Penalties Always Follow Mission Failure

Honestly, we ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠knew almost nothing about this whiteboard. The two of us had far too little information about it. The one thing we could be certain of was that we had to succeed in this mission no matter what, because we had no idea what kind of penalty might come flying at us.

“Should we just try it? We can think of it like a staring contest. I’m pretty good at those.”

Seo Jian rested her chin on the table and frowned. “But what’s the starting condition? The explanation feels kind of vague, doesn’t it?”

“If we’re nitpicking, yesterday’s explanation was vague too. There was no mention that holding hands would make the timer appear, or that letting go would reset it. They’re deliberately leaving things out. As if someone’s watching us for fun.”

“…Ugh, shit. That gives me the creeps. You’re saying someone might be watching us right now?”

“The CCTV is gone. There aren’t any windows either. I asked the old lady if she took the CCTV down, but she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠said she didn’t know anything about it. She even asked if there had ever been one in the first place.”

“…….”

It really was the kind of situation that would make even a ghost cry. Jian let out a short sigh and shook her head.

“Haa. Anyway, since I was the one who suggested we do it, I just have to do it right. Yesterday I was in terrible shape, but today should be manageable, right?”

“Then we’re good. Whatever.”

Seo Jian’s attitude was completely different from yesterday. I felt a little relieved and let out a small chuckle.

The two of us naturally sat down across from each other with the table between us. We pulled our chairs in until our solar plexuses were practically touching the edge of the table.

“But how are we supposed to check the time? We can’t look away.”

“Let’s move the whiteboard. Should I put it behind me or behind you?”

“Behind you. Since I suggested we do this, I’ll keep track of the time. And the clock…”

I shook my head. “That won’t work. Every time we blink it adds five seconds, so it’ll get out of sync right away. Besides… our phone clocks stopped the moment the door closed. The phones still work, so we can use a timer, but…”

“Ah, right.”

Despite having pulled my chair so close, I stood up and dragged the wheeled whiteboard from the corner of the rest area behind me. The rattling sound seemed unusually loud. This way, Jian could look at my eyes and check the timer at the same time.

After finishing all the preparations, I sat down again. Even though ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I was a repeat examinee, I couldn’t help wondering if it was okay to be wasting time in the rest area over something this ridiculous. Even if it was only for a little while. Was it really fine to be doing something so childish?

That anxious thought lingered in a corner of my mind, but deep down, I didn’t entirely hate it. Yesterday’s memory that I’d tried to brush off as nothing—Seo Jian spitting curses at me, the look on her face. But right now, for some reason, I felt strangely excited, like we were playing some kind of game.

Of course, the most important thing right now was to clear the mission somehow.

Jian and I finished mentally preparing ourselves and quietly stared at each other. Then, without changing her expression at all, she said to me,

“…The timer appeared.”

Start.

From now on, we just had to trust each other and endure.

I gazed steadily at Seo Jian’s eyes—no, at her face. This was probably the first time I’d ever looked at her face this closely. Honestly, she was looking at me with just as much discomfort, so I clenched my teeth and held back from laughing. I was just spacing out and staring at her face. If I thought of her as some pretty girl instead of Seo Jian… well, that made sense. The Seo Jiwon who used to be my classmate and the current Seo Jian felt so different that it was hard to believe they were the same person. Not just their appearance, but their personalities too—everything was different.

The occasional hint of insecurity I saw in her was probably because of how her personality had been affected. There must have been some kind of stress or circumstances after her body changed.

“…Four minutes and thirty seconds.”

“…….”

Still thirty seconds? It was too early to call it smooth sailing at this pace. Was my random thoughts making time feel slower? I spaced out a little more and focused on Jian’s eyes.

Look at those big, clear eyes. Unlike most pretty girls, she wasn’t wearing any makeup. The slight upward tilt at the corners of her eyes made her a classic cat-like beauty. It had only been a little over a month since high school graduation, so it was only natural, but Seo Jian had short hair, and it suited her face perfectly.

She’d probably hate hearing that, but whatever. Right now, if I didn’t let my thoughts wander however they wanted, I might end up blinking—!

Blink.

Seo Jian blinked.

“…Hey, just now!”

Blink.

This time I blinked.

“Hey, you just—!”

Blink.

“…….”

“…….”

Until a moment ago everything had been fine, but the moment our concentration broke, we ended up blinking several times in a row. We couldn’t even get mad at each other. If we did, we’d just end up blinking even more.

I steadied my mind and asked Jian,

“…How many. How many seconds were added?”

Seo Jian’s pupils trembled. “Thirty seconds. Four minutes and eleven seconds left.”

That meant the original five-minute timer had thirty seconds added, leaving four minutes and eleven seconds. For one slip-up, that was still getting off cheap. Once your mentality shakes, even easy things become impossible.

What’s done is done.

“It’s fine. We only have four minutes left.”

“Now we’re really going to do it properly.”

“Yeah. For real.”

It was impossible. I’d love to say “It wasn’t impossible?!” in parentheses, but it really was physiologically impossible.

