“I’m leaving today. I just came to say goodbye to you one last time before I go.”
A plane happened to soar overhead at that very moment.
Do Ihyeon stood, grabbing the handle of his suitcase, and reached out his other hand to me.
“Thank you for everything. Take care of yourself.”
“Ah…………… You too, take care over there.”
I took Do Ihyeon’s hand, exchanging our farewell.
For some reason, I felt like he was leaving in a rush, and I wanted to ask if he was really going like this, but I held back, worried I might leave some lingering attachment in his heart.
‘He always said he wanted to keep living in South Korea, so he studied hard.’
I remembered our talks at the library, just Do Ihyeon and me.
Once, I’d asked him if he didn’t want to live with his parents, since they were overseas.
Back then, Do Ihyeon had said he loved so many things in South Korea that he had no intention of leaving, and that he’d do whatever it took to keep living here.
But now, he was leaving so suddenly, and I was sure it was because of me.
‘He said there was so much he liked about South Korea…………….’
I looked at his suitcase with a regretful gaze.
“I really have to go now. I’ll be off.”
“Yeah, travel safely. Contact me if you ever come back to South Korea.”
Do Ihyeon smiled gently and was the first to release my hand.
Then he waved to me, turned around, and rolled his suitcase away.
If he ever comes back to South Korea, it might just be because he has some business here, or perhaps he’s forgotten me entirely.
That’s why I told him to contact me if he returned, but I never got a response.
‘Is this really the end?’
It felt like this was truly the last time, and that I would never see Do Ihyeon again.
I stood there for a long time, watching his back disappear before I finally headed home.
***
Do Ihyeon clenched his teeth and didn’t look back.
The moment he turned his back on Dana after saying his final goodbye, he wanted to turn his head right back to look at her, but he held himself back.
If he looked back even once, he knew he would have regrets.
‘Because I decided to leave.’
The best thing was to leave with as few regrets as possible.
Leaving so suddenly was a bit jarring, but he thought it was better to depart when he had made up his mind than to wait until after graduation.
Anyone who saw him like this might think he was a pathetic guy running away after a failed love.
And truthfully, he thought the same about himself.
While waiting for the crosswalk signal, he took a long, many-times-folded paper out of his pocket.
It was his Midterm Exam score report.
[7/423]
He looked at his overall ranking at the very end and gave a bitter smile.
The story that he was leaving because of poor grades was a lie.
Kang Yedam seemed to have caught on a little, but she hadn’t said anything about the real reason.
‘I never thought I’d leave after making the top ten in the entire school.’
His parents’ requirement was that he place within the top ten in the school.
Of course, for someone like him who’d never cared much about studying, it was a tough goal, but the fortunate thing was that most of the students at Iljin Vocational High School were in the same boat.
He memorized the test scope like mad and boosted his grades.
There was no time to understand or digest the material.
He simply memorized all the answers and problem-solving methods from the answer sheets, and he learned the textbook sentences for the test scope by heart.
Thanks to that, his grades turned out well, but the result was that he had to leave.
With a bitter smile, he tore up the score report and got into a taxi.
At the Airport, he was sent off by Kang Yedam and Haemalgeum as he set off for departure.
‘If a day ever comes when I can laugh all this off, I’ll come back then.’
With that final vow, his plane soared into the sky.
***
When Ban Eun-hyeol, who hadn’t been coming to school, finally showed up again, all the students’ attention focused on him.
Not to mention the female students who had always followed the Four Heavenly Kings around, even those who hadn’t chased Ban Eun-hyeol because he had a girlfriend greeted him warmly.
But there were some who looked at him with less than friendly eyes.
That was me, Yeon Ha-yeon, and the rest of the Four Heavenly Kings except Ban Eun-hyeol.
“So, did you feel good cutting us off like that? Was it fun?”
Yeon Ha-yeon glared fiercely, her eyes sharp and intimidating even when she was silent.
“This time, you went too far. You could’ve at least asked us to keep you posted.”
“Yeah! Do you know how bad I felt watching Dana suffer?”
“Why didn’t you contact Dana at all?”
All of them joined together to interrogate Ban Eun-hyeol.
‘Good job!’
