《The Best of Tomorrow》 Chapter 0: Prologue Prologue There was a group that created a dance craze in the Idol world. Four-member idol group, Potato Pancakes. There were rumors here and there that the representative debuted after eating potato pancakes. Popr cultural critics cited ¡®Idol group with the theme of peace between nature and humanity¡¯ as the secret to the survival of Potato Pancakes in the hard-to-sustain Idol world, but their secret to sess definitely depended on their faces. They were good at dancing, but their faces were the cream on top. They were very popr, and even before their debut, they had a big fandom. There was a slogan following Potato Pancakes since their debut, which was ¡®4-1=0¡¯. It meant that even if one member went missing, it would ruin their goodbination. The fans came up with a new fad, and all the members of the Potato Pancakes were handed over an alias that went well with their group¡¯s name and the slogan. Potato Kwon Seong-jun, Salt Baek In-hyuk, Cooking Oil Woo Hyun-seong, Soy Sauce Seo Yoon-jae. As a joke, they also kept Frying Pan as the name of thepany. The crisis urred after two years of their debut. After working with their two mini-album and first regr album, they were about to release their second regr album. That was when rumors of a 5th member joining the group started to fill the ears of the fans. [F**k, are you kidding me? 4-1=0, so why make it 4+1 now? Do you want to see the Earth blow up? Geun-soo?] Kang Geun-soo was the name of the group¡¯s representative. Variousmunities firedments and cursed Kang Geun-soo to the point that thement section was overflowing. Chats like ¡®If this is true, I¡¯ll die after killing you¡¯ were seen everywhere. Then one day at midnight, the second regr album of Potato Pancakes was released. And a picture was posted on the homepage of Potato Pancakes. There was one more person in the picture besides Potato, Salt, Cooking Oil, and Soy Sauce. A shining, handsome face withrge, mesmerizing eyes and fine lines that defined his face. The new member joining the group had been formally introduced. The problem was in the second regr album. As soon as the new member joined the group, the Potato Pancakes¡¯ production style hadpletely changed. The fans¡¯ replies to their music videos were full of abusive abbreviations, question marks, swear words, and feignedughter. The title song was a calming bad with a theme of fresh love, coupled with an intro of epic piano performance. It had apletely contradictory atmospherepared to the title song of the first album, where the intro had Vuvuz being yed in it, strong and fierce music notes included. Words like ¡®What the?!¡¯ rapidly escted in their Twitter page. The Potato Pancakes fan club Potato Legend was against the joining of the new group member. They even changed their name to ¡®Potato Battle¡¯ and ¡®Potato War¡¯. There were reasonable reactions like how their Oppas, who were dancing together, came to them and whispered while singing the song, ¡®Love me, my beautiful angel¡¯. They loved the unique group dance of their Oppas. ¡®The Potato Pancakes will be an experimental idol group. In the previous album, they showed a passionate group dance. This time, I wanted to portray a boy band that can sing perfectly with their heavenly voices. I¡¯m thinking of adding more hip-hop tones to their next album.¡¯ Like a prosperous businessman, Kang Geun-soo, who appeared on the program, stated those words. On the screen, Kang Geun-soo raised his thumb and even smiled. His expression looked like it was going as he nned. Only Ryu Seon-jae¡¯s back was being continuously hit because of Kang Geun-soo¡¯s n. [Seon-jae, if you have any conscience, get out, you b*stard ??] Only ¡°¡­ How outrageous. Who are you cursing at?!¡± I dragged the mouse cursor to the bottom right of thement and clicked on the spam button. Even though I knew it would be counted only once, I clicked on it many times. My face crumpled while staring at the monitor, my mind was upset after seeingments like these. To the Potato Legend, the abrupt announcement of Ryu Seon-jae was like a fire that never died, hoping for the extinction of Potato Pancakes. Fans sweared and cried, saying that they couldn¡¯t survive in the tough idol world while singing ordinary bads and that the Potato Pancakes would burn out. They cursed Seon-jae; he¡¯d ruined their Oppas¡¯ future by enrolling as a member in the group. ¡°If you¡¯re going to me, me Kang Geun-soo, the representative. What¡¯s wrong with my Seon-jae?¡± I turned my head and made eye contact with the person on the poster stuck to my wall. He had a bright smile, dressed neatly in a beige knitted sweater. If it was true that people live longer because they were cursed, Ryu Seon-jae, the 5th member of Potato Pancakes, would live until the demise of the world. But, I will always be his biggest fan and he¡¯ll be my number one. Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Oh, shit. I¡¯mte! As soon as I got home, I rushed into the room and turned on the radio. When I adjusted the frequency, for a while, I heard the buzzing noise, and shortly after, a sound with a loudugh came out. Listening to the sound, I sat down in a chair and took off my coat. ¨C Oh, Mr Seon-jae also joined thepany with In-hyuk. When was the most challenging moment for you as a trainee? I turned up the volume of the radio without taking off my socks. It was time for Seon-jae¡¯s voice toe out. ¨C Ah¡­¡­ I¡­um. In the wavering voice, which doesn¡¯t seem to remember well, Baek In-hyuk¡¯s voice interceded. ¨C You remember about the Gamgam bridge. ¨C Oh, right! I lost my wallet that day. I finished practice early in the morning, but when I opened my bag, my wallet was nowhere to be seen. I didn¡¯t have any money on hand, and I couldn¡¯t call home because it was toote at night. So I had to walk. It took me near two hours walking from work to home. It took a while. All the bad things came at once. I couldn¡¯t listen to music because my cell phone ran out of battery. It was winter at that time, but unfortunately, I put on slippers that day, and my toes froze. I burst intoughter when I heard that his toes were frozen. ¨C As I passed the Gamgam Bridge, the lights of the buildings reflected in the Han River looked sad. ¨C Seon-jae probably cried that day. ¨C No, I didn¡¯t cry. ¨C Then did you cry in your heart? Baek In-hyuk and the other membersughed at the yful Seo Yoon-jae¡¯s question. Everyone wasughing, but I was a little depressed. This is because I couldn¡¯t hear Seon-jae¡¯sughter. It was a pity that I could not see Seon-jae¡¯s face because it was not a visible radio, but on the other hand, I felt fortunate that I could not check his sad face. It has already been two years since Seon-jae joined the Potato Pancakes. However, fans still hated Seon-jae. They leftments on various sites and dug up a Twitter ount to hunt Seon-jae. Seon-jae couldn¡¯t help but notice that fans weren¡¯t delighted with him entering the group and that they even curse himself for it. Some fans shouted aloud in public broadcasts and fan signing events and, Offensive words such as ¡®Ryu Seon-jae, get out!¡¯ ¡®Ryu Seon-jae, get out!¡¯ could be heard. Seon-jae¡¯s face, which had been working hard with a big smile, looked exhausted recently. The deputy ounts, who im themselves ¡®Potato Combat Machines,¡¯ wrote spective articles about Seon-jae¡¯s expression these days and that they might leave him out of the next album. [I love you, Seon-jae. Beautiful you.] I left ament on the Potato Pancakes Instagram, where Seon-jae¡¯s photo was posted. Of course, it was my second ount. A private ount that has no followers and only following Potato Pancakes Instagram. I ¡®liked¡¯ the picture of Seon-jae. With the feeling that I want you to know that there are so many people who like you out here. *** At dawn, I opened my eyes with a frown on the vibrations that rang continuously. I felt my hand and picked up my cell phone and checked the cause of the vibration. It was Hyun-joo¡¯s message. [Shocked.] [Awesome.] [For real?] [Really?] [Is it true?] [Wow. What¡¯s going on?] Even if I didn¡¯t know what was going on, I was anxious. I hastily closed the message window and opened the Inte window. Ryu Seon-jae, a member of the Idol group, ¡®Potato Pancakes¡¯, is dead! Ryu Seon-jae, a member of the Idol group ¡®Potato Pancakes¡¯, died of severe drug addiction in the early morning of the 30th. Earlier, a media outlet reported that Ryu Seon-jae was found copsed down at a hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, at around 6:30 a.m. on the 30th. He was taken to a hospital but was confirmed dead. Ryu Seon-jae¡¯s agency dered that rumors about Ryu Seon-jae, who died because of an overdose of drugs, are ¡®Groundless rumors¡¯. Actually, he was suffering from insomnia and had been prescribed sleeping pills for a long time. However, the agency said it was ¡®groundless¡¯ about a spective article that estimated his cause of death as a drug overdose. On the night of the 28th, in Baek In-hyuk¡¯s V Live, a member of his team, said, ¡®Seon-jae is sick from a cold these days,¡¯ raising spection that he died of shock by taking sleeping pills and other drugs together. My heart was pounding, and my hands were shaking. I sat up on my bed and searched for three letters ¡®Ryu Seon-jae¡¯ on a portal site. My heart was beating like it was going to burst, and tears sprang up. Unbelievable articles with the title breaking news were pouring out. Tears fell over the screen, and my vision dimmed. Without even thinking about wiping my tears with the back of my hand, I pressed the dislike button andmented on maliciousments. Jerks! What kind of trouble did my Seon-jae have? What did Seon-jae do wrong? Feeling my world had copsed, I wrote a lot of abusivements to the unpleasant articles that mentioned Seon-jae. Eventually, Twitter¡¯s deputy ounts blocked me and kicked me out of the fan cafe. Why are you blocking me? A man is dead. How can you do this? I looked at Seon-jae¡¯s poster on the wall, thinking my world was turning upside down. The tears continued to flow endlessly, so I wondered how much pumping was done in the tear nds. ¡°No way.¡± While looking at the picture of Seon-jae closing his eyes in a reed forest, I leaned my upper body on my bed remembering him and cried out loud. Only *** Due to the agency¡¯s official announcement, Seon-jae¡¯s cause of death was revealed. It was a shock caused by taking cold medicine and sleeping pills at the same time. More than the agency¡¯s announcement, the article written by the reporter was more detailed. It was like he was writing a novel. He described it in detail as if he had watched Seon-jae¡¯sst night before he died. Ryu Seon-jae, who had suffered from a sudden loss of energy because of cold and flu, had dinner and went out to his hotel room. As soon as he entered the room, he took a shower. Because he disliked the texture of his shower gown, he wore arge hoodie and shorts, put a cold medicine in his mouth that he bought at a pharmacy, and drank a bottle of potion. Then he poured five sleeping pills into his mouth, which were prescribed to fall asleep immediately. This was thest appearance of 23-year-old Ryu Seon-jae. The article¡¯sments were filled with criticisms such as ¡¯Did you see it, reporter?¡¯. Somemented sarcastically and ridiculously, saying, ¡®He didn¡¯t like hotel gowns¡¯. Seon-jae¡¯s fans knew that Seon-jae didn¡¯t like to wear the hotel shower gown. This was because he often mentioned through V Live that his skin was sensitive and his hives were getting higher. ¨C This station is City Hall, City Hall station. The exit door is on the left. For customers who want to go to Cheonan or Soyosan in Incheon, please transfer to Line 1 at this station. I covered my face with a scarf and bowed my head. My shoulders were shaking because I kept crying. Thinking that I had read an article about Seon-jae in the subway, I put my cell phone in my pocket. I closed my eyes tight, which were swollen as a result of crying all night long. Tears dripped down and soaked my scarf. Chapter 2 Chapter 2 Iy on my bed, staring nkly at the wall. Photographs of seon-jae filled all the walls of the room. My favorite person died, and not a single person asked me if I was okay. Because you didn¡¯t show it. I was a very sessful public cosyer. No one really knew me. Youpletely deceived them all. Thinking about all those things made me tear up and cry. At that moment, I heard a buzzing sound next door. I wondered how much the volume was tuned up, a voice saying, ¡®Happy New Year! Viewers, Whishing Happy new year to everyone¡¯ came across the wall. I jumped up, clenched my fist, and pounded on the wall. ¡°Stop making the TV sound!¡± Then came the sound of banging from the next door, and hitting the wall louder. ¡°Stop making a ghost wailing!¡± ¡°Ghost wailing¡­¡± The lower lip puffed out. Then my nostrils got bigger. Tears filled my eyes again. I covered myself with a nket and cried out aloud. January 1st, the New Year hase. However, the new year has not passed for Seon-jae. And, a New Year¡¯s day without Seon-jae. I buried my face in my pillow and cried, then I turned around and crouched. I buried my face in the pulled quilt. ¡°Hughhhhh.¡± A weeping sound leaked from the tight teeth. Please give me back my seon-jae. Give me my seon-jae, you damn world. Wiping my tears, I tossed and turned. Something pressed my buttocks and made a quackling. What is it, a cell phone? Putting the nket in my hand, I fumbled over the mattress. When I lowered my gaze because I felt the light was filling under the nket, the light, which started from my buttocks, was gradually expanding its scope. ¡°Huh¡­ what is this¡­¡­.¡± Light from beneath the buttocks suddenly spread all over the ce, filling my vision. I closed my eyes tightly and screamed at the brightness that seemed to blind me. ¡°Ahhhh!¡± The glow that bursts out disappeared in a sh. Her eyelids were closed, but she could feel it. ¡°sol, Im-sol.¡± Someone grabbed me by the shoulder and shook me violently. Uh, what is it? I raised my head, and my eyes met with ck eyes. The familiar face winked upward with a perplexed look. When I looked there, a woman with a very disapproving face looked at me with her arms folded. ¡­¡­uh,huh? ¡°It¡¯s not enough for you to sleep in ss, now you¡¯re even talking in your sleep. What, now, do you want to go around the yground?¡± My mouth was wide open. Why is the ethics teacher here? As I lowered my gaze, I found a drooling textbook spread out on a square desk. A blue jacket, a blue vest, a red tie. I¡¯m wearing a school uniform¡­ I turned and checked again the face I saw earlier. It was a familiar face. It was Eun-hee, who was in the same ss when she was in the second year of high school. Oh, my God, what is this? A dream? The ethics teacher hit me lightly on the head with his fists. It hurts. ¡°Take your textbook and listen to the ss from back.¡± Looking at me sitting still with a nk face, the teacher raised his voice at me to hurry out. I closed my eyes tightly and opened them. The teacher frowned. What is with this actual-like atmosphere? ¡°¡­¡­yes.¡± Oh, my. My voice, ising out. I packed my textbook and pushed my chair back. I went to the back of the ssroom and stood. Looking at the ssroom scenery from behind, I felt like I was going crazy. What the heck? What is this? Holding the textbook in one hand, I tried to put my hand in the pocket and caught the watch. It¡¯s the watch that I picked up on the street earlier, with the rhyme to move. Roman numerals from 1 to 12 embedded, but the directions of the hour and minute hands were different from when I picked up. 12 o¡¯clock? I turned my head and looked at the clock hanging on the ssroom wall. It was 3 p.m. Is it a broken watch? No, it can be possible since it¡¯s a dream. Then there was a knock, and the front door of the ssroom opened. A hair tied up tightly, coupled with a rimless ss, could be seen. It was a health teacher. ¡°Ah, sorry for the interruption during ss. I came because of the medical check-up results. Student im-sol, can I see you for a minute?¡± Everyone¡¯s eyes turned to me, who was standing in the back. When I just stood there, blinking my eyes, the ethics teacher made a gesture to go out. I put the textbook on my side and opened the back door, and went out into the hallway. I took a few steps and stood in front of the health teacher. If I remember it correctly, he will probably say, ¡®The blood collection test results are acute anemia, so get a prescription for iron pills.¡¯ ¡°Student Im-sol, thest examination showed that the anemia level was a very low acute anemia, and if left untreated, it would be dangerous so prescription for iron pills are necessary.¡± I was right. ¡°Have you ever had a blurred vision or stumbled when you sat down or stood up?¡± Standing in a daze, I looked at the health teacher like he was strange. ¡°Im-sol student?¡± ¡°¡­¡­yes?¡± ¡°Are you all right?¡± I can¡¯t be alright in this situation. I turned my gaze and scanned the yground through the hallway window. The maple trees nted outside the yground were reddish. At the left end of the yground, a construction screen was installed due to the cafeteria¡¯s reconstruction. School cafeteria reconstruction. If studentsined about construction noise, the student-supervisor would say that you guys with bad grades even dare toin and shout, ¡®you guys don¡¯t even take sses anyway!