Transmigrated as the Side Top used as an Emotional Trash Can

“Apparently, we’re going to Manila this summer.”

As Kim Jihwan shoveled bingsu into his mouth, he told us where he would be traveling abroad that summer. I had gotten somewhat used to the system by now, so even if he left for about a month, I wasn’t particularly anxious.

“Wasn’t Manila somewhere you went in winter?”

“Why would you decide something like that in advance? You go when you want to.”

“Right, it’ll be the rainy season if you go now, so it probably won’t be great.”

Cha Gwonhyeok told him about Manila’s rainy season, and Kim Jihwan replied listlessly that his parents were dragging him along anyway, so whether he liked it or not, he had no choice.

Aside from the family vacation, Kim Jihwan was planning to take special academy classes during the break.

“Go make some lovely memories. I’ll contact you often.”

“That’ll be annoying, so don’t overdo it.”

“What are you going to do over break, Hanrim-ie?”

“I’m doing-.”

Right after confirming in the restroom that my Karma score rose, I decided to devote part of this vacation to the Swimming Club’s summer training.

“Swimming Club activities, and lifeguarding for the summer vacation survival swimming class.”

Some of the Swimming Club members could apply to work as lifeguards after training.

“Why would you do something like that? It’s the school break.”

Kim Jihwan reacted curtly to my plans.

It was certainly something the students avoided because it offered no benefit aside from volunteer service credits. But I needed to do good deeds right now. Lifeguards saved people’s lives, so wouldn’t it be effective for raising my Karma?

“What about you, Gwonhyeok?”

I naturally tossed the attention that had gathered on me over to Cha Gwonhyeok. Cha Gwonhyeok took a sip of sparkling water, organized his thoughts, and spoke.

“I’m going to start preparing for the SAT. And visit my grandfather.”

The SAT was an exam you prepared for to enter an American university. So he really didn’t plan to stay in Korea. I had already finished preparing myself for our eventual separation, so I thought I could send him off with a smile.

“Baek Hanrim, is swimming all you’re doing? That’s only in the mornings.”

“That, and- I’m going to take care of the things I couldn’t do during the semester.”

I took a large spoonful of bingsu, and even as my head throbbed from the cold, I kept moving my mouth and chewed the apple mango. Befitting its high price, it was delicious.

“What couldn’t you do, study?”

“I’ll just study as much as I normally do.”

“Damn, good for you.”

Kim Jihwan irritably folded the paper crane with sharp, forceful movements. I laughed because he looked cute, and he even began growling at me.

“Are you saying you’re doing some activities outside school?”

Cha Gwonhyeok asked for a more specific explanation of my vague answer.

“Mm, right. Outside activities.”

“Baek Hanrim, don’t you just have no plans and are pretending you do?”

“Ah, you caught me?”

I laughed and thought about the things I needed to do over vacation. Things that would let me properly finish my seventeenth year, which was already halfway over. To do that, I needed to clear away everything that had been bothering me.

The theft of the Affection Level Coupons, the attack on Kim Jihwan’s gym uniform, and the culprit who made Kim Byeongjun take the photographs. Those were the three things that bothered me the most right now.

I had given up on the swimming competition, and my face had been circulated on a dating app. What if all the harm I had suffered and all those unsettling incidents were connected? What if they were all the work of one person?

‘That bastard did all of it! He told me to say you hit me! Be careful!’

I recalled what Kim Byeongjun had said. I had a powerful feeling that the root cause lay in the direction Kim Byeongjun’s fingertips were pointing.

“At least for the second semester, I want to attend school in peace.”

During vacation, I planned to catch ‘that bastard’ Kim Byeongjun had mentioned.

As soon as summer vacation began, I contacted Allen.

“Wow, this is nice. Are you sure I can ride it?”

“Yeah.”

Allen readily nodded at my question. I started the motorcycle that Allen said he no longer rode and had left sitting in storage. The model was a Y*maha R1.

“I really love how smooth Y*maha’s throttle response is. The precise ECU mapping is seriously….”

“Craftsmanship.”

“Right! You can feel the craftsmanship! Hahaha-.”

For quite a while, Allen and I talked about maintenance, going on about the desmodromic valve system this and Y*maha’s CP4 engine that. Allen loved motorcycles just as much as I did.

While I focused on taking them apart and understanding their design, Allen focused on the engineering beauty of the machines. Simply put, I liked taking them apart, and Allen liked admiring them.

“Ah, how much did the D*cati’s repair cost?”

“Forget it.”

Allen generously forgave everything. I had taken his contact information so I could pay for the D*cati’s repairs, but it seemed he had never given it to me with any intention of receiving repair costs in the first place. I hadn’t even made a very good impression when we first met, yet he was willing to lend me a motorcycle like this.

“You’re being so nice that it’s suspicious.”

At this point, I was starting to become suspicious. No, honestly, I was extremely suspicious. I wondered whether someone borrowing his things had any right to think this way, but I couldn’t help it.

“Allen-ah, why were you looking for me when we first met?”

In the end, I asked the question I should have asked from the beginning.

Had he said he looked for me because he was curious? He had even known that Kim Jihwan was sick.