# Chapter 127
I was silent for a moment at the unexpected question. Of course, I had been thinking about going back, but I couldn’t readily answer when asked so suddenly.
Yoo Wono raised one eyebrow and asked me:
“You’re not going back?”
“No. …I should go back.”
“Right.”
The sharp question jolted me back to my senses, and I quickly answered, then continued in a murmur. At my words, Yoo Wono smiled as if satisfied, took something out from inside his clothes, and tossed it to me.
“Here, catch.”
I reflexively caught it with my uninjured hand, and a heavy weight transmitted through my entire body. Looking down to check, it was a small bottle. It was a plastic bottle with no label, filled with orange-colored liquid, and after staring at it for a moment, I looked back at Yoo Wono.
“What is this?”
“Orange juice.”
“Ah… and why are you giving it to me?”
I felt bewildered by suddenly receiving a drink that surely wasn’t given because I might be thirsty, and even less likely as a get-well gift.
“If you drink that, you’ll go back to normal.”
My eyes widened at his answer, which seemed intended to resolve my confusion. Despite finally discovering a clue to the method of returning to my original world—something I had been so desperate to know—rather than feeling reassured, I felt suspicious and gave him a wary look.
“Yoon Taeho said he drank that and changed the next day, so it must be right.”
“Yoon Taeho said that?”
“Yes.”
“…This orange juice is what caused our bodies to switch?”
When I asked, wondering if something so trivial could cause such an easy change, Yoo Wono paused as if deeply thinking about something.
“To be precise, it would be what’s in it. Since there’s medicine in it.”
What the hell. I held back the curse that almost escaped and tightly gripped the bottle in my hand. Though the bottle was made of plastic, it was sturdier than I expected and only made a slight noise without crumpling.
I put the bottle down on the table as if throwing it and rubbed my eyebrow.
“No… no matter what, I can’t drink medicine-laced juice.”
Moon Seoheon also collapsed after drinking water that was tampered with by Ye Abin’s group, and now he’s asking me to drink something like that? Rather than getting angry, I was just dumbfounded.
As if he couldn’t understand my feelings, Yoo Wono asked nonchalantly:
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why? Will you take responsibility if something goes wrong after I drink this?”
I shook my head, wondering if he wanted to be added to the list of people currently on trial for assault charges. Yoo Wono narrowed his eyes. His expression showed he couldn’t understand my refusal.
“If not this, what other way is there? Jump off again?”
“…Speak properly. I didn’t jump off, I fell.”
That’s the same thing. My eyebrow twitched at his low muttering. Yoo Wono, who had been making an indifferent expression, soon pointed to the orange juice on the table and said:
“I’ll leave that here, so drink it without getting caught.”
After glancing at the bottle, I sighed while running my hand through my hair with a confused mind.
Come to think of it, I had drunk wine when I returned here again. It’s certain that something was added to it, but my head ached wondering why there was no other way than this ridiculous method. When I heard him mention jumping off, I broke out in a cold sweat at the realization that all the alternatives that came to mind were nothing but dangerous.
Biting my lip in perplexity, I looked at Yoo Wono almost glaring, as another doubt arose.
“But why are you trying to help me?”
There was a discrepancy in calling this help, but since he was proposing a way for me to return to where I live, it was difficult to grasp the intentions of the guy who was contributing to this situation.
If Yoon Taeho had asked for help, that would make sense, but it didn’t add up that Yoo Wono would lend his strength. Not only did I not think he would help willingly, but his attitude was too lighthearted to be doing it for Moon Seoheon’s sake. I can’t imagine a desperate Yoo Wono either, so what could he be gaining by getting involved?
“I told you. Seoheon has become strange. Even if he found me annoying, he never ignored me, but now he keeps ignoring me and doesn’t eat well, and when I touch him, he collapses with a jerk, so it’s no fun.”
It was surprising to know that he was aware that Moon Seoheon found him annoying. But the words that followed were quite irritating.
“He did become a bit strange after you got hurt, but he didn’t get angry before. Last time he even got into a physical fight… If he would just fight with me, I’d take him on right away.”
Deliberately ignoring the latter part, I opened my eyes wide at the unexpected word. What does he mean, Moon Seoheon fought with someone?
“Who did he fight with?”
“Hmm, I don’t know. Those guys.”
This isn’t helpful at all. As I swallowed and glared at him without being too obvious, Yoo Wono exclaimed as if suddenly remembering:
“It was the High Class lackeys. They were guys who would pick fights with me too.”
I thought deeply about his words, which he shared readily as if he wasn’t trying to keep it a secret. There must be more than just a few High Class lackeys… Who could it be? More importantly, if there was a physical fight, he might have been injured somewhere, was he okay?
“He looked fine when I saw him today.”
Yoo Wono, who had been shaking slightly, stopped and looked at me expressionlessly as I muttered quietly. With a face that looked like he was about to do something, I rubbed my right arm wrapped in bandages. I suddenly remembered the guy’s true nature, which I had momentarily forgotten in the midst of our normal conversation.
“If you’re done, you can go now. I need time to prepare, so I’ll put this in the refrigerator for now.”
