Yes, It’s Me. The Obsessive Side Top

#069

I couldn’t move immediately after opening my eyes. I couldn’t judge whether what I had just seen was a scene created by my imagination or really Ha Jin’s childhood memory. It was such an absurd scene that I wanted to dismiss it as a dream, but it was too vivid to be a dream. I felt the wounded heart of young Ha Jin, and at the same time, the contempt and jealousy of his mother were so heartbreaking.

I lay there blankly, staring at the ceiling.

‘It must be my delusion.’

I wondered if Baek Su-ah could have possibly ignored Ha Jin when he was drowning. What parent would turn a blind eye to their own flesh and blood drowning?

Even imagining it was so absurd. A hollow laugh escaped me at the ridiculousness. Then someone flicked my forehead so hard that it made me come to my senses. It sounded like a walnut cracking on my forehead, and stars twinkled before my eyes.

“Ow… It hurts.”

As I rubbed my forehead, the culprit of the flick removed my hand and gently covered my forehead with their own hand. Their hand was unusually warm. If you were going to do this, you shouldn’t have hit me in the first place.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Sun Woo frowning deeply.

“Making people worry and then laughing?”

Seeing Sun Woo looking genuinely angry, I roughly guessed why I was lying here like this.

I had boldly entered the swimming pool and then lost consciousness after drowning due to this damn body that couldn’t swim. I tried to sit up, but the force pressing down on my shoulder made me lie back on the bed.

“Stay lying down.”

“Did I drown?”

“Should we call it drowning or should we say you voluntarily drank water? In a shallow swimming pool. Ha Jin, where the hell do you keep your mind…”

“…”

“Still, it’s a relief that it’s only this much.”

Sun Woo got on the bed, lay next to me, and hugged me. Judging by my condition, it was clear that someone had taken meticulous care of me. That must have been Sun Woo. Thinking that he had even changed my underwear, my face flushed. Did you see? Did you look? Huh? I asked Sun Woo with my eyes wide open. However, instead of resolving my doubts, he only gave a warning.

“Don’t ever do anything dangerous again.”

He slowly and tightly embraced me without any gaps. I was still staring at the ceiling, and Sun Woo was lying on his side facing me. One of his arms was hugging my body, and the other was stroking my hair.

“It’s stiff because I only wiped off the water. Do you want to wash up?”

“Just a little longer.”

Perhaps because I had a very bad dream, my mind was a bit confused. As I was thinking about this and that with a troubled heart, something wriggled on my chest. I looked at Sun Woo, the owner of the hand, cursing with my eyes, and he brought his worried face close to me. He didn’t give me any time to think at all.

“I have to check if your heart is beating properly.”

“Your touch is a bit…”

To say that he was simply checking my heartbeat, his touch was excessively sticky.

“Don’t ever do that again. You don’t even know you have aquaphobia?”

Of course, I don’t want to either. The webtoon didn’t cover Ha Jin’s physical condition in detail. I think I’ll have to find that out by experiencing it myself. …No, wait a minute, phobia? I think Sun Woo said something strange.

“Aquaphobia?”

“I heard you almost drowned to death when you were young. How could you think of going into the water?”

“!”

Sun Woo’s words suddenly left me speechless. It’s similar to the content of the dream I had. Just now, young Ha Jin fell into the swimming pool and seemed like he was going to die like that. But he really almost died? I asked Sun Woo in turn. So on the day I almost died…

“On your birthday?”

“On your sixth birthday.”

At the sudden sound of Kim Shin’s voice, I sat up with a start. He was sitting on the other bed, leaning his upper body against the headboard. I had thought it was only Sun Woo and me here until now. No, if you’re here, you should at least say something. If I had known you were here, I wouldn’t have let Sun Woo hug me.

“You were here too?”

When I asked as if it was unexpected, Kim Shin drooped the corners of his eyes.

“Ha Jin. Are you disappointed in me? Do I have so little presence? Aren’t you two getting too close?”

“Huh?”

I distanced myself from Sun Woo and settled in the corner of the bed.

“You were there on that birthday too?”

“How could I not be there on Ha Jin’s birthday?”

I see. If it was your sixth birthday… The number of candles was the same as what I saw. Oh my gosh. Did I really see Ha Jin’s past?

“By any chance, did you give me a ring as a gift?”

It was definitely mentioned that the ring that fell to the bottom of the pool was given by Kim Shin. As I waited for an answer with an anxious face, Kim Shin showed an awkward smile and then turned his eyes away from me as if he was uneasy.

