IBMBKC Ch 7

#007

Yeah. He had thought it was pitiful.

Who?

Bae Yua.

Whom?

The main bottom.

“Gasp!”

Yua was thrown into shock.

What the hell was I thinking?

Yua quickly hurried back to his seat and sat down. It seemed as though he had been possessed by some evil spirit. Who was pitying whom right now? That was the main bottom, for god’s sake.

Considering that this world was a damned BL novel, it was no exaggeration to say that everything in existence revolved around that boy alone.

The world belonged to him, so what did it matter if things were a little hard?

Until the first snowfall. It was only a few months at most. As long as he endured until then, the main bottom would meet the main top. Everything would flow as it should. Soon enough, he would become the happiest person in the world.

If Yua were the main bottom, would he be bothered by something that did not even count as real malice, just childish meanness?

It would be nothing. He could even go around bowing every three steps in gratitude for such a trivial trial. Of course, that was only assuming he had the mental fortitude of an adult.

“…Ah. That was a slip of the tongue.”

“…? What are you doing not eating since earlier?”

One kid who had been eyeing Yua’s japchae asked in confusion. Yua shook his head.

In a BL novel… being the protagonist is not necessarily a good thing. With a man, you know, that kind of, uh, that thing! 

Yua was heterosexual. The thought of rubbing lips with someone who had the same XY chromosomes, or doing the act meant for reproduction that became meaningless between the same chromosomes… Absolutely not.

Yua shook his head, having spun an over-the-top makjang drama^[1] in his own delusions even though the “rice-cake giver^[2]” hadn’t even thought of him.

How fortunate and how grateful he was that he hadn’t reincarnated into the main bottom’s body. The world was beautiful indeed.

Feeling both body and mind much lighter, Yua picked up his spoon. Stealing a glance, he confirmed that the main bottom was eating with the spoon Yua had secretly asked the teacher to give him.

He had done everything he could. Even if he could not play with him or talk with him, would it not be enough to look after him like this in subtle, unnoticed ways? Then the main bottom would have an easier time in his own way, and Yua could ease the small amount of guilt he still had, which was good for him too.   

Good for the sister, good for the brother-in-law^[3]. Clear the ditch, catch the crayfish^[4]. Two birds with one stone^[5].

Yua decided, as always, to think in the way that suited him best. Life was all about mindset.

“Who wants to go to the playground!”

“I’m not going.”

“Why not!”

“You’re going to hog the swing all by yourself again!”

“…No, I won’t?!”

“What do you mean you won’t! Last time, everyone else got off after ten turns, but you kept swinging because you said you miscounted!”

“I really won’t do that anymore! Then I can just ask the others to count for me!”

“Ugh, no! We’re going to go upstairs and finish playing Jenga with Yua. We couldn’t finish earlier.”

Yua had emptied about a third of his tray. While he had stepped away, the children who kept eating had already finished their meals and were now having an argument.

Playground or Jenga.

Yua had never even said he wanted to join, yet somehow he was included in the Jenga group.

Yua was about to move away with a bad feeling creeping over him when—

“Yua-ya! You’re going to the playground with me, right?!”

“No—”

“See, Yua said he’s going!”

“I haven’t finished my meal yet—”

“What? You said you were playing Jenga with us!”

“No, I never sai—”

“Play Jenga with us!”

“Playground!”

“Jenga!”

“Playground!”

…Do whatever you want.

Still holding his tray, Yua was shoved back and forth between four or five kids. His chest was soaked with squid radish soup. Unable to endure the warm, damp discomfort, Yua slipped out from between them and said, “Then let’s play at the playground first and finish playing Jenga when we come back inside.”

“What? Why!”

“My cardigan got wet, so I have to dry it.”

Yua said this while taking off his white cardigan. Seeing their still dissatisfied expressions, Yua deliberately plucked off the green onion bits stuck to the cardigan and made a show of wiping the soup off with a tissue.

“…Fine.”

“But you have to really play Jenga with us later!”

The kids, having nothing more to say, stuck their lips out and nodded.

In the end, Yua, who had barely eaten half his meal, came out to the playground clutching his starving stomach. He truly could not understand why he, also a kindergarten student, was acting like a babysitter. Where was the teacher and what was she doing?

Yua turned his head toward the direction of the principal’s office and the teachers’ office, then nodded in understanding. The teacher had placed a folding chair where she could see the children and was busy writing something. Whenever she finished one, she reached through the open window and took another notebook from the pile inside the office.

That was probably the attendance book. She always looked extremely busy during lunchtime. Also, today things had been chaotic since morning, and Yua did not recall seeing her leave the classroom. Judging by the situation, her work had likely piled up. Before dismissal, she had to stamp each one and write the communication notes, then hand them all back to the children…

Yua decided he would just keep doing the babysitting.

Even while writing and stamping away, the teacher turned her head to check the playground roughly every ten seconds. Her neck looked extremely busy and likely dizzy.

It’s hot….

Once outside, the sun was hotter than he expected. Yua looked around for a suitable spot, found a large tree nearby, and ran toward it.