¡¯. As if to destroy my misceneous thoughts, dust flew over the curtain with the noise of building debris falling. I know this scenery. Because this was my past. *** Sitting on the bus, I shook my legs with nervousness. I bit my thumbnail and chewed it with my teeth. ¨C This stop is Jagam High School. The next stop is Jagam Street. I looked out of the window with my face facing my knees. A long road was lined with Ginkgo trees, and when I passed a pedestrian, a road that I had once walked unfolded. I hade here once when I wanted to step on the school ground where Seonjae attended. I misread the map and kept hovering near this overpass. I pressed the exit bell and stood in front of the back door. My heart was pounding. A steady flow of time, a heartbeat felt throughout the body. Is this called a lucid dream? Is it supposed to be this vivid? I left my health teacher, who kept asking me if I was okay and ran out of school. This past was six years ago. I wondered if it was possible to reproduce things from six years ago in this order. But if this is a dream of the past, if I¡¯m rewinding the past regardless of my will, maybe I¡¯ll be able to meet a Seonjae I didn¡¯t know at this time. A while ago, I came out of school and tried to reach out like a habit to catch a taxi, but there was not a single note in my goddamn wallet. My dream was so solid that even my wallet at the time remained the same. So I had no choice but to take the bus. On the way to Jagamgo, the ss door of themercial building reflected my appearance. Short bangs, hair tied back, and pink knit socks, which were worn out over stockings. It was six years ago. Awesome, the sound just came out. I strode along and ran at high speed. With some expectation, my heart was about to burst with the earnest wind. Since it¡¯s a dream, I wanted to let Sun-jae know something if I met him. There are so many people in this world who love you, but they just weren¡¯t as loud as I am. You¡¯re such a lovely person. When I breathed with my chin raised down, my side ached, and my back bent. As I exhaled and raised my head, I could see a signboard inscribed with ¡°Jagam High School.¡± Wow, this is something crazy. Slowly I crossed the school gate of Jagam High School. It was a dream, and even though I thought there was no need to be scary, my heart fluttered. Crossing the yground, I saw a student standing in front of the sink in distance. Gray pants, white shirt, beige knit vest. No matter how much she blinked and squinted at him, he was standing alive, right before her. Oh, my God. ¡°Seon-jae!¡± She ran at full speed toward¡¯s Seon-jae. His head, ustomed to my loud, resonant voice on the yground, turned to my direction. I can see a face clearly looking at me. It¡¯s Seon-jae. Seon-jae, a high school student who she only saw in pictures. In an instant, she crossed the yground and hugged seon-jae. Did I run too fast? Only Well, sometimes you can even fly in your dreams. Seon-jae was pushed back because I could not slow down. I burst into tears with my face buried in Seonjae¡¯s vest. ¡°Seon-jae, that¡¯s Seon-jae. Ah, it¡¯s him. He¡¯s real.¡± ¡°What, what?¡± Seon-jae¡¯s surprised voice came out, and someone pulled me and grabbed my shoulder. When I looked at Seon-jae with a tearful face, I saw the owner of the hand that grabbed my shoulder. It was Baek In Hyuk. Chapter 3.1: Part 1 Chapter 3 ¨C Part 1 ¡°Whoa!¡± I breathed in sharply, so surprised that I pped Baek In-hyuk¡¯s hand away. Confusion overtook me, when I came to wonder why Baek In-hyuk had appeared in my dream. ¡°What are you getting all startled for?¡± Baek In-hyuk looked dumbfounded and made eye contact with Seon-jae. Most Potato battles and Potato wars were fought by Baek In-hyuk¡¯s fans. They said that Ryu Seon-jae would take away Baek In-hyuk¡¯s position. When they heard the news, they tied bands on their heads and opposed Seon-jae¡¯s joining. It was the same even after he joined. As a Seon-jae lover, I hated Baek In-hyuk¡¯s fans, so I hated Baek In-hyuk as well. It was only natural. Both of them caught sight of tears rolling down my face. Seon-Jae was the one who frowned first. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I nced at Seon-jae, wiping the tears flowing down to my chin with the back of my hand. A very unpleasant look was directed at me¡­ the same cold nce I¡¯d seen on TV. ¡°Do I know you?¡± ¡°Ah, I¡¯m just your fan. Your nickname¡¯s Seon-jae, so I called that out. Of course you don¡¯t know me.¡± I sniffed periodically. My eyes were probably red like my nose. I could feel tears clinging to my eyshes. ¡°Fan?¡± The gap between his eyebrows became narrower. ¡°Wow, hey, you got fans now?¡± Baek In-hyuk tapped Seon-jae¡¯s shoulder. I sent a look to Baek Inhyuk ¡°I¡¯m his fan. Don¡¯t you dare hit his shoulder again.¡± ¡°Did you just say that you¡¯re my¡­fan?¡± ¡°After Potato¡­ no, leave it. It¡¯s not something I would¡­ There¡¯s just something like that. Anyway, Seon-jae¡­ It¡¯s so nice to see you.¡± Although he had a very put-off look on his face, it was overwhelming to see Seon-jae right in front of me. The fan signing event was cancelled every time and the concert was also based on a firste, first-served basis. So, I eventually gave up meeting him. It was simr to getting the honor to meet the king. My cheeks stretched, I was smiling so widely, joy must be apparent on my face. The happiness filling in me was so much that tears flooded into my eyes for a moment. I couldn¡¯t bear to see his beautiful face anymore. It felt like Seon-jae had visited me, who loved him so much, before he went to heaven. When I started crying again, Baek In-hyuk probably covered his face with his hands and acted as if he was holding back hisughter. I wanted to see it, but I didn¡¯t look away. A dream, in which I wouldn¡¯t know when I¡¯d wake up. Just seeing Seon-jae¡¯s face wasn¡¯t enough. I went over and fixed my gaze on Seon-jae¡¯s face. ¡°Seon-jae, you are the best singer for me. Your songs have always been my strength. And everyone likes you. I hope you don¡¯t just remember the bad memories.¡± My nostrils red as emotions drowned me. My throat felt sore and my tummy was on fire. I couldn¡¯t stop the tears that were gushing out of my bloodshot eyes. Slightly shaking, I reached forward, sping Seon-jae¡¯s face with both hands. I held his cheeks firmly, letting out an iprehensible sound. When I pinched and stretched Seon-jae¡¯s cheek, I could feel his soft skin. Seon-jae immediately frowned. He took a step back and pulled his face away. ¡°It feels so real. Ugh. I still can¡¯t believe it. Hnnn, fricking cold medicine, I wish I could crush it.¡± I put my head back, with my arms covering my eyes. The tears flowed down till my ears. I wailed loudly, unable to control my feelings. ¡®This is just a dream. What¡¯s the point of having Seon-Jae here? This¡­is not in real life.¡¯ ¡°Seon-Jae! Ryu Seon-Jaeeee, I love you so damn much!¡± I was crying out Seon-jae¡¯s name, when suddenly something covered my mouth. As I lowered my arm and got back my vision, I saw Seon-jae in front of me. His big, warm palm covered my wet mouth and kept me from crying more. His eyebrows furrowed. I could see that Baek In-hyuk was standing far away from where we were, so they both probably wanted to leave the ce when they saw me crying on my own, head bowed down. They¡¯d want to ignore me, and walk away. Then, when my voice called out to Seon-jae, ringing out loud in the yground, he stopped. ¡°Call his name one more time!¡± I blinked my eyes. Seon-jae¡¯s hands felt warm, touching my lips. I want to smell it. Did I really just say I wanted to sniff his hand at this moment!? What am I? A pervert? ¡°I¡¯m going to kill you.¡± Seon-jae gritted out, walking to where Baek In-hyuk was standing. Only I wiped my face, turning around to see Seon-jae walking away from me. Baek In-hyukughed, pointing to Seon-jae¡¯s vest, which was covered with my tears. Seon-jae pulled Baek In-hyuk¡¯s vest and rubbed his wet vest onto Baek In-hyuk¡äs vest. Baek In-hyuk shouted, ¡°Hey, stop that.¡± When I raised my head, some students were looking down at me as they approached the window. It was interesting to a person from another school, wearing a different uniform, standing in the yground and crying. What should I do now? Do I have to still stand here? I¡¯d said everything I wanted. Shouldn¡¯t I wake up at this point? I looked up at the sky. The white, fluffy clouds were floating slowly in the light blue sky¡­ Chapter 3.2: Part 2 Chapter 3 ¨C Part 2 The silver moon was glowing up in the sky¡­ white, fluffy clouds were flowing slowly in the dark sky. It had already been night a long time ago. ¡°Hey! ¡± I was seated on a cold wooden bench, my palms ced on the top. Humming under my breath, I swung my feet across along with the beat. At that moment, I heard a strange voice. I raised my head to see a man, whose hair was parted evenly, looking at me while he took his cell phone out. ¡°My friend asked if he can get your number?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°That guy in the grey hoodie said he was interested.¡± My eyes shifted to look at where the man was pointed. Next to the pole, stood a man in grey hoodie, his dark head bowed down. ¡°Oh ¡­ I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯d rather not¡­ ¡± I replied in a hesitating manner and bowed my head in an apologetic way. The man smiled awkwardly and turned around to leave. ¡°Dude, you got rejected.¡± ¡°Shut up, you bast*rd. I guess she has a boyfriend.¡± The man in the gray hoodie and the one who asked for my number nced at me once before walking away. It¡¯d been a long time since the sun went down¡­ I didn¡¯t understand why I was still here even though it was night¡­ My eyes kept blinking, waiting to wake up¡­ ¡­. Im-sol. How much longer are you going to sleep? Wake up. Open your eyes. I shut my eyes tightly and pped my cheeks with both my hands. Wake up, me. Please wake up! I lowered my hands and gently opened my eyes. I could still see the park where the darkness had fallen. The same scenery as before. Sigh. Why was it still the same? At that time, I felt something vibrating on my thighs. Vibration? I could feel it¡­ I couldn¡¯t believe the vibrations were so vivid. So realistic¡­ I had to say¡­ maybe it¡¯s a new, realistic dream? I reached out to my pocket, taking the phone out to see who called me. [Mrs. Lee] Oh,e on! It¡¯s a dream and I¡¯m still getting a phone call? ¨C Hello? ¨C Hey, why aren¡¯t youing home? Have you seen what time it is?¡± I was speechless. Come home? ¡°Ah, this dream is so weird¡­¡± ¨C What dream? Forget it,e home now! It¡¯s eleven o¡¯clock. ¡°Mom, I can¡¯t wake up. I don¡¯t know for how many hours I¡¯ve been sitting and dreaming here.¡± ¨C What are you talking about? Hurry up ande home. It¡¯ste. Thuck, the call was cut off. I stared at the phone screen and something struck my mind. I quickly searched Potato Pancakes, Ryu Seon-jae, and Baek In-hyuk on the Inte, but nothing showed up. I went to the school integrated information system site, entered my student number and password, and tried to log in, but that too, failed. It said there was no such information avable. Why did this seem so realistic? It couldn¡¯t be real¡­ this has to be a dream. Why can¡¯t I wake up? What did I do before I fell asleep? I remember¡­ I had screamed. ¡°Stop ying the TV so loudly!¡± Then, came the sound of banging from the next door, and hitting the wall louder. ¡°Stop wailing so much!¡± ¡°Wailing¡­¡± I stared at the distant, dark scenery. Everything looked the same like what it had looked the previous night. I tried to scream the way I had screamed before falling asleep and drifting to this dream. I tried to walk as fast as I could in the park¡­ kept walking but the light didn¡¯te out. I cried and cried in a hope to see the familiar light but nothing showed up. After a while, I stopped letting out tears. I breathed out briefly, letting out a hot breath and clutched my hands to the side. ¡°Now let me wake up from my dream!¡± Suddenly, I heard augh from somewhere and turned around to see. It seemed the sound came from behind the flower bed in the park. While I was checking out who was behind the flower bed, the other side of the park resonated withughter. I turned back to see a group of men with cigarettes in their mouths entering the park. They screamed,ughed and chatted with one another. How bad. Even if it¡¯s a dream, one should always avoid situations like this. I got up from the bench and hurried to leave the park at the moment. As I had nowhere to go, I decided to return home¡­ to the house where I had moved out and didn¡¯t live in, anymore. ¡­ Get up! Get up! The rm shook me awake. It went silent when I pressed the panda¡¯s head. I slowly opened my eyes to see a brightly colored ceiling. I was lying on my bed, eyes fixed upwards. This was not my room¡¯s ceiling! I jumped up and sat on the bed and looked around. My school uniform was hanging on the doorknob. ¡°Oh, my God. Still?¡± I felt my face in a daze, opened the door and went out. There was no one in the house. My dad worked in the countryside and came home once a month. My mom went to work early in the morning because her workce was far away. I always lied that I ate something so that I didn¡¯t have to eat alone and went to school. I used to do this back in highschool. As I went to the kitchen, I saw a memo attached to the refrigerator. [Don¡¯t skip meals, don¡¯t bete.] It¡¯s mom¡­ ¡°What is happening, man? What am I supposed to do? You want me to go to school?¡± Standing in the middle of the living room, I frowned looking at the sunlighting in through the window. No way, this wasn¡¯t a dream. Or was it? ¡­. ¡°Im-sol. Are you going to join the ranks of troublemakers? Are you skipping ss?¡± ¡°No¡­¡± As I answered with a stutter, the homeroom teacher red at me with an unpleasant look on his face. I was guilty of running away yesterday without even thinking. I bowed my head, asking for forgiveness. The bell rang to announce the start of the first period. I had to attend the ss, so I stood up holding my books and leaving for my ssroom. ¡°Where are you going? Are you not going to ss?¡± ¡°Oh, yeah. ¡± I nodded, bowed and left the teacher¡¯s room. I walked into the ssroom and sat down. I couldn¡¯t remember where I was, but the bag I left yesterday was hanging on my desk. ¡°What in the world were you doing yesterday?¡± Eun-hee, sitting next to me, hit me and asked. Only ¡°I know¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t believe I was back in second year of high school¡­ I looked nkly at the ckboard with my chin resting on my hand. I looked at Euh-hee and asked, ¡°Do you know Potato Pancakes?¡± ¡°Huh? Food?¡± ¡°No, the band. Idols.¡± ¡°Is there a band with that name? What¡¯s with the name?¡± She doesn¡¯t know. I nced at the clock on the ssroom wall. Time flew like an eagle in a dream. But the minute hand in the clock went normally, slow and painful. Chapter 4.1: Part 1 Chapter 4 -Part 1 ¡°So, what is this? It¡¯s called Daedong Law enforcement. This can be solved if you understand the tax system of Joseon. Can you point out the keywords here?¡± ¡­I¡¯m going crazy. This is no different thaning back to high school as a sophomore. ss, break time, ss, break time. The sses continue one after another. I was stuck in the timetable. And I have been spending my whole time in this cycle. Every minute and every second. As I frustratedly grabbed and pulled on my bangs, I felt a gaze directed towards me. I turned to look at Eun-hee looking at me with a strange expression on her face. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? You have been acting strange since yesterday.¡± Eun-hee came closer to me and whispered. It¡¯s weird for you too, right? It feels strange to me too. I quickly let go of my bangs and sat close to Eun-hee. ¡°Hey, I want to tell you something. What happened is that¡­ I woke up in the middle of the night and I found out that I¡¯m six years back in time. This has to be a dream¡­ but I can¡¯t wake up from it. What am I supposed to do?¡± Eun-hee blinked, her eyes wide open, soft pink lips spread apart. ¡°Time leap?¡± she spoke in a low voice. ¡°Time leap? What¡¯s that?¡± Eun-hee wrote in a few fluent strokes on the empty space of my textbook. ¡°It¡¯s just what it sounds like. Jumping through time. Same as time travel.¡± As soon as Eun-hee finished talking, a chalk came flying and fell on her desk. When I raised my head, the history teacher was looking at us with ring eyes. Eun-hee coughed in vain and immediately looked into the textbook. ¡°Let¡¯s not talk now.¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡± I bowed my head and nced over the scribbled letters in the textbook. Time¡­ Leap ¡­.. In the 8th period, the supplementary ss was reced with self-study time. During that time, I searched the time leap on the portal site. Rted search terms such as time travel, time slip, and time machine showed up. I read the articles one by one patiently. Time travel is an act of moving away from the normal flow of time to the past or the future. 1) Time slip is when a person or a group goes against or out of time for unknown reasons and falls in the past or in the future. 2)A time machine is a fantasy machine that enables time travel to the past or the future. ¡°What does this mean?¡± I turned my phone over and put it on my desk, with my arms together and lying down. And I tried to recall the memories of the night of December 31st. I drank the hot soju, although it was not strong, I felt a bit tipsy, and I cried at the thought of Seon-jae. I kept listening to his songs. That¡¯s it. As soon as New Year started, I returned to six years ago. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn¡¯t think of it as a dream. It was just a very normal routine. Except for the fact, I know what¡¯s going to happen in the next six years. Boom, Boom I hit my forehead on the desk in frustration. Eun-hee grabbed me by my shoulders and stopped me. ¡°Why are you hitting your head? What happened?¡± ¡°Time Leap, I think that really happened.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Eun-hee looked at me for a few good seconds before bursting intoughter. She keptughing while I was being serious. I said with a serene gaze, ¡°No, really. I¡¯m not kidding. I thought I was drunk and asleep, but I don¡¯t think this is a dream.¡± ¡°Sol, what do you mean by drunk..?¡± the smile disappeared from Eun-hee¡¯s face. ¡°I¡¯m not a child. I¡¯m 23¡­ no, because it just turned New Year, I¡¯m 24. I¡¯m a college student. I¡¯m a terrible college student who hasn¡¯t got a job yet and is a fan of an idol group, but a college student is still a college student.¡± ¡°So, Im-Sol, you¡¯re from the future?¡± I nodded vigorously. ¡°Did you travel back in time?¡± I shook my head vigorously this time. ¡°I was crying for my favourite idol who died, covered in a nket. Suddenly the nket glowed brightly, full of light, and when I opened my eyes, I was here.