Chapter 4
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I had forgotten that Kang Sunwoo was beside me.
As I just opened and closed my lips in flustered silence, his curious expression slowly settled back to its usual calm. He looked at me and smiled.
“Looks like she’ll be here soon. That’s a relief, Hayeon-ah.”
“Uh… Haha, yeah.”
After I answered, a brief silence fell.
Neither the school nurse nor the homeroom teacher was anywhere to be seen, and before I knew it, only Kang Sunwoo and I were left alone in the infirmary.
How do you even breathe again?
Being left alone with Kang Sunwoo, of all people, made the air feel tense beyond mere awkwardness.
“If you need anything, tell me, Hayeon-ah. Do you want a glass of water?”
“Uh… Yeah. Just one glass, please.”
With Kang Sunwoo right next to me, I was so nervous my throat felt dry. I kept a fake smile on my lips as I watched his back.
“Here.”
“Thanks.”
I raised the cup to cover my mouth, which felt like it might cramp from forcing a smile, and began sipping the water little by little.
Should I say something, or not?
I could not decide whether it was better to keep my mouth shut like this or to say something, anything.
After wrestling with it in my head for a while, I rolled my eyes and glanced at Kang Sunwoo.
His eyes, which had been looking at me, met mine right away. My words came out before I could think.
“S-Sunwoo-ya.”
“Yeah.”
“My mom said she’ll be here in ten minutes, so you… you can go now. I’ll head out once she calls.”
“No. I’ll take you.”
It felt like it would hurt even more if he walked me to the gate, so I wished he would just leave.
“I’m really okay, Sun… Sunwoo-ya.”
“The teacher told me to take you home too, so don’t worry about it.”
Just go already.
“No, I’m fine, so…”
“I’m fine too, Hayeon-ah.”
Please, just leave.
I clenched my teeth behind a smiling face. I could not even get mad, and it was driving me crazy.
From the moment I realized that the Kang Sunwoo standing in front of me was a character from my novel, I could barely stand even saying his name. It made me cringe so hard that it sent chills down my spine.
“I’d be worried if I just left you here, Hayeon-ah. I’d keep thinking about whether you might collapse again on the way.”
Still, he really knew how to phrase things nicely.
After constantly hearing sharp, cutting remarks from everywhere, words like that made my heart soften a little.
“Earlier, it was just for a moment. I rarely feel unwell like that, and I’m fine now.”
As I tried somehow to refuse his kindness, he asked in a tone that sounded genuinely concerned.
“But you’ve been trembling this whole time… I think you’re still sick. Hayeon-ah, should we go to the hospital together?”
That was because I was in shock over the fact that this was a novel, and because being here with a psychopath like you was terrifying.
“N-no? I’m fine. I’m totally fine. Maybe I’m just cold.”
At my words, Kang Sunwoo looked down at me silently before speaking in a low voice.
“It’s warm today. Everyone was saying it’s hot.”
“……”
“Do you usually have a hard time accepting help? Or…”
He took a step toward me. I flinched at the reduced distance. Watching me as if observing my reaction, he opened his mouth.
“Do you just not like me seeing you off?"
My heart dropped. Even though his tone was flat and without inflection, it sounded like someone whose mood had been soured, and I felt cold sweat run down my back.
"T-that can't be...?"
“Really?”
“Really! I-it’s not like that. Don’t misunderstand.”
Sensing that I was doomed, I desperately tried to explain myself. He smiled again and asked, “Then there’s no problem with me seeing you off, right?”
“…Yeah.”
Answering halfheartedly, I ended up sitting on the infirmary bed with him, waiting for my mom to call. Ten minutes felt like an hour.
As I listened to the ticking of the second hand, my gaze wandered aimlessly until it stopped on Kang Sunwoo’s profile.
“Wow.”
His side profile, lit by the sunlight, looked like an actual sculpture, and the exclamation slipped out as a reflex.
As if he had noticed my stare and reaction, he turned his head to look at me.
“Why?”
As if entranced, I muttered, “…Because you’re handsome.”
His face looked even more perfectly crafted than a game character I had poured my heart into creating, so I could not help but admire it sincerely.
The sculpture, no, Kang Sunwoo, smiled faintly at my reaction and lowered his gaze.
“Thank you.”
Seeing the faint smile on his face, I soon came to my senses.
Ah, I talked to him without realizing.
No matter how handsome he was. I must not forget that he was the male lead from my novel, flashy and pretty only on the outside.
To begin with, the novel I had written was a total mess filled with nothing but lunatics.
Let’s not talk to him.
There was no need to make trouble for myself later by getting on his nerves. I should just keep my head down.
As soon as I shut my mouth, one second began to feel like thirty minutes. I was just fidgeting with my fingers when my phone rang.
It was my mom, like a savior. I answered as soon as it rang once.
“Yeah, Mom!”
Since I had picked up in one second and sounded far too bright, my mom seemed dumbfounded and asked,
[Are you really sick?]
“Maybe?”
[I knew it. I’m here, so come to the front gate.]
“Yeah, I’m coming. I’m going right now.”
I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. Speaking clearly as if for Kang Sunwoo to hear, I jumped up from the bed.
