Inso's Law (Chapter 311-340)

Chapter 311: Chapter 311
Sinking his head on his chest, Lucas continued, “I’d be lying if I didn’t care about the successor position;
however, I didn’t want to fight with you more than that.”
“Then…”
“If you didn’t want to become the successor, you could have just surrendered at the fight that was
supposed to take place the next day, but that wasn’t even allowed to you since you’re Yi Jenny’s only
son. Like a lion, she’s a person who can push her child over a cliff for training her kid to become
physically and mentally strong. Everyone knew that fact.”
While Ruda fastened her gaze at the floor in silence, Lucas heaved a sigh at a slow pace and spoke
further.
“However, I couldn’t declare surrender too. You would definitely get injured by fighting against other
kids after me. Thus, what I thought was…”
Yi Ruda, who remained silent until that moment, blurted a remark. His words were daunted like a paper
plane and dropped to the floor.
“Disqualify me for cheating.”
Lucas replied without hesitance, “Yeah.”
“…”
“I never had in mind that Yi Jenny would consider nastiness and cool-headedness as key requirements
for a successor. I thought she would place a premium, at least, on honesty. That was my mistake.”
Geez… Even I, who had nothing to do with this story, was listening to their conversations while holding
my breath. That suffocating story finished, at last. The truth of the case became clear in the end.
I recalled Yi Jenny’s confident attitude. She might have considered that Ruda would be cold as hell,
which was why Ruda was a perfect fit for her successor.
Just as what she had been thinking, cold-heartedness was one of Ruda’s strong natures; however, that
only applied to the people out of Ruda’s league.
With those thoughts in mind, I stared at Ruda’s face. She looked a little different now. Her face was
showing a sign of relief and slight resentment at the same time. Watching the look on her face, I
suddenly flung a question.
“Um… excuse me?”

“Huh?”
Lucas switched his gaze to me. Hesitating for a second, I asked, “Earlier, why didn’t you say anything
about this in front of Yi Jenny?”
With a shrug, Lucas replied nonchalantly, “Yi Jenny was aware that I was aiming at her successor
position. Thus, even if I reveal the truth now, she won’t be paying attention to it, will she?”
“Oh…”
“So, I tried to pretend that I was blaming her. That would make her trust me then.”
Speaking that way, Lucas turned his head to look at Ruda.
“… That I would betray Ruda.”
At that moment, Ruda, who was staring at Lucas with relief for quite a while, opened her lips that she bit
until just now.
She then jumped into him and took Lucas’ clothes off from his flank. I shoved my face onto my palms in
surprise while thinking, ‘What the heck is she doing although they are close?!’
Lucas was also struck dumb. He shouted in bewilderment, “What… what’s wrong with you?! I told you
I’m sorry!”
Regardless of Lucas’s cry out, Ruda pointed at his long scar around his flank and yelled, “How could you
stab yourself this deep, idiot?! You might have bled insanely!”
Well, even though ten years had passed from that incident, the scar across Lucas’ side and stomach still
looked very painful. It might have been worse a decade ago. In order to look persuasive upon Yi Jenny,
Lucas would have stabbed himself with all his soul and might.
Being slightly appalled at Ruda’s assumption, Lucas replied, “No, it was tolerable. Who do you think I
am? I was one of the front-runners among the successor candidates.”
“But that doesn’t mean it isn’t painful.”
What Ruda said while pulling Lucas’ clothes made me have a stiff heart.
Lucas, who pretended to make an excuse, stopped doing such a thing. Displaying a severe look on his
face, Lucas soon flaunted a smile. He then lifted his hand to pat Ruda’s head. Ruda didn’t avoid his hand.
Instead, she came closer to Lucas and buried her head on his shoulder.
Watching the two facing each other in that way, I thought, ‘I was told that the two were like close
brothers. That was true.’
No, Lucas was thinking Ruda more than just a little brother.
After a moment of realizing their brotherhoods, Ruda seemed to make up his mind once Lucas revealed
the truth of the incident, which happened a decade ago, and his intention.
Taking her head off from Lucas’ shoulder, Ruda turned her body immediately and asked, “Where should
we go? To the rooftop?”
Lucas also turned nonchalant again and replied in a clear voice, “Yeah. I was about to drive the
helicopter, but I heard from Donnie that you can also drive the chopper. Should I check out my little
brother’s driving skill then?”
Ruda frowned at Lucas’ naughty remark. She then turned around to look at me. Eh? Although I didn’t do
anything wrong, I flinched in astonishment.
