Transmigrated as the Side Top used as an Emotional Trash Can - Chapter 41.1
“I’m a fish.”
“…….”
At my nonsense, Kim Jihwan turned his head away, ignoring me and saying nothing else.
Seeing his reaction brought me back to my senses, and I laughed as though trying to smooth things over. What the hell had I just said? I would’ve been so dumbfounded that I lost the ability to speak too.
Rustle-.
“Let’s go.”
Kim Jihwan sat up, looked down at me, and spoke seriously. Startled, I asked him in return.
“Go where?”
“Let’s go home. To the river or the woods or wherever.”
Anyone would’ve thought I was talking nonsense. Why was he taking it so seriously? This was embarrassing.
“I was joking. My house is next door to yours.”
I smiled as I recalled Baek Hanrim on the rooftop. It seemed the correct answer was to make myself look a little warmer and kinder, with an expression that said I cherished him more than myself.
“…Cut it out.”
Kim Jihwan snapped at the look on my face, then got off the bed and disappeared into another room. I considered following him, but then looked at the timer in the corner of my vision.
The time I had thought wasn’t passing now had only a little over thirty minutes remaining.
Being trapped somewhere hot was unpleasant, but at least I could lie down comfortably now. Wouldn’t everything return to normal if I took a nap and woke up? There was nowhere else to go anyway, and I was tired from moving around so much, so I wanted to rest for a little while. Kim Jihwan was already extremely irritated, so bothering him right away would only backfire.
With those carefree thoughts, I blinked a few times and quickly fell asleep.
“I can’t believe this….”
When I woke up after sleeping for a bit, Kim Jihwan had disappeared, leaving only a single paper crane on the table. Had I been too complacent after all? But no matter how irritated he was, there was no way Kim Jihwan would’ve moved on and left me behind.
“…Or maybe not? Maybe I still didn’t know Kim Jihwan that well….”
I sat in the chair at the table where Kim Jihwan had presumably been sitting and fiddled with the paper crane.
As I looked around and wondered how I was supposed to escape this situation, I started thinking that there were only ten minutes left anyway, so did I really need to do anything?
“But what if it gives me some pointless penalty?”
Just as I was about to sit back and do nothing, I remembered the ominous penalty effects that had followed me around and the outrageous Karma score of -159,937.
“Hmm… Should I try dying soon?”
This was a different setting, and every second counted right now, so wouldn’t it be alright to die around now? I also happened to be alone.
“How should I die?”
Falling and dying instantly would probably hurt the least, but the windows wouldn’t open. Even if it hurt, I needed to find a reliable method.
I swept my gaze around the room. The dressing room, dining room, bathroom….
“Ah, the bathroom…?”
I suddenly remembered seeing some work of fiction depicting people dying in bathtubs. I immediately used whatever I could find to fill the bathtub with warm water, then climbed in fully clothed and lay down. I held a sharp fragment of a picture frame in my hand.
“Should I have filled it with cold water? It’s hot.”
Before cutting my wrist, I couldn’t tell whether the liquid running down my face was sweat or bathwater, so I raised my hand and wiped it away.
“Whew….”
I stared blankly at the bathroom ceiling for a while, lost in thought. It was already hot enough, and being inside a hot bath made it even harder to think. My mind kept wandering.
Bingsu. Right, I had wanted to eat delicious bingsu today. That insanely expensive bingsu topped with apple mangoes….
“Hey, Baek Hanrim.”
Blink.
Kim Jihwan called me.
“You’re finally here.”
Cha Gwonhyeok was beside him too.
“Huh?”
At some point, I had found myself standing on the hotel’s first floor.
“What? Why am I here?”
For a moment, I wondered whether this was an illusion and pinched my cheek. My pinched cheek stretched out and hurt. It seemed real, but… why did it feel so much like a dream? Did I die without realizing it?
“You’re not fucking dead. Get a grip.”
Kim Jihwan noticed what I was thinking and told me to get a grip, pointing out how distractedly I was pinching my cheek and tugging at my hair. I had arrived here in the blink of an eye, and the people I had thought disappeared had suddenly appeared in front of me, so I was too bewildered. Everything felt like a dream.
“There are rules here. As long as we follow them, we can get out easily.”
Cha Gwonhyeok stepped closer to snap me out of my daze. Rules, though? Cha Gwonhyeok had been the first to disappear in the hallway. Did he know something?
“…Looks like you had fun.”
Cha Gwonhyeok, who had been about to explain the rules, suddenly asked whether something entertaining had happened. While I tried to understand what he meant, Jihwan beside him joined in with a displeased expression.
“Were you off playing around? What’s that on your head?”
I stood in front of the two perfectly dry boys, looking like I was shedding bath foam everywhere. I had decided that since I was already there, I might as well do everything properly, so I had put bath salts and a toy duck in the tub.
Slightly embarrassed, I discreetly lowered the toy duck from the top of my head and pretended nothing had happened.
“…Ahem, what are the rules?”
At my question, Cha Gwonhyeok began explaining, and Kim Jihwan, who seemed to have already heard it, nodded. After hearing the explanation, I understood as well and readily nodded.
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