Because I’ve been subjected to it often.
Though it was a short phrase, it definitely had resonance. A sentence that let me guess at a dark and miserable past.
However, sympathy didn’t immediately activate.
I wasn’t soft enough to be swayed by a villain’s story. The bastard who had seemed wicked confessing his past while drunk on fatigue did look somewhat pitiful, but that was merely an external matter.
“Well, yeah. That sucks.”
I offered roughly bland encouragement. But perhaps drunk on the dawn atmosphere, unplanned consolation kept bursting out.
“One of my friends too, you know. There was this kid who was an orphan with no money, went around construction sites, and got beaten up here and there, right? But somehow he adapted well and managed to live.”
“……”
“He said enduring it eventually made things okay. But that kid, he didn’t live by venting his anger on others. You have to overcome it yourself. The past.”
It was a point where I worried whether I’d be waterboarded again for spouting incoherent advice. But surprisingly, Baek Sahyun showed a soft reaction. He smiled slightly and rubbed his face on the blanket.
“…You, now you’re a bit like Nam Heejae.”
I almost covered my mouth for a moment. I felt like shouting eureka.
Is this it? Was this it? Right, this tone! It seemed the original Nam Heejae was the style who liked to needlessly meddle and offer consolation.
Then let’s push a bit more to obtain a definite answer that we’re friends. Maybe because of the dawn sentiment, Baek Sahyun seems quite relaxed right now. To get such a golden opportunity.
“I keep telling you I am Nam Heejae. Okay?”
When I emphasized it, Baek Sahyun blinked and affirmed.
“That’s right.”
Thanks to that, the deflated motivation began to raise its head. While I was at it, I cautiously brought up another request.
“So, please don’t play water pranks from now on.”
“Why?”
“It might be a prank to you, but still, there are rules friends should keep between them.”
I tried explaining from as intellectual a perspective as possible, but it seemed not to resonate. The bastard just stared at me blankly with unimpressed eyes.
“Hey, Sahyun-ah. You and I…, we’re friends, right? Since we were young.”
In the end, I threw out the most fundamental question. Whether Baek Sahyun and I, no. Whether Nam Heejae and Baek Sahyun were close friends as in the original setting, I felt I needed to confirm that first.
If that wasn’t the case, that is, if there was some problem and Baek Sahyun treated Nam Heejae like an underling. I was certain I too would definitely have to change my survival method. By using a method to get as far away as possible from Baek Sahyun’s radius.
An embarrassingly awkward silence flowed tediously. It was around the time tension gradually heightened as the clock sounds and heartbeats meshed. Baek Sahyun opened his mouth after a long while.
“Well… That’s also correct.”
An affirmative answer. But one more sentence was attached.
“Because there are various kinds of friends.”
“Uh, I see.”
It was an unsatisfying conclusion. We’re friends, but it wasn’t a mutual friendship?
“Still, I’ve never regretted becoming friends, Nam Heejae.”
I wanted to press further, but Baek Sahyun closed his eyes after those words. Regular breathing sounds came soon, so it seemed he’d genuinely begun sleeping in earnest.
‘Really now.’
While I, who actually suffered from waterboarding, had a clearer mind than ever…
That’s why I could worry about the relationship between Baek Sahyun and Nam Heejae all night long. It’s certain that the name “friend” doesn’t sit well. If it’s disappointing that there’s no other information, isn’t there one method?
I recalled Nam Heejae’s phone that I’d been neglecting all along. The contacts would be full of classmates and contemporaries. Among them, there would be many bastards who overlapped with Baek Sahyun.
Let’s try contacting those bastards. The decision was quick.
❖ ❖ ❖
Whether what Baek Sahyun said about having to go to class was true, he’d left the hotel before I even woke up.
Thinking about it, since Nam Heejae was also a student, shouldn’t I go to class too, but unfortunately I lacked the will to do so. Only Nam Heejae’s personal details came to mind.
Nam Heejae attending Korea University’s Department of Political Science and Diplomacy. Nam Heejae, the youngest son of Intol.
