“Did I like you?”
“Exactly, 'we' liked each other. I liked you too.”
Well, maybe you were the only one who liked me.
Kang Sihyun decided not to correct what the boy named Day had said. If the boy really had a personality like Yoo Seowoo, correcting him would be futile as it would just go in one ear and out the other. He had had his fair share of arguments with him.
Sihyun felt confident that among the students in Class A, he clashed with Yoo Seowoo the most. Lee Hamin also fought quite often with him, but those fights seemed just expressions of affection among friends compared to his own battles with Seowoo, which were constantly grating and confrontational from the beginning.
It was as if they were skating on thin ice.
He had no desire to repeat that frustrating verbal sparring even in his dreams.
“Well, if you say so.”
That’s how he responded, without retracing doubts or demanding the truth, just going along with it. At that, Day’s eyes widened, and then he smiled brightly.
And then, he kissed Sihyun on the cheek with a peck.
“…!”
What?
Sihyun, astonished, cupped his cheek and stared at Day. With Day making such an unsolicited contact, and looking so innocently joyful, it was hard to scold him.
“I hope you remember quickly, but also hope you don't.”
The boy muttered quietly with a smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
That makes sense.
Sihyun thought about the silly lie Day had crafted and soon sighed deeply.
It seemed likely that this boy was indeed Yoo Seowoo. Different name, different age, but wasn't there something like the nature of the soul? It was too similar to Seowoo, including the style of flirting and even the facial features.
Reincarnation, huh?
Ah, reincarnation.
Sihyun stopped his train of thought and let out a brief sigh. Now he seemed to understand what kind of world this was.
No wonder the dream never ended. This was a continuation of Adam's dream. So, it was the first life Adam had reincarnated into after death.
Having lived a life of an executioner, and nearly reaching the point of soul extinction, Adam had reincarnated into this small body.
And he had met this boy.
Sihyun gazed intently at Day.
“Hm?”
At that sharp gaze, the boy tilted his head slightly, showing a puzzled expression. His eyes folding in a way that was eerily similar to Yoo Seowoo. The resemblance reinforced the theory of reincarnation.
Was it a coincidence that I met you here?
Sihyun pondered if it was truly coincidental that he met Yoo Seowoo in his first life and now again as Kang Sihyun. He racked his brain, but there was no immediate answer.
“What's wrong? Are you in pain?”
Day asked, seeing that Sihyun had been silent for a while. Sihyun shook his head indicating it was nothing and got up from where he was sitting. Unsure of what to do, but fortunately, Day informed him of some chores Gren had been tasked with, and he headed towards the stables.
That’s how the first day ended.
Thereafter, Sihyun lived diligently as Gren. Living Gren’s life meant taking beatings in place of Lennard, a life of so much suffering that it felt like his back and calves would give out. Day would often come by Sihyun’s side to check on his wounds and apply some medicine. The medicine he applied worked well enough that the wounds would heal in half a day. It was as if he had a special healing skill.
“Isn’t that medicine expensive?”
Gren was obviously the black sheep of this mansion. How could such a boy carry around such medicine? Sihyun quietly asked, and Day just grinned widely.
“It’s okay since it’s for you.”
The way he spoke, cheeks flushed, he was quite a sight. Indeed, he had a handsome face.
Time relentlessly flowed on.
It would be a lie to say there were no curiosities about Gren and Day, but Sihyun tried not to get too attached to this dream. It was just a dream, after all, and even if it really was a past life, that life was already long gone, and soon he would leave this world, so there was no point in getting attached.
So, he didn’t ask for details and simply went through each day. Day would often come by, glance at Sihyun’s face as if he had something to say, but then shut his mouth and leave if Sihyun showed no interest.
Where he went was a mystery, but Sihyun did not ask.
Time passed again. Neither advancing nor retreating, the change in their relationship initiated by Day came after more than ten days had passed since S
ihyun started living as Gren.
“Why don’t you ask more about me?”
“Huh?”
“Have your memories returned?”
Day asked with a tone that seemed almost accusatory. Sihyun blinked.
“That’s not it.”
“But why don’t you ask. Aren’t you curious about me?”
The boy kicked a stone on the ground. He stared down as if sulking, then lifted his head to look at Sihyun. Their eyes, the color of platinum, met. Sihyun felt it wasn’t that he wasn’t curious, but rather he didn’t want to know. He chose silence, and the boy’s eyes carried a hint of hurt.
“I’m sad, Gren.”
“I’m sorry.”
“…That’s what makes me sad.”
