01. Let's Break Up
01. Let's Break Up
"Let's... break up."
I don't believe in the concept of fate.
I used to think my efforts were far too heavy to be expressed by such a grand yet simple word.
But perhaps...
"I'm sorry... As I thought, I just can't see you as a man."
...seeing as I am hearing words like these.
Maybe we were fated to end up like this after all.
It has been ten years since I realized I was reincarnated into a rom-com world.
The moment I realized that this world was the setting of a rom-com I used to enjoy, and that the girl beside me was one of its heroines...
I made up my mind to confess to her.
Before she could meet the protagonist of this world and fall in love with him.
We were childhood friends who had been together since we were little, and I knew everything about her tastes and ideal type.
It wasn't simply because of the information from the novel.
It was because I had watched over her since we were very young.
Seven years old.
Long before the age I became aware of this world—perhaps ever since we were born.
I was someone who had known her all along.
A so-called childhood friend.
In her words, a close friend, or best friend.
I knew her tastes inside and out, so I strived to become that kind of person.
I tried to become someone who was kind, warm, and even a little chivalrous.
I consistently maintained my self-care and put in several times more effort than others.
I always poured all my attention into her, always chasing after her alone.
To become a man worthy of her unreal beauty fitting for a heroine of this world, I endlessly stacked effort upon effort.
And as if rewarding my commendable efforts, she accepted my confession.
However.
In the end, it came to this.
Perhaps this outcome was foreshown all along.
Even when she received my confession, she seemed a bit taken aback.
And throughout the time we dated, she treated me not like a boyfriend, but merely like a friend.
Even so, I thought that if I tried...
That if I tried just a little harder, she would eventually turn around and look at me.
Dazedly.
I turned my gaze and looked at her face.
What was the difference between me and the guy she was destined to fall for?
Even if I acted like her ideal type from the novel, why was it that I ultimately couldn't make the cut?
Why couldn't I ever become that person, no matter how hard I tried?
Asking what I did wrong.
Saying I would fix it... that I would work harder... I wanted to say all that, but I couldn't.
Because I realized it was meaningless to say such things to a girl whose eyes were already brimming with apology toward me.
"I'm really, really sorry."
Realizing once again that I was a hopeless case, to the point of making her feel that sorry...
...I had no choice but to simply nod my head.
"Still, we're still friends, right? Best friends."
Holding my hand, she spoke, and I stared blankly at her face.
Her long, straight light-brown hair and eyes of the exact same color.
An unrealistic appearance that made even the gently blowing spring breeze feel like a cinematic effect.
Swallowing a dry chuckle trying to leak out, I opened my mouth slowly and deliberately.
A faint glimmer of hope dwelt in her eyes.
And I.
"What are you talking about?"
Had no intention of living up to that expectation.
Just hearing these words right now makes my heart feel like it's ripping apart, so painful and agonizing.
And you want me to watch with my own eyes as you meet someone else—the very person I tried so hard to imitate?
That's...
Isn't that really too much?
"Where in the world do people break up and stay friends?"
Of course, such a thing could happen.
Because there are people who can do that, and people who can't.
But at least for me, I was someone who couldn't.
A cold and detached voice, surprising even to myself, came pouring out calmly.
Seeing her eyes tremble violently with fluster upon hearing my words, I slowly shook off the hand she was holding.
Never once.
Had she ever held my hand first.
Nor had I ever pushed her hand away first.
Looking back now, perhaps even those little details were indicative of our relationship all along.
"H-Huh? B-But..."
"I'm sorry."
I am a selfish person.
That's why, rather than being considerate and slowly drifting away for her happiness like the protagonists in other novels...
...I am a selfish person who chooses to cut ties for the sake of my own pain and suffering.
Perhaps she had already noticed this side of me.
Maybe that's why she's bidding me such a painful farewell.
Taking a slow step away from her, I took in her face with my eyes one last time.
We applied to the same high school, and both of us passed.
So even when we enter high school, we will probably bump into each other from time to time.
But she and I will never be involved with each other again.
As the heroine of a romantic comedy, she will get swept up in the events of the original novel and meet the male lead in the process.
