Chapter 5:
Why This Man Has to Be the Male Lead (2)
“I’m going to make you the male lead.”
“Ma-male what?”
“The male lead!”
Eunho stared at me blankly before furrowing his brows. Then he carefully removed my hands from his shoulders.
He took one step back, then another, and then a third. When I still didn’t stop approaching him, Eunho stretched out an arm to keep me at a distance.
“You’re completely crazy.”
“Huh? Me?”
“Don’t come near me. Don’t even pretend you know me. What was your name…? Moon Yerim?”
Eunho’s eyes quickly darted toward my name tag. I hurriedly tried to cover it, but there was no point. Eunho shook his head.
“Moon Yerim, I don’t know what version of me you liked, but my life isn’t one where I can become the protagonist anymore. You saw what happened this morning, didn’t you? I fell.”
Naturally, I looked up at the school gate Eunho was pointing toward. The banner bearing his name, which had been hanging there until that morning, had disappeared without a trace. In its place was a banner proudly displaying the name of a student who had won a competition in another event.
“So stop trying to buy a falling stock. Go find someone else.”
After delivering that impressive line, Eunho turned around, his tracksuit fluttering behind him.
What a joke. Since when did he start trading stocks?
I shouted after Eunho as he walked away.
“Eunho! Life is all about long-term investments! Long. Term. Investments! Just you wait! I’ll make you the protagonist, no matter what!”
I almost added, You should see the stocks I held on to and eventually made a profit from through long-term investing! But I stopped myself.
Eunho, already embarrassed by my shouting, was running off into the distance. And he wasn’t the only one. The students leaving school were murmuring as they looked back and forth between us.
I paid them no attention and waved at Eunho, calling out that I’d see him at school tomorrow.
As expected, I received no answer, but I wasn’t disappointed.
After all, getting your favorite character to notice you was never easy.
\*
If I wanted to turn Eunho into a candidate for the male lead, my first priority was to become friends with him. How could I introduce him to Semin if Eunho and I weren’t even close?
From that day onward, I visited Eunho’s classroom every day, doing my best to get closer to him. Unfortunately, despite all my efforts, Eunho kept avoiding me.
The cafeteria, the library, the classrooms, even the rooftop. There wasn’t a single place where I could reliably catch him.
It really drove home the fact that Eunho was an athlete.
After three days of getting absolutely nowhere, I began to feel increasingly anxious.
Eunho needed to make an effort before Dogyeom and Semin grew any closer…
At the same time, I was worried because Eunho, who was going through a rebellious phase, had stopped coming to school for long periods.
As I ate, Mom served me another helping of soup and spoke.
“Your father couldn’t pick you up last time because of work, but he says he’ll definitely come today. So take the driver’s car to your academy, okay?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“You seem to have your appetite back. You haven’t been eating much lately.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Has something been stressing you out? If anything’s wrong, you can tell Mom.”
Her calm, caring words made my heart ache.
It had been a long time since I’d heard such warm words from my own mother. My parents had passed away when I was young, after all.
Suppressing the sudden rush of emotion, I ate the side dishes Mom had placed on my plate.
“Mom, then…”
“Yes?”
“What should I do if there’s someone I want to become friends with?”
\*
‘The way to a Korean’s heart is through their stomach. Try asking them to have a meal with you.’
Following Mom’s advice, I decided to invite Eunho to eat with me today. Since he was still young, I figured that if I explained things properly, he might understand.
But Eunho’s seat was empty.
When I asked his classmates, they told me he’d left as soon as the bell rang.
Unbelievable!
Go ahead and keep avoiding me like that. Do you think I’ll give up?
“If anything, I’ll stick to you even more! Just you wait. I’ll be so incredibly nice to you that—”
“Yerim, who are you talking to?”
“Eek!”
Startled by the unfamiliar voice, I spun around.
Behind me stood a man in a suit beside a sedan, smiling at me.
“What’s wrong with you? You’re acting as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
“W-who are you…?”
“Huh? Are you upset because I haven’t been able to pick you up lately? What can I do? Uncle doesn’t have much say in the matter.”
Uncle? Couldn’t pick me up?
I carefully thought through the context of our conversation and recalled what Mom had told me from the day I first possessed this body up until now.
‘You always complained about having to take public transportation, and now you’ve forgotten everything. You’ve forgotten it all! Wait for the driver at the back gate after you’re done.’
‘Your father couldn’t pick you up last time because of work, but he says he’ll definitely come today. So take the driver’s car to your academy, okay?’
Ah! Right. Last time, my father hadn’t been able to pick me up, so I’d gone on my own.
But I hadn’t minded. If the driver had come, I wouldn’t have had the chance to talk to Eunho.
