Transmigrated as the Side Top used as an Emotional Trash Can - Chapter 68.2
“Haha, alright. Anyway, I’ll go in.”
“Wait.”
I was about to enter the faculty office when Kwon Jayoon’s words stopped me.
When I turned around, he hesitated, then furrowed his brow deeply and continued.
“Do you know me?”
It was a strange question.
Of course I knew him. Forget the game, we were in the same class.
“Yeah, I do. You’re Jayoon.”
“No, not that. We’re not close.”
I had no idea what he was trying to say.
Maybe he read the confusion on my face, because Kwon Jayoon looked even more frustrated.
“Hanrim-ah-. Stop standing around and hurry inside-!”
“Ah, yes-!”
From inside the faculty office, our homeroom teacher called for me to hurry in. I turned and took one long step into the office.
“I…! I’m asking why you helped me. Out of nowhere…!”
Kwon Jayoon’s voice came from behind me.
I gave him a simple answer and closed the door.
“Because I want you to live well.”
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The wind blew.
It brushed through the leaves of nameless trees planted in the park. I really liked this neighborhood park.
There were plenty of trees, so it wasn’t too wide open. And thanks to how neatly maintained it was, even the shaded areas didn’t feel gloomy, only cozy.
I liked this place enough that even if someone sat down beside me on the bench, I could willingly smile and greet them.
“Sorry for calling you out when you must be busy.”
I spoke to the person sitting beside me.
“No, it’s fine. What did you want to talk about?”
It was Jihyeok-hyung.
After school, I had texted Jihyeok-hyung and asked him to come to the park.
Hyung didn’t refuse and came straight to me.
“Hyung, can we talk about dating here?”
I asked so I wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
Even if this was a BL novel, I had learned that some people could still be shy about their sexual orientation.
Things like social appearances that I had usually overlooked because everyone was drawn to each other as if by fate and crossed the barrier of gender without much concern.
“Dating?”
“Yes, I wanted to talk about dating with you, Hyung.”
Jihyeok-hyung fell silent for a moment at my words. Then he burst into hearty laughter.
“Haha, I’m not falling for it anymore.”
I hadn’t even started talking yet, so I stared at him, wondering what he meant.
Jihyeok-hyung didn’t avoid my gaze. He looked directly at me and asked.
“Hanrim, you like women, right?”
“Mm… I’ve only dated women.”
“And your personality actually isn’t that nice either, right? You’re calculating.”
“Do I seem that way?”
Jihyeok-hyung suddenly pointed out something unexpected, and I couldn’t decide whether I should feel offended or agree with him.
Was I a calculating person?
I was always weighing how I should come across, but did that count as being calculating?
“I think the things you focus on in life are different from what other people focus on.”
That might have been more or less true. I centered everything around Kim Jihwan, and when I dealt with people, I was looking years ahead rather than at the present.
It felt like the real game hadn’t started yet.
“That’s why you’re oblivious in strange places, and sensitive in strange places.”
“What am I oblivious about?”
“You’re bad at understanding people’s feelings and relationships. It’s like you don’t really care what they’re thinking….”
Jihyeok-hyung stopped speaking for a moment and chose his words. It didn’t seem like he was being cautious, but rather searching for the most accurate wording.
“Right, it feels like you decide it’s unnecessary information.”
I was taken aback and wondered if I had really been like that.
I wasn’t particularly interested in what other people thought, but did I look like I rejected it from the very stage of taking it in?
The person I thought I was and the person someone else described were surprisingly different.
“Then what am I sensitive about?”
“When someone crosses the line you drew.”
This time, it was fairly abstract.
I was somewhat aware that I had drawn boundaries, but had anyone actually tried to cross them? Had I reacted sensitively toward people like that?
“You get anxious when someone tries to cross it.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Like this.”
Jihyeok-hyung leaned his shoulder toward me, braced one hand on the bench, and stared directly at me.
He was so close that my body stiffened for a moment. I could see my rigid reflection inside Jihyeok-hyung’s eyes.
I felt tense, and maybe even uncomfortable.
“You don’t like this, right?”
Hyung withdrew his gaze and moved away from me, facing forward again.
I looked at his profile for a moment, then followed his gaze.
The ordinary scenery of the park came into view.
“You’re generous toward other people, but endlessly strict with yourself.”
“You could seriously write a thesis about me.”
“I thought about it. Because I like you.”
For a moment, I doubted my ears.
I turned my head and looked at Hyung, but he was still facing forward with a quiet smile.
It was Jihyeok-hyung looking exactly as he always did, sitting within scenery that looked exactly as ordinary as ever.
“I like you. Hanrim-ah.”
Jihyeok-hyung confessed to me.
A confession that could never appear in an episode of the novel.
This was sincerity that would never be left behind in any written paragraph.
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