than Jung Sanho was the one who gave it to Seungyeon. For someone who boldly declared it must be worn, he’d been struggling for several minutes putting it on and taking it off.
“If you’re embarrassed, you don’t have to wear it. There’s no need to force it…”
“No. You’re supposed to do this when you come to places like this.”
“Well, I mean…”
Is that so? Had a law been enacted that you must wear animal headbands when coming to an amusement park without him knowing? Considering this was a drama world, it didn’t seem impossible either…
“It’s like a national rule…”
“Exactly. If it’s a rule, you have to do it. Don’t you have to wear school uniforms? I saw it a lot in dramas.”
“Really. What, are you going to say let’s eat cotton candy too?”
“We’re going to eat it though?”
At the answer that immediately followed, Seungyeon closed his mouth with an awkward face. Just looking at his face, it was hard to tell if he was joking or not. Eventually, Seungyeon decided to step back.
“Fine, do as you please.”
He still didn’t know why, but what could he do about it if he wanted to do it? It seemed like he wouldn’t let him go home until he was satisfied, so he had no choice but to go along.
He scratched his head and pushed through the crowd. Because there were so many people, he felt his stamina draining with just a little movement.
“Really, why did we come here…?”
An amusement park on the weekend, that alone was suffocating, and the timing was unfortunately coincidental. Coming to an amusement park on a weekend during Family Month, especially one with Children’s Day, was crazy. It was hard to tell whether they were here to watch people or ride attractions.
Jung Sanho, who brought him here but wasn’t helpful in any way, kept going off on side paths asking what’s that, what’s this, so their steps kept getting delayed. Even after stopping and going several times, the cotton candy shop wasn’t even in sight. Seungyeon quickly grabbed Jung Sanho’s wrist as he was about to veer off to the side path again as if enchanted.
“Stay still.”
Before he could insist on buying some shining ball or something, Seungyeon made the first move. At the threat that if he deviated one more time or said he’d buy useless souvenirs, they’d just go their separate ways, Jung Sanho reluctantly nodded.
Seungyeon, who let out a small sigh, grabbed his wrist and quickly cleared a path. While slipping into places without people, Jung Sanho kept flinching his hand. At the quite bothersome movement, he just locked their fingers together so he couldn’t budge. Only then did the movement stop completely.
‘Should have done that from the start.’
Leading Jung Sanho who was colorfully high-maintenance, Seungyeon slipped his body into an alley. Following the stairs down to the lower floor, an area incomparably quiet and peaceful compared to before appeared. Finding an empty chair, he quickly brought Jung Sanho and sat him in the empty seat.
“In places like this, if you don’t move quickly, you’ll lose your seat too, you know? Have you been to an amusement park once or twice?”
As if to prove Seungyeon’s words, people who came late said “Ah, no seats here either” and turned their steps away. He shrugged his shoulders as if to say ‘see?’ Jung Sanho glanced at such a Seungyeon.
“It’s my first time.”
“Ah, here? If you go further this way, there are only rides for little kids so it’s a place people don’t really come to. I also found out about it by chance while wandering around lost.”
“No, not here. I mean it’s my first time at an amusement park.”
“Huh?”
First time at an amusement park?
At Seungyeon’s dazed response, Jung Sanho took off the headband he was wearing. Fiddling with the black cat ears, he glanced around. His eyes were full of curiosity as if everything he saw was fascinating. Could that really be because it’s his first time at an amusement park?
“No, really? Didn’t you come on a school trip when you were in school? Don’t kids these days go to amusement parks for school trips?”
Is this a generational difference? How much of an age gap could there even be? Or maybe rich families are different? Well, it does seem a bit unfamiliar to think of rich kids going to amusement parks in groups to play…
It was shocking either way. Seungyeon brought his face close with wide eyes.
“You’re not lying, are you? Is it really your first time? Completely, totally your first time?”
“…Why would I lie about something like this? It’s not like I particularly wanted to come. There was just no reason to go. I never went on school trips or anything like that either.”
Jung Sanho backed away and turned his head. Even if suspicious, there was nothing for him to gain by lying like this. Seungyeon, who was shocked, stroked his chin and muttered.
“First time…”
So that’s why he said things about having to wear headbands. Well, no matter how crazy this world is, would legislating mandatory headband wearing at amusement parks even make sense? After pondering for a moment, Seungyeon kicked his chair and jumped up.
“Let’s go.”
He gently placed the headband in his hand on Jung Sanho’s head. Looking down at the blank expression, Seungyeon grinned.
“We came all the way here, so we should make lots of good memories.”
He said he didn’t particularly want to come, but that couldn’t be true. Seeing that he brought him all the way here, he definitely wanted to come. The conversation he had with Jung Sanho before suddenly came to mind.
Jung Sanho, who said he’d never been celebrated for his birthday, said he’d never even been to an amusement park once. Somehow it was a bit pitiful, and since they were already here, he wanted to plant good memories for him too.
“I’ll make you the best day ever.”
Seungyeon enthusiastically led Jung Sanho. Drawing the optimal route for how to get the most out of an amusement park, he walked briskly.
