The following day, Hajun stayed locked in his room, skipping breakfast altogether. Yet when noon arrived as promised, he walked downstairs looking refreshed, as if nothing had happened. He offered a casual greeting to Park Moondae.
“We’ll eat lunch over there.”
“…Sure.”
Watching him start the car with a quiet whistle just like any other day, Moondae wondered if yesterday’s conversation had been a dream.
But you only hate me.
He never expected Hajun to carry a thought like that in his mind. Not that he dwelt on it day in and day out. Had Hajun heard him, he would have raised an eyebrow and asked if Moondae assumed he had nothing better to do than dwell on one thought all day.
Still, it weighed on Moondae’s mind. No matter how many years Hajun had lived across iterations, the guy had never aged past twenty-three in any single life. Judging by his everyday behavior, Moondae held the older mental age—even if Hajun scowled at the thought of someone with less than thirty years of life claiming senior status. Acting like a child left a bitter taste in Moondae’s mouth, leaving a heavy lump in his chest.
Misinterpreting Moondae’s quiet mood, Hajun spoke up. “Nervous?”
“What?”
“About meeting him. Are you nervous?”
“…Ah.”
Moondae had set the main event aside to process other thoughts, but this was the actual reason for their trip. Nervous? He gave a slow nod. Anyone would feel nervous going to meet the owner of the body they swapped into—their own original body. Besides… maybe for the first time in over a decade…
“Hey. I brought it up first, but… don’t raise your hopes too high. About your parents.”
“…”
Hajun spoke up, cutting through Moondae’s thoughts. Keeping his eyes on the road ahead, he added an explanation.
“Guardian spirit or not, a dead soul staying attached to a living person for long brings no good. They must have already…”
“It’s fine.”
“…”
Hajun shut his mouth and kept driving in silence, though he didn’t look convinced.
In contrast to guardian deities, guardian spirits held a lower rank. Their abilities remained limited. A guardian spirit was just a soul with lingering regrets, hovering near a loved one. At best, they could ward off a few bad spirits trying to cause harm.
They watched over the living before feeling at peace, or before realizing their presence offered no real help, before departing at last.
Park Moondae—or rather, Ryu Gunwoo—lost his parents in his teens. They must have moved on once he reached adulthood. It made sense. Had they remained, a curse would have struggled to take hold of Ryu Gunwoo so fast. While a single guardian spirit might struggle against a powerful curse, their departure seemed far more plausible.
Did I give him false hope for nothing? Frowning at the late realization, Hajun ran a hand through his hair. Back then, seeing Moondae’s lonely face as he shared his story made Hajun speak without thinking. Still, wasn’t it better to try if even a tiny chance existed? Trying despite tiny odds beat giving up without knowing. At least, that was how Hajun lived his life.
Alex used to nag him, asking if he couldn’t tell his head from his toes and why he insisted on testing things he already knew. Yet sometimes, exceptions happened. People under altered states made wild mistakes. While Hajun had never experienced that himself, seeing people licking toilet bowls in quiet school bathrooms proved anything was possible.
Ending his trip down memory lane, Hajun pulled the car over as Thia announced their arrival. Parked in a shabby studio apartment neighborhood, the expensive foreign car stood out, though Hajun felt used to existing as an oddity.
Ding-dong—
“…”
“Nobody home?”
Ding-dong— Ding-dong—
Moondae pondered how suspicious two men in black masks and caps looked, ringing a doorbell without pause at a rundown villa, before giving up. Setting himself aside, Hajun—a tall guy pushing one hundred ninety centimeters with a sharp glare—looked less like a rich young master and more like a mob enforcer collecting debts.
A passerby heading up the stairs caught sight of them, turned around, and walked back down. Moondae felt a surge of mixed feelings. Then again, avoiding attention as an idol mattered more, so maybe this worked out better. Still…
Feeling a bitter pang, Moondae glanced at Hajun’s profile. With his sharp nose and firm lips hidden beneath the mask, only those intense eyes remained visible, capable of striking fear into anyone. Shadowed by his cap, he looked five times more dangerous.
Ignoring Moondae’s gaze, Hajun stopped ringing the bell and examined the door lock keypad. Reaching out, he tapped a sequence of numbers.
Beep-beep-beep-beep—
With a click, the lock disengaged. Moondae froze, staring at Hajun with a face full of question marks. What just…
“…??”
“Oh, it opened.”
