We lost track of time playing in the shallow valley water until suddenly, my stomach let out a rumble.
“Shall we go eat some watermelon?”
Ban Eunhyeol, who had been playing beside me the whole time, was the first to hear it and chuckled quietly.
How was his hearing still so sharp when he wasn’t even an Awakened now?
Feeling a bit embarrassed, I followed Ban Eunhyeol.
Behind the garden connected to the valley, watermelon slices and barbecue were already prepared, ready to eat.
“Wow, when did you get all this ready?”
“I asked them to prepare it before we came down to the valley. So we can start grilling as soon as we get out.”
“Wow! Meat!”
Han Jibin splashed around excitedly and dashed into the garden first.
Since none of us were Awakened anymore, we had to be careful, but it seemed Han Jibin hadn’t fully adjusted to his still non-Awakened body, just like me.
“Don’t run. You’ll hit your head.”
At Ji Kanghan’s low warning, Han Jibin, who had been flapping around like an excited fish, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
“No way, my precious head!”
He covered his head with both hands and carefully walked out of the valley.
Seeing that, we all laughed and decided to follow Han Jibin up to the garden.
We were just about to climb up the rocks that looked quite slippery, crossing the gentle water flow.
Ban Eunhyeol, who climbed up first, reached out his hand to me.
“Grab on. Don’t slip and hurt yourself.”
“I’m not going to slip!”
No sooner had I said that than I almost slipped, swaying my body.
But thanks to Ban Eunhyeol’s quick grab, I didn’t fall backward and smash the back of my head.
“Ohhh, the number one ranked Focus really is something else!”
Han Jibin, watching us from above, shouted with a big smile.
‘Ugh… I guess I’ll have to keep hearing this from now on.’
With the disappearance of the Gates and the loss of the Awakened powers, the students’ rankings reverted to what they had been before the Gates appeared.
Because of that, Ban Eunhyeol was no longer called the Guild Leader of the Four Heavenly Kings or the number one Awakened.
Instead, he was once again known as “Gamseong High’s Number One,” or the “Number One Focus.”
At least until graduation, it looked like my ears were in for a rough time.
It was good that the Gates disappeared, but honestly, those titles—Four Heavenly Kings, Guild Leader, number one ranking—did have a nicer ring to them.
“Grab on. If you hit your head, you won’t make it.”
As we were just climbing up to the garden, Yeon Ha-yeon’s fierce voice came from behind.
She was reaching out her hand to Eunbada, just like Ban Eunhyeol had done to me on the rocks.
“Go up first. What if I fall while trying to catch you?”
Eunbada, in a gentle voice, tried to send Yeon Ha-yeon up first, worried.
But Yeon Ha-yeon wasn’t the type to agree right away and climb on her own.
“Grab me while I’m still being nice about it.”
“Okay, thanks.”
At her half-threat, Eunbada immediately thanked her and took Yeon Ha-yeon’s hand.
Ji Kanghan, who had climbed up without us noticing, stood by silently watching the two.
“Soon enough.”
“Hm? What’s soon?”
“You’ll see. You dumb couple. I’m going to grill the meat.”
When I asked what he was talking about, he answered vaguely and then, without further explanation, took the tongs and began grilling expertly.
In the end, we never got a real answer, but we enjoyed the meat Ji Kanghan grilled.
It would have been perfect if Ban Eunhyeol hadn’t done that crazy thing of wrapping the meat for me.
Eating the wraps he made in front of everyone was just too embarrassing.
There was a brief ‘wrap’ incident, but after that, we all ate our fill and the atmosphere grew lively.
Though the Gates had disappeared and the world was returning to normal, with summer vacation approaching, no one really wanted to dwell on it.
But since the Four Heavenly Kings guild and the Blood Fragrance guild were both disbanding, related topics inevitably came up.
Especially with the Four Heavenly Kings and Yeon Ha-yeon, who had been running around trying to change my body, I felt it was only right to bring it up myself.
I told them everything: how my body changed, why the Gates disappeared, and even the body swap that probably went unnoticed in this world.
“I don’t notice at all that Dana’s body changed. It just looks the same as before.”
“You used to be short and have brown hair?”
After the error recovery and system re-identification, it seemed like everyone’s memories had been collectively tampered with.
When Han Jibin and Yeon Ha-yeon asked in disbelief, I confirmed it, and though fascinated, they all seemed confused.
“I didn’t know my memories had been changed. Eunhyeol, you said you remember Dana’s original appearance?”
“Since I’ve been to the other dimension, it seems the memory alteration didn’t work on me. So, I remember everything.”
Shrugging his shoulders, Ban Eunhyeol said this while feeding me a wrapped bite.
At first, it seemed like Ban Eunhyeol hadn’t noticed my body change at all, but in truth, he had recognized my transformation long ago.
I wasn’t sure if it was simply because he crossed dimensions and could remember everything fully, but he was the only one who remembered my previous self.
Somehow, I ended up experiencing things no ordinary high schooler ever would, together with Ban Eunhyeol.
Maybe that’s why he felt especially close.
“I wonder what the others are up to?”
“They probably all went back to their pre-Gate lives.”
When Han Jibin rifled through her phone contacts, Ji Kanghan answered as if it were obvious.
Since everyone suddenly lost their powers and returned to their original lives, their interactions had abruptly stopped.
Because of that, even though it had already been a week since summer break started, some people’s whereabouts were still unknown.
Especially Lee Hwan, who rarely communicated with us, and Cha Hyunseo and James, who weren’t even students and thus out of the loop.
