Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Translator Wjin
Chapter 02
I've read a lot of web novels. Maybe around 50,000 chapters? I especially liked baseball stories, but I wasn't picky, so I knew all the clichés of most genres.
Thinking about it now… I think I’ve been transmigrated into the world of Nemas. My last memory before waking up here was a classic transmigration trope. A reader, dissatisfied with the ending of a story, sends a long message to the author.
The author, seeing this, provokes the reader with a bet, which the reader accepts. And then, I wake up in the story. It's… undeniable.
‘Then would you like to write it?’
The author's reply flashed through my mind. Yes, I had agreed. I was so annoyed by his 'if you don't like it, you write it' attitude. But… that didn't mean he could just throw me into the story.
“But it’s nice that my legs are fine…”
I was standing on my own two feet, without any discomfort. I took a few steps, and there was no pain. How long had it been since I felt this? I looked around, then at a mirror.
“Huh? This is…”
It was me. Of course, it would be me in the mirror. But seeing myself in this situation was unexpected. I had assumed I would have been transmigrated into one of the characters from Nemas.
“High school… maybe?”
The reflection was me in high school. For a moment, I wondered if I had time-traveled instead of being transmigrated. But I shook my head. I had never lived in a house like this. I looked around the room and found a student ID on the desk.
[Cha Tae-hyun.]
Strangely, it was the same as my name. As I was about to turn it over…
“Ugh!”
A piercing dizziness hit me, and someone else's memories began to flow into my mind. This was…
'Cha Tae-hyun's memories from Nemas.'
After the dizziness subsided, I finally understood the situation.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
I left the room and went to the dining table. Breakfast was set. Two fried eggs, Vienna sausages, and seasoned seaweed. A familiar sight. A small note was beside it.
[Oppa, I’m leaving first.
Make sure to eat breakfast before you go.]
Unlike the orphaned Cha Tae-hyun, the Cha Tae-hyun in Nemas had a younger sister. But he was also an orphan.
“This is good.”
I took a bite of rice and organized my thoughts again. My guess about being transmigrated into the world of Nemas was almost correct. I could tell from the memories that had flowed in. But they weren't complete.
Just fragmented memories. I had a younger sister named Cha Ji-hyun, and I was attending Hyeoksan High School, the setting of the early part of Nemas… It was as if I had only been given the basic knowledge needed to live as Cha Tae-hyun.
I couldn’t recall any family history or past memories.
“He's not even an extra…”
Cha Tae-hyun was a character who had never appeared in Nemas. Not even a mention. I might have forgotten, but I was sure I hadn't. I wouldn't have forgotten a character with the same name as me in my favorite novel.
I guessed… the author had probably created him on the spot when he threw me into this world. The fact that he was an orphan and looked exactly like I did in high school supported this.
Vibrate
The phone on the table buzzed. The alarm I hadn't turned off.
[Time for school.]
It had already gone off an hour ago.
“I should… go…”
Going to school at this age felt strange, but it was the right thing to do. It was a terrible thought, but I might have to live in this world forever. And if I just stayed at home and moped? I'd be a bum. In my past life, I had fought tooth and nail to avoid that life, and I had succeeded as a baseball player, even though I was an orphan.
I had walked this path before. What was there to be afraid of? In fact, I was excited. My body was younger, but my baseball knowledge, experience, and senses were still intact. If I started playing baseball again from high school, how much could I grow?
Alright. Let’s do this, life 2.0. I put on my uniform, grabbed my bag, and left the house.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The bell rang, signaling the end of class. The friends sitting in front of Shin Ha-yoon turned around. Shin Ha-yoon was staring at something. What was she looking at with such a blissful expression? Her friends followed her gaze and burst out laughing.
“You’re so in love, Shin Ha-yoon.”
“Are you happy, Ha-yoon? Hmm? Being in the same class as your boyfriend?”
Shin Ha-yoon turned her head and raised her voice.
"What…! I don't have a boyfriend."
“Everyone knows, Ha-yoon… except for you.”
“...Knows what?”
“That your boyfriend is Lee Ji-ho.”
“I said no!”
“Yeah, yeah~ sure. You've been attached to him since elementary school, but you’re just friends, right~.”
As Shin Ha-yoon's face was about to turn as red as a ripe tomato…
“Hey… did you see the class assignments?”
Another friend approached, her face quite serious.
“Uh… I saw it, why?”
“Ha-yoon… you're sitting next to Cha Tae-hyun…”
Shin Ha-yoon’s face instantly froze.
“…Really?”
“Yeah…”
Her friends looked at her with worried eyes and sighed.
“Ah… damn it. Why is he in our class?”
“I know… Can’t the school just expel him? Why do they let a delinquent like him stay?”
“I know… I don’t get it. I heard he beats people up whenever he gets the chance.”
“Just people? I heard he goes to bars and hangs out with girls while we’re at cram school.”
Shin Ha-yoon asked, disgusted, "I've never heard that before. Is he really that bad…?”
