"Sihyun, are you okay?"
As saliva-mixed blood splattered on the table, the headmaster exclaimed in surprise. Sihyun had no time to respond. Thump, thump! His hand, pale as paper, gripped the table as if his heart was about to explode. It felt like every organ in his body was expanding.
"Cough!"
Suppressing a groan, he opened his blood-sealed lips. Blood dripped down. Sihyun, feeling the trembling of the arm that supported his body, looked at the bloodstains coming into view in his blurred vision. The red liquid was undeniably his own. His blue eyes shook.
His whole body ached. Not during the first or second awakening had he experienced something like this.
Thump, and a heavy sound echoed. Sihyun closed his eyes as his strength gave way.
***
"Oh, my poor body, it's all dying...!"
Someone was hitting the ground, producing a wailing sound. Sihyun, startled by the eerily familiar voice, raised his body with a frown. Until he collapsed, he hadn't felt any of the pains that were now absent.
It was a dream.
That was Sihyun's judgment as he sat up. Having experienced this several times, he was no longer surprised or bewildered.
"Oh, oh..."
A boy in front of him cried with a mournful expression. He seemed like someone mourning a death. Sihyun, feeling unjust, got up from his seat. He saw the boy looking at him with narrowed eyes. The eyes seemed to contain a legend that told him to go to a faraway hometown.
The boy with blue eyes blinked slowly.
"Don't just roll around when I told you not to use your body recklessly."
"What did I do?"
"What?"
"...."
Avoiding the questioning gaze, Sihyun mumbled. He hadn't really rolled around recklessly. At least, he thought so. Reflecting on passing memories, during the end-of-month evaluations, he justified to himself that he hadn't truly abused his body. After some time, when he turned his gaze back, the boy, Kang Sihyun, was still staring at him. Sihyun felt unfairly treated.
The first and second awakenings had proceeded smoothly, but who could have known that the third awakening would suddenly pose a problem? If the third awakening was this painful, he probably wouldn't have attempted it.
The boy, seemingly puzzled himself, raised his head with a resigned expression. Observing him with an expression of resignation, Sihyun stared at him unchanged from when they last met.
The last time they met was probably in a dream.
Thinking of that dream sent shivers down his spine. Feeling that he had recalled something unnecessary, Sihyun shrugged and looked at the boy. He didn't know why the boy appeared in his dream again, but meeting him in this situation was fortunate for Sihyun.
The boy always knew more than him. So, even in this situation, he seemed to know why Sihyun collapsed.
"If you're curious, ask. I might just spill everything."
As if proving his thoughts, the boy spoke after a long silence. Sihyun didn't miss the opportunity.
"Why wasn't it like this in the previous awakenings?"
"It's an overload."
"Overload?"
He seemed to know something after all. Not understanding the meaning of the words, Sihyun tilted his head. Suddenly, the boy raised his hand to Sihyun's shoulder. Sensing a hint of regret in the blue eyes staring at him, Sihyun frowned.
"Do you understand why you're a Quadruple?"
"Isn't it because you entered my body, and the classes merged?"
"Knowing that, you still went for the third awakening?"
"....?"
Kang Sihyun blinked at the boy who seemed to be asking with great curiosity. He wondered what it had to do with him collapsing. Lost in thought, he heard a sigh from the boy. It felt strange hearing someone else sighing just as he did.
"Do you think your class is normal? Becoming a Quadruple might be like a bug, a kind of cheat."
"Yeah, maybe."
"But even if that's the case, it's not like your body has changed to match the Quadruple. If anything, you seem weaker. Look at these shoulders! They're even skinnier than when I last saw you. Are you on a diet or something?"
With a playful tone, the boy grabbed Sihyun's shoulders and shook him. In that moment, as Sihyun tried to grab the boy's hand, his body unexpectedly fell backward. The boy, who was holding him, also fell with a loud thud.
"..."
Under the boy's gaze, Sihyun, who now lay beneath him, stared at the face right in front of him. Seeing the same face so close was quite surreal.
"Wow! You look even skinnier like this!"
The boy, using Sihyun's head to support himself, exclaimed in surprise. Sihyun, feeling awkward about the situation, pushed the boy's shoulders away and got up.
