This Is a Rom-Com
I peeled off the gloves I'd been wearing, dropped them in the trash, tugged my black cap low over my eyes, and started walking.
When I pulled out my phone, my face reflected in the dark screen—those dead-looking eyes staring back at me.
I always think it, but even knowing they're mine, those eyes really are unsettling.
Ding-ding.
A notification lit up the screen, the sudden brightness making me squint. I glanced at the alert, ignored it, shoved both hands into my pockets, and stretched.
"Nnngh! Work's done. Time to go buy it already. Man, I can't wait."
Having finished today's shift, I was headed for the bookstore. Naturally, to pick up the weekly magazine carrying the final extra chapter of This Is a Rom-Com.
This Is a Rom-Com—or "Rom-Com" for short—was the only comic I ever read, and my absolute favorite.
I said I was going to buy the finale, but the truth is the main series had already ended. So what finale? The finale of the side story. This Is a Rom-Com was currently running extras.
According to the author's interview, once this side story wrapped, there would be nothing more.
If I had to call it a shame, well, it was a shame. Honestly, part of me wanted to see the protagonists go all the way through childbirth and parenting—the ultimate brain-rot stretch—but I'd rather my favorite work end beautifully like this than get dragged out under publisher pressure.
Ding-ding.
As the name made obvious, This Is a Rom-Com was a romantic comedy. Romance with the heroines was the main story. Like most rom-coms, the big question was which heroine would become the official wife—except the world of This Is a Rom-Com legally allowed polygamy.
This Is a Rom-Com is the best!! Long live the author!!! That was my first reaction. What reader wouldn't love the idea that every heroine they adored could end up with the protagonist without a single one being discarded?
But the author ignored that world-building and delivered a single-heroine ending instead of a harem. Of course, as the main series approached its conclusion, readers caught on. Ah, so this isn't going to be a harem ending. Even so, not many people cursed the finale.
To say none did would be a lie. Some had wanted the harem; others had rooted for the heroines who weren't chosen. I myself had been one of those readers hoping for a harem at first.
Ding-ding.
And yet I never badmouthed This Is a Rom-Com. Why? Because the story was simply that good. The true heroine and the protagonist's narrative—their perfect, beautiful tale—was the reason I could wholeheartedly support a single-heroine ending even in a polygamy setting.
I cried so much reading it… I've binge-read it more than twenty times and I still tear up. That's how big a place This Is a Rom-Com holds in my life.
In the main series, the protagonist and heroine start dating and the story ends. The side story shows them dating and moving toward marriage. Naturally, the latest issue had taken them right up to the wedding, and the finale would cover the ceremony itself.
Ding-ding.
Argh, cut it out already!
I checked my messages. My junior was spamming me nonstop, clearly determined to keep going until I answered.
Sigh. She's turning into an adult next year and she still hasn't changed.
I shot back a half-assed reply telling the nagging junior I was buying the new This Is a Rom-Com so she could stop rushing me, then kept walking. You like it too, so wait a little, will you?
I reached the bookstore, pushed the door open, and headed straight for the rack that always held the weekly with This Is a Rom-Com.
Who even buys weeklies anymore? you might think—but I wanted every format of my favorite work, digital and print. So I collected not only the tankōbon volumes but every single weekly issue. This time there was even a wedding-photo poster of the main couple, and I was getting that too.
When I got to the rack, a fair number of copies were already gone; people had clearly been through. With the final chapter of This Is a Rom-Com in this issue, it looked like a lot of fans had come to buy.
Phew. A little later and I'd have been screwed.
I grabbed four copies and headed for the register.
Why four? One for the collection! One for reading! One for converting people! And one for my junior!
A line of people waiting to pay stretched ahead of me. I joined it and soon it was my turn.
"Hello. Three of the This Is a Rom-Com posters as well, please."
Three was the per-person limit, so that was that. If she'd come herself I could have snagged all three for me… nothing I can do about it now.
I was grumbling about my junior in my head when the female clerk spoke up.
"You always buy multiple specials. You must really love This Is a Rom-Com."
"Yeah, it's my absolute favorite."
I gave the clerk—who for some reason always struck up conversation—a vague answer and paid.
I just want to get home and read already. Why does she always talk to me?
"Have a good one! See you next time."
Well, with This Is a Rom-Com finished, the odds of me coming back are basically zero.
Weekly magazines and posters in hand, I walked home buzzing with excitement. Why not tear into it right away? Because This Is a Rom-Com was the single joy of my life. Of course I wanted to finish every preparation and read it with a reverent heart.
Heh heh heh… I got one for her too, so she'll be happy, right? …Wait, that line just now totally sounded like a This Is a Rom-Com character. Gotta fix that.
Vrrr, vrrr——
Speak of the devil—my junior was calling.
"Yeah, hey, Ugly."
"Aaaah~!! What do you mean 'Ugly,' Sunbae! Where do you find an Ugly this pretty!"
"Yeah, yeah, my pretty Ugly junior. Why'd you call?"
