First of all, things started going badly for him after he and the female lead got into a fight once….
Baek Yu-gyeong appears around chapter 15, but the moment he shows up, he gets put in his place by the female lead, Seo Ha-ra. At that point, Baek Yu-gyeong was nineteen — a year ahead in the timeline — and he’d been in a confrontation with a student who’d been talking behind his back when Seo Ha-ra caught him in the act.
…Well, to be fair, that student was a little in the wrong too.
The student had been caught badmouthing him with a friend — saying things like he was the child cast off by the Baekgyeong Group, or something along those lines — so the student wasn’t entirely innocent. But Baek Yu-gyeong had gone after that student just as hard. He seemed to have openly humiliated him right in the middle of a hallway — and with his build and, however illegitimate his standing, his family’s considerable background, he couldn’t help but come across as threatening.
You’d call it the particular kind of pressure that boys exert over one another — Yu-gyeong bore down on that student while mocking his weaknesses and family situation in front of everyone else.
Something like: know your place. That was the gist of it, I think.
Seo Ha-ra, having no idea about the context, stumbled upon it and called him out — and that was how their relationship blew up spectacularly.
Baek Yu-gyeong had fixed her with his characteristic cold expression, looked at her, and quietly let the words fall.
Aren’t you the one in the wrong — running your mouth without knowing the full story?
What Yu-gyeong did wasn’t right, but it wasn’t entirely wrong either. The fact remained that Ha-ra, without knowing the circumstances, had shielded that student and, upon their very first meeting, had written Baek Yu-gyeong off as garbage.
After Seo Ha-ra and Baek Yu-gyeong’s falling out, bad things started happening around Ha-ra. Small things — belongings going missing, the people around her beginning to ignore her, that sort of thing. Most telling of all was how she drifted apart from the girls she’d been close with early on, for no apparent reason.
It was probably either his followers acting on their own, or him giving the order — one of the two.
Naturally, since Ha-ra would have noticed that the bad things started right after her clash with Yu-gyeong, it made complete sense that she’d come to hate him.
He was that kind of regretful male lead. …Ha-ra probably apologized later, once she realized she’d misunderstood, and that must have been how they started closing the distance.
What was certain was that, up through chapter 35 — all Cha-heun had read — their relationship had been as bad as sworn enemies. Every single thing they did only pushed them further apart.
…The comments had spoilers about what Yu-gyeong did later on, but he’d skimmed past them with half-closed eyes and it was a real shame he hadn’t caught all of it. What was certain was that Baek Yu-gyeong was the regretful male lead.
…Because… he cries his eyes out.
He didn’t know exactly where in the story it was — he’d just been flipping through chapters after chapter 35 — but Baek Yu-gyeong would shed tears as autumn began to turn cold. It was just art, and he had no idea what the narrative was, but it had been after he’d fallen for Seo Ha-ra.
She was worth falling for. Even if things started rough between her and Baek Yu-gyeong, he must have gradually fallen for her the way all high school romances go.
He didn’t know the details, but he could recall how Baek Yu-gyeong’s expression had grown softer and softer as he looked at Seo Ha-ra. Until he finally ended up crying.
Seo Ha-ra was, after all, a young woman who had been raised well in a good home with a good education. Once she found out she’d spoken out without knowing the full story, she would have been the one to apologize first.
Ugh, still — a guy could at least give a little ground to a girl. He didn’t have to go that far with her. That’s why he couldn’t confess and ended up crying instead.
…Right, but none of that had happened yet, so whatever.
There was a more pressing problem.
He remembered the general flow, but the specific details had grown hazy. Like something he could almost recall once he saw it, but not quite. Trying to review from scratch content he’d read a month ago was proving considerably difficult.
Logically, if he’d known from the start that this was the world inside the manhwa, he should have kept detailed records of the protagonists and the events that would unfold.
But when he’d first arrived in Shin Cha-heun’s body, even knowing he was in a high school romance world, he hadn’t had the mental bandwidth to worry about any of that. The relentless, blazing flirting from good-looking guys had been completely overwhelming — Cha-heun, who for over twenty years had never once entertained the horrifying concept of a male partner, found confessions from underage boys to be utter chaos. Between rejecting them and throwing himself headfirst into Operation: Return Shin Cha-heun, an entire month had passed — and somewhere in the blur of fading memories, he’d never anticipated a sub male lead making his entrance.
