Chapter 172
Chapter 172
"...Your homeroom teacher was unable to come to school today due to a personal matter. So I will be conducting the morning assembly in their place."
The classroom went quiet at the teacher's words.
Truthfully, it would be more accurate to say it had already been quiet before that.
And it was only now, while listening, that I began to piece together what had happened.
Sara had been abducted from the 'school.'
And the school had cooperated with Choi Na-kyung in abducting her.
I doubt they knowingly helped. But that doesn't make them innocent.
Someone else might not understand. To a person seeing us for the first time, or meeting Sara and Choi Na-kyung together for the first time, they would look like nothing more than a mother and daughter. If Choi Na-kyung came looking for Sara, of course they would direct her so the two could meet.
The problem was, Choi Na-kyung had never treated Sara as a normal daughter.
Stories about adoptive parents who failed to raise their children properly appeared in the news from time to time, but Choi Na-kyung had crossed that line long ago. Even when Sara was very young, she had isolated her and kept her from meeting other people.
And the school had been the primary stage for that.
It had to be. To hide the fact that Sara was 'being abused,' she had to send her to school.
And in that school, where, outside of vacations, she spent more than half her waking hours, Sara was thoroughly isolated.
Because of Choi Na-kyung's money and coaxing.
Because of rumors without a single piece of solid evidence.
And the teachers who knew yet still looked the other way—they certainly aren't innocent. Even if it wasn't technically abduction, did they really let the two be alone together, knowing what could happen between Sara and Choi Na-kyung in private?
Police investigation, dropping out of school, vanishing out of fear; this was an incident serious enough to trigger any of those.
Thinking about it that way, I could understand why roughly half the students hadn't shown up to class.
Choi Na-kyung had vanished after trying to abduct Sara.
That meant Yujin Group's top executive was out of the picture. And for a very illegal and dishonorable reason.
Of course, that wouldn't immediately transfer management rights to someone else, but...
...with Choi Na-kyung gone, the person holding the next-largest share of Yujin Electronics was, naturally, me.
I don't know whether I would actually face legal liability, but I can understand them wanting to distance themselves from me by any means possible.
It's fairly effective, really. After all, I hadn't memorized every face and name of my classmates. Even if someone had been standing right in front of me, I wouldn't have recognized them as a classmate right away.
Right. I wouldn't have recognized them 'right away.'
Not that there's any chance I 'wouldn't be able to pick them out' at all.
A laugh escaped me before I knew it.
I hated that Choi Na-kyung abducted Sara. That's the kind of thing that shouldn't happen, no matter what.
But thanks to it, I could instantly sort out these relationships.
The teachers at this school. And the students who ostracized Sara.
I'd rather they 'sincerely' repented.
Or else I'd make them.
*
"...."
"...What are you staring at?"
I looked up at Nam Da-un, who was watching me fixedly, and spoke. Nam Da-un furrowed his brow.
"That... Are you okay?"
"Do I look okay?"
"...."
Was that too sharp a tone?
The crease between Nam Da-un's brows deepened a little.
Honestly, I had my reasons for reacting that way. Nam Da-un was looking at me less like he was worried and more like he found me intensely fascinating.
Well, I don't think he felt absolutely no concern. Nam Da-un was, fundamentally, a good-natured character.
"Mm."
"If something's weird, I'd rather you put it into words. Instead of just staring at me like that."
"No, it's, uh... how should I put this."
Nam Da-un looked at me quietly, his face straining as if whatever he wanted to say was immensely difficult to articulate.
"You seem a little different, somehow."
For a moment, I nearly felt chills run down my spine.
The reason it stopped at 'nearly' was that I knew Nam Da-un well enough to be certain he wasn't the type to say something like that as a pickup line.
Even if I was sharing a girl's body, I wasn't about to give up who I was. Hadn't I just... you know... kissed Sara not that long ago?
...Though admittedly, I did feel some guilt over what seemed like a considerable age gap.
Anyway, my sexual identity was still exactly what it had been in my previous life. If some guy showed sexual interest in me, it would only sour my mood.
Seeing me frown, Nam Da-un waved his hands in denial.
"No, it's just, the you from a while ago, the you from before that, and the you right now, they all seem different."