And I will naturally exit the story as if nothing ever happened, living an ordinary life.
Therefore.
As of today, this kind of relationship—the bond between us—has come to an end.
"Take care."
While I wish for your happiness...
...I also don't.
So, even if it's just a tiny bit.
I hope I remain in your heart, painful even if just like a microscopic speck of dust.
"Ji... Jihoon-ah."
"Take care, Baek Seolah."
Goodbye.
Spring.
The time when winter ends and new sprouts blossom.
Two weeks before the start of the original story.
I broke up with the heroine I loved.
At the same time, I lost a long-time friend and my girlfriend.
Laughably enough.
That was all there was to the story.
@
My mind is dazed.
Even now, unable to accept reality, I find myself repeatedly glancing at my phone.
As always.
Because Seolah might contact me as if nothing had happened.
"...Hey! Hey!! What are you doing!!"
Frowning at the high-pitched voice coming from beside me, I snapped out of my thoughts, only to be greeted by a gray screen and...
"Ah, what is wrong with our ADC...!! He died with all his spells up...!"
...the slightly high-pitched, delicate voice coming from beside me.
"Ah, sorry."
"Why can't you focus today? Don't you want to promote? Is LoL a joke to you?!"
Only then did I fully snap to my senses and realize that I was currently at a PC cafe.
So basically.
Right after breaking up with Seolah... no, Baek Seolah, I met up with my friends and came straight to the PC cafe.
As I let out a soft sigh and clicked around my item inventory, the nagging voice came at me again.
"Han Jihoon. What's wrong with you today? Did you get into a fight with Baek Seolah or something?"
Baek Seolah.
Hearing her name, I flinched involuntarily and turned my gaze.
There sat a girl with bright blonde hair and black eyes, scowling at me.
Seeing her eyebrows slanted at 2:50, she seemed really pissed off.
"A fight? You'd be better off saying the world is ending tomorrow. I've never seen those two fight even once."
Two years.
For the two years since Baek Seolah accepted my confession, I had never fought with her even once.
But that was because I adjusted myself to match her, and also...
...probably because she had no expectations of me.
Snorting as he answered Hanna's question, Taejun kept his eyes on his monitor, his fingers still busy with the mouse.
"Right? Even after I said it, I thought it made no sense."
"..."
Heh.
If it were just a fight, that would actually be better.
Because I could at least beg on my knees to restore our relationship to how it was.
As I let out a dry laugh while thinking such thoughts...
"They broke up."
Woojin, who was playing a game on my right, spoke up calmly.
"..."
"..."
"What? Weren't you going to tell them anyway?"
"I mean, yeah."
Feeling my gaze along with a moment of silence, Woojin slowly turned his eyes and asked me.
His strangely laid-back and calm attitude somehow made my turbulent heart feel a bit settled.
"...Stop bullshitting. They broke up? That's ridiculous... Hey, Jihoon, is that real?"
Taejun, who had been quietly listening to the conversation between me and Woojin, snorted and turned around to look at me, but upon seeing my expression, he suddenly leaped out of his seat.
"Well... yeah."
"Sorry, man. I really thought he was lying."
"Dumbass."
Taejun groveling out of guilt.
And Woojin looking at Taejun as if he were pathetic.
Looking at those two, I couldn't help but burst into a small laugh.
My somewhat troubled mind felt like it was calming down thanks to my friends.
Hanna silently stared at me for a moment longer, then tapped my arm lightly before turning her eyes back to her monitor.
"If you throw this game because you're distracted, I will seriously kill you."
"Okay, I'll focus."
"Hell yeah. Let's burn it up today. No, tomorrow too!"
At Hanna's calm words, I nodded and focused my gaze on the monitor.
Taejun also pumped up his enthusiasm as he spoke, while Woojin let out a small sigh and returned his gaze to his monitor.
...Yeah.
Come to think of it, that's true.
Just because my ties with Baek Seolah have ended doesn't mean my life is over.
I am still alive in this world, and I have to keep living.
"I'll carry."
"Just don't die."
Having said that...
...I failed to notice the vibrations my phone was spouting out.