I bowed to the driver.
He smiled warmly and opened the rear passenger door for me.
As I watched the students passing by outside the window, I began planning my afternoon. I’d sit through my academy classes, go home, and figure out how to turn Eunho into the male lead.
“Huh?”
The car was passing through an intersection when I spotted something familiar between a convenience store and an alleyway: a familiar sports jacket and slightly wavy hair.
Bae Eunho?
I pressed my face against the window and looked at the bespectacled boy standing beside him. Judging by his uniform, he attended our school, too…
“Ah, why does he seem so familiar? Why can’t I remember…?”
‘That’s Bae Eunho, right? The guy who quit judo and turned into a delinquent…’
‘Yeah. I heard he beat up a boy at our school so badly that he almost got forcibly transferred.’
‘The boy with glasses?’
‘Yeah. The class president of Class 8!’
I remembered!
Those were the rumors the students had been whispering about when Eunho quit sports and began wandering around aimlessly!
Judging by the timing, the bespectacled boy Eunho was leading into that alley right now had to be the Class 8 president from those rumors.
“We’re here. I’ll be back at ten, miss.”
“Thank you!”
I immediately got out of the car and hurried around to the back entrance of the academy. Then I took off running toward the intersection where I’d seen Eunho.
If Eunho beat that boy up and the rumors spread, the news would undoubtedly reach Semin’s ears. And Semin would become afraid of Eunho.
No! Their first meeting has to go well, at the very least!
“You crazy bastard! Have you lost your mind?!”
Just as I reached the entrance to the alley, a loud, unfamiliar voice rang out.
A boy wearing a different school uniform was throwing punches at someone. I stopped running and hid myself.
A moment later, kicks came from the opposite direction as well.
I cautiously peeked out and narrowed my eyes, trying to get a better look at the person on the other side.
As expected, the person fighting back was none other than Eunho.
I wanted nothing more than to rush over and grab Eunho to stop the fight, but then I noticed something in the other boy’s hand, which made me change my mind.
That’s… a wooden plank!
That guy was really crossing the line. How cowardly could he be, using a weapon?
The police were the answer when dealing with cowards like him.
Determined to do my part as a model citizen, I hurriedly took out my phone.
“Uh, uhhh!”
Before the call could even connect, I slipped on a can behind me and fell flat on the ground.
And I wasn’t alone. I brought down dozens of boxes that had been stacked up like a tower along with me.
“What the hell are you?”
I reached for my phone, which had fallen to the ground. One of the boys on the opposing side spotted the number 112 displayed prominently on the screen and let out a disbelieving laugh.
“Hey, that bitch called the cops on us!”
Ah, I’m screwed. I’m seriously screwed.
I awkwardly lifted my head a little.
Right in front of me stood Eunho and the bespectacled boy, both staring at me.
“…Seriously? Now you’ve started following me all the way here?”
“No, I thought you were… beating him up…”
“What? What kind of person do you take me for? Hey, you tell her. Did I hit you?”
“N-no! Eunho saved me. Those guys were trying to steal my money!”
“What?!”
Then did that mean all those rumors were fake, too?
Author, you should’ve included a scene in the novel where the rumors were corrected!
I sprang to my feet and looked at the Class 8 president, who was hiding behind Eunho.
He looked perfectly fine. There wasn’t a single mark on him.
“So it really is true…”
“Do I look like a thug to you? Do you think I go around beating people up?”
“No, I just…”
“You little punks… Are you looking down on us right now? And who the hell are you to butt in?!”
The boys on the opposing side had lost control of the situation. Angry that we were treating them with contempt, one of them shoved me in the back.
The sudden push threw me off balance, and I stumbled forward.
Eunho reacted quickly and caught my arm.
“Take him outside and wait there. I’ll handle this.”
“You can’t fight! I already called the police, so you need to come outside, too.”
If Eunho got mixed up with those guys, things would undoubtedly get worse.
I grabbed both Eunho and the Class 8 president by the hands and tried to lead them out of the alley. But then one of the boys raised the wooden plank in his hand.
“You little bitch! You really think you can—”
So this is how it ends for me, just a few days after possessing this body.
I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for the blow.
But I didn’t feel anything.
Cautiously, I opened my eyes…
The wooden plank that had threatened me just moments ago had snapped cleanly in two and fallen to the ground.
I turned my head and looked at Eunho.
“Who do you think you’re touching? How many times do I have to tell you that I’m your opponent?”
Eunho spoke as he swept his hair back.
Semin… no, Author.
Even after thinking it over again, I still couldn’t believe that our Eunho wasn’t the male lead.
Eunho had everything it took to be the perfect male protagonist!