¡± Eun-hee looked at me with a worried face and patted my shoulder. I thought she was being sympathetic, thinking I had lost my screws, so I lifted my head off the desk. This was not enough for her to believe me. I put my hands up to cover my face and even avoid her gaze. Why is it like this? With a slight sigh, I rubbed my forehead and looked down at the desk. There was a scribble that said, ¡°Im Sol?¡± written inrge size with a marker. It was Hyun-Joo¡¯s graffiti. Hyun-joo was my best friend whom I met in middle school. We both went to the same high school. Hyun-joo was the only friend I could hang out with, but as his dad moved to the province after getting promoted, he had to move to another school after appearing for the mock exam in September of our second year. If Hyun-joo were here, would he have believed me? Six years ago, at this time of year, I was very depressed. There was a time when I was kicked out after being hit on the head several times with adle by mom for refusing to give up school and take the qualification exam. When I had to exin why I couldn¡¯t study, I used to make excuses because my mom used to hit my head with adle. My fingers traced Hyun-joo¡¯s graffiti. It was written with a permanent marker, so no matter how much I rubbed it, it didn¡¯t get blurred or erased. I got goosebumps when I thought, ¡°This is really the same as my past.¡± Soon after, my heart beat fast. I don¡¯t know why, but did I really end up traveling time or something? Only Then¡­ The bell rang. I pushed the chair back and stood up with a bag hanging on the desk rack. Eun-hee, who was sitting on the street, looked up at me who suddenly stood up. ¡°Are you gonna study at night?¡± I nodded, slinging the bag on my shoulders. ¡°Why would you do that? There is nothing to worry about the College Schstic Ability Test. You can just study a day before the exam.¡± I ced my chair in its ce and patted Eun-hee on her shoulder. ¡°Eun-hee, study hard.¡± Chapter 4.2: Part 2 Chapter 4 ¨C Part 2 I said this because I knew Eun-hee had failed the college entrance exam. I opened the ssroom door and went out into the hallway. Maybe this is an opportunity. An opportunity to prevent Ryu Seon-Jae from joining the Potato Pancakes, and being attacked by the damn Potato Battle. An opportunity to prevent the birth of the Potato Battle, an opportunity to save Ryu Seon-Jae, who lost his life by taking the wrong cold medicine at the age of 23. The reason Seon-Jae suffered from insomnia was all because of the selfish fans. Now that I¡¯m 18 years old, my goal is to live again. And to not let the fifth member, Ryu Seon-jae join the band. A crusade to save him! Jagam High School. I stood again in front of the signboard like yesterday. As far as I know, Seon-jae did not study at night from the station when he joined thepany and started his trainee life. It¡¯s now 6:10. The school was quiet, as if the night-time self-study had started. I came here thoughtlessly hoping to meet Seon-jae. If we meet, I¡¯m lucky, and if we don¡¯t, I cane again tomorrow. I¡¯ll make sure my idol doesn¡¯t join the Potato Pancakes. This is the starting point of my fight, I won¡¯t stop. I will save Seon-jae! ¡°Yes, yes!¡± I clenched my fists and pulled them to my side. ¡°Isn¡¯t she the one? The one who cried Ryu Seon-jae¡¯s name?¡± With both fists stuck to my side, I turned around, knees bent, looking at the two female students who were entering the school gate with ice cream in their hands, staring back at me. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± One of the girls said and stopped walking. As soon as I thought why they stopped, I turned around to see a girl standing in front of me. The girl with mascara on her eyshes looked at my name tag and read my name. ¡°Im-sol?¡± The girl standing next to the boy who called my name looked at me from head to toe. Her gaze scanned me from toe to head. ¡°What are you to Seon-Jae? Are you dating him?¡± ¡°What!?¡± My face turned red on hearing this. Oh my god! Seon-Jae and I can¡¯t be misunderstood as a couple. Just the thought of it heated my face and I covered my cheeks with both hands. ¡°No way! How dare you say something like this about the great Seon-jae?¡± The girls who were frowning at the shy me, burst intoughter. It was close to ridicule. ¡°Great Seon-jae? Huh, look at her words.¡± She folded her arms across her chest in a sh, with an attitude that looked like a bully¡¯s. Ah, I am such a loser! ¡°You were crying and screaming, ¡°I love youuuuu¡± the other day. Is this a new trick?¡± ¡°Pardon? A trick?¡± She smiled as good as she could. What¡¯s wrong? That¡¯s scary. They should just go inside and leave me alone¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t think anything about Seon-jae or develop feelings for him. I¡¯ve been eyeing on him since the college opening ceremony.¡± A girl with half-tied hair wearing a name tag named Kim Ok-soon stared at me fiercely. ¡°Oh¡­ ¡± ¡°Hey, why are you still here?¡± ¡°Leaving¡­¡± I nodded. This is enough. I need to leave quickly. It was too bad for students to behave badly and bully others. A bully in school uniform is the scariest thing in the world. I stood in front of the school gate and waited for Seon-jae toe out. While tapping on the stone near my foot, I turned the bag forward, opened the zipper and took out the letter. I wrote in a letter what I had to say because I couldn¡¯t gather courage to say it. I¡¯ve written many letters to Seon-jae, but it was the first time I¡¯ve ever delivered them with my own hands. My heart jumped to the voluntary guts gathering. I picked the letter and envelope carefully¡­ the one with the big heart. My fingers traced the big heart drawn on the envelope and rubbed the surface as I took the letter out of it. As I unfolded the letter which was folded three times, I could see the letters carefully written, making sure each letter didn¡¯t appear crooked. My eyes widened as I read the letter starting with ¡®To Seon-jae¡¯. ¡°What?¡± I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand and checked again. Even if I opened my eyes and blinked several times, the most important part of the letter was gone. ¡°On XX January, XX, you¡¯re going to have a cold. You suffer from insomnia, so you¡¯ll try to find a sleeping pill, but even if you can¡¯t stand it, please don¡¯t take any medicine that day, don¡¯t even take vitamins. It¡¯s going to be dangerous for you.¡± There was an empty space in the middle¡­ ¡°Did I think about something but didn¡¯t write it down?¡± Thest greeting; ¡®I¡¯m your fan¡¯, remained the same. ¡°No, how¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t believe it even when I saw it. I wrote it with a pen, not a pencil. Tears continued to flow while I was writing, and the letters spread, so it was onlypleted the third time I rewrote it. ¡°It can¡¯t be¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t tell Seon-jae that he was going to die in the future, so I wrote it in a roundabout way. ¡°Huh?¡± I raised my head to see where the voice came from. Baek In-hyuk and Seon-jae were walking side by side. I quickly crumpled the letter in my hand, shoving it into my pocket. ¡°Are you here to see Seon-Jae?¡± Baek In-hyuk asked me and nced at Seon-jae. I came here to see Seon-jae. It was until I checked the contents of the letter, I was supposed to deliver this letter to Seon-jae. But damn it, why did the letter look like this? ¡°Oh, no? I¡¯m here to meet a friend.¡± ¡°Friend? Do you have friends here?¡± ¡°I do. I¡¯m here to meet Deok-bae. ¡± ¡°Deok-bae?¡± Baek-hyuk asked eagerly so as to confirm if there was such a name in the school. There was a loud noise. He turned his gaze to the yground to see what just happened. It seemed like my business wasn¡¯t his to mind. Only ¡°What are you doing? Let¡¯s go.¡± Seon-jae spoke in a low voice and walked out of the gate. Baek In-hyuk, who murmured the name Deok-bae a couple more times, followed Seon-jae with a look of confusion on his face. I looked at the yground with my head sticking out as if Deok-bae was reallying. At that moment, I pulled out the letter I had crumpled in my pocket and opened it. ¡°Can¡¯t I just tell him the truth about his future?¡± Or give the letter as it is¡­ ¡°Huh¡­¡± I sighed as I lowered my head. I had a hunch that this wouldn¡¯t go smoothly. Chapter 5.1: Part1 Chapter 5 ¨C Part1 I came to Jagam High School right after school. Since night self-study began, the school was quiet. While looking around, I pulled out a notebook and permanent marker from my bag. I squatted there, put the notebook on my knees and started writing a letter. [Do not take cold medicine with a sleeping pill] [66 Entertainment Mangjo X] [Cold medicine X] [Sleeping pills X] [Potato pancakes X] I tore pages from the notebook and attached it to the electric poles, streetlights, and walls that I could see, so that one can see right away aftering out of the school gate. If you can¡¯t tell the truth of the future, you can provide objective information; the information anyone can say after searching it up on the Inte. As a result of experimenting at home, I realised that I couldn¡¯t tell what happened in the future. When I left it in letters, it got erased. When I tried to talk about it, a strange sound kept popping out of nowhere. When I went into the bathroom and tried to yell, ¡°Ryu Seon-jae, you will die if you take the wrong medicine!¡±, I heard something strange. And at the same time, water spilt from the shower. I was more terrified than I was back in the past. It was really strange. There are some rules in time travel, and it seems like they are watching me. After pasting the three sheets, I added one more page. [Ryu Seon-jae, stay away from Baek In-hyeok; a member of the school] As I was pressing on the tapes attached to the corners of the sheet, a familiar voice flew from behind. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± ¡°O-oh¡­¡± I thought my heart was going to fall! I was so surprised that I flinched and turned my head, slowly. Baek-hyuk¡¯s sharp, thin eyes were looking at what I was holding; a piece of paper that was bent helplessly with less tape attached in a corner. Whoops With a jerk, I crumpled the paper¡­ turning my hand into a fist. ¡°Give it to me, I saw my name.¡± Baek In-hyuk reached out his hand. When I stepped back, Baek In-hyuk walked as much as I stepped back. It¡¯s not something that he would like to see. What should I do? I nervously looked around. I saw Seon-jae standing behind Baek In-hyuk, expressionless. This paper should disappear. I chewed the crumpled paper in my mouth. Baek In-hyuk stood there, his mouth wide open at what I just did¡­ ¡°Oh God, I can¡¯t watch it! I¡¯m not looking! Spit it out!! Did you eat it!?¡± Unbelievable! Looking at my chomping lips, Baek In-hyuk covered his mouth with his hands. Oh my God. It seemed like I was surprised too. I could feel the dampened paper clinging to the roof of my mouth. I want to spit it out! It made me cry. This is ridiculous! Looking around, I saw no one but the three of us. How and where should I go? Ryu Seon-jae and Baek in-hyuk, who were standing behind me now, started to walk towards me. Yesterday I was so shocked and distracted that I couldn¡¯t notice them properly. But looking at the two standing close to me now, I was speechless. ording to the profile provided by the agency, Ryu Seon-jae was 184 cm tall, and Baek In-hyuk was 186 cm tall. They had already grown up in high school. Because of their height, their faces looked high. Looking at them, I could see Ryu Seon-jae¡¯s dark brown hair, Baek In-hyuk¡¯s hair was light brown in color. If Ryu Seon-jae was a dog and Baek In-Hyuk was a cat, both were handsome enough to choke. Looking at such handsome faces so close, I felt both mentally and physically oppressed. Seon-jae, who put his hand in his pocket, looked at me without an expression. The face you always smiled at on TV, could look so cold. It was a little surprising. The expressionless face turned towards Baek In-hyuk. ¡°Baek In-hyuk, let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°I saw our names on the paper. What did she write about us? Do you know?¡± Seon-jae ignored Baek In-hyuk¡¯s words and walked first. My eyes followed Seon-jae¡¯s figure, walking away. I can¡¯t let it slip off my hand and I don¡¯t know when I will go back to the present¡­ ¡°Seon-njae is a nice person, but he¡¯s cold.¡± Baek In-hyuk lowered his upper body to match my eye level and smiled. ¡°You know what¡¯s funny?¡±and said the next words in a whisper¡­ ¡°Your first appearance was a bit shocking. But I can¡¯t believe that you ran into us and cried¡­¡± I still had the paper in my mouth, wide open and upon hearing his words, I closed my mouth. Suddenly, he raised his thumb. I lowered my eyes and saw a round, long thumb. ¡°The paper-eating act was the best! But Seon-jae doesn¡¯t seem to be interested. So try harder¡­ better luck next time.¡± Baek In-hyuk smiled, looking at my dumb-struck face and turned around to leave. ¡°¡­¡± Spit it in the trash in front of you!! I spat out everything I had in my mouth. I rubbed my mouth with the back of my hand and looked at their distancing figures. Seon-jae¡¯s dark, silky hair fluttered with the breeze, rhythmically. I felt weird seeing Seon-jae so young, and being alive. Damn it! I don¡¯t care what it is. I shook my head at this mess. Wake up, Im-Sol! You have only one mission. It¡¯s about saving the best! Saving Ryu Seon-jae! I clenched my fist and raised it in the air. I went home quickly and sat in front of theputer, wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants that I had matched as a pair at the athletic meet. I had gone to a second-hand store and searched for gym suits and that is when I found these. I had pasted a piece of paper near the gate, mentioning not to take permission and sleeping pills together before returning home. First, I have to get into the school without getting noticed. To do that, it was impossible to wear another school¡¯s uniform. [We sell gym clothes, uniforms and winter clothes. Direct transaction. Ten thousand won.] I found a post on sale. As there were noments, it seemed that it had not been sold yet. I immediately sent a message to the seller¡¯s number. [Hello, I¡¯d like to buy a gym suit for my school.] [Okay, winter uniform or summer uniform?] [Winter uniform. Can I get it tomorrow?] [Yes, that¡¯s avable. Since I am a student, is it okay to meet at 6pm at McDonald¡¯s at Jagam Intersection?] [Good, will be there on time.] [Yes, please contact me tomorrow] Tak I put my phone down on my desk. Would this go smooth? I sighed¡­ Chapter 5.2: Part 2 Chapter 5 ¨C Part 2 The corners of my lips rose up into a smile, in surprise. I swiftly opened the door to McDonald¡¯s, only to run out speedily, after seeing someone very familiar. Seon-jae was seated inside. Damn, why is Ryu Seon-jae here?! I bit my lip in anxiety, and hid behind the ss door. Without wasting much time, I threw the hood over my head, and rang the seller¡¯s number. Ring, ring¡­ Ring, ring¡­ The ringing stopped the moment Seon-jae answered the phone, his slightly muscr arms supporting his chin as he sat therezily. He was constantly munching on the crispy french fries. No way! I could hear his voice over the call. Oh my God¡­ Seon-jae¡¯s head shifted in my direction, forcing me to dart behind the wall, crouching as low as possible while bending my knees. ¡ª Hello? Seon-jae called out. I remained silent for a moment. After a few seconds passed, I deepened my voice and spoke in a rough manner; ¡°I have arrived. What are you wearing?¡± ¡ª I¡¯m wearing a school uniform, with a beige colored knitted sweater. I craned my neck forward and nced at Seon-jae. He wore a pair grey-colored school uniform pants, white shirt, tie, and a beige round neck sweater. Oh, sh*t. It really is Seon-jae. But he is still in highschool, second year. He doesn¡¯t have P.E, right? Why would he sell gym clothes? ¡°Yes, get the things ready. I¡¯ll being in now.¡± Tuk. I hung up the call, pulling the cord of the hood as much as I could and covering what was visible of my mouth with my sleeve. Huuu¡­ I exhaled deeply, warm breath getting reflected back, and stepped inside McDonald¡¯s. Lowering my gaze, I sat right across Seon-jae. Before he could say anything, I hastily ced 10,000 won on the table. Seon-jae looked at me as if he was confused by my fairly fast move. I held out my pale palm, silently asking for the uniform, averting my eyes. ¡°Oh, here you go. Did you see the picture?¡± Seon-jae handed over the bag that was next to him. I grabbed and took the bag from him. ¡°Cool, thank you.¡± I exited McDonald¡¯s and ran as fast as I could. I sprinted for a long, long time, scared that Seon-jae woulde after me anytime. When I got under the bridge, I stopped running and shakily took off my hood. I was out of breath, huffing for air. ¡°Ah¡­ I¡¯m so tired.¡± My cheeks felt warm after all this exertion. I took out my gym clothes from my shopping bag as I was catching my breath, my other hand holding my side. After I could finally take in some sweet air, I held onto the shoulders of the winter uniform and stretched them out. The front side was in a good condition, so I turned to check the other side. My eyes that were scanning the back of the uniform, halted right at the center. Ryu Seo-jae¡¯s name was written with a marker. It was obviously second-hand. They were so clearly written on the back, the font size was especially big. Seon-jae, you should sell this for 1,000 won!! You have no conscience! Before putting the clothes back inside the bag, I sniffed it. It smelled like lc. I felt like a pervert, so I put them away inside the bag again. In the reviews of the fan autograph sessions, I often saw articles saying, ¡®Seonjae smells good.¡¯ However, for those very reviews, I had a question, ¡®How to get his autograph?