I Have to Show It Again
“What do you want to drink?”
Ah, why the hell am I here right now?
I was clearly trying to dodge those annoying guys and bolt straight to the gym.
So how did I end up in a dessert cafe packed with girls?!
“Huh?”
Kim Minji waved her hand in front of my face and urged me to pick something from the menu.
“Uh... I’ll have...”
“Americano?”
“Strawberry parfait with extra whipped cream, and chocolate drizzle on top.”
“...Huh? Uh...”
After the order was placed and it was time to pay,
“I got it today. You’re the one I dragged here, right?”
Kim Minji’s card slid smoothly into the terminal.
“Thanks.”
When the staff handed over the vibrating pager, I snatched it quick and headed to a secluded corner spot.
For some reason, this place had tons of students staring at me too.
Even the clerk was staring holes through me...
Did they plaster wanted posters of Baek Haon all over the neighborhood or something?
Make myself invisible. Minimize my presence.
From now on, I’m just a pebble on the street! The kind no one gives a damn about!
With that mindset, I felt a bit more at ease, but...
“You like it sweeter than you look, huh?”
Kim Minji brought over the drinks, eyeing me curiously, and suddenly all the gazes in the room zeroed in on us again.
“I had the pager—how’d you know?”
“No one else ordered this. Who besides you would?”
“What? You’re saying you wouldn’t?”
I slurped hard on the drink with a baffled look, sucking it up vigorously.
Smooth whipped cream mixed freely with the rich strawberry concentrate in my mouth. And at the finish, a light spread of chocolate drizzle flavor.
“This is the stuff.”
I couldn’t help but grin in satisfaction at the incredible taste.
No matter how many eyes were on me, in this moment, nothing else mattered!
This was honestly the drink I’d craved most since my past life—the one I wanted more than anything.
Back then, constant body fat checks and dieting meant I could only choke down bitter Americanos even when I was dying for something sweet.
But not anymore!
I’ve still got three years before pro training kicks in. I can eat whatever I want in the meantime.
But...
How dare she recommend bitter coffee to this body!
Across from me, Kim Minji—way too mature for her age—was sipping a warm coffee.
“You come to places like this a lot, huh?”
“Whenever the craving hits. That clean sweetness is not to be trifled with... Wait, no, forget that—what’s the real reason you dragged me here?”
I’d almost forgotten everything, mesmerized by the strawberry parfait for a second.
Right. I’d been kidnapped here.
Sure, when Kim Minji called me over at school, every eye in the room locked on us, so I suggested we move spots.
I figured we’d just chat in some alley for a minute. Didn’t expect a full-on cafe trip.
And a dessert cafe full of girls, no less... I didn’t have gynophobia or anything, but ever since middle school, the stares and whispers felt like hate and disgust, making my stomach churn a bit.
It’s all my fault, so I’ve got no room to complain.
Kim Minji just stared at me silently in response.
“You called me over—spit it out.”
“Man, your image doesn’t match at all.”
“Huh?”
“The rumors say you’re from Baekgok Middle School, thug-faced, built for fighting.”
Oof.
Kim Minji, this girl.
She really had an eye for piercing right through Baek Haon’s essence.
So it was the second test. The sugary dessert cafe was meant to lower my guard...!
“But your actions are the total opposite.”
Kim Minji poked my cheek, claiming cognitive dissonance.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“No cig smell on you, top grades, and even this drink doesn’t fit your image, right?”
“You dissing strawberry parfaits right now?”
“I’m just curious what changed in middle school.”
This felt off.
If it was a test, she didn’t seem to know enough about me.
Kim Minji didn’t know my past perfectly like Lee Wooju or Kim Taeyang did.
And for someone glued to Chae Serin’s side, not knowing even this much...
Does that mean my past really hasn’t been fully dug up?
Kim Minji and I sat in silence for a while.
Sizing each other up, not knowing where we stood.
“Eh, whatever. Doesn’t matter, does it?”
Kim Minji broke the quiet first.
“Doesn’t matter?”
“Yeah. I only trust what I see with my own eyes. Your past? Irrelevant.”
“How much do you even know about it?”
“Hm, enough to know you weren’t always like this.”
I quickly scanned the room.
Girls still sneaking peeks.
I whispered low so they couldn’t hear.
“So, what do you want? Blackmail with my past?”
I glared at her with a hint of menace.
“Why would I?”
Kim Minji looked at me like I was absurd.
“Like I said before, I just wanna get close to you.”
“Why?”
“Hm~”
She curled her lips into a sly smile, and for some reason, licked her lips with a smack.
“’Cause you’re hot?”
“.....?”
“Why act surprised like you didn’t know? No mirrors at your place?”
“Still, my past makes it weird, doesn’t it?”
“Not anymore, right? You’re turning it around, living right.”
“Yeah, fair.”
“Then we’re good. I like you as you are now.”
Kim Minji suddenly leaned in close, taking the whipped cream from the corner of my mouth straight into hers.
