By Zephyria 
I had only responded casually, but whether he misunderstood that as my permission to open up, or for whatever reason, Min Si-hu immediately started rambling about his crush.
“I didn’t like him from the start. I won’t lie and say it was love at first sight. To be honest, at first, I just found him… annoying. It seemed selfish that he didn’t know he was so loved.”
Why do these guys keep spilling things I never asked about! I don’t want to know any secrets!
So, I listened to his story with one ear, letting it go in the other, only looking for an opportunity to ask when he was leaving.
“One day, I saw him get hurt and swallow his tears, and strangely… I got so angry at myself. That I couldn’t protect him… And that day, I realized I had been misunderstanding him all along, and it was probably from then on.”
But the more I listened, the more ominous it felt. The person he was talking about… seemed so similar to me?
‘Heh, no way.’
I shook my head, dismissing it lightly, thinking I was going crazy. Even so, would there really be so many men who liked men in this novel? I must have developed a Prince Charming complex because of Do Yun-hyeok chasing after me. I need to stop being so narcissistic.
I intended to let it go, right up until my own story was about to be told.
“When he mistook it for him liking another girl…”
“…?”
Wasn’t Min Si-hu’s crush obviously a girl? But he liked a girl? No, of course, a girl could like a girl. But…
Suddenly, a chilling, ominous feeling washed over me, and the atmosphere grew heavy. I tried to interrupt Min Si-hu, denying that I must have misheard.
“It felt like the world was crumbling. But I thought it didn’t matter as long as I could comfort him. No, I believed that.”
“Um, that….”
“But it wasn’t like that. Seeing him suffer alone and cry, then pretend to be fine in front of others… it drove me crazy. Because I was so utterly powerless…”
Min Si-hu gave a faint smile. Suddenly, I started breaking out in a cold sweat. I needed to interrupt him.
He never said the confession target was me!
“Wait a minute. Stop. That’s enough.”
I reached out to stop him from saying more. But Min Si-hu grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand down.
“Now, I want to make him smile.”
“Wait.”
“Seong Hae-jun.”
He finished his confession, looking down at me with a sincere and affectionate gaze.
“If I say I want to make you smile.”
“…….”
“If I say I like you… what will you do?”
What would I do!
I screamed only in my head. I couldn’t curse him to his face, but I was on the verge of going mad with shock.
Why? What about Ban Pyo-ran? What is this? Is this okay? I’m a guy!
Unprocessed questions piled up like dregs. My head felt like it would explode.
“…….”
“…….”
A short pause, about one breath long, followed. During that time, all minor doubts and emotions were put aside, leaving only the pure and urgent will in my mind: ‘I need to reject him quickly!’
“Uh…”
My face was stiff, refusing to relax. Just as I was about to open my mouth to reject him before my tongue froze, the arm holding my wrist slowly let go. I quickly retrieved my arm. I fiddled with my hands, feeling awkward.
Min Si-hu, who had been watching my every move intently, slowly lowered his head. The entrance, where he and I stood alone, felt awkward and unfamiliar.
“Heh…….”
From Min Si-hu, who had his head bowed, I heard a low chuckle, and then he suddenly lifted his head.
“Meeeh! It was a joke! Did you actually believe me?”
“…….”
“Joonie got tricked!”
And he tried to pass it off as a prank.
‘It’s so obvious you’re trying to cover up, you crazy bastard!’
I wanted to scream at his awkwardly forced smile. If it were Ban Pyo-ran, she would have innocently said, ‘What~ You surprised me~! I thought it was real~!’ and believed such a flimsy excuse! But I’m not that kind of female protagonist!
However, I couldn’t ruin the pathetic look on his face as he tried to smooth things over by calling it a joke. It would only make us both more embarrassed. I cut off Min Si-hu’s smirking, and politely yet firmly conveyed my refusal.
“I’m glad it was a joke. But please, don’t ever actually like me.”
“……Why?”
Min Si-hu looked up and asked. I avoided his eyes, not wanting to see his trembling pupils.
Whether he liked me or not, his feelings were his own, but if he demanded a corresponding emotion from me, it would only be a burden. A burden I couldn’t handle would lead to an uncomfortable distance.
“I didn’t want to say it until now because I thought you wouldn’t understand, but I have no intention of dating anyone.”
“Huh…? Um… Is Joonie impotent?”
I finally got an answer, and my fists clenched. But this was something I’d heard countless times from my high school friends. Regaining my composure, I replied,
“Students should study. I’m not particularly interested.”
This wasn’t a rejection for the sake of rejection; it was the absolute truth. This was just a novel, and there were many things more important than dating in my life.
“Heeeee…….”
