I Think The Genre Has Changed - Chapter 119: Transformation

 Having mentioned it was Down’s house, but since it was right next door, Sihyun arrived at his house shortly after receiving the text. As he hesitated and reached towards the doorbell, he found himself staring at the unfamiliar yet familiar door, bringing back old memories. There was a time when he bravely went to apologize but ended up fleeing awkwardly. It was to finish the conversation that couldn’t happen back then, so the experience felt fresh.

Hesitatingly reaching for the doorbell, Sihyun, who arrived not long after receiving the text, was met with a creak as the closed door opened, revealing a brown-haired figure.

“When were you planning to come in?”

The tone of the words that flew towards him seemed to imply that Down had been watching him.

“… You were watching?”

“Yeah. Come inside.”

“… Sorry for coming so late.”

“You used to go to sleep at this time before. What’s going on?”

“Ah…”

Even among couples, there are differences between men and women. Despite it being past 11, Down casually talking like this made Sihyun wonder how close they had been. Slightly pinching Down in his mind for being vague, he followed Down. Seeing Down’s parents asking if Sihyun had come, it seemed they were familiar.

“It’s been a while. Are you going to sleep?”

“Ah… No.”

“It’s late, and you’re going to sleep? I thought you and Down had a fight because you haven’t been coming much lately.”

As Down’s mother, who came out after being in the bedroom, spoke, Sihyun made a perplexed expression. Unsure of how to react, he awkwardly smiled when Down’s mother, who had been laughing, patted his shoulder.

“Why are you bothering the quiet one?”

Helplessly protesting to his mother’s teasing, Sihyun was led by Down, whose arm he grabbed, to the second floor. Both the mother and daughter seemed to have a lively spirit that could make anyone nervous.

Following Down, who climbed the tall stairs without hesitation, Sihyun entered the room after he opened the door. Wearing a pink and gray mixed training suit, Down gestured for him to sit. Since there was no suitable place to sit, Sihyun sat at the desk with a squatting posture. Down sighed and came down from the bed, sitting across from Sihyun with the desk between them.

“So, what do you want to talk about?”

Directly asking about business right after sitting down was frightening. During the vacation, did something happen? Sihyun felt a slightly annoyed tone compared to usual. Trying to catch a glimpse of how well Sihyun and Down had gotten along, Down’s mother asked if Sihyun had come, showing that they were close.

“You’re going to sleep late even though it’s so late? Did something happen between you and Down recently?”

With Down’s mother talking in the bedroom, Sihyun made a confused expression. Not knowing how to react, he ambiguously smiled, and Down followed him as they moved away. Sihyun, who was being helplessly scolded by his mother, glanced at Down. The lively atmosphere of the mother and daughter made it seem like they had a long history of making people tremble.

As he followed Down, who climbed the high stairs confidently, and entered the room after opening the door, Sihyun sat down and looked at Down, who came down from the bed and sat across from him, gesturing for him to sit.

“So, what did you want to say?”

It was intimidating to ask about the matter straight away. Sihyun rolled his eyes at the thought of sitting down to discuss the vacation. The words he had been hiding for a long time didn’t come out smoothly, and he struggled to speak.

“Did you spend your vacation well?”

“Did you contact me at this late hour just to talk about that? You haven’t contacted me once so far.”

“Ah…”

A sigh escaped at the pointed question. Come to think of it, he hadn’t contacted Down during the vacation. Down even called him when he was having nightmares, and he didn’t read the message. Sihyun, who had become a man who called a girl late at night to talk about things and now felt the need to confess the truth, looked at Down.

“You’ve only apologized to me recently.”

“That too, sorry. If I say it, it feels like I’ll live in despair.”

The heavy atmosphere settled in. He thought a certain atmosphere was needed to confess the truth, but he didn’t want it to be like this. Sihyun, who was looking down at the table in the awkward room for a while, gathered his courage.

“I have something I want to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“The answer to what you were curious about. But, you might find it hard to believe.”

“I don’t remember exactly what I was curious about, so don’t beat around the bush and just tell me. Why, this time too, do you seem like you’ve become an alien? Or did you have another dream of your past life?”

Down’s words, as he leaned on the bed, were all equally absurd. When Sihyun gave a clueless look, lifting one leg and resting his chin on his hand, Down shrugged.

“It was something you told me before. Back then, you were 15, and I thought you were just going through puberty.”

“Ah…”

It was a story he didn’t know. Between him and Kang Sihyun. As it was their memories, Sihyun, unable to relate, awkwardly cleared his throat.

Perhaps now might be the most appropriate timing.

Sihyun, who had been contemplating if now was the right time since Down brought up the topic of ‘Kang Sihyun,’ slowly opened his mouth.

“I don’t have memories of what you mentioned.”

“….”

“How you were when ‘Kang Sihyun’ was 15, I don’t know. And you don’t know either.”

“Did you suffer from amnesia or something like that?”

“No.”

When he quickly denied the expected answer, Down’s expression hardened. Sihyun silently looked at him and took a breath.

It was a time when a plan that was frightening to conceive was immediately frustrated. Thirsty, with a dry throat, he slowly released his lips.

“…I. If I say that I’m not Kang Sihyun, would you believe me?”

“….”

