The Puzzle Falls into Place
"Stop!"
I barely grabbed Shin Seo-ah unnie's hand as she was about to open the door. Close call—safe.
"Whoa, bold move," she said, covering her mouth with one hand as she looked at me. Her eyes darted up and down rapidly. In my rush to dash out, the towel wrapped around me had loosened a bit. I quickly fixed it and shoved Seo-ah unnie into the master bedroom.
This wasn't the time to worry about embarrassment.
"You get it, right? Absolutely do not come out of that room." After drilling it into her, I headed back to the living room.
"Phew." I took a few deep breaths and approached the intercom. On the screen, Ga-young's face appeared. For some reason, she looked a little pouty.
"What brings you to my place?"
"You asking like you don't know? You're the one who hasn't been showing up to school, so I came to check. You weren't even picking up your phone."
Was she worried? If that was the reason, I couldn't just slam the door in her face. She made the effort to come all this way, after all. I hurriedly threw on some pajamas—and don't forget the glasses—and opened the front door.
"Long time no see."
"What? You look perfectly fine."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You've been missing school for a whole month, so I thought you were sick or something. Everyone else thought you'd dropped out."
"Family stuff came up... I'll be back starting next week. Thanks for coming by." I gave her a light wave, hoping she'd get the hint and leave.
But Ga-young showed no signs of going. Instead, she peered slowly past my shoulder into the house.
"Where are your parents?"
"We live separately."
"So you're living alone?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm." She tilted her head, as if surprised. Then she clapped her hands together with a "perfect timing" vibe.
"In that case, mind if I use your bathroom real quick? Must be from that café trip with friends—gotta go a little."
"...Sure." I couldn't exactly say no, so I let her in. I'd told unnie not to come out, so it should be fine.
"Watch your step—the floor's slippery."
Ga-young went into the bathroom and soon emerged into the living room, business done.
"Thanks for the bathroom."
"Yeah. It's late—head home safe."
I moved to see her out the front door. So far, so good—no incidents. I was just starting to relax when Ga-young stopped in her tracks and scanned the house intently. Her gaze landed on the master bedroom.
"By the way, whose voice was that on the intercom earlier? Aren't you living alone?"
"...M-my cousin unnie."
"Oh, the cousin who gave you those concert tickets last time?"
"Yeah. She's just visiting for a bit."
"Nice. I wanted to thank her anyway—the show was great thanks to her." And with that, she started heading toward the master bedroom.
Seo-ah unnie was in there. I had to stop them from meeting. I desperately blocked Ga-young's path.
"N-no! My cousin unnie's not feeling well right now!"
"Oh, really?"
"Y-yeah, for real. Right, cousin unnie?" I called out to Seo-ah unnie in the room with a pleading tone, desperately hoping for backup.
Seo-ah unnie caught on and played along from inside.
"...Cough, cough! Think it's a cold. Sorry if I pass it to your friend—I'll just say hi from here."
Her voice projection was spot-on; even the sick rasp sounded convincing. Ga-young bought it completely and bowed her head deeply.
"S-sorry, I had no idea. Sorry for barging in like this!"
She apologized profusely and turned toward the front door. I waved her off inwardly relieved.
"Get home safe."
"Yeah. Oh, right—one more thing. Sign this for me."
Before leaving, she pulled a paper from her bag and handed it over.
"It's the consent form for the makeup final exam. You're the only one who missed it."
"...Got it."
I leaned the paper against the wall and scribbled my name in the signature spot. Ga-young tucked it back into her bag, then rode the elevator down in silence.
Only then could I finally relax.
"...Phew."
Smack! Someone playfully swatted my butt from behind. I whipped around to see Seo-ah unnie standing there with a mischievous grin.
"You scared me! Cut it out with the pranks."
"Sorry. Your tense little backside was just too cute—I couldn't help it."
"...Jeez."
I rubbed my butt and sighed deeply. Watching me, unnie suddenly clapped her hands as if struck by inspiration.
