The cold night air had grown sharper as Kyungmin paused for a moment in front of the boarding house gate.
"Alright… just stick to the plan."
That whisper made him let out a heavy sigh.
"Sorry, Kal. I'm not exactly good at acting."
"It's not just your acting. Relax, Kyung."
Kyungmin slowly stepped inside and made his way toward his unit.
Beep!
After entering the correct password, the door unlocked. As soon as he stepped in, he saw Hesa sitting in the living room.
"Hesa? How are you here? Weren't you heading to Jae's unit earlier?" Kyungmin asked.
"That doesn't matter anymore," Hesa said coldly, pointing at several items piled on the table in front of him.
"The notebook, the photo frame, the nametag. Care to explain?"
Kyungmin immediately grabbed all the items—the ones he had intentionally left behind.
"This nametag really does have my real name on it," Kyungmin said.
"Then why were you pretending to be someone who's already dead?" Hesa asked.
"I just wanted revenge for the deaths of my two friends."
Kyungmin placed the framed photo back on the table.
"So Sakala and Jihan were your friends?" Hesa asked.
"Yes. Before she died, Jihan told me everything—about how you were being haunted too, just like she and Sakala were."
Hesa then pulled out the sticky notes he had been receiving all this time.
"These were from you?"
Kyungmin nodded.
"Were you trying to get me to work with you?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you just use your real name? Why pretend to be your dead friend?"
"I-I couldn't. Jihan told me it'd be safer if I stayed cautious, so nothing bad would happen."
Hesa let out a rough sigh and glanced at Kyungmin, who was still standing there carrying a plastic bag.
"Why are you still standing? Sit down."
Kyungmin flinched slightly.
"O-Oh, right."
He quickly sat in the chair opposite Hesa.
The atmosphere around Hesa was so cold and intimidating that Kyungmin, despite being the owner of the unit, almost forgot he was in his own place.
"In that notebook, you were talking to someone you called 'As,'" Hesa said.
"I already told you I have an alter ego."
"A real alter ego?"
"Y-Yeah. What else did you think?"
Hesa reopened the notebook in Kyungmin's hands and flipped to the final page, pointing at one name.
Hasta Alkana.
"Jihan once told me this guy usually went by Asta."
Kyungmin frowned.
"Do you think Asta's haunting me?"
"N-No. I'm just confused because the names match."
"It's just a coincidence. Asta isn't haunting me. Why would you suddenly suspect that?"
"Because Arkha and I are being followed by them."
"You mean Kala? If he really is following you, then maybe he's trying to protect you because you're the next target."
"He did say he wanted to help me. Back when all of us were trapped in that other dimension."
Kyungmin looked him straight in the eye.
"I want to help you too."
"Kyung."
The voice snapped Kyungmin out of his thoughts as he sat spacing out on a park bench.
"Wish."
He looked up at the pink-haired boy now seated beside him.
"The others are already hanging out in the cafeteria."
"Oh—right. Sorry, I got too lost in thought here."
"Still dealing with that misunderstanding with your boarding house friend?" Wish asked.
"No, we talked it out last night."
"Then why'd you pretend to be that lavender-haired guy?"
Kyungmin sighed.
"Look, I know you're still traumatized after accidentally witnessing his suicide. But what you don't know is that I'd been friends with Kala for quite a while."
"Friends? Seriously?"
"Yeah. We just had different circles at school, so we didn't look close."
Wish nodded.
"Oh."
"Come on, let's head to the cafeteria."
"Sure."
~~~~~
"Kala really did want to help me. He told me that when we were in the other dimension."
"I want to help you too."
Standing on the rooftop, Hesa stared down at the school grounds below. He could see his friends arriving together by bus.
Even though he tried to distract himself, Kyungmin's words from the night before kept echoing in his mind.
Why is he so determined to help me? He should be scared he'll get hurt too, just like Arkha and the rest of us.
Did Kyungmin's desire for revenge really outweigh his fear of consequences?
Even Hesa was still afraid to drag Arkha back into this.
Creak.
The rooftop door opened.
"K-Khan."
"I saw you up here, so I came."
Arkha casually sat down on the rooftop bench.
"About yesterday… I overheard some student council members talking about sabotage. They mentioned steel beams too. You already know about this, don't you?"
"A-Ah, that. The sabotaged part was the stage frame, not the spotlight support."
"Why was it sabotaged?"
"It's related to funding issues. Corruption, maybe. Or something else. They're still investigating."
"Oh."
Arkha tried to accept the explanation, though his dissatisfied expression said otherwise.
"O-Okay then. I'll head back first."
"I'm not done talking to you."
Arkha grabbed Hesa's wrist before he could leave.
Then he walked over to the railing, ignoring the visible tension on Hesa's face.
"So… did you end up going to Sunshower Academy yesterday?"
"N-No. I stayed at school until late."
"Oh? Then how about we go together today?"
Hesa scratched the back of his neck.
"I was planning to go, but I already made plans with someone."
"Who?"
"A student there. Apparently he witnessed what happened."
"A witness?"
"Yeah. We were right—someone else was on that rooftop when K—"
Hesa froze, recalling his conversation from the previous night.
"Why'd you stop?"
"Y-You know what I mean. There was someone else there when Kyungmin jumped."
"We'll talk later. I really have to go now."
Without another word, Hesa hurried off.
~~~~~
Wish had just arrived outside his classroom when his phone buzzed.
It was a message from Hesa asking to meet at school.
Wish frowned.
"Didn't Kyungmin say the misunderstanding was already cleared up? Why does he still want me as his guide here?"
He walked to the classroom next door where his friends were.
Luckily, they all came out soon after dismissal.
"Hey, are you guys heading home together?" he asked.
"Yeah. Aren't you coming with us?" Yasha replied.
"Uh, Ms. Irene gave me extra work, so you guys go ahead."
"Oh, alright." Bayu said
Wish glanced around.
"Wait… feels like someone's missing."
"Kyungmin never came back after lunch," Amin said.
"Yeah, I haven't seen him either," Hyun added.
"He texted me. Said his friend suddenly got sick, so he had to go to the hospital," Jeff explained.
"That's unusual. He'd actually skip class for that?" Ayden muttered.
"Must've been serious. Don't jump to conclusions," Wish said.
"Yeah, no point thinking negatively about our own friend." Ayden said.
"You guys should head home before it rains."
"Alright. We're leaving first." Yasha said.
"Yeah,"
The others headed toward the school gate together, while Wish chose to wait in the library.