SAV Chapter 7

<Differentiation Inducer>

 

It was a paper box, but it was empty inside.

 

If it’s an inducer…

 

“What! Did Choi Jeha know?”

 

My eyes widened in surprise.

 

They say you know your own body best, and even if others hadn’t noticed the possibility of manifestation, it seems he had felt subtle changes in his body. So, was he trying to induce differentiation by taking inducers?

 

‘Just eating well and avoiding stress would solve it…!’

 

As someone who’s read Park Seyoung’s synopsis, I know how to hasten the differentiation period, but Choi Jeha, not knowing this, must have been desperately taking these ineffective inducers regularly out of frustration.

 

‘What a terrifying guy.’

 

He didn’t show any signs to anyone about the possibility of differentiation and was swallowing these things. He must have been counting the days until he could take revenge on those who bullied him, chewing and swallowing each pill.

 

…But, damn it, that’s me now.

 

Is this what instinctive fear feels like?

 

‘When the hell am I going to wake up from this dream!’

 

A chill ran down my spine as my blood ran cold.

 

‘What if I really end up getting beaten up instead of Cha Eunseong? This won’t do. I need to redefine my relationship with Choi Jeha more quickly.’

 

I crumpled the paper box in my hand and stood up.

 

“…Who exactly are you?”

 

Choi Jeha, who was about to scan a drink barcode, twitched his eyebrows as he glared at my face visible under the cap brim. Wearing a convenience store uniform, Choi Jeha looked like a rookie actor playing the role of a convenience store part-timer.

 

Anyway, his appearance isn’t important right now. To quickly mend our relationship, I barged into the convenience store where he works, trying to make my face familiar to him even one day sooner.

 

Honestly, I hesitated a bit before entering.

 

I remembered the disaster when I thought I’d wake up from the dream soon and acted like I was Park Sejin or some omnipotent god. I even considered transferring schools. But if I transfer, I’d be carrying all of Cha Eunseong’s misdeeds with me. It could lead to Choi Jeha finding me later to take revenge for past events.

 

Improving our relationship.

 

I can’t fall into ruin for things I didn’t do. The embarrassment will be temporary. Just close your eyes and go in. And live comfortably until I return to reality!

 

I entered while shouting that to myself internally.

 

“What do you mean? I’m a customer.”

 

Trying to hide my embarrassment, I spoke even more shamelessly and dumped various foods I’d picked up from here and there onto the counter.

 

“You really…!”

 

“Ah, hurry up and ring it up. The line’s getting longer.”

 

Seeing the long line behind me, Choi Jeha sighed and scanned the barcodes of the drinks and cup noodles I’d put down. With this, I bought time to stay in the convenience store where Choi Jeha works.

 

I sat at a table chair, forcibly stuffing the food I bought into my mouth while waiting for the convenience store to become less busy.

 

A little later, when the customers had left, Choi Jeha approached me with a menacing face, as if he might pour the broth from the ramen I was eating over my head. He probably wouldn’t actually do it, but it was a bit scary, so I quickly grabbed the cup noodles tightly to protect them.

 

“Do you like prison?”

 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

 

I slurped up some noodles while looking up at Choi Jeha with innocent look

 

“Before I report you as a stalker, stop following me around.”

 

“I’ve never followed you. Here, take this. This is why I came.”

 

I took out the glasses case from my bag and held it out to Choi Jeha.

 

Cha Eunseong’s eyesight and mine were the same. Just like the guy who gets better eyesight after differentiation, I too had improved vision thanks to LASEK. What a tailor-made historical accuracy, right?

 

Anyway, my eyesight used to be terrible. So bad I couldn’t even make out large letters written on the blackboard.

 

Choi Jeha was the same. But without glasses, he had to bend his head to see the workbook at the jjimjilbang. Even when scanning barcodes just now, I thought he was going to headbutt the monitor.

 

With such poor eyesight, why didn’t he buy new glasses right away? I know the reason. He gives his entire salary, except for transportation and food expenses, to his grandmother. He couldn’t buy them even if he wanted to because he had no cash until the next payday.

 

‘That’s why I brought Cha Eunseong’s glasses. To brighten the vision of our relationship!’

 

Of course, I could buy him new ones, but knowing he’s not the type to readily accept if I bought them, I chose this method.

 

I just hope these expensive glasses fit Choi Jeha’s eyesight perfectly. I hoped they would become a strong link in our friendship. At least until I wake up from this dream.

 

Even if the prescription doesn’t match, he can just change the lenses, so at least he can save on the cost of frames.

 

“I searched the whole school but couldn’t find your glasses.”

 

Choi Jeha tilted his head slightly, as if surprised by the fact that I had gone to school to look for his glasses, and the wrinkles between his eyebrows smoothed out.

