When I think of ‘colds,’ there’s a memory that comes to mind. Whenever Haesu caught a cold, I would stomp my feet in frustration.
I’d give her cold medicine and brew her bellflower root tea, but when there was no visible improvement, I don’t know how helpless I felt. I also felt a lot of irritation toward myself.
But there’s no way Baek Sahyun would be feeling such emotions. That’s why I tried to interpret the warning he whispered—’I think I’m going to get irritated’—solely from Baek Sahyun’s perspective.
In other words, this meant… wasn’t it a threat that he wouldn’t let it slide if I became a nuisance? Not wanting to rebel against anything, I hastily nodded my head.
Then Baek Sahyun patted my head as if I’d done well and stood up from his seat. I also stood up in turn, but for some reason, I didn’t feel good at all. Was it because I felt like I was being trained?
Anyway, Baek Sahyun and I stood side by side and returned to the living room. My wet soles left footprints with each step. I wondered if this was okay since it was a wooden floor, but since the homeowner didn’t say anything, I casually let it go too. Indeed, rich people had fewer things to worry about compared to ordinary citizens.
“Why are you going to the kitchen?”
I asked while following behind Baek Sahyun. Baek Sahyun’s back view, wearing only a thin black V-neck t-shirt, looked incredibly well-proportioned even to another man. His back and shoulders were so broad that it felt like the kind of body women would love. Though that guy was destined to become gay…
Baek Sahyun, who had taken out a warm-colored teacup from the shelf above the sink, answered leisurely.
“To make you tea.”
“Tea? What kind of tea?”
“Persimmon leaf tea.”
What’s persimmon leaf tea? As I tilted my head in confusion, Baek Sahyun lowered his eyes coyly and said,
“It’s tea that’s good for preventing colds.”
“…Ah.”
Thanks to that, I felt a bit embarrassed. As I stood there blankly scratching my cheek, Baek Sahyun said I was in the way and kicked me out, telling me to go sit in the rocking chair in the living room.
I trudged out and lay down in the rocking chair as he’d told me to.
I stared blankly at the ceiling, cooling my feverish head. Maybe because I’d been running around here and there, it felt like I might have a cold coming on. Then did Baek Sahyun know this and make me tea?
One of the reasons the original Chae Eunwoo fell for that bastard was ‘because he was someone who treated you more kindly than anyone else if you just obeyed well,’ and honestly, I could relate to that psychology, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.
That’s not to say I, a heterosexual, was charmed by him or anything. It’s just that I simply understood to some degree why Chae Eunwoo’s thoughts went in that direction.
I could tell because I too, like Chae Eunwoo, was someone who had lived without much. The inseparable emptiness. The loneliness felt every night. The desire to lean on someone, anyone…
At least I had Haesu’s existence to help me desperately hold on.
“…I miss Jang Haesu.”
As I was muttering unconsciously, Baek Sahyun appeared without any sign of his presence. He said clearly,
“Explain that too.”
“Huh?”
“Who Jang Haesu is.”
His timing for appearing was always impeccable. The novel’s protagonist seemed to receive a buff in this aspect too. Thud! He set down a teacup on the table in front of me.
“Where’s yours?”
“I don’t catch colds, so I’m fine.”
“Is that so?”
I had a lot to say but didn’t. I could have snapped back saying why wouldn’t you catch the cold everyone else gets, that this too is proof you’re a novel character, but I also had survival instincts.
Baek Sahyun, who had waited for me to savor a sip of tea, commanded threateningly,
“Start now.”
Gulp, the tea water flowed down my throat. Not too hot nor lukewarm, just the right temperature. Baek Sahyun, who had a talent for cooking, somehow even made tea well.
If only his personality wasn’t so rough, he’d be someone people would say was really nice… even heaven is indifferent.
“Aren’t you starting?”
Just as I was lost in thought, Baek Sahyun urged me. I put down my teacup and began speaking.
“First, I think it’s better to start with my introduction. My name is Jang Woohyun, as you know, and I’m twenty-nine years old. I’m much older than you, hyung.”
I deliberately put an accent on the word hyung. It wasn’t that I particularly wanted to hear Baek Sahyun call me hyung, but I wanted to make sure he knew I was his elder.
But naturally, Baek Sahyun didn’t react. He just tapped the table with his fingertips as if telling me to continue. Hiding my nervousness, I added,
“I think I’ve mentioned this before, but the cause of death was a hit-and-run. Some fucking bastard’s reckless driving hit and killed me in front of my house at the garbage dump. Does this even make sense, fuck?”
“It does. People originally die at unexpected moments.”
At the sharp response, I grumbled without realizing it.
“…Would it kill you to comfort me?”
“Mm. Was that you asking for comfort?”
“Not exactly, but.”
I was being led around again before I knew it. Baek Sahyun smiled brightly, then demanded viciously,
“Rather than that, Jang Woohyun-ssi. Explain who Jang Haesu is.”
“……”
“That’s what I want to know.”
