Graduate(13)
I poured soda into the fish tank and rushed out of the aquarium like a fugitive.
My mind was a mess!
'Will it be alright?!'
If the fish can only survive in first-class water, they'll die 100%, and even if not, wouldn't it be hard to breathe if sticky sugar gets into their gills?
I wasn't a fish expert or a doctor, so I couldn't be sure.
Sneak, sneak...
'It'll be fine, right? It's got to be...'
I prayed that the fish who drank the soda would be fine.
"What are you doing?"
Song Seon-young, who was walking alongside me in the women's corner of a department store full of famous clothing stores, looked at me strangely.
"I'm worried someone might be following us."
I kept looking back like a scared thief.
"You know it's fine, right?"
"I know, but..."
I was still anxious even though I knew that if I turned back time, it would all be as if it never happened.
"Moon-soo, what do you think about this dress?"
Fluttering~
Song Seon-young stopped walking and shook a triangular piece of cloth in front of me.
"It looks nice."
"Look properly and tell me."
"Um! I don't know even if I look."
It was unfair.
As a man, I had no reason to know about women's underwear!
"Do you think it would suit me?"
"I think it would."
"......"
"......"
A sudden silence came upon us.
'Did I make a mistake?'
Cold sweat ran down my forehead and back.
"You keep looking back."
"Well..."
"Forget about the aquarium. What if someone comes after us and complains? They won't remember it anyway."
"That's true."
She was right.
"Listen carefully. What you, Kang Moon-soo, should worry about is not the aquarium staff or the fish, but my feelings, Song Seon-young. Even if you go back to the past, don't forget."
"Ah..."
She was right about that too.
"I'll give you one last chance. Look carefully."
"Okay. I'll look carefully."
I focused my eyes and concentrated.
"...I didn't mean for you to stare so blatantly, but it's much better than before."
"Is it okay now?"
"No. I'll hold it up close, so tell me what you think."
"Huh? Hold it up close...? What do you mean- Huh!"
I couldn't immediately interpret her words and asked again, only to be caught off guard.
Swoosh-
Song Seon-young lifted her school uniform skirt with her other hand, and it was all because she really held the clothes up close.
"How is it?"
"Are you crazy?! Put it down right now! What are you going to do if people see?!"
"...I asked how it is. And what if they see? They won't remember it anyway-"
"I get it, just put it down! I'll tell you once you put it down! Hurry up~!"
"Fine."
Swoosh-
She nonchalantly lowered her school uniform skirt.
"Phew..."
"Answer quickly. Or should I do it again?"
"It's really pretty! So much so that I can feel my heart pounding!"
This was sincere. I was so surprised that it felt like my heart was about to burst out.
"Your heart?"
"Yes! My heart!"
"...Same here. I can feel my heart pounding too."
"Really."
'If you're not fazed after doing something like that, you're abnormal!'
For some reason, I felt relieved.
"Let's go now."
Thump.
With a brightened expression, Song Seon-young hung the clothes back in their place and started walking.
"Didn't you like that underwear? Weren't you going to buy it?"
"I won't buy it. Even if I do, it'll disappear soon."
"Well... that's true."
The sky was getting dark as the sun began to set.
'It's already time...'
The department store, which had been quiet while we were walking around, began to get crowded with office workers who were leaving work.
"Do you want to eat dinner too?"
"Hmm... I feel like a police officer and a teacher will barge in while we're eating."
It seemed like they were tracking us through surveillance cameras installed all over the city and card statements, even though I had turned off my smartphone.
'Just in case.'
This wasn't the swimming pool at the sports college we always went to, so we might not get caught quickly, but we also had to consider the opposite possibility.
"Then we have no choice. It'll be annoying if we get caught."
"You thought it through."
"Let's go to the rooftop."
"The elevator is over there."
We didn't go back to school or home. There was no need to.
Ding!
We skipped the floors we hadn't seen yet using the elevator and moved straight to the rooftop of the department store.
"They didn't block it off."
"They use it as a parking lot."
