I threw the book at the rising pile of costumes.

“Die!”

Only after throwing the book did it occur to me that it might not be a ghost, but a giant rat or—I really hate to think it—a cockroach… but either way, it had to be exterminated!

“Ack! Ack! Ack!”

The pile of costumes skillfully dodged the attacks I was launching with everything I could get my hands on.

The pile of costumes grabbed both my wrists and pulled me towards it.

Losing my balance, I fell right on top of it.

I smashed my nose into a firm, solid human chest. The scent of fabric softener, like laundry dried crisply in the midsummer sun, hit me.

“Why do I suddenly have to die…”

The person holding me, supporting the back of my head and my back with large hands, spoke in a husky voice. With that whisper, the chest my cheek was pressed against vibrated lightly.

The voice was familiar.

“…Jeong Eunseong?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you doing here… I thought you were a ghost!”

“What’s the point in telling a ghost to die? It’s already dead.”

“Right…”

“Get up, for starters. I can’t breathe.”

“Ah. Okay.”

Sorry. I apologized and quickly scrambled to my feet. In the process of steadying myself, I had no choice but to press my palm against Jeong Eunseong’s torso.

Ah. This is a bit awkward.

As I fumbled, Jeong Eunseong spoke indifferently.

“Just push off.”

“…Sorry.”

I apologized again as I placed my hand on his flat lower abdomen.

Only after I got off him did Jeong Eunseong pull off the blue dragon robe he had been sleeping under and the apron that had been resting on his head.

He ran a hand through his bedhead once and then asked me.

“What are you doing here?”

“Me… to write a book report. What are you doing here, Jeong Eunseong?”

What time was it? Shouldn’t he have been home or at his company long ago?

Jeong Eunseong hesitated at my question.

“You told me to read the materials.”

“The materials?”

“For the drama club.”

“Ah.”

But he just had to do that before club time this Friday.

“I might not be able to come to school on Friday. There’s a company event that day.”

“Does that company really stop a minor from going to school? It’s not like they’re going to take responsibility for his whole life.”

After I said it, I regretted it, thinking it sounded like I was carelessly disparaging someone else’s agency, but Jeong Eunseong was unfazed.

“Anyway.”

So he was trying to read it all today…

“Then why were you sleeping there?”

“What am I supposed to do if I get sleepy when I read a book?”

Jeong Eunseong replied curtly and began to tidy up the scattered costumes around him.

As you’d expect from someone who was dead to the world, his hair was a mess and his expression was languid. The skin revealed beneath the rolled-up sleeves of his school uniform looked warm.

I saw the printouts pinned beneath him. About half the pages of the neatly bound document Jisu had prepared were turned.

“It’s all old-fashioned language, so I have no idea what it means.”

Jeong Eunseong grumbled, following my gaze.

For someone who says that, you’ve read a lot.

I felt bad for the hardworking Jeong Eunseong, but now it was time to deliver the bad news.

I spoke to him as he was smoothing out the crumpled pages he had been sleeping on.

“We’re locked in.”

“What did you say?”

“I said we’re locked in. Song Yeoreum locked the door from the outside and ran off.”

“Song Yeoreum?”

“The girl I fought with in the cafeteria the other day.”

Still, it was a relief that Jeong Eunseong happened to be here.

Why?

Because even if I didn’t have my phone, surely Jeong Eunseong would have his.

“Jeong Eunseong, you have your phone, right? Mine’s in my locker. Can you use yours to call the teachers’ office and ask them to open the…”

“I don’t have my phone.”

“…Why!”

“One of the girls in the debut lineup got caught dating, so the company confiscated all the trainees’ phones. They said they’d check our messages and Chasebook and give them back on Friday.”

“You’re kidding me!”

Even if they were trainees under the same company, wasn’t it a violation of privacy to just take and rummage through someone’s phone? No, that was a secondary issue…

“Then what do we do?!”

“What do you mean, what do we do? If we wait a bit, the janitor from the administration office will come on his rounds and open the door.”

“The janitor already went home… It’s past 7.”

“…What?”

“He already came and went earlier while you were buried over there. He told me he’d leave the padlock on and that I should return the key to the teacher on duty when I go home… but Song Yeoreum locked it and ran off with it.”

“……”

“……”

“Then the teacher on duty will open it for us.”