¡¯ There weren¡¯t many replies to this since Potato Pancakes fans were hellbent and insisted to not get his autograph. I couldn¡¯t stop smiling. It smelled really good. I can¡¯t believe I am smelling his uniform right now. I tried to stop smiling, but my mouth was no longer under my control. Maybe I should leave ament on that article that Seon-jae smells good when I go back to the present? I took out the powder I had from a friend and brushed it on my lips. I made my face look as pale as possible and wore my lens inside out. Then, I immediately went to the homeroom teacher. ¡°Teacher, I am feeling very sick¡­¡± As I shed tears endlessly with my eyes, my homeroom teacher believed my excuse of being sick. Did my act of being sick actually work? The teacher gave me an early leave admit. I walked out of the teacher¡¯s office, blinking my sore eyes rapidly, holding the early leave admit in hand. In a hurry, I ran to the ssroom, took out my eye lenses, grabbed my bag and left school. Then, I went to the bathroom of the Jaesu Academy, which was near my school. I quickly changed into the gym uniform from Jagam school, which I¡¯d bought after paying 10,000 won to Seon-jae. I got on the bus with my school uniform crumpled up in a bag. My eyes were still sore, the redness not fading away. Tears kept flowing and I wiped them with the back of my hand as I looked out of the window. It¡¯s already been a week since I¡¯d started living in the past. First of all, I¡®m doing such ridiculous things to change the future because I have Seon-jae here. But when Ie to think about ¡°How long will I stay here?¡± I felt stumped, at a loss of words. Only Thump. I leaned on the window, resting my head on it. It was good to see Seonjae before his debut, but the situation that couldn¡¯t be exined, was confusing. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m doing the right thing. I was absent-minded. I wanted to organize my thoughts, my ns, but there was nothing to be sorted out. ¡ª This stop is Jagam high school. The next stop is Jagam intersection. As I heard this, my eyes fluttered wide open. I got up and pressed the bell. I don¡¯t know when I will be back. So when I am here, I have to diligently inform Seon-jae about the dangers of taking drugs. I hid my bag in a rear car in an empty lot behind the auditorium, so that I wouldn¡¯t get caught if I carried my bag. There are so many students in the school. They don¡¯t even know the faces of all students, so will I get caught? I covered my face with my sleeves and started walking through the hallway. Only a few students were in the ssroom because it was lunch time. Chapter 6 Chapter 6 While wandering around in the new building, I couldn¡¯t find second year¡¯s ss and went into the old building instead. After searching the first floor, I went up to the second floor and that was where I found Seon-jae¡¯s ssroom. Second floor, 7th ss. It was worth studying about Seon-jae. I could find information about him from Wikipedia. There were too many desks in the ssroom. As I went through the desk one after another, a chair with a beige knitted sweater on it caught my eye. Hahh, I remember that sweater! Some of the students who hadpleted their work passed the hallway. Without wanting to get noticed, I squatted down and walked to the desk where the sweater was hanging on its chair. The textbook on the desk had a name written on it in an earthworm like handwriting. The handwriting was so bad that I almost read it as ¡®Ryu Seon-gae¡¯. Seon-jae, you are really bad at writing¡­ Is that why you draw pictures of flowers or stars when you sign?! The hallway on the second floor became noisy as if the students who finished lunch wereing up. I took out the folded paper from my pocket and put it in Sunjae¡¯s desk drawer. It was a letter about the mishap of taking cold medicine and sleeping pills together. I also wrote a few words on the viciousness of the 66 Entertainment CEO. Students started to enter Seon-jae¡¯s ssroom. Oh no- Iy down on the floor, not wanting to get noticed by the students. I crawled towards the front door. I¡¯m like a soldier, just without a military cap and gun! I opened the front door and left the ssroom quickly. Dusting off the gym suit, I headed for the vacant space behind the auditorium where I had left my bag. This time, it wasn¡¯t an electric pole in front of the school gate, it wasn¡¯t a street light, it wasn¡¯t a wall, it was his desk drawer where I had left my letter¡­ Seon-jae will see it¡­ and when I thought about it, I couldn¡¯t help but smile. Finally, there was hope. My biggest goal is to prevent Seon-jae from joining as the fifth member of Potato pancakes, so I had to give him the solutions first as I might return back to the present today. Who knows? I had to give him clues, all so that he wouldn¡¯t die due for absurd reasons. I wrote it many times, no matter how sick you are, you must not take sleeping pills and cold medicine together. The moment I stepped into the vacant space with a smile, my pupils shook like an earthquake. Some students were gathering to smoke and they looked bad. Not the kind you can afford to get involved with. And there, my eyes fell on a blonde guy¡­ Why¡­ was he carrying my bag? ¡°Huh?¡± As someone looked at me and made a noise, the faces with cigarettes in their mouths turned their heads at the same time. I looked at a distant mountain without making eye contact with anyone. As I thought about just running away, I stopped in my tracks. My school uniform is in the bag! What do I do now? ¡°Are you here to smoke?¡± What? I don¡¯t even like the smell of mosquito repellents in the summer. I warily nced at the guys in the vacant space. The guy who was smoking with his shoulders leaning against the wall, looked back at me. I clenched my mmy hands together. The guy carrying my bag was standing in the middle of the road, and next to him was a tall guy squatting down and flicking off cigarette ash from his palm. My heart was pounding. I was so scared at this sight. It¡¯s scary. Subconsciously, I kept walking backwards. Perhaps this is the ce where delinquents hang out ande to smoke. Ah, I went the wrong way¡­ Taking one step, two steps back, I turned around and ran. The ce where I stopped running was in front of the cafeteria. After having their meal, the students were walking out. Wouldn¡¯t they go away if they smoked all the cigarettes? I wondered. So, I thought I would go back after 5 to 10 minutes. I just hope the guy left my bag there¡­ While standing in front of the cafeteria and looking at the auditorium, someone halted in front of me. A shadow loomed over my head. When I raised my eyes, I saw a familiar face. My mouth dropped wide open and my eyes grew round. It was Seon-jae. He was squeezing the bottom part of his carton, to see if yogurt came out. ¡°Hey, Ryu Sun-jae,e here.¡± I looked back at the voice calling Seon-jae. I could see Baek Hyuk, who came out of the cafeteria. He had probablypleted his lunchter than Seon-jae. Oh god. ¡°Huh?¡± I made eye contact with Baek Hyuk. The hand holding his yogurt carton came up. His index finger stretched out and pointed at me. ¡°You!¡± Seon-jae looked back at Baek Hyuk. And Seon-jae, who noticed that Baek Hyuk was staring at me, shifted his gaze. No! I am wearing Ryu Seon-jae¡¯s gym uniform. Seon-jae¡¯s name was written on my back. I have to hide my back. I sneaked back and stuck myself to the wall. I knelt down, hurriedly untied the tight shoces and started to make the knot slowly, making a butterfly shaped knot with the two strings. The darkness that I felt around me was maybe because of my imagination, it seemed like a dark shadow was around me. I tied the shoces and tweaked the knots, then nced over my head. Baek In-hyuk, who was holding a yogurt carton, was looking down at me. Oh, no. I tried to leave as naturally as possible, but Seon-jae¡¯s gaze continued to follow me. Seon-jae must have seen through, the material of the fabric was not thatmon. This is bad, what should I do? All I could think of at this moment, was to run as far as possible. But then, Baek In-hyun took the yogurt from Seon-jae, and opened his mouth, ¡°I think it was herst time¡­¡± ¡°Huh¡­ that time? The girl who wet my vest with her tears and runny nose?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ She was definitely wearing a different school¡¯s uniform.¡± Baek-hyuk, standing next to Seon-jae, nodded. ¡°I know.¡± Should I run now? I couldn¡¯t even turn my head to the side. I had to stay still, pretending I can¡¯t hear anything, pretending not to know that it¡¯s my story! ¡°What did she say again? ¡®Seon-jae, carry me¡¯?¡± ¡°What? What carry? You¡¯re just talking sh*t.¡± ¡°What was it? I know she said something like that. I¡¯m sure of it.¡± ¡°Dunno.¡± ¡°You know it, you just pretend to not know.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± ¡°Ah! I remember now. That¡¯s right, she wanted you to give her a piggyback ride.¡± Should I be ashamed? ¡°You have to give me a piggyback ride!¡± Baek-hyuk curled up his nose and said in a girly tone, high pitched voice. ¡°Come on.¡± Seon-jae rolled his eyes and moved back. The shadow above me reduced a bit. ¡°Hey, let¡¯s ask if she¡¯s transferred here.¡± ¡°Come quickly.¡± Baek Hyuk dropped his curiosity on Seon-jae¡¯s words and didn¡¯t ask anything about my gym clothes. ¡°Ha, finally.¡± Only A sigh came out of my parted lips. It was as if the stress on my shoulders had been lifted off. I had the bad luck to meet Seon-jae just after getting away from those delinquents. As a fan it¡¯s great, but as someone who¡¯s running away, this only brings me trouble. I unfolded my knees and got up. Time to go get my bag. ¡°¡­Ah.¡± My body froze before I even got to step towards the vacant area, behind the auditorium. Seon-jae and Baek-hyuk stood a few meters ahead, staring right at me. As if they were waiting for me to get up. Seon-jae had a yogurt pop in his mouth, and Baek-hyuk¡¯s arms were folded. It was simr to a pose undercover investigators would make. They, who had seen my face, turned away without hesitation. Something abnormal was happening. Incidents seemed to be taking ce in a strange manner. I stared nkly at the backs of those two, who kept moving away. Chapter 7: Part 1 Chapter 7 ¨C Part 1 Sticking to the wall of the building, I peeked out at the back. Fortunately, no one was there. I breathed out a sigh of relief and headed to the area where I had hidden my bag. Those guys were there at that time, so I hadn¡¯t taken it back, or else my bag would be with me right now. It looked like they had left. ¡°¡­ what?¡± I rummaged around the pile of things lying on the ground. A deted ser ball and some tools could be seen, but my bag¡­ wasn¡¯t there. My floral zipper bag was hard to miss, so where did it go? ¡°Those guys¡­ did they take it away?¡± I scrunched up my face, hope leaving me. I had onlye to leave a note on Seon-jae¡¯s desk, but now, I was stranded. If I couldn¡¯t find my bag today, I wouldn¡¯t have my school uniform tomorrow. That wasn¡¯t the only issue. There was no guarantee that I would be able to find the bag even if I came back here some other day. All I had in my bag were a few notes, my wallet, and my school uniform. That¡¯s when it struck me all of a sudden. Damn, I can¡¯t go home without my wallet. My legs wobbled and I knelt down. Raising my shaky hands to my face, I let out a tired groan. Even though I ran away previously since I was scared of those delinquents, now, I had no choice but to go look for them. I don¡¯t even know what grade and ss they are in. ¡°My bag¡­¡± I ran around the empty space crying. I searched around foolishly, just in case I missed something. I also lifted the milk canister and leaned down to look under the old car there. I gazed at the trees here and there, making sure that my bag hadn¡¯t identally gotten buried in the ground. Ding-dong. The bell rang as lunch break ended. My tummy let out a noise in hunger. 5th period was about to start and I wasn¡¯t a student at this school. I had no ss to attend. I went out empty-handed. Seeing that they came here to eat lunch and smoke, there was a high probability of them returning to this ce during breaks, cleaning times, and dispersal. I couldn¡¯t go back until I got my bag, so I had to at least ease my hunger. It wasn¡¯t that hard of a job. I went through the gates of Jagam High School. I entered the snack bar I saw a few moments back, there weren¡¯t any customers. ¡°Mister, one tteokbokki ramen and one tuna kimbap, please.¡± (T/N: tteokbokki = rice cake, Korean dish. Kimbap is also a Korean dish.) ¡°Alright!¡± There was a TV ced above the refrigerator. The entertainment show I used to watch a long time back was being broadcasted. It was a reality show about the lives of trainees who were under an agency until their debut, it was refreshing to see them. One of them went to eat grilled ms with an actor who won the Rookie of the Year award causing a scandal, while the other ordered Palbochae and Kkanpunggi at a Chinese restaurant saying that fried dumplings were not avable, but a delivery man posted a message on the Inte saying they were lies, causing a stir. (T/N: Palbochae and Kkanpunggi are seafood dishes.) I was watching TV with my chin propped up on my palm, and Kimbap was served, followed by ramen. The owner of the snack bar, who ced the bowl of steaming ramen on the table, raised an eyebrow at me. ¡°I heard the bell ring. Isn¡¯t it ss time?¡± As I twirled the noodles with chopsticks, my mouth sucked it in. I neatly licked my lips and raised my eyes, focusing my gaze on the owner of the snack bar. ¡°Oh, I-I¡¯m almost a graduate of that school. ¡± ¡°Graduate? ¡± ¡°Yes. These are like my daily wear. I¡¯m repeating a year.¡± ¡°Oh, I see.¡± The owner of the snack bar turned around with a sad face and brought a fish cake skewer along with a bowl full of broth. I looked at this with my eyes wide open. The owner of the restaurant patted me on the shoulder and nodded. ¡°Fighting!¡± ¡°Yes? Oh, you didn¡¯t have to¡­ But, thank you. I¡¯ll keep trying!¡± I had to fight¡­ find my bag and save Seon-jae. I literally inhaled the ramen. As I was munching on the fish cakes given as a gift, with only a few kimbap left, I realised something. I¡­ I didn¡¯t have my wallet, right? I quietly ced down my chopsticks that had been moving towards another kimbap. A cold sweat broke out. What the hell was I thinking bying in here? Am I a fool? I can¡¯t go home because I don¡¯t have a wallet, but it¡¯ll take time to find my bag, so the first thing I did was eat? I felt so damn stupid. Foolish. Idiot. Stupid. I only thought of these words. I clenched my hands below the table and nced at the owner of the snack bar. After a while, the owner put down his pen with a snap, and went out to put a piece of paper on the ss door. The paper was thin enough for me to see the writing from the back. I made eye contact with the owner of the snack bar. ¡°Oh, the students here often say they¡¯lle back soon because they didn¡¯t bring any money, but they nevere back. It¡¯s hrious.¡± ¡°I see.¡± I gulped down the cold water. I¡¯m thirsty. I picked up a spoon and stirred the broth. The words ¡°No way,¡± appeared in the broth. I stuck my hand in my pocket. I pulled out whatever was inside just to check. My cell phone came out. My face crumpled up, eyes tearing up. I stopped eating the kimbap and checked my cell phone. There was no ce to ask for help. I put my elbows on the table and massaged my forehead with the tip of my fingers. Can¡¯t I go back to the time where I held my bangs between my fingers, having no worries? I didn¡¯t have any reason to stay in the past anymore. I already gave a note to Seon-jae. Please let me go back. Damn time travel! ¡°Hey, do you want more pickled radish?¡± asked the owner of the snack bar and I shook my head violently. ¡°No!¡± Chapter 7.2: Part 2 Chapter 7 ¨C Part 2 ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll be in the kitchen, call me when you pay.¡± A soft voice passed by. Can I pay for it? After smiling awkwardly, I looked down at my cell phone again. My fingers moved busily. I need to find a way! While scrolling down the message window, I saw the name saved as Secondhand Country Seller. (T/N: secondhand country = Korea¡¯srgest used trading tform.) When I touched it, the messages I shared a few days ago showed up. [Hello, I¡¯d like to buy a gym suit for my school.] [Okay, winter uniform or summer uniform?] [Winter uniform. Can I get it tomorrow?] [Yes, that¡¯s avable. Since I am a student, is it okay to meet at 6 pm at McDonald¡¯s at Jagam Intersection?] [Good, will be there on time.] [Yes, please contact me tomorrow] It¡¯s Seon-jae. Oh my gosh. No. No! When I made a direct deal, to avoid being caught, I altered my voice. When I was wearing his gym suit, I tried to untie my shoces and tied them back. That was all going to go down in smoke. But I thought they already caught me. I thought they recognized me. I bit and chewed my thumb out of nervousness. I shook one leg. I checked the time. It was 1:50. Soon, the 5th ss would be over. If a secondhand country buyer asks you to borrow money, will you lend it? When I thought about it, a sigh came out. I didn¡¯t think¡­ it was a used uniform¡­ that couldn¡¯t be refunded. I thought the deal between Seon-jae and me was quite peaceful. I took my breath and opened the message window. My heart beat like crazy. I gathered all my energy in my fingers. [There is a defect on the gym suit.] ¡°Ah¡­ I don¡¯t know anymore!