“He’s probably worse than that. He’s a rich kid. So he can spend money at bars and the school can’t even expel him.”
“Wow… he’s a real piece of work, isn’t he? I heard he was a delinquent, but he’s more than just a delinquent.”
Her friends sighed again.
“…I heard he looks really scary too. Ah…! Why is he in our class!”
“Is that the problem? Ha-yoon is sitting right next to him. What should we do…”
“It’s okay. What… would he do in school?”
“That’s true… but Cha Tae-hyun isn't just a crazy person.”
‘If he’s not just a crazy person, then what…’
He was just a person living within the confines of this society.
Shin Ha-yoon said quietly, “If he does something crazy, I’ll just report him. What’s there to be afraid of in this day and age? He must have gotten lucky with his opponents so far… I’m not someone who’ll just take it.”
Slam.
At that moment, the back door of the classroom opened. All eyes turned to the back door. The moment a man appeared, everyone quickly turned back, as if scared.
But… Shin Ha-yoon was staring at the man, her jaw clenched.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
I was standing at the back door of the classroom. Anyone who saw me might have thought I was being punished, but that wasn’t it.
I had been listening to their conversation about Cha Tae-hyun just as I was about to open the door. Anyway… this Cha Tae-hyun guy… what kind of life had he lived to have such an image?
Alright, let's say I could accept the rumor that he beat people up whenever he got the chance. I had been told I looked scary in high school…
But… changing girls every week, going to bars and hanging out with girls during cram school… A rich kid who acted like a wastrel, relying on his parents’ money… This was complete bullshit.
Without Cha Tae-hyun’s past memories, there was a possibility that those rumors were true, but I didn't think so. First of all, Cha Tae-hyun was far from being a rich kid. What parents’ money… I was an orphan even here, which was sad enough…
Anyway, I was getting annoyed. I was Cha Tae-hyun now. They were treating me like a criminal. I slowly opened the door. And I saw a group of girls. They were probably the ones who had been badmouthing me. I looked at one of them. Her eyes darted around.
Did she hear…? It was written all over her face. Yes, I heard. I heard you loud and clear. Next time, be careful when you badmouth people. I felt a sharp gaze and turned my head, meeting a pair of fierce eyes. Those two eyes… I was captivated.
For a long time. It was… even I thought it was a bit absurd… She was just so purely beautiful. Neat, long black hair, a small face, and features that looked like they were sculpted. Would this be what it felt like to see a celebrity in real life?
Anyway… she was unrealistically beautiful. Thanks to that, although we hadn't even greeted each other yet, I knew who she was. One of the heroines of Nemas, and the main heroine who ended up with the protagonist. It was definitely Shin Ha-yoon.
She looked exactly like her illustration.
“So scary. I don’t know if you’re trying to intimidate me with that look, but… I’m not scared like the others. If you do anything funny, I’ll report you right away.”
For a moment, my brain stopped. Did she think… my staring at her face was an attempt at ‘intimidation’…? It was so absurd that I chuckled.
Shin Ha-yoon flinched. No… that wasn’t it. Once you get a wrong impression, there’s no going back… I sighed and pulled out the chair next to her.
“I can sit here, right?”
Shin Ha-yoon’s face contorted. No, I don't want to sit with you either. What can I do when there are no other seats… I didn't get an answer, so I just sat down. My image was that of a delinquent, but my treatment was no different from an outcast, wasn't it?
“Let me tell you in advance… I hate your kind the most. Stay away from me.”
Shin Ha-yoon’s words came then. I was going to ignore them, but had I already assimilated with Cha Tae-hyun’s personality? A little… annoying.
“Don’t worry. I don’t want to get involved with a team-switching bandwagon fan either.”
“Wh-What!”
Shin Ha-yoon’s voice rose, and she frowned. I got her. She couldn’t not be bothered. She was a die-hard Phoenix fan since birth. I had just denied her soul, her fandom. Of course she would be bothered.
“What do you know to call me a bandwagon fan?”
Yes, you are a bandwagon fan. You switched to the Dinos as soon as your boyfriend got drafted, didn't you? Well… she was depicted as being unable to let go of the Phoenix until the end of Nemas, but… a bandwagon fan is a bandwagon fan.
Anyway… that was enough teasing. Seeing her red face, my annoyance had completely disappeared.
“You just look like a bandwagon fan… if not, then whatever.”
“Wh-What did you say!!”
Her raised voice pierced my ears. I chuckled and rested my head on the desk. It's bad to judge people by their appearance, but she had judged me as a piece of trash based on my appearance first, right?
So we were even. Anyway… ugh, what did this Cha Tae-hyun do at night to be so sleepy? Actually, if it weren’t for the friction with Shin Ha-yoon, I would have just put my head down and slept. My body was that tired.
As I was about to succumb to sleepiness…
-’Mi-yeon-ssaem!’
At someone’s shout, I was wide awake.