While holding back the laughter that was seeping out and watching for his reaction, Baek Sahyun let out a sigh and knelt down on one knee. The bastard reached out his hand toward my face, covered in tears and snot, and wiped my drenched cheeks.
“I won’t do it, so stop crying.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah. You look really ugly right now.”
“……”
“It reminds me of the body’s owner, so I don’t like it.”
Then he suddenly asked out of the blue. By the way, Heejae-ya.
“I want to know your real name now.”
“……”
“Can you tell me?”
Flustered, I moved my lips and let out a bewildered laugh. My name. My name…
Unless I’ve gone crazy, there’s no way I’m telling Baek Sahyun that.
“I won’t tell you even if you stick an axe in my head.”
“Why?”
“Because I’d rather die than have you call my name.”
When I refused with all my heart, Baek Sahyun slowly stroked my sweat-soaked hair. I thought I might have been a bit harsh, but only for a moment. Compared to what this bastard had done to me, it was nothing more than child’s play.
Thinking I was about to get hit and tensing up, I inadvertently closed my mouth when I saw him smile with his eyes curving. Baek Sahyun answered in a gentle tone.
“Okay.”
Even though he clearly had a pretty face, he didn’t look pretty at all. A demon with an angel’s face. That’s what Baek Sahyun was. While I was ruminating on my unpleasant feelings toward the guy, I felt a distant pain from the back of my head.
“Ugh…!”
I’d bet anything that Baek Sahyun had just struck the back of my head with his hand that was like a pot lid. Fuck! Just how hard did he hit me?
No. More importantly, why is his hand strength as strong as a weapon? Actually, isn’t he holding a hammer instead of his hand?
Beyond my vision that was fading to black, I heard Baek Sahyun’s gentle whisper.
“Good, Heejae-ya. I’ll also cheer for you so that hopefully an axe doesn’t get stuck in your head.”
Why did the author of 〈Excessively Brilliant〉 make such a vicious bastard the protagonist? I completely closed my eyes, hoping that Haesu, who would have held my funeral, would never again be interested in this kind of novel.
“So you too… pray that I don’t feel like sticking an axe in your head.”
❖ ❖ ❖
I regained consciousness right after the vehicle jolted once. As if going over a speed bump, my back lifted slightly and then settled back down. When I flinched at the scene inside the car that unfolded before my eyes, giving me chills, a cheerful response came back.
“You’re awake?”
It was accompanied by the sound of a whistle. I barely managed to steady myself and turned my head to the side, and Baek Sahyun sitting in the driver’s seat with the corners of his mouth twisted up came into view at once. What, what? What is this?
“Mmph!”
I opened my mouth but no sound came out, blocked by some foreign object. When I lowered my gaze down, blue tape in a shape that made me break out in cold sweat just looking at it shimmered faintly.
“Mmph, mmph mmph!”
I shouted with all my might, even the strength from nursing, but still only muffled moans came out. Moreover, my arms and legs were tightly bound, so I couldn’t move my body of my own free will.
Damn it. Damn it! I could only pitifully blow air through my nose.
“It’s a nice day, so why are you throwing a tantrum?”
The light leaking through the window gap brightly illuminated Baek Sahyun’s face. His grinning face was flashing like a scene from a horror movie.
Goddammit. I moved my gaze around frantically until my eyes nearly popped out, checking the interior situation.
‘Where are we going? Don’t tell me an underground torture chamber?’
As expected, there was a box with a faint shape in the trunk in the back. Judging by the handle sticking out diagonally, it was without a doubt a toolbox.
‘Was the trip he mentioned actually a farewell trip? Was it a kidnapping and confinement operation?!’
That bastard Baek Sahyun seemed to have made up his mind to crush someone’s life. Just until dawn he was rubbing lips with me while talking about how he needed to kick Chae Eunwoo out…
I guessed he was definitely throwing a tantrum because I didn’t tell him my name.
“Done figuring out the situation?”
Baek Sahyun, whose perception was faster than a ghost, removed one hand from the steering wheel and grabbed my chin. I shook my head frantically out of instinctive fear, but fingers with a cool sensation brushed past my mouth and stopped.
Riiip. With a stinging pain, the thick blue tape separated from my lips.
“If you’re noisy, I’ll put it back on.”
Baek Sahyun threatened calmly.
“If you don’t want to get in trouble, just sit there and keep me company. I’m getting sleepy from driving since morning.”
I found a contradiction in the guy’s statement and shot back.
