“Sihyeon?”
When blood mixed with saliva dripped onto the table, the principal spoke in alarm. Sihyeon had no room to respond. Thump, thump—his heart felt like it was about to burst, and his hand, pale as a blank sheet, braced itself against the table. It felt as if every organ inside his body was swelling.
“—Kgh!”
He tried to suppress a groan, but coughing up blood forced his tightly shut mouth open. Drip, drip—blood fell. Feeling his supporting arm tremble pitifully, Sihyeon stared at the bloodstains in his vision. The red liquid was unmistakably his. His blue eyes wavered.
His entire body hurt. This had never happened during the first Class Engraving, nor the second.
A trickle of blood from his nose slid down to his lips.
“Sihyeon!”
Only then did the teacher rush over from his seat toward the violently shaking Sihyeon. With a choked cry, Sihyeon clamped a hand over his mouth, feeling the wetness soak his palm as his body staggered. It felt like he was being torn apart—sharp pain and crushing pressure pressed in on him. It was agony so intense that passing out seemed preferable.
As his vision rapidly dimmed, Sihyeon coughed up blood once more and thought—
When I wake up, I’m definitely getting some kind of tonic.
Thud. A heavy sound rang out. Sihyeon closed his weakening eyes.
***
“Ah, my poor body, it’s dying on me…!”
He heard someone wailing, pounding the ground. At the eerily familiar voice, Sihyeon’s fingertips twitched. Frowning, he pushed himself up. The pain that had consumed him before he collapsed was completely gone.
A dream.
Having come to that conclusion, Sihyeon sat up immediately. He’d experienced this a few times now—there was no reason to be surprised or flustered.
“Ah… ah….”
The boy in front of him cried with a sorrowful expression, as if someone had died. He looked ready to start a full memorial. Irritated, Sihyeon got to his feet. The boy stared at him with furrowed brows. His eyes were filled with such deep resentment they could rival a ghost story.
His blue eyes flashed as he slowly opened his mouth.
“I told you not to treat your body carelessly, and yet you’re running it into the ground like this?”
“What did I do?”
“What did you do?”
“……”
At the sharp retort, Sihyeon avoided the boy’s gaze. It wasn’t like he’d abused his body… well, actually, he had. Quite a bit. As memories flashed through his mind, Sihyeon awkwardly justified to himself that during the Monthly Evaluation, at least, it hadn’t been his real body.
Only after a moment did he look back. The boy—Kang Sihyeon—was still glaring at him. Sihyeon felt wronged.
Who could’ve known that the Class Engraving, which had gone perfectly fine the first and second times, would suddenly cause problems on the third? If he’d known the third would hurt like this, he wouldn’t have even tried.
Since he himself was just as confused, he stared back. The boy let out a sigh and shook his head, as if giving up. Seeing himself reflected in that resigned expression, Sihyeon studied him carefully. He looked exactly the same as the last time.
The last time they met… was it during that bizarre dream?
Thinking back on it sent a chill down his spine. Sihyeon brushed it off and looked at the boy again. He didn’t know why the boy had appeared in his dream again, but in this situation, meeting him felt like a stroke of luck.
The boy always knew more than he did. So this time too, he probably knew why Sihyeon had collapsed.
“If you’re curious about something, ask. You’re going to bore a hole through my face at this rate.”
As if proving his thoughts correct, the boy spoke first after Sihyeon had been silently staring. Sihyeon didn’t hesitate.
“This didn’t happen during the other engravings. What’s the problem?”
“Overload.”
“Overload?”
As expected, he knew something. Tilting his head at the unfamiliar term, Sihyeon suddenly felt the boy place a hand on his shoulder. For some reason, his blue eyes seemed tinged with lament. Sihyeon frowned.
“Do you understand why you’re a Quadruple now?”
“Isn’t it because you entered my body and our classes merged?”
“You knew that and still went for a third engraving?”
“…?”
At the incredulous question, Sihyeon blinked. He didn’t see what that had to do with him collapsing. As he fell into thought, the boy sighed again. It was strange hearing someone else sigh the same way he always did.
“Do you think your class is normal? The fact that you became a Quadruple is, in a way, a bug. Like a cheat.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“But that doesn’t mean your body changed to match a Quadruple, does it? If anything, you’ve gotten weaker. Just look at these narrow shoulders! You’re even thinner than last time. What, are you dieting?”
Tap tap—the boy grabbed Sihyeon’s shoulders and shook him. As Sihyeon swayed like a paper doll and reached to grab the boy’s hand. Suddenly, his body tipped backward.
His eyes widened, and the boy holding him fell along with him.
Crash! A loud noise followed.
“……”
Ending up pinned beneath the boy, Sihyeon stared at the face right in front of him. It was bizarre seeing his own face so close.
“Wow! You look even thinner like this!”
Propping himself up beside Sihyeon’s head, the boy exclaimed in shock. Annoyed, Sihyeon pushed him away and sat up.
“Move first.”
