In the original story, Jin Gilnyeong considered Jin Suhwan’s death a simple accident and didn’t investigate the truth partly because Jin Hwalyeon was preparing to take over as successor.
“How… do you know that?”
The media often portrayed the relationship between cousins Jin Suhwan and Jin Hwalyeon as terrible. But the reality was different. The two were extremely close as children. Having lost his parents, Suhwan relied heavily on his cousin sister Hwalyeon rather than his intimidating grandfather. For Suhwan, she was a parent, mentor, friend, and the only person who understood him.
That was until Jin Hwalyeon left to study in America. Their relationship deteriorated after that. Suhwan didn’t know the reason why. Though Suhwan’s past was briefly mentioned after his death, there wasn’t much detailed description about it.
“Who exactly are you…”
“And don’t come to school anymore.”
“What?”
“Be careful of Ju Geonyul, too.”
“Huh.”
Heeyoung took out a notepad, scribbled with a pen, and tore off a piece of paper to hand to Suhwan. He accepted it in confusion.
010-XXX-XXXX. It was Heeyoung’s contact information that he had seen before. Heeyoung emphasized again, as if making sure:
“Be careful.”
“Wait…”
But Heeyoung turned around without hesitation and walked away quickly. Suhwan couldn’t bring himself to follow her and stood frozen in place. Her words tangled complexly in his mind.
“What’s this all about?”
Suhwan muttered, looking down at the contact information Heeyoung had given him. It was the second time he had received her number. Of course, she hadn’t given it out of romantic interest. Rather…
‘Be careful.’
Heeyoung’s serious voice penetrated his thoughts. Looking at the crumpled paper, he took out his phone. He strongly felt he should save Heeyoung’s contact information.
“Ah.”
However, with an ade in one hand, he accidentally pressed a different app instead of contacts. A look of dismay crossed Suhwan’s face as he stared at the loading screen. He quickly tried to close the mistakenly opened app, but he noticed the automatically logged-in app screen. And one sentence caught his eye.
The app he had mistakenly opened was Everytime. And in a post that was receiving overwhelming likes and comments in real-time, Suhwan and Seunghyun’s names were included in the title.
[Looks like Business Dept crazy dog J.S.H. and Pharmacy L.S.H. are dating]
“…!”
Though only initials were written, he immediately knew who it referred to. Suhwan’s hand holding the phone trembled.
So the sound he had heard when shopping for sneakers with Seunghyun on the weekend wasn’t his imagination. Someone from school had been watching them buy shoes.
Something in the back of his mind screamed to close the app quickly and not look, but Suhwan couldn’t easily do so. It buzzed incessantly like a mosquito in his ear. Then Suhwan’s finger slowly moved. He tapped on the post.
Business Dept crazy dog J.S.H. and Pharmacy L.S.H. seem to be dating
Saw them on a date at def mart in front of the station yesterday. They looked really close. Aren’t they dating?lol
Anonymous1: Whoa really? They’re dating??
└Anonymous3: Wow shocking
└Anonymous5: No way….
Anonymous2: Yeah I saw them too, I even saw them at the cafe
└Anonymous6: Which cafe?
└Anonymous7: D something, where L.S.H. works
└Anonymous10: lol they must be dating for real
Anonymous4: Wow J.S.H. finally did it, he must be really good at it lol
└Anonymous8: Crazyyyy lol
└Anonymous11: omg I’m dying
Anonymous9: L.S.H. isn’t much either….
└Anonymous13: What were you expecting
└Anonymous15: Victory of capital and stamina
└Anonymous22: LMAOOOO
Anonymous12: L.S.H. played so hard to get… I would’ve given it to me too….
└Anonymous14: lololol look at your face
└Anonymous16: Are you beta or alpha lol I’m so curious
Anonymous17: But L.S.H. must be crazy too, isn’t he dating basically a stalker? Both disgusting
└Anonymous20: For real
└Anonymous24: Stockholm syndrome
└Anonymous25: So creepy
More provocative anonymous comments continued below. Suhwan couldn’t bear to read them all and closed Everytime. His breath quickened as if he had just sprinted.
“Did you see Everytime today?”
“Oh, that? Isn’t it just a rumor? They don’t match at all.”
Female students walking from the opposite direction stopped talking when they saw Suhwan. Then they passed by him, looking uncomfortable. Suhwan lost strength in his fingers and dropped the drink he was holding.
Splash!
The remaining beverage splashed on Suhwan as it hit the ground. The white sneakers he had matched with Seunghyun were stained. Suhwan looked down at them with trembling eyes.