Hajun opened the door with a calm posture, gesturing for Moondae to step inside first. Lips parting, Moondae struggled to find words before blurting out.
“…You know this is breaking and entering, right?”
“Huh? It’s fine. He won’t report it. Won’t happen.”
“…”
Spouting utter nonsense, the walking time bomb declared he would go in first if Moondae hesitated, stepping inside with long strides. Lacking the heart to leave Hajun alone inside, Moondae followed him, swallowing his reluctance.
“This place is tiny.”
“…”
Of course it is… Moondae thought with a blank look as Hajun examined the room with bright eyes. He couldn’t imagine how a cramped studio apartment looked through the eyes of a rich heir.
Yet Hajun had more important things to check than the size of the room.
“Cleaner than expected. I thought a spirit or two would stick around.”
“…!”
“Don’t tense up. I told you, there’s nothing here.”
Rundown neighborhoods like this tended to attract wandering spirits. As a favor to his teammate’s original body owner, Hajun had planned to clear any spirits out, but the room was spotless. Seeing a few bugs crawling near the corner, the place seemed livable enough.
Noticing Moondae’s tense posture, Hajun stretched his arms. In a space this tight, he looked ready to break a wall. Yawning, Hajun sat cross-legged on the floor.
“Hey, I told you I lived in Korea until middle school, right?”
“…Yes.”
“It happened ages ago, but my memories remain sharp. I used to live in a side house next to a shaman shrine…”
Hajun trailed off, recalling old memories. Bugs seldom appeared where he lived, so seeing large moths or bees at school had felt novel. Listening with bated breath, expecting a ghost story, Moondae asked in a low voice.
“…So what does that have to do with our situation?”
“Bugs can’t live in a house full of ghosts. This place is clean.”
“…”
Following Hajun’s pointed finger, Moondae caught sight of a cockroach scurrying across the ceiling. Moondae closed his eyes tight. He wanted to be alone.
His wish fell flat. A beep echoed from the keypad, announcing the current tenant’s return.
Hajun stood up and walked to the front door.
Click—
“?”
The door swung open on its own, startling the young tenant. Hajun greeted him with a grin.
“Where have you been all this time?”
“…Aaaagh!!”
Watching his own former face move its muscles in ways he had never seen before gave Moondae a strange sensation.
“Ugh—mmph!”
“Quiet!”
Covering ‘Park Moondae’s’ mouth, Hajun pulled him inside and shut the door. Panicked eyes scanned the room before meeting Moondae’s gaze. Seeing those wide eyes felt so strange that Moondae bowed his head a bit in apology for failing to stop Hajun. The other guy blinked and nodded back.
As the tenant calmed down, Hajun kept his hand over ‘Park Moondae’s’ mouth and spoke.
“I’ll let go if you promise not to scream.”
“…”
That sounds like a villain line. Moondae watched ‘Park Moondae’ nod like his neck might snap. Seeing his original body captured by Won Hajun in such a helpless state felt twice as awkward.
Hajun pulled his hand back.
Letting out a deep breath, ‘Park Moondae’ blurted out.
“Wait, why are you here? How did you open the door—”
“Fingerprints on the keypad. You should set a passcode more complex than your birthday.”
“Uh, right… Wait, no! Gunwoo hyung! It’s been so long!”
“…?”
Moondae froze, surprised by the real ‘Park Moondae’ addressing him so with warmth.
Hajun raised a hand, pausing their reunion.
“Hold on, it’s past two in the afternoon. Want to order food? Koreans love food, right? Did you eat lunch?”
“Huh? Ah, not yet!”
“Hey, what do you want? Want me to order your favorite dish?”
“…”
Who could eat in a situation like this? Moondae wiped his face with a dry hand, looking back and forth between ‘Park Moondae’s’ clueless face—showing zero sense of danger despite two strangers breaking into his home—and Hajun’s shameless face, pretending to care about someone else’s meal when he ate like a bird himself.
He wanted to be alone.
“What are you ordering? Wait, I’m the host, so I should buy…”
“Forget it, we dropped in without notice. Moondae likes chicken, so we’ll order that. What about you? Like chicken too?”
…He wanted to be left alone.
“Yes! But how did you find this place??”
“Will two chickens do? Three? Is one per person not enough? Do you have a black hole for a stomach too?”
“A black hole?”
…
Moondae felt marooned in a sea of questions. Standing in a room where he remained the only sane person, Moondae longed for Ryu Cheongwoo, Keun Sejin, or even Lee Sejin.