When my one and only younger sister’s name was mentioned, I gradually couldn’t help but become tense. Even if he didn’t pressure me like this, I had planned to carefully explain only the important parts when the time came.
As I stalled for time, Baek Sahyun’s eyes curved even more roundly.
“Why did you suddenly go quiet? Is she someone you don’t want to tell me about?”
Before the misunderstanding deepened further, I let out a sigh. Then I responded,
“She’s my younger sister, you fucker.”
“…Younger sister?”
“That’s right! We have the same surname. Can’t you tell from hearing the name?”
Baek Sahyun unusually lost his composure. He rolled his eyes as if troubled. It seems even the great Baek Sahyun gets flustered sometimes. With a delighted feeling, I rambled on.
“My Haesu, you see, huh? She’s a talent among talents who entered Korea University’s Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at the top of her class. She’s studied since she was a baby, so you don’t know how worried I was. No matter how much I persuaded her to meet some friends because I’d give her spending money, she just solved practice problems at her desk every day. She was a promising sprout.”
“You’re also a Korea University student.”
“That’s Nam Heejae, you idiot. This hyung-nim is a high school graduate.”
While I was at it, I wanted to recite one by one all the certificates of merit Jang Haesu had won while attending school, but I held back due to time constraints. It seemed like dawn would break soon.
Baek Sahyun waited for me quietly, and after moistening my throat with tea, I said,
“Really, I didn’t know I’d die before even seeing Haesu off to marriage. If I’d known this would happen, I shouldn’t have torn open that book. I should have left it alone…”
“Book?”
Feeling like it was a word he needed to address, Baek Sahyun leaned his upper body forward and asked. As expected, he was a bastard with exceptionally good instincts. I answered with a smirk,
“Yeah. That shitty novel book that was on Haesu’s desk. I read and threw away that book without permission.”
My palms grew damp. I don’t have any talent for speaking in roundabout ways. Hadn’t I been doing that shit all along and getting beaten up for it? Now it was time to take a frontal approach.
“Sahyun-ah. Listen carefully. This Republic of Korea you’re living in…”
I looked carefully at Baek Sahyun’s sculptural face. His long eyes that simultaneously exuded a cynical yet gentle atmosphere, his straight nose, his smooth lips.
“Isn’t actually the real Republic of Korea. And you’re not a real person either.”
Baek Sahyun, who was more handsome than celebrities on TV, with an exterior as if bestowed by god, is an artificially created character in a novel.
That’s why he could be as perfect as if measured with a ruler, and that’s why he could be so beautiful. If he were a real person, at the very least, shouldn’t his family background be ordinary?
But Baek Sahyun was even the successor to a conglomerate with a total market capitalization approaching about 400 trillion won. Moreover, he’s a beneficiary of the ridiculous alpha and omega game. Setting values possible precisely because he’s a manufactured character.
“There was a gay novel with an insane rating level, titled *Excessively Brilliant*. It was a suspicious object that didn’t even have the author’s name written on it. At first, I didn’t know it was such a lowbrow novel and read it, but as I read, you see, I felt like vomiting, but I was curious about what came next, so I read through to the ending.”
During my explanation, I thought Baek Sahyun would snap at me to stop talking nonsense, but unexpectedly, he just gazed at me as if listening intently. There was no sign of interference at all. Thanks to that, I was able to speak with much less tension.
“The protagonists of that book are you and Chae Eunwoo. The alpha and omega stuff is purely just a setting from the novel’s worldview. In the real world, things like traits don’t exist.”
Baek Sahyun immediately asked back fiercely,
“Me and, who?”
“Eunwoo. Chae Eunwoo. Don’t pretend you didn’t hear when you did. Both Nam Heejae and you are hung up on Chae Eunwoo and despise each other. I don’t know specifically what your original relationship was since it wasn’t described in detail, but anyway, you were close frie…”
“Ah. Sorry. I’ve lost the desire to play along.”
Baek Sahyun’s low voice cut off my words. The air current flowing through the air became fierce in an instant.
“It’s so disgusting I absolutely can’t listen to it. Plus, it’s not even entertaining.”
Baek Sahyun kicked the table with a bang. From that recoil, the teacup rolled down and shattered into pieces. As I, startled, tried to pick up the broken teacup, Baek Sahyun started grinning like a crazy person.
I flinched and stopped my movements. I couldn’t understand why the bastard who said it wasn’t entertaining was grinning with his mouth corners stretched so wide. He propped his chin and said,
“How about this content instead? You’re a terminal delusional patient who was admitted to a mental hospital. Somehow you died and entered Nam Heejae’s body.”
“Fuck, what kind of nonsense…”
“Calm down. And focus and listen. Doesn’t it make sense?”
His bare feet crunched and pressed down on the broken pieces. Bright red blood spread out and soaked the floor. Shocked, my thought process stopped for a moment, and Baek Sahyun stubbornly asked,
“Can you say this blood is fake?”