“…You said you’d put it back on if I was noisy. How am I supposed to keep you company?”
“Chattering a bit is fine.”
“……”
“It’s the noise about alphas and omegas that I don’t want to hear.”
“But it’s true, alphas and omegas.”
“That’s an outdated way of thinking. Not all alphas drool and go into heat for every omega.”
Geez. I felt an urge to explain to him that despite his bold assertion, he’s destined to go into heat for Chae Eunwoo and even get him pregnant. I barely suppressed the impulse and asked calmly, trying not to provoke Baek Sahyun.
“Why are you really doing this? What’s your purpose?”
But contrary to my aggressive attitude, Baek Sahyun asked back with a completely relaxed air.
“Do you know how many times you’ve asked that question?”
“……”
“I’m so tired of it I could grow calluses on my ears.”
The guy’s hand tapped the surface of the steering wheel in a slow rhythm. His mouth with a leisurely smile couldn’t be more like a madman’s. Baek Sahyun pressed a button on the handle side to completely roll down the car window and said while feeling the wind.
“You’re not even a dog, so what should I do with you when you act up every time I let you off the leash?”
Look at that hair fluttering. It’s just like a scene from a photo shoot. I spat out in disgust.
“Don’t deal with me, fuck. Let’s each go our own way.”
Then Baek Sahyun suddenly burst into hearty laughter.
“Haha! Go our own way?”
Just who was this novel’s author trying to please by creating such a lowlife with a twisted personality? At this point, I couldn’t help but doubt even Haesu’s taste in choosing such a book. Baek Sahyun muttered.
“When you’re clinging to and parasitizing someone else’s body… go your own way?”
“……”
“Relax your face. I’m just saying it because your thought process is interesting for a ghost.”
“And your thought process isn’t interesting?”
“Probably not.”
I forcibly smoothed out my crumpled face and turned to look straight ahead. Cars were racing frighteningly across the wide-open highway.
Even though I was riding in an expensive foreign car that I wouldn’t even dream of in my wildest dreams and going on a trip, I couldn’t free myself from this unsettling feeling.
‘…If I open the door and jump out from here, would I die whether I look forward or back?’
There would be almost no chance of survival. Thinking that I had to be trapped in a confined space with Baek Sahyun until we reached our destination in order to survive, my life felt truly miserable.
No, that’s not right. It’s not my life but poor Nam Heejae’s life, right. Baek Sahyun’s voice, mocking me for dreaming of going my own way when I was clinging to someone else’s body, suddenly filled my head.
He was right. Even though Baek Sahyun is a bit crazy, this time he wasn’t spouting nonsense.
Of course, it wasn’t like I wanted to steal Nam Heejae’s life… but now that the result turned out this way, even if I’m mocked as a thief, don’t I have no excuse?
Not my life but Nam Heejae’s life.
Not my body but Nam Heejae’s body.
Things that should be enjoyed not by me but by Nam Heejae…
Suddenly, depression came over me. Since possessing 〈Excessively Brilliant〉, the name Jang Woohyun that I had been using was gradually being erased.
The only person left to remember the life that the uneducated Jang Woohyun had lived until now is just me, only one person. My body has probably already become white bone powder and been scattered across the vast ocean.
As I kept my mouth shut endlessly, Baek Sahyun’s gaze kept poking at my cheeks.
But I tried hard not to show any wavering. It was because, as I was having serious thoughts for the first time in a while, my eyes pathetically heated up. Even tears, fuck, should know when to show up.
‘Damn it. If I knew this would happen, I should have bought at least one more outfit for Jang Haesu and at least one more pair of shoes. I should have bought her many of the books she wanted to read and made her lots of the food she wanted to eat.’
Gradually, Haesu’s voice that I remembered was also fading.
The memory of her shyly giving me a carnation on Parents’ Day was vivid, but I couldn’t remember at all what words were said then or what topics we talked about.
“…jae.”
Baek Sahyun from beside me called my name—no, Nam Heejae’s name—but for some reason my ears just felt stuffy. A chilling sensation ran down my spine and my head naturally tilted downward.
Nam Heejae, Jang Woohyun, Nam Heejae, Jang Woohyun…
Is Jang Woohyun really dead now?
My heart plummeted to my feet. An alarm beeped from deep within my chest. Let’s leave here. Goddammit! I have to escape. This world isn’t where I should be, is it?
Where I should be isn’t beside this damn psychopath bastard, but beside the smart and kind Haesu…