Ah, come to think of it, our Haesu also attends here.
“Haha…”
I let out a slight laugh. Because I had the futile imagination of whether I could meet Haesu if I went to the Political Science and Diplomacy department now.
“I miss Haesu.”
Jang Haesu loved the doenjang-jjigae I made the most, and by now she’d probably be skipping meals with no one to prepare food for her. She’d already lost a lot of weight from studying, so I’d worked hard to make sure she ate three meals a day without fail.
I just lay sprawled on the bed in a daze, feeling like life had become meaningless.
It was after lunchtime approached that motivation surged to mobilize Nam Heejae’s network of connections and trace his relationship with Baek Sahyun as I’d planned at dawn.
Right. Nothing will be resolved if I don’t do anything.
From then until now, I’d been focused on SNS activities. Looking through the records so far, the first thing I attempted was trying to contact figures presumed to be university friends.
Jaeyeon-ah, how are you? Are you busy?
Business Admin Lee Jaeyeon
?????
I contacted you thinking we could eat after a while. Do you have time?
Business Admin Lee Jaeyeon
??????? Wow, this is my first time talking with you
But there were no clear results. Lee Jaeyeon, eliminated. I thought we were close because she was saved in my phone contacts, but it seemed not. The next person I contacted was ‘Poli Sci Seo Jeongmin.’
Jeongmin-ah, how are you?
Poli Sci Seo Jeongmin
Wow is this really Heejae?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Isn’t this your first time contacting me?
Seeing all the responses were awkward, Nam Heejae’s human relationships seemed truly narrow. It was just surprising how there couldn’t be even one person who seemed genuinely close.
Besides that, I tried contacting Minsu, Sooyoung, Seongjun and others indiscriminately, but only my phone got hot.
The friend named ‘Sooyoung’ was even Nam Heejae’s ex-girlfriend.
Hello Sooyoung~^^ The sun is shining outside^^
Sooyoung
I said we’re over. If you keep doing this, even the memories I left with oppa will become terrible.
It seemed even a distant relationship with Ms. Sooyoung wasn’t possible. Having properly acted like an ex-boyfriend out of the blue, I felt sorry to the real Nam Heejae and took a moment to apologize.
“I’m sorry, Heejae-ya.”
I apologize as the human Jang Woohyun.
After that, I had no choice but to look through conversation records, but unfortunately, I couldn’t pick out any particular peculiarities from those with Baek Sahyun. Because they looked like an ordinary friendship, asking about campus cafeteria food or talking about fellow students.
If I had to pick one thing, the mutual conversation style was bothersome.
Baek Sahyun
Where are you?
Hotel
Baek Sahyun
I’ll come there
Okay
Of course, one might tilt their head thinking there seems to be nothing strange at all just looking at this much. But the more I read, the more Nam Heejae’s attitude felt complexly subtle.
Baek Sahyun
You’re participating in today’s launching show, right?
Yeah
Baek Sahyun
I have to go too. Will you go together?
Yeah
Unlike the text messages with a peaceful atmosphere, his attitude was excessively passive. Doesn’t faithfully only answering questions look just like watching a robot?
I was thrown into doubt and went out to find other clues. But even scrolling up for a long time and searching through the phone thoroughly, it was only filled with conversations of similar context.
“Is this how all friends normally interact?”
But tracing back through my life, I could conclude that didn’t seem to be the case. I wasn’t the type with many friends either, but I used to have affectionate conversations with people I’d formed relationships with since childhood.
“If only Haesu were here, this situation would be resolved in one shot. Haah.”
I sighed, missing Jang Haesu’s intelligence. If Haesu were by my side, it seemed she would clearly tell me how to cope in order to survive in this novel from now on.
The fact that I roughly understand the concept of ‘possession’ is also largely thanks to Haesu. Because I remember the things that kid chattered about whenever she had time.
“Let’s rest and then do it, rest and then.”
They say even Mt. Geumgang comes after a meal, so my eyes hurt from just looking at the phone screen and I was about to turn it off. At that moment, my index finger stopped abruptly. Huh?
