Chapter 9 : In Your Skin

“Why are you acting like this?”

“Why are you acting like this?”

“Get a grip, Shin Sekyeom.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Why am I Shin Sekyeom?”

“…What?”

“Come to think of it, I don’t see Sekyeom.”

“Is he okay?”

“Where is he now?”

Jihan, belatedly recalling what happened inside the monster’s stomach, urgently looked around.

Shin Jinho stared silently at the rapidly turning head, his jaw dropping lower and lower until his mouth hung open.

“Why are you being like this, it’s creepy!”

“Have you finally gone mad?”

“Guild Leader, why do you keep doing this?”

“Do you know me?”

“How could I not know you, you pain-in-the-neck nephew!”

Why did the word “nephew,” among the angry shouts, sound particularly like an insult?

Seeing the Guild Leader acting like a madman, Jihan recoiled and eyed him up and down with a wary expression.

“The Guild Leader’s nephew is Shin Sekyeom.”

“…You’re not sick, are you?”

“You must be the sick one!”

“No, this is driving me crazy!”

“You, I’m going to call a doctor, so stay right here and don’t move!”

Panicked, Shin Jinho rushed out of the hospital room, apparently forgetting he could just press the nurse call button.

Jihan watched his retreating back as he left the door open, clicking his tongue, 

“He seems quite unwell.”

“Grabbing anyone and calling them nephew.”

“Is it a problem with his head?”

Jihan gently rotated his shoulders, which felt strangely stiff, clicked his tongue softly again, and got out of bed.

At least he felt better than when he first woke up, enough to move around.

As he slowly stood up, Jihan paused after a moment, tilting his head quizzically.

He felt a sense of dissonance.

“Why does my eye level feel somewhat…”

His gaze, now significantly higher than usual, slowly scanned the room as Jihan rubbed his stomach with his hand.

The hard abs he felt beneath his palm were a texture utterly unfamiliar to him.

“What is this?”

A sudden unease began to creep in.

The corners of his eyebrows drooped, and the ends of his lips turned down sullenly.

Like someone trying to gauge the situation, Jihan peered around the hospital room before tiptoeing towards the door.

For some reason, he felt he needed to find Sekyeom to dispel this sense of unease.

Just as he was passing the bathroom door for that purpose, Jihan easily spotted Sekyeom.

“Huh?”

Jihan, who had raised a finger towards the person he was looking for, froze stiff.

Then, he touched his own face with the raised hand.

Sekyeom, reflected in the mirror, also touched his own face with a bewildered expression.

“Huh?”

Feeling his cognitive abilities plummeting in the face of this surreal situation, Jihan entered the bathroom.

As his staggering steps landed on the tiled floor, a chilling sensation spread through the soles of his bare feet.

Glancing down once at his bare feet, Jihan raised his head again to look forward.

Sekyeom stood opposite him, wearing a vacant expression Jihan had never seen before.

‘Wow, he can even make such a dumb-looking face.’

Just as Jihan tilted his head, wondering about this, Sekyeom in the mirror tilted his head as if mimicking him.

In that instant, goosebumps rose all over his body, and a shudder ran through him.

“…Why do I have Shin Sekyeom’s face?”

The mirror only reflected Sekyeom’s utterly bewildered appearance.

His wide eyes, slightly parted lips as if in disbelief, and the long eyelashes that trembled faintly with each rapid blink perfectly conveyed his

feelings about this incomprehensible situation.

“No, no, this…”

Repeating “no” like someone who knew no other word, Jihan checked not only his face but also his shoulders, chest, abdomen, and thighs,

confirming his body.

Then, his face grew serious as he looked down at his feet before hastily running out of the bathroom.

He was in such a hurry that he stumbled and almost fell, but Jihan quickly regained his balance.

His muscles moved with an elasticity different from usual, making such a movement seem trivial.

“No, that can’t be right.”

“Does this make sense?”

“It doesn’t make sense…”

His deathly pale lips trembled as he muttered to himself.

Emerging dazedly from the hospital room, Jihan didn’t know where to go and just looked around frantically.

Then, his gaze happened to fall on the door opposite him.

[VIP: Yoon Jihan Nim]

Spotting the familiar name on the nameplate hanging on the hospital room door, Jihan swallowed dryly.

He had definitely come out of the room behind him, so why was his name written on the door of the room opposite?

With the feeling of delivering a coup de grâce, Jihan checked the door of the room he had just exited.

[VIP: Nim]

The nameplate on the door he had actually come out of had the name section blank.

