# Chapter 144
“You all came rushing here just for a meal?”
“Since we were treated last time, we’re returning the favor.”
My eyes feasted on all the food piled up on the table, whatever they had bought and brought in abundance.
“I’ve already received plenty in return.”
Honestly, I’d been treated to so much food that I never had a chance to feel deprived. It seems like it’s been that way ever since the first day I came here, when I was invited to the club and ate those splendid buffet foods. Though most occasions were somewhat forced, food is innocent, so my mouth was happy, and looking back now, it was somewhat enjoyable too.
They say that even difficult times become fond memories later, and that’s exactly how it was. Looking at Moon Seoheon and The Four sitting in a circle around the table, I couldn’t help but smile faintly.
They say people become closer by eating together, but I never imagined I’d become so entangled with these guys.
“But isn’t tteokbokki a bit much for breakfast?”
“Taeho said he wanted it.”
“Ah, really? I was wondering why Seoheon hyung ordered first for once…”
So he really bought what he asked me before leaving yesterday. With various types of tteokbokki laid out, the largest ones at that, I didn’t know where to start.
Just as I was about to put my chopsticks into the most appetizing red tteokbokki, Byeon Seungha blocked me with his chopsticks. As something that seemed to have happened before overlapped in my mind, I frowned, and he explained as if making an excuse.
“That one’s extremely spicy. Start with this one.”
His tone was unusually gentle. I felt a bit dazed, and though I could handle spicy food well and would have ignored him normally, this time I picked something else without saying much.
I picked up a rice cake coated in thick white cream sauce and put it in my mouth, and it melted smoothly. When I let out a satisfied moan because it tasted so good, all of them glanced at me.
Picking up and eating an octopus-shaped sausage, I swallowed it with a gulp before finally bringing up my business with them.
“After we finish eating all of this, everyone should leave. I have an appointment today.”
Think of me as cold if you want, but there’s no helping it. You all came without notice, so this is already generous treatment. Moon Seoheon had said he would come, but to barge in from the morning without saying when he’d arrive… Honestly, their intentions were so obvious that I could only laugh.
Kwak Junhee, who had been hesitantly moving his lips at my words, answered.
“Well, we came to eat together, but we also came because we were worried about you, Taeho. We saw Senior Yoo Wono come yesterday.”
Well, well? Now they’re speaking so directly, as if they don’t even intend to hide it. No, this attitude had already been in progress. Although they didn’t even glance at the cameras installed here, as if none existed, they knew that I knew everything.
How should I describe this feeling? Since returning here, I’ve felt more and more like a person facing an impending war as time passed. Especially today, which was precisely the day of the decisive battle, I was quite tense even if I appeared calm on the outside. I didn’t even feel this way before joining the military, damn it.
“If you saw him, then you should understand. I have an appointment with Senior Yoo Wono, so I’m asking you to clear out.”
When I spoke honestly without concealing anything, their expressions hardened. Kwak Junhee asked in an equally hard and cold voice.
“Why do you keep trying to do dangerous things?”
Hearing these words again after hearing them from Moon Seoheon gave me a strangely new feeling. I understood how they felt. But I calmly picked up a rice cake covered in black bean sauce and chewed and swallowed it firmly.
Ugh, this one’s too sweet. The cream tteokbokki was really delicious. When the soft and rich taste that still lingered on my tongue mixed with the almost painful sweetness, it created a strangely bitter taste. I drank some water to rinse my mouth and only then put down my chopsticks.
“What’s important now isn’t that I’m trying to do something dangerous.”
As they glared at me, unable to understand what else could possibly be important, their gazes turning fierce, I swallowed a sigh and said:
“Well… what’s important is what actions my other personality, who isn’t me, will take from now on.”
“……”
“So please help me. I’m asking like this so that my other personality, who is now asleep, can emerge.”
At my words, they all seemed to have lost their ability to speak and showed bewildered expressions. They seemed to understand that what I said was correct, as their fierce gazes soon softened, but their faces still showed dissatisfaction.
Unlike them, Moon Seoheon was looking at me calmly without any expression. Feeling like someone who had been hit on the back of the head by that expressionlessness, I felt a stinging pain in my chest.
What would follow would be even more shocking. This is why I wanted to talk about it beforehand, but the timing was really the problem. So why did you come early in the morning and create this situation? I was planning to contact everyone in the afternoon.
