Existence Itself Is an Error Ch 02

 

Chapter 2

I successfully got Seo Hee-jun out of the school without causing him any contact. I kept my eyes focused on the road ahead, passing through the school gate and entering a street sparsely populated by students. Only then did I slow my pace.

As I was letting out a sigh of relief, Seo Hee-jun, who had been following me, noticed me.

“Me, but, senior.”

When I turned my head, Seo Hee-jun smiled awkwardly.

“How long do you plan to hold on to it ?”

I squinted my eyes to see what he was saying, and then realized it too late.

“Ah.”

Letting out a short exclamation, I looked at Seo Hee-jun’s wrist, which I was still holding. Now I saw that he hadn’t been following me obediently, but had been forcibly dragged along.

Now that we were out of school, I didn’t feel the need to let Seo Hee-jun go. Instead, I tightened my grip on his wrist.

“I’m going to hold on to it and not let go.”

“…Yes ?”

“You never know. If I let you go, you’ll think this is the moment and run away.”

Seo Hee-jun furrowed his brow, as if he didn’t understand. Ignoring his gaze, I pulled my wrist tightly. Unable to shoo me away, who looked considerably thinner than him, he had no choice but to step forward.

Seo Hee-jun, who had been walking ahead of me, rolled his eyes as he caught my pace.

“Do you know where our house is and are leading the way?”

“That’s why I’m going this way.”

“How do you know ?”

How do you not know ?

“Because you told me.”

Seo Hee-jun’s eyes widened when he heard my confident answer.

“Me? When?”

I didn’t feel like blaming Seo Hee-jun for repeatedly forgetting things I’d told him to remember. This prison-like “month” wasn’t his fault, and our relationship wasn’t deep enough for us to feel resentful.

But I couldn’t help but feel a small bitterness.

So I ignored Seo Hee-jun and focused solely on counting the tiles on the floor. I had every right to vent my anger on the faraway places.

Seo Hee-jun noticed that I wasn’t going to answer and asked a different question.

“What is your name ?”

Name. I turned to Seo Hee-jun, repeating the word. He lowered his eyes slightly, as if he really thought he was so stupid that he’d forgotten me.

“No matter how hard I try, I can’t remember. This time, I’ll make sure I don’t forget.”

“…….”

“Really. If you’re really anxious, promise.”

Seo Hee-jun suddenly extended his hand before my eyes. He wiggled his pinky finger, which had been standing upright.

Even though I saw Seo Hee-jun urging me to link fingers with him like an innocent child, I didn’t move.

‘You don’t know.’

Seo Hee-jun had promised me ten times he’d remember my name, and I hadn’t even once been nice to him. And just like that, I had absolutely no intention of linking fingers and whispering promises I couldn’t keep.

A bitter laugh escaped my tightly shut lips.

“I don’t do that, so get rid of it.”

“Why ?”

‘Because of someone who always bothers me.’

He swallowed the muttering and spoke differently.

“Error.”

“Yes ?”

Seo Hee-jun didn’t immediately understand what I meant and just blinked. I kindly added an explanation.

“It’s an error, my name.”

Everything in this world exists for the male and female leads. Therefore, it’s impossible for any character other than the lead to have a concept of something entirely “their own.”

A worthless and meaningless life where you act normal just to fool their eyes and ears when you’re around the main character, and then disappear in an instant when you go somewhere no one can see you.

I was no different from them. Even if I had awakened to my own self, I had no way to resist the immense shackles of the world.

So, even though I wore clothes with distorted colors and designs and slept curled up in a corner of an apartment that was nothing but an illusion, I tried to somehow find meaning in being ‘me.’

That’s why I gave myself the name Error.

‘Of course, I could have chosen a pretty and cool name.’

I know that it doesn’t matter what name I use, since no one will call me by it anyway.

But that couldn’t be the case. I wanted a name that suited me best and represented me.

“The name is wrong?”