I asked, “Why?”
“Heard from ‘Donnie…’ Is that what you just said?”
“… Oh, was it a secret that you can drive the helicopter?” I carefully asked Ruda. She shook her head and
directed her eyes back onto Lucas. What she spoke after with a grimace made me have a fit of coughing.
“When did you two become that close?”
Ay-yay-yay… Ever since I entered this building, urgent situations kept occurring that I forgot something
quite critical. I realized what it was just now.
The ‘heart-looter,’ it was the term that Lucas used to describe Ruda.
Perhaps Lucas and Ruda were more than just brothers or friends. I should have noticed it when Ruda
lifted Lucas’ clothes to check out the scar on his flank without the slightest compunction!
That was when Lucas waved his hand in the air and denied clearly, “Oh, that’s because I wasn’t used to
Korean culture. Are you jealous, Ru…”
“Stop that bullshit!” With an immediately reddened face, Ruda shrieked. She then turned her head and
read my countenance.
‘Come on, you don’t have to show concerns but just do whatever you want to do with Lucas…’ I
wondered quite a while whether I should drop these words or not.
Once I entered the world of web novel, I prepared for viewing a romantic sequence during an abduction
scene or escaping scene; besides, didn’t Lucas say that Ruda stole his heart?
“…”
However, now I had come to think of it, this story wasn’t an episode in ‘Tales of Zara.’ Thus, why would
Ruda loot his heart? Anyway, if that was what had been going between the two, what else I could do?
Turning my head as if nothing had happened, I heard Lucas’ words.
“Um, hold on. If we leave the room like this, we’re gonna get caught right away, so change into this
outfit. I did incapacitate the surveillance cameras, but the employees will still keep their eyes on us.”
“Huh?”
So, that was why Lucas had been typing something on his laptop earlier. Having that thought in my
head, I looked at what Lucas handed out to me. It was the uniform, which would probably belong to the
employees of this building.
The clothes were sealed inside a compression bag like wrapped meats. There wasn’t anything sharp
inside the room, so we used our teeth to barely take the clothes out from the pack.
Lucas said to me, “We’re gonna change our clothes here, so you can go use the bathroom.”
“Um, okay.”
I thought he was considerate about my gender; however, I soon felt something weird. Squinting my
eyes, I turned my head back again and met Ruda’s eyes. She blinked swiftly in wonder and asked me,
“Why?”
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As if something flashed through her head, Ruda’s neck turned red. Shaking her head, she uttered, “No, I
will never ever look at you. I promise I won’t peep into the bathroom.”
“Um, that’s not what I was thinking at all…”
“Not even through the keyhole…”
Oh, lord. What was he thinking about me? Apart from my trust in Ruda, why would she peek at me?
I just wondered why Yi Ruda wasn’t following me to the bathroom. Was she so close to Lucas that they
didn’t care about changing clothes together? If that was the reason, there would be no problem.
Rambling such thoughts, I bent my steps toward the bathroom.
Inside the bathroom decorated with purple tiles and gold adornments, there was something
manipulative like a film set of a thriller movie; however, it still looked cool somehow. Aside from that,
the size of the bathroom was equivalent to my room. Feeling a little ashamed for a moment, I changed
into the new outfit.
As if Lucas got the uniforms at the last minute, it didn’t fit me at all, so I had to roll up the pant cuffs as
much as possible. After a while, the tip of the pant cuffs turned big that it looked like bell-bottoms. Well,
I broke into a security service building and was bulldozing an escape plan; therefore, I should bear this
kind of stuff. Heaving a sigh, I opened the door without a second thought.
At that moment, I heard two people talking.
“Ruda, my boy, you became a baby. Can’t even button up…”
“Shut up. I just got off on the wrong foot while feeling urgent.”
“Should I button up for you?”
“Oh, come on!”
Looking at Ruda being topless in front of Lucas, I was frozen up. When Ruda turned around, she quickly
turned back and slipped on her dress shirts in a hurry that it fluttered like a flag behind her back and
soon subsided.
With a reddened face, she said, “W… hy don’t you say something before you come out?!”
Her… I mean, his words didn’t ring true to me at all. There seemed to be a valley deeper than a precipice
between us in the blink of an eye.
While his voice didn’t reach me and just scattered through the valley for a while, I saw all the time I
spent with Ruda flash before me. Ruda kissing me at the school trip, often sitting close to me while
resting his chin on his palm and flaunting a grin at me, and his warm and strong arms that used to pull
me in them…
After a good while, I blurted, “Were you a… boy…?”
