Chapter 1 Part 10 "Ugh."
A sharp light pried my eyelids open. Through the eyes I had forced open, an unfamiliar scene came into view. A bright, white place where curtains fluttered.
It wasn't the classroom.
A white ceiling and an IV stand came into view. I could smell medicine. And something like a familiar scent.
"A hospital?" I tried to pull my arm with a groan, but it wouldn't move. My forearm was numb.
Seeing a familiar face made relief wash over me. It wasn't exactly a situation where I should feel relieved after waking up in a hospital completely fine, but still, I was glad there was someone I could ask what had happened.
"Ah..."
I stopped just as I was about to wake Yeo Saebyeok for no reason, because something felt strange.
Looking more closely, it wasn't Yeo Saebyeok.
At first, I naturally thought it was Yeo Saebyeok, but when I looked carefully, he looked different. His features were similar, but this man looked much more mature.
Would Yeo Saebyeok look like this after all his baby fat was completely gone and he had matured? But it wasn't just the face that was different. The carefully styled hair, the neat clothes, even the whole atmosphere was completely different from Yeo Saebyeok.
"..."
Honestly, he was more handsome than Yeo Saebyeok.
As I compared them and examined the man's face more closely, the inside of my chest tickled a little. Was this my type? No, it wasn't that I liked men or anything. He was just absurdly handsome.
Looking at him, I almost felt bad for misjudging him. Compared to this man, Yeo Saebyeok was uglier.
I really had to tell him when I saw him. I saw a guy who looked like you, and he was so damn handsome that if I stood you next to him, you'd look like a squid. Even in this situation, a genuine laugh almost came out.
This was not the time for me to be laughing.
Why was I in the hospital, and who was this man for him to be sitting beside me?
"Excuse me." First, I had to wake him and ask. I carefully shook the man, and he quickly opened his eyes. The loose, hazy look in them sharpened the moment he saw me.
"Haneul." My name came out of the mouth of a handsome man far better-looking than Yeo Saebyeok. And in a way that was far too familiar. "Are you awake? What happened? Are you okay?"
The handsome man abruptly grabbed my shoulders. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? If something had happened to you, I would have..." Letting out a rough sigh, the handsome man choked up.
Even his voice sounded nice. While I was busy being impressed, he pulled me into an embrace.
His solid arms wrapped tightly around my back hard enough to hurt. In that fierce hug, there was an adult sort of scent. A smell that felt strangely familiar and yet unfamiliar.
My heart suddenly started pounding. Violently enough to fluster me.
"Y-yes? Uh, excuse me..." My words came out stumbling. I didn't even have to think about what I should ask first. I had to ask this before anything else—before where this was, why I was here, or what exactly had happened. "Who are you?"
"What?" The unfamiliar man flinched and stared at me. Even then, the arm holding me did not loosen. "What are you talking about, Giha? It's me, Yeo Saebyeok."
The man, who looked far more mature and handsome than Yeo Saebyeok, spoke to me.
"You're the one talking nonsense... Yeo Saebyeok?"
No way. That was not Yeo Saebyeok.
The absurdly handsome man, who absolutely could not be Yeo Saebyeok, laughed in disbelief. Even the way he frowned looked better than Yeo Saebyeok.
"Did you just wake up and you're out of it? You're joking, right, Giha? Don't do this. I'm really not in the mood for this right now."
How nice it would be if it were a joke. I wished all of this were a lie. Me too.
The man stared at my stammering face for a long while, then pulled me back into his arms. Held in that embrace, warm and smelling nice, my head spun. It felt like my confusion had doubled.
I thought I might even be confused about my own identity, so I barely managed to place a hand against the handsome man's chest. I should have been pushing him away, so why wouldn't he move?
"Th-then... who exactly are you supposed to be?"
. . .
Giha, twenty-nine years old?
No matter how I thought about it, it made no sense.
Tomorrow was supposed to be my high school graduation ceremony, and suddenly I was twenty-nine years old.
It was so absurd it came out sounding wronged. Shouldn't he at least say something believable? I close my eyes and open them, and suddenly ten years have passed? What was this, some kind of Christmas special movie?
"What are you talking about? Seriously! I'm eighteen."
"Right. I understand that's what you think, but you are twenty-nine." The man claiming to be Yeo Saebyeok answered while pressing his glabella.
Seeing how he was acting made me even more certain. If this had been Yeo Saebyeok's personality, by now he would have been sneering, or raising his voice, or at the very least pouting in irritation. There was no way he would respond that calmly.
"You're saying you're Yeo Saebyeok? Yeo Saebyeok does not look like this."
"...Then what exactly do I look like?"
"Uglier than this?"
"What are you even saying... You don't believe I'm Yeo Saebyeok because I'm more handsome than him?"
"Yes."
"Hey, Giha..." The man more handsome than Yeo Saebyeok let out a hollow laugh. He did not seem to be in a particularly bad mood, at least. "In what way am I more handsome than Yeo Saebyeok?"
"Well, first, compared to Yeo Saebyeok, your nose bridge is sharper, your face is leaner, and your overall face is more refined."
"That's because I've gotten ten years older, at least. So you really have been studying my face in detail."
"Your clothes aren't Yeo Saebyeok's style either."
"Would a twenty-nine-year-old still wear the exact same clothes they wore at eighteen? At home, I still dress comfortably like I used to."
"Your voice sounds better too."
"That's because of age... You really do like me now, don't you?"
"I didn't say that much. But mister was definitely more handsome than Yeo Saebyeok."
"Mister? mister?"
"If you're twenty-nine, then you're almost thirty, aren't you? Sorry. Hyung."
"Ha..." The more handsome-than-Yeo-Saebyeok mister rubbed down his face roughly. He seemed to have a lot on his mind.