Min Si-hu, who had shamelessly returned to his usual dazed demeanor, put his index finger to his lips and tilted his head. I wanted to punch him.
“Joonie, you’re studying to get into college, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Is college that important?”
This guy really doesn’t know about the academic hierarchy! I couldn’t help but lament. With a look that asked, ‘Why are you asking something so obvious?’, I grabbed Min Si-hu’s shoulders and shook him.
“Of course! Aren’t you going to college?”
“Si-hu doesn’t know! Do I have to go?”
“What’s your dream? Your goals or what you want to do.”
Then, as if he had been waiting, Min Si-hu replied.
“Yeah, I want to compose…”
“Compose?”
It wasn’t surprising. He sang well and had been in a band for a long time.
As I was accepting this, Min Si-hu blinked for a moment, and his eyebrows shot up strangely. He had a look like he’d unexpectedly bitten into a bitter persimmon.
“…Huh? What did Si-hu just say?”
“That I want to compose.”
“Compose? Did I say compose?”
“Yeah.”
“Uh…”
“Why?”
“That’s strange…?”
“What is?”
Min Si-hu frowned, tilting his head repeatedly. His complexion was pale.
“My lips moved first. Compose, I’ve never even thought of that…”
“What are you talking about.”
“It’s like I’m possessed by a ghost…”
“Stop joking. You said it yourself, so what are you talking about? It’s not scary at all.”
“It’s not like that, really…”
When I casually dismissed it, Min Si-hu stammered. But I had never fallen for my friends’ attempts to scare me with acting. I dusted off my hands, which had been away from Min Si-hu.
“Compose, com, com, pose? Com. Pose. Even the word sounds strange. Like, really…”
“That’s called the gestalt collapse phenomenon. To be precise, it’s semantic saturation. Broadly speaking, it’s jamais vu.”
“Ew, is that a thing?”
“Yeah.”
Min Si-hu pouted when I didn’t fall for it easily. But I had strong immunity to his cute act. It seemed like he was just embarrassed.
It was understandable, really. Confessing and failing, then trying to brush it off as a joke – how embarrassing is that? Thinking about it again, my head started to throb.
First Do Yun-hyeok, and now Min Si-hu? It still felt unreal. At this rate, even Lee Beom would probably confess to me.
‘Shouldn’t Min Si-hu like Ban Pyo-ran?’
Because… that’s how it was in the original novel. Even if I wanted to change the plot, I hadn’t abandoned all sense of plausibility within the novel.
I thought Do Yun-hyeok would have been better. At least he didn’t have a love line in the original novel. Of course, the novel’s love lines had become meaningless the moment Ban Pyo-ran declared she didn’t like Lee Beom…
Even with the butterfly effect, I wondered how this had happened. Had I flapped my wings that hard? There had to be some common sense, but why me, not Ban Pyo-ran? And I’m a guy! I realized I was the most prejudiced person in this world.
Tring.
As I came to my senses and was about to send Min Si-hu away, I heard the sound of the front door lock disengaging. There was only one person who would enter this house by picking the lock.
“Hae-min!”
I called out his name and greeted him enthusiastically before I could even see his silhouette through the door. But upon seeing the face that appeared, I was horrified.
“What? Why does your face look like that?”
I rushed to Seong Hae-min and grabbed his face. Seong Hae-min’s cheekbone, which had been fine this morning, was bruised. There was a clear bruise.
“Ah… it’s home. When did you get here?”
Seong Hae-min seemed surprised to see me and Min Si-hu at the entrance. He gave an awkward smile. He seemed to be trying to brush it off vaguely, but there was no way I would fall for that trick.
“Just now. But why does your face look like that?”
“I fell on the way.”
“Where?”
“On the main street. I hit a utility pole when I fell.”
“How did that happen?”
“I tripped.”
Seong Hae-min answered calmly and softly, but it was suspicious. Whatever he said felt like a lie to reassure me. Was he actually beaten up somewhere?
‘…Was this how the kids who didn’t believe me felt when I tried to explain?’
I was about to press him to tell the truth, but I withdrew my suspicious gaze. Was this what they called mirror therapy?
“Um… Si-hu, I’m going to go!”
Min Si-hu, who had been puffing out his cheeks like a squirrel and nervously fidgeting, made his escape. It was absurd that he held out for so long only to run away at the appearance of Seong Hae-min, but I was relieved that I had chased him out immediately.
The front door slowly closed. Silence followed between Seong Hae-min and me.
“Dinner?”
Seong Hae-min asked. I shook my head.
“Haven’t eaten yet.”
We headed to the kitchen. I stood beside Seong Hae-min, looking at his bruised cheekbone, and thought.
‘Right, confessions, original novels, whatever. I don’t care. The important thing is to get through graduation without any trouble!’