“Eunhasu seems pretty bummed the Gates disappeared. She must have been an Awakened by nature.”
“But Sagong Arin said she didn’t want Eunhasu to get into danger and changed her mind immediately, didn’t she?”
“Still the same.”
It seemed Sagong Arin’s love was lasting a long time, even though she broke out in hives whenever she touched a girl and only saw Eunhasu.
“Baek Jiwoo has been going crazy around the Gwanak District lately. She had a street fight with the Eastern Union and won, merging East and West.”
“She was always rumored to be ruthless.”
“That’s why they called her the mad dog of the Western Union.”
“Oh… so that was her nickname.”
Though she spoke informally from the start, she acted cute like a little sister, calling me “noona” like Yeon Hyeonggwang.
I remembered how, when I was pretending to be newly Awakened, Baek Jiwoo had relentlessly tried to recruit me to the Supreme Guild.
‘She wasn’t normal either.’
Just as I was getting interested in the news after a long time, Han Jibin asked,
“So what’s Do Ihyun been up to these days?”
Even Han Jibin, our source, had no news of Do Ihyun and looked at me curiously.
Then she quickly shifted her gaze away when she noticed Ban Eunhyeol next to me.
“Have you ever heard anything about him? Maybe when the Gates opened, but barely.”
“Right? It’s usually hard to get any news.”
By the way, we only have one semester left until graduation.
“Have you guys decided what you’ll do after?”
Ban Eunhyeol’s sharp voice snapped me back, and Han Jibin quickly agreed and shifted the topic.
When we lived in a world where Gates were open, we didn’t have to think about the future — we just lived as Awakened.
But now, we had to seriously consider what lay ahead.
“My family’s pushing me to study abroad, but I’m planning to just go to a domestic university.”
“Oh, so you want to stay close to Dana?!”
“Of course. What if my wife cheats on me while I’m abroad?”
I’d held back a lot until now.
Just as I was about to forbid that ridiculous “wife” title once and for all, Yeon Ha-yeon suddenly linked arms with me and looked up.
“Dana, you’re going to the same university as me, right?”
“Me…? The same university as you?”
I stammered, dumbfounded by the question.
Her voice lowered a notch.
“So, you were thinking about going somewhere else?”
“Uh, well? Isn’t it going to be hard with my grades?”
“Just study hard. There’s that ‘100 Days to the College Entrance Exam Miracle’ thing. I’ll help you work hard from now on.”
“Ah…….”
The thing I’d been avoiding all this time was finally looming right in front of me.
I never imagined I’d get so stressed over schoolwork after a body swap.
Originally, the Four Heavenly Kings, who used to spend a week every summer vacation at their villa, had their vacation shortened to just a day or two, saying, “We’re seniors now, that’s enough.”
And now, I was being forced to do the “100 Days to the College Entrance Exam Miracle” thing myself…
“Well, I guess I have to try, haha…….”
“It’d be great if we all went to the same university! It’d be better if we could go together!”
I hoped the conversation would shift, but Han Jibin just fueled it.
In the end, I only managed to get to other topics after agreeing to receive Spartan-style college entrance exam tutoring from Yeon Ha-yeon and Ban Eunhyeol.
***
Meanwhile, while Dana was having a great time at the valley with the Four Heavenly Kings and Yeon Ha-yeon, Do Ihyun was holed up at home, unwilling to leave his desk.
[Are you going to the PC room today? — Kang Yedam]
Only after receiving a text from Kang Yedam did he lift his head from his books.
His eyes, buried in work all this time, slowly shifted to his phone screen.
If he didn’t start studying soon to improve his grades, he might have to leave for overseas where his parents lived.
[Yes]
Do Ihyun sent back a single-word reply and then chuckled after receiving a flood of ‘ㅠㅠㅠ’ (crying emoticons) in response.
[Then you have to come with Haemalkkeum. If you want to, come too. — Kang Yedam]
He replied with an ‘okay’ and pushed the phone aside.
Having seen a dreadful future, Kang Yedam was overjoyed as soon as the Gates disappeared.
He felt relieved that such a tragic future would never come, and he had even gone to meet Dana.
After hearing how the body swap happened, Kang Yedam relayed the story to Do Ihyun, who then understood what had happened.
Since he’d consciously avoided contacting Dana, quite some time had passed without meeting.
Dana was spending summer vacation at Ban Eunhyeol’s villa with the Four Heavenly Kings and Yeon Ha-yeon.
‘I miss her.’
Now that the Gates were gone, even the excuse to meet Dana was gone.
The Hunter Association had shut down, and next week, the top 10 Awakened were supposed to gather, but Dana might not come.
Even though she was close with everyone, she officially ranked outside the top 10.
‘Maybe I should ask to meet her first.’
The whole world had turned upside down.
The Gates were gone; maybe that meant we could meet without excuses this time.
If I hadn’t confessed, it might have been easier to meet.
“No, I have to tell her how I feel. I don’t know when I’ll part ways with Ban Eunhyeol.”
If there’s even a small opening, I’ll slip right in.
The chance will come someday.
I have plenty of time to wait.
I’m not putting effort into studying just to stay in Korea for nothing.
As he read through all the messages exchanged with Dana from the beginning, he eventually put down his phone and closed his eyes.
Leaning back in his chair, he raised his head and placed the back of his hand over his eyes with a sigh.
“Maybe I should just go see her once.”
The internal conflict, a daily struggle, stretched on longer than usual today.