Chapter 110: Unexpected Company

“Ughhh…………….”

As I made a strange noise while walking, students nearby who were leaving school slowly started avoiding me.

Ever since I consulted Ban Eunhyeol about my problems, I had been doing Spartan-style studying after a long time, and it was killing me.

On top of that, closing the Gate every time doubled my fatigue.

‘How on earth do the others manage to keep their grades up while still participating in guild activities?’

I thought this was the ultimate unfairness.

Aside from Yeonhayun and Eunbada, I couldn’t recall seeing any of my friends studying much, yet their grades were always good.

Besides Jikanghan, who slept every day, no one else looked as tired as I did.

Feeling like the protagonist was hogging all the perks, my lips stuck out in a pout.

I wondered if the countless extras in Inso that I had ignored until now felt this way.

I felt a strange kinship with those extras whose faces and names I didn’t even know.

At such a tiring time, the only things keeping my spirits up were the few remaining reveals of Bisharp and Red’s true forms.

[Is my cool side finally going to be shown here?]

[Master, please read the comments you read last time again!]

Red and Bisharp popped up the moment I got home, chattering nonstop at my side.

They wanted to look cool if possible, so they were brainstorming together about how to stage the battle.

Seeing those two, who always clashed, stick together even at times like this was heartwarming.

I threw myself onto the bed as if diving and flopped down with a sigh.

I was so thankful that there were no night study sessions in the Inso universe.

If I had to finish night study and then get tutoring from Ban Eunhyeol while closing the Gate…

I probably would have collapsed from exhaustion long ago.

Still, even though I had a crazy amount of classes, I came home as soon as the closing bell rang—and already, the evening glow was settling.

[Not going anywhere today?]

[I’m bored! Let’s go out and stretch a bit!]

“I don’t know… I just want to lie down and rest…”

I closed my eyes, pushing away the two dragons clinging to me and begging to go out.

“Oh, right! I have an appointment!”

Then I suddenly remembered an appointment I’d completely forgotten and snapped my eyes open.

I quickly took out my phone and checked the time.

There were about 15 minutes left until the meeting.

If I ran fast, I could make it on time.

[I’m going out! I’m going out!]

Red shouted excitedly, thrilled at the news.

“You two stay home. Behave yourselves, okay?”

At my words, they quickly pouted and drooped their wings and tails.

I pressed Red’s protruding lips back in place with my hand and hurried outside.

“Lee Hyun!”

After running for a while, I spotted Do Ihyun standing in his school uniform, hands in his pockets, staring blankly at the sky.

He turned toward me with a faint smile when I called his name.

Because we’d been in contact a lot lately dealing with Dungeon Administration issues, Ihyun and I had grown much closer than before.

So sometimes we met up like this to share new information related to Nada, or just talk.

Mostly, I told him about how I lived before the possession and how I hid my identity afterward.

Ihyun, being taciturn, usually just listened but occasionally shared his own stories.

Today was one of those days.

Despite the chilly weather, we went into a nearby café for a warm drink.

At first, I talked briefly about myself, but a question I asked sparked a long story from Ihyun.

Since Ihyun had a setting similar to a male lead in Inso, I figured he might have some grand backstory typical of Inso protagonists—and indeed, he did.

“Ah… the person I liked…”

Still, I hadn’t expected the story to be this tragic.

I was frozen, unable to say a word, just rolling my eyes in disbelief.

‘This is like a whole Inso story in itself.’

It was surprising that Ihyun, who didn’t seem very interested in girls, had someone he truly loved, but the story that followed was even more shocking.

When he said he liked the same girl as his friend, a bad feeling started to creep in.

Still, since Ihyun had the background of an Inso male lead, I assumed he must have ended up with that person. I was completely wrong.

‘How amazing must that friend have been…?’

It wasn’t Ihyun but his friend who ended up with her.

Ihyun said he wished happiness for the friend and the girl he liked, but his heart was torn, and he suffered silently.

Then the tragedy happened.

The friend and his girlfriend were speeding on a motorcycle along the coastal road when they were hit by a truck in a major accident.

They were rushed to the emergency room but died on the same day.

Ihyun lost both his friend and the girl he liked overnight.

“That must have been so hard…”

I’d only ever read about stories like this in Inso novels; I’d never heard one firsthand and didn’t know how to comfort him.