So — why is this guy doing this to me?
The Baek Yu-gyeong he remembered from the manhwa was absolutely not a lighthearted person. Having only seen his cold, blunt side between chapters 15 and 35 — the stretch he’d actually read properly — this cheerful, affectionate Yu-gyeong who kept pushing up against him was, if anything, harder to deal with. Even during the stretch where he’d been gradually falling for Ha-ra, he had never been this warm and cuddly. He’d been cool and distant.
Cha-heun shook his head.
“Even if you gave me your entire fortune, it’d still be a problem for me.”
“…Then what if I threw myself in on top of the entire fortune?”
…Was this really an active high school student?
Baek Yu-gyeong’s absolutely unhinged confidence left Cha-heun at a complete loss for words. When he stared back blankly, Baek Yu-gyeong grinned and propped his chin up in one hand, asking if Cha-heun was staring because he was just that pretty and handsome.
This guy is something else…. Can’t he just give me the fortune and leave it at that.
Saying that much would hurt him. Cha-heun couldn’t bring himself to be that cruel to someone he still thought of as a young student, however much his standards differed.
And even if you had your whole fortune — …hm, it’d probably still be more than mine.
…Baekgyeong, or Baekcheon, whatever it was — in this fictional version of South Korea, he was the second son of a conglomerate ranked within the top three in the business world.
Good for him.
Cha-heun decided the best answer was to ignore it, gave no reply, and headed off to class.
When Yu-gyeong stubbornly followed him all the way to his classroom and started popping snacks into his mouth for him, Cha-heun realized he needed to find some way, somehow, to shake this boy off.
It had been a trivial connection. A thread that was never meant to stretch this far in the first place.
It was Day 32 of the challenge to retrieve Shin Cha-heun’s soul into Shin Cha-heun’s body — yesterday’s summoning ritual attempt had failed again, and he was heading home from school with a heavy heart when a group of delinquents grabbed him.
This goddamn pheromone.
He’d completely lost count of how many times things had gone badly sideways because of the pheromones this body emitted.
“Hey, I heard you rejected Seo-jun’s confession.”
“…Who’s that. Who even is Seo-jun?”
“Are you insane? You don’t even remember his face?”
“…No, seriously, who is Seo-jun. If he’s one of the guys who confessed to me, the only one who actually told me his name properly was Min Ha-seong — or whatever his name was. That was about it.”
Min Ha-seong, was it. A pretty-looking guy — it had been around the third day, and it wasn’t quite a confession, but he’d walked right up and handed over chocolate, so he was probably taking a shot because he liked him.
Ha-seong? That name rings a bell somehow. Is he in the original work?
Either way, those Alpha guys had absolutely no manners — bold to the point of absurdity. Showing up and confessing without even stating their names first. Just from that alone, you could get a rough sense of what Alphas were in this world.
From what he’d vaguely gathered, if there was one standout person around, there was something like a 90% chance — give or take — that they were an Alpha. They really did seem to be the genetically superior subset of humanity. That was probably why a separate system had evolved for reproduction, with everyone luring each other like this.
Of all the bodies to possess — one equipped with the system that drives these idiotic reproduction-obsessed creatures to attract each other.
When Cha-heun asked, as if he had no idea what was going on, who they were and whether they were that person’s friends, the delinquent-looking student glanced back at his own crew and snickered.
“Holy shit, how many guys has this bastard been through that he can’t even remember their names? Yo, text Chae Seo-jun and tell him not to be too devastated because this guy’s a total slut.”
The others laughed and joined in. Cha-heun’s brow furrowed.
…This little bastard.
He wanted to hit him, but he was reining himself in and trying to figure out how to get out of this situation — when he locked eyes with some guy passing right by the mouth of the alley. That was Baek Yu-gyeong.
Genuinely good-looking, he thought, and his gaze was held for about three seconds — but then this guy suddenly pinched his nose shut and just walked on by.
A big guy like that, and he just watches and keeps walking? What a useless bastard.
It was almost funny that he’d had a split-second thought that maybe he’d help.
In the end, when the students’ words started escalating and it was finally tipping into a physical altercation, Cha-heun subdued all three of them with some difficulty and made his way out of the alley.
…Fortunately for me, I’m a former national judo reserve team member. Well — I did quit after getting injured, but still.
