By Zephyria 
Taking a shaky breath, I slowly turned my head. Min Si-hu was now standing a little distance away, tilting his head and smiling innocently.
‘Wow… that dual personality…’
I secretly let out a sigh of relief.
Even a scene from a horror movie wouldn’t be this chilling. The fact that the mouth that had been spewing childish nonsense like ‘Kyaa’ and ‘Junie’ had just properly called my name, ‘Hae-jun,’ sent shivers down my spine.
As my lips parted, Min Si-hu tilted his head with a grin.
“Hae-jun, could it be.”
“…….”
“You don’t know how to open the door?”
His words, drawn out with a smile, were chilling. To avoid showing my nervousness, I instinctively averted my gaze. Enduring my trembling, pale hands, I gripped the doorknob.
‘Is this novel… not romance, but horror?’
Min Si-hu’s face was a mask of inscrutable, spinning smiles.
His question, “Don’t you know how to open the door?” could have been a taunt, but I couldn’t help but feel intensely nervous. Because, I genuinely didn’t know how to open the door. I was a person who had suddenly become a character in a novel not long ago.
‘What happens if Min Si-hu finds out I’m not the Seong Hae-jun from the novel?’
A worry I hadn’t considered until now suddenly burst forth, as if piercing through my pocket. I was suddenly terrified. A sense of dread welled up in my chest.
‘If they find out I’m not the real Seong Hae-jun…?’
Seong Hae-min might go berserk, demanding his brother back. These people could easily fight 100 against 4; it wouldn’t be strange if they turned a person into a dried squid. In that case, I couldn’t even guarantee my own safety.
But even if they beat me, would the real Seong Hae-jun come back! They’d just take their anger out on the wrong person. I didn’t even know how I ended up in the novel. I was also wronged.
“Junie. Do you know why Si-hu brought you home today?”
“No.”
So he wasn’t just randomly following me, he was bringing me home. I answered obediently, but my mind was in turmoil.
“Hae-min asked me to.”
“Hae-min?”
It was an unexpected name. I tilted my head and looked at Min Si-hu.
Min Si-hu was smirking. His previous innocent smile was gone, replaced by a one-sided smirk that sent chills down my spine. What was this ‘4D’ personality? He looked like a psychopath from a movie.
“He said you might have forgotten the password since you just moved in, and it turns out he was right.”
“Huh?”
I blinked in confusion. Min Si-hu’s aggressive words, meant to criticize me, had the opposite effect, reassuring me.
Was that the situation? That’s a relief.
However, Min Si-hu’s next words made my mouth snap shut like a clam.
“Seong Hae-min worries about his brother so much. That guy only thinks about you. Even when he goes drinking, he worries about Seong Hae-jun. Even when he’s riding his motorcycle around the Han River, he worries. Even when he’s fighting with the top dog from another school, he worries about having to go home and make Hae-jun dinner. It’s all because of you…”
“…….”
My confused thoughts slowly solidified, like melted candle wax hardening. It wasn’t because I was creeped out by his psychopathic demeanor, nor was I particularly shocked that Seong Hae-min cared about me so much, but I didn’t have time to dwell on that.
Every word he spoke was a direct hit.
At 17, he goes drinking, rides motorcycles around the Han River, and fights with other school’s top dogs as a daily routine.
You criminals!
“Ever since I met Hae-min, he’s only ever worried about you. But to have such a cold twin… truly…”
“…….”
“I’m different from Seong Hae-min, Seong Hae-jun. Even if you’re my friend’s brother…”
Min Si-hu, who had been rambling, paused. As if a colorful canvas had turned black and white, the smile vanished from Min Si-hu’s face. The day, just entering mid-March, was still cool.
“I can’t stand seeing my friend, Seong Hae-min, being hurt.”
“…….”
“Even if you’re the twin he cherishes so much, my friend is more important to me.”
“…….”
“Hae-min cares about you, so I’m letting it slide, but this is a warning.”
Ugh…
“Seong Hae-jun. Don’t make Seong Hae-min suffer.”
Aaaargh!
Goosebumps erupted all over my body.
My hand instinctively tightened around the doorknob. If I didn’t do that, my extremities would curl up, and I’d turn into a perfectly roasted squid.