It was just like himself. A foreign substance staining the pure white protagonist.
A perfect reflection of the current Suhwan.
***
Seunghyun arrived at his major classroom just in time again today. Having barely made it before the professor entered, he was more distracted than usual. Because of this, he failed to notice the atmosphere around him.
“Hey, Seunghyun.”
“Yes?”
After the major class ended, Gahyun, who had been watching nervously, carefully called out to Seunghyun. When he turned around, she exchanged glances with their classmates before speaking.
“So, I have something to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Well.”
As Gahyun kept hesitating, Chanwoo stepped forward impatiently. He asked Seunghyun with a frown:
“Are you really dating Jin Suhwan?”
“What?”
“Of course not, right? What kind of crazy person would spread such a false rumor…”
“How did you know?”
“…Huh?”
“How did you know that I’m dating Senior Suhwan?”
His classmates froze in place, unable to respond to Seunghyun’s answer. Seunghyun looked at them with an expressionless face. Eunchan, who was standing behind, spoke with a dazed expression.
“There was a post on Everytime today saying that you and Jin Suhwan seem to be dating.”
“…!”
At those words, Seunghyun’s expression hardened as he took out his phone to check Everytime. Seeing just the provocative title, he immediately cursed.
“Fuck.”
After checking the post and comments, Seunghyun frowned. They were pathetic posts and comments. While this kind of thing wouldn’t faze him, it would likely be different for Suhwan.
But Suhwan would soon stop coming to school, and he hardly ever opened apps on his phone, so there was a good chance he wouldn’t see it. But there was always a slight possibility.
Just as Seunghyun was about to call Suhwan with a frown:
“Seunghyun, why… why are you dating someone like that?”
“…Ha.”
Seunghyun swallowed a sigh when he saw Gahyun’s teary eyes. She seemed to think he was being coerced into dating Suhwan. The expressions of his other classmates weren’t much different.
Would they even believe him if he explained? Would they understand what he had experienced if he told them?
Impossible. People don’t easily change their preconceptions. Even he only realized Suhwan had changed because he had been constantly by his side; others wouldn’t believe it without significant evidence. Having reached this conclusion, Seunghyun turned his head with a cold expression.
“Sorry, I need to make a phone call.”
“Seunghyun.”
“Go to the cafeteria without me.”
With those words, Seunghyun turned and left the classroom. Gahyun, who had been staring blankly at his retreating figure, came to her senses and looked around.
“By the way, where’s Heeyoung?”
“Heeyoung?”
The classmates belatedly realized that Heeyoung had disappeared. They were left in the classroom with confused faces.
Upon leaving the classroom, Seunghyun immediately called Suhwan. However, all he heard was the long ring tone; Suhwan wasn’t answering.
“Damn it.”
Had he already seen Everytime? That sensitive person would have been deeply hurt by such comments. Just as Seunghyun was urgently trying to open a location tracking app:
“Seunghyun.”
“…!”
Someone called out to Seunghyun as he stood there. Seunghyun turned around with an unpleasant expression.
Geonyul was waving at him. Seeing his nonchalant face, Seunghyun’s grip on his phone tightened.
“Don’t we have something to talk about?”
“Yes, we do.”
Seunghyun slowly lowered his phone. Then he looked at Geonyul with cold eyes.
Suhwan had said the incident with Geonyul was nothing, but Seunghyun wasn’t stupid enough to believe that at face value. If Geonyul hadn’t come looking for him directly, Seunghyun would have sought him out first.
But the timing was bad. He was extremely concerned that Suhwan wasn’t answering his phone. As Seunghyun glanced at the phone in his hand, Geonyul approached.
“I saw the post on Everytime.”
“…”
“I know. That you’re reluctantly dating Suhwan hyung.”
“What?”
Seunghyun’s face contorted at the baseless nonsense. Then he realized Geonyul’s voice was excessively loud. He could feel people passing through the Pharmacy Department building corridor glancing in their direction.
Grinding his teeth, Seunghyun glared at Geonyul and said:
“Let’s talk somewhere private.”
“Sure.”
Geonyul shrugged, smiled, and walked ahead. They soon found an empty classroom without difficulty.
With a thud, Geonyul reached behind him to close the door. Seunghyun, who had entered the classroom first, turned around to face Geonyul.
For a room they had supposedly found by chance, it was suspiciously deserted and tucked away in a corner. Seunghyun thought to himself as he looked at Geonyul with a skeptical gaze. However, the absence of people was what Seunghyun wanted as well.
“So, I think you…”
“Hey, Ju Geonyul.”
“…?”
