Chapter Text
(White Mamba… please. Stop me.)
(If anyone can do it, it’s you.)
(Please… you have to…stop me…)
(White Mamba…)
“—Sieun.”
“Yeon Sieun!”
Sieun’s eyes flew open.
Cold sweat clung to his skin. He gulped in air, as if he’d just escaped from something terrifying.
A thin blade of light slipped in through the gap in the curtains and fell across his face. He frowned, and a figure quickly pulled the curtain shut, blocking the glare.
Sieun shifted, realizing he was lying on a pale blue bed. The air carried a faint disinfectant smell.
“Nightmare?”
Sieun turned toward the sound, blinking slowly, “Where am I…?”
“Hero High School’s infirmary. You passed out in the hallway.”
Hero High School.
The moment those words reached him, something blurry flickered across his mind—morning light, a classroom, notes on the desk, and someone leaning by the window, looking at him…
He felt like he should know this place. At the same time, it felt strangely unfamiliar, like he was hearing it for the first time.
Seeing how dazed he looked, the person frowned, stepped closer to the bed, and reached out to touch Sieun’s forehead.
“No fever,” he concluded, then asked, “Anything hurt?”
“I’m fine. Nothing hurts.” Sieun answered quickly.
After the words left his mouth, he paused, realizing he’d said it automatically, like he didn’t want the other person to worry.
“How long was I out?” Sieun asked.
“About twenty minutes.” The person replied. “Right before class, you froze in front of the classroom door. I called your name and you didn’t react. Then you just dropped.”
“…You brought me here?”
“Obviously. I couldn’t just leave you on the floor.”
It sounded like a jab, but there was concern buried underneath.
“And you’ve been here this whole time? You didn’t go to class?”
The person looked away and sat down on the chair beside the bed, saying flatly, “It’s easy. Missing a few periods doesn’t matter.”
True. His level had been beyond what they taught for a long time. He rarely showed up to class before, until—
Until what?
The thought hit a blank space in his mind. Like something had sunk beneath the surface of water, he could sense it there, but he couldn’t see it clearly.
Sieun tried to recall, but all that came was the nightmare right before he woke.
He was standing on a bridge, staring down in horror at the bloody scene, and it overlapped with the figure in front of him.
“…Baekjin.”
Sieun called out his name, then turned it over in his mind. He should’ve been used to saying it, and yet it carried a faint, inexplicable wrongness.
“What?” Baekjin asked.
“Nothing… I just wanted to call you.”
Baekjin studied him for a moment, then muttered, almost to himself, “I caught you. You shouldn’t have hit your head…”
“My head is fine,” Sieun said again.
“It’s fine, and you suddenly passed out?” Baekjin raised a brow.
“Maybe I just didn’t get enough sleep.”Sieun said, a little guiltily, “Low blood pressure, or something.”
As expected, Baekjin immediately narrowed his eyes, “You stayed up again, didn’t you?”
This time it was Sieun who looked away.
“I didn’t stay up, just went to bed later than usual.” he explained. Then, before Baekjin could say anything, he changed the subject. “I just had a nightmare about you.”
Baekjin didn’t respond, and when Sieun looked back, his expression had turned slightly odd.
“You dreamed about me… and it was a nightmare?”
“Not like that.” Sieun clarified immediately, then hesitated before adding, “I dreamed that… you got into a car accident.”
Baekjin went quiet. Then he spoke, his tone unreadable.
“Was it bad?”
Sieun recalled the scene. The other person lay in a wide pool of blood, and he could only watch from afar, hands shaking as he pulled out his phone to call an ambulance.
“…It was pretty bad.” he said, his throat dry.
Baekjin stood, went to pour a cup of warm water, and then pressed it into Sieun’s hands.
“Drink.” His tone left no room for argument.
Sieun stared at the cup for a second, then slowly drank the water. The warmth slid down his throat, easing the roughness.
Baekjin leaned back in the chair and said casually, “Have you been cursing me or something? Is that why you dreamed about that?”
Sieun blinked, a beat too slow to react.
“Why would I curse you?”
“Like—my score is higher than you. I’m stronger than you, too. You’ve been jealous for so long you finally started wishing I’d get hit by a car.”
It was so ridiculous that Sieun almost smiled, and he found himself relaxing a little.
“I wouldn’t curse you over something like that.”
Baekjin looked at him. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly, as if he’d known that would be his answer.
That smile eased the air between them.
The infirmary wasn’t big, just two beds. The other one was empty. Outside the window, he could faintly hear a whistle from PE class on the field. Everything was normal, making the scene from his dream feel even more like a hallucination.
It’s nothing. It was just a dream.
