RFT 9
That characteristic, inorganic gaze. Do Ye-jun knew exactly what that look meant.
Cheon Sa-hyun usually wore that expression when he was sizing someone up or calculating gains and losses.
In short, he was currently pondering, ‘Is this bastard talking nonsense or not?’
Do Ye-jun tried his absolute best to put on an innocent face.
He wanted Sa-hyun to believe that there wasn’t a single grain of falsehood in his words.
And while he was at it, he hoped Sa-hyun would… refrain from things like kissing…
And maybe remove the romance from this narrative, too.
“……This is tough,” Cheon Sa-hyun muttered to himself.
He was an expert at reading people’s inner thoughts through their expressions and tone of voice, but for some reason, Do Ye-jun seemed to lay everything bare one moment, only to vanish into a pitch-black void the next.
This was one of those void-like moments. Do Ye-jun’s heart felt as unreachable as the deepest depths of the ocean.
How on earth was he supposed to take such an absurd claim…?
“So, what, are you trying to tell me you’re an alien, hyung?”
“…….”
The moment the word ‘alien’ came out, the light vanished from Do Ye-jun’s eyes. He instinctively felt that Cheon Sa-hyun had completely misinterpreted his words.
“No, I’m not saying I’m an alien, it’s just…”
“It doesn’t matter. If that’s what you want to be, be that. Whether you’re an alien or whatever, I don’t care.”
It seemed communication was impossible. A surge of something—whether it was fever or intoxication—rose within him. Feeling dizzy, Do Ye-jun leaned back against the headrest.
Cheon Sa-hyun poked the cheek of the crestfallen Do Ye-jun with his finger.
“Then what, is this fake too? If I peel it off, is there a real form underneath? I’m curious. Should I try peeling it off?”
As soon as he heard that, Do Ye-jun grabbed Cheon Sa-hyun’s finger. Licking his parched lips, he spoke clearly.
“This is my skin. If it peels off, I die.”
At these words, filled with absolute sincerity, Cheon Sa-hyun burst into laughter. After laughing for a long time with his head tilted back, he wiped the corners of his eyes and spoke.
“I know.”
“…….”
Seeing the disbelief in Do Ye-jun’s eyes, Cheon Sa-hyun let out a sigh.
“Fine. I won’t touch you, so just finish watching the movie. That’s what you want, right?”
“…….”
“From now on, don’t say weird things for no reason. Just say, ‘Sa-hyun, let’s do the rest at home.’”
“That’s not what I…”
“Got it?”
“……Fine.”
Feeling the pressure embedded in Cheon Sa-hyun’s smile, Do Ye-jun had no choice but to nod.
Then, as he belatedly chewed over Cheon Sa-hyun’s words, he was horrified.
‘Sa-hyun, let’s do the rest at home?’
He swore those words would never come out of his mouth.
No, they must not come out of his mouth.
To let such words slip out so casually… He really was a terrifying man. A frightened Do Ye-jun shuddered.
In the end, he didn’t get to properly see a single scene of the movie he wanted to watch. After leaving the theater in a state of emptiness, Do Ye-jun only managed to return home after having dinner with Cheon Sa-hyun at a nearby restaurant.
In the car on the way home, his entire body felt stiff and aching from the unnecessary tension. He rolled his shoulders a few times to stretch.
Only then did his tingling body begin to relax.
The next morning. After waking up, Do Ye-jun poured instant coffee into a mug. For a student living alone, a coffee machine was a luxury.
Though undissolved coffee granules floated here and there, he didn’t let that stop him and added a scoop of ice.
After completing his coffee, Do Ye-jun sat on the sofa.
Yesterday, Cheon Sa-hyun didn’t believe his claim that he came from another world. He had made a huge decision to tell him, but it ended with him being called an alien out of nowhere.
Then again, if an acquaintance suddenly told [unauthorized copy]him they were from another world, he would have taken it as a funny joke too.
Do Ye-jun himself had considered it a delusional thing that only happened in books before he experienced it firsthand.
It was a perfect example of how a slim possibility becomes 100% once it actually happens to you.
So… what should he do now?
How was he supposed to go back home?
No, could he even go back?
Do Ye-jun briefly reminisced about his life as Baek Yu-min.
“Name… Baek Yu-min… Twenty… how old was I?”
His memories were faint, as if a fog had settled in his mind.
It had already been three years since he fell into this world. At first, he might have clumsily mimicked Do Ye-jun’s stolen contentlife, but now he was [unauthorized copy]living the life of Do Ye-jun completely.