"Step aside for a moment."
As the boy moved away, Sihyun, who had just stood up, pondered the boy's words.
"So, you're saying my body imprinted three times as a Dual?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"If you knew that, you should have told me sooner."
"I didn't know until recently!"
The boy replied casually, prompting Sihyun to sigh. Hearing the boy confidently say he would figure something out made Sihyun skeptical.
"What can you do?"
"I'll figure out how to handle it up to the third imprint, so don't worry."
Sighing, the boy lay down and continued, "If it's due to overload, don't worry, I'll manage somehow."
"Any plan?"
"I've heard a lot."
He proudly declared. Sihyun sighed again, realizing there was no use in arguing with the boy. The boy lay down beside him, waiting for the moment when he would naturally wake up.
As he lay there, memories of the past came to Sihyun's mind. The dim and cool space, illuminated only where he and the boy were, felt familiar. Time was like medicine, diluting the resentment he once felt towards the boy.
Now, there was no point in resenting or blaming anyone. Even if he could turn back time, he wouldn't be able to live a normal life. That applied to Kang Sihyun as well. They had changed each other's lives. In a way, it was a give-and-take situation. If you looked at it closely, it was a complex exchange. Perhaps, in a sense, Sihyun was living a new life on behalf of the boy.
Sihyun, with a slow blink, opened his mouth.
"Are you going to stay here forever?"
"Well, yeah."
"It must be boring."
"Not really. When you're awake, I get to see a lot through you. You're quite good at messing things up, you know?"
"What are you talking about?"
"It's no fun if someone tells you about it."
And so, what did he mean?
Sihyun turned his head. The boy's face, identical to his own, came into view. Feeling the gaze or perhaps sensing something, the boy also turned his head. Matching eye colors met. It was a subtle feeling.
"Yoo Sihyun."
"What?"
"Can I give you some advice?"
"What advice can a kid like you give?"
As Sihyun waved his hand dismissively, the boy looked at him with a pitiful expression.
"I mean, you've been messing up for over three months now."
"...?"
"Is this world still just a novel to you?"
Sihyun closed his mouth at the sudden question. The boy, who seemed to know it all, slowly closed and opened his eyes.
"If you treat them in a flat manner, you won't find happiness."
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't judge. Just accept that this is the way they are. The more you insist on this place being a novel, the harder it will be for you to find happiness, as you'll start seeing them not as people but as characters written to behave a certain way."
"..."
"Sihyun, were you happy in that other world?"
The boy asked quietly. Sihyun felt an intuition that he wasn't referring to the world he, as Kang Sihyun, currently inhabited. If he had been happy.
"I wasn't leading a particularly happy life..."
Sihyun recalled a thought from some time ago and lowered his gaze.
Krrrrrrr.
The space shook at that moment.
Dddddd.
Without warning, in the vibrating space, two Sihyuns stood up. As Sihyun was bewildered by the falling black dust from the sky, the ground cracked with a sound, creating a deep crevice.
"Oh, unfair! He said something about it and already got angry!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Come on, let's go quickly!"
"What?"
Before he could ask what had happened, the boy pushed him from behind. Astonished, Sihyun turned around as he was being pushed towards the crack, and the boy who was pushing him, with a wide smile, continued to speak.
"He will continue to write numbers for you. He may not directly touch your mind as he did last time, but he will find other ways. So that you keep thinking of this place as a novel."
"What on earth are you talking about?"
"I've said everything I can! Now, go!"
"Kang Sihyun!"
"...This is your story, Yoo Sihyun."
As Sihyun called out the boy's name who had pushed him to the edge like a cliff, for a moment, the boy, with a faint smile, stopped exerting force from his hands. Then, with a light push, he sent Sihyun's body quickly down through the crack.
"Grow a bit taller while you're at it!"
"Hey, Kang Sihyun!"
With a hearty laugh, the boy spoke as Sihyun, with closed eyes, shouted. The boy, hearing the echo of his voice disappearing from below, let out a sigh. The shaking in the vast space stopped. And then.
"Even if you send him like that, he'll still stubbornly cling to being a widower."
A voice mixed with mechanical sounds echoed in the now still space.
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