 

“I thought our eyesight might be similar, so I brought my glasses. If they fit, use these to study for now.”

 

Choi Jeha’s gaze dropped from my face to the glasses case. Then it returned to me.

 

“Am I a beggar?”

 

“What kind of beggar works part-time jobs?”

 

I said, opening a can of drink with a hiss.

 

“Stop being hypocritical and leave if you’re done eating. If you appear in front of me one more time, I’ll really report you.”

 

“You know we’re in the same class, right? I’ll inevitably appear in front of you 5 days a week.”

 

Choi Jeha, who had been glaring at me fiercely, turned around abruptly and went to the counter, as if he didn’t want to talk anymore.

 

‘This isn’t easy.’

 

Well, years of resentment won’t be resolved at once. Especially if Choi Jeha intuitively feels that Cha Eunseong was the main instigator of his bullying.

 

I watched Choi Jeha as he sat at the counter, leaning his back against the glass window and opening a workbook.

 

“Welcome.”

 

Choi Jeha quickly stood up at the sound of a customer entering and greeted them politely.

 

‘This bastard is only unfriendly to me.’

 

After being ignored by Choi Jeha for about an hour more, I got up. Then, whether he takes it or not, I left the glasses case on the table and went home.

 

On the way back, I could see the outside scenery reflected in the bus window. It was very similar to what I knew. It made sense that it would be familiar, as I was passing through the same roads my sister had seen and felt during her school days.

 

As everything seemed so identical to reality, I started to think that maybe this wasn’t a dream…

 

‘Then, who exactly am I, acting as Cha Eunseong’s stand-in here?’

 

My heart sank heavily.

 

***

 

On the way to school under the warm spring sunshine.

 

Thanks to the setting of being from a well-off family, I looked out the window of the imported car my mom was driving me in.

 

‘Crazy. I’m doing the same thing I’ve been doing for over a decade.’

 

After enduring six years of elementary school, three years of middle school, three years of high school, and even taking the college entrance exam, to be waking up at 8 AM again. Isn’t this hell?

 

Sighing deeply, I looked out the car window at the students on their way to school. Students wearing uniforms that embodied my sister’s maximum aesthetic sense were walking on the long stretch of sidewalk from the bus stop to the school gate.

 

But something was strange.

 

‘Why are they all male students?’

 

The synopsis clearly stated that the female lead Kim Juyoung and male lead Choi Jeha were in the same school and class.

 

‘Don’t tell me…’

 

As I was having this uneasy thought, leaning my head against the car window, I noticed someone who stood out among the group wearing the same uniform. The physique of the guy walking to school without a bag was quite overwhelming.

 

‘The world is really unfair.’

 

Tall enough to stand out even from a distance, shoulders twice as broad as mine, a perfect inverted triangle body tapering towards the waist, and where does that butt end? It looks like it might reach his back.

 

It was a perfect 9:1 body ratio with no flaws from any angle.

 

The only disappointing thing was that his bangs and mask covered his handsome face. I wondered how he could see with his bangs covering his eyes like that. Moreover, his face was so small that the upper part of the mask reached up to his lower eyelids.

 

And amidst all this, living up to his setting as the top student in school, he was reading an English vocabulary book while walking to school. He was fundamentally different from me, who had given up on studying early and looked into other paths for college.

 

“Amazing, truly amazing.”

 

I shook my head, muttering to myself that I could never live like that.

 

“Hm? What did you say?”

 

“Nothing, Mom. I’ll walk from here.”

 

The person who would be my mother until I return to reality pulled over to the side of the road. As soon as I got out of the car, I quickly walked up behind Choi Jeha’s broad back. I was about to call out to him but stopped for a moment.

 

‘From what I saw that day, it seemed like he was certain it was Cha Eunseong’s doing.’

 

If that’s the case, continuing to approach Choi Jeha without reason like this wouldn’t work. The sudden kindness from the main instigator of his bullying… He’d think I had some ulterior motive and put up even more walls.

 

‘I should approach slowly.’

 

Just as I was about to take a step back, Choi Jeha suddenly clicked his tongue in annoyance. I flinched, thinking he might have noticed me following him. But then he suddenly started running towards the flower bed.

 

What’s going on? I instinctively started running too, then quickly stopped.

 

Books and personal belongings were scattered in the flower bed connected to the main building, and an empty black bag was hanging conspicuously on a tree.

 

Since I had already searched this flower bed on Sunday when I was trying to find his bag and glasses, this means the bag was discarded after I left.

 

With an uneasy feeling, I looked up at the five-story main building blocking the view.

 

Then.

 

<Choi Jeha enters the flower bed to pick up lost items. But it was a trap.>

 

A phrase flashed through my mind.

 

‘It’s that scene!’