Banho (likely a place name)

Tenth grade was a year of unfulfilled hopes and dozens of "no's" for Bang Chan. In the heat of hallway recess and the silence after classes, he, clumsy, overweight, and perpetually blushing with embarrassment, stubbornly pursued the perfect Lee Minho. Minho was everyone's sun: sharp cheekbones, icy calm, and a gaze that made girls sigh. Chan, on the other hand, seemed like a comical shadow of that sun—too soft and too big to even hope for reciprocity.

Minho wasn't cruel. He didn't laugh openly. Every time he turned away from Chan, he'd only say briefly, "You're not my type," and his gaze would slide past him, as if through empty space. For Chan, this icy calm was worse than any mockery.

May greeted him with the scent of cherry blossoms and the sound of last-minute bells. Exhausted by constant rejections, Chan stood by the school window and watched Minho cross the stadium—light, lean, and untouchable. It was at that moment, filled with despair and anger at himself, that he made a decision that changed everything.

"I'll erase my former self," he promised the silence. "By September first, he won't even recognize me."

Over the three summer months, Bang Chan planned to do more than just lose weight. He planned to destroy his old self and rise from the ashes like a phoenix—with a six-pack, a new hairstyle, and a cold glint in his eyes. So that next term they could switch places. So that Lee Minho would finally understand who he'd been rejecting.