“You had something on you. Don’t you look in mirrors?”
Cho-yeon scolded while wiping my cheek. I protested at Cho-yeon’s words.
“There’s no mirror here, so how can I look?”
“Look with the window to your soul.”
Cho-yeon removed his hand after wiping off everything on my cheek and answered. I looked at Cho-yeon with wide eyes in absurdity. Cho-yeon didn’t seem to care about my gaze and just brushed it off.
“Cho-yeon, then you shouldn’t carry a mirror around from now on either.”
“I never carried one around in the first place. Who carries that kind of thing around?”
Cho-yeon got angry. I made a surprised expression.
“Someone could carry it around.”
Cho-yeon gave up on saying more. That’s when it happened.
“Let’s go home together today, like before.”
In-sae spoke to me first. I didn’t want to go home with In-sae. Of course, it wasn’t because I disliked him. It was because if In-sae told me to speak honestly, I felt like I’d end up saying everything without realizing it.
When I looked troubled, In-sae said.
“……It’s fine if I go alone. But let’s go together today.”
In-sae seemed to have something he wanted to say.
“Wait, let’s go together.”
I answered In-sae and put on my bag. We left school and walked through the intersection.
Looking at In-sae’s manner, it seemed the conversation would be long. The downtown area was quiet and there were few people passing by. I thought there would be no chance of other people hearing our conversation.
The bus stop nearby was empty, and there didn’t seem to be any buses coming. I sat on the bus stop bench. In-sae didn’t sit on the bench but leaned against the bus stop pole.
“Won’t your legs hurt?”
“I won’t be standing for long.”
In-sae answered nonchalantly. His gaze stayed on my eye area. I rubbed my darkened eye area and said.
“I’ve been sleeping even less lately.”
“How come.”
He spoke in a worried tone and separated from the pole. I gripped the indoor shoe bag I had placed beside me tightly.
“Just. There were many things to think about.”
“You can’t not sleep. How many hours did you sleep today?”
“It’s ambiguous. I kept repeating sleeping and waking up.”
I could faintly feel In-sae’s worry.
The word “lie” was particularly bothersome. Perhaps my condition seemed quite strange, as In-sae bent his waist closer.
“Are you sick by any chance?”
Maybe it’s a cold, In-sae muttered. He placed his hand on my forehead and checked for a fever. My breathing stopped momentarily. I pushed In-sae far away.
Looking at In-sae up close made me a bit confused. My thoughts weren’t organized at all and ran wild. All kinds of emotions were mixed together and it was dizzying.
In-sae obediently moved away when I pushed him. He watched my reaction and said.
“I’ve been meaning to say this, but I’m sorry. I won’t ask difficult questions.”
In-sae hesitated to speak, unlike himself.
“It seems like you’re uncomfortable because of that.”
In-sae paused for a moment. Then he asked.
“Right?”
“Who, me?”
I asked in bewilderment, even pointing with my finger. In-sae nodded. I had been quite stressed because In-sae kept digging into my past.
But it was difficult to say it was entirely In-sae’s fault. I was more pressured by not being able to easily reveal the possession.
“Even the fact that you can’t sleep lately seems related to this.”
“Many complicated things overlapped.”
In-sae sat beside me and rested his head on my shoulder. Because he was taller than me, it was a posture where he had to lower his head a bit. He quietly asked.
“Last time you said your surroundings changed while organizing books, honestly I can’t believe it. Is this for real?”
“If my memory wasn’t manipulated?”
I replied indifferently. In-sae only maintained silence for a long time. In the meantime, two people passed by and the traffic light changed several times.
“I don’t usually believe in that kind of thing.”
Contrary to his hesitation, In-sae spoke clearly. I stared ahead blankly. In-sae touched me several times. In-sae seemed to be trying to comfort me in his own way.
“I can’t believe it either, you know.”
I answered energetically. In-sae quietly asked.
“If you suddenly came here, what was it like before?”
“Life was similar to now. It’s the people who are different.”
At my answer, In-sae nodded his head slightly as if in agreement. He seemed to want me to tell him more.
I hesitated about what story to tell. Then eventually, I just talked about the things I experienced before coming to this world, excluding only the fact that I had possessed someone. In-sae listened to all of it without showing any signs of being tired. Rather, I was the one who stopped the story in the middle while reading the room.
“It really is similar to now.”
In-sae said. I was surprised that In-sae seemed calm. If someone around you suddenly told you this kind of story, wouldn’t it seem strange?