¡± I sent a message and threw my cell phone on the table. The owner of the snack bar asionally looked at me in the kitchen, who kept a seat without even eating three kimbap. It was a field of thorns, this. The phone vibrated when I was biting my fingernails. My heart seemed to sink at the sound of the vibration. I quickly picked up my cell phone and checked the message that arrived. [What should I do?] [I am in front of Jagam High School. Let¡¯s meet and talk. Just in case, bring 10,000 won for the gym clothes.] My hands were sweaty. This was a problem even if Seon-jae came, and it was a problem even if he did not. This kind of mishap wouldn¡¯t have happened if the damn kids didn¡¯t take my bag. Who should I me? I had to me myself for hiding my bag in a rear car, in an empty lot behind the auditorium, and for running away even after seeing my bag with them. Drrrr, the phone vibrated, scratching the table. I checked Seon-jae¡¯s reply with a trembling heart. [It¡¯s a break after 10 minutes. Where are you?] My heart beat in disco rhythm. I rubbed my sweaty palms against my gym pants. I looked up and saw the menu on the wall. At the bottom of the menu board, there was a name ¡®Jagam Snack bar¡¯ written on it. [It¡¯s ¡®Jagam Snack bar¡¯. Pleasee out with 10,000 won.] [Yeah.] I put my phone down and drank cold water. I emptied one cup and drank another cup because it wasn¡¯t enough. Seon-jae wasing, and my heart was pounding, so I couldn¡¯t stop drinking water. It was a message that I sent without any countermeasures. When Seon-jaees, what should I say? Everything looked dark. Looking at the menu, I added up the total payment amount. It was 3,500 won for rice cake ramen, 3,000 won for tuna kimbap, and the total was 6,500 won. At that moment, another ego inside of me popped out and grabbed my cor and shook it. Why did you order ramen with rice cake?! Why did you order kimbap with tuna?! Why did you order two?! My lips became dry. First of all, I took off the top of the gym suit. Fortunately, I was wearing a school uniform shirt and it was okay. I took off my gym suit, put it neatly, put it next to me, and stood up. Then I took out an apron hanging next to the refrigerator and put it around. The chest bar with a diamond shape covered the upper body. The apron was blue and the trademark ¡®Jagam Snack bar¡¯ was embroidered in white on the front. The owner of the snack bar suddenly looked at me strangely, taking off my gym jacket and wearing an apron. ¡°Sir, you will see more strange scenes in the future.¡± I went back to my seat, drank cold water again, and cleared my throat. I took a deep breath and exhaled, thinking that my nervous mind would calm down even a little bit. I didn¡¯t think I was this nervous during the first period. My palms kept on sweating. As I was shaking my legs and chewing my thumbnail out of nervousness, the door of the snack bar opened with a jingling, cheerful bell ringing. The legs that were shaking, stopped momentarily. I rolled my eyes sideways to see who wasing in. It¡¯s Seon-jae. I was the only guest sitting at the snack bar without having to look around. Seon-jae, who came in wearing slippers, took out the chair on the opposite side and sat down. To cover my face somehow, I covered my lower face with one hand and bent my head at an angle. ¡°What about the gym clothes?¡± ¡°Oh, this.¡± I handed over the neatly folded gym clothes to Seon-jae! All. ¡°There¡¯s a student¡¯s name on the back.¡± ¡°So I asked you if you checked the pictures.¡± ¡°¡­¡­did you?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Seon-jae pulled out the sportswear top on the table. When I didn¡¯t answer, he waved as if to take it quickly. I had no choice but to take the sportswear top and put it next to me. The owner of the snack bar, who leaned on the kitchen shelf, was looking at Seon-jae, who had visited me (who didn¡¯t eat or pay, leaving three pieces of kimbap left.) ¡°Can I go? I have 10 minutes off time.¡± ¡°Yes? Oh, don¡¯t go yet.¡± ¡°Why? There seems to be no defect.¡± ¡°I still have something to say¡± I saw Seon-jae trying to get up and nced at the kitchen. This time, the owner of the snack bar with a steaming paper cup was looking at me, stirring coffee with a coffee mix wrapper. ¡°Can I get a refund?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± At Seon-jae¡¯s words, my face turned to the kitchen. ¡°Then you have to give me the bottoms too.¡± The bottoms¡­ If it¡¯s the bottom, I¡¯m wearing it now. I lowered my head and looked at my legs. If you take this off, it¡¯s underwear. I can¡¯t take this off. ¡°Can¡¯t we just do the top?¡± Seon-jae, who straightened his back, looked at me with his arms folded. Then, he took out 5,000 won from his pocket and put it on the table. I felt like he wanted to get this situation sorted out quickly and go back. ¡°Oh, wait, wait!¡± I hurriedly caught Seon-jae trying to get on his feet again. I looked back at Seon-jae¡¯s face and he was annoyed. My heart was pounding, nervous, and tight. ¡°1,500 won¡­¡± ¡°What? You want 1,500 won?¡± I shook my head slowly¡­ Seon-jae¡¯s face was seen to harden disapprovingly. I wanted to cry. Some humiliation seemed to tingle my thighs. ¡°Give me more¡­¡± The corners of my mouth went down. I looked up at Seon-jae in tears. Just give me 6,500 won, Seon-jae. Because in the future, you don¡¯t know, I¡¯m going to have a bank ount to buy goods and albums rted to you. I was a double payer. Seon-jae briefly burst into augh and looked down at me. Chapter 8.1: Part 1 Chapter 8 ¨C Part 1 Jingle The door closed with a sound and I stood side by side in front of the Jagam Snack Bar with Seon-jae. As soon as we left the snack bar, the starting bell rang. ¡°Thank you for the refund¡­¡± I bowed my head and said thank you to Seon-jae, and took the first step. Thump, thump. I nervously stepped on the ground, holding back the desire to walk and distorted my face. A while ago, the owner of the snack bar, who looked at me and Seon-jae, said, ¡®If you add 1,500 won to 5,000 won, it¡¯s 6,500 won! What the student ate just now was 6,500 won!¡¯ The owner revealed the numbers. I shook my hands with a confused face, and Seon-jae nced at my table that had been emptied clean, leaving three kimbap left. Seon-jae looked at me with an embarrassed expression. I couldn¡¯t say it wasn¡¯t true, so I slightly lifted my lips repeatedly. ¡°A student stole my bag¡­¡± I said crying. Seon-jae lifted his wrist to look at his watch, took back 5,000 won, put it in his pocket, and paid it with a card. I wondered if this was an ordeal, or was it an ordeal to see this. ¡°Student! You left this!¡± When I looked back to see why he was calling me, the owner of the snack bar grabbed a gym uniform and shook it like a Taegeukgi. [T/N The g of South Korea, also known as the Taegeukgi.] Next to him, Seon-jae, who had not left yet, stood still in front of the snack bar, looking at me with his hands in his pocket. ¡°I sold it back to him!¡± I shouted and ran. The ce where I ran to was not my home, not my school, but an empty lot behind the auditorium of Jagam High School. It was an unlucky day. The end of the ss bell rang. Now that the 6th ss was over, it was time to clean. Sitting leaned against the wall, I stretched my knees and got up and shook my hips. I took a broom and a dustpan from the rear car. It felt like a character buying weapons at an item shop. A basic character that just created an ID and didn¡¯t have anything. There was nothing to gain and nothing to lose. That¡¯s why, if i went to the room full of rich kids ying around, I¡¯d be kicked out. I tucked my shirt into my gym pants and stepped out. I was going to walk slowly through the hallway and looked inside the ssroom while I was cleaning. If they took it back to the ssroom without throwing it away, I thought there would be a bag hanging somewhere on the chair or desk. If I didn¡¯t find my bag there, I¡¯d have to go through the toilet trash can, and if not, I had to found that yellow-haired guy. I entered the hallway. I was nervous as I entered the hallway full of students whoughed and talked. With a broom on my side, I slowly walked down the hall and swept through the ssroom. I looked everywhere from the first year to the fourth year. I went through the sses in the first year, but there was none. Now it was time to look at the second year ssrooms. I walked through the hallway, covering my face with a dustpan as a shield. I stuck near the window and looked at the ssroom, then stopped. It looked like I just saw my bag¡­ I turned around and put my forehead on the window and looked into the ssroom. ¡°That¡­ that¡­ that¡¯s mine! Crazy! Why is it here?!¡± Even though I was talking to myself, I stuttered so much in surprise. There was no clock on the wall. Where the clock was supposed to hang, my bag was hanging just right there! Public execution! Why is it¡­ why is it hanging like that over there? I couldn¡¯t open the window and looked around the ss, sticking my face to the ss. There was a yellow-haired guy sitting on the desk just below the bag. He was the one who took my bag! I turned my head and checked the ss. ¡®2nd year 4th ss.¡¯ There were many students in the ssroom. Just like standing in front of the show window and checking the amount of goods on disy, I put my hands on the window and looked at my bag. ¡°Oh, my God, it has fingerprints and it¡¯s Mr. Tak¡¯s ss! I have to wipe it to the bone.¡± My hand suddenly slipped on the side and stretched out from the window in an instant. When I was so surprised and turned around with my eyes wide open, Baek In-hyuk, who was frowning, looked more surprised than me. ¡°Are you following Seon-jae?¡± ¡°Huh¡­¡± I lifted a dustpan in my hand and covered my face. At that time, someone passing by hit the broom on the side and my body went back. My side face was revealed to Baek In-hyuk as my face turned around with my body. At a nce, I rolled my eyes and looked at Baek In-hyuk. Unpleasantly, only one side of his mouth was raised. ¡°You¡¯re weirdly trying to hide yourself, but I don¡¯t know if you know it doesn¡¯t help at all.¡± ¡°Who, who¡­¡± ¡°Who are you? You know it¡¯s strange to ask? In the yard where you yelled Seon-jae¡¯s name.¡± ¡°Yeah? That¡¯s not me¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s not you¡­ I want you to know that the face you looked at me is so intense that I can¡¯t forget.¡± I¡¯m not talking about it. I lowered the dustpan and showed Baek In-hyuk my face. I couldn¡¯t win with words, so I had to show him my face. ¡°Hey! You look the same as thest time I saw you.¡± Baek In-hyuk pointed to my eyes, squinting. Then, I sprayed ss cleaner on the windows covered with my fingerprints and wiped them with newspaper. ¡°Are you very determined to live in our school?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not because I want to¡­¡± ¡°Is it because there¡¯s Seon-jae?¡± I opened my mouth because I thought I could be honest with you. Chapter 8.2: Part 2 Chapter 8 ¨C Part 2 ¡°Someone stole my bag.¡± ¡°Bag?¡± I pointed my index finger to the bag on the wall. I reached out my hand to get more urate, and my index finger touched the window with a sound. Baek In-hyuk pulled out a spray of ss cleaner and shouted, ¡°Stop moving.¡± Crazy, the two fingers reflected on the window look like a reloaded bullet. When I took off my index finger, Baek In-hyuk grumbled and sprayed the ss cleaner on the fingerprint stain and wiped it with a newspaper. Come to think of it, Baek In-hyuk was in charge of cleaning at school. The members used to make fun of him as he, Baek In-hyuk, was willing to wipe the floor with wet tissues even after returning from the schedule. It was so neat that everyone said they didn¡¯t want to use a room with Baek In-Hyuk, but seeing how he was doing now, I understood how they felt. How can someone live with him when he applies sanitizer, just because there¡¯s a fingerprint on the ss? I rubbed my temples and shook my head. ¡°Is that your bag? It¡¯s been hanging from the beginning of the fifth period.¡± ¡°I put it on the back of the auditorium, but it disappeared.¡± ¡°Behind the auditorium? The vacant lot? Did you go to that scary ce? Haven¡¯t your pockets never been stolen?¡± I blinked at the endless questions. I was thinking about what to answer first and decided not to answer. ¡°Are you in this ss? Then bring me that bag.¡± ¡°Bring your bag? Should I bring Seon-jae too?¡± [T/N: Baek In-hyuk is such a tease >.>] While looking at Baek¡¯s face with a soulless look on my face, I confirmed what I was holding in my hands. One was a dustpan, and the other was a broom. Baek Hyuk¡¯s hands were each holding a ss cleaner and newspaper. I calcted which item would have a higher attack power. The starting bell rang. I raised my head and looked at Baek In-Hyuk. ¡°Hurry up and give me my bag.¡± At that time, someone opened the front door of the ssroom and went in. It was Seon-jae. He strode inside and reached out his hand and lifted the bag hanging on the wall. Then he came out through the back door of the ssroom, clenching the straps of my bag. My head moved along Seon-jae. I stood facing each other at a distance from Seon-jae, who came out into the hallway. His expressionless face was looking at me. I was very nervous at the thought of what to do with this situation. Pressing my lips tightly, I couldn¡¯t do anything about it, Seon-jae threw the bag at me. I reached out my hand while looking at a bag that was getting closer just like a long parab. When I yed dodgeball in PE ss, I was the one who was good at defense even if I was not good at attacking. Whether I received it well or Seon-jae threw it well, the bagnded on my arms exactly. I held my bag and looked at Seonjae. ¡°¡­¡­¡­.Uh, thank you.¡± Since the bell rang, students were quick to walk to the ssroom. Seon-jae¡¯s eyes looked over my shoulder. It was where Baek In-hyuk stood, behind me. ¡°You¡¯re in ss five.¡± Seon-jae said without a facial expression and turned to walk away. The sunlight from the window looked like a light that illuminated the path for The Seon-jae. Baek In-hyuk, who nced at my enchanted face, passed me, saying, ¡°I¡¯m in love, I¡¯m in love.¡± When I checked the ss with Baek In-hyuk, for a moment, my lips twitched. I heard he said he was in ss 4¡­ Why is he entering ss 5? Bang bang, someone knocked on the door from behind. At the sound of the ss starting, I rushed out the hallway *** Self-study time. Eun-hee, who was writing down the wrong problem in her notebook, looked at me constantly writing on the paper. I was scribbling a warning letter from the future as if writing a Kamji. [T/N: Kamji means ck paper. When students get punished, they have to write lines to memorise what they did wrong, filling the paper so much that it looks ck.) The sound of writing was too loud, so I removed the pen tip from the paper. ¡°Is it noisy?¡± When I asked carefully, Eun-hee, who shook her head, jerked her chin to the front of the ssroom. My eyes met the teacher who was standing in front of the board and looked at me. ¡°Finally we¡¯re making eye contact.¡± ¡°¡­¡­what?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been watching for a while.¡± The teacher walked to my seat with his arms crossed. Uh, why are youing? The teacher walked to my seat with his arms crossed. Uh, why is heing here? I slipped a textbook on the letter. The teacher, who stopped walking right in front of the desk, pulled out the end of the letter. Oh, Sir. Please, that¡¯s the only¡­ I looked up with a desperate face. The content that was written, relentlessly flows out from the teacher¡¯s mouth. ¡°This letter is from the future, and you must trust what¡¯s in it and put it into action. If you don¡¯t believe what¡¯s in this letter, you¡¯ll have a great misfortune, so I hope you¡¯ll have good luck believing it.¡± The children giggled. I bowed my head and almost cried, avoiding the teacher¡¯s re at me. Fortunately, the letter I thought would be confiscated, came back to me. However, it came with a nice smack on my head. It was not just his fist that made my head sting. He must have used his knuckles too¡­ ¡°Im Sol, do letters like that give you good luck? Huh? If you don¡¯t study now, there will be a big misfortune.¡± I bowed my head, pursing my lips¡­ [If you experience sleeplessness, watch a documentary about the mysteries of the universe. You can fall asleep without sleeping pills.] Thest sentence of the letter caught my eye. How can humans live and be unhappy for one thing? There¡¯re only misfortunes that exist in one day or one hour. I can¡¯t even predict misfortunes that will happen in the future. So there are only misfortunes that I know and the biggest of them dominates. Since I am a student now, the teacher may think it is unfortunate that I don¡¯t study and don¡¯t go to the university I want because I don¡¯t study. But the misfortune that has dominated the time I know, is the death of Seon-jae. So, I¡¯m going to stop it. I¡¯m going to save Seon-jae. This is the only way I can live. I folded the letter I finished writing. When the ending bell rang, I would take my bag and go to Seon-jae¡¯s school. Even if Seon-jae was in trouble and hated it, there was nothing he could do. Only I could do this. Chapter 9.1: part 1 chapter 9 ¨C part 1 I looked around. Check the right corridor, check the left corridor, and check that Ryu Seon-jae is not present. After confirming, I quietly entered the 7th ss. I crouched down and headed to Seon-jae¡¯s desk. I put a neatly folded piece of paper in the desk drawer and walked out the front door. I delivered a note again today. That phrase seemed to float above my head. As I walked down the hall, feeling the ease of a person who just finished his work, I saw Seon-jae walking from the opposite side. I looked around in a hurry. There were only two ways to avoid Seon-jae: enter the next ssroom or turn around and go down the opposite corridor. But when I turned around, Baek In-hyuk was walking. Oh my god. The two of you stay together every day, but why are you both not together today? Wearing a hood over my head, I walked towards the direction where Baek In-hyuk was walking. ¡°Who is this?¡± Baek In-hyuk looked at me with his eyes wide open. I even smiled as if I was d to see him, but I closed my lips, saying ¡°Shhhhh¡± in case he called for Seon-jae who is walking from behind. ¡°In-hyuk.¡± Sure enough, I heard Sun-jae¡¯s voice from behind. Even today, at the phrase floating above my head, a red alert came in. The smile on my face fell and my shoulders dropped. I hadn¡¯t even faced Seon-jae yet, but the future was drawn. As I was wondering what excuses I should make, a long arm came up on my shoulder. Baek In-hyuk pulled down my hood even more and covered my face, blocking my vision. ¡°Did you tell your homeroom teacher?¡± ¡°Yes, you may go.¡± What the hell is going on?! I wanted to run away, but I couldn¡¯t do anything about it because I was grabbed by the shoulder. I bowed my head as much as possible to take care of myself, but the conversation between the two stopped for a while. I didn¡¯t know if they¡¯re talking with just their eyes or lip movements. ¡°This is my ssmate. Bring your bag out, I wille out right away.