#157
“Um…”
– *Sigh*. Jaeha, I heard you left work early because you were sick. Where are you?
When I stammered in surprise, Hyun Dowoon, who had taken a deep breath as if drawing it from his core, returned to a gentle tone and asked me.
“Well, Haejun found out I was sick. I’m at Haejun’s house now…”
– …Put Shin Haejun on the phone.
After listening to me silently, Hyun Dowoon spoke curtly. I couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling as I handed the phone to Shin Haejun.
“Hello.”
“Ah. That’s what he says.”
“What do you want me to do? Why should I give you my home address?”
“What?”
I couldn’t hear what Hyun Dowoon was saying, but Shin Haejun’s mood was getting worse. I hugged my arms, wondering if the temperature was about to drop, but surprisingly, nothing happened. Unlike how it looked, maybe he wasn’t really angry?
‘Why would the temperature drop?’
These strange thoughts weren’t just one or two. Something was definitely very wrong with me. Did I really develop some kind of brain problem?
“Shit.”
Shin Haejun hung up the phone and muttered, grinding his teeth. Then he kept complaining about how annoying it was.
‘Is it okay to be this aggressive…’
But somehow it felt familiar. Soon, Hyun Dowoon would come to this house and cause an elegant scene, and then he would persistently ask me to choose…
‘Why does this feel so familiar?’
I really couldn’t understand what was happening. I shook my head.
Judging by how things were going, it was clear that this wasn’t favorable for me.
“I want to go to my house.”
I said, looking reproachfully at Shin Haejun, who had openly picked a fight with Hyun Dowoon. If what Shin Haejun said was true, this was my first time coming to this house, so if I lived alone, wouldn’t I have my own place?
“You’re sick, where are you going? Just stay here.”
Shin Haejun held me back with a displeased look. But somehow, I had an instinctive warning in my brain that I shouldn’t stay here like this.
I shook off Shin Haejun’s arm and stood up abruptly.
“I’m going.”
Shin Haejun seemed to want to stop me, but when I insisted strongly, he couldn’t prevent me and just followed along.
“I’ll take you.”
When we finally reached the entrance, Shin Haejun grabbed my wrist while holding the car keys that were casually placed on top of the shoe rack. He seemed worried that I might refuse this too. On the other hand, there was also a faint hint of anger. I wasn’t sure, but it seemed like he wasn’t used to being refused by anyone.
I nodded at Shin Haejun’s offer. It was fortunate timing. I had boldly said I wanted to go home, but I had no idea where that home was.
After riding in Shin Haejun’s car to my apartment, I saw Hyun Dowoon leaning against the entrance with a stiff face.
When the corridor light turned on, he looked in our direction. Somehow, I felt very happy and like I might cry, but…
‘Is this really Hyun Dowoon?’
Soft brown hair and brown eyes. A delicate face that looked somewhat angry. The mole near his eye. It was his face, but somehow it didn’t seem like the Hyun Dowoon I knew.
‘Wasn’t he more… bright and radiant?’
The colors seemed different somehow. Anyway, while I was tilting my head in confusion, Hyun Dowoon approached with big strides and grabbed my wrist.
“I was out of my mind when I heard Jaeha was sick, but to find out you were at Shin Haejun’s house in the meantime… What exactly happened?”
On the phone, his voice was booming with anger, but it seemed he had regained his composure on the way here.
Separately from that, I was troubled by completely irrelevant thoughts. I should be trying to calm his anger, but I was unnecessarily wondering if Hyun Dowoon always referred to Shin Haejun like that.
“Um, Dowoon. Do you not know Haejun’s house?”
“You’re not calling me ‘hyung’ as usual… Did something really happen? And how would I know that person’s house?”
I really couldn’t understand what was going on. Clearly, in my head, there were vague images of being in that house together with these two people.
When I finally saw Hyun Dowoon’s face, something really vague came to mind.
‘Hyun Dowoon knows Shin Haejun’s house. But why didn’t he teleport here and instead waited here? Where is this place?’
These fragmented thoughts came to me faintly, like recalling common sense, but I wasn’t sure if I should call them thoughts or memories.
‘What is this? It’s not even a delusion…’
It seems I’ve gone properly mad.
Somewhat bewildered, I said to the two people who were fighting with their eyes:
“I think something’s really… wrong with my head.”
As I said this and clutched my head, both of them called out to me with pale faces.
***
A world without the person you love.
Shin Haejun and Hyun Dowoon blankly stared at Nine, who was the only thing emitting light in a completely shattered space where nothing remained.