Afraid he might force me to drink it, I coaxed him and pointed at the juice. Yoo Wono looked at the bottle on the table following my finger, shrugged his shoulders, and started walking.
As the wall he had been covering came into view, I rolled my eyes trying to locate where the camera might be.
Yoo Wono, who had been walking briskly toward the door, stopped abruptly as if he had something more to say, and with his back still turned, he asked:
“Do you like Seoheon?”
“Wh-what?”
I raised my voice in surprise at the sudden, out-of-nowhere question. As I looked at Yoo Wono, wondering what nonsense he was talking about, the expression on his twisted upper body was unsettling.
“Seoheon likes you, so that’s probably why he’s acting strange.”
“……”
“If you’re just not here, he’ll come back.”
I opened my mouth blankly, my head ringing as if I’d been hit on the back of my head. While I might not have been shocked if it were someone else, hearing this fact from such an unexpected person made it easier to be taken aback.
“So I’ll play that villain role you mentioned. Oh… that’s what Yoon Taeho said.”
Smiling at me as I just stared at him quietly, he opened the door while dropping an even more surprising remark.
“Well, this could be fun too.”
My body flinched at the sound of the door slamming shut. Though the hospital room was now completely quiet, I was dazed because of Yoo Wono who had swept through like a storm. My insides felt completely messed up, as if I’d been slapped across the face.
“Haah……”
To be honest, it would have been strange not to know.
Maybe if I were in my early twenties when I was interested in romance, but as I grew older and lived such a busy life, I became insensitive to romantic matters at some point. That’s not to say I had no romantic experience at all. I had received confessions in my own way, and there were times when I felt attracted to someone and made the first move.
If someone asked if I had no intention of dating, that’s not the case, but I just didn’t particularly feel like it right now.
So I wasn’t completely oblivious to these things. When someone finds me sexually attractive or shows interest, I can usually tell after just a little conversation or spending some time together.
Besides, even though I hadn’t directly or deeply thought about it, I had noticed slightly how not only Moon Seoheon but also The Four thought of me. It’s just that their feelings hadn’t deepened yet, and they were still young, so they were probably mistaken.
That’s why I didn’t take it seriously either. Even though I knew their annoying behavior was stemming from those emotions, I deliberately ignored it and brushed it off lightly, wondering why they were acting that way.
So I thought I could laugh off whatever they did. Even if they were real people, not just fictional characters, which made me approach them a bit more familiarly, they were still definitely unique guys, and that hadn’t changed. So when I met them again, I thought it would be over if I just looked at them with disgusted eyes as they did something strange again.
“This doesn’t make sense!”
I shouted loudly as if to express my complicated feelings.
Of course, I was definitely open to dating if a nice person came along. I just never imagined that person could possibly be a high school student who hadn’t even reached adulthood, and who was also a male of the same gender.
It’s not that I have an aversion to it, but if someone were to ask what the problem is, it would be whether there’s room for romance in my current situation. Even without my body switching, we don’t know when Yoon Taeho might return, so it’s not a situation where I can leisurely date.
And what the hell is Yoon Taeho doing, tangling things up like this?
And what’s this about asking Yoo Wono to play the villain? Even though I need to return this body in good condition, I feel like giving in to the wicked impulse to not do so.
After sighing deeply, I stared intently at the wall that Yoo Wono had been covering. Not caring whether I was caught or not, I got up from my seat and looked around for a while, and noticed a small hole under the wall-mounted coat hanger.
It was all black so it wasn’t noticeable, but after staring intently for a while, I could discover a lens that reflected light.
“These crazy bastards.”
As I rubbed my forearm, feeling goosebumps, my phone rang. Startled, I turned my body to see Kwak Junhee’s name on the screen.
I glanced at the camera lens and swallowed the curse that was about to come out on its own. He couldn’t have noticed and called, right?
I was thinking of answering the call immediately and shouting at him, but feeling it might backfire, I covered my phone. In my current state of mind, it would be difficult to talk on the phone as if nothing had happened.
I’ll have to talk about Yoon Taeho when my parents arrive. Will I be able to speak properly?
Looking at the clock, there was still about an hour left until my parents’ arrival. Thinking I would just get a headache if I stayed in the hospital room, I decided to go outside for some fresh air.
After sending a message to my mother that I was outside, I sat on a bench and admired the small and pretty rape blossoms blooming in the empty lot next to the building.
The sunlight should have been hot, but the warmth enveloping my body was greater, and just as I was enjoying the leisurely moment, a group walking along the main road caught my eye.
One of the group who noticed my gaze pointed at me and waved their arm widely. I waved back at Oh Seulbi in the same way and corrected my sitting posture.
Thinking that there were a lot of visitors today, I checked the time and saw it was a little past three in the afternoon. Come to think of it, today was Wednesday. Are they all coming to visit instead of club activities?
I felt a strange emotion seeing the Food and Cooking Club members and Teacher Jaewon, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time. Just looking at how he left the group chat, it was clear that Yoon Taeho had run away. After briefly feeling sorry for his attitude, I didn’t know what expression to make when I saw Teacher Jaewon, for whom my questions were still unresolved.