He thought it, like he was trying to convince himself.
Just a dream.
And yet, the unease still lingered. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he had forgotten something—something he shouldn’t have forgotten. Something important.
“Sieun.”
Baekjin’s voice yanked him out of that tangled fog.
“What you need right now is rest. Not sitting there spacing out with that face.”
“What face?”
“The face you make when you hear the teacher’s checking homework and you realize you can’t turn yours in.”
This strange example made Sieun pause a bit.
“I always turn my homework in on time.”
There was only one time he’d almost failed to. Back in middle school, once, the homework he’d left in his desk drawer suddenly disappeared, and later—
His thoughts were pulled back again before he could finish.
“You’re so tired you can’t even tell that’s a metaphor?” Baekjin said.
Sieun opened his mouth, then decided to just lie back down first.
“I can tell. I’m just stating it.”
“You don’t need to state anything,” Baekjin said, “There’s no teacher here. Just me.”
Sieun muttered, “Sometimes you’re scarier than a teacher.”
Baekjin didn’t get offended. If anything, his smile deepened.
“Good. At least you still have the energy to talk back.”
He took the empty cup from Sieun’s hands and placed it on the side table. “Get some sleep. It’s just PE class anyway. I’ll wake you when the bell rings.”
Sieun wanted to say he wasn’t sleepy, but the moment his head sank into the pillow, his eyelids grew heavy, like the fatigue caught up after his body relaxed.
He watched Baekjin return to the bedside, calmly leaning down to pull the blanket over him, every movement precise and careful.
“…When I wake up, will I still be able to see you?” Sieun asked.
Baekjin sat back down in the chair beside the bed, leaning into the backrest. “Of course.”
His tone made it sound like the most ordinary thing in the world, as if it was stranger that Sieun would even ask.
With the steady tick of the clock on the wall, Sieun’s consciousness began to blur. Sleep came like waves, rolling in again and again.
Right before he sank under completely, he thought he heard Baekjin add, quieter this time.
“As long as you want to see me, I’ll be here.”
The words were so soft, like he knew it didn’t sound like him. But he didn’t take it back.
That sentence was like a hand, lightly pressed to Sieun’s chest, holding down the unease the nightmare had stirred up.
—As long as you want to see me, I’ll be here.
In the dark, Sieun clung to it like a small piece of driftwood.
When he opened his eyes again, it was the same ceiling.
The infirmary was quiet. Only the wall clock kept ticking in its steady rhythm, announcing its presence.
Sieun’s gaze drifted to the figure sitting nearby—Baekjin was relaxed against the back of the chair, head lowered as he read a book. His expression was calm, carrying a subtle sense of steadiness.
Sieun stared at him blankly. It felt like the first time he’d ever seen Baekjin this unguarded. And yet, it also felt like he must have seen it countless times.
Baekjin didn’t look up. “Seen enough?”
Sieun paused.
“…I just woke up. My eyes are still focusing.” he said, grabbing the first excuse he could.
“Focusing on my face?” Baekjin closed the book and lifted his eyes.
Sieun looked away, a little embarrassed. Baekjin let it go and glanced at the clock on the wall.
“Class is almost over. You woke up just five minutes before the bell.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the infirmary doorknob turned, and the school nurse walked in.
“Oh? You’re awake. Anything feel off?”
Sieun cooperated with the nurse’s questions and a quick check-up. Once she confirmed there was nothing wrong, she wrote two notes and handed them to Baekjin.
“Just give these to your class teachers. And take care of your frail friend, alright? Don’t let him end up back here again.”
Baekjin took the notes and gave a polite smile. “Thank you. I’ll take care of him.”
Sieun watched the scene, his lips parting slightly, but no words came out. He just followed Baekjin to the door, leaving the infirmary with him.
After walking side by side for a few steps, he couldn’t help asking, “Have I ever stayed in the infirmary before?”
He quietly wondered why the nurse had said ‘again’.
Baekjin’s steps paused.
“Someone got heatstroke in PE last month,” he said, glancing at Sieun. “You forgot that fast?”
Hearing Baekjin say that, it did seem like something that had happened. In the middle of class, he’d suddenly gotten dizzy. A classmate noticed something was wrong, and he ended up in the infirmary.
He had a vague impression of it, but he couldn’t remember what day it was, or what time. Still—
“And after that… it was you who brought me back to the classroom, wasn’t it?”
A blurry image surfaced in his mind—Baekjin showing up in the infirmary to get him.
“You can drop the ‘wasn’t it,’” Baekjin corrected. “Good thing you’re not completely amnesiac, or I’d be sending you to the hospital instead.”
“It’s not that bad,” Sieun denied instinctively.