“You still remember?”

“Ha!”

The dream I had was real? How could I see Ha Jin’s childhood in my dream? I was at a loss for words for a while, shocked and amazed.

Kim Shin’s expression gradually changed, and soon he had his usual playful face.

“Do you remember what kind of ring it was?”

“A huge diamond ring.”

How could I forget that brilliance that sparkled even at the bottom of the swimming pool? The embedded gem was so big that it was easy to find and retrieve. But after that, I lost strength and fell into the water. I frowned at the throbbing pain in my head.

“Yeah. That was a wedding ring passed down in our family for generations. I gave it to Ha Jin.”

“…”

You gave a generational heirloom as a birthday present? A wedding ring at that? Is Kim Shin in his right mind? In the end, the sad and painful emotions I felt in the scene I saw were completely erased by Sun Woo and Kim Shin.

As my thoughts cleared, I unconsciously checked Sun Woo’s reaction. He was already in a low mood since I had moved away from his embrace. On top of that, it seemed like his patience had reached its limit with Kim Shin’s story, as I could see his eyebrows twitching.

At some point, Sun Woo was looking at me with a dizzying smile, as if saying, “Yeah, go ahead and do more.” No. I don’t think you should do more.

“Ha Jin asked me to marry him… Ugh!”

To silence him, I threw a pillow at Kim Shin. He lightly caught the flying pillow, but he still pretended to be in pain and made a sound.

“Let’s leave childhood stories as memories from back then. Okay?”

When I made a horrified expression, Kim Shin nodded his head. I’m grateful too. At least Kim Shin knew when to hit the brakes properly. Sun Woo, whose brakes are broken, always goes straight no matter how much you tell him to stop.

“I’ll wash you.”

Sun Woo reached out and grabbed my arm. As my upper body swayed slightly, Sun Woo got up from the bed. Then, still holding my arm, he pulled me again, making me get up from the bed. My body was moving back and forth like a loose string at Sun Woo’s touch.

“…I can do it myself.”

“What if you faint again at the sight of water?”

How is swimming pool water the same as water when washing up? I met Sun Woo’s eyes as he was making unreasonable demands and spoke helplessly. It was absurd to argue over this.

“I’ll wash with the shower on.”

“I’m worried.”

See, Sun Woo always goes straight. I glanced at Kim Shin, as if asking for help.

‘Sorry.’

Kim Shin raised both hands and feet too.

“Then I won’t wash up.”

“…”

At my words, Sun Woo looked at me as if asking how a person could possibly stay in that state, as if it was dirty. Sun Woo seemed to care a lot about hygiene. Last time when I was drunk and stayed at Sin Yeo-un’s house, he immediately sent me to wash up, saying I smelled. Ah, come to think of it, he tried to wash me then too. At that time, I squeezed out all my strength to chase him away. Now I don’t even have the strength to do that.

Damn it…

In the end, a compromise was reached between me and Sun Woo.

“I’m washing my hair now.”

My voice was leaking out through the slightly open bathroom door. Sun Woo was waiting in front of the door. He said he would watch to see if I fainted or not. Who would faint just from seeing shower water? At least he had his back turned, so that was a relief.

‘What am I doing…’

“I’m rinsing my hair now.”

I closed my eyes tightly. The thick foam on my head flowed down my face. I wish I could just wash away like this and disappear into the drain. At this moment of washing, I couldn’t shake off the feeling of being publicly executed.

“Ha Jin, when are you washing your body? Which part are you going to wash first?”

Suddenly, I heard Kim Shin’s voice. Then there was a clattering sound, and it became quiet.

“I’m washing my body now…”

It was my turn to let them know that I was washing my body. Sun Woo suddenly interrupted my words.

“Be quiet and wash.”

“You told me to speak.”

My words were drowned out by the sound of the door closing. Only when the door closed did a space entirely of my own was created.

“No, you told me to speak earlier. Sun Woo, which beat should I match?”

With the door closed, I could wash up feeling a bit more at ease. When I came out after washing, my stomach growled loudly. I must have been lying down for quite a long time, well past mealtime, so I needed to put something in my stomach quickly.

The three of us headed to the restaurant inside the resort. On the way, every classmate we met expressed their concern for me. In an instant, I had become a sickly person.

Well, Ha Jin is indeed a sickly person who is forbidden from many things.

I’m starting to doubt if Ha Jin is really that crazy character. He seems like such a pitiful person.