Kim Yeonwoo’s pupils shook rapidly. Jaeyoon quietly stared at his flustered face, then frowned and curled up the corner of his mouth.
‘See?’
Under Jaeyoon’s gaze, Yeonwoo asked nervously.
“W-what are you saying?”
“It’s true, isn’t it?”
“N-no, it’s not!!”
“It’s not?”
“Don’t accuse innocent people. I never did that!!”
As Yeonwoo angrily denied it, Jaeyoon stared at him intently. Anxious eyes, hands that couldn’t stay still, a trembling body. And yet the words “don’t accuse innocent people” were coming from those lips? Jaeyoon closed his eyes tightly and opened them again.
‘What exactly happened between Kim Yeonwoo and Lee Jaeyoon? Is there something I don’t know, something that wasn’t shown in the game…?’
Jaeyoon furrowed his brow. All the reasons for Lee Jaeyoon’s downfall weren’t coincidental but planned. Always calling the pursuable characters to his room at night, hovering around Jaeyoon and showing off romantic scenes with Jaeyoon’s precious people—it was all done to get on his nerves.
Pushing him into a corner like that, making him vent his stress on himself, and then showing that behavior to the pursuable characters. Lee Jaeyoon, who grieved as people left him without knowing why, thinking the reason lay with himself and feeling frustrated. Lee Jaeyoon, who hated and resented Kim Yeonwoo, yet despised his own ugliness for feeling that way. That’s how he became the villain, and silently disappeared from Kim Yeonwoo and the pursuable characters.
‘Why didn’t anyone notice Kim Yeonwoo’s contradictions? If they had noticed something strange, even a little bit, maybe Jaeyoon wouldn’t have become the villain and things could have ended peacefully…’
His chest felt tight. Even though he knew it was about someone unrelated to him, this feeling wouldn’t subside. Even if it was all planned, his brother, his friend, his senior—none of them took his side. None of them believed in him. A life that ended in solitude.
“Then why are you trembling?”
“What…?”
Kim Yeonwoo gripped his trembling arms with his hands. His shaking pupils looked at Jaeyoon.
“Y-you’re saying strange things! It’s all your…!”
“You always blame everything on me, don’t you?”
“Because you’re the bad one!!”
Jaeyoon slowly approached Kim Yeonwoo. Flustered, Yeonwoo backed away as if escaping with each step Jaeyoon took toward him. Watching as the distance between them remained unchanged, Jaeyoon suddenly stepped right up to Yeonwoo’s face and firmly grabbed his arm.
“Let go!!”
“Why do you keep lurking around me?”
“W-when did I…!!”
“Why do you steal my people?”
“?!”
Kim Yeonwoo’s eyes widened. He had heard these words before. They were the words he always threw at Jaeyoon. Looking indifferently at the trembling Yeonwoo, Jaeyoon spoke.
“Everything you do, everything you say, is contradictory.”
“No!!”
“Because you steal from others and try to take their place yourself.”
“No, that’s not true!!!”
Kim Yeonwoo forcibly pulled his arm from Jaeyoon’s grip and slapped Jaeyoon’s cheek hard with his hand. The band-aid on Jaeyoon’s cheek came halfway off from the impact. Watching the flustered Yeonwoo, Jaeyoon touched his cheek and then completely removed the band-aid. The wound that Kim Yeonwoo had inflicted on his cheek was clearly visible.
“I should have properly shown others who did this to me, just like you did.”
“?!”
“Since this is undeniably your doing. What would others do then? Would they condemn you as a bad person, as they did to me?”
“T-that’s because of you…!! There’s no way anyone would believe what you say?!”
“Oh really? Then I should tell them. I’m curious how much they trust you.”
As Jaeyoon walked past him, Kim Yeonwoo hurriedly grabbed his arm. Jaeyoon narrowed his eyes and turned around. After staring at Yeonwoo’s bewildered face, he forcefully pushed Yeonwoo’s hand away.
“What? Worried? Well, you should be. You even abandoned your family. There’s no guarantee you wouldn’t do the same to them, right?”
“Stop it… Why do you keep doing this to me? I just want to be happy…!!”
Kim Yeonwoo shedding pitiful tears looked like the epitome of a tragic protagonist. Jaeyoon watched him quietly and narrowed his eyes.
“Even though you stole someone else’s happiness.”
“!!”
