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Only after the doctor arrived, tucked Song Min-seo, who was exhausted from crying, into bed, and made sure she had her ringer fitted, did Kim Deuk-pal come upstairs. Choi Se-kyung stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking down at Song Min-seo and Song Yi-heon’s hat. Shocked, she forgot her rudeness and replayed the moment over and over again as Kim Deuk-pal wrapped his arms around Song Min-seo.
He grabbed his bag, which he had left with him.
“Why don’t you wait in your room?”
It wasn’t the kind of commotion you’d find in a normal household. Kim Deuk-pal thought it was the reason Se-kyung was stiff. Se-kyung’s throat was tight and his voice cracked.
“I’m sorry.”
“You shouldn’t be sorry.”
But it wasn’t the shocking commotion that stiffened Se-kyung. Kim Deuk-pal’s act of comforting Song Min-seo, who was in danger, struck him as if he had found the exit to a labyrinth he had long been lost in.
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Se-kyung didn’t know what he wanted to do even as he searched for Song Yi-heon, bordering on obsession: was he falling in love with him, was he putting aside his prejudices and thinking seriously about it, but no matter how much he thought about it, it wasn’t a crush. It wasn’t heart palpitations or excitement, but more like guilt.
The last image of Song Yiheon making threats on a rainy day didn’t put Se-kyung at ease. he vaguely vowed to find him and help him, but didn’t know what to do.
However, when he saw Song Min-seo crying and comforting Song Yi-heon, similar to the original Song Yi-heon, Se-kyung realized what he wanted to do.
Choi Se-kyung wanted to hold Song Yi-heon like that.
But he couldn’t, and so he spent that winter searching for him like a fever. He spent the following spring languishing in doubt, until he came to this.
Kim Deuk-pal, who had climbed the stairs earlier, glanced back when Se-kyung didn’t follow.
“Don’t blame me for wasting your time. I asked you to do it somewhere else, but you insisted on coming home.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Or not.”
Kim Deuk-pal opened the door and gestured for Se-kyung to enter first. Se-kyung wiped a hand across his forehead and walked up the remaining stairs into the room.
Inside, the room looked like any other high school student’s. There was nothing out of the ordinary, except for a full-length mirror in the corner of the room with a variety of exercise equipment organized in a gym-like fashion. It was suspicious that the dirty Song Yiheon would have all this equipment, but Kim Deuk-pal was proud.
“Feel free to look around. Isn’t that what you came here for?”
With that, he walked to the built-in closet and took off his school uniform shirt. Song Min-seo’s tears soaked the shirt and the tee underneath, so he crossed his arms and pulled it off. His spine and shoulder blades rose in time with his skinny back movement as he pulled on the short-sleeved tee.
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Se-kyung thought it was ridiculous that the room owner would casually change his clothes in front of a guest. However, if it were ‘me’ Song Yi-heon, it would be funny to walk out and change without regard for others, so he set down his bag to fulfill his purpose for coming here.
Se-kyung scanned the bookshelves titles. He opened all the built-in cabinets and drawers, but there were no signs of abduction or imprisonment. As he crouched on the floor to check under the bed, she heard a cackling sound that made his  cheeks widen slightly. That didn’t dispel his suspicions. The single-family house was large, and there was plenty of room to hide.
As if reading Se-kyung’s mind, Kim Deuk-pal, who had changed into more comfortable clothes, spread out a folding table in the center of the room.
“Search the garage, basement, and everything else before we go home.”
His unassuming demeanor made Se-kyung fooled. Choi Se-kyung bit his lip in frustration, but the pout in his eyes made his laugh, and when he realized the laugh was teasing, he dropped what he was doing and sat cross-legged across the folding table.
At this point, Se-kyung wondered if he was overreacting to psychosis. At home and at school, the maids and even her own mother hugged and cried over the changed Song Yi-heon. However, only Choi Se-kyung, the man he’d never known, suspected him.
However, Se-kyung’s sensitivity could not accept Song Yi-heon’s change. He spent his entire life watched by his father, unable to change his natural temperament. It made no sense for Song Yi-heon to change his natural temperament in one season.
Are they not suspicious because the changed Song Yi-heon is comfortable and charming? The changed Song Yi-heon solved the problem by doing something the original Song Yi-heon would not have done. There was no reason to find the original Song Yiheon.
As his thoughts drifted to that point, Se-kyung jerked his head up. Kim Deuk-pal, who pinches his chin with his thin wrist, grinned.
“Why don’t you search further? What if the real Song Yi-heon is locked up in the basement, chained hand and foot?”
“…….”