Right after being told that Lee Jaeha had died, the light of the world slowly faded away, as if a lamp had been turned off. Finally, all that remained was Nine, floating above Lee Jaeha’s phone.
“Lee Jaeha is dead…”
Shin Haejun muttered softly, lost in shock. He couldn’t understand where things had gone wrong. Why Lee Jaeha had left his side, and how he had met his death after leaving – it was all incomprehensible.
This wasn’t what he had wanted. He hadn’t tried to keep Lee Jaeha in this world just to have him die so meaninglessly. He never thought he would lose him like this, without even a chance to save him.
Not like this.
“Tell me.”
Hyun Dowoon, whose eyes had completely lost focus, tried to grab Nine by the collar. However, unable to actually grab the hologram that looked like Lee Jaeha, he instead gripped the phone so tightly it seemed like it might crumble.
“You said it was the second time. Tell us what happened. Everything!”
Hearing the anguished cry, a blue flame finally ignited in Shin Haejun’s eyes as well.
Nine had indeed said, “It’s sad even though it’s the second time.” That meant Lee Jaeha had died twice.
There was no sense of rejection or question about a single person dying twice. The only important thing was how he had been revived.
Aren’t you curious about why I look like this?
Nine seemed very calm under the fierce gazes of the two. His face showed no sign of mourning, as if he had never grieved at all. It was as if his heart, which had been plunged into sorrow, had recovered in an instant.
“That’s not important.”
Shin Haejun cut him off coldly.
Why Nine, who used to appear as an emoticon, now looked like Lee Jaeha. Until they heard the news of Lee Jaeha’s death, this would have been quite curious. But now, nothing mattered except reversing Lee Jaeha’s death.
Unfortunately, that’s where the story must begin.
Nine smiled slightly.
Yeonsoo’s soul entered Lee Jaeha’s body. So where did the original Lee Jaeha go?
***
Nine’s first memory began as a floating particle drifting through the air.
Although it floated around like a ghost, it couldn’t go anywhere freely. Nine couldn’t leave the living radius of ‘Lee Jaeha’.
The reason for this was clear without anyone explaining it. It was because Lee Jaeha’s body actually belonged to Nine. Nine, who should have opened his eyes inside that body, couldn’t enter his own body for some unknown reason.
A body without a soul should naturally have been unable to function, like a vegetative state, but strangely enough, it moved quite normally. The reason for this was that an intruder was inside that body.
A small man with a modest appearance. The man who had crash-landed into young Lee Jaeha’s body one day lived comfortably wearing Lee Jaeha’s shell, not knowing his own identity.
Hey, what’s your name? Why are you inside my body?
Although Nine had lost his body, he didn’t particularly hold any grudges. He was just fascinated by this phenomenon. An adult soul was sticking out awkwardly over a child’s body, but no one noticed it. Not even the person who had taken over the body.
He didn’t seem to realize that he was wearing the wrong shell. Nine tried to tell him this several times, but every attempt at contact failed. The man, young Lee Jaeha, couldn’t even perceive Nine’s existence.
The reason Nine felt no particular emotion about wandering around as a soul might be because he had never once entered his own body. Nine had no particular desire to live in a human body.
However, he did enjoy watching Lee Jaeha. More precisely, he enjoyed seeing the changing expressions of the soul inside. At first, the man looked very depressed and tired, but gradually he blossomed as he received love from various people, including his ‘mother’ and ‘Shin Haejun’.
His modest appearance gradually became radiant. As if resembling the soul’s appearance, soon Lee Jaeha was surrounded only by people who loved and were friendly with him, like sunshine.
That lovable appearance reached its peak when the body grew to match the height of the protruding soul. Nine instinctively realized that this was the man’s true essence. The modest and exhausted appearance had been nothing more than filth caked onto the soul.
When Nine first saw his brightened appearance, he completely gave up on the idea of reclaiming the body from the man. He felt that it was the man, not himself, who truly and desperately needed that body.
Although he couldn’t move far, it was entertaining enough just to observe the man’s changes and see what kind of life he lived as ‘Lee Jaeha’.
Are you enjoying yourself today too? You seem to be in a better mood.
Congratulations on getting into university! I wish I could give you flowers too.
Hey, don’t you think you’re being too oblivious? It’s obvious that Shin Haejun likes you.
Nine talked to Lee Jaeha every day, knowing he wouldn’t get a response. Even though there was no reaction, it was satisfying enough just to see him doing well day by day.
Lee Jaeha was living happily, receiving plenty of love from both Shin Haejun and the newly met Hyun Dowoon.
It was around the time Lee Jaeha was contemplating whether to accept Hyun Dowoon’s feelings that Nine encountered an entity trying to shatter that happiness.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