“You know it too, don’t you? That what’s stolen eventually returns to its rightful place. That’s why you’re always on edge, desperate to paint me as the bad guy. Pretending to be nice while forcefully creating situations where I would get angry at you, staging it so others would see. Truly, your effort is commendable.”
“No, I…”
“Getting suspicious and worried if others have even a small conversation with me.”
“No!!!”
Kim Yeonwoo shouted and lunged at Jaeyoon. As Yeonwoo grabbed his collar and fiercely confronted him, Jaeyoon looked at him with calm eyes and firmly grasped the wrist that held his collar. A pained sound escaped from Kim Yeonwoo’s lips.
“Stop messing around, Kim Yeonwoo. The old me might have put up with your nonsense, but now, I have no intention of taking it anymore.”
“!!”
“Never approach the people around me again. If I see you lurking around me again, I’ll use everything I have to crush you.”
Jaeyoon glanced at Kim Yeonwoo, who had his head lowered and lips tightly shut, then coldly turned away. He wished he’d never have to see his face again. He knew it would be difficult since they were in the same school and even in adjacent rooms in the same dormitory, but he still desperately hoped for it.
“You have everything!!”
“…What?”
“Since you have everything, couldn’t you at least give up one or two things?”
Jaeyoon’s expression hardened at the wailing voice.
‘One or two things? After taking everything from Lee Jaeyoon, you call it one or two things?’
“Whether I have everything or not, I don’t think it justifies what you did. And I have no intention of having my things taken from me.”
Kim Yeonwoo’s eyes widened at Jaeyoon’s words. Observing his reaction, Jaeyoon then spoke.
“This is your final warning, Kim Yeonwoo. There won’t be a second one.”
“Stop acting all high and mighty…”
“…”
“Don’t lecture me like you’re always right!! They’re not yours. They’re mine now! Minho sunbae, Hangyeol, Doyoon sunbae—they’re all mine!! Not yours!!”
Jaeyoon frowned as Kim Yeonwoo shouted loudly enough to echo through the hallway and lunged at him. As Kim Yeonwoo grabbed at his collar wildly while throwing a tantrum, Jaeyoon’s patience reached its limit.
“Enough!!”
Jaeyoon pushed Kim Yeonwoo forcefully. Staggering back, Yeonwoo raised the corners of his eyes and glared at Jaeyoon with a fierce look. Shouting “Lee Jaeyoon!!” and rushing toward him again, Kim Yeonwoo’s feet suddenly became entangled.
“Huh?”
His body, having lost balance, tilted to the side. Jaeyoon’s eyes widened. As Kim Yeonwoo fell toward the stairs, Jaeyoon quickly reached out his hand to him.
“Kim Yeonwoo!!”
***
“I’m tired, exhausted, I want to eat a peach…”
Jung Jinhoo furrowed his brow and sighed as Sim Hajun grumbled while locking the art room door.
“I’ll leave without you if you don’t come.”
“Ah, wait~!!”
Jinhoo glanced at Hajun, who came running to stand beside him, then checked his phone. When he turned on the screen, there was a message from Jaeyoon.
[Did you bring an umbrella?]
‘Umbrella?’
Looking out the window, he saw a sky full of dark clouds. Noticing the ominous sky that seemed ready to pour rain at any moment, Hajun rummaged through his bag, pulled out an umbrella, and showed it to Jinhoo.
“I brought an umbrella. Want to share it?”
“You’re well-prepared.”
“I saw the weather forecast this morning~!”
Turning his gaze away from Hajun, who placed his hands on his waist with a satisfied expression, Jinhoo called Jaeyoon. As he held the phone to his ear, listening to the dial tone,
CRASH BANG!!!
There was a sound of something falling.
“What was that sound just now?”
“…Don’t know.”
“Didn’t it come from the stairway??”
Jinhoo’s brow narrowed. The long dial tone seemed especially irritating today. He waited for Jaeyoon to pick up, but all he heard through the phone was an automated voice response.
Walking carefully toward the stairs, Hajun noticed something that tripped his foot. What’s this? With a puzzled expression, he picked up what had fallen on the hallway floor. Holding a black umbrella in his hand, he tilted his head slightly and blinked.
‘Whose is this?’
Looking around the umbrella to find its owner, Hajun’s gaze turned toward the bottom of the stairs.
“Uh…?”
A stupid sound involuntarily escaped his lips. His eyes widened, and his body froze as if stiff. He came to his senses only when Jinhoo’s voice, almost like a scream, broke through.
“Jaeyoon!!!”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
