“Well, yeah, but it’s not like I need to care about him too.”
I felt completely deflated at In-sae’s words. But soon my body tensed up again. It was because In-sae immediately continued speaking.
“Whenever the topic of what you did before entering high school comes up, you always just say you don’t remember.”
“Why do you want to know what I did back then?”
I asked while gripping one strap of my bag. My words came out sharper than I expected. It seems I couldn’t hide my anxious demeanor in that moment of tension. I bit my lip hard.
“Of course I’m curious. Aren’t you?”
In-sae asked as if it were obvious. I slowly waved my hand and then said in a slightly louder voice.
“I guess I could be curious. But I really don’t remember well, you know?”
“Mm-hmm.”
In-sae answered while pushing my back. And then pointed to my house that had gotten close before I knew it.
“You’re home.”
“Right. We’re already here.”
I answered while opening the gate as In-sae pushed me. In-sae waved their hand in greeting.
When I entered the house, perhaps because work ended early, my mother was sitting in the living room. She flipped through a few pages of a book half-heartedly. Then suddenly, as if remembering something, Mother spoke.
“There are a lot of books on your bookshelf. Would it be okay if I read some?”
“My bookshelf?”
I asked while looking at Mother, about to enter my room. Mother glanced at the open doorway.
“Your bookshelf is stacked full of books.”
“Of course you can read them.”
I opened the door, went in, and put down my bag almost as if throwing it. What if I keep lying about my past and make a mistake? How could I possibly tell them that I’ve actually possessed into this world? I just feel hopeless.
***
“Hey guys, they caught our spy! His name is Oh Hye-seong, and he did it for money.”
The boy who was always squealing opened the door normally and delivered the news. Cho-yeon, who had been leaning against the door, moved aside and asked.
“What kind of high school sends spies and makes such a fuss? He got paid? How much?”
“Well, so basically.”
The kid looked around and then whispered quietly to Cho-yeon. Cho-yeon shuddered and pushed the kid away, telling him not to come close.
At Cho-yeon’s insistence, the kid delivered the message quietly while standing a bit farther away. After hearing what the kid said, Cho-yeon made an indecipherable expression.
“This is a bit…”
“Changing careers to become a spy doesn’t seem so bad. Right?”
The kid said seriously. Was being a spy some kind of sweet part-time job? I got curious too and stood up from my seat to ask.
“What is it? Tell me too.”
“Hey. I’ll tell you later.”
At the sound of someone calling, the kid shouted as they left the classroom. But now that I think about it, that kid is from another class. I hadn’t noticed because they came into our classroom so naturally.
“We received a tip about the spy a few days ago. However, we decided to raid the scene, and finally succeeded today.”
Suddenly the Five Great Kings began unfolding a grand epic. Growing bored, I turned my gaze to my surroundings. Hee-ae had gone somewhere, and In-sae was right next to me.
“I’m going to the bathroom.”
After briefly telling In-sae, I left the classroom. The hallway and bathroom were equally crowded.
I haven’t been able to focus properly since earlier. I turned on the cold water and put my hand under it. Then I lightly dabbed some water around my eyes.
I’m definitely going around completely scatterbrained. Not just one, but three—it’s already been several days since I became conscious of them. I thought it would be brief, but the feelings lasted longer than expected and became deeper.
I sighed, turned off the faucet, and went out to the hallway. The Five Great Kings were standing on the stairs and called out to me.
“You there, come here for a moment.”
“Me?”
I asked bluntly. The Five Great Kings gestured for me to come quickly, but I went as slowly as possible because it was annoying. The Five Great Kings made an irritated face and went up to the 4th floor.
“We know about your acting. So we suspected whether you might be the spy.”
They keep saying spy, spy all the time these days, so now I want to eat apple pie. I’ve known for a long time that my acting was discovered. I looked at the Five Great Kings without much emotion.
“But they said you were the one who reported the spy, so tell us yourself. Are you someone we can trust?”
“You didn’t tail me? That’s kind of unexpected.”
“We did. You hardly ever went outside your house.”
I knew it. Tailing is a crime, yet they’re saying it so confidently—their audacity is impressive. I’m going to report them soon. One of the twins from the Five Great Kings came out and wrapped up the conversation.
“But othew than pwetending to wike us, you didn’t do anything. So genewous Ye-gyeoli and Han-gyeoli decided to let it slide!!”
“Oh, really?”
I want to study Korean. Hearing that weird way of talking is so exhausting.
At that moment, Hee-ae walked out from behind. Hee-ae grabbed my shoulder with a clearly shocked expression. This is bad. I became flustered and almost froze.
“Shi… Dan-ah.”
When I turned around, Hee-ae’s eyes were wavering, as if confused. Right now, whether or not Hee-ae’s hand was on my shoulder didn’t matter at all.
‘How much did he hear?’