No matter how much I thought about it, what I had to ask right now was this.
"So anyway, you're saying I don't remember anything after I turned eighteen?"
After a long while, the twenty-nine-year-old man who resembled Yeo Saebyeok finally opened his mouth. "The last thing you remember is getting hit by a car on your way to meet Saebyeok. ...The day before graduation?"
When I nodded, the fake Yeo Saebyeok's expression darkened even more than before.
"You don't remember how you ended up in the hospital? Nothing at all about what happened?"
I nodded again. That made sense, because after getting hit by the car, the last thing I saw was Yeo Saebyeok running toward me with the sky behind him.
"This time too, it was a traffic accident. They said you were miraculously not badly hurt anywhere, but you wouldn't wake up, so I was just waiting for the moment you opened your eyes." The fake Yeo Saebyeok spoke calmly.
Everything he was saying was suspicious, but the part I wanted to question most was the very last thing he said.
"No. Not my mom or my sister, but you?"
That was the first thing that had felt strange when I woke up. Why was some unfamiliar man I didn't even know staying by my side? Even if I gave in a hundred times and said he really was Yeo Saebyeok, shouldn't my sister at least be the one here? Why would they trust Yeo Saebyeok and leave me with him?
"Because I'm your lover." The fake Yeo Saebyeok, still wearing that calm expression, answered.
That unbelievable word struck the back of my head. I would rather believe that I was twenty-nine years old.
"You're... my what?"
"Your lover. Your boyfriend."
The fake Yeo Saebyeok threw out that bombshell at me while I sat there blankly with my mouth open.
My mind went white. What kind of nonsense was this? No matter how much I'd lived getting dumped by girls, I had no memory of ever crossing over and dating a man while I was in my right mind.
And not just any man, but one who looked like Yeo Saebyeok?
"That's a lie." I shook my head hard and denied it first.
A lover? I was already on the verge of developing trauma about dating because of Yeo Saebyeok, and now a lover?
"It's true."
"If you're going to lie, at least make it believable. Yeo Saebyeok isn't my type."
"You said before that just looking at my face made you full."
"What? Not even close."
"You also said earlier that I'm more handsome than Yeo Saebyeok."
"That just means you're better-looking than Yeo Saebyeok. It's not like Yeo Saebyeok is especially handsome. It's just that you're a little better-looking."
"So what you're saying is, you can't believe I dated you because of the way I look?"
"Absolutely. And you're not even Yeo Saebyeok. Is this some new kind of scam?"
The fake Yeo Saebyeok quietly watched me blinking in confusion, then took out his wallet.
"Look."
And then the fake Yeo Saebyeok held out what was probably a real driver's license.
[Yeo Saebyeok]
The printed name and photo greeted me. The resident registration number and birthdate were also exactly the same as the birthday of the Yeo Saebyeok I knew.
Tucked into one side of the wallet the fake Yeo Saebyeok held out was a photo of Yeo Saebyeok and me, both looking a little more mature and polished than we did now. In it, I—Giha—was grinning brightly for some reason, kissing Yeo Saebyeok on the cheek and making a V sign toward the camera.
It was a photo that, unless my head had exploded, there was no way I would ever have taken with Yeo Saebyeok. Kissing Yeo Saebyeok on the cheek was one thing, but even a cockroach would be better than that.
"Look at this too."
Seeing me go rigid with shock, the fake Yeo Saebyeok held out his phone.
On the phone's main screen, which looked absurdly nice, today's date and time were displayed.
"...The year is weird?"
The date was strange too. It showed a date that hadn't already passed.
"Look at this too."
The fake Yeo Saebyeok opened the gallery on his phone.
The photos that followed were full of warm-looking pictures no less intimate than the one in the wallet. Photos of Yeo Saebyeok and me.
I took the phone from Yeo Saebyeok as if possessed and flipped through the pictures.
There were not just one or two selfies of Yeo Saebyeok and me together. There were countless photos of me alone too.
"...Edited?"
"Would they be edited?"
"Manipulated."
"The date, the photos, the driver's license, all of it?"
"An incredible fabrication."
"What would I gain by lying and saying I'm dating you?"
"My... heart?"
At that answer, Yeo Saebyeok burst out laughing.
"Anyway, your older sister and your mother will be here soon, so you can check with them again then. Whether I'm lying or telling the truth."
So Mom and my noona were coming. The relief that I would not have to be alone with this strange man washed over me like a wave, but only for a moment. Then I became uneasy again.
What if Mom and my older sister came and said this man really was Yeo Saebyeok? What if all this talk about Yeo Saebyeok dating me was true?
"It's been seven years since you and I started dating."
Watching me go stiff with anxiety, the fake Yeo Saebyeok threw out another line.
It was the most horrifying thing I had heard all day.
Could a person's life really turn upside down this completely in an instant?
After getting hit by a car and opening my eyes, I had become twenty-nine years old.
And not just that, but twenty-nine and in a lovey-dovey relationship with a bastard no different from my archenemy.
I just wanted to faint again. Carrying that earnest wish, I flopped back onto the bed.
"Giha, are you okay? Are you dizzy? Should I call a nurse?"
I heard fake Yeo Saebyeok's voice from beside me, but I ignored it as hard as I could and simply shut my eyes tight. When I opened them again, I would wake up in my room. All of this was a dogshit dream.
Wishes were not granted so easily. When I opened my eyes, it was still the hospital bed.
I even underwent various tests from the medical staff. Instead of being pinched, I got jabbed over and over with needles, and I could feel the pain clearly.
With the sun going down outside, Yeo Saebyeok stayed by my side with a serious expression. Thinking that this was really Yeo Saebyeok, and that Yeo Saebyeok was playing the role of my guardian, was insane.
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