Plop!

Sitting down with his back against the tree, Yua spread his white cardigan over the sunlit grass beside him.

There were no blind spots in the playground. The shade was cool. And since the spot right next to him was in direct sunlight, the cardigan would probably dry well.

“This should be fine…”

“Yua-ya! Count our swings for us!”

“…Can’t you count them yourselves?!”

“That wouldn’t be fair!”

“Then I’ll just count here! …And it’s fair!”

Given everything, it was just bad in the usual way. Downgrading his evaluation of the spot, Yua began counting quietly in his head.

One, twoo, three… Ah, I got distracted, fouur, five…

“Yua-ya! Didn’t we go over ten already?!”

“…Not yet!”

Six, seven.

“We’re done!”

This was definitely not cheating.

Probably.

By the time the child on the swing had switched about five times, Yua reached out and touched the cardigan spread beside him. It had dried nicely with no dampness left. Since the soup had no strong color, it did not show even though the cardigan was white. Someone would have to search closely right beside him to even notice anything.

Yua picked up the cardigan and called the kids over. It would be naptime soon.

“We need to go in now. It’s time for our nap.”

“What? What about Jenga!”

“Bae Yua lied again!”

“Yua, you barely ever take naps anyway. Can’t you just keep playing with us?”

In the process of explaining, Yua unintentionally lost the time to play Jenga and had to face their complaints.

“No, I can’t. I’m tired today, so I’m going to nap too.”

“But you promised!”

“…Instead, I’ll play Jenga with you twice tomorrow.”

Fortunately, he succeeded in reaching a peaceful agreement to continue tomorrow, and only then could he enter the kindergarten building.

“It’s still broad daylight, and I’m already exhausted…”

Confident that if he lay down now, he would fall asleep within thirty seconds, Yua slid open the door to Sun Class. The blankets had already been spread out, and a few kids were already lying down and sleeping.

After scanning Sun Class and spotting the darkest spot where the sunlight did not reach, Yua dragged his blanket there and slipped under it. He should have put his cardigan back on, but even that felt too bothersome now. Yua decided to ball it up and use it as a pillow substitute. Yua hated low pillows.

And kindergarten pillows are low.

Yua lay down with his head on the white cardigan that could pass for a pillow at a glance. He pulled the blanket up to just below his nose. Maybe because the teacher had warned the kids, there was no loud noise that grated on his nerves.

Yua blinked his half-closed eyes.

Ah.

As he surrendered his body to the drowsiness rushing over him, Yua thought, Squid… It smells like squid soup…

* * *

“Uum…”

“……”

And when he opened his eyes, he was in this situation.

Yua stared in disbelief at the main bottom, who was clinging to his waist and whining. He could not understand why he had left his perfectly fine blanket to come here and do this.

Weren’t you disappointed I didn’t help you earlier?

Yua frowned as he recalled the main bottom struggling to pick up japchae with his ridiculously clumsy chopstick skills. The kid had definitely cried back then.

Normally, after being ignored to the point of squeezing out tears, would your affection not usually dry up completely?

In reality, Yua had personally searched for the fork-integrated spoon used by the class of 5-year-olds and delivered it to him, but that was something the main bottom did not know. He firmly believed that the teacher had brought it. So why was he still acting like this? Yua let out a quiet sigh.

Come to think of it, earlier, he cried after asking the other kids to play and getting rejected. After that, he kept approaching me and got rejected again.

It was two weeks ago, on a Friday during dismissal time, that Yua met the main bottom and regained the memories of his past life. He had been sick over the weekend, was discharged last Monday, rested for the whole week, and came back today, which was Monday… which meant that unless something unusual happened, the main bottom must have entered kindergarten last Monday.

What if the main bottom had kept approaching the other kids during the week Yua was gone?

“Am I… doomed?”

That would mean this situation had been going on for at least a week.

Realizing that he would have to endure this unwinnable game of tag for another full week, Yua let out a silent scream.

If it were like earlier, when he quietly helped from behind the scenes, that would be different. But there was a limit to how long he could keep pushing someone away when they kept clinging. If the main bottom grabbed Yua’s pant leg and bawled his eyes out, could he really coldly tell him to get lost on the spot?

Am I crazy? He is seven years old.

Even if Yua’s core was that of an adult who had long traded away his conscience, he had not traded away his humanity. He had not sunk that low yet.

No. No… Just because he grabs my pants and clings to me doesn’t mean I’m obligated to play with him, right?

No. From the start, the probability of the main bottom grabbing his pants and clinging was already low. And even if it happened, he could coax him off somehow. Rejecting a friend request did not always mean cursing someone out and blocking them.

Having somehow reached a hopeful conclusion, Yua made up his mind. Avoid him as much as possible. And if the main bottom ever directly asks to be friends, he will make an excuse and turn him down.

Even if the other party was a pure, gentle-hearted seven-year-old who had already been pushed around and rejected enough to be hurt.

I am a rational adult. I am a rational adult. I am a rationa—what human trash… gasp! No. I am a rational adult. A rational adult…

Please, seriously.