“But there’s a treatment method. If you just get proper psychological counseling and take medication, you’ll gradually get better. When that personality emerges, doctors will solve it.”
“Doctors can’t solve it.”
It would be more effective for me to go to a shaman and perform a ritual. Honestly, I had considered that I might really have a dissociative identity disorder. Rather, I had wondered if I was deluding myself into thinking I came from another world, but those thoughts didn’t last long. The information I had was too certain, and the stories of my actual life experiences were the evidence.
Despite my firm tone, the atmosphere sank deeper due to the guys who were emitting sharp energy. The only sound around was the loud patter of rain.
I felt a bit sorry seeing them all silent, tense, and having stopped eating tteokbokki. If I could have my way, I would have wanted to spend an ordinary day like any other, happily eating, watching them joke around, and seeing them off with a tired face.
At least if they had come later, that would have been possible. My conscience was pricking me for them having come in this pouring rain.
By now, the big hand of the clock was approaching 9. It was about time for him to arrive, and I was the only one getting anxious because of these guys sitting like statues.
“Are you saying Yoo Wono can solve this?”
Jung Hyoin’s question broke the cold silence, and I flinched. I had no words for his expression that seemed to ask how that guy could solve what doctors couldn’t.
I recalled the conversation I had with Yoo Wono late last night.
I was worried he might not answer, but the call connected right after the ringtone sounded a few times.
—Didn’t you say you’d call tomorrow?
“There’s been a problem. It might be sudden, but would it be okay if we met a bit earlier? Is that all right?”
—Are you saying you want to meet now?
“…No, not that. I’d like you to come early tomorrow morning. Without anyone knowing.”
Yoo Wono, seeming a bit conflicted, made a “hmm” sound before promptly agreeing. I felt relieved inside and asked what had been bothering me.
“You might be punished for this. To be honest, I want to resolve this quietly and don’t want any more commotion, but since you said you’d help… if something happens and you call for help, I won’t be able to help you.”
—Ah, that’s fine. I’m just really curious.
“About the body switching?”
As I was about to brush off his words, expecting him to say that he was doing this simply for fun as usual, unexpectedly different words came out.
—No. I’m curious how you knew. When I first heard about that animation thing, I just laughed it off, but the more I heard, it strangely felt so real to me that I couldn’t dismiss it. It’s like someone who knows me well wrote it, you know?
That was true. The crazy personality was the same here and there. Rather, Moon Seoheon and The Four in the anime felt similar, but when examined closely, they were completely different. Of course, there was enough possibility that they could act or change like those characters. It felt exactly like a script pieced together using real people as motifs.
Anyway, only Jeon Seohan, who wrote it, would know the truth. That was one of the reasons I needed to go back.
—So I was thinking, there was a kid similar to you 3 years ago.
“What?”
—You know what? I was also High Class until my first year. Especially one of the King Stars like those guys. That kid was too. He once told me that he had switched bodies three times and wanted to stop now. But he was worried because the only way was to die, so I thought it was nonsense and recommended a very strong sleeping pill.
If you thought it was nonsense, you should have ignored it, why recommend sleeping pills? I was about to be dumbfounded, but my chest tingled at what he said next.
—After that, he disappeared, said to have transferred schools, but I found out last year that he actually committed suicide.
After Yoo Wono ended the call saying he would come at 9 tomorrow, I remained still for a long time, holding the phone. I was so busy thinking about various things that I couldn’t sleep at all.
Pressing my tired eyes firmly, I answered Jung Hyoin’s question.
“I already contacted him last night. He’ll be here soon. We’re just going to have a light conversation, so there won’t be any major problems.”
So let’s not cause a commotion and just get through this well. In reality, the statement about just having a conversation was my own thought, but Moon Seoheon would understand well.
It was also something I deliberately said to calm them down. But as if my words were a fuse, Moon Seoheon, who had been silent, abruptly stood up from his seat. He rose so forcefully that his chair fell backward with a crash.
With eyes wide open in surprise, I looked at Moon Seoheon, but he rushed out of the hospital room without even looking at me.
“Uh…”
I wasn’t the only one bewildered; The Four looked blankly at each other. Having no time to pay attention to them, I approached the door as quickly as possible. Surely Moon Seoheon hadn’t rushed out frantically at the mention of Yoo Wono coming, had he?