As soon as I dropped that question, I regretted to say so while thinking, ‘What kind of stupid question is
that! Of course, he’s a boy! Am I thinking that he’s covered with some kind of newly developed artificial
skin?!’
Now I clearly understood all his suspicious actions and why Lucas kept calling himself ‘hyeong’ at Ruda.
Hold on, then what was that heart-looter thing?
On the other hand, Ruda and Lucas were also in a panic. With his face tinged pale, Ruda asked back, “…
What are you talking about, Donnie…? ‘Were you a boy?’ Oh, lord… then you have…”
Regardless of what he just said, I quickly lifted my head and looked at Lucas. He had come to Korea to
find his brother, but now he seemed dumbfounded at this unprecedented situation, which his brother’s
classmate was re-discovering his brother’s gender.
I almost shouted, “You said Ruda looted your… heart! He had stolen your heart and ran away overseas!”
“Um, that’s…”
Scratching his head, Lucas dropped a response, which made me shriek to myself, ‘AHHHHH!’
“Do you know how cute Ruda was when he was young? He had a Barbie-like curly gold hair, twinkling
blue eyes… He was just a living doll.”
URGH! I grabbed my nape for a second. Ignoring Ruda, who was about to say something to me carefully,
I continued, “Then… what’s with the Ice Princess?! You could have said Ice Prince!”
“Well, that’s…”
Speaking that way, Lucas suddenly blushed that I became perplexed for a moment. Eh?
Watching our conversation, Ruda, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He then uttered,
“Lucas, are you…”
“You looked too pretty, Ruda. If you weren’t that cute, then why would I…”
Listening to him uttering a grunt, I realized that Lucas also regarded Ruda as a girl when he first met him.
Yes, I could thoroughly understand Lucas. With that thought, I observed Ruda’s slender waist, smooth
neckline, and gorgeous profile face. Even if he was seventeen, the age that many western kids tend to
go from cute to ugly, Ruda was that much beautiful; thus, how amazing he would have looked in his
childhood?
Grasping the overall situation, Ruda began to roar, “Lucas hyeong! Are you saying that you thought I was
a girl?”
“I knew the very next day that you were a boy! However, I habitually said the nickname Ice Princess,
so…”
“Still, how could you call me in a different gender for almost a year?”
Striking a retort, Ruda seized Lucas by the collar. Watching that sight, I realized that Lucas was going too
far at some point. He already recognized that Ruda wasn’t a girl, but he had been calling a boy ‘Ice
Princess’ just because it became his habit.
I mean, hold on… Aside from that, was Ruda a boy? For real?
While I could only ramble those words in my head while being absentminded, Lucas said to me, “We
have no time for this! Now we all changed our outfits, let’s go ASAP.”
“Oh!”
What Lucas just said, we didn’t have time to disentangle the chaos. Putting on our blazers in the last
place, we quickly opened the door.
Ruda ushered us the way out to the entrance. A few securities who found us running across the hallway
shouted, “What the fu*k! Lucas, why are you––” However, before one of the securities turned on his
walkie-talkie, Lucas’ edge of the hand struck his nape.
Ruda, who was running after Lucas, easily jumped over the collapsing security guard, but at the same
time, we encountered another two guards.
Exchanging eye contact, Ruda and Lucas kicked the floor to jump up to the air and press down the
guards. With a loud thud, the two big guys fell onto the floor and became unconscious.
Running through the securities, whose eyes all turned blank, I said inwardly, ‘Sorry, guys, I’m so sorry!’
In front of a narrow iron door, Ruda beckoned at me, saying, “Donnie, come on!”
“Uh… yeah!” Shouting that way, I ran into the iron door. As soon as I got in, Ruda slammed the door.
We began to run along the narrow staircase. Unlike the stairs that Lucas and I had descended earlier,
this stairway was slightly narrower and steeper. Perhaps it was the secret passageway in this building.
Ruda, who was running ahead of me, said, “There aren’t any surveillance cameras here. If we go upstairs
and get on the helicopter before they find us escaping, the victory is ours.”
With a nod, Lucas replied, “Cool, let’s go. I let Yeo Ryung and Jooin go stay at the rooftop.”
Ruda narrowed his eyes as if he felt dubious. She, I mean, he responded bluntly, “You really became
close to them, huh? Calling only their first names…”
“Oh, isn’t that a part of Korean culture?”
