Main Character

Chapter 3

My family sat before me at the table, faces filled with disappointment. "Did you not sleep the entire night?" said my mom in an uptight tone. "I know! I almost thought she was those dudes from Train to Busan," my stepbrother laughed as he took a sip of his water. I stared at my toast sitting before me with no answer. The only thing that'd ring in my head was the drama. It was like I couldn't live without watching it.
My stepbrother leaned closer and mumbled, "you're already ugly, but you didn't have to make yourself uglier."
"Why did you give her that tape for goodness sake?" my mother whacked the back of my stepbrother's head and gave a look of displeasure. Oblivious to everything going on around me, I continued to stare at the toast on my plate as if it grew out its own legs and began breakdancing. "It's not my fault," my stepbrother remarked, "it's better to give a gift than none at all." "Of all the things, Joon-Jae, of all the things!"
"Leave him be. Just take the tape away if it becomes troublesome," my father took a sip of his coffee and returned to his newspaper. My mother sighed, "alright. Do you understand that, Eun-Hee?" I broke contact with the toast to look up at my mother who was eyeing me with a look of concern. I slowly nod, just before I fell straight asleep on the chair. My stepbrother chuckled, "now that's Eun-Hee."

I woke back up inside a transit bus filled with students and business workers. As a bus stop arrives, I pull the earphones out of my ears when I notice an oddly familiar girl entering the bus. She had eyes the colour of ebony, and hair so dark and silky like a piece of dark chocolate. Her beauty stunned me, to the point where it was hard to believe one like her isn't a recognizable celebrity.

The bus ran down the road, bouncing and stopping at bus stops on the way. Until the bus stopped at a school, and all of the students on the bus left, including the familiar girl and I.

I kept an eye on her on our way to class. She must've been a student at our school, but despite her familiarity, I didn't recognize her as one.

"Hello!" Min-Seo abruptly wraps her arm around my shoulder, which nearly sent me a heart attack. "You didn't wait for me at home so I'm sad. But gladly, we still met here!" she grinned.

"Yeah..." I chuckled a bit, then returned to eyeing the girl. Min-Seo noticed my out-of-place character, "are you okay? What are you thinking of?"

I shook my head as a response, "nothing. Anyways, let's go to class now."

We entered the class, as usual, unpacking our bags and switching our shoes. Once everyone has settled in at their desks, the teacher walked into the classroom along with that same girl. As I expected, she was a new student, so she greeted us with an introduction.

"Hello, I'm Han So-Hyun. I've lived in Incheon during my childhood but just recently moved to Anyang. I hope we can all work well together!"

Then, it struck me. Images of the drama flit through my head.

"Alright, Han So-Hyun! Sit at the desk beside Eun-Hee, please," said the teacher as So-Hyun worked her way to the desk beside me then unpacked her bag.

There is no way an actor just walked in the classroom so casually. I snuck a piece of paper to her desk and demanded an autograph. "What? I'm not even a celebrity," she whispered and handed the paper back to me.

Still, I handed back the paper and demanded again. "I saw you in the Korean drama called Main Character!"

She looked at me as if I had eight legs and a hundred eyes. She looked at me as if I had a bunch of snakes on my head like Medusa.

I was left puzzled by her expression the moment she put the paper back on my desk.

"I know you may think I'm an actor because I'm so beautiful, but I was never in a Korean drama. I think you're mistaking me for someone else. Thank you, though." 

There is no way two people could look so identical unless they're twins. But, the fact that she said the same line and had the same name left me thinking, "if you're not an actor, then who are you?"