Ch.10I’ll be watching a movie with you this weekend (4)

“Ka-ra-o-ke! Let’s just have a little fun before we go! Doyoung, are you abandoning me too? You used to be the one who always suggested going first!”

“That was then, and this is now…! I’ve been reborn!”

“Ka-ra-o-keee! I have a disease where I’ll die if I can’t go to karaoke right now!”

“Fine, fine! We’ll go together, okay?”

After parting ways with Do Hamin and Hyerang,

I had planned to go straight home, but succumbing to Sahyang’s threats, I headed to a newly opened karaoke place.

“Hehe, Doyoung, what are you going to sing?”

“I’ll pass. I don’t really know many songs anyway.”

While Ban Doyoung in “Half of Half-do” seems to quite enjoy karaoke,

the real-world middle-aged man currently inhabiting Ban Doyoung’s body did not.

I used to go frequently back in my high-pitched school days,

but as I got older, I naturally became reluctant to go.

It also became awkward to coordinate schedules with friends.

After getting a job, it wasn’t that I couldn’t go—I came to hate it.

For a corporate slave like me, karaoke wasn’t a place to simply enjoy singing,

but merely an extension of company dinners.

Singing a few trot songs to please the boss,

and enthusiastically shaking tambourines during times I wasn’t singing,

it was no longer a place I could go to for enjoyment.

“Well, then let’s start with something light like ‘Worry Addiction’? Let’s sing it together.”

“I can’t sing girl group songs. They’re too high for me.”

“What are you talking about? You’ve always sung them well!”

But how could this bright-eyed girl understand the pain of a middle-aged man?

Sahyang ignored my objections, forcibly handed me a microphone, and started booking a list of girl group songs.

“Okay, we’ll start together, and you’ll take the highlight part, Doyoung?”

“If you picked it, you should sing it all the way through!”

“Here it comes, one! Two!”

“Cue! Thrill! E! R! Got it!”

Sahyang, whose tension had risen on her own, began enthusiastically singing the intro.

It was a familiar song that I’d heard often.

But if asked to sing it, I wasn’t confident.

“Okay, Doyoung, your part’s coming up, soon!”

Singing girl group songs at original pitch in a karaoke room

was something I hadn’t done since going to karaoke with friends after drinking in college.

“Pouring down… huh?”

“What’s wrong? You were singing well just now.”

For a moment, I was startled by my own voice and stared at the microphone.

“What the heck, why am I singing so well?”

My voice landed precisely on the melody played by the accompaniment.

Like hitting notes drawn on sheet music, the clear and lively sound came out distinctly without wavering.

It was a sensation I had never experienced before in my life.

“You always sing well, why are you acting surprised? Hurry up and keep singing!”

“Oh, right.”

I was a virgin now.

“This is amazing! The power of the Virgin-Virgin Fruit!”

“What? What did you just say?”

“I like you so much so much-♪!”

According to the setting, Ban Doyoung seems to have quite a talent for singing.

Even at the entrance ceremony, she captivated the attention of the entire school with just her vocalization, so perhaps it’s not such an absurd setting.

“Hey? Doyoung, I’m supposed to sing the second verse?”

“Every day I worried and practiced-♪!”

Carried away by the ideal high note I had just hit, I unconsciously stole Sahyang’s part and finished the song with passionate singing.

“Next, next, can I sing Moon Tak hyung’s song?”

“Take… take me home. Doyoung… it’s been four hours already. We were only supposed to hang out for about an hour… I’m out of money too.”

My first visit to a karaoke room in a woman’s body was a whole new world for me.

Sahyang and I were only able to leave that world after our pocket money had hit rock bottom.

Since you can sing four songs for just 1,000 won,

it didn’t feel like we spent much, but time flew by quickly.

“Well, get home safely, Doyoung.”

“Bye! Let’s go to karaoke with Hyerang again tomorrow!”

“No way!”

Hmm. Maybe I should bring Do Hamin along.

…

Long after dinner time,

when the night had grown dark, I returned to our home.

I would have to get used to calling Ban Doyoung’s house “our home” for a while.

“I’m home, Dad.”

“Oh, welcome back. You’re a bit late.”

I also had to get used to calling

Ban Doche, the master of our Ban family’s Kumdo dojo, “Dad.”

“Were you hanging out with Sahyang and Hyerang?”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“You three are always together. It would be stranger if I didn’t know.”

I thought he was a father who raised his daughter with indifference and toughness,

but surprisingly, he knew his daughter’s friends’ names and daily routines accurately.

While it might be expected of a mother, not many fathers know the names of several of their child’s friends.

He definitely didn’t seem like the type of father who had no interest in his child.

“Have you eaten?”

“Yeah, I ate something quick near the station with Sahyang.”

“That same old malatang, tanghulu, spicy rice cakes, and fat macarons again?”

“Ugh, what’s that?”

“That’s what you eat every time you meet Sahyang and Hyerang. You said your stomach only feels full after having a chocolate pistachio bubble tea for dessert.”

Just hearing those menu items made my stomach churn.

So high school girls these days eat all that at once.

“No, I just had some sundae soup. The one below the station.”

“Hmm… I see. Huh? Wait, Doyoung, since when do you eat things like sundae soup?”

“Hiccup.”

It seems the original Ban Doyoung in the setting didn’t eat foods like sundae.

She must only eat pretty things to match her pretty face.

“You refused to go with me last time.”

“I, I tried it with Sahyang recently and it was pretty good.”

“Right, it’s all about trying new things. Next time, let’s go together. I’ll teach you how to eat it deliciously.”

“Don’t add radish kimchi juice.”

“Eek?”