"Hey, this isn't a bad idea."
"What?"
"Butt-smack performance. Wanna add it to our next choreo?"
"...I'd rather die."
It might get a good reaction, but no way—I'd be the one taking the hits every time.
"Your friend's gone. Wanna order some jokbal?"
"Weight management—you sure?"
"Psh, we're on vacation right now."
"Hmm."
After that close call, my stomach was rumbling a bit anyway.
"Fine."
It was a rare break, so I decided to indulge in some greasy food for once.
...But just in case, maybe 100 push-ups before bed.
* * *
"Feels refreshing."
Nine p.m. The girl emerged from her bath and, as usual, sat at her desk to pick up her pen. The hour before bed was always review time. This simple habit was what made or broke her grades.
Class president acts like one. Recalling that motto, she diligently continued her studies.
"Let's see, my notes..."
As she rummaged through her bag for her notebook, a single sheet of paper slipped out and fluttered to the floor. She bent down to pick it up—it was the consent form for the makeup final exam. At the bottom, in the signature line, "Kim Siyeon" was scrawled in small letters.
Seeing it, the girl couldn't help but smirk.
"Kids who don't study have handwriting like this, huh."
Crooked and wriggly, like worms crawling across the page. It was almost painful to look at straight-on. Hard to believe a high school freshman wrote this.
"Skipping the finals too—wonder if she'll even make it to college."
As she peered at the paper, muttering to herself, a familiar scent wafted from the signature.
"This handwriting, though..."
It looked familiar. Where from? After racking her brain, her gaze drifted to the bookshelf in the corner of the room—specifically, to the album cover slotted there.
Inside the album cover was a handwritten autograph from her ultimate bias, Ruti. And that autograph's handwriting...
...was shockingly similar to Siyeon's.
"...Nah, just a coincidence in style."
Still, just to check, she compared the album signature to the one on the form. Her eyes went wide.
Spacing between letters, slant, the shape of specific strokes, even the way letters were aligned—everything matched perfectly. It wasn't just similar; it was the same person's handwriting.
Can two different people's handwriting really be this identical...?
Scientifically, the odds of two people having identical handwriting were about the same as matching fingerprints—practically impossible.
So what was this right in front of her? She was utterly dumbfounded by the inexplicable situation.
Then, a forgotten question resurfaced.
The dodgeball incident. When Siyeon had taken off her glasses, her vibe was totally different from usual. She resisted so fiercely they couldn't get a good look at her face, but one thing was clear: she was hiding something under there.
Why go to such lengths to conceal her bare face behind those glasses?
She decided to retrace Siyeon's actions one by one.
First up: the frequent absences. From early in the semester, she'd skip whenever she could. No mentions of being sick, and she refused counseling even when teachers suggested it. At first, it seemed like plain laziness, but now it looked like something more complicated.
'1, 3, 7, 16, 17, 18...'
She marked the dates of Siyeon's absences on her calendar. Then she spotted a chilling pattern.
Every single day Siyeon missed school perfectly aligned with A-Star's official schedule. Not a single miss.
Same voice as Ruti.
Same handwriting as Ruti.
Same schedule as Ruti.
It all lined up.
Just one difference: their faces. Ruti and Siyeon looked nothing alike. Not just glasses or no glasses—their facial features were completely different.
That one gap kept the answer out of reach.
No way one pair of glasses changes your whole look that much. She's not Superman or something.
Frustrated with no answers, she opened a search engine.
Ruti true identity.
Ruti real name.
Kim Siyeon.
Ruti Siyeon.
She tried every keyword imaginable, hoping for clues. But all that came up were the usual clickbait trash.
One last search: Glasses change face appearance.
It sounded ridiculous even to her. But among the results, one medical paper caught her eye.
Glasses Syndrome (Glasses Syndrome). Incidence rate: 1 in a billion. Main symptom: wearing glasses makes you look like a completely different person.
"...Huh?"
Her fingertips trembled. It felt like the puzzle pieces in her head were clicking into place, one by one.