Transmigrated as the Side Top used as an Emotional Trash Can - Chapter 45.2
“Wow, this is seriously filthy….”
The house was a complete mess. Dirty ashtrays, butane gas canisters, and alcohol bottles rolled across the floor, and fruit flies swarmed around food that hadn’t been cleaned up. At least the clothes hanging on the rack looked clean and belonged to fairly expensive brands.
“Ah, there are the coupons.”
I picked up the Affection Level Increase Coupons lying on the floor. While I was at it, I rummaged through the pockets of the clothes hanging on the rack. I intended to find an identification card or student ID.
“Oh, a phone.”
I found something even better. The phone was locked with a pattern, but when I held it up to the light, the finger marks were clearly visible. I angled it skillfully beneath the light and unlocked it. The phone’s owner had been looking at someone’s messenger profile.
The name was….
“Baek Hanrim.”
It was my profile.
“Huh?”
The owner of this phone had been looking at me.
Why?
“They even wrote messages?”
There were traces of messages they had written but never sent. It seemed they had deliberately turned off their mobile data before sending them. That way, the messages wouldn’t go through, but they could use the chat like a notepad.
There were only three unsent messages. The other person had been talking to me.
‘For it to be this detailed… they either like you, or they like you so much that they hate you. No one could write this much out of a simple feeling.’
I suddenly remembered what Jihyeok-hyung had said. Even so, I couldn’t understand it. What the hell was this person trying to do?
To confirm, I opened the phone owner’s profile, and the face of someone with bleached yellow hair appeared. It was the guy who had come out of the hideout holding the baseball bat.
Bang, bang!
“Hey, open the door!”
Someone pounded violently on the front door from outside. Startled, I dropped the phone onto the floor. The screen cracked, but that wasn’t something I could worry about right now.
Holding the Affection Level Increase Coupons, I went into the bathroom and tore both of them at once while calling Kim Jihwan’s name.
Thump, thump.
I video-called Kim Jihwan. I took off my helmet and shook my hair a few times, fixing myself up to look normal.
Click, Kim Jihwan answered the video call.
“Hi, Jihwan-ah.”
―…What, are you in a bathroom?
Affection Level 40% (Slowdown Penalty x2)
Kim Jihwan quickly guessed my location from my echoing voice and the tiled background behind me.
“I called because I missed you.”
Even though it was only his voice, my heart lurched as though reacting to Kim Jihwan and pumped blood throughout my entire body.
―Fuck off.
“Hahaha.”
I was laughing, but my entire body was tense, and the sensation in my extremities had grown dull. I could feel heat rising to my face, especially around my eyes.
Affection Level 42% (Slowdown Penalty x2)
“…When did you say… you were coming back from Jeju?”
I was slightly out of breath, so speaking was difficult, but I could disguise it enough to sound natural.
―Why are you asking something like that from the bathroom? That’s disgusting.
“I just wanted to hear it.”
Without speaking, Kim Jihwan lowered the screen and showed his moving feet. He seemed to be walking somewhere. He continued the conversation while keeping the camera pointed at the tops of his feet.
―Mom, Baek Hanrim is asking when we’re coming back from Jeju.
―Hm? He’s coming here?
―I don’t know.
Thump, thump, thump.
He continued talking to his mother while showing nothing but the tops of his feet. Even the sight of those clean, pale feet and the glossy toenails resting on them like pebbles caused an intense reaction throughout my body. My body was ready to respond sensitively even to the touch of wind that had merely brushed past Kim Jihwan.
Affection Level 46% (Slowdown Penalty x2)
00:01:27
He seemed to point the camera at the sparkling fluorescent light, then soon showed a wall somewhere.
―We’re going back to Seoul on the twentieth.
“You’ll be back in time for the opening ceremony.”
―Yeah.
Thump, thump, thump-.
I really should never choose this coupon again. My heart was pounding so hard it felt as though it might leap out of my mouth.
―Hey, Baek Hanrim.
“Yeah.”
―Your nose is bleeding.
Only after Kim Jihwan said it did I realize that blood was flowing from my nose down to the tip of my chin. Belatedly, I smelled iron, and the inside of my nose burned.
I raised my hand and wiped away the blood, casually remarking that maybe I had been swimming too much-.
―Forget that and stop the nosebleed. I’m hanging up.
“Jihwan-ah.”
When Kim Jihwan tried to end the call, I hurriedly called out to him. I needed to keep him on the line longer to raise the Affection Level.
―What.
I racked my brain. But I couldn’t think of anything good to say as an excuse. My heart was pounding so violently that I couldn’t think properly. I only desperately wanted him not to hang up.
That was why.
Why those impulsive words slipped out.
“Um, could you… show me your face?”
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