"Haaah, I'll overlook it because I'm the pretty, cute one looking after her Ugly sunbae."
The junior trading childish banter with me was named Kim Heejin. After a certain incident she'd followed me into the same line of work, and she was a junior who stuck close.
"So, Heejin, why the call?"
"Hehe, Sunbae, when are you getting here? Why are you so late?"
"I'll be there soon, so stop rushing me already, Miss Heejin?"
"Nooo, Sunbae, how long has it been since you finished work and you're still not back from the bookstore! You're not meeting some girl, are you!?"
I gave a half-assed answer to Heejin, who was spouting nonsense like she'd been watching too many dramas again.
"What girl? The bookstore was just crowded, and the clerk kept talking to me, so I got delayed a bit."
"A clerk…? Was it a woman?"
"Yeah, a woman. Guess she thought it was weird I always buy a mountain of the same thing, so she started chatting. Why?"
"…Sunbae, from now on let's go buy it together."
Ugh, this kid's crossing the line…
"Hey, Kim Heejin, don't cross the line."
"…Yes?"
"If you'd come with me today I could've grabbed all three posters as my share, you know? If you were going to come along you should've shown up today. Now you're saying let's go together? You trying to die?"
"Ahaha… I'm sorry, Sunbae!! You can have my poster!"
Through the phone I heard the sharp clap of palms pressed together in a begging pose. Sigh. Guess I have to put up with her.
"Forget it. This Is a Rom-Com's finished anyway, so there's nowhere left to go. I'm heading in now, so just hang on a little longer."
"Yes! I'll wait, Sunbae—hurry~"
I hung up with my Ugly junior and was walking home in a happy mood when a violent impact slammed into me and my body went flying.
Screeeech—CRASH!
I could tell from my vision that I was airborne. Time crawled. Below me I saw a slightly crumpled car, and books and posters scattering through the air.
Is this my life flashing before my eyes? Am I dying? Ah, I never got to read the last chapter of This Is a Rom-Com…! I wanted to hang the posters in my room and look at them!
Was this the price for the garbage life I'd lived until now? Still, before I go, one more chapter of a comic wouldn't have been too much to ask. This is just cruel…
Dying this pointlessly after working so hard—what a waste. Nothing I can do about it. Someone like me probably doesn't even deserve the happiness of reading the finale. I should at least be grateful I got to read everything up to the previous chapter.
Heejin's face floated up—the one always chattering "Sunbae, Sunbae." I hoped she'd be fine without me. She was outstanding on the team, so she'd manage just fine on her own.
Haa… goodbye, This Is a Rom-Com. Thanks for being the only joy in my life. And goodbye to Heejin and everyone else—live well without me.
In that slow-motion stretch of time, my head cut through the air, struck the ground, and my breath stopped for good.
Crunch.
My eyes slid open and vision returned. Huh? Where am I?
Waaah! Kyaaaaah! Heheheheh!
A noisy atmosphere. Little kids shouting and running around. Why are there so many children? I was just hit by a car on the street, wasn't I? Shouldn't I be waking up in a hospital? Hell, I landed head-first—how am I even alive?
I clenched a fist. Sensation was there. I looked at my fist—why is it so small? It's like I've turned into a little kid…
"Hi! What's your name?"
"?"
A red-haired boy—far too handsome for a little kid—greeted me.
"Who… are you?"
"Me? I'm Lee Hyeokho! So will you tell me yours?"
"Lee Hyeokho…?"
Lee Hyeokho? This kid? For real? Even the hair color matches… What is this? Am I dreaming right before death? That doesn't make sense. What the hell is going on? I pinched both my cheeks hard.
My cheeks stretched. Soft, pliable toddler skin. And of course, pain.
"What? Is this a game? Can I try too? Like this?"
The boy calling himself Lee Hyeokho copied me and tugged his own cheeks.
The pain told me the truth. This was no dream. Not just because of the pain—nothing this vivid could come from a dream. I knew that better than anyone. Which meant… had I been reborn? But was that even possible?
I'd heard of it. I never read anything besides This Is a Rom-Com, but my junior had mentioned stories where people fall into the works they read and live there.
So am I going through something like those comics…? Me? For real?
First I should answer the kid waiting in front of me.
Though… why is he asking when it's written right there on my name tag?
…Come to think of it, I asked him too. No room to talk.
I read the name written on the chest of my kindergarten uniform. Huh? Same as my original name? So I wasn't reborn as a character who appears in This Is a Rom-Com, but as some extra who never even shows up?
Anyway, better give him the name. With this guy's personality, if I don't answer he'll never leave me alone.
"Jihoo. Kim Jihoo."
"Jihoo! Then let's go play soccer!"
"Wait, I need a second aloooone—"
Lee Hyeokho grabbed my hand and dragged me straight out to the kindergarten playground.
Well, whatever. No big deal. I, Kim Jihoo, had closed the book on twenty years of a previous life and been reborn as a kindergartener in the world of This Is a Rom-Com.