Down’s actions froze as if time had stopped. Blinking his eyes, breathing – nothing moved. The girl with long brown hair stared at him without any movement. Sihyun raised his hand and scratched his neck. His fingernails dyed the tender skin red. When Down’s eyes seemed to become wary of his actions, Sihyun chose his next words.

“Have you read a lot of novels, like those fantasy ones?”

“No.”

“…I don’t know if it’s the case here, but where I was, there were many novels with such stories. Novels about going to different worlds or possessing other people’s bodies.”

Perhaps because it was a cautious topic, his tone seemed to become gentler. Sihyun, muttering those words while lowering his gaze, swallowed a breath and stared at Down.

The amber-colored pupils were straight up gazing at him. Down didn’t show confusion, avoid eye contact, or turn away. He just stared straight at him. Feeling that this was the difference between him and Down, Sihyun, belatedly feeling a stinging pain, lowered his hand from his neck.

“Continue.”

“You probably won’t believe it, though.”

“Yeah.”

“…I experienced it.”

“What?”

“Going to a different world, or possessing someone else’s body.”

“….”

“I’m not Kang Sihyun.”

For the first time, he uttered those words out loud. The words that the boy you knew was not me. Revealing the truth he had known alone since February for the first time to someone else, Sihyun felt a sense of liberation from something he had been suppressing. At the same time, the weight of the truth, known only to him, settled in the room.

Though Down seemed like he would be more surprised or startled, he surprisingly had an expression close to indifferent. Since Sihyun had said what he wanted to say, it was now Down’s turn. He patiently waited, and a considerable amount of time passed. Subjectively, it seemed like more than 10 minutes had gone by.

“…What is the point of you telling me this?”

“I thought I needed to tell you.”

You were one of the people closest to Kang Sihyun.

Adding quietly, Down’s gaze scanned Sihyun. Meeting his penetrating gaze that seemed to wash away everything, Sihyun laid everything bare. After saying that he wasn’t Kang Sihyun, there was nothing more to hide. Though he hadn’t explicitly said that he had been possessed by a novel character, that was the minimum consideration he had for Down and the people living here.

Even though Down seemed disapproving, his eyes, which felt cold, endured as they scanned from hair to hair. When Down sighed, feeling the awkwardness of the sudden mention of Kang Sihyun, Sihyun chose his next words.

“I know Kang Sihyun well.”

“…I know.”

“So, even if I’m not him, will you believe it?”

“….”

Sihyun’s shoulders twitched. In a conversation where he expected Down to be surprised, he found himself taken aback. As his eyes widened at unexpected words, Down, looking at him as if he were absurd, half-buried his head on his knees.

“Why are you so surprised? You know well how differently you’ve been behaving from Kang Sihyun.”

“Well, that’s true, but people usually don’t think someone has changed that much.”

Even he believed that and didn’t imitate Kang Sihyun. Even if someone changed overnight, people only mentioned that it was strange; they didn’t talk about someone else being inside them. But since Down knew that fact, Sihyun couldn’t help but feel perplexed.

As he blinked in surprise, Down closed his eyes.

“I get it, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask. Doubting and being certain are different things. So, no matter how strangely you behave, or awkwardly you explain, I pretended not to know.”

“Ah…”

Only now did Sihyun, who learned the reason why Down didn’t say anything about his clumsy excuses that day, let out a sigh. Down had been denying it in his own way. That his childhood friend had become someone else. When he felt sorry for himself and held his breath, Down, who had maintained a somewhat long silence, raised the head that had been half-buried on his knees.

“…What happened to Kang Sihyun?”

“….”

“…Couldn’t he come back?”

“….”

“If Kang Sihyun returns, what will happen to you?”

Down’s voice began to tremble slightly. Faced with his small question, unable to provide an answer, Sihyun chose silence, and seeing Down chew his lips when he couldn’t answer, he clenched his fist on his knees. Veins stood out on the tightly clenched fist. Knowing that no words, no matter how comforting, would make a difference, Sihyun remained silent as if observing the scenery.

“…I have something I’m curious about.”

“Ask.”

“…What’s your name?”

“….”

After a long silence, the question was about his name. The day had come for Sihyun to say his real name for the first time since coming here. If you don’t want to talk, the resistance that returned is don’t speak. Feeling like he might miss the only opportunity, Sihyun, after contemplating, opened his mouth.

“…Yoo Sihyun.”

Yoo Sihyun.

Just changing the last name made the name he uttered feel extremely awkward. Down, who had been quietly murmuring that name, lay on the bed. As he lay with his back exposed, he gestured for Sihyun to leave. Sihyun, who couldn’t refuse the words that were impossible to refuse, nodded his head.

After slowly closing the door and leaving, the stifling air seemed to dissipate. As he descended the stairs as if he hadn’t heard the crying behind him, the suffocating breath seemed to dissipate with a whoosh.

The night air touched his cheeks, and irritatingly, the brightly shining moon appeared.

At the end of the waning summer’s heat, Sihyun, standing there, welcomed the cool breeze, swallowing his breath silently.

He took his first step safely.

The ground he stepped on didn’t collapse,

and he was unharmed.

Thinking that he had solved the biggest problem, the next thing he needed to do came to mind. Sihyun took out his phone and hesitated for a moment before pressing the call button to make a call.

Staring at the three letters ‘Yoo Seowoo’ on the phone screen, the blue eyes were calm.