SDM 44
by Soraiip“Young master, aren’t you going to the café today?”
“No.”
“…Why not?”
Because Baek Sang-hyun is coming! I don’t know where he is or how he knows where to find me. Seong-woon had been avoiding Baek Sang-hyun all week, visiting every café on campus.
He even went to the engineering department’s café, which was too far to walk to, and once even sat on a bench next to the president’s lawn off-campus despite the cold, but Baek Sang-hyun persistently sought him out and came to Seong-woon.
“…How does Baek Sang-hyun know where I am and come find me?”
“What? That’s… because your location is being shared in real-time… right?”
“What did you say?”
“You didn’t know?”
Of course I didn’t know! Seong-woon looked up at Lee Hyung-seok with an incredulous face and took the tablet he was handing over. The open page was the school community, which Seong-woon obviously hadn’t joined, and there was even a small page with the name ‘Ryu Chae-yoon’ on it!
“Is this allowed? What about my privacy?”
There was a post from just 2 minutes ago saying that Ryu Chae-yoon was still in the lecture hall after the liberal arts lecture ended. Seong-woon felt a slight chill and looked around, but couldn’t sense any presence. Where on earth did they take this photo from?
“The company thought it was good for publicity so they left it… but if you don’t like it, I’ll request its deletion.”
Seong-woon scrolled down, pondered for a while, and then shook his head. It was a bit stalker-like, but it was just people who were in the same space posting…
No way, do they even smell people? Seong-woon sharply inhaled when he saw a post titled ‘Chae-yoon smells good’.
“Isn’t this a bit perverse?”
“This is pretty normal.”
“…Normal?”
This person must be somewhat damaged from being in an entertainment agency. Seong-woon had been in the entertainment industry for 30 years but never really had fans, so in this aspect, he wasn’t much different from ordinary people.
“There’s no one trying to exert physical influence yet.”
“At that level, it’s already over.”
“This is just the beginning.”
…Is that so? Seong-woon was almost drawn in by Lee Hyung-seok’s firm words for a moment. Right, there weren’t really people rushing at him; they were just taking pictures and sharing them…
No, but it’s still creepy, isn’t it? Surely Baek Sang-hyun isn’t coming to find me based on this?
“I’ll pretend I don’t know…”
“That will be more comfortable for you.”
Seong-woon turned off the tablet screen and handed it back to Lee Hyung-seok. There are too many things in this world where ignorance is bliss.
“Shouldn’t you have lunch?”
Even if I go to eat, I’ll be photographed… Until now, being caught on camera was fine, but after seeing that page, it felt quite repulsive.
Being a popular celebrity really doesn’t have only good points. Seong-woon sighed once, ruminating on this newly realized fact.
“Or should we order some food here?”
“No, let’s go to the cafeteria…”
Seong-woon hadn’t particularly tried to be alone, but everyone looked at him with kind eyes and whispered, yet no one really approached him as if they felt somewhat distant.
When eating in the cafeteria, sometimes other Baekdu class students filled the seats, but when they didn’t, the area around where Seong-woon sat was conspicuously empty.
At first, this made him feel a bit hurt, but after some time passed, he could hear the clicking of cameras from here and there and understood why people couldn’t sit next to him.
That’s why Baek Sang-hyun was actually more comfortable. He was an incomparably more popular celebrity, so the attention was dispersed.
“Would you like to try a different cafeteria today? You’ve always gone to the Business School cafeteria. The menu at the cafeteria near the pond is quite good.”
“Ah, there…”
The pond held a different meaning in Seong-woon’s memory. He had once filmed a scene falling into that pond in the middle of winter. It was something unimaginable for Ryu Chae-yoon’s body, but no one had any qualms about making Jin Seong-woon do it.
The cold that penetrated to his bones, even when he managed to get out with his body completely soaked, the assistant director just threw him a blanket carelessly. A passerby did bring him several heat packs though…
“Ryu Chae-yoon.”
“…You’re not really looking at that, are you?”
As soon as he left the lecture hall, he ran into Baek Sang-hyun. Seong-woon asked loudly, recalling the page where a photo of him resting his chin and staring into space in the lecture hall had been uploaded.
“That?”
“…It’s nothing.”
“What is it?”
“I’m asking how you know where I am and come to find me.”
“I just happened to come across you while walking?”
“Liar.”
He glared at him briefly, meaning not to spout such nonsense, but Baek Sang-hyun didn’t even flinch. Seong-woon’s eyelids hurt from the unnecessary force, so he shook his head a few times and adjusted his bag.
He glared at him for a moment, meaning don’t say such nonsense, but Baek Sang-hyun didn’t flinch. Seong-woon shook his head a few times because his eyelids, which were unnecessarily strained, hurt, and then adjusted his bag.
“Lunch?”
“…I’m going to eat.”
“Let’s go together.”
He could feel Lee Hyeong-seok, who was following from behind, stopping. Seong-woon turned around to look at Baek Sang-hyun with a horrified expression. As if he were an actor, he made shamelessness into a mask and put it on his face.
“Don’t joke around.”
“I’m serious.”
Is this guy really serious about dating or something? If not, I think I should tell him to do something about that cheesy flirting. Seong-woon frowned and ignored Baek Sang-hyun and walked.
“Where are you going to eat?”
“There’s a pond.”
“Ah… it would be cold if you fell in there.”
“Of course it would be cold. If you haven’t fallen in…”
He almost said something he shouldn’t have while answering without filtering it in his brain. Seong-woon barely swallowed his words and changed his words.