“Sweet’s not bad either.”
That moment.
My brain blanked.
Was it the confession-not-confession from an S-rank beauty? Or just being alone with a girl for the first time?
Yeah, those were factors, but...
“For real?”
Her words blew open the stuffy knot in my chest.
“What? That sweet’s not bad?”
“No, before that.”
She smiled softly.
“I never do anything that’d lose me anything.”
Got it.
I’d been trapped by the Baek Haon label all this time.
Since when did I start living for others’ approval?
From possession to middle school graduation, I’d lived exactly as I pleased. Now I was getting tossed around just because original characters showed up.
I wasn’t naturally taciturn or rude—quite the opposite: outgoing and proactive.
But people around me, original characters included, assumed they’d get hurt because of Baek Haon’s name and past.
I’d caged myself to unfold the story. Erasing Kim Junsu to preserve the perfect original.
I shouldn’t have.
This world was no longer fiction—it was my reality.
I’d been such an idiot.
Like Kim Minji said, past sins don’t vanish. But I’d repented and corrected course.
I swore it back in middle school.
Reformation isn’t instant.
Even if the person changes, rumors linger, past doesn’t erase.
That’s why you prove it over and over with actions.
Like in middle school.
I have to show it again.
I smiled softly at Kim Minji.
“Cool.”
“Wh-what? That’s not... I just meant let’s be friends...”
Her ears were redder than usual. Hot coffee, maybe?
Anyway, felt a bit bad for seeing her as just an extra.
“But won’t hanging with me push you away from Chae Serin?”
“Huh? Oh, whatever. She said it’s fine.”
“Really? Unexpected...”
“Serin’s popular anyway. Missing one friend...”
Kim Minji trailed off and shut her mouth.
“Huh?”
“Nothing. You think I’d ditch my bestie from middle school over one guy?”
“...Bestie?”
“What? You didn’t know? I’m her closest.”
That look on her face.
No joke.
That instant...
Shit, she’s the one?
Forgotten original plot unspooled in my head.
***
Once I remembered who Kim Minji was, her words barely registered anymore.
Just short, curt replies.
“Wanna head out?”
I sat there dazed even when she suggested leaving first.
“I’ll go ahead.”
She left me sitting like a zombie and exited the cafe.
Tons of questions, but I held back.
We only met in high school. Spilling what I knew could tangle things worse.
Wonder how this plays out.
In the original, Kim Minji was Chae Serin’s “best friend.” Past tense.
Meaning, after high school started, she cut ties.
The reason? None other than...
“Me...”
Original Baek Haon, in his third year of middle school, stalked Chae Serin’s school daily.
Naturally ran into Kim Minji too...
To make Chae Serin his, he seduced Kim Minji.
Started with solo meetups to pry info. She fell for him hard after that.
Soon, she was his total captive.
By her own choice, no threats.
Blinded by love, she ditched friends, family, even herself to follow him.
But then,
“Get lost. I’m done with you.”
After using her up, he tossed her in the trash.
She never appeared again.
Just a device to make Baek Haon trashier.
And the kicker? He treated every girl but Chae Serin this way.
One reason I forgot her: she was just one of many victims.
“Because of me, someone’s life got totally derailed again.”
But in third-year middle school, instead of stalking Chae Serin, I focused on studies.
So Kim Minji was still Chae Serin’s bestie.
True to romcom cliche, the heroine’s bestie guarded her side. Story rolled on.
Original plot twisted for sure. But...
It could twist to good outcomes too.
I slurped the last of the whipped cream with the straw and sighed.
“Sweetness always ends in thirst.”
No need for guilt toward Kim Minji.
Meeting her again felt fated, but I had zero plans to repeat original Baek Haon’s crap.
Still, that... confession?
“Tch, not quite there yet. Just wants to be friends, right?”
If it ever got that far...
No clue how to handle it.
Do I like her? Pretty and sharp, but... not sure yet.
Could I take responsibility? Unknown variables.
“Pure romance is tricky... And how many kids we talking?”
No rice cake in sight, but my happy circuits were already spinning.
Anyway, whatever.
Finally, in this damn romcom world, a girl wants to get close to me!
That alone was pure satisfaction...
Maybe the peak of happiness for me!
“Seohwan, hang tight. Bro’s gonna fly first, then hook you up.”
Finally escaping the sweaty, stinky dudes for some happy school life.
At this rate, I might couple up before Lee Wooju?
***
Yesterday felt like a dream.
Still felt like I was dreaming.
“Ooh! What’s up with Haon~”
“Kyaa, gotta look that good for a public confession.”
“It was kinda planned, just delayed. Talking to him takes more than mortal guts?”
“Whoa, that’s her. Narim Girls’ Middle golden spoon...”
Definitely a dream, right?
Soon as I got to school, my head filled with nothing but ????.
The hallway swarmed with crowds gawking at me and some mystery girl.
“Go out with me, Baek Haon!”
The mystery girl yelled some mystery line.