Transmigrated as the Side Top used as an Emotional Trash Can - Chapter 5.2
It was the first time in three days that I had shown Kim Jihwan #2 my face. He made a complicated expression at my smile.
“…You look way too normal.”
The way he stared intently at my face was a little uncomfortable.
“Don’t fall for me-.”
“Haa….”
I jokingly responded to make him look away. Kim Jihwan #2 sighed as though he was sick of me and spooned up his porridge. Feeling more at ease, I applied some ointment, clumsily taped up my injuries, and flopped onto the floor.
Wow- This yellow vinyl flooring was seriously comfortable.
“My friend, I’m going to sleep for just thirty minutes, so wake me up-.”
I heard him make a displeased reply, but I merely nodded vaguely and closed my eyes. It was a poor house where cold seeped through the floor and freezing wind blew inside, yet somehow it felt incredibly cozy. I hadn’t been able to sleep deeply since the ‘Zombie Apocalypse,’ so this sense of comfort was incredibly welcome.
“Wake up.”
“…Mm…….”
When I opened my eyes, a blanket had been placed over me.
Kim Jihwan #2 was under the same blanket. This house was cold, so if we wanted to sleep warmly, it was wiser for the two of us to stay pressed together. It was also the method I had used when he had been groaning in bed, sick and delirious.
“…Thanks. I slept warmly because of you.”
Still half asleep, I thanked him for sharing the blanket with me.
“Wipe the sleep from your eyes.”
He was a little brusque, but he didn’t seem like a bad person at heart.
“Ah, what time is it?”
“Around ten.”
After hearing his answer, I checked the time on my phone. It was almost time for my video call with Kim Jihwan. He never showed his face and merely pointed the camera at the hotel ceiling or bedsheets, but he still answered faithfully whenever I called.
Seriously, neither Kim Jihwan #1 nor Kim Jihwan #2 was a bad kid.
“Let’s seee- Let’s see where it isss-.”
“Wow, you seriously sound like an old man.”
“Compared to you, I am an old man-.”
The original me was twenty-eight years old, after all.
Humming, I pulled off my shirt and changed into the casual clothes I had brought. Since my part-time job was a secret, I tended to carry a change of clothes with me. Without these, I would have had to walk around in the middle of winter wearing completely shredded clothing. I crammed the damaged clothes into my backpack, picked up my helmet, and stood. He got up as well.
“You don’t have to come out to see this old man off-.”
“Cut the bullshit. I’m going out to smoke.”
“Wow, seriously, let’s not smoke. You look young.”
“How old are you, then?”
Seventeen.
Kim Jihwan #2 was the same age as me. I kept thinking of him as Kim Jihwan #2, and even I was starting to get confused. Since he wore glasses, maybe I should just call him Glasses.
“You won’t grow because you smoke.”
When I placed my hand on top of Glasses’s head, which barely seemed to reach one hundred and sixty centimeters, he drove a low kick into my shin.
“Aagh…! I think you broke my leg…!”
“Then you shouldn’t have acted cocky.”
It had enough force to make me think my shin had caved in. He looked like an Omega, but his strength was pure Alpha.
I left Glasses’s house and stuffed my clothes into a used-clothing collection bin. When I looked back, I saw him standing a fair distance away, smoking as he watched me.
He’s staring again.
It was a little uncomfortable.
‘<3’
So I sent him a finger heart.
‘ㅗ’
He gave me the finger in return.
Even this was like Kim Jihwan. His response was so familiar that it made me laugh.
“I miss Jihwan.”
A world without Kim Jihwan somehow felt lonely. I had thought it would be nice not to suffer from the stress of the Affection Level, but the emptiness made me constantly search for Kim Jihwan throughout my daily life. So I should at least hurry and hear his voice. I immediately started a video call.
Once again, the screen showed nothing but the ceiling of Kim Jihwan’s hotel room, without even a single strand of his hair in sight. I talked to it about my day, leaving out the delivery work.
I told him that because it was winter, camellias had bloomed over the wall of a wealthy house in the neighborhood and looked very beautiful. I told him that even on cold mornings, sparrows hopped cheerfully across the ice without slipping. As I pulled out the sort of small, pretty observations Baek Hanrim might make, I realized anew that Baek Hanrim had viewed the world with a truly gentle gaze.
How had he ended up falling for a character like Kim Jihwan, acting as his emotional dumping ground in every possible way, shedding buckets of sorrowful tears whenever he appeared, and spending his entire life alone?
Affection Level 16%
I suddenly remembered the Affection Level and erased my pointless thoughts about ‘Baek Hanrim.’ Baek Hanrim was a disposable character created for the true love between the main top and the main bottom. His role was to love without ever being rewarded.
I had to love Kim Jihwan. If I didn’t want to suffer again, that was the right thing to do.
“…Jihwan-ah.”
I quietly called Kim Jihwan’s name.
―…….
Kim Jihwan didn’t answer. He sometimes fell asleep during our calls, so the silence wasn’t particularly awkward.
“I miss you.”
I said those final words and pressed the button to end the call. Whether he heard them or not, they were the words I most wanted to say.
I wanted him to return quickly and get me out of this ‘Omegaverse.’
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