If there was one thing Jian and I had overlooked, it was that this game was designed to get harder the longer it went on. At the start it had felt manageable, but as time passed our eyes got dry, we made more mistakes… and instead of shrinking, the timer only kept growing, which messed with our minds even more.

Apparently the average person blinks about fifteen to twenty times per minute. Of course, if you concentrate you can reduce that number, but doing it on the first try with nothing but willpower was too much.

If we’d had a second attempt, could we have succeeded? Honestly, even if we had the chance, I didn’t want to try again at all… It was fucking hard.

“Haa, sorry. I was the one who suggested it, but I blinked way too much…”

“Whatever, it’s fine. At least we didn’t get locked in the room like yesterday.”

I wasn’t sure if we should call this lucky, but the moment the mission failed, the locked door opened.

But another problem appeared here.

“…….”

“…….”

Jian and I stared silently at the whiteboard. She was probably seeing the same thing I was.

Once again, only a vague explanation was written there. I wanted to believe it wouldn’t be something extreme like getting struck by lightning while walking down the street. What the hell did “appropriate time” even mean?

“…Jian. Should we call it a day here?”

“Yeah… sorry.”

“You don’t have to keep saying sorry.”

In the end, the “reward” that Jian had been so eager about never even got a chance to appear. Maybe that was why she never brought up trying again later.

And that meant today would be the last day at this shabby little place called the Happy Reading Room, just as planned.

We went back to the reading room, reviewed the questions I’d gotten wrong on the mock exam, went over English vocabulary like always, and only then quietly started packing up. Yesterday I’d gone home alone, but today I left the reading room with Seo Jian.

The chilly March night air was cold, so I rubbed my forearms as we walked together in silence past the crosswalk and all the way to the streetlight in front of the bus stop.

“Get home safe. Tomorrow… I might not be able to come to the reading room.”

I spoke first when I saw a bus approaching from far away. Jian stopped kicking the toe of her sneaker against the ground, lifted her head, and looked at me.

“…Okay. And you have my number, right?”

“You gave it to me last time.”

“If there’s anything you don’t know, contact me. I’ll help with whatever I can. You know I used to answer a lot of questions for kids at school, right?”

“…I’ll text you.”

Honestly, I had no idea whether Seo Jian (back when she was Seo Jiwon) had answered a lot of questions for other students. Back then, I hadn’t been paying any attention to her.

Seo Jian got on the bus. I watched the taillights slowly disappear into the distance and let out a small sigh.

I’d told her to contact me if she didn’t understand something while studying… but I wasn’t sure if I could actually be shameless enough to reach out to her first. Maybe after the CSAT? At the very least, I felt like I needed to do well on the exam before I could contact her.

I trudged home with heavy steps. I tossed my bag roughly in my room, grabbed some clean underwear from the closet, and headed straight for the bathroom.

“Kim Hanbin! You’re late, so don’t take forever in there!”

“I’ll be quick!”

Click. I closed the door, turned the shower valve to hot, and turned it on.

Shhhhhhh.

In an instant, white steam fogged up the mirror. I took off my clothes, hung them haphazardly on the hook, and let out a deep sigh as if the world were collapsing.

“Ugh… It keeps bothering me. Seriously.”

Even when I tried not to think about it, Seo Jian kept popping into my head. After studying together for nearly a month, I’d realized that Jian was a friend who seemed strangely fragile. There’d been no reason for me to bring it up first, but she had never once talked about her own situation. Had I always been this nosy? I needed to focus on my own studies too…

I scratched the back of my neck roughly, then suddenly lifted my head. And I blinked.

It was utterly ridiculous, but letters were written on the mirror thick with steam.

“……?!”

Appropriate timing. Before I could even fall backward in shock, light exploded from the mirror and swallowed me whole.

===

Shhhhhhh. Water was pouring down. I definitely remembered turning it on earlier, so at least I wasn’t dead.

I slowly opened my tightly shut eyes. But I immediately noticed something strange—completely independent of my will, my field of vision was shaking on its own. It swayed up and down in a steady rhythm, like a plane caught in turbulence.

There happened to be a mirror right in front of me, but it was fogged up with steam so I could only see a silhouette.

“…Aaaaaah.”

What the hell. That sound definitely didn’t come from me. The silhouette in the mirror was catching the shower water in its mouth and making weird noises.

Wondering what was going on, I tried to turn the showerhead to the side. I definitely meant to do that. But I couldn’t move my hand. Or rather, I didn’t even know how to move it. It sounds truly bizarre, but it was true. Was this a dream?

“Unnie! I really need to use the bathroom!”

“Use the one in the master bedroom. I just got in here!”

A high-pitched girl’s voice came from beyond the bathroom door. And the same high-pitched girl’s voice answered from inside the bathroom. Our house had a little brother instead of a little sister, and I definitely didn’t have a voice like that.

By the time I realized something was wrong, my gaze was already moving on its own. An unfamiliar cabinet. An ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠unfamiliar toothbrush. A rather old-looking toilet. A sky-blue towel that didn’t belong in our house. And hanging right next to it… a pale pink bra.

Shhhhhhh.

That’s when I realized it.

I was seeing what Seo Jian was seeing—through Seo Jian’s eyes. And right now, Seo Jian was taking a shower.