As if hiding the name because it belonged to a true VIP.

His body trembled as if set to vibrate mode.

His pale complexion went beyond pallor, turning bluish.

Wanting to rub his eyes in disbelief, Jihan’s hand twitched.

“Could it be…”

As if struck by some realization, an unbelievable hypothesis flashed through his mind like lightning.

He vaguely remembered thinking, close to resentment, just before losing consciousness, that if things were going to be like this, he should

have manifested as an Esper.

Of course, that didn’t mean he wanted to become Shin Sekyeom.

“…Is this a dream?”

With a desperate wish to wake up from the dream, Jihan raised both hands and slapped his cheeks.

Slap.

His hand strength was surprisingly good; an unbelievably loud sound echoed from the spot he struck.

However, the pain was minimal.

It was a sound that would normally make his cheeks burn, yet it didn’t hurt at all.

But the sensation of his palms against his cheeks, the sound echoing down the hospital corridor, and the scent of alcohol tickling his nose felt

too real to dismiss as a dream.

“Wow, this is crazy.”

“This… is reality?”

Stammering, Jihan turned his gaze back to the hospital room door.

His name was still written there.

And if Jihan’s hypothesis was correct, Sekyeom should be in there.

With a trembling heart, Jihan grasped the handle of the opposite hospital room door.

He turned the handle very slowly.

Taking a deep breath before opening the door, Jihan steadied himself for a moment, then, making up his mind, quickly burst inside.

An unbelievable sight unfolded before his eyes.

“…Shin Sekyeom?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“Why are you… Why do you have my face?”

Sekyeom, who had been leaning comfortably against the bed, looked briefly startled before closing his mouth with a serious expression.

It seemed Sekyeom, too, had already assessed the situation and maintained a calm demeanor.

However, Jihan, still disoriented, stared at Sekyeom with bewildered eyes.

The frail body visible beneath the loose patient gown was his own, one he had been familiar with for 26 years.

That face, contorted with seriousness, that low voice murmuring “Hmm,” even those slender fingers cupping the chin in thought—everything!

Everything was his!

“Th-Why are you in my body… Aaaargh!”

Jihan, who had stepped forward to question this utterly absurd situation, suddenly screamed.

Overwhelmed by the horrific pain engulfing his entire body, Jihan couldn’t help but collapse.

Kneeling on the floor, clutching his chest, Jihan gasped for breath.

It wasn’t a specific part that hurt; his entire body felt like it was submerged in ice water, the flesh aching.

His head throbbed as if pierced by an awl, and his heart pounded so hard his chest hurt.

Struggling amidst the unfamiliar pain, Jihan managed to lift his head.

His eyes rolled slowly, searching for someone who could explain this inexplicable pain emanating from the strange body.

Meeting those faintly trembling, pitiful eyes, Sekyeom frowned.

He knew exactly why Jihan was acting like this.

Silently gazing at his own body, which had begun to tremble pitifully, Sekyeom rose from his seat and approached Jihan.

He ran a hand down Jihan’s trembling back and let out a long sigh.

Somehow sensing something ominous in that sigh, Jihan forced his mouth open.

“Wh-What’s wrong with this body?”

“Do you have some kind of illness?”

“…It’s not an illness.”

“If it’s not an illness, how can it hurt this much?”

As if unable to comprehend why he had to endure such pain, Jihan gasped continuously with an aggrieved expression.

But no matter how much he argued, there was only one thing Sekyeom could tell him.

“Side effects from guiding deficiency.”

“…What?”

“That, it’s pain caused by lack of guiding.”

His face frozen, forgetting even the pain, Jihan stared blankly up at Sekyeom—or rather, at Sekyeom inhabiting his own body.

He felt as if all the blood was draining from his body.

He had heard about Sekyeom’s guiding deficiency from his mother, but he never imagined he would experience it firsthand like this.

Especially not as a Guide, rather than an Esper.

“Crazy…”

A curse escaped his lips softly.

He felt cold sweat trickling down his back.

After floundering in despair for a long moment, Jihan suddenly realized one thing.

Unless their bodies returned to normal, this pain was now his to bear.

Which meant he was in a situation as unlucky as stepping in poop while walking down the street.

“Sekyeom-ah!”

From a distance, Shin Jinho, accompanied by a doctor, came running, calling Sekyeom’s name.

But could a doctor solve this?

Unless they could surgically transplant souls back, a doctor was currently useless.

Thus, although it was utterly unbelievable, Jihan had no choice but to accept it.

The fact that his and Sekyeom’s bodies had swapped.