But Kang Sunwoo, who stood up right after me, reached out and pushed open the infirmary door before I could.
Slide—
“Be careful, Hayeon-ah.”
“Huh?”
“What if you fall while rushing?”
“Okay.”
I answered obediently, but I had no intention of walking slowly. I quickly left the infirmary and started walking fast to put some distance between myself and that burdensome person.
Grab.
But he grabbed my arm right away.
“Not that way.”
“Oh, right.”
Startled for a moment from being grabbed, I soon let out an embarrassed laugh and turned around.
I had naturally assumed the layout would be the same as the high school I used to attend, but apparently not.
On the way to the front gate, he said a few things to me, but I had no idea how I responded.
I kept my head fixed straight ahead and walked forward.
“Oh, there it is.”
I spotted my mom’s car quickly.
Overjoyed, I ran straight to it and, as soon as I opened the backseat door, I turned to look at Kang Sunwoo.
“Thanks for walking me out. Since we’re in the same class, I’ll see you in class next time!”
It was a completely social, surface-level farewell.
“Yeah, get home safe. See you next time.”
Kang Sunwoo waved at me as he watched me. Just as I was about to get into the backseat, he stepped a little closer as if something had just occurred to him.
“Ah, Hayeon-ah.”
Seeing the look on his face that suggested he had something to say, I reflexively leaned my ear toward him.
The next moment, his low voice settled by my ear.
“You’re pretty too.”
I doubted my ears and stared at him with wide eyes. Kang Sunwoo looked at me and smiled faintly.
Then he reached out and closed the backseat door.
Thud. Through the closed car window, I saw Kang Sunwoo looking at me before turning away.
“Huh…”
When someone with that face said I was pretty, it almost felt like I was being teased instead. For the first time in my life, I felt like a squid and let out a hollow laugh.
“You made a friend already?”
Without warning, a sense of how unfair the world was and a wave of disillusionment washed over me. It felt even more empty than when I had been a job seeker failing to get employed.
“Lee Hayeon!”
“Huh? Yeah?”
When I answered in surprise, Mom looked at me with a mix of concern and suspicion.
“Why didn’t you hear me calling you? You really do seem kind of out of it… Why did you suddenly collapse like that? You never had anemia or anything.”
“I don’t know.”
“Just in case, let’s go to the hospital.”
“I’m fine.”
“What if it’s something serious? We’re going to the hospital first!”
At Mom’s stern command, I quietly shut my mouth and nodded.
I just want to get out of this crazy situation…
It was not like time had gone backward. I was inside a world from a novel I had written.
Resting my head against the car window, I sank into thought.
A high school student…
It felt far removed from the me who had graduated from college and was preparing for employment.
If I woke up tomorrow and was still inside this chaotic novel, what was I supposed to do?
This school itself existed in the novel I had written. Just being here meant strange incidents were bound to happen frequently.
Like how murder cases occurred suspiciously often wherever a famous detective happened to live.
Transfer schools… Is that even possible?
From the very premise that this was a novel I had written, I had a bad feeling things were already doomed.
I racked my brain, trying to recall the contents of the novel.
How many male leads were there? Two? Three? Kang Sunwoo, whom I saw today, and Kim… Kim Chan, Kim Chan something. There was him.
Knowing my personality, there was no way I had stopped at just two, but the memory hovered just out of reach, which frustrated me.
“We’re here. Get out.”
Once we arrived at the hospital, a whirlwind of tests followed.
“Spread your arms and hold onto the ends of the machine. Take a deep breath in.”
The moment I stood there in nothing but a gown, hugging the X-ray machine, something related to the novel suddenly flashed through my mind.
“That’s it. You can change back into your clothes and come out.”
“Yes!”
As soon as I stepped into the changing room, I immediately opened the memo app on my phone. I had to write it down before I forgot.
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⟬ Kang Sunwoo – polite… lunatic? Realized early that his family was strange, so he’s somewhat socialized. I think he was class president (or vice president?). Shouldn’t be on bad terms with him, so just get along moderately. ⟭
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“And Kim Chan… Kim… Chan…”
Why could I never remember the last syllable of his name? In the end, I marked the final character with an X.
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⟬ Kim ChanX – Since Kang Sunwoo is in my class, he might be in the same class too. Athlete?? Not sure what sport. Tall and big. A lunatic who stalks the female lead. ⟭
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A psychopath and a stalker. I really had written all kinds of insanity.
“This is driving me crazy…”
Even as I wrote, a sigh slipped out midway.
Knock knock.
“Is there any problem?”
“Oh. No! I’ll be right out!”
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⟬ The remaining one – Can’t remember, but he’s probably a lunatic too. Fuck ⟭
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Once I jotted everything down, I hurriedly changed and left the dressing room.
“The test results are out, and there’s nothing abnormal. Aside from being underweight, you’re very healthy. Your blood pressure is normal as well.”
As I listened to the desk staff calmly explain everything, it oddly felt like I was simply in reality.
Maybe because it was not a completely unfamiliar world.
Feeling a brief sense of relief, I fell asleep in the car on the way back.
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