Baekjin held his gaze for a few seconds, then said, “That’s good.”
After exchanging a few lines, they’d already reached the first-year classrooms. It was passing period. Students were laughing and shoving each other in the hallway, and different noises spilled out from open doors.
“Did you guys see the new Two Piece release yesterday?”
“Ttosikki Chicken come out with a new flavor?”
“I heard someone got into a fight in the bathroom…”
“Why didn’t you get a drink while buy the boiled egg? That’s fucking dry.”
Baekjin stopped at the door of Class 6 and handed Sieun one of the notes written by the school nurse.
“Your next class is math, right? Give it to your class teacher while you’re at it.”
Sieun took the note. Only then did it hit him that he and Baekjin were in different classes. They were first-years at Hero High, split into the two classrooms farthest apart: Class 1 and Class 6. And yet, they had just passed by Class 1 without a thought, Baekjin walking him all the way back to his classroom.
Sieun almost asked how Baekjin remembered his schedule so clearly, but then realized the question was pointless. Baekjin’s memory was absurd. It wouldn’t even be surprising if he’d memorized the entire school’s timetable.
“If anything comes up, text me.” Baekjin said.
Sieun nodded, then turned and stepped into the classroom.
The classroom was noisy, with people still talking about PE from earlier.
Sieun hesitated for a moment. It wasn’t until he spotted a familiar face with glasses in the front row before he headed for his seat.
“Ah… I heard you passed out in the hallway. Are you okay?” Juntae looked up at him, worry in his voice.
Sieun was about to respond, but a loud voice cut in.
“Hey! Sieun, you’re back! You feeling alright?”
Humin was sitting toward the back, waving with his usual overflowing energy. He stood up and came toward the front.
“Why are you in our class?” Sieun blurted out without thinking.
Humin froze like he’d been stabbed.
“You went to the infirmary and already forgot we’re classmates? I thought… we had heatstroke-bonding…” he said, genuinely wounded.
“What the hell is ‘heatstroke-bonding’? At least call it ‘carrying-you-to-the-infirmary’ bonding.” Hyeontak came over too.
Right…last time, when he’d gotten heatstroke in PE, it had been Humin who carried him to the infirmary. After that, Sieun told Humin to go back to class first and stayed behind to rest. And later Baekjin had shown up after hearing about it.
So why had he just assumed Humin wasn’t in his class?
“Sorry, ” Sieun said. “I think I was just tired. I’m fine now. I rested.”
“No need to apologize.” Humin bounced back immediately, waving it off. “I’m glad you’re okay. Just remember to rest. Don’t study until you drop.”
Juntae nodded along beside him. Sieun looked at them and answered softly, “Okay.”
Humin blinked, looking almost thrown off by how compliant Sieun was.
“Anyway, missing PE was tragic. You didn’t get to see my unbeatable, game-winning goal.” Humin said, shaking his head like he truly regretted it.
“Don’t forget, I was the one who dribbled past two people and passed it to you at the perfect angle.” Hyeontak added.
“Exactly. And after we scored, Bae Jihun’s face was priceless.” Humin threw an arm around Hyeontak’s shoulder, laughing. “He said he’d get revenge this time, and he still lost.”
“Bae Jihun?” Sieun frowned.
Another voice cut in, “The teacher made us play soccer with Class 5.”
“You returned the equipment, Gayool… Wait— you seriously ditched us and went to the store to buy drinks?” Humin asked.
“This is from the PE teacher,” Gayool said calmly, sipping his juice. “Maybe you should’ve stayed to return the equipment.”
“This week’s duty is you, not me,” Humin protested.
The chatter went on until the bell rang, and they returned to their seats.
Sieun took out his math textbook, flipped to the page the teacher indicated, and started class like usual—or at least, it was supposed to be.
Staring at the example problem, he found himself quickly filling in the blank space with calculations without even thinking. When he snapped back to himself, the problem was already solved.
He blinked at the page, then flipped ahead.
These topics… I know them too well. Is it just because I pre-studied?
That wrongness rose again.
He pulled out his notes and checked where they stopped. They did match the teacher’s progress exactly. But the odd feeling didn’t go away.
Sieun stared at the notebook. After a moment, he wrote a few words in the corner, then just stared at them.
“The things on the board are the formulas we mentioned before,” the math teacher said. “So in this lesson…”
Sieun forced his focus back, eyes on the lecture.
He flipped to a fresh page. The words were covered over, like he could bury that strange feeling somewhere he couldn’t see it, at least for now.
But on the page before, in a notebook full of formulas and numbers, the two words he’d written still stood out, alone in the corner—
Eunjang Union