¡± The conversation ended again. Did Seon-jae go? When I didn¡¯t move, the hood that covered my face came off. Suddenly, Baek In-hyuk entered my field of vision. ¡°How manyyers did you fold your pants into?¡± Seon-jae has long legs. What do you want me to do? ¡°You just confess that you like him, right? Why are you sneaking in and giving him a letter? That¡¯s really weird.¡± ¡°Letter? Did Seon-jae read it?¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t tell me what it was about.¡± Baek In-hyuk patted me on the shoulder. I blinked at him who wasforting me pitifully. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good idea. I didn¡¯t like it. I¡¯m telling you because I think of you.¡± Right. There¡¯s no way you would like it. That¡¯s not a confession letter. It¡¯s a letter from the future. When I sighed, Baek In-hyuk turned around and said, ¡°Seon-jae ising out.¡± That¡¯s right. It¡¯s not the time to do this. I quickly ran ahead of Baek In-hyuk. As I stepped down the stairs, I remembered a note I put in today. It was already heartbreaking to think of that fierce look. *** If there was anything difficult abouting back to the past, I couldn¡¯t listen to the songs of Potato Pancake. Whenever a new song was released, it was fun to find Seon-jae¡¯s voice by streaming the entire album in time for release. Seon-jae had many parts for the newly joined member. Because of that, he was criticized a lot. The reason was that the other members¡¯ parts decreased. Especially, Baek In-hyuk had fewer parts. So, if the fans were Ryu Seon-jae¡¯s, it might have be a ¡°potato war¡±, a potato war that will lit their eyes and sharpened their sword. ¡°I want to hear the memories of the wind Seon-jae sang.¡± I rested my chin on my hand and saw the wall with only a calendar hung on it. The room without a picture of Seon-jae felt empty. Even though I saw the living Seon-jae now, I didn¡¯t think I was looking for the Seon-jae of potato pancake because I came into the twisted time. I got up with a pencil and stood in front of the calendar. I drew a diagonal line on today¡¯s date. From the day I started my trip, the lines I drew, filled the calendar like rain. I went to my desk and took out my watch from the drawer. The clock is ticking, but it went strangely. In the past, I had never had or seen such a watch. I couldn¡¯t bring anything, but it was strange that it came with me. Is this why I suddenly started time travel? I held the watch close to my face, examined it, and put it in the drawer again. I didn¡¯t try to close the drawer but took out the MP3 yer. It was the MP3 that everyone used to use for the iPod. Since it was sold for 10,000 won in the secondhand country, I bought it to save my cell phone battery. ¡°Awesome!¡± I pressed the power, but the light didn¡¯te on. I went out to the living room and removed the battery from the remote control and reced it on the MP3 yer. When the power was pressed, the iRiver logo shed and disappeared. There were more than 100 songs that I listened to at that time. ¡°Are you not going to school tomorrow? Get in quickly.¡± ¡°Huh? Yeah.¡± Mom, who came out from the bathroom, nced at her room asking if she could turn off the living room light. I nodded and got up from the sofa and entered my room. Iy on my back on the bed, plugging earphones into the MP3 and plugging them into my ears. Chapter 9.2: Part 2 Chapter 9 Part 2 **** ¡°Daughter.¡± I took off my earphones and raised my head to the voice of my mother calling me from in front of the door. ¡°You don¡¯t say about quitting school these days?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ well, yes.¡± ¡°Are you bored a lot because you don¡¯t have Hyun-joo? That¡¯s why you¡¯re going to school?¡± It was unfamiliar to me seeing my mother asking affectionately. She sometimeses to her room with side dishes, hits me back, and swears at the broken beer cans. ¡°No, it¡¯s fun these days.¡± While answering with no expression, I showed her my teeth and smiled. Mom, who burst intoughter at my smile, said, ¡°Thank God. Good night.¡± ¡°Yes, you too.¡± Mother turned off the light in my room, closed the door and went out. Suddenly I fell into darkness. Although she was my mother in the past, strangely enough, it wasn¡¯t a sad conversation, but I became emotional. She was my mother 6 years ago, so she was still young. The tip of my nose was tingling and I frowned. It was not the time to cry. I pulled the nket up to my neck and looked at the list of songs. There were songs that were popr at that time and all of my favorite singers¡¯ albums. I listened to Lee Mun-se¡¯s album so much that I was sick and tired of it. I yed Lee Mun-se¡¯s third album. I listened to the song while looking nkly at the ck ceiling. After Hyun-joo transferred to another school, I cried a lot while listening to this song. I suddenly remembered myself crying before I came on a time trip. What if Seon-jae couldn¡¯t reach the age of 24 even though I came back in the past. My eyes turned red when I thought about it. It hurts me more to see Seon-jae smiling here without knowing his future. I frowned. Tears from the corners of my eyes flowed down, drawing a hot line. Sungjae was so precious to me that I wondered if this was how otaku felt. I always wanted Seon-jae to be happier than me and stay healthy. I kept remembering the articles I saw on the subway. Seon-jae wore a hoodie and shorts, took medicines to shake off cold and to get a good night¡¯s sleep. It was very different from the Seon-jae I saw here. My throat was sore from crying that I could not feel anything anymore. I pulled up the nket and covered my face. Kkog, kkog The unintended sobbing sound kepting out. *** ¡°Oh my gosh.¡± As I entered the bathroom to brush my teeth, I was amazed at the reflection on the mirror. The eyes were swollen as if stung by a bee. I couldn¡¯t see my eyes. How do human eyes swell like this?! I was so bewildered that I couldn¡¯t even think of turning on the water from the sink and kept looking at my face in the mirror. ¡°This is too much. My face.¡± After looking at it for a while, I squeezed toothpaste on the toothbrush. I had to go to school even if it was serious. *** The temperature fell sharply and got cold, so I came out wearing a scarf. I was on my way while listening to the song in MP3 I found yesterday. I didn¡¯t feel bad because the songs I listened to on my way to school wearing a school uniform, seemed to bring me back to the time. When I arrived at the school, I was flustered when I saw the t te in front of the school gate. I was so flustered that I closed my eyes and looked at it again. I opened my eyes wide and closed them. Nothing changed when I opened it. Jagam High School, Crazy, why am I here? No matter how many days I havee to put a note in the wire drawer, how can I do this? Is it this scary to be unconscious? I took out my cell phone and checked the watch. 7:30. I thought I came to school early today, but I waste even if I left now. I was about to turn around and run again the way I came, but I bumped into someone head-on. ¡°Ugh!¡± As my body pushed back, the cell phone I was holding in my hand fell to the ground. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry.¡± The other person leaned down and picked up my cell phone and gave it to me. I bowed my head and got my cell phone. I raised my head and saw the face of the person who hit me. I opened my eyes round because they were so swollen that they didn¡¯t even get any bigger. ¡°Uh.¡± Seon-jae looked into my eyes as if he knew the face, but he shut his mouth as if he didn¡¯t want to pretend to know. I cried thinking about Seon-jae all night, and I was surprised and happy to see his face like this. Iughed a little while fiddling with the cell phone. ¡°Hi¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re not in this school, are you?¡± A little unkind voice came out from Seon-jae¡¯s mouth. ¡°Uh¡­¡± I nodded my head. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you know me, but this is stalking. Is it?¡± ¡°Oh? No, nothing like that.¡± ¡°How did you know my secondhand country ID?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know it was you. For real.¡± ¡°Why did you buy gym clothes?¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s¡­ ¡­¡± ¡°Why did you call me to the snack bar?¡± ¡°Huh? No, that¡¯s because I lost my bag¡­¡± Seon-jae¡¯s face was colder than the morning temperature. He, who was looking at my name tag with an unpleasant face, put his hand in his pocket and came one step closer. ¡°I don¡¯t even have a fan cafe.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t tell anyone that i entered thepany.¡± It was written on his face that he was displeased with what he didn¡¯t like. Seonjae took one more step closer. The distance was so close that I hesitated and took a step back. ¡°Meet me one more time at school.¡± My eyes were swollen and heavy. Likest time, ¡°i¡¯ll kill you¡± words were in context, the same words seemed to be attached but they were not. Seon-jae turned around and entered the school gate. Last time, he said to try calling his name one more time. This time, he asked to meet at school one more time. I thought it wouldn¡¯t end with a nce if I ran into him after calling his name. I looked at the back of Seon-jae crossing the yground and turned around. I didn¡¯t feel like going back to my school because I waste. It could be Seon-jae¡¯s fault. It¡¯s not that I didn¡¯t understand his difort. Of course, Seon-jae, I have no choice but to do this. The expression I saw just now seemed to leave a scar for a long time. As I was going down the street, someone bent their upper body in front of me and walked up looking at my face. When I lifted the scarf off my face, Baek In-hyuk, who opened his eyes wide, said with a surprised look as if he had been hit, ¡°It¡¯s you?¡± Baek In-hyuk stood in front of me who was walking with my hands in my pocket. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with your eyes? Did you cry?¡± I stuck out my lower lip and looked up at Baek In-hyuk¡¯s face. You¡¯re so tall. ¡°Did youe to see Seon-jae from this morning? You are so diligent.¡± ¡°No, no. I came here unconsciously. I¡¯m not here to see Seon-jae.¡± Baek In-hyuk looked at me, who answered him, with an angry expression. Since the words came out, I thought I should deliver them. I straightened out my index finger and pointed it out to Baek In-hyuk¡¯s face. ¡°Please tell Ryu Seon-jae clearly. It¡¯s not true.¡± ¡°What¡¯s not true?¡± ¡°Secondhand country. I met him in the morning. It¡¯s all coincidence.¡± Baek shrugged his shoulders and nodded, ¡°All right.¡± After shooting Baek In-hyuk¡¯s face and being grumpy for no reason, i went down the street with my arms moving. As I nced behind me while walking, I could see Baek In-hyuk walking toward the school gate. I¡¯m not going to show up in front of them anymore. I sighed and took a step again. Chapter 10.1: Part 1 Chapter 10 ¨C Part 1 Cleaning time. The homeroom teacher handed me a garbage bag and a broom. As a punishment for beingte, I was supposed to clean the school. I dragged the garbage bag and picked up the garbage that was thrown all over the flowerbeds and ground. He asked me to fill up half of the bag with garbage. But that didn¡¯t seem possible, as all I could collect was pieces of paper and snack wrappers. The garbage bag handed by the homeroom teacher could hold about 50 liters. ¡°How do I fill this up?¡± I leaned my head back and looked at the blue sky. ¡°I wish I could meet him at school one more time.¡± The clouds had turned into Seon-jae¡¯s face that I saw in the morning; a grim face. Everything I did¡­ didn¡¯t work out. I understand that a person, whom he didn¡¯t know who approached him, cried, hugged him, said I love you, turned up as his secondhand gym clothes¡¯ buyer, Seon-jae should feel ufortable and offended. I cried thinking about him all night yesterday. I think of him as my very precious person. Even though I knew it was natural for Seon-jae to not know it, I still hated it and felt it was unfair. The clothes purchase incident was a coincidence. I really didn¡¯t know. With my lips trembling, I shoved the dry leaves into the garbage bag. The homeroom teacher came out with an inquisitive face and turned to look at the garbage bag. The garbage bag was filled with snack wrappers and dried leaves. ¡°¡­there¡¯s a bag of chips and a piece of paper at the bottom.¡± ¡°Ah, well¡­¡± I bit my lips and lowered my head. ¡°Next time you¡¯rete, water the flower bed instead.¡± He sighed. ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°Go in.¡± Bowing, I greeted him and turned around to leave. I entered the ssroom and went to sit on my seat. Strangely enough, I sighed while reading the textbook. I felt down, depressed for no reason. Now that I¡¯de to the past, I could have tried to change something other than saving Seon-jae: my grades, college entrance exams, and other things. But I wasn¡¯t interested in anything. It¡¯s not like I thought I would fail the college entrance exams or I didn¡¯t like college. If there was something I wanted to do, I would go to school without being depressed. At that time, I always felt alone, feeling Hyun-joo¡¯s absence. I was 18 again, but I still thought the same. I looked at the clock on the wall, resting my chin on my hand. In my mind came the image, when, instead of a clock hanging on the wall, my bag had been strung up. I remember Seon-jae grabbing my bag anding out. Did he happen to hear my conversation with Baek In-hyuk while passing the hallway? Or did he just take the bag out and wanted me to get out of there? ¡°Im-sol.¡± Mr. Sun called my name, leaning on the table and tilting his head slightly. ¡°ss has just begun. Don¡¯t look at the clock, look at the textbook.¡± ¡°Oh, yes.¡± I smiled awkwardly and lowered my head. Perhaps today, I should eat something delicious and go home. *** Ryu¡¯s restaurant. I stood in front of the restaurant and looked up at the signboard. It was run by Seon-jae¡¯s parents. It was one of the ces of pilgrimage to Ryu Seon-jae. Since I fell in love with Seon-jae, I¡¯d only been there once and had soju with Haejangguk. (T/N: Haejangguk is hangover soup.) At first, I ate like a stranger, butter, when I got drunk, I stared at Seon-jae¡¯s autograph and picture on the wall, and even took a picture. When I paid for it and received the receipt, I held Seon-jae¡¯s mother¡¯s hand and even bowed, saying, ¡°Thank you for giving birth to Ryu Seon-jae.¡± No matter how hard I thought about it, I was too drunk. I shook my head and pulled the door of the restaurant. I went to sit on the corner. Perhaps because it was a weekday, his mother was alone in the restaurant. ¡°I¡¯d like Haejangguk and a bottle of soju, please.¡± Seon-jae¡¯s mother put down a water bottle on the table and observed me from top to bottom. I wondered why she was looking at me like that, so I pulled up my lips into a smile. ¡°Is anyone elseing?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m alone.¡± ¡°And you want soju?¡± Ah¡­ I lowered my head to look at what I was wearing¡­ a school uniform. I just came here after school. ¡°Please give me a soda.¡± I looked down, embarrassed. Seon-jae¡¯s mother, who gave me a strange look, put a bottle of Sprite and brought out a bottle opener on the table. cing my hands on my thighs, I scanned the interior of the restaurant. Only Seon-jae¡¯s autograph and picture weren¡¯t there on the wall, but the structure, the tables and the chairs were the same. While I was drinking soda, Haejangguk was served. ¡°Let me know if you need anything else.¡± Seon-jae¡¯s mother said, and I answered, ¡°Yes!¡± holding the spoon. Chapter 10.2: Part 2 Chapter 10 ¨C Part 2 I slowly ced the fried sausage and eggs served as the side dishes into my mouth, while the sauce was brushed on the tender meat hanging to the bone. After ripping the meat off the bone, I removed it from the earthen pot and poured all the rice grains into it. Impatiently, I took a big spoonful and shoved it in my mouth¡­ my eyes closed, and I started sniffing as the spice hit. It¡¯s so delicious. As I was eating, an apron was ced on the table. When I gave a questioning look, Seon-jae¡¯s mother, who had ced the apron, said, ¡°The broth will ssh on your school uniform, so wear an apron and eat.¡± ¡°Oh, yes, thank you.¡± I took the apron and hung it around my neck. Chamisul was used for cooking in every restaurant and perhaps, that¡¯s why a lot of them were mass-bought aprons. The apron Seon-jae¡¯s mother gave to me was the same as the one I wore at Jagam Snacks bar. (T/N: Chamisul is a type of plum soju/alcohol, used in cooking.) I fastened the apron and held the spoon near my lips. I carefully ced the radish kimchi on top of rice and scooped the miso soup with a small amount of chili peppers. I covered my mouth, biting into the sour kimchi. At that moment, one more dish with fried sausages and eggs, was ced on the table. ¡°It¡¯s supposed to be served only once, but this one¡¯s on the house.¡± ¡°Oh, my. Thank you.¡± I can¡¯t believe Seon-jae¡¯s mother gave me a free meal. I jumped out of my seat and bowed my head. Seon-jae¡¯s mother waved her hand as if it was nothing much. ¡°Does it taste good?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s very delicious!¡± I ced down the spoon and raised my thumb. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a customer eat so happily. I feel good.¡± Listening to those words, I thought I should eat more. ¡°Are you a high school student?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°These days, don¡¯t the students eat a lot of hamburgers and not haejangguk?¡± ¡°Oh, I like beef bibimbap (mixed [veggies, egg, and meat] cooked rice), seonjiguk (ox blood soup), and boned haejangguk (hangover soup) the most.¡± Seon-jae¡¯s motherughed heartily, when I recited the names of the food I like with wide eyes. ¡°You have simr taste to mine. If you go further from this alley, there¡¯s a Korean beef butcher. Yukhoe bibimbap there is really good. Have a meal there next time.