Everything I wanted to say, they were already saying, so I was happily cheering them on inside.
Ban Eun-hyeol, who had just been listening quietly to his friends, finally opened his mouth.
“I was planning to contact you once I got settled. But I was short-sighted.”
He readily admitted his mistake and apologized to me.
“Sorry for cutting you off like that.”
“If you’re sorry, treat me better from now on.”
“Of course.”
I hadn’t completely forgiven Ban Eun-hyeol yet.
But I didn’t want to keep showing how upset I was and make things awkward between us.
Besides, it wasn’t as if he’d ghosted me and left because he didn’t like me—he was almost dragged away by his parents.
He said he was only allowed to contact the Four Heavenly Kings, since even who he was talking to was monitored.
‘Of course it was hard for him to contact me.
Though it would’ve been nice if he’d at least asked the others to pass on a message.’
I’d already blurted all of this out in rapid-fire on the way home from the Airport, so there was no need to repeat it here.
He’d probably heard enough of the same thing to get tired of it on the subway ride home.
‘He’s still hearing the same thing every break since coming back to school—his head must hurt.’
I looked on with satisfaction at my friends, who were all on my side scolding Ban Eun-hyeol.
It felt better than I expected, knowing there were people who’d scold him for me, so I didn’t have to say it myself.
There wasn’t much time left before the end of the day.
Unable to focus in class, Ban Eun-hyeol quietly whispered to me.
“After school, I have something to tell you, so don’t go anywhere. Wait for me.”
“What is it?”
“You’ll know when you hear it.”
Hearing that, I also found it hard to concentrate.
His expression was so serious, it made me anxious.
When the bell rang and the final class ended, Han Jibin exclaimed brightly,
“Let’s go to Eunhyeol’s house! I want to see the new place!”
“Then I’ll tell you the door code. Go and have fun.”
“Huh? Aren’t you coming?”
“I have somewhere to be.”
Han Jibin immediately made a sulky face.
But Ban Eun-hyeol didn’t budge.
When Han Jibin glanced at me, she seemed to realize what was going on and her expression cleared.
‘Have a nice date.’
She mouthed the words silently and winked cheerfully.
After the closing announcements, on the way home—
Ban Eun-hyeol took me toward Jangnam High School and said,
“I didn’t think I’d end up telling you this so late. But the other day at Jangnam High, I felt something strange.”
“What? When?”
“Before I went to the United States.”
At this sudden revelation, I started smacking Ban Eun-hyeol on the back and shouted.
“Why are you telling me just now? What if something had happened all this time?”
“I told you to check it out, didn’t I? I wanted to wait until I was sure. I didn’t want you or your friends to worry if it turned out to be nothing.”
“So, you’re telling me now because there’s actually something?”
“No. But after thinking about it, I figured it was better to mention it. I thought you might be able to sense it more keenly than I could.”
He scratched his cheek as he answered, then added,
“Oh, and the others said they didn’t feel anything unusual either.”
The Four Heavenly Kings had come to Jangnam High School without me knowing.
Since I hadn’t felt anything while passing through Jangnam High, I hadn’t thought to check it out myself.
‘Weren’t all the Gates supposed to be gone now?’
Surely, when I swapped souls and regained my original body, they should have all disappeared.
But since there had been a door to the other dimension at Jangnam High, it was worth paying special attention.
“Could it be that Gates are starting to open again in that other dimension, and that’s affecting things here?”
“Maybe. If everything’s been restored over there, Gates would be opening like crazy.”
“Right?”
Thinking this far, anxiety began to creep up on me.
Since it had once served as a passageway between dimensions, there was no telling when or how it might open again.
The System had supposedly erased all the Gates, but I couldn’t be completely at ease.
‘Even when I was possessed, there was an error warning, remember?’
If it was just an “error” that sent me here and not someone’s deliberate intent, then there was no guarantee that error wouldn’t happen again.
I tensed up and snuck into Jangnam High School with Ban Eun-hyeol.
If the teachers caught us, things could go badly.
Now that the Gate had vanished, they could have locked the rooftop door.
Creak—
The rooftop door opened, and after making sure nobody was around, we stepped out onto the roof.