Geez, weren’t they getting out of breath? For real? As if it was a lie that they had been separated for
almost a decade, the two were having a conversation so nonchalantly. Although it was usually Lucas
babbling whatever he wanted to say, and Ruda pointing out the flaws…
Anyway, I was very impressed that they still had enough strength to exchange dialogue while ascending
the never-ending staircase. ‘No,’ I shook my head and braced myself.
Every step we take to go upstairs, Ruda was getting one step closer to his freedom! Thinking that way,
climbing the stairs was nothing at all.
“…”
No, it was tough, really tough.
Within a few seconds, I changed my mind. Having failed to withstand my drastically descending stamina,
I held my knee and heaved a deep sigh.
“Phew…”
Since I was so into this escape plan, which seemed like the runaway scene in a thriller movie, I forgot for
a second that I wasn’t a heroine in a teen film. In that type of movie, the protagonists could go through
life while having only dream and hope; however, I was not. Geez, leaving that aside, I wished the main
characters in a web novel didn’t have any extraordinary strengths or physical abilities.
While I rambled those thoughts in my head, I suddenly heard Ruda yelling from upstairs. Descending the
staircase with big strides, he asked, “Donnie, are you okay?!”
He was calling my first name as friendly as usual; however, as soon as I realized that he was a boy, it felt
quite awkward somehow. I thought, ‘But if I reveal that, he would feel hurt…’
Waving my hand in the air, I replied, “Yeah, I’m just… a little out of breath… I’m not that athletic…”
Saying those words, I felt dizzy, then at the next moment, my eyes widened. Ruda, who came
downstairs before I even knew, was holding me up in his arms. The lights pouring onto his blonde hair
overlapped with the lighting at the retreat.
With a stiffened face, Ruda uttered, “I’m sorry. We’re in a hurry to escape, so bear with me here.”
Watching him dropping that remark, I just shut my mouth. With a nod, I shoved my face onto my hands.

‘Gosh, even when I thought Ruda was a girl, I still felt my heart fluttering!’ While I had that thought in
mind, I heard Ruda’s heart throbbing toward me.
As if I was made of Styrofoam, Ruda didn’t show any signs of difficulties at all while holding me in his
arms. He began to ascend the stairs with big strides.
Lucas, who was running ahead of us, yelled, “Tell me if you’re out of strength! I’ll take turns!”
Ruda’s voice that still sounded acrimonious returned, “How could I trust you, hyeong?”
“That’s too harsh, Ruda. You regarded me as your real brother, didn’t you?”
“That was in the past.”

Every time Ruda spoke, his Adam’s apple vibrated and seemed to reach me that I blushed in
embarrassment.
Those who recently pulled me into their arms were just embracing me shortly for greeting or playing
around; I seldom buried myself into someone’s arms in this way.
At that moment, Ruda and I had eye contact. As soon as we exchanged our glances, he blushed after
me. Feeling weirder for some reason, I just imagined myself seizing my hair.
Hold on, then what about Yoo Chun Young?
That was when I came up with a question that I forgot while following the stir caused by Ruda’s gender
reveal. Ruda was the one who took Yoo Chun Young’s first kiss, so I thought Yoo Chun Young’s partner
position in this novel would indeed be Ruda. However, Ruda was a boy, and he seemed to have no
feelings but hostility toward Yoo Chun Young. Thus, who would be Yoo Chun Young’s partner then?
Rambling those thoughts in my mind, I quickly lifted my head when I heard Lucas shouting in front of us,
“It’s the rooftop!” He then pulled the door open.
Through the open door, a breathtaking sight flooded into my view.
The gray rooftop floor spread wide toward the horizon; there was a helipad with a circle and ‘H’ mark
drawn inside. Over the gray horizon, high rise buildings near City Hall station were creating a
mesmerizing skyline.
The day was breaking. A hazy orange light leaked gently through the dark violet clouds.
On top of the ‘H’ sign, there wasn’t a helicopter. Checking that out, I turned my head unconsciously and
swallowed a sigh.
Was it too absurd to expect a dramatic ending like that of the ‘Shawshank Redemption?’ There wasn’t
any helicopter, which we were in need; instead, Ban Yeo Ryung and Jooin came into view.
The two; however, didn’t look good. Well, they couldn’t help having those faces since a bunch of men in
black suits were surrounding them.
