Friday Night Boyfriend Rumors

Ha-im clutched her right cheek, her expression one of complete bewilderment after the slap. I never imagined the day would come when I’d hit her again, not since elementary school. ‘Ah, shit. I should’ve gone easier…’ My palm stung like it was on fire, but I held my tongue. That wasn’t what mattered right now.

“Are you out of your mind?! Why the hell would you jump into a fight you were obviously going to lose?!”

“But he was a bad—!”

Slap!

She still hadn’t come to her senses, so I gave her another one. Both Ha-im’s cheek and my hand burned bright red. One more and I was fairly sure my hand would break.

“When you fight an enemy, the absolute basic rule is to make sure you have the advantage! What did you do instead?!”

“…”

“You fought on ground that favored the enemy! Are you insane?!”

At my question, Ha-im turned her head away and kept her mouth shut. The gesture sent my rage shooting straight to the top of my skull.

“Hey. Are you ignoring me? Say something.”

When I hardened my tone, her lips finally moved.

“…You don’t understand, oppa! You don’t know why I did it!”

“You’re raising your voice at me now?!”

I wanted to slap her again, but the way her eyes were already glistening with tears made me stop. Instead, I grabbed both her cheeks and yanked them outward as hard as I could.

“Aaaah! Stop pulling!”

“If you’re going to fight from now on, ask my permission first. Don’t jump into losing battles like an idiot.”

“But—!”

“Still not listening? Want me to make sure you can never fight again?”

As a perfect object lesson, I pointed at Roun, who was currently trapped in a horrific nightmare. Just so we’re clear, this wasn’t a threat. I was dead serious.

My threat must have landed, because Ha-im’s face went pale with terror.

“O-okay! I was wrong! I’ll stop!”

“Good. You’re not the type to butt in anyway, so keep your head down and stay out of it.”

I finally released her poor, stretched cheeks.

Time to head home…

Ring ring~!

“…?”

My smartphone suddenly lit up with a call. Looked like the EMP damage had finally worn off. I really didn’t want to answer—especially since I knew exactly who was calling—but I picked up anyway.

“Hello?”

“…I heard everything from Ha-yul. Stop whatever scheme you’re cooking up right now.”

Team Leader Kim Kwon-ho had finally caught on.

“Scheme? It’s already in the final stage.”

“…”

Too late. The evidence was already collected. All that remained was going public.

“…Then hand it over to us. We’ll suppress the story in exchange.”

“In exchange?”

“Yes. There are still outlets trying to run articles about Ms. Seong-a.”

“Still?”

It had already been months. The clips and replays were all deleted; the views wouldn’t even be that high. ‘Do these people have nothing better to write about?’ Every time I turned on the news it was either politicians with criminal records or idols. I had no idea why they kept picking me.

I scratched my cheek. “As long as I don’t take any damage, I don’t really care… but is that all you’re offering?”

“A major idol’s drug scandal is more than enough leverage.”

“Oh, I see!”

I’d assumed silencing the press would require something on the level of a congressman’s tax evasion or a corporate scandal, but apparently not.

“Understood. The evidence and photos are with Ha-yul, so I’ll leave it to you.”

“Yes, understood.”

The call ended quickly. By the time I hung up, Ha-im was staring at the collapsed Roun.

“What are we going to do with him?”

“Hmm. I hadn’t really thought about it.”

Seong-a closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again after only a few seconds.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

“We should take him with us.”

“Why?”

“If we leave him here, The Prophet’s people will come collect his corpse.”

“The Prophet? The one I know?”

“Yeah.”

When I nodded, Ha-im’s eyes widened in pure shock. Was it really that surprising?

“Want to divine the reason?”

“No.”

“Huh? Why not?”

Ha-im looked at me like I was speaking another language.

I sighed. I really had to explain even this?

“If you know everything, life stops being fun.”

“…”

It was personal experience. After divining several years into the future once, life had become so unbearably boring that I’d genuinely wanted to die. Ever ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠since, I only divined information I absolutely needed and ignored everything else.

“Just take him for now. His family or organization will look after him later.”

“Okey.”

Well, once it got out that he’d been doing drugs, they might not want anything to do with him.

Crunch!

“…?”

A sudden tearing sound came from above. I looked up. Cracks spiderwebbed across the ceiling window, and sharp claws were poking through the gaps.