"Did you know that from the beginning and choose this place?"
"Of course."
Some buildings often block rooftop access, but this department store was using this extra space as a parking lot.
"The railing is high."
"Sit down. I'll step on your back and climb up."
"Okay."
"...If you look at my underwear, you're dead."
"I won't look."
'When did you ever let me see it?'
There's no stopping her.
Swoosh!
The weight of Song Seon-young stepping on my back and climbing up was brief,
"Look forward to it later."
"What?"
"Secret~♪"
She, who didn't seem like someone about to commit suicide, cheerfully spoke and jumped off the department store rooftop.
1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds, 4 seconds, 5 seconds...
"...What's going on?"
Song Seon-young was definitely dead. There was no possibility of her surviving from this height.
If we consider gravity acceleration, 5 seconds after she jumped, my view should have changed to the school classroom.
"......"
I waited.
'It feels like it's been more than 10 seconds...?'
Even though it was well past the time to return to the past, time continued to flow relentlessly.
"......"
I still waited.
"......"
I calmly waited.
"...Something's strange."
My calmness was shattered.
Thump, thump!
No matter how long I waited, the occult didn't activate.
'If time keeps passing like this...?'
"Ah, no...!"
No one would believe that a female student who was playing happily in the department store just a while ago committed suicide.
Then, the only possible inference would be murder by a third party!
And I had been with her all along.
"Oh God..."
I was suddenly terrified.
I was afraid of being framed as a murderer.
And the despair of never seeing her again enveloped me.
'I should have stopped her!'
It was too late to regret it now.
What could I do in this worst situation?
"Please!"
Ironically, it was the occult.
"Please...!"
I fell to my knees and cried out.
"Oh God!"
I prayed to a god I didn't even believe in.
"Kang Moon-soo, come up and solve question 3 on page 338."
"Please...!"
"Please?"
"Ah!"
Was it simply because of my feelings? The occult activated.
Thump, thump!
But my surprised heart was still pounding.
"Kang Moon-soo?"
"...Teacher. I'm really sorry. I have to go urgently."
As I jumped out of the classroom window again, I thought,
'I'm really lucky!'
I was fortunate to have a chance to live without regrets.
* * *
While my peers were studying at school, I played with a pretty girl without worrying about money.
Wasn't it the happiest moment in my life that had been bleak and miserable since my father passed away!
By the way...
"She’s late."
I always enter the swimming pool before Song Seon-young, but this time it took unusually long.
'Did something happen?'
Even though I was sure nothing happened, I felt a little uneasy when I thought about Song Seon-young's recent strange behavior.
"Well... it doesn't matter."
I've learned all the theory. Even now, she still helps me with the parts I unconsciously miss, but the number of times I get pointed out is gradually decreasing.
'Just a little more...'
I feel like the day I beat her in swimming is coming soon.
"Moon-soo."
Song Seon-young's voice calling me, who was absent-mindedly floating on the water.
I turned my gaze to the direction where I guessed she would be.
"Why are you so late... huh?"
"How is it?"
Song Seon-young, who appeared almost at the end of the swimming pool usage time, spun around on the spot and asked.
"......"
"Why are you silent?"
"Uh... it's a bikini?"
She wasn't wearing her usual one-piece swimsuit.
A risky design that seemed like a disaster if you gained speed in the water!
It looked like it would be completely stripped off if you just pulled one thin strap on top.
"I asked how it is."
"It's pretty."
"That's it?"
"It's really pretty! You could be a swimsuit model!"
Her chest seemed a bit bigger, but it was probably just my imagination.
"...Your reaction is no fun."
Splash~
As if she was dissatisfied with my admiration, Song Seon-young frowned and slowly entered the water, starting from her feet.
"Can you compete like this?"
"Of course not."
"......"
I don't know what she's thinking after changing into such a daring swimsuit.
"Moon-soo."
"What?"
"I realized something while playing with you without any money worries."
"What is it?"
"I've been such a fool all this time. Aptitude wasn't important at all."
