LMO 52

This back gate of the park, not belonging to any particular high school’s territory, was sparsely populated. Only pigeons fluttered about; there weren’t many pedestrians. Especially in a secluded alley like this, no one would look.

After confirming there were no passersby, we briefly looked at each other. Today, his sharp, upturned eyes were fierce again. Ban Seo-yi spoke first.

“I’ve been thinking, Hae-jun.”

“About what?”

“About your identity.”

His words, cutting straight to the chase without any pleasantries, made my palms sweat. Identity was something I had been contemplating too.

Ban Seo-yi’s identity. I suspected he was someone who had also transmigrated into the novel, just like me. Therefore, just as I could guess Ban Seo-yi’s identity, he could likely guess mine.

“But.”

“……”

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

“I said I don’t know.”

How could he say ‘I don’t know’ so shamelessly…

“So, hurry up. Tell me your situation.”

Ban Seo-yi looked at me with a brazen expression, tilting his chin up. His confident demand for only my information was absurd.

“Aren’t we in the same situation fundamentally? You reveal yours first.”

“No way.”

“Why?”

“I asked first.”

“Why are you being so childish?”

“Ah! You talk too much for a guy.”

Ban Seo-yi slammed his heel on the ground and glared at me, his eyes narrowed.

…Honestly, I was intimidated.

Ban Seo-yi was sharp, literally. Of course, his appearance, with his sharp eyes and nose, but his personality and aura were all like that. If he leaned against a wall like that, most students would probably take a detour on their way home.

“Fine. Then let’s share, one by one.”

“Share what?”

Tap-. Ban Seo-yi leaned against the wall and snapped his fingers. His thick, manicured nails made a crisp sound as they rubbed together.

Standing with one leg crossed, the other hand shoved in his pocket, he was the epitome of a delinquent student. He had the same aura as Do Yun-hyeok’s friend.

“You don’t want to speak first. Then we can take turns confirming, right?”

It was a surprisingly kind offer. We both had a rough idea of each other’s situations, and taking turns asking wouldn’t be a disadvantage. Ban Seo-yi clearly had no intention of speaking first either, so I readily agreed.

Ban Seo-yi asked first again.

“Then I’ll ask the first question. When did you realize this was a novel?”

This was asking about the point of transmigration.

“March of this year.”

“……”

“Can I ask my question now?”

“Is that all for your answer?”

“Yes.”

“Uh… okay.”

Ban Seo-yi tilted his head, looking unsatisfied. His answer was too short, so he probably felt like he had lost out. But asking a short-answer question first was his mistake. I also had a mountain of things I wanted to ask, but I had to ask the most important one first.

“How did you know this was a novel?”

He must have realized it by reading the novel and then falling asleep, or a character from the novel appeared, or he had some process of realization. In my case, the appearance of twin Four Heavenly Kings, who didn’t exist in reality, made it impossible not to know immediately.

“How? I just….”

However, Ban Seo-yi seemed unprepared for such a question and hesitated, unable to give a clear answer. Stammering and vaguely generalizing, Ban Seo-yi touched his forehead and gave a rough answer.

“I just… I just knew.”

“What do you mean, ‘just’?”

“How can I explain this? I really just… I suddenly knew.”

True to being Do Yun-hyeok’s friend, Ban Seo-yi, who initially stammered in confusion, now stubbornly insisted. I couldn’t accept it.

“Then I’ll rephrase the question. What was your basis for thinking this was a novel?”

“I suddenly realized it. Like an actor who receives a drama script, I suddenly knew, ‘Ah, I’m this role in the novel, and that person is that role, and this is what will happen next.’ Don’t you understand? Didn’t you realize it the same way? Then how did you know?”

“That’s not what I mean…”

“Then?”

I thought only mad dogs were impossible to talk to in this world, but there was one more. I was so frustrated by Ban Seo-yi, who kept saying nonsensical things, that I pounded my chest.

“Like, you realized something was different from the original, or when you read it, things like that. Don’t you have any?”

“What’s different? And what did I read?”

“So, what were you doing originally before this happened?”

“Hae-jun, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“…You don’t remember your past?”

“No? I remember every single moment without exception. So clearly, I wish I could forget some of it.”

Like distorted puzzle pieces, none of our conversation fit together. We scowled and looked at each other suspiciously. We looked at each other like we were crazy.

“Could it be that I’m trying to have a conversation with Do Yun-hyeok?”

“Hey! That’s what I wanted to say!”

“I’m intensely curious about what you used to do.”

“Geez.”

Hearing my sigh, Ban Seo-yi nervously twitched the hair he had been twisting with his hand. The corner of his mouth, which had been smiling slyly at first, was now twisted. Ban Seo-yi, wrinkling the bridge of his nose, blurted out his words.