"What's that—"
I started to say, and then felt chills on my back again, this time for a different reason.
Huh?
"I thought your personality was only gradually changing, but today it's like you've gone back to how you were before. I asked because I wondered if it was connected to what happened last time."
"...."
I didn't know how to react.
Because what Nam Da-un had said was extremely accurate.
When I first started taking running lessons from Nam Da-un, it was me in control of Sara's body. Until just recently, Sara had been moving it directly.
And now I was back.
...Could this person have a Sixth Sense too?
Normally, when I looked at him through Sara's eyes, all I saw was a faintly glowing face. Even that I'd adapted to until it was barely noticeable.
I really didn't need to be reminded like this that the world was full of fantasy-novel setups.
I turned my head to look at Ha-neul, So-hee, and Su-a, who had followed me. All three wore slightly tense expressions; they'd probably caught what Nam Da-un was talking about.
The fact that Sara and I existed as separate personalities wasn't a secret that absolutely must never be revealed to the world... but it was still something I wanted to hide from others as much as possible.
Neither I nor Sara were the type to throw punches at people for no reason, and of course we wouldn't swing knives at anyone or suddenly go berserk—
But if you combined the unstable behavior Sara showed as a child with the insane things I did at the beginning of the semester, we'd fit the stereotype of a 'mental patient' to a T.
And that would probably stick as a label, passed from mouth to mouth forever.
"Uh, maybe...?"
But outright lying felt tricky. If Nam Da-un really had some kind of ability to see through that sort of thing to some degree, he'd easily catch my lies.
So I deflected, blurring my answer like that.
"Hmm."
Nam Da-un looked down at me for a moment, shrugged once, and spoke.
"Well, at least you don't seem to have been seriously hurt mentally. That's a relief."
If he had such a remarkable ability, wouldn't it make more sense to aim for a career as a counselor or psychiatrist? I mean, sure, he's talented at soccer, but between 'exceptional talent' and 'superpowers' as a way to earn a living, isn't the latter far better?
Then again, I guess if you decided your future by that standard, you wouldn't be a dating sim male lead.
"Alright, alright."
As if trying to break the suddenly awkward atmosphere, Nam Da-un clapped his hands.
"So today, same as always, running—"
He was about to say 'Let's do it,' but Nam Da-un clamped his mouth shut.
His gaze was fixed in one direction, so I turned my head to follow it and saw someone walking toward us.
...And it was a face I wasn't remotely glad to see.
"...."
Hands shoved into both pockets, the guy stopped about ten paces away from me and said,
"You seem to be in one piece."
His voice was utterly devoid of life.
"...What are you doing here?"
I asked Yoon Da-ho, who had come looking for me.
"Don't worry. I didn't come here because I wanted to."
"Oh, what a relief."
At least he didn't say something skin-crawling like Nam Da-un had.
Instead, he had a talent for openly wrecking your mood.
Was that a superpower too? In the game, he was portrayed as someone whose superpower was being rich.
Though that's really just a downgrade from my own fortune, anyway.
Yoon Da-ho pulled his left hand from his pocket and glanced at his wrist. He checked the time on his smartwatch and shrugged.
"I figured you wouldn't want one, so I didn't bring a present. It probably won't happen, but if someone from my side asks you, I'd appreciate it if you could clearly tell them you asked how I was doing."
"...Weren't you the one who wanted to break off the engagement? Wouldn't it be better not to do that sort of thing if that's your goal?"
"You don't need to worry about that. I'm working on it in my own way."
Yoon Da-ho shoved his hand back into his pocket and frowned. Did he hate talking to me that much?
"I made sure I came. Remember that."
...Maybe later, if someone from his side shows up, I'll just tell them he was never here.
Honestly, wouldn't I be innocent even if I did say that?
"Huh?"
Beside me, Ha-neul looked at Yoon Da-ho and made a small sound.
"What?"
I asked, thinking maybe she'd noticed something I'd missed, but Ha-neul quickly shook her head.
"Mm, nothing. Just, I thought I saw something wrong."
"Yeah...?"
Well, if she says so.
I gave my shoulders a slight shrug, then began lightly stretching before starting to run.