I just lightly asked, “Did you have someone you liked?”

And I ended up hearing such a heavy story.

Unlike me, who had stiffened like a stone, Ihyun seemed calm as if he had already let go of that person.

No, he looked calm but when he looked at me with eyes that were comforting, they held a faint sadness.

‘Why does he look at me like that…?’

It didn’t seem like he was lost in old memories.

‘I’ve seen this kind of situation somewhere before.’

Avoiding Ihyun’s gaze, I lowered my eyes and recalled the Inso plot I had read before possession.

A male lead who liked the same girl as his friend, who then died tragically early on.

That kind of male lead usually meets a girl resembling the one he liked…

‘It can’t be me, right?’

I wasn’t some heroine in this world.

If I resembled Ihyun’s first love, I wouldn’t have obsessed over Ban Eunhyeol and ended up getting bullied by the school delinquents in the novel.

Thinking that, I was able to look Ihyun in the eye again.

He continued to look at me with those faint eyes and spoke.

“It’s okay. I’ve forgotten everything now.”

“Ah, that’s a relief…”

“But when I see you, I think of her.”

Thinking, ‘No way, it can’t be,’ I sipped my café drink and suddenly burst out laughing.

“Hah, sorry! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Ihyun calmly grabbed a tissue and wiped his face.

Unlike his calmness, my mind was in turmoil.

Of course, I thought it wasn’t me, but he said I resembled his first love?

‘Then what about that novel? Why did she obsess over Ban Eunhyeol and end up ruined instead of being with Ihyun?’

I couldn’t understand Dana’s behavior in the original story at all.

If it were me, instead of being despised and obsessed with Ban Eunhyeol, I’d be with Ihyun.

Seeing my wide-eyed stare, Ihyun chuckled and fiddled with his straw.

“She relieved stress by hitting dolls. Sometimes, she even hit people. She was good at fighting.”

“Huh…?”

I expected him to say I resembled her face, but this was an unexpected story.

‘Did she look that gentle yet go around beating people?’

Maybe the girl he liked was like Yeonhayun, some sort of gangster?

In my head, an Inso story based on Ihyun’s words was already forming.

Ihyun glanced away from the straw and looked at me steadily.

“But I saw you beating up goblins in the dungeon by chance. It reminded me of her.”

“Oh, I see.”

I never expected that seeing me would bring back memories of his first love.

‘Ah, so in the original story, it was natural that Ihyun and she didn’t end up together.’

He remembered his first love because of me. It wasn’t some buried old memory that resurfaced because of this face.

‘Please don’t tell me he likes me for that reason…’

In other Inso stories, this kind of conversation usually leads to a confession.

Of course, I liked Ihyun too, but never really as a romantic interest.

I was seriously thinking about what to say if he confessed when Ihyun’s voice came from across the table.

“That’s not to say I think of her every time I see you. To me, you’re just you.”

I was drinking kimchi soup confidently, but he added as if he noticed my expression.

That’s a bit embarrassing.

“I saw that side of you and wanted to get close.”

“Oh, then you succeeded? We’re close now.”

“Yeah, that’s why I like you.”

It was a relief that he wasn’t saying he liked me because I reminded him of his first love.

I responded playfully, and Ihyun narrowed his sharp eyes prettily.

My heart pounded as if I’d just been confessed to.

‘Why does he smile so beautifully?’

I calmed my heart down, thinking it was all because of Ihyun’s handsome face.

Who could resist when someone looks like that and says those words?

Then I casually glanced to the side.

For some reason, I felt like most of the café patrons were looking over here.

I clearly caught eyes with people at the next table, but they quickly looked away, so I wasn’t sure.

The tables were spaced widely, and we spoke in quiet voices, so they probably didn’t hear much.

Still, thinking about what Ihyun said earlier made me a little uneasy.

When we went to the aquarium, a photo of us together had been posted on social media before, so that made it worse.

Since Ihyun didn’t go out much, seeing him in person was a rare experience.

‘Please don’t tell me our picture got posted on social media again.’

I didn’t want to experience being swarmed by crowds again.

But my wish wasn’t fulfilled.

Whether because word got out that Ihyun was at the café or not, people started peeking over at us when we left.

That wasn’t all.

“You two really are together, huh?”

Ban Eunhyeol appeared in front of us with a crooked posture, having obviously heard something from somewhere.