I tried to gauge Hee-ae’s reaction. Hee-ae looked ahead in the distance and asked.
“Five Great Kings?”
“Hee-ae, you forgot the ‘nim.'”
Whether Hee-ae forgot the ‘nim’ or not, the Five Great Kings said they were busy and left first. Even though I pointed it out, Hee-ae spoke quickly with an expressionless face.
“Five Great Kings, Five Great Kings, Five Great Kings.”
“Five Great Kings-nim, Five Great Kings-nim, Five Great Kings-nim.”
I said it again with the ‘nim’ attached. Hee-ae calmly changed his expression again. Now he seemed to have no particular feelings even when looking at the Five Great Kings.
It seems the days when Hee-ae used to call them things like “the incredibly handsome Five Great Kings” are over. I’m quite pleased that we seem to have the common ground of not liking the Five Great Kings.
“What was that conversation just now?”
“The story of how the Five Great Kings-nim suspected innocent me of being a spy.”
“And?”
“The Five Great Kings’ self-reflection and apology after learning there was a different real spy?”
“That’s all? I’m curious what you talked about after that.”
Hee-ae asked with a gentle smile. It doesn’t seem like making more excuses or beating around the bush will work. I decided to be honest.
“Breaking news, Yu Shi-dan’s shocking announcement. Actually, praising the Five Great Kings-nim all this time was acting…”
“Can you try praising the Five Great Kings right now?”
Hee-ae asked with a confused expression. I stopped speaking, flustered for a moment. Then after briefly falling into thought, I spoke quickly.
“The Five Great Kings-nim are so precious today too. The Five Great Kings-nim are babo. That’s short for ‘my treasure’ (bo-mul), making it ba-bo.”
“This is acting?”
“That’s how it turned out.”
I answered with mixed feelings. Hee-ae kept letting out laughter as if it were absurd.
“I really had no idea at all. Since when? Why?”
I wondered whether to lie and say I hadn’t been acting for long. This place is inside a novel, and the fact that the Five Great Kings and Cho-yeon are actually the main characters is something I’ve been hiding. But I didn’t want to deceive Hee-ae any further.
“I’ve been like this since the entrance ceremony. It’s been a really long time, sorry for telling you only now.”
“Since we first met, the whole time? Ha, I really. What should I do?”
Hee-ae frowned as if about to cry. I have been making all kinds of fuss praising the Five Great Kings.
“So then you don’t like the Five Great Kings?”
Hee-ae asked urgently, then soon relaxed his body.
“Well, they’re kind of cringy. Sometimes they make me lose affection for them.”
“It’s really confusing hearing you say that, Hee-ae. Don’t you remember the entrance ceremony day?”
“I really don’t know why I was like that back then either.”
Hee-ae answered gloomily and turned his gaze to the ceiling. I asked jokingly.
“So did you kick your blanket a bit?”
“No. I didn’t kick it.”
Hee-ae immediately objected. He exhaled slowly and asked.
“Aren’t you going to explain why you acted?”
“I just didn’t want to stand out. When everyone’s praising them and you’re alone with an expressionless face, you kind of stick out, right?”
I’d probably get fried by the kids’ piercing gazes and turn into a fritter. Hee-ae fell into deep thought.
“Are there more people who know you’re acting? Just me?”
“I don’t know if In-sae knows or not. As you know, they’re kind of ambiguous.”
“Really?”
Because he gets hot easily, Hee-ae didn’t really wear outer clothes. As Hee-ae walked, the hem of his shirt fluttered lightly. Hee-ae showed even more troubled signs.
“What about Han Cho-yeon?”
“Cho-yeon knows.”
“So that’s why you two got along well? Because he knows about your acting?”
It’s half right. I avoided Hee-ae’s gaze slightly to the side and answered.
“But it’s not like he knew from the beginning either. I got caught somehow.”
Was that late March? It already feels like a long time ago. After pondering, Hee-ae spoke in a sunken voice.
“I might be the last one to find out.”
“There’s still In-sae.”
“Kim In-sae is!”
Hee-ae shouted then closed his mouth. Hee-ae continued as if whining.
“Kim In-sae seems to strangely know a lot.”
Because Hee-ae stopped talking, silence flowed for a moment. I apologized with an ambiguous expression.
“I’m really sorry for not telling you. I thought you were still a Five Great Kings fan.”
“It’s already been quite a while since I stopped liking them, but I found out late. The apology is fine.”
Hee-ae answered with clipped pronunciation. Then he completely relaxed his expression and smiled. I asked, feeling relieved.
“By the way, where were you?”
“Returning books to the school library.”
“Isn’t the library on the 5th floor? You could go there and back during break time?”
“We can try it together next time to see if it’s possible.”
As soon as Hee-ae entered the classroom, the bell rang. I pulled Hee-ae and hurriedly sat down.
“Soon it’ll be the sports festival…”
Hee-ae muttered.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
