SCARS | MINSUNG

《O3.

When Minho opened his eyes, he found himself standing outside, and the stand had disappeared. He reached for his phone in his pocket, but something was off.

"Huh? Nani?" he heard familiar muttering, feeling a sudden sense of confusion.

He turned his head to the left because a voice sounded familiar, and what he saw absolutely terrified him. He saw himself standing next to him.

"Why am I there?!" Minho exclaimed in fear.

The other Minho looked equally terrified and began pointing at Minho himself.

Both of them opened the camera on their phones and started to panic even more. "Why do I look like YOU!" they both exclaimed.

The other Minho looked at Minho's phone and was equally horrified. They quickly exchanged phones and went to their translation apps.

"Why do I look like you?" Minho asked.

"Why do I look like you?!" Jisung added.

"This is not good... what are we going to do?!" Minho was panicking, looking around for any sign of the old lady who had caused this.

Now, Minho was in Jisung's body, and Jisung was in Minho's body.

"Let's ask the internet if this ridiculous thing has happened to someone else... by any chance..." Minho said, feeling hopeless and confused. He didn't know what to do. The situation felt surreal.

"Nothing... obviously... who would've thought that body-switching is a real thing," he said sarcastically.

"Minho, all we can do now is make me learn Korean so that we can talk all of this through. I don't know what just happened, but if this is how we're going to live for now, we need to accept it and learn how to live with this," Jisung typed.

"Of course. Me being mad isn't helping anything... let's go home," Minho said.

Back at home, Minho was hopelessly trying to think of a solution. "Looking at myself feels weird," he muttered to himself as he watched Jisung sitting on the couch.

Jisung, on the other hand, had already started learning Korean on his own.

"I can't watch myself..." Minho turned around and went into the kitchen.

He could hear Jisung trying to say something while learning Hangul.

Minho looked at him but found it strange to see himself instead. To be fair, he never enjoyed looking at himself, and the self-loathing emotions he felt when looking in the mirror were unbearable. Now, it felt like that very mirror had come to life, forcing him to see his own image everywhere.

"Jisung?" Minho caught the other's attention.

He pulled out his translator and typed something in. "Please... now that you're in my body... don't look at my body at all," Minho said.

Jisung tilted his head, not understanding the request. Minho felt saddened.

He walked closer to Jisung and gently grabbed his hand. Slowly, he pushed up his sleeve, revealing numerous scars on his arm.

Jisung looked up in disbelief.

Minho then pointed at Jisung's thighs and stomach, trying to convey that there were many more scars there.

Jisung understood what he meant and nodded.

Minho fixed Jisung's sleeve and got up. "I'm going to go shopping. Do you want to come with me?" Minho asked.

Jisung nodded happily.

As they walked, Jisung received nasty looks from a few older people on the street because of the piercings and tattoos he now sported in Minho's body.

On the other hand, Minho felt nervous being in Jisung's body, as if he had to take care of someone else's precious possession.

"We're here," Minho pointed at the store.

Inside, Jisung was surprised when someone hugged him from behind.

"Minho hyung! What are you doing here? You live quite far away from here," Minho heard someone talking behind him and recognized the voice.

"Hyunjin," Minho said, excited, but he only received a puzzled look from the other person.

"Excuse me... do we know each other?" Hyunjin said, looking confused.

"God... I would love to explain it to you, but I don't think you would believe me," Minho said.

"But I don't understand anything... hyung? Do you know this guy?" Hyunjin looked at Jisung, who stared at him in confusion.

"What's going on? Is this some joke?" Hyunjin asked.

"The truth is, our bodies were switched," Minho explained.

"Stop joking around," Hyunjin said, more seriously.

"We're not. The one you're hugging is Jisung, in fact. I am Minho," Minho clarified.

"How? Really?"

"Yeah. Some old woman did this to us and disappeared," Minho explained.

"Hm... let's go to my salon. We can talk things through there," Hyunjin suggested, as his salon was nearby.

"So... you're Jisung, and you're Minho," Hyunjin asked.

Jisung somewhat understood that, so he nodded.

"And you know Jisung, Minho?" Hyunjin asked.

"We've met today..." Minho said.

"How about you, Jisung?" Hyunjin asked.

"He can't speak Korean," Minho said.

"Really? Why did you befriend someone with whom you cannot communicate?" Hyunjin asked.

"He needs help. He doesn't have anyone who would help him find his father. His father is Korean, which is why he has a Korean name, but he can only speak Japanese," Minho explained.

"Ah... I understand now," Hyunjin said.

Hyunjin looked at Jisung and spoke. "Do you like living with Minho?"

That caught Jisung's attention. "I like it. It's comforting. Before, I was just alone," Jisung said.

"You can speak Japanese?" Minho asked, surprised.

"Yeah. The person teaching me how to tattoo was Japanese. I barely understood him, so I had to learn Japanese," Hyunjin explained.

"You're really talented..." Minho said, amazed.

"I can teach you," Hyunjin smirked. "But it's weird to flirt with someone I don't know," he teased.

"You'll have to get used to it," Minho said.

"Who am I going to tattoo now?" Hyunjin pondered aloud.