The hostility in his glare at a bad joke was overt. As his eyes grew murderous, he realized he hadn’t realized how tall he was or how broad and strong his shoulders were.
He can make a face like that. The murderous glare was useful. Kim Deuk-pal watched with interest, then gave up teasing and pushed the test paper away. The man who had laughed like a maniac had quite a variety of expressions in the room alone. He teased him, but his interest waned.
“Forget it, finish this one. Are you proficient at other subjects?”
“Better than you.”
But teasing may be fun, but it’s worst when you’re the recipient. Se-kyung didn’t relax his eyes. Kim Deuk-pal tried to be cute because he was teasing, but it was Choi Se-kyung he was dealing with. His obsession with Song Yi-heon and his pent-up temper were not cute, so Kim Deuk-pal scolded him.
“Tricky.”
“Why are you calling me tricky when you can’t do it yourself, Yi-Heon? What should I call you, kidnapper? Identity thieves? Tell me. Make it easy on us.”
Se-kyung increased his intensity as his taunts got under Kim Deuk-pal’s skin.
“I’m the one who tied Song Yi-heon up in the basement in the first place. It’ll be a hassle to get him out of there. The police will be here this evening. Do you want to kill me first?”
He sneered, his muscles loosening from the sarcasm. The red glow of the late afternoon sun stained his white uniform shirt. A face shadowed by his nose bridge leaned over the table.
“How about steal someone else’s life?”
It was a sweet whisper. Se-kyung stiffened as she watched the fake Song Yi-heon stiffen like an injury in the back.
“You look like you’re enjoying school.”
“This asshole…….”
Crushed anger spilled out one after another. This was the guilt Kim Deuk-pal harbored while using Song Yi-heon’s body. Se-kyung had unintentionally touched Kim Deuk-pal’s backbone, and the more indignant he became, the more his smile deepened.
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“Were you satisfied with taking away what Song Yi-heon deserved?”
Not satisfied. No matter how much he wanted to attend to school, there was no way he could live the life that poor child Song Yi-heon’s soul deserved. No matter how much he wanted to go to school, no matter how much he wanted to live the life that poor, young Song Yi-heon’s soul deserved, the guilt of occupying the body of a child followed him like a heavy weight.
But guilt didn’t mean he had to accept Choi Se-kyung’s condemnation. Kim Deuk-pal stretched out his arms.
“……!”
Se-kyung thought he saw the fake Song Yi-heon grab the table and pull himself up. he tried to hold on to the table as he grabbed her by the tie and dragged him away, but Kim Deuk-pal had wrapped the tie around his palm, and Se-kyung was strangled and dragged face down onto the table.
Thud! He slammed his elbow down on the table, pulling Se-kyung in close so that their noses touched.
“Cut down the bullshit.”
The warning was accompanied by a ferocious rumbling in his throat. The black line in his brown irises was the separating distance. The fury of the transformed Song Yi-heon tingled his downy skin.
Se-kyung expected to be hit. His fists would fly, just like when he beat up Hong Jae-min. He gritted his teeth for the blow.
The impact came soon. Choi Se-kyung’s eyelids fluttered as he felt the impact of a bean on his forehead. Kim Dduk-pal, whose forehead was pierced by hid, took a deep breath that rattled his ribs. The brown eyes that sparked anger were hidden by his closing.
“I don’t care what you say. I’m Song Yi-heon.”
Despite his impeccable composure, Se-kyung’s wrist bones stiffened as he tugged at his tie.
It’s a kid, a kid, a stinkin’ kid who’s not even an adult yet. He’s a big girl. Be patient.
Kim Deuk-pal racked his brain for the umpteenth time, trying to suppress his feelings. He wished he could wrap his tie around his neck and subdue this brat, but the more he tried, the crazier he got. At least he didn’t have to worry about his blood pressure in Song Yi-heon’s body. When he was calm enough, he opened his eyes.
“Wait.”
He breathed, his tone calm. The distance between their foreheads made him aware of his breathing. He curled his lips into an involuntary pout, but Kim Deuk-pal, who stared into his dark eyes, spoke seriously.
“If you wait, you’ll get what you want. Just be quiet.”
Choi Se-kyung would be satisfied if Song Yi-heon’s soul returned, and that was the only thing he could do.
“…….”
He hadn’t provoked Song Yi-heon to receive an ambiguous answer. Se-kyung wanted to ask how long he had to wait, if he was in a position to return anytime soon, to inquire more definitively about Song Yi-heon’s well-being, but the weight on his forehead and the bitterness in his eyes prevented him from asking anything.