‘Wait, no way—!’

Crash!

The dome shattered, revealing a blue sky that had no right to be there. We were, after all, already in the sky.

The moment the barrier broke, Ha-im and I plummeted through open air.

“Kyaaaaaaaak!”

Ha-im’s scream pierced my ears. It was so loud I actually covered them. The screaming lasted only a moment before Rona swooped in and snatched both of us out of the air.

Rona grinned as she looked at us. When I caught sight of the culprit who had dropped us in the first place, a sigh escaped me automatically.

“Can you not pull stunts like that?”

“Hehe, sorry. I couldn’t help myself. But it was fun, right?”

“Eh… it was interesting, I guess?”

Falling from the sky was certainly a unique experience. The cool wind rushing across every inch of skin felt surprisingly refreshing.

I first checked on Ha-im, who had been screaming. She had been caught safely but had fainted dead away.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Ah, right. She has a fear of heights.”

“Fear of heights?”

I hadn’t known that.

“She rode the roller coaster just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fine during the middle school trip, though?”

She had bragged about it nonstop while I was stuck in bed sick, so it had stuck in my memory.

“Haha. A lot happened while you were in the other world, sis.”

A lot, huh. I was a little curious, but it felt like it would be rude to pry, so I let it go.

Next, I checked on Roun, who was dangling from Rona’s claws. Fortunately, he seemed unharmed.

“This kid’s acting weird, though. He hasn’t opened his eyes this whole time…”

“Ah, about that…”

I scratched my cheek and explained what had happened inside. Rona’s expression grew darker and darker as she listened.

“You… you’ll let me go later, right…?”

“Hmm. What if I don’t want to?”

“N-no! When this goes public I have to attend the press conference!”

Her panicked reaction was unexpectedly cute. A mischievous thought crossed my mind, but I pushed it down.

“Pfft. Fine. I’ll release you later.”

“For real? You promise?!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I smiled playfully and pulled out my phone to check the time.

Current time…

“…”

I was screwed. I’d completely forgotten to start the stream.

Thanks to Rona’s help, I raced home, dashed into my room, and frantically turned on the broadcast. Fortunately Mrs. Kim was still out, so she didn’t notice how late I’d gotten in.

The moment the stream started, the usual thousand viewers flooded in within seconds. But something felt… off.

“…?”

They were suddenly demanding an explanation like the world was ending. Did some controversy explode while I was gone?

Then one viewer threw out a direct question.

“Huh? A boyfriend?”

Where the hell had that come from? I tilted my head, genuinely lost.

“Did something happen while I was gone?”

Please, anything but some ridiculous rumor.

“The cafe?”

Following their advice, I opened the fan cafe. It was flooded with conspiracy theories about why I hadn’t started streaming. The most upvoted post was…

I stared at the screen in disbelief.

“Wait… you guys are rioting over this one post?”

I let out a tired groan. “Ah, shit. I thought something actually serious had happened.”

“Of course it’s not true!”

The idea that I—someone who used to be a man—would have a boyfriend was absurd.

Even without a notice, they should’ve just assumed it was a break. I couldn’t believe they’d jumped straight to a boyfriend rumor.

“The person spreading baseless rumors is getting a one-day ban for causing chaos.”

“You guys aren’t innocent either.”

Believing a single post and demanding an explanation? Their heads clearly weren’t screwed on right.

Even on a Friday, a single unannounced break turning into a boyfriend scandal? I couldn’t just take random days off anymore.

Since I was already in the cafe, I decided to browse the posts in order. First one:

The early posts were surprisingly normal. Most people were saying to just wait a bit longer. Then I clicked on a post from about three hours later.

By this point most viewers had decided it was a hidden camera prank.

I was smiling as I read, but the next post made me frown.

The comments under it were just as unhinged.

From that point on, the posts only got worse.

The replies were pure chaos.

Then came the next post.

The comments had completely lost it.

Then came the ultimate denial post.

The replies had spiraled into full-blown reality denial.

All of this because there was no notice. I scrolled to the next post. This one was written by the Chairman himself.

“……”

Even the Chairman ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was like this. I couldn’t believe it.

“Tsk! From now on, if I’m going to be late or take a break, I’ll post a notice. Please stop coming up with these ridiculous rumors.”

“Huh? A punishment?”