"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"Think about it. We can predict stocks like reading palm lines. We can also safely pick the winners and losers of sports betting. Am I wrong?"
"No, you're right."
I knew it because it's a plot often used in fantasy novels, but I gave up because the occult I have isn't something I can control at will.
Even if I rake in money with stocks, it turns to nothing when I regress!
However, Song Seon-young is different because she can control it.
"Am I right?"
"Right."
"If we set our minds to it, we can become rich in no time."
"I guess so."
"If we have a lot of money and don't need to work, we don't have to worry about our aptitude."
"......"
Song Seon-young's words were completely correct.
If we had a lot of money?
Our aptitude would not be a means of survival in an infinitely competitive society but would become a hobby or talent.
"You don't have to become a shaman if you don't like it."
Song Seon-young's persuasive voice, like a devil's whisper, sweetly stimulated my ears.
"I..."
I don't like being a shaman.
But I don't dislike it for a clear reason like her. I don't even have the minimum criteria to evaluate good or bad.
If I had to give a reason?
It's because of a vague prejudice that exorcising ghosts doesn't make money.
"I like you."
"What-?"
"I said I like you."
"......"
Song Seon-young's confession that I never expected, even though I felt she had been a bit strange recently.
She puffed up her red cheeks and urged me.
"Hurry up and answer! It feels like I'm the only weird one!"
"...Why?"
"Idiot! Is that your answer right now?!"
"I'm sorry."
Even I thought it was a pathetic answer.
"I thought you liked Choi Kang-hoon."
"I just tried him because he was popular in the second grade. I didn't really like him. That's why I committed suicide right after meeting him."
"I see..."
Song Seon-young, who confessed to Choi Kang-hoon, seemed to have regressed immediately after being rejected out of pride. Then it's as if the confession never happened.
"But you're different."
She looked at me with a rather serious gaze.
"In this world, I only see you as a person, as a man."
"What do you mean...?"
"Other people seem like mannequins standing still in their place."
"......"
"Because they repeat the same lines and actions like machines when they go back to the past. I know in my head that they're not mannequins, but my heart can't accept it. What about you?"
"...Same for me."
I had been running out during class and not caring about attendance at all. I had even turned off my smartphone because the teachers who worried about me were annoying.
I was ignoring the human relationships I had built up so far and the social order that should naturally be maintained!
'Right. It's abnormal.'
At some point, I also stopped seeing others as equal human beings like Song Seon-young.
"If you're the only man in the world, I have no choice but to like you."
"...I guess so."
Like Adam and Eve, or a pair of men and women stranded on a deserted island.
As a man, it hurt my pride, but I understood the reason she had no choice but to be attracted to me as the opposite sex.
"What about you? Do you only see me as a woman?"
"...I do."
Splash~
Our gazes met without avoiding each other, and the distance between us gradually narrowed.
"......"
"......"
Closer and closer, just as our lips were about to touch-
Beep~!
"Customers! The usage time is up... Ahem! Don't stay too late."
The lifeguard, who pulled his lips away from the whistle, quietly left the place.
'Thank you, supervisor!'
Even if you don't remember, I will surely repay you.
Because we will remember this moment forever.
"Seon-young."
"Tell me."
Her moist, flushed eyes looked into mine.
"Seon-young."
"Tell me!!!!!!"
"I'm sorry."
"Huh?"
Song Seon-young made a puzzled expression because it wasn't the answer she expected.
My soul, immersed in happiness, felt a painful ache in my chest as if it were being strangled.
'But still...'
I couldn't stop here. I was the only one in the world who could stop her from running amok.
"Let's have a match."
"......"
I hated myself for having to say something unpleasant.
Read ahead by supporting me on Ko-fi. Access 5 advance chapters with the Silver Tier ($10) or 10 advance chapters with Shaman Tier($18) For every $15 collected on Ko-fi, I will release an extra chapter. Choose your tier by clicking the 'Support me' button! Rate and review this novel on NU to help people find this novel. Bonus chapters upon reaching specific milestones. Happy reading!