¡± I nodded as if I would visit the restaurant tomorrow. If I had a notebook and a pen, I would have written down the name of the restaurant. ¡°I think you are about the same age as my son. I wish he had a girlfriend like you,¡± She let out a sigh. My mouth dropped open. I quickly covered it and blushed. ¡°No, I wouldn¡¯t dare.¡± I ced my hands on my cheeks, remembering the word, ¡®girlfriend¡¯. ¡°Hehe,¡± I said with a stupid smile, and lifted the spoon to eat. Auntie, I¡¯ll be the one toe to this restaurant and bow down to thank you for giving birth to Ryu Seon-jae, in the near future. I apologise in advance for crossing the line. I opened my previously shut eyes and swallowed the morsel. The door of the restaurant opened while I was absorbed in eating. ¡°Auntie, I¡¯m here!¡± I, who was dipping chili pepper in the miso soup, saw who hade in and almost spewed everything I had in my mouth. It was Baek In-hyuk. My hands lost their strength and dropped the chili pepper. I couldn¡¯t find it again, so I raised my apron and hid my face. I¡¯m done for. This time, it was actually a misunderstanding! I knew this ce was Seon-jae¡¯s, but I didn¡¯te to see him. Ryu¡¯s ¡®Haejangguk¡¯ was really delicious, and I wanted to eat something like that today. That¡¯s all! Now Baek In-hyuk saw me eating here, if he informs Ryu Seon-jae, ¡®Hey, I saw her eating at your restaurant.¡¯ And this was what Ryu Seon-jae would think. I knew his secondhand country ID, I even knew the restaurant his parents run. I couldn¡¯t swallow what I had in my mouth and almost cried. ¡°In-hyuk, you want to eat?¡± ¡°I already ate at school.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have practice today, do you?¡± ¡°Yes, today is my day off.¡± I quickly packed my bag and covered my face with the apron. I took a sip of soda and took out my wallet. Cider was 1,000 won and bone soup was 7,000 won, but there¡¯s only 10,000 won in my wallet. I couldn¡¯t help but put 10,000 won on the table and got up. When I slowly walked to the door and grabbed the handle, someone pulled the door from the outside. As I was holding the handle, I was pulled along with the door and my head hit the chest of the person who opened the door. I lowered my head and saw the feet of the person standing in front of me. White sneakers, gray school uniform pants. The person who stood close to me smelled of lc. It was the smell of Ryu Seon-jae¡¯s gym suit. Seon-jae, yes. My face stiffened at the thought of encountering someone I shouldn¡¯t meet. With my head lowered, as I moved to the right, Seon-jae also moved in the same direction. Then I didn¡¯t move anymore. So this time, I moved to the left, but Seon-jae moved in the same direction. There was a strange silence. I felt like he was staring at me. ¡°This.¡± Seon-jae raised his hand to point at the apron that covered my face. I breathed in with a gasp. I ran quickly with my face covered with the apron. ¡°Huh? She is running with the apron.¡± It was Baek In-hyuk¡¯s voice. Someone jumped and it seemed to follow me. I sped up my pace and ran faster. ¡®Auntie, I¡¯ll definitely return your apron! I didn¡¯t steal it!¡¯ Although I left Ryu¡¯s restaurant, I continued to run. The apron I was holding fell from my hand, got caught around my neck, and fluttered like a cloak. Chapter 11.2: 11 - Part 2 Chapter 11 ¨C Part 2 At that moment, my eyes met with the man who took the bread and took a big bite. Uh¡­ Baek In-hyuk? Then the other person, whose bread was just taken, was¡­ As I moved my eyes to the side, Baek In-hyuk hit the person next to him with his elbow. A man in a gray sweatshirt, who was looking at Baek In-hyuk, turned his face. It¡¯s Seon-jae. My God, why are they here? Who do you want to meet? I turned my body around and elerated my slow walk. I wondered if they had something to do at the girls¡¯ high school or who they came to see, but that was not important now. Don¡¯t run into Seon-jae. As I walked down the street, taking big steps, moving my feet quickly, someone grabbed my bag. I stopped and looked back as if I had been caught. Seon-jae was holding the bag. ¡°Kim Chun-baek.¡± ¡°¡­..Uh, huh?¡± What do you mean, Kim Chun-baek? I blinked my eyes. ¡°I came here because you didn¡¯t know how to answer the phone.¡± ¡°Huh? What, what are you talking about¡­?¡± I put my hand on my shoulder, shuttering in embarrassment. Baek In-hyuk put his arm around my shoulder. At that moment, the message I sent to Seon-jae came shed through my mind. ¡°I don¡¯t have a warrant, but you¡¯ll have toe with me.¡± ¡°Huh? No, I¡¯m going home now¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Baek In-hyuk said and Seon-jae pulled the bag. I couldn¡¯t help but cry when I was dragged without knowing why. ¡°Can you just leave me alone?¡± I asked carefully, but Seon-jae didn¡¯t let go of my bag, and Baek In-hyuk didn¡¯t let go of my shoulder. We left the alley and walked along the main street. I was caught between two tall men and it was undoubtedly a takeaway. Guys, did I make illegal slush funds or embezzle public funds? Do you have to drag me like this? The withered leaves of tanus were scattered on the road. As he stepped on the fallen leaves, he flipped the hood and moved his hand on top of his head. I want to change clothes soon. ¡°Huh? It¡¯s not cold. I¡¯m cold¡­ Um¡­ can you tell me where we go?¡± Seon-jae, who had been walking with a bag all the time, stopped and reached for the road. Seon-jae opened the rear door when the taxi stopped on the shoulder of the road. ¡°We¡¯re going to go eat. Get on board.¡± ¡°What? Eat?¡± I didn¡¯t even say I was going to ride, but Baek In-hyuk pushed me on the back. Baek In-hyuk and I got in the back seat, and Seon-jae got in the front seat. Every time I moved, I heard a rustle from my down jacket. Seon-jae, wearing a seat belt, told the driver where to go. The taxi slipped off. The destination Seon-jae mentioned was something I knew. The taxi is heading to Ryu¡¯s restaurant, where I haven¡¯t returned their apron yet. ¡°Driver, please stop. I¡¯m getting off here. Help me, please.¡± * * * ¡ª- On the way by taxi, ¡®Now Radio Era¡¯ was being broadcasted. Seo Young-eun¡¯s song ¡®I¡¯m not alone¡¯, the song requested by the listener, was being yed. I sat with my hands folded and looked out the window. Like the opening of an anime I saw when I was a kid, yellow subtitles seemed to float on the window. ¡®When you are tired, look up at the sky, you are not always alone.¡¯ Baek In-hyuk kept fiddling with the padding and asked if it was hot. I looked up at the sky. Seo Young-eun, I just saw the sky. What should I do when I am tired and not alone? Suddenly the window buzzed and went down. The wind hit my cheek and blew my hair. As I looked down, Baek In-hyuk reached out his hand and pressed the down button on the window. What are you doing? Baek In-hyuk looked up at me, slightly bending towards me. ¡°No, I thought you must be feeling hot.¡± ¡°¡­No, I don¡¯t feel hot.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Baek In-hyuk removed his hand and pressed the window up button. As theing wind was blocked, my fluttering hair sank. -On a tearful day, scream out loud I imagined looking out the window and screaming loudly. I was wondering how I came to the school for a while, but it seemed easy to understand if I looked into the school uniform. I was curious about why Seon-jae came to me and why he was taking me to Ryu¡¯s restaurant. I took my cell phone out of my pocket and opened the messages I exchanged with Seon-jae. The number was removed from the address book, so the number was disyed instead of the name. [My name is Kim Chun-baek, I am seventy this year. I think you sent it wrong. I don¡¯t know how to answer the phone.] This was thest message exchanged with Seon-jae. And Seon-jae grabbed my bag and called me Kim Chun-baek. What are you trying to investigate? You lied to be Kim Chun-baek? The one with the apron? Did you go to Ryu¡¯s restaurant? Do you know Seon-jae? Even if I tried to prepare the answers in advance, there were too many questions I could not answer. I saw Seon-jae sitting in the passenger seat, putting his cell phone in his pocket. Even in the midst of this, the face that looked obliquely was very pretty. A sigh flowed out of frustration. I turned my head and looked up at the sky. It was dark¡­ Chapter 12.1: Part 1 Chapter 12 ¨C Part 1 Ryu¡¯s restaurant. I sat face to face with Seon-jae and Baek In-hyuk in front of me in the corner of the restaurant. Seon-jae¡¯s mother, who recognized me, was surprised to see that I knew her son, held 2,000 won in her hand, and said I didn¡¯t take the change. I was going to say that I had never been here, but I thought I would mess it up even more. ¡°Thank you very much.¡± I bowed my head and crumpled those notes in my pocket. Baek In-hyuk was going to help Seon-jae¡¯s mother. He went into the kitchen. I almost grabbed him not to let him go without realizing it. Seon-jae and I were the only ones left at the table, so Seon-jae ced the spoons and chopsticks side by side on the seat of the three of us. I looked down and saw the spoon in front of me. How could he put it so neatly that the ends fit perfectly? I forgot that I was dragged into the restaurant and admired Seon-jae¡¯s sophistication. ¡°Yes, you.¡± I looked up to find Seon-jae looking at me with his elbow on the table and his chin on his hand. I swallowed my saliva and waited for the next word toe out from Seon-jae¡¯s mouth. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± He asked back the unexpected question with his eyes wide open. ¡°You¡¯re not Kim Chun-baek, you¡¯re not 70 years old. I thought the name on the name tag you¡¯re wearing right now might not be yours.¡± ¡°Oh, the name tag is mine.¡± ¡°Im-sol?¡± I looked into Seon-jae¡¯s eyes and nodded. Seon-jae kept staring at my face without saying a word. It was difficult to look into his eyes anymore, so I turned to look around. I don¡¯t think I can go to his fan signing event. My heart is pounding like this. How can I stand right in front of Seon-jae and get his autograph?! Because the inside of the restaurant was quiet, I could hear Baek In-hyuk and Seon-jae¡¯s mother talking in the kitchen. ¡°Is she your girlfriend?¡± ¡°No, she is Seon-jae¡¯s fan.¡± ¡°Fan? He got one already?¡± ¡°Yes, he has a nickname; ¡®Seon-jae, carry me¡¯.¡± ¡°She¡¯s going to run with our Seon-jae on his back? He is going to carry her on his back. Is that what it is?¡± When I became the topic of conversation, I became embarrassed and scratched my forehead as if I were a sinner. I hated myself for not recognizing this fact in advance, that Baek In-hyuk was like a bamboo forest. [T/N: The name ¡°bamboo forest¡± came from an old fairy tale in South Korea about a vassal who happened to learn the king¡¯s secret. The vassal could not resist the urge to share the secret with others, so he decided to visit a bamboo forest and shout it out there, thus releasing his frustration and assuming no one could hear him.] After a while, Baek In-hyuk, who appeared with arge pot, put the pot on the crater grid and pushed around the ignition handle. ¡°I¡¯m starving to death. I was waiting for you as I didn¡¯t have time to eat anything.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you eat lunch? Why did you skip lunch ande to my school¡­?¡± ¡°Ryu Seon-jae dragged me along with him to catch you.¡± Baek In-hyuk said, while stirring the Gamjatang with adle. I nced at Seon-jae¡¯s face. He was still staring at me with his chin resting on his palm. I¡¯m embarrassed to death! Baek In-hyuk took the first te and poured the Gamjatang. It¡¯s better to getshed first, but ever since he asked my name, Seon-jae hasn¡¯t asked anything. When I came alone, I was excited to rip the meat off the bone and put rice on it, but now I couldn¡¯t figure out whether the rice grains went through my nose or my mouth. *** I ate thest grain of the rice on the rice bowl with chopsticks. I ate so much for a person who didn¡¯t know whether the rice grains went inside his nose or his mouth. I made an excuse to myself that Seon-jae¡¯s mother¡¯s cooking skills were good. ¡°Oh, my stomach is going to explode.¡±Baek In-hyuk, who put down his spoon, rubbed his stomach and looked at the table, and then looked at me with a curious face. ¡°I thought you loved ghost peppers, but you didn¡¯t eat a single one today?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I cleaned up the table thest time you ate.¡±He said, ¡°You know how to eat hangover soup because there¡¯s only five peppers left on your test time.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ that¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°How did you know?¡± With a perplexed face, I was trying to answer Baek In-hyuk¡¯s question, but Seon-jae¡¯s voice suddenly popped out. When I used to see him on TV, I used tough, but that face could look so cold, I could have never imagined. I felt sad and wanted to cry. I couldn¡¯t answer easily because my lips were pursed tight and didn¡¯t open easily. Seon-jae got up from his seat and brought an apron, which was hanging on the wall. When I looked up at him, he put the apron on my head and wrapped it around my face. I was so embarrassed and terrified to make eye contact with him. But on the other side, Seon-jae¡¯s expressionless face stared at me. ¡°It looks the same.¡± ¡°¡­uh?¡± Seon-jae, who was holding both sides of the apron around my face, tied under my chin, raised my face with strength in his hand. With my head slightly raised, I looked up at Seon-jae¡¯s face. ¡°It¡¯s the same as the person who rushed out with an apron at that time.¡± ¡°Oh, that time¡­¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°Uh?¡± ¡°What is your identity?¡± ¡°I, I¡­ I¡¯m a fan of yours¡­¡± Seon-jae held out his cell phone in front of me. ¡°Go on.¡± ¡°Huh? What¡­¡± ¡°The cafe that I signed up for, you never mentioned. Go on.¡± I am in trouble! The cafe is supposed to open 4 years from now, so how do I get in there? ¡°If there is one, I will trust you.¡± ¡°¡­No. You don¡¯t have to believe it.¡± Seon-jae¡¯s eyes were getting narrower. Oh, damn it. How to get over this situation?! Chapter 12.2: Part 2 Chapter 12 ¨C Part 2 I epted the cell phone because he was standing as if he wouldn¡¯t move if I didn¡¯t take his phone. Then he took the apron off my face, returned to his seat, and looked at me as if asking me to do it quickly. Next to him was Baek In-Hyuk, who was smiling. His lips stretched out into a wide smile and enjoyed the scene in front of him as if it was funny. I¡¯m going crazy! First of all, I opened the inte application and typed two letters ¡®Seon-jae¡¯ in the search box for the cafe. While checking the search results, I scrolled down the screen and found a cafe called ¡®People who love Seon-jae¡¯. I thought that there couldn¡¯t be any posts inside the cafe. There were only three members, perhaps they opened the cafe but didn¡¯t operate it. I was hesitating to open it, but Seon-jae reached out his hand and grabbed the phone. ¡°Uh, no¡­ that¡¯s¡­¡± Seon-jae¡¯s expression stiffened. Baek In-Hyuk, who was looking at the cell phone screen, burst outughing as if he couldn¡¯t take it anymore. ¡°She¡¯s really hitting the bulls-eye.¡± Baek In-hyuk, who took the cell phone from Seon-jae¡¯s hand,ughed openly at the screen. It was natural tough because there was a photo of Seon-jae with a beautiful view at the front door of the cafe. Seon-jae shot an absurd look at me. No matter where I was in the past, it was a little heartbreaking to see him, the person I like, looked at me with a look of contempt. ¡°There can¡¯t be a fan cafe without a fan.¡± I couldn¡¯t say anything and Baek In-hyuk kept onughing. ¡°I found this in my desk drawer today.¡± Seon-jae opened his bag zipper, opened it wide, and showed the paper which was inside. It was a warning letter that I had secretly put in his drawer. I thought he must have read the letter and put it back in the drawer, but I guessed it wasn¡¯t the case here. Seon-jae took the letter from his bag and read it. ¡°This letter is from the future, and you have to believe what¡¯s in it and put it into action. If you don¡¯t believe what¡¯s in this letter, there will be a great misfortune, so I wish you the luck of believing this letter. If you have a friend who looks like a cat over 180cm tall by your side now, stay away from him. And please avoid anything with Potato Pancakes in the future. If you experience sleepless nights, watch a documentary about the mysteries of the universe. You can fall asleep without having sleeping pills.¡± Seon-jae, who read the letter in front of my face, looked coldly at me. ¡°I searched all the other students¡¯ desks just in case, and this was only on my desk.¡± I had nothing to say. Of course it wasn¡¯t on the other desks. I only put it on your desk. ¡°Why are you doing this to me?¡± I grabbed the strap of the bag next to me. My heart was pounding so much and my face was so hot, and it was hard to keep sitting. ¡°Are you from the future? Is it fun to y this kind of prank on me?¡± ¡°¡­¡± The tip of my nose started to tingle. I felt sad for some reason and frowned. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± Seon-jae stared at me. ¡°¡­ but I¡¯m not kidding. It¡¯s not funny at all. I want you to, you¡­.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± My throat was getting sore as I tried to control my crying, growing within. ¡°I won¡¯t do that again. Sorry¡­¡± I pushed my chair back and quickly opened the restaurant door and left. I didn¡¯t do anything bad, but I was so sad that I felt like crying. It was funny to say that I could save Seon-jae as I came back in the past. I didn¡¯t even know how and why I was here. ¡°Hey!¡± At the same time I heard his voice, my body turned around by the force that grabbed my wrist from behind. It was Seon-jae who was standing when I turned around. My eyes grew hot as tears started to flow endlessly. When I suddenly burst into tears, Seon-jae¡¯s expression softened as if he was embarrassed. ¡°Hey, why are you crying?