It was a line that screamed, ‘I am serious.’ My stomach churned, and my head spun. I wanted to sprinkle salt everywhere like I was warding off a ghost. I felt nauseous.
“Then…”
After finishing his speech, Min Si-hu smiled brightly, just like when we first met. It was a pure, innocent smile, like that of a baby.
‘…Is he a psychopath?’
The goosebumps on my skin multiplied. I felt like I was about to shed feathers.
“As Mini asked! Si-hu will even open the door lock for you! Kya, Si-hu definitely saw Junie all the way home, right?”
With a bright smile, Min Si-hu opened our door lock as if it were his own and pushed me inside. Just before the door closed, Min Si-hu was waving at me with a wide smile.
As soon as the door shut, my legs gave out, and I collapsed.
‘Shouldn’t I have sprinkled salt or something…?’
But then I realized I didn’t even know where the salt was. I had no choice but to catch my breath right there. The mental toll was immense. Maybe getting beaten up physically would have been better?
When I arrived in front of the apartment, his incessant chatter was just annoying and bothersome, but the ‘masterpiece line★’ he had just delivered with such solemnity had completely disoriented me. It was truly a tear-jerking friendship.
Fine, live your life however you want.
‘But please, leave me out of that tear-jerking friendship!’
Will I ever be able to adapt to this kind of world? I hate it so much.
I pushed myself up and headed to my room. I was mentally exhausted. My future in this novel seemed bleak. I figured I should go to bed early to preserve my sanity.
❖ ❖ ❖
“Hae-jun, are you asleep?”
I woke up immediately at the sound of my name being called, having been sleeping so tensely. But I didn’t want him to know I was awake, so I stayed still. I figured if I didn’t move, he wouldn’t do anything foolish.
“Hae-jun…”
Seong Hae-min murmured my name wistfully. A strong smell of alcohol wafted from Seong Hae-min.
‘This is what students do when they drink…’
Thinking about the useless threat Min Si-hu had just given me made my blood pressure rise. It was all his fault! I felt a surge of irritation towards the person who had come to me.
But I couldn’t just blurt out my displeasure. I was grumbling inwardly when…
“Hae-jun…”
The voice calling my name gradually became watery, and eventually sounded almost like sobbing. I was flustered.
‘Why is he crying!’
What is he doing drunk. Should I get up and tell him not to cry, or just pat his back? I was flustered, lying there.
“Hae-jun… my precious… brother…”
…
Seong Hae-min’s voice, faint as crushed fallen leaves, gradually subdued my sarcastic thoughts. I couldn’t even continue with any sarcasm. I just kept pretending to be asleep.
Why is the character Seong Hae-min so obsessed with family? Is it to emphasize a more pitiful and tragic situation in the plot? I could only speculate.
‘But I… am not your brother.’
The truth, which I couldn’t let out even if the world collapsed, made me feel suffocated. What would happen if the person who cherished his brother so much found out I wasn’t the real brother? What should I do?
“Please… live long, long… and be healthy…”
Anyone who heard him would think he was an older brother supporting his beautiful younger sibling, who was much younger. He was twins with Seong Hae-jun, yet their brotherly affection was like this. He gets drunk and comes home to cry holding his brother at night.
While I continued to pretend to be asleep, Seong Hae-min lightly kissed my forehead and stumbled out of the room.
As soon as I heard Seong Hae-min close the door, I snapped my eyes open. I pulled at my sleeve and wiped my forehead where his warm lips had touched.
It was a truly incomprehensible novel.
Seong Hae-min was consistent. Every morning, when he asked, “Hae-jun, do you want to go to school together?” I always replied, “No. I’ll go alone.”
If I could, I would have drawn a line and told him not to pretend to know me, but every time, Min Si-hu would pop into my head, shouting, ‘This is a warning…★ I… value my friend more…★,’ so I always answered politely.
‘How long do I have to do this?’
I sighed heavily and headed to school. Still, a sliver of hope remained that today might be a normal day.
Until some strange guy decided to pick a fight with me, that is.
“Ah, who is it? Damn it.”
In my opinion, taking this crappy bus was the problem. I had forgotten that many events in the 2000s happened on the bus during school commute hours.