Transmigrated as the Side Top used as an Emotional Trash Can

By the time Kim Jihwan and I entered middle school together, I tried even harder to behave like Baek Hanrim from the original story.

I clung to Kim Jihwan like glue, and whenever he treated me harshly with an expression of utter disgust, I merely grinned and approached him like an idiot.

“Jihwan-ah, you’re thirsty, right? Drink this.”

“Ah, stop bothering me!”

Splash-.

It was lunchtime at middle school.

I tried to get him some water, but Kim Jihwan shoved the cup aside and spilled it.

“…Ah….”

He let out a short sound of surprise, and I….

“Haa….”

I sighed without realizing it. It was exhausting whenever Kim Jihwan took his irritation too far. Whenever I couldn’t understand why Baek Hanrim in the original story had liked him so much even without the threat of a penalty, I wanted to give up on everything.

When he was younger, he had only shoved and scratched me a little. He hadn’t been this spiteful. But the older he got, the rougher his behavior became. I wondered how much longer I could endure it.

“…Ugh.”

When I stopped moving for a moment, Kim Jihwan flinched and crumpled the hem of his school uniform in his hand.

Whenever I felt like letting go of everything, as I did now, the sight of Kim Jihwan looking as though he was the one more deeply hurt kept weighing on my mind. It truly brought to mind the old saying that you couldn’t even drink water carelessly in front of a child.

I lost again this time. Let’s hold out a little longer.

“It’s okay, Jihwan-ah. I can just wipe it up.”

Right, so what if he was a little prickly? Kim Jihwan’s tantrums were a hundred, a thousand times cuter than a swarm of disgusting zombies.

“I, I told you I didn’t want any….”

“Okay, I’m sorry.”

Whenever I was with Kim Jihwan, I became his willing slave and waited on him hand and foot. During the rest of my time, I kept an emergency bag packed in one corner of my room and exercised regularly so I could survive any disaster.

I could no longer let time drift by as I had during infancy, so staying tense throughout every waking moment was a little exhausting.

But at least I was free while I slept.

That was why, starting around this time, I developed the habit of leaning against something and dozing off whenever I had the chance.

“Do you have narcolepsy or something?”

“…Oh, are you done?”

I had dozed off while waiting for Kim Jihwan to finish the extra lessons he had to take after failing a math test. I opened my eyes at his brusque voice as he shook me awake.

“How do I always score lower than a bastard who sleeps all the time?”

“Jihwan-ah, bad word-.”

As Kim Jihwan entered puberty, he gradually began to resemble his original character.

He became foul-mouthed, his baby fat disappeared, and his limbs grew long and slender. The pale-blue summer uniform suited him as though it had been made especially for him.

Ah, maybe it had been? This place was probably designed around him.

Either way, the world revolved around Kim Jihwan.

“Sleep at night, and stop dozing off at school.”

“Why? Do you like me better when my eyes are open?”

I indiscriminately fired off flirtatious remarks that had no effect whatsoever, but all I got in return was Kim Jihwan’s look of disgust.

“Your mom and dad keep complaining to me that you stay up gaming at night!”

Kim Jihwan shrieked loudly enough to make my ears ring and hurried ahead of me. He was quite cute.

Haha, look at that perfectly round head. It must have been proof that his parents had diligently rolled him around since he was a baby. I liked looking at the round back of Kim Jihwan’s head because I could feel how loved he was.

“Wait for me-.”

I quickly caught up and volunteered to carry Kim Jihwan’s bag.

Love Kim Jihwan.

Affection Level 18%

However, despite all this tear-inducing effort, the Affection Level showed the dreadful growth of only 6 percent over three years.

Had something gone wrong with my emotions? The Affection Level had risen so easily when we were young, so its sluggish progress now was discouraging. It felt like I was treating him even better now than I had back then. How strange.

“Jihwan-ah, do you love me?”

I asked as I followed close behind Kim Jihwan.

At my question, Kim Jihwan stopped walking for a moment and spun around.

“…Do you love me?”

His question made my mind go blank for a moment. Of course I should have said that I loved him, but I suddenly wondered whether I truly loved Kim Jihwan.

But after thinking about it for a moment, the question was quickly resolved.

“Who else would I love besides you?”

If Baek Hanrim loved anyone, it could only be Kim Jihwan. There wasn’t anyone else I wanted to love. Then didn’t that mean I loved you?

That was how it was supposed to be.

“You’re a weird bastard….”

After saying that, Kim Jihwan turned around and continued walking home. I followed without arguing. There was nothing I could do if I seemed strange. It was still better than getting bitten by zombies again.