After running around the venue like crazy, even with my brain pickled in dopamine, my physical limits finally caught up with me.
“…I think my legs are going to break.”
By the time we’d made about three laps around the venue, I ended up grabbing onto Siu’s sleeve and sagging against him.
It was only natural that I’d hit my limit after walking around all day on my first proper outing in ages.
Siu looked down at me with a relaxed expression, as if he wasn’t tired at all.
“Your stamina’s seriously terrible. Exercise a little.”
“This isn’t a stamina issue. It’s only natural to be tired after this. Aren’t you tired…?”
“I’m not.”
“…”
“I exercise regularly. That’s why I’m telling you to exercise.”
“You… live really diligently, huh…? How do you make time for that when you’re on Descord with me?”
Siu briefly checked the time, then answered.
“You make time if you need it. Want to rest over there for a bit? Looks like the event’s almost over, too.”
We were swept along by the crowd and made our way out of the venue.
Just the fact that the density of people had dropped so much made it easier to breathe.
“Phew… I feel alive.”
We sat for a moment on a bench near the entrance of the event hall and caught our breath.
As soon as the heat in my body cooled, a chill rushed in.
Maybe it was because I’d suddenly come out somewhere cold.
When I looked around, there were people sprawled all over the place, exhausted just like us.
Each of them clutching a bag packed full of spoils.
“We still have to walk quite a bit to the subway station. Rest a little.”
“Ugh… my legs hurt. Am I the only one in pain…? Seriously…?”
“I’m human too, so my legs hurt and I’m tired, but not enough to make a fuss like you.”
“Hmmm…”
Listening to Siu’s indifferent reply, I looked up at the golden sky.
‘That was fun……’
Standing in line without thinking at the booth of an artist I usually liked,
buying acrylics and all sorts of things,
running around like crazy even though my legs hurt.
Was I, perhaps, an extrovert?
No, absolutely not.
If I’d been alone, I never would have dared to do any of this.
“Thanks. Seriously… for coming with me.”
Maybe because I’d suddenly gotten serious, Siu avoided my gaze and replied indifferently.
“What’s with you all of a sudden…? I came to have fun too, that’s all. If I had no interest at all, I wouldn’t have come with you.”
“Did you buy anything?”
“I did. Not that much, though.”
Siu took something out of his crossbody bag. It was acrylic.
“Didn’t you say acrylics were a waste of money…?”
“If I need to buy it, I buy it. And this is a keyring. It’s different from an acrylic stand.”
“Whether it’s a keyring or whatever, it’s still useless. Can you even actually use that? How are you supposed to hang it on anything?”
The keyring was of the mobile game character that the cosplayer from earlier had been cosplaying.
No matter how I looked at it, a design like that had no practicality.
How were you supposed to walk around with a bunny girl hanging off your stuff?
That was guaranteed social execution.
“…I bought it because I wanted to. It’s pretty.”
“Don’t tell me you bought it after seeing that cosplayer earlier…?”
“I bought it before we met her.”
The keyring dangled from Siu’s finger.
A character with long, straight hair reaching all the way down to her hips.
“Your taste sure is consistent… They all look similar. Don’t you get tired of it?”
“That’s what taste is.”
Siu looked at me as if I were pathetic, sighed, then put the keyring back inside his crossbody bag.
“Come on, let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
We gathered our things again and stood up. The path to the station, leaving the enormous exhibition hall behind.
Under the sky where the sun had begun to set, a long procession of people carrying paper bags with the same design stretched on and on.
When we reached the station entrance, I could see people endlessly pouring out beyond the ticket gates.
And between them, people like us were squeezing their way in, creating a complete crush.
“Hey, we have to take that one! If we miss it, we’ll have to take the next!”
“Can’t we just take the next one…”
My legs hurt, so I didn’t want to run.
Still, I had no choice but to run, barely managing to squeeze myself onto the train.
* * *
Inside the subway on the way back.
When, by sheer luck, a corner seat opened up, Siu tried to make me sit down as if it were only natural.
“I’m fine…”
Siu pressed down firmly on my shoulder and forcibly sat me down.
“You’re going to keep whining that your legs hurt.”
“When did I ever whine…? Uwah—”
I wanted to argue, but the moment the chair touched my butt, all my willpower disappeared.
I stared silently at Siu’s shoes.
I could feel the strength draining out of my body.
The warm heater air in the subway brushed against my calves.
At the cozy warmth, my eyelids slowly began to close.
For some reason, the rattling and noise of the subway felt pleasant.
Before I knew it, drowsiness came surging over me like a wave.
Nodding off, I soon found my head drooping down, my forehead resting against the bag I was hugging.
* * *
Seong Siu had his smartphone on, but he hadn’t read a single line of the text on the screen.
His gaze kept drifting to the back of Baek Eunhae’s head as she dozed off in the seat beside him.