At his irritated tone, the boy stepped aside. Straightening himself, Sihyeon mulled over what he’d heard.
“So the conclusion is that my Dual-class body couldn’t handle three engravings?”
“That’s about it.”
“If you knew that, you should’ve told me earlier.”
“I only found out recently too!”
At Sihyeon’s reproach, the boy snapped back. Watching him protest unfairness, Sihyeon lamented his fate. He hadn’t expected that his body could only handle up to Dual-class engraving. Recalling the excruciating pain just before he collapsed, Sihyeon instinctively placed a hand over his chest. Perhaps because this was a dream, he couldn’t feel any heartbeat. His eyes narrowed.
“If it’s because of overload, what happens to this body now?”
“Well… I’ll figure something out up to the third engraving, so don’t worry.”
Letting out a sigh, the boy flopped down and spoke. It wasn’t exactly reassuring.
“How are you going to ‘figure something out’?”
“Shouldn’t I at least try something?”
“…Has anyone ever told you you’re reckless?”
“All the time.”
He said it proudly. Though Sihyeon eyed him with suspicion, there wasn’t much else to rely on, so he lay down beside him. Like always, he figured he’d wake up on his own when the time came.
Lying there quietly, old memories surfaced. Recalling the first time he met the boy, Sihyeon looked around. Just like before, the space was dark and cold, with only the area around them illuminated.
Time really does dull things.
Living so frantically, even his resentment toward the boy had faded with time.
Now, there was nothing left to resent or blame.
His life already consumed enough energy as it was. If he spent energy on resentment too, he might end up collapsing day after day, just as the boy had said.
And what was the point of resentment anyway?
He couldn’t go back.
Even if he could, neither of them would be able to live normal lives anymore. They had swapped each other’s lives. In a way, it was even. If anything, Sihyeon only felt a faint sense of debt for living a new life in the boy’s place.
Blinking slowly, Sihyeon spoke.
“You… do you just stay here the whole time?”
“Yeah.”
“That must be boring.”
“Not really. When you’re awake, I can see a lot through you. You’re pretty good at messing things up, you know?”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s no fun if someone tells you outright.”
Then what does that even mean?
Sihyeon turned his head. The boy’s identical side profile came into view. As if sensing his gaze, the boy turned too. Their matching eyes met. It felt strange.
“Yoo Sihyeon.”
“What.”
“Want some advice?”
“You’re younger than me—what kind of advice are you giving?”
Since the boy already knew everything about him, Sihyeon waved dismissively. The boy looked at him like he was hopeless.
“That’s exactly why you keep screwing things up.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It’s been over three months.”
“……?”
“And to you, is this world still just a novel?”
At the sudden question, Sihyeon fell silent. Clicking his tongue, the boy slowly opened and closed his eyes.
“If you keep treating them like flat characters, you’re never going to be happy.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m saying don’t make assumptions. Don’t label people as ‘this kind of person’ and box them in. The more you do that, the more you’re just playing along with it. The more you keep telling yourself this is a novel, the more you treat them as characters acting out a script instead of real people—the harder it’ll be for you to be happy.”
“……”
“Yoo Sihyeon, were you happy in that other world?”
The boy asked quietly. Sihyeon instinctively knew that “that world” didn’t mean the one where he was now living in Kang Sihyeon’s body.
His lips parted.
Was I happy?
“…It’s not like I lived a particularly happy life.”
Recalling an old thought, Sihyeon lowered his gaze.
Rumble.
At that moment, the space shook.
Rrrrrumble.
Without warning, the entire place began to vibrate. Both Sihyeons shot to their feet. Black dust began falling from above, and as Sihyeon looked around in alarm—
Crack—! The ground split open, forming a deep chasm.
“Geez, you’re the one who broke the rules first, and now you’re already throwing a fit just because I said a little something!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Come on, hurry!”
“What?”
Before he could even ask what was happening, the boy shoved him forward. As Sihyeon stumbled toward the crack, he turned back in shock. The boy, smiling brightly, kept pushing him as he spoke.
“He will keep making moves against you. He won’t directly interfere with your mind like last time since he got caught, but he’ll keep trying in other ways. To make you keep thinking that this place is just a novel.”
“What are you even talking about?!”
“That’s all I can tell you! Now go!”
“Kang Sihyeon!”
“…This is your story, Yoo Sihyeon.”
As he pushed Sihyeon right to the edge of the cliff-like chasm, Sihyeon called his name. For a brief moment, the boy loosened his grip and smiled faintly.
Then—he gave him a final shove.
Sihyeon’s body fell rapidly into the abyss.
“While you’re at it, grow a bit taller before you come back!”
“Hey, Kang Sihyeon—!”
Shutting his eyes tightly, Sihyeon shouted at the boy’s carefree laughter. His voice echoed below before fading away. The boy, hearing it disappear, let out a sigh. The violently shaking space grew still.
And then—
“Even if you send him back like that, the overload will remain.”
A voice mixed with mechanical distortion echoed through the now-silent space.