I turned my head. Within a close distance from Yeo Ryung and Jooin, Yi Jenni was standing there with
her signature ponytail and black two-piece suit. Shoving one hand in her pocket and the other waving in
this direction, she said, “Hey, everyone?”
Including me, Ruda and Lucas also turned stiff.
I murmured, “Damn, we’re done! But if we run down the stairs right now, we may possibly escape from
this situation…’ Looking at the iron door that we just stepped through, I thought about the way to get
out of this place. However, Yi Jenny had Yeo Ryung and Jooin with her, so I couldn’t leave them here and
just run away alone.
When Ruda put me down, a heavy silence began to prevail around the rooftop.
I, Lucas, and Ruda couldn’t raise our heads.
There was only one thought inside my head. ‘How could Yi Jenny be here on the rooftop ahead of us?
How did she get aware of our plan?’
Her following words then solved my question so simply.
“Hey, Lucas.”
As she called him in a soft and low voice, Lucas replied in much tension, “… Yes.”
“Hey… didn’t you think that I might have planted any listening device in Ruda’s room?”
With that said, Yi Jenny tapped her in-ear headphone.
‘That’s what happened,’ heaving a deep sigh, I showed a sign of nervousness.
So did Ruda and Lucas. They were wearing a worried look on their faces. Yi Jenny was listening to every
conversation we had in Ruda’s room. In other words, she fully grasped the truth of the incident that
took place ten years ago.
Standing near the helipad, Yeo Ryung and Jooin stared at us in anxiety. They knew nothing about what
happened between Ruda and Lucas; therefore, they had no idea what was going on.
Meanwhile, Yi Jenny flung a question while tapping her in-ear device again.
“What? You pretended to bear a grudge against me to deceive me, huh?”
“Um, that’s…”
“I’ve raised and fed you, but how dare you return evil for good?”
Trying to add some words on behalf of Lucas, I soon had my mouth shut at Yi Jenny’s remark. I threw a
glance at Lucas and thought, ‘Lucas was an orphan.’
He looked nonchalant as if he had never forgotten that he was adopted and raised by her.
I murmured to myself, ‘What’s gonna happen to Lucas then?’ Considering Yi Jenny’s cold-hearted
personality, she would have done Lucas, who had been rude for the whole time, a favor for just one
reason.
A little reward to the previous successor candidate, who was disqualified from competing due to
somewhat unreasonable factors…
However, it was now revealed that everything turned out to be Lucas’ plan. He even had no interest in
choosing the right successor but tried to take care of Ruda.
Lucas’ existence, therefore, went thoroughly against Yi Jenny’s intention to pick the perfect successor
from the selective tests. Thinking to that extent, I learned that my heart was throbbing.
I slowly lowered my head and found Ruda, who was standing beside me, shivering his hand. After a
moment of hesitance, I lifted my hand and quietly put it on his tightly clenched fist.
Ruda switched his gaze to me. His blue eyes seemed to talk something to me. I was able to grasp what
they were.
‘Should I interfere?’ I nodded my head while thinking, ‘This is the time to return the kindness I received
from Lucas.’
That was when Ruda took a step forward and tried to open his mouth. Shoving her hands to both
pockets, Yi Jenny sneered as if she felt absurd. Her voice slipped from her mouth.
“Geez… Now you’re twenty-four, so let’s say you’re able to deceive me anyway, but back then, you were
only fourteen.”
“…”
Lucas remained silent with a stiff face. Yi Jenny continued, “Besides, you were stabbed in the side and
bleeding severely, but it was you, who plunged the knife into yourself and acted that way while bearing
the pain…”
“Excuse me.”
That was when Ruda, standing beside me, couldn’t help staying still and detached his lips. Throwing a
glance at me out of the blue, Yi Jenny asked, “Hey there, was your name, Ham Donnie?”
“Huh? Yes.”
Since I had no idea why she called me in this situation, I turned stiff in tension.
“Now I come to think of it, I didn’t know about my son more than you did. When I told you that it was
Ruda, who stabbed Lucas, you looked unbelievable.”
“…”
I thought, ‘What does that mean? Is she angry?’ However, Yi Jenny looked too nonchalant to describe
that she was mad.
Suddenly, another question returned, “Now that it turned out to be you were correct, let me ask you
one thing.”
“Um, yes.”
“Do you still believe that Ruda isn’t a good fit for my successor position?”
Wondering for a second, I replied immediately, “Yes… I believe that…” I tried to respond as confidently
as possible, but I couldn’t help my voice getting slightly lower against Yi Jenny’s threatening spirit.