The boy pouted and quickly left the spot. Sihyun watched Day’s departing back with a complex gaze.
The path they were walking was different, and understanding his emotions wasn’t easy.
Well, there was no need to understand, really.
Sihyun remembered his goal wasn’t to understand Day or to adapt to this world, but to wake from this dream and return to reality.
That’s why he sweated nightly, trying to break the seal of his divine power.
However, he realized the futility of his efforts when he had spent over a year living as Gren.
The small boy’s body had grown, making him more aware of his adolescent growth spurt.
Sihyun chuckled hollowly, thinking that the lifestyle in the dream, which he thought would last at most fifteen days, had extended far beyond his expectations.
Could it be the same as Adam’s dream?
Each night, he struggled to unseal the divine power, but there was no sign of waking up. Just like with Adam, it seemed he had to live out the entire life of this body before escaping the dream. Wondering about this, Sihyun sighed deeply. His head was a mess, so when a gentle hand touched his cheek, he flinched.
“Hello, Gren.”
It was Day.
“Hello.”
A year had passed, and Sihyun was still maintaining an ambiguous relationship with Day. As Day had once described, it appeared outwardly as if they were lovers, but their emotional distance was vast. Day seemed to know this as well since he hadn’t initiated any significant physical contact since that cheek kiss a year ago. At most, he would hold hands or stroke him.
“Still no news of your memories?”
“It seems so.”
“Isn’t that frustrating?”
“What. I’ve already learned all the knowledge needed to live here.”
Gren’s memory loss made living as Gren easy. All he had to do was do chores, be summoned by the master, take beatings, be tormented by Lennard, and then return to chores. Sihyun repeated this exhausting life for over a year.
And he found a new sense of comfort in Day’s presence.
He hated to admit it, but it would have been extremely tough to endure this life without Day.
This body must have relied on him too.
Sihyun vaguely guessed the life of the memory-less Gren. And he wondered.
No matter how he thought about it, if it was this kind of relationship, Gren must have liked Day, not the other way around. How could Day be harboring an unrequited love for Gren?
“Day.”
“Hm?”
“Why do you like me?”
So, he asked. What was there to hesitate about? He had to keep living as Gren anyway.
It seemed better to know than to remain ignorant about Day, so he asked. The boy’s ears turned red. It was the first time Sihyun had seen Day’s face turn so red since he had fallen over him six months ago.
“…Are you curious about me now?”
“……”
At Day’s shyly spoken words, Sihyun almost screamed.
It was a realization that struck him again and again; indeed, the boy was the soul of Yoo Seowoo.
How could he say something so strikingly similar?
Sihyun was momentarily taken aback and lost for words, then nodded. Well, he fumbled his response, and the boy, familiar with such reactions, chuckled and fidgeted with his fingers.
“Three years ago, when I first came to this mansion, Lennard was being mean and I almost got trampled by a horse’s hooves.”
“What?”
Sihyun was horrified as he looked at Day. The boy was already the size of a fist now. Three years ago, he would have been younger and smaller. What kind of cruelty was it to try to harm such a young child like that?
Though it was just a spiteful act, it was akin to murder.
As Sihyun was agape, Day continued.
“I thought I was surely going to die, but then Gren, you saved me. I don’t know where you got the strength from, but you pushed Lennard’s horse hard enough
to make it fall over and then you reached out your hand to me. Back then, you looked even smaller and weaker than me, but to me, you looked like a hero.”
Even though you ended up taking the beatings instead of Lennard because of that accident…
Day trailed off.
That was why he had been suffering beatings.
Sihyun blinked unintentionally upon learning about Gren’s past, then scrutinized Day. It made sense why he was always so meticulous and apologetic after seeing Sihyun get beaten. He must have felt indebted because of that incident.
Sihyun hesitated for a moment, then spoke.
“That day, I did what I did because I wanted to.”
“Hm?”
“It was my decision, so you don’t need to feel any unnecessary guilt.”
Perhaps he had been worrying about that past incident for three years, so Sihyun told him, hoping the boy wouldn’t feel guilty. Sihyun felt a pang of guilt for a moment for speaking so freely, not being that Gren, but if reincarnation theory was correct, then Gren was also one of his lives, so he decided to speak comfortably.
After a while, Day broke the long silence.
“One day, when the time comes, I will definitely make you happy.”
His posture, fists clenched as he spoke, seemed quite solemn. It almost felt like a proposal, and Sihyun snickered.
The Day now was much younger than the real Yoo Seowoo, and his naive nature was quite amusing.
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