A pleasant, beautiful voice brushed past my ears. Soon, Seo Hee-jun let out a soft laugh.

“Are you kidding?”

If only this were all just a joke, as he said.

Perhaps the joke wasn’t entirely wrong. No matter how bleak and miserable my situation, it was unimaginable, impossible for the lead actor, Seo Hee-jun.

I swallowed a dry breath.

“Just call me senior. Don’t even show any rude manners.”

“Huh? But you’re my senior.”

“Even so, it’s only a one-year age difference.”

Seo Hee-jun, who seemed to be conflicted for a moment, hesitated and then opened his mouth.

“Okay, senior.”

Seo Hee-jun’s eyes curved. Behind him, smiling brightly, it seemed as if he could see the cherry blossom tree in full bloom on April 2nd, its petals fluttering in the breeze.

____________

Seo Hee-jun stopped at the front door and turned to look at me. I stepped away from him, waiting for him to open the door. Then, without avoiding the sudden approach, I faced him.

“How far do you plan to follow?”

I looked at him quietly and then answered.

“Wherever you go.”

“Are you saying you’ll follow me home?”

He nodded as if it was obvious. Seo Hee-jun’s eyes, which had been watching me, narrowed.

“When will you leave my house?”

At those words, I blinked slowly.

I was in a position where I couldn’t leave Seo Hee-jun’s side, and even if I were kicked out, I had nowhere else to go. In this situation, I had only one thing to say.

“I’m not going.”

Seo Hee-jun, who had been opening his mouth blankly, smiled awkwardly.

“Is that a joke too?”

“I think you’ve been mistaken all along. I don’t joke around.”

As he spoke, Seo Hee-jun nodded at the untouched password keypad. He readily understood the message, telling him to open the door, and his fingertips trembled.

Soon, Seo Hee-jun grabbed his hand, which was about to move without him realizing it.

“Senior, do you know something is very suspicious right now?”

He wouldn’t even tell me his name, and he was barging into someone else’s house. He was muttering or lamenting, but I couldn’t tell if he was grumbling or complaining, so Seo Hee-jun emphasized it as if he was hammering a nail into his head.

“If it were anyone else, they would have abandoned you and run away a long time ago.”

Seo Hee-jun kept his mouth shut, as if waiting for my answer. Without hesitation, I calmly opened my mouth.

“That’s why I dragged you here without letting you go.”

“It wasn’t that my senior dragged me here, it was that I was dragged here by my senior.”

“Anyway.”

I felt Seo Hee-jun’s weary gaze pierce me. After a moment of hesitation, this time instead of refuting him, I offered a brief thank you.

“Okay, thanks.”

‘If it had been anyone other than Seo Hee-jun, it would have been reported a long time ago.’

A person whose face I couldn’t even remember acted as if he had known me for a long time, and when I asked his name, he introduced me as a word that no one could tell was a name.

He followed me around, preventing me from looking at other women, and on top of that, he even knew where my house was, so I had nothing to say even if he reported me as a stalker.

But there was a reason why I was so shamelessly standing in front of Seo Hee-jun and treating him without any intention of hiding the suspicious circumstances.

‘Because Seo Hee-jun is a stupid and weak person.’

There was no need to act. Seo Hee-jun was the kind of person who could let down anyone’s guard with just a few words, no matter how unfamiliar they were.

He was that stupid and naive. He was so weak-hearted that he couldn’t even leave my side if I pretended to be even slightly sick.

I had no intention of criticizing Seo Hee-jun’s personality. I simply had a pointless curiosity: was it really a virtue of a male protagonist to act so foolishly like that ?

‘That’s why I have to stick by Seo Hee-jun’s side even more.’

How could I not be worried when Seo Hee-jun, who was showing such affection even to me, whom I was meeting for the first time today, was so kind? I never knew when he’d turn his attention to a woman other than the female lead, or end up in an accident and hospitalized.

Seo Hee-jun, who had been staring at me for a while, sighed as if he had lost.