“You keep saying ‘originally, originally,’ but what is that ‘original’? Am I not myself? Then what else would I be? Whether I like it or not, I am me from birth until death. Do you have a separate ‘original’ you? I thought I might have found a special friend in a similar situation, but it seems we can’t communicate.”

Ban Seo-yi finished speaking in an instant and coldly shut his mouth.

However, I didn’t have the luxury of paying attention to Ban Seo-yi’s expression. One of the words from Ban Seo-yi’s torrent of speech made my head spin.

“…”

I couldn’t believe it and shut my mouth again. My narrowed gaze was reflected in his transparent eyes, which revealed his irritation. I hesitated.

“…You don’t have one?”

“What?”

“An original… world.”

I couldn’t help but ask, even though I knew the answer. I simply couldn’t believe it.

A chilling silence enveloped us. On a hot May day, only we were frozen.

“Heh…”

Ban Seo-yi, who hadn’t even blinked like a wax figure in frozen time, finally relaxed his facial muscles and sneered.

“What kind of joke is this now? Do you have a separate original world? What a joke…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”Lies.”

His face, which had been laughing at the absurdity of the joke, slowly contorted, and then, like a glacier melting during an interglacial period, it began to collapse wildly.

I wished I could dismiss it as a joke too. I also couldn’t believe it and kept my mouth shut.

I had never considered this possibility.

A character in a novel realizing it’s a novel? I’m not that imaginative.

‘I could never have thought of such a scenario…’

For a while, only the silent quivering of lips passed between us.

“This is impossible.”

Ban Seo-yi, avoiding my gaze, clutched his head and muttered, wandering. It was a stark contrast to his composed and haughty first impression.

“Can that happen? How? Really? Why? No, ha.”

“…”

“No, that’s why. That’s why it was like that. I see. Ha…”

“Why do you say ‘that’s why’? What do you mean?”

My ears perked up. ‘That’s why’? I immediately pressed Ban Seo-yi.

At my urging, Ban Seo-yi leaned against the wall and squeezed his eyes shut. It looked like a struggle to overcome dizziness.

After a moment, Ban Seo-yi opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and met my gaze directly. He spoke intermittently.

“Let me organize my thoughts and confirm. I… I am a character in a novel. And you… you lived in a world that read novels and then became a character in a novel, is that right?”

“Yeah. One day I woke up here.”

“Right. I realized this was a novel one day, and you…”

Ban Seo-yi looked at me, seeking my answer. I nodded in response to his gaze.

“I woke up and saw characters from a novel, so I knew it was a novel.”

“I see. Right. And…”

As if the words wouldn’t flow smoothly, Ban Seo-yi furrowed his brow and repeatedly made the same gesture. Then, giving up, he let his arms drop.

“…I can’t organize it.”

“…”

“I can’t change the novel. But you can.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

I didn’t understand the sudden statement in the middle of organizing the situation. Ban Seo-yi’s tone carried mixed emotions. He wished his guess was wrong, but he was convinced it was the truth…

I narrowed my eyes and looked at Ban Seo-yi. His gaze shifted to the empty street. Following his gaze, I saw only an empty street, devoid of even a single piece of trash, as the destination of his forlorn stare.

“Hae-jun, do you know the plot of this novel?”

“Yeah. Because I read it.”

“…You read it?”

He turned his head sharply, his gaze sharp as he glared at me. I didn’t avoid his gaze.

“Yes. Since it’s a novel, it was meant to be read.”

Ban Seo-yi then lowered his eyes and muttered self-deprecatingly.

“Anyway. So, about Seong Hae-jun’s role… you know that too, right? You know how it ends?”

When he was rambling earlier, he had said he realized his own role and others’, as well as the novel’s content, as if he were an actor who received a script. It seemed he roughly knew about my ending too. Ban Seo-yi asked, gauging my mood. I, however, replied calmly.

“I know. Seong Hae-min dies… and I get involved in delinquent activities and criminal acts.”

“Criminal acts… yes, anyway, that.”

Ban Seo-yi took a breath and looked at me. His eyes, which had been upturned all along, seemed to droop for the first time. His whispered question flew at me like a needle.

“Did you intend to accept that role as is? Didn’t you try to change it? Did you never think of changing the plot?”

For a moment, I was speechless. Of course, I…

“Of course, I’m trying.”

It was absurd enough to be dropped into a teen romance novel, but even more absurd was the fact that I was destined to do bad things and die because of it. No one would just let that happen if they knew.

However, since I couldn’t change others, I thought I just had to make sure I didn’t do those things myself.

“I intended to do the same. But, I can’t.”