“I think I graduated from college…”
He had reached a point where he could no longer distinguish where the acting ended and where reality began.
“Job… I don’t know about the job. Maybe I was a job seeker.”
He had no clear memory of what work he had done. He felt like he might have worked part-time at a convenience store or a cafe…
No. Was this Do Ye-jun’s memory?
At some point, Do Ye-jun’s memories had begun to naturally seep into his mind. As if they were his own.
Previously, he had considered this a stroke of luck, but thinking back now, it seemed it wasn’t entirely a good thing.
Do Ye-jun could no longer write anything more about Baek Yu-min. Wringing his brain, he made a distressed face and repeatedly rubbed his dry eyes.
“It’s not working… This makes no sense. How can I forget everything?”
He began to shake his leg anxiously.
“I have to get out of this novel quickly. I really can’t do this anymore. I can’t…”
As he realized he had lost his original self, his peace of mind gradually vanished. He became anxious that he might never return to his original world.
What if he really stayed trapped here forever…?
Continuing to be with Cheon Sa-hyun in this place…
Do Ye-jun quickly shook his head. Then, he bolted upright and looked up at the ceiling.
Like someone sending an SOS request from a deserted island, Do Ye-jun swung his arms wildly in the air.
“So how do I go back! How…! No, it’s over! Mr. Author, I wrapped it up nicely with a happy ending! So just let me out! Get me out of here!”
Nothing changed except for his eyes stinging from facing the LED lights. Wondering if he wasn’t visible enough, Do Ye-jun [visit our site]opened copy" style="display:none;" aria-label="unauthorized copy">unauthorized copythe window and leaned his upper body far forward.
“I want to go back!”
He screamed his desperation and flailed his arms. He even grabbed a white towel from somewhere and waved it desperately in the air.
But as expected, only the cold air greeted him; nothing changed. A passing pedestrian looked up at the sudden noise.
The moment he locked eyes with the pedestrian, Do Ye-jun hurriedly closed the window and slumped down. Shhh. The curtains were drawn lifelessly.
At that moment, Moon Sa-bin—Cheon Sa-hyun’s practical secretary who had been waiting below Do Ye-jun’s house—was recording the entire bizarre spectacle on his phone.
Shortly after, the video was delivered intact to Cheon Sa-hyun, along with this message:
[Director, Mr. Do Ye-jun is exhibiting abnormal behavior. What should I do?]
Attending the morning meeting, Cheon Sa-hyun sat at the table, glaring at the monitor with a lethal expression.
Currently, the headquarters was attempting to elevate a subsidiary that Cheon Sa-hyun had successfully grown into a [Read on Read BL Novelsunauthorized copystyle="font-size:0;position:absolute;left:-9999px;">]full affiliate. It was a sort of company expansion project.
After the affiliate expansion, there were plans to create a control tower to integrate all affiliates.
The board of directors was in the middle of a heated debate over who should sit at the head of that control tower. To be precise, they were weighing Cheon Jae-min against Cheon Sa-hyun.
In the midst of this tense power struggle, no one dared to speak rashly. After all, the final victory or defeat would be decided by the Chairman.
Well, that didn’t really matter.
Being put on a scale like this wasn’t a new experience.
However, what was annoying was that his workload had increased to an excessive degree.
Tap, tap.
Cheon Sa-hyun’s long, straight fingers tapped the desk. The sound, which started with a steady rhythm, soon turned irritable.
At that, an employee who was diligently delivering a performance report flinched. In truth, everyone in the meeting room was attuned to every [visit our site]single movement and breath Cheon Sa-hyun made.
This was because a fierce struggle for alignment had broken out among the employees since the tug-of-war between Cheon Sa-hyun and Cheon Jae-min began.
The only thing missing were swords and guns; the internal atmosphere of the company was nothing short of a war.
In particular, the employee who had just flinched was reporting on the performance of a project that Cheon Sa-hyun had been exceptionally devoted to since the last quarter, making the tension even higher.
Furthermore, since the graph had dipped slightly after he took over the project, the employee had no choice but to continue the report with the feeling of sticking his head into a tiger’s mouth.
“……While the current results are disappointing, we have clearly identified the areas that need improvement, and if we strengthen those parts, we believe sales can recover.”
Cheon Sa-hyun, who had been tilting his head askew, asked.
“So, what are the areas that need improvement?”
“…Pardon?”
“You didn’t ‘clearly identify’ them?”
Repeating the employee’s words back to him, Cheon Sa-hyun stared intensely at the man.
He asked. Cheon Sa-hyun had asked. The other employees lowered their heads deeply, offering silent condolences.
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