¡± Uh-huh-huh-huh [sobbing noise] When I pulled my arm, crying, Seon-jae loosened his grip and let go of my hand. ¡°We¡¯re really not going to run into each other anymore. I won¡¯t even go to your school. But I didn¡¯t lie. For real.¡± I turned around crying and started to walk. When I turned around, Seon-jae was standing still with a vague face. ¡°Seon-jae, don¡¯t hate the letter even if you hate me.¡± After saying this, I walked again. As I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand, I cried out loud and walked away from Seon-jae. He didn¡¯t follow me as I cried and walked away from him. I continued walking and sat on a bench in a park, where no one was there. I leaned over and cried with my face buried in my knees, and that¡¯s when my cell phone vibrated. As I tried to get my hands into my pocket to take out the cell phone, I held the pocket watch instead. I sat straight, pulled out the watch from my pocket and pushed the lid open, saying, ¡°It¡¯s your fault.¡± I felt frustrated for no reason and med the watch, but at that moment, the clock hands moved fast and a light gushed out from the watch. ¡°Uh, uh, this¡­¡± I closed my eyes tightly. I could feel the dazzling light disappearing. I heard a loud song somewhere, my pounding heart finally calmed down. With my hands clenched, I slowly lifted my eyelids. It was dark everywhere, so I couldn¡¯t see anything. As I blinked a few times, my eyes got adjusted to the darkness and I could see a familiar scene in front of me. Oh My Gosh?! There was a poster of Seon-jae on the wall, with his hair dyed yellow and wore a beige knitwear. Chapter 13.1: Part 1 Chapter 13 ¨C Part 1 ¡°Uh¡­¡± I looked around the room, grabbing the nket tightly in my hands as I got up. I walked to the wall and touched the poster with my hand¡­ The poster I had bought and also the album was right here. Next to it was a photo card with a slogan ¡°I love you, Seon-jae.¡± Am I back? I had spent close to a month in the past. Since I was on the bed the moment I opened my eyes, I thought that I might have been lying down like a dead body and sleeping without any contact with anyone. My family must have thought it was strange that I didn¡¯t contact them. There was likely to be a huge number of missed calls. I rushed to bed to find my cell phone. I pressed the cell phone button, thinking about how to exin to everyone. January 1st, XXXX, X-day I stared nkly at the date. January 1st. 1 o¡¯clock. It¡¯s only one o¡¯clock here?! It¡¯s been a while. Was I dreaming the whole time? A very vivid and long dream. But I lived every minute and second diligently 24 hours a day in my dream. That couldn¡¯t be a dream. I sat down with a frown on my face, thinking about the strange situation. I opened the inte application. My heart was pounding and I couldn¡¯t take my eyes off the cell phone screen. Ryu Seon-jae was constantly inputted as Woo San-jae, Woo Sa-mit, and Yoo Seon-jae. As my hands were shaking, I pressed the keypad with my thumbs, typing down Seon-jae¡¯s name one by one. ¡­? My heart seemed to fall with a thump. The site was flooded with articles of celebrities who found out Seon-jae¡¯s death. They were articles of an actor¡¯s visitor, an agency senior¡¯s visitor, and most of the featured pictures shown were all the members of the Potato Pancakes with a grim face. There was also a close-up picture of Baek In-hyuk¡¯s face, who was crying, holding Seon-jae in his arms. I dropped the cell phone, no energy. Is it really a dream? I couldn¡¯t believe it at all, so I stared nkly at the wall. I turned on the light of my dark room and went to the bathroom to wash my face. When I saw my watery face in the mirror, my eyes were swollen because I had cried and fell asleep. I pped my cheeks with my palms. My eyes closed due to the pain. ¡°It hurts.¡± I washed my face, wiped it with a towel and got out of the bathroom. I went to my room, sat on the bed, staring nkly at Seon-jae¡¯s poster. ¡°I¡¯m sure I had Gamjatang with you just now.¡± I raised my hand and stared at my wrist that Seon-jae held. It was too vivid to be a dream. If it wasn¡¯t a dream, did I reallye back from the past? I wondered if Seon-jae didn¡¯t believe me. Anyway, there was no way to check it. I couldn¡¯t even go to Seon-jae¡¯s mortuary and asked him if he and I had Gamjatang at his restaurant. If I could meet someone so easily, I wouldn¡¯t have seen him perform at a concert, and wouldn¡¯t have been cut off every time he appeared on a music show. I felt strange looking down at my feet. My heart kept pounding like a never ending sleep. Seon-jae¡¯s eyes, his face, kept growing in my mind. It¡¯s just a dream! It¡¯s just a dream! I lifted my head to look up, clenching my fists. Is he worth losing? I put on my coat, took my wallet and cell phone, and rushed out. As soon as I went out to the roadside, I reached out for a taxi. Just by reading the inte articles, I could tell which hospital the mortuary of Seon-jae was set up. The dark scenery outside passed quickly out the window. My palms started to sweat. I arrived at the hospital where the mortuary was arranged. It was early in the morning, but there were many people, including reporters and bodyguards. Of course, there was no room for me to enter Seon-jae¡¯s mortuary. As I wandered around, I squatted on the flowerbed behind the funeral and entered the Instagram of Potato Pancakes. The photo that Imented on was a recent post. It was a photo of Seonjae, wearing a cap and eating a in yogurt smoothie. Tears welled up as I looked at his face with a straw in his mouth, my eyes wide open. ¡°Is it a real dream?¡± Tears fell on the cell phone screen. I wiped the tears with my sleeve and sniffed. There were no streetmps nearby and I could sense someone walking on the road in the dark. I rubbed my eyes¡­ He looked tall and handsome, even in the dark. I lowered my hand, blinked my eyes, and opened them wide. ¡°Baek In-hyuk!¡± Baek In-hyuk, who was wearing a ck suit, looked back at me with a nk face. Baek In-hyuk was right there. I was so surprised and jumped up to stand quickly, Baek In-hyuk turned around as if he were about to go back in. I ran quickly, grabbed Baek In-hyuk¡¯s arm, and pushed him to look at my face. ¡°Hey, do you remember me?¡± Huh? His face was cold without any expression. ¡°We ate Gamjatang together at Ryu¡¯s restaurant. Huh?¡± Baek In-hyuk, who was looking at my face, pulled out his arm and went into the building. Bodyguards were guarding the door, so I couldn¡¯t follow in. Baek In-hyuk definitely didn¡¯t know me. Just in case, it¡¯s a miracle that I met Baek In-hyuk like this. Looking at Baek In-hyuk¡¯s face, it seemed more convincing that it was a dream than time travel to the past. I guess I¡¯m crazy because I¡¯m so sad. Im-sol! I left the hospital and headed to the roadside to catch a taxi again. When I came to the hospital, I couldn¡¯t calm down because my hands were sweaty and my chest was pounding, but my heart felt broken and empty. My heart ached because of that damn dream. I didn¡¯t lose Seon-jae, but I felt like I lost someone I really knew. I put my head against the window and cried¡­ Chapter 13.2: Part 2 Chapter 13 ¨C Part 2 The sound of the thumping song boomed through the wall so I could see how much the TV volume was turned up. It was 2 AM. I walked to the wall while clenching my fists and banged my hand against the wall. ¡°Don¡¯t make the TV sound!¡± Then the sound of the thumping got louder as I kept hitting the wall, asking to turn down the TV volumeing from the other side. ¡°Turn it off!!!¡± I stared at the wall with a dissatisfied face then banged my hand against the wall once again. I took off my socks and my clothes. I tried to wear the sleepwear hanging on the chair, but it smelled bad, so I put it in theundry container and opened the drawer. I searched for clothes to wear at home and found clothes that were not mine in the drawer. ¡°¡­Huh?¡± I took out the clothes at the bottom. My heart pounded. I opened the clothes wide. It was gray gym pants. There was a white solid line on both sides, and a symbol mark of Jagam High School, which was embroidered on the right pocket. It was a sportswear from Jagam High School that I bought from Seon-jae through a secondhand country seller. ¡°Why is this here¡­?¡± I thought I was mistaken, so I looked closely at the symbol mark. It was really the symbol of Jagam High School. I thought, ¡°Why is it here?¡± and tilted my head in confusion. I had bought this in the past when I went back, and I couldn¡¯t exin it. It¡¯s not a dream. I really went there, I threw the clothes on the floor and rushed to search for the pockets of my clothes. I took out the pocket watch and held it in my hand as I pushed the lid open and checked the time. The hour hand was at the 2 o¡¯clock position. To be exact, it was a little past 2 o¡¯clock. How did I go back in time? I was lying on the bed and crying, as far as I remembered. I sat down on the bed and looked at the pocket watch. No matter how much I looked at it, it¡¯s just a watch, but when it moved, it lit up and returned to its original time. But what was it like when I went back in time? It reminded me of that time¡­ it was after the New Year¡¯s Greetings rang everywhere. I looked at the watch in my hand. There was no button to change the time in the watch. Well, it is one of a kind¡­ I rubbed my thumb over the clock¡¯s surface. As the hard ss was pressed, light leaked out from the frame with a squeaking sound. ¡°Uhh?¡± I opened my eyes to the sound that I had heard before. ¡°Here we go!¡± Gradually, the light expanded and suddenly became bigger and filled the room. It was so bright that I had to close my eyes and screamed. ¡°Here we go!!!!¡± After a while, the light that had just exploded a while ago, disappeared in an instant. The intensity of the light exploding could be measured with my eyelids tightly closed. 02 Second Time Travel ¡°Hey!¡± Someone grabbed my shoulder and shook it. I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar voice. I made eye contact with a girl whose eyes were gray, as if she was wearing colored lenses. The face I was looking at, nced to her right. When I followed her gaze, a woman with a very disapproving face was looking at me with her arms folded. ¡°Where are you going? I asked if you are Kim Chun-baek, Ms. Kim.¡± My mouth opened without my knowledge. The children, who were chewing gum, surrounded me. Those with yellow and red hair seemed to have a hot tempered personality like her. I lowered my gaze¡­ I was wearing a school uniform skirt, a navy blue vest, a scarlet tie, and a yellow coat. I am right, I have returned to the past. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m back! I¡¯m back!¡± I jumped around and pped. It felt cold and freeing. ¡°She just said she was going, but now she¡¯s back. She has lost it.¡± I turned to look at the face I was facing earlier. A familiar face. The mascara on the eyshes was clumped together. She was a student, whom I had encountered once in Jagam High School. Oh, my God, what¡¯s this? Did I just get dragged by them? Thud There was a sound and I was pushed back by my shoulder. The girl, standing with her hand on my shoulder, had hit me with the tip of her fist. It hurts¡­ I took backward steps as she approached me. The heel behind my shoes touched the wall, perhaps I was driven to a corner. Damn it! I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d ever done anything at her school. Was it because I changed some parts of the past? Why did Ie back to such a corner? My face broke into tears. ¡°Why are you doing this?¡± I asked with a face that was as resentful as possible and with a terrified expression. Some of the children had been talking about it. What did they say? One said, ¡°You should pierce your ears.¡± So, the incident started because of Kim Chun-baek, who became a hot topic of conversation between Ryu Seon-jae and Baek In-hyuk. Despite attending co-education, Seon-jae never approached anyone because he had no close female students and was shy. He hated talking about people, and he didn¡¯t talk about women in particr. He seemed to be talking about one person, Seon-jae said it was Kim Chun-baek, and Baek In-hyuk even said, ¡°Carry her on Seon-jae¡¯s back,¡± adding, ¡°Children who liked Seon-jae got interested in who she was.¡± ¡°I saw you on the street. Ryu Seon-jae was with you. Seon-jae followed you and you ran away. It doesn¡¯t make sense for Seon-jae to go after you.¡± ¡°Really?¡± When I put my hand on my chest and asked with apletely clueless face, my head was pushed back. The yellow haired guy pushed my forehead with his index finger and shouted threateningly, ¡°Why are you pretending not to know?¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± I bowed my head with my hands sped together politely. If I had a whistle, I would¡¯ve blown it. At that time, a ser ball rolled into the alley. Chapter 14.1: Part 1 Chapter 14 Part 1 **** ¡°Hey, pick it up, you crazy.¡± ¡°Is that my ball, or yours?¡± ¡°You threw it.¡± A quarreling voice came from out there. Soon someone came into the alley. I was surprised for a moment because there were quite a lot of peopleing to pick up the ball, but soon I stepped inside. I saw the face of the person who was standing up after leaning down. I made eye contact with him who wore a night jumper hood. It was Seon-jae. ¡°Uh, uh¡­¡± My eyes grew bigger as I looked at his face. In the meantime, Seon-jae turned his eyes away indifferently, as if he had forgotten my facepletely. No, you can¡¯t look away like that! I looked at Seon-jae as if I wanted him to save me from these students. I stretched my neck, hoping that our eyes would meet again. ¡°Huh? Is it Seon-jae?¡± The kids, who had been quarrelling till now, smiled when they saw Seon-jae. Seon-jae, who had a ser ball on his side and his hands in the pockets of his night jumper, said, ¡°Oh, hi,¡± Our eyes met very briefly and he turned around. No! You can¡¯t go like that. If you don¡¯t save me, the kids here will take me back there again! ¡°Ryu Seon-jae!¡± I cried urgently. After leaving the alley, Seon-jae stopped and looked back. I couldn¡¯t say things like ¡®don¡¯t go¡¯ or ¡®take me with you¡¯, as there were many people whose ears were keenly listening to what I was about to say. I blinked my eyes several times and said, ¡°Don¡¯t go¡± and smiled sadly¡­ ¡°Hey, you didn¡¯t find the ball?¡± Baek In-hyuk, who suddenly came in, was quite bewildered by the unexpected people and circumstances. I changed the subject and sent a rescue signal to Baek In-hyuk. Our eyes met¡­ ¡°Uh?¡± Baek In-hyuk opened his eyes round and pretended to know. Yes, it¡¯s me, get me out of here! Baek In-hyuk said, ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t know¡­¡± As he said this, he turned around and left the alley. I groaned and lowered my head, and suddenly my body shook. Someone grabbed the hood of my coat and pulled me into a corner. When I opened my eyes in shock, Seon-jae looked down at me with a grim face. ¡°Long time no see.¡± ¡°Uh?¡± He then grabbed my coat and started walking. ¡°Wait, what is it? Why are you taking her?¡± As one of the crowd members grabbed my arm, Seon-jae turned around. I pulled the hood of the coat that Seon-jae was holding and he pulled me away from the person holding my arm. ¡°I have some work with her.¡± Seon-jae, who said so, left the alley without holding my hood. ¡°Thanks.¡± I smiled as a sign of gratitude for saving me, but Seon-jae¡¯s expression was cold. ¡°Neither I nor In-hyuk know you. Did you suddenly want us to pretend to know you because you were crowded in the corner alone?¡± ¡°Ah, me? That, that¡¯s not it.¡± I stuttered without knowing. Seon-jae made eye contact and turned his head. As I came out of the alley, I saw Baek In-hyuk eating Taiyaki bread. Baek In-hyuk, who saw me being dragged by Seon-jae, opened his eyes wide with Taiyaki in his mouth. The appearance of being dragged by Seon-jae while holding the hood was simr to the person who got caught stealing Seon-jae¡¯s money. ¡°What? Why are you bothing together?¡± ¡°That¡¯s it. Let¡¯s go.¡± Baek In-hyuk quickly took money out of his pocket, counted them, and paid the bill. He stood side by side and wiped his face. I felt like he was looking at me with a weird expression. I frowned and nced at Baek In-hyuk. When I met him at Seon-jae¡¯s funeral, he pretended as if he didn¡¯t know me. ¡°Well, why are you looking at me? You can¡¯t even recognise me. Why are you looking at me?¡± Baek In-hyuk looked surprised as he said, ¡°huh?¡±. ¡°Hey, that¡¯s so weird. When I had asked you to stop pretending that you don¡¯t know me, you still behaved as if you didn¡¯t know me.¡± ¡°I-I¡­¡± Baek In-hyuk nced at Seon-jae. ¡°Did you hit her head?¡± Seon-jae and Baek In-hyuk turned their heads towards me to look at me, as if it was strange. I got up and patted my skirt. I saw Seon-jae carrying his bag which was lying next to the goal post. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you listen to me?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± I wriggled my lips and bit them. ¡°Don¡¯t take sleeping pills even if you can¡¯t sleep.¡± In other words, taking cold medicine and sleeping pills together is deadly. However, talking about the letter I had put in the drawer, made the atmosphere here awkward and strange. On the day Seon-jae mentioned about it, the time travel to the past ended and nothing changed from the original time. That means the day had ended withplete dissatisfaction and nothing changed. Seeing that Baek In-hyuk didn¡¯t remember me, I was buried in time. My warning and me too¡­ Now that I came back to the past again, I thought I shouldn¡¯t let it be buried in their memory this time. ¡°I need a gym jacket. So let¡¯s make a deal at 6 o¡¯clock tomorrow at Mc-Donald¡¯s.¡± Seon-jae stared at me without saying anything. While Baek In-hyuk was looking at my face and Seon-jae¡¯s face, who was holding the ball. ¡°I don¡¯t sell it.¡± Seon-jae said and Baek In-hyuk¡¯s eyes darted towards me. I hesitated and raised my index finger this time. ¡°10,000 won?¡± I raised another finger. ¡°20,000 won?¡± The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!