“I doubt it… The teacher will probably just do their work in the office. I don’t think they’d go on a horror experience, wandering down a dark hallway.”

“This is crazy!”

It seemed Jeong Eunseong had finally grasped the severity of the situation.

After alternately glancing at the clock on the wall, the door that just rattled without opening no matter how hard he pulled, and the flowerbed below the window (for the record, this is the second floor), Jeong Eunseong stomped his foot in frustration.

His angry gaze turned to me.

“Why don’t you carry your phone! Don’t you know how dangerous the world is these days!”

“You weren’t carrying yours either…”

“Mine was taken away!”

“???”

Is there a difference?

“It’s a good thing Song Gyeoul just locked the door and left! What would you have done if she’d come in and tried to hurt you?! There are so many weird people in the world these days, how can you be so reckless as to leave your phone behind?!”

“You should keep it on you at all times! And set it up so that one press of a button connects to 112!” Jeong Eunseong fumed.

Unbelievable. He was lecturing me after meekly handing over his oh-so-important phone to his company. I got angry too.

“As a girl, I know better than anyone how many weird people there are in the world! And it’s Song Yeoreum!”

Not Song Gyeoul!

“Who cares! What are we going to do now!”

“I don’t know!”

“Try opening the window and yelling or something! So they can hear you in the teachers’ office!”

“You should be the one yelling, Jeong Eunseong!”

“Why me!”

“Low-pitched sounds travel further!”

“How do you know that!”

“How do you not know! We learned it in science class!”

“I was sleeping!”

“Something to be proud of!”

“I’m sorry!”

“If you’re sorry, then hurry up and open the window and yell!”

“Science! Science!”

Jeong Eunseong slid the window open and launched a yell outside.

Caw… caw…

It was a powerful volume that made it instantly clear why he was debuting as a main vocalist, but of course… there was no reaction from outside.

Jeong Eunseong’s ears slowly turned red.

I’m so embarrassed too…

I timidly offered a suggestion.

“Should I yell with you?”

“Is your voice loud?”

“No. I have a glass throat.”

“Then never mind.”

Jeong Eunseong replied sullenly and closed the window. He sat down in a chair without another word and picked up the materials he had been sleeping on.

Now that I think about it, I feel a little bad.

After all, because of me, he had diligently read the materials (even if he fell asleep doing it), and it wasn’t like he wanted his phone to be taken away. He was trapped here because of me.

I spoke awkwardly.

“Don’t worry too much.”

“What?”

“I mean… don’t worry too much. Eventually, someone will see the light on in the clubroom and come to turn it off, and if all else fails, my mom will come looking for me when she gets home and finds I’m not there.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.”

There, Jeong Eunseong’s words cut off abruptly. What? I blinked in confusion and offered another suggestion.

“…If you’re bored, want to listen to some music?”

“How are we supposed to listen to music without a phone?”

“Ah. Right.”

“Forget it. I don’t really like music.”

“What kind of aspiring singer doesn’t like music…”

And then, for a while, silence.

There was nothing more to say, and I wasn’t that close to Jeong Eunseong anyway. It seemed better to save my energy than to open my mouth for no reason.

While I was thinking this, the sun had completely set.

The air grew chilly.

It’s definitely gotten cold now that it’s evening.

Maybe I should cover myself with the crown prince’s costume that Jeong Eunseong was sleeping under. I wrapped my arms around myself at the thought.

Glancing at me as I huddled, Jeong Eunseong asked.

“Are you cold?”

“Yeah.”

“……”

“It would’ve been better if our clubroom was on the 6th floor or so. Instead of this awkward second floor.”

“Why?”

“Warm air rises, right? It’s warmer than the air below.”

“Did you learn that in science class too?”

“Yeah.”

Jeong Eunseong looked like he was hearing it for the first time.

“Why? Because it’s closer to the sun?”

“I forgot the reason. You can study up and tell me.”

I replied noncommittally and opened my book again. I was checking the book report draft I had written for any grammatical errors when…

Something was gently placed on my shoulder.

Jeong Eunseong, having taken off his school uniform sweater and draped it over my shoulders, quickly turned his head, avoiding my gaze. He muttered.

“You said you were cold.”

“……”

“I’m fine because I’m tall. The air is warmer up here.”

“……”

“I passed 180 cm yesterday.”