“I wouldn’t know since I’ve never fallen in.”
“Is that so?”
“Have you ever fallen in, Senior? I heard that there are people who fall in every year after drinking.”
“I don’t have any reason to go there, so why would I.”
Well, the College of Humanities and the College of Arts are close to that area, so business school students don’t go there often. Seong-woon checked again to see if he had time to eat. I wish he didn’t, but since his previous class ended at 11:15, he had a lot of time until his afternoon class, which started at 1:00.
The reaction was a bit weak in the business school and art school areas where Seong-woon often appeared, but when he went out to the pond, he heard screams. Seong-woon, who assumed that it was because of Baek Sang-hyun and not because of him, entered the restaurant without paying any attention.
This restaurant was a buffet style, so you could take what you wanted to eat and pay only for that much. Today’s main menu was beef brisket stew, tteokbokki, and glass noodles, but Seong-woon didn’t really like tteokbokki. He didn’t eat the rice cakes, only the fish cakes, cabbage, and eggs─ and he had a habit of not eating any noodles except tomato or oil spaghetti, so he didn’t choose them.
As Seong-woon sat down with his plate of brown rice and seasoned vegetables next to the braised short ribs, the sound of a camera shutter pierced his ears. Was that photo going up on that page too? Annoyance surged, but Seong-woon barely managed to keep his expression neutral.
“You’re not having tteokbokki?”
“No.”
“Oh? Your tastes must have changed.”
“…Excuse me?”
“I thought you used to enjoy it a few months ago.”
“…”
Seong-woon resisted the urge to immediately check his social media. Ryu Chae-yoon uploaded photos almost daily, so he hadn’t been able to scrutinize everything, skimming over quite a bit. Could there have been a post about eating tteokbokki among them?
“Tastes can change,” Seong-woon said.
“Ah, was it not you, then?”
Was he toying with him? Seong-woon couldn’t tell if Baek Sang-hyun knew something or was just making conversation.
“Well, tastes can change, I suppose.”
“…Of course.”
“So, tastes, preferences, handwriting, personality—they can all change?
“…”
“Suddenly, overnight.”
Judging by his tone, he seemed to harbor strong suspicions, but how much did Baek Sang-hyun know about ‘Jin Seong-woon’ and ‘Ryu Chae-yoon’ to be probing like this?
“Did you get a synopsis like that?”
“Let’s just say… something like that.”
Was that a yes or a no? Seong-woon frowned, taking a spoonful of radish greens doenjang soup. Then, he nonchalantly played dumb.
“Amnesia? That’s a bit outdated…”
“Then…”
Picking up a side dish with his chopsticks, Baek Sang-hyun smiled faintly. Unable to decipher the meaning of that smile, Seong-woon furrowed his brow.
“Wouldn’t ‘a switched soul’ be more accurate?” Baek Sang-hyun added.
“…Amnesia would be more realistic.”
“Haha, I suppose so.”
“You must have enjoyed those body swap movies. There are a lot of webtoons like that these days, and there was a drama with a similar plot last year…”
Seong-woon slowly stopped his rambling. The gaze fixed on him was so deep and heavy that he couldn’t chatter on lightly. A disturbing thought crossed his mind: his actions so far might have seemed quite different from someone with amnesia.
He had initially tried to play the role of someone with amnesia, but as time passed, hadn’t he acted as if he were a completely different person with established tastes and a distinct personality?
But why was Baek Sang-hyun, of all people, saying such things? Baek Sang-hyun barely knew Jin Seong-woon or Ryu Chae-yoon. Handwriting? How many times had he seen his handwriting to bring that up? And tastes—how many times had they eaten together for him to know that?
“You supposedly hate cilantro, but you ate tacos just fine.”
“…I only recently discovered that I liked it.”
“It seems like you always ate sweet things, but in reality, you don’t even eat sweets.”
“I ate those just to post on SNS. They make great pictures.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes.”
Unable to swallow his food, Seong-woon roughly gathered the leftovers in his soup bowl and slung his bag over his shoulder. He felt like his stomach was churning. Not as the beloved Ryu Chae-yoon, but as the hated Jin Seong-woon – the moment he had that thought, his head began to spin.
“Sunbae, please finish your meal. I’m not feeling well…”
“Do you know how many times you’ve avoided me like this?”
I don’t care how many times! I’d even avoid you a million times! Ignoring Baek Sang-hyun’s words, the moment Seong-woon picked up his tray, both Baek Sang-hyun’s and Seong-woon’s phones chimed with message notifications simultaneously. They were from their respective managers.
Manager Lee Hyung-seok:
Young master, the first filming date has been set. It’s next Friday (December 1st) at 7 PM. They say it’s scheduled for the night before the weekend to accommodate the lead and supporting actors’ schedules. After this first shoot, you won’t have any filming schedules for a while.
Ah, I really don’t want to do this. As soon as he had this thought, a hologram popped up in the corner of his vision.
Quest 6
Participate in the first filming of 〈Orbital Collision〉
Reward: Adjustment of Information Disclosure Range (2)
Deadline: D-14
Failure will result in returning to the branching point.
The Soul Adjustment Project is in progress…
…Now too exhausted to even feel annoyed, Seong-woon just sighed without calling C1012. I’ll destroy that damn karma when I go to the afterlife.
Ignoring Sang-hyun, who was following him, Seong-woon contacted Hyung-seok to come pick him up. And so, Seong-woon ended up skipping his classes that day.