Although Shin Cha-heun’s body didn’t seem to be in particularly good shape, it appeared that the muscle memory from all those years had carried over somehow, because the movements were there when he needed them. At the very least, he was more than capable of handling a few cocky delinquents who’d let their guard down.
He strolled casually out of the alley — and came face to face with that boy, who’d been lingering nearby.
At first, Baek Yu-gyeong looked at him like he was curious about how he’d gotten out of that situation — then his nose twitched once.
“…….”
The boy’s brow furrowed for just a moment. Cha-heun scowled back and fixed him with a glare.
“What. You want to fight too?”
The first impression had been so bad that the words came out anything but gentle.
Guy looks perfectly fine on the outside — could’ve at least called the police.
He’d picked a fight like that, but the boy just glanced at the nameplate on his chest, and the corner of his mouth twitched. Then he folded his eyes into half-moons, all charm and aegyo, and called out to him.
“Hyung.”
“…Why would I be your hyung?”
Cha-heun stared at him flatly and replied with cool sarcasm. It might seem petty for an adult to snap at a kid, but he just wasn’t the type to warm up to someone who’d stood by and watched.
“Ah, you’re right….”
“…….”
“Mm, sorry. …I was really scared. I was hiding nearby trying to find my phone to call the police instead….”
“…….”
“I just didn’t know you’d come out having knocked them flat.”
“…Fair enough.”
Now that he heard it, it made complete sense — Cha-heun accepted it immediately and let his expression relax.
If he’d meant to just pass by, he would have left long ago — the fact that he’d still been nearby made it plausible.
Right. That checks out. Being big doesn’t mean you can fight, and at first glance he looked like a pampered young master from a wealthy family….
A soft-looking kid who seemed like he’d startle easily — even if he hadn’t stepped in directly, the fact that he’d been watching nearby and trying to call the police meant there was some decency in him. Cha-heun was willing to give him that, and thought it was even a little admirable as he prepared to move on.
“Hyung, do you have a girlfriend?”
He was about to go on his way when a strange question stopped him again.
Dating someone his own actual age would make that person a predator, and dating someone this body’s age would make him the predator — so there was obviously no partner to speak of.
“No, I don’t.”
He’d only answered offhandedly — but the pretty-faced boy’s expression lit up completely.
A face like that, breaking into a smile like that — honestly, it was blinding in the most serious way. The kind of face that, if he went into idol work, would absolutely devour his entire generation. Then again, he was a character from a high school romance manhwa. Were all the extras here this good-looking too?
…Actually, no. Those guys from earlier weren’t really….
Just as a brief impression of the boy formed in his mind —
“Hyung, want to go out with me?”
Out of nowhere came a confession — and ah, so this one’s an Alpha too, thought Cha-heun, as he turned him down right then and there with practiced ease. In the midst of all that, something oddly out of place caught his eye — though the boy was impeccably put together from head to toe, the bottom button of his uniform jacket seemed to have fallen off, leaving a loose thread poking out.
After that, though — how exactly was he supposed to handle this tenacious boy who claimed it had been love at first sight and had been following him around relentlessly for four days straight?
Hey — setting aside the fact that I’m a man, you might look like a teenager on the outside but inside I’m a grown man, you unhinged little thing.
Say that out loud, and he’d be the crazy one. Cha-heun decided to keep his mouth shut.
“Hyuung, come on.”
“…Here, eat this.”
“What, are you looking out for me?”
Cha-heun looked at Yu-gyeong, eyes sparkling, fussing and pouting about whether Cha-heun was thinking of him — and let out a sigh. Unbothered, Yu-gyeong held out the chocolate he’d been holding and opened his mouth wide, asking Cha-heun to put it in for him.
Cha-heun averted his gaze like a man who’d just witnessed something he couldn’t unsee. Pretty face aside, this guy was a nearly fully grown young man. One who stood well past 180 centimeters and had the build to match.
…And on top of that, the problem is that I’m not even an Omega.
…In the memories, Shin Chae-il had apparently told him not to let anyone outside the house know he was a Beta. He’d briefly considered just coming out and saying it directly — but if his father Shin Chae-il had left that warning, there had to be a reason for it. The thought that you should still listen to what your parents say had made him hold his tongue.
But honestly — this guy is essentially saying he likes a man in a woman’s costume. Unbelievable.
Somehow, Cha-heun found himself feeling just a little bit sorry for Baek Yu-gyeong.