No, more precisely, to the black hair swaying over her shoulders, and the slender nape of her neck that showed faintly between the strands.
‘That’s Baek Eunhae. That’s Baek Eunhae. That’s Baek Eunhae.’
The visual information and his memories collided head-on, leaving his mind in chaos.
Just a month ago, that person had thrown him into such a mess, and now, seeing them sleeping so peacefully without a care in the world, he was dumbfounded.
That carefree look was exactly the same as before.
“I’m seriously losing it…”
Those delicate shoulders, rising and falling faintly with each regular breath, and the scent of shampoo that somehow felt unusually sweet.
Of course, the shampoo hadn’t changed at all.
The disparity between his brain and his sight gnawed away at Seong Siu’s sanity bit by bit.
The personality was the same.
Whenever they opened their mouth, they said something stupid, and their behavior always seemed like a screw was loose somewhere.
Seong Siu felt like he was going insane. The fact that their personality was unchanged only made it more irritating.
Because nothing had changed, and yet everything had changed.
“……Ah, this isn’t what I was worried about…”
* * *
Tap, tap. Someone was poking my shoulder.
Annoying. Why did they keep poking me like that…
“Mmm……”
Ah, right. I was on the subway.
Looks like I’d fallen asleep without realizing it.
Even after I opened my eyes, my vision was blurry. For a short doze, I must have slept pretty deeply.
When I lifted my head, I saw Seong Siu looking down at me with an expression that said I was pathetic.
Still half-asleep, I had a hard time coming to my senses.
“What…… Are we there?”
“No, we have to transfer. Judging by your face, you slept well.”
“Already…?”
I tried to get up, but there was no strength in my body.
It seemed my body had already mistaken this for full-on rest mode.
I didn’t think I’d overdone it that badly at the event, so why did my whole body feel this powerless?
“Uaaaah…”
When we came out of the subway, the cool—no, chilly air drifting in from beyond the ticket gates greeted me.
“Achoo…!”
Maybe because of the cold air, a sneeze burst out on its own. I wrapped both arms around myself and hunched up tightly.
“Ugh…… Why does it feel so cold…”
“Are you cold? We’re indoors, so I don’t think it’s that cold.”
My body felt shivery. It even felt like there was a slight fever in my throat.
Maybe because I’d walked around for so long, my legs were already showing signs of muscle soreness.
Not only my legs—an aching pain spread through my lower back and wrapped around my whole body.
Even my waist, which had been holding my body upright, felt like my spine was being gripped and pulled downward.
Ah. I had a feeling tomorrow’s muscle soreness was going to be terrible.
I should hurry home and sleep.
Before parting ways with Siu at the subway, he looked at me suspiciously.
“You were running around all excited, and now your energy suddenly dropped straight down.”
“Maybe because the dopamine wore off… I just want to go home and sleep…”
“Anyway, I’m going.”
“Get home safe…”
Sitting on the chair, I waved. Siu lightly waved once or twice as well, then got off the subway.
Now I should hurry home too.
But before that, there was something I had to do.
* * *
After getting off the subway, I walked weakly toward the convenience store near my studio apartment.
Jingle—
“Welcome…”
The convenience store part-timer greeted me in a soulless voice.
I went straight to the shelf with the medicine and looked for “Pancol.”
It was late, and the pharmacies were closed. The best choice when you felt like you were coming down with a cold.
‘I can just drink this and sleep…’
I wondered for a moment if there was anything else I should buy, looking around here and there in front of the shelf.
But in the end, instead of anything else, I grabbed one more bottle of Pancol and headed to the register.
The convenience store part-timer still stood there with a dry expression.
“That’ll be 2,000 won. Thank you. Goodbye.”
“…”
I took the two bottles of Pancol, left the convenience store, and headed straight home.
‘I’ll drink this quickly and just sleep.’
As soon as I got home, I carefully set down my precious merch.
Then I immediately opened the cap of the Pancol. Its distinctive sweet-bitter medicinal smell pricked my nose.
Gulp, gulp. I downed the Pancol in one go.
“Ugh…”
The vague taste, neither sweet nor bitter, lingered in my mouth, so I rinsed it out with water.
My body felt languid.
It was probably because I’d gone out for the first time in a while. I wasn’t feeling well.
But normally, my condition should have recovered once I got home, and yet there was no sign of that at all.
I washed up roughly and collapsed onto my bed.
The slight fever I’d felt in my throat must have spread through my whole body at some point, because an unpleasant warmth enveloped me from head to toe.
I pulled the blanket all the way up to the top of my head.
“Huuuu……”
An unpleasant languor. An unpleasant warmth. My breath felt hotter than usual.
The inside of the blanket filled with a disagreeable heat.
When I stuck only my head out of the blanket and breathed in the cold air, I felt a little better.
I’d probably be fine after sleeping.
My eyelids closed regardless of my will.
Hoping my guess wasn’t wrong, I fell asleep.