As expected.

“I’m going up to my room first.”

“Okay, wash up and go to bed. Don’t oversleep like this morning from staying up too late.”

“I’m too tired for that.”

As Dad said, I tossed my uniform onto the bed,

and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.

“Phew…!”

If I’m going to shower, undressing is unavoidable.

Even if I somehow managed to shower in my underwear, I’d still have to face my naked body when changing.

Seeing Ban Doyoung’s bare chest.

It was a fate I absolutely could not avoid.

*clap clap clap*

Standing in front of the mirror, I couldn’t help but give a standing ovation to Ban Doyoung’s appearance.

Since there was nothing to “stand up” down there, a standing ovation came out instead.

Ban Doyoung’s body was amazing.

Since this is an all-ages webtoon, it couldn’t describe a growing high schooler’s body in detail, but anyway, it was just amazing.

The fact that there was still room for growth was truly frightening.

“Excellent, Sister Ban Doyoung.”

“Stop talking nonsense and get out if you’re done washing, Dad needs to shower too.”

“Yes.”

After cleansing Ban Doyoung’s body,

I lay down on the bed where I had first awakened.

“Phew….”

White steam rising from my freshly showered body.

If I covered myself with the blanket and lay down like this, I felt like I wouldn’t wake up until morning.

“It’s 10 o’clock… a bit awkward.”

I checked the time on my phone.

There were still about two hours left until the end of the day.

This time is really awkward.

It feels like I’m wasting the day if I just fall asleep,

but I didn’t want to move my body after just finishing a shower.

“Ah, right. That Hamin guy. I wonder if he got home safely.”

His house is far away.

Since today was the first day of school, he might not be familiar with the route yet.

Did he get home safely?

Sending a simple text message like that should be fine.

It’s just common courtesy.

“Do… Do… Wait.”

Scrolling through the contacts saved in my messenger, I realized something.

I never got the contact information of the most important person, Hamin.

“Ban Doyoung, you blockhead.”

Ah, if I were a decent modern person like Ban Doyoung, I would have exchanged business cards and contact information right away.

This girl who doesn’t put textbooks in her bag as instructed, but carries cosmetics and a secondhand tumbler instead, didn’t even ask for his contact information.

“No, this is Hamin’s fault.”

Would the school’s top beauty, an insider heroine who’s been called the school goddess since middle school, suddenly ask for the number of a nerd she just met sitting next to her?

That would be a dangerous action that could shake the foundations of the world.

I faithfully fulfilled my role.

It’s the fault of that Hamin guy who dared to sit next to me and didn’t ask for my number.

“Whatever. I’ll ask him tomorrow.”

Hamin is the protagonist of this webtoon world.

Even if I don’t know if he’s alive for a day, he’s not going to die, right?

It shouldn’t be a problem,

I closed the messenger and continued browsing my phone.

Hoping to learn a bit more about Ban Doyoung’s past,

I decided to look at the gallery where photos were stored.

“Oh, Marihwana.”

Do Hamin’s beloved novel that I took a picture of this morning.

My eyes met the illustration of [Magical Girl Marina★Hwarina].

“So he likes this type of girl.”

…

“Maybe I’ll read just one.”

It wouldn’t hurt to have some common ground to talk about with Hamin.

With such a casual mindset, I searched for the novel online.

The price wasn’t much, surprisingly.

It had been out for a while and had already been adapted into an anime,

and there was some event going on recently with discounts, so I could buy the e-book for much cheaper.

“I hope I don’t suddenly get transported into a magical girl world while reading this? Nah, that can’t happen.”

A somewhat savage joke born from experience.

But thinking “no way that would happen,” I scrolled through [Marihwana].

**

Just past 7 o’clock in the early morning.

Hamin arrived at school at the same time as yesterday and unpacked his bag.

“Ah, I shouldn’t put it here.”

Suddenly, as Hamin was about to place his bag on the adjacent seat like yesterday, he seemed to realize something and hung his bag on the left desk.

Now, instead of a bag, there was a rightful owner who would sit next to him.

*CLANK!*

No sooner had he thought this than the back door of the classroom shook violently.

Hamin didn’t turn around, but somehow he felt he knew who had burst through that door.

“Haa… Haa….”

Just as Hamin had expected.

The one who opened the classroom door was Doyoung, who sat next to him.

“Huff… Hey, you bastard!”

Doyoung approached Hamin’s side faster than yesterday,

and with rougher breathing.

“Eek…! What, what’s wrong?”

In Hamin’s eyes, Doyoung had darker circles under her eyes than yesterday.

As if she hadn’t slept a wink.

“Huff… I thought this would be the time you’d come to school, so I rushed over.”

“Umm…?”

“Damn, were you enjoying something that fun all by yourself?”

“What, what are you talking about?”

Hamin was shaken back and forth as Doyoung grabbed his shoulders, not understanding what was happening.

“Never mind, just hurry up and put it in here.”

“Put what…?”

“Your phone number. Dude.”

Doyoung held out her smartphone toward Hamin.

Only then did Hamin remember.

That he hadn’t exchanged phone numbers with Doyoung.

Exchanging numbers with a girl.

It was a first for Hamin.

“Ah… phone number. But why so suddenly?”

“Because I’m going to see a movie with you this weekend.”

“Huh?”

Doyoung raised her phone and opened the theater site she had been looking at.

[Magical Girl Marina★Hwarina Movie / The Story of the Coup]

[Opening This Week!]

“Are you free this weekend?”

“Well, that’s…”

“Make yourself free even if you’re not. I’m definitely watching this this week.”

Do Hamin, age 16.

It was the first date invitation he had received in his life.