“You seem really composed.”
I said while pointing at In-sae. In-sae stood up from his seat and picked up my indoor shoe bag. I also stood up following In-sae.
“It’s hard to believe all at once, but I’ll probably get used to it later.”
In-sae answered. I smiled lightly and snatched back the indoor shoe bag. In-sae looked relieved as if he thought it was all over.
Anyway, this much was resolved fairly well. How could anyone believe it all at once—I decided to be satisfied with that. Rather, I was just grateful for In-sae’s words.
“You’re really amazing too, I think I would be awkward until the end if a friend said something like that.”
I was praising In-sae when I paused for a moment. Then I continued speaking.
“Anyway, let’s go to school together again starting tomorrow.”
I swung my indoor shoe bag and hurriedly left the bus stop. I was going to add a farewell greeting, but I came out without doing it.
I stopped while trying to run home without looking back. When I looked behind, In-sae had just left the bus stop and was walking.
I stopped walking and waited until In-sae came close. I made an excuse.
“Since our paths overlap up to over there, let’s go together.”
In-sae tilted his head slightly. The sunset was already setting. My head became dizzy from the route map plastered all over the bus stop. It seemed like my vision was flickering.
“Take care.”
I turned into the now-familiar alley. When I greeted him, In-sae smiled while receiving the sunlight.
“There’s nothing you’re hiding now, right?”
In-sae, who had been waving his hand in greeting just the same, seemed to find me utterly unreliable.
“Just say everything now.”
“Am I that untrustworthy?”
I asked while making a hurt expression. In-sae neither affirmed nor denied it, which was more annoying.
I pushed In-sae out of the alley. Suddenly, I realized that I liked being with In-sae.
As expected, the problem was that it wasn’t just with In-sae but applied to all three of them. I said jokingly.
“Extend the deadline a bit, to 3 days.”
“Sure, whatever. I won’t even charge interest.”
In-sae answered. I think I know what kind of feelings I have now. In 3 days I’ll definitely get a clear sense of it—I smiled and headed home.
That day I went home and thought for a while. Now it’s about half, but In-sae also knows about my possession. Cho-yeon has known since before, so he’s out of the question.
‘Then what about Hee-ae?’
Among the three, only Hee-ae knows nothing. But it’s also a complicated matter to tell him first. He’d be upset if he found out later, but it couldn’t be helped.
First, I should at least tell him that things are okay again between In-sae and me. It was obvious that Hee-ae was inwardly worried. Because the two of us avoided each other, only Hee-ae was in a difficult position.
There were still too many things I hadn’t done, but I wanted to sleep early today. Even the things I had to do weren’t anything grand. I wrapped myself deeply in the blanket and crawled into bed. For the first time in a while, I fell asleep without tossing and turning.
***
The next day I went to school and met Hee-ae. I approached Hee-ae sitting in a chair and called his name.
“Hee-ae.”
“Yeah?”
Hee-ae answered immediately. I smiled and looked down at Hee-ae, then opened my mouth.
“I came because I have something to tell you, um. You know In-sae.”
“In-sae? Why, did something happen?”
Hee-ae asked while making a worried expression. He seemed anxious that we might have fought.
“It’s been resolved well, you don’t need to worry.”
“Ah, that’s a relief.”
Hee-ae answered with a bright smile.
“Have you guys done a group project this year?”
It was during some class period. At the mention of a group project, the kids each made complicated expressions.
“You haven’t, right? Try doing one this time.”
“I really hate group projects.”
The kid sitting next to me muttered. I smiled with an ambiguous expression. The teacher roughly scanned us and said.
“Do you want to form the groups yourselves? You need to make groups of 4.”
The kids immediately nodded their heads. I looked toward Hee-ae, In-sae, and Cho-yeon. That’s exactly 4 people, perfect. It seemed like we could just form a group like that.
“Okay, then if you guys form your groups by next period, I’ll give you the assignment then.”
The teacher who finished speaking started the class again. We gathered as soon as class ended. Hee-ae looked at the three of us and asked.
“We’re obviously going to do the group with the four of us, right?”
“Yeah, I don’t have anyone else to do it with anyway.”
I said jokingly. Hee-ae pushed back his protruding hair and said.
“Then let’s decide on these four. We decided really quickly.”
“We were lucky the number worked out perfectly.”
I nodded at Hee-ae’s words and said. The other kids seemed to have numbers that didn’t match up well. They were making a fuss about doing rock-paper-scissors to exclude one person, and so on.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