Despite my weak response, Yi Jenny tossed a question, “What makes you think so?”
Glancing at Ruda, I lifted our holding hands. While Ruda looked at me with his eyes wide open, I diverted
my gaze back onto Yi Jenny and opened my mouth.
“Um, ma’am… The successor you’re looking for is a cold and heartless person who can even stab his own
brother if that’s required. However, as you can see from Ruda, he isn’t that kind of person.”
I then threw a glance at Lucas, who was also looking in my direction.
“You may understand if you’ve heard our conversations in the room. Ruda thought Lucas had betrayed
him. That’s why he harbored a grudge against him for years. How long did he have those feelings?
Almost a decade… which is such a long period of time.”
As if she couldn’t wait any longer, Yi Jenny asked, “So?”
“It hasn’t even been a day since Ruda found out the truth. In Ruda’s perspective, he would definitely feel
resentment at Lucas.”

“And?”
“But when you interrogated Lucas, Ruda was trembling his hand.”
“…”
A moment of silence came by.
Meanwhile, I shook Ruda’s hand, which I was holding, in the air. His hand followed mine helplessly as I
shook it. Doing that action, I continued, “As you can see, he’s still trembling. You would get it right away
once you grab his hand.”
“…”
As if something dissatisfied her, Yi Jenny narrowed her eyes and was at a loss of word while biting her
lips.
I stammered out, “Um… so, what I want to say is that… Ruda isn’t the type of person who you’re
thinking, ma’am. He’s such a warmhearted kid who still can’t forget the person… the hyeong, who took
care of him a decade ago. That’s why he’s trembling his hand if that hyeong is in trouble.”
While I talked that way, Ruda’s hand, that was shaking involuntarily, gradually decreased. I switched my
gaze to Ruda and found out that the look in his eyes was now calm down, so I released his hand from
mine.
I continued, “And as I mentioned earlier, I received a lot of help from Ruda. Not only did he save me
from the kidnapping incident but also when there were some bad rumors about me at school… Beyond
that when I wasn’t confident about myself…”
Taking a deep breath, I went on speaking, “Ruda told me many good words and did great things to me.
Above all, he was always just there right next to me.”
I concluded at a slow pace, “I believe that those soothing words or responses are only available from a
person who also felt so lonesome.”
With that remark, a moment of silence swept the rooftop.
Rolling my eyes, I glanced around to read others’ countenances. While Yi Jenny still fastened her gaze at
me, Yeo Ryung and Jooin were somewhat nodding their heads.
Lucas was even turning his mouth up slightly to resemble the hint of a smile as if he didn’t seem to
matter anymore what would happen to him afterward. His grin embodied support and a bond of
sympathy. The moment I smiled after him, Yi Jenny’s mouth opened, at last. I turned my head.
“Lucas.”
“Yes.”
“Do you still wish to be my successor?”
Lucas’ eyes opened wide. Blinking swiftly as if he couldn’t believe what she had just said, Lucas slowly
nodded at her.
“Yes, I do… but it’s already been a decade, and I’m not sure if things can change…”
“True, it’s exactly ten years that you’ve been deceiving me.”
Lucas soon closed his mouth at Yi Jenny’s cold remark. Her following words made my eyes wide open
again.
“Lucas… to be honest, you’re utterly the opposite of whom I’m looking forward to as my successor.”
“Excuse me? Oh…”
“The fact that you’ve deceived me is worse than you think.”
Watching the two sharing a conversation, which sounded difficult to understand what was going on, I
soon grinned at her following remark.
“However, I’m giving you a chance since I appreciate your effort that you were determined to achieve
your goal with all might even though you were stabbed in your ribs at the age of fourteenth.”
“Yes.”
Yi Jenny finally drove a wedge into Lucas, who froze and replied that way.
“If you deceive me once again, you’re really gonna pay for this.”
While Lucas became at a loss of words and turned stiff, Yi Jenny turned around and murmured, “How
ridiculous it is! I was just completely playing into a kid’s hands; besides, now I should adopt a foster son
unexpectedly.”
Yi Jenny turned back and shouted at Lucas, who was standing blankly as if he still didn’t grasp the
situation.
“Come on, what are you doing there? You aren’t trying to keep talking in this place, are you?”
“… Uh… yes!”
“We’re gonna further our conversation in the reception room.”
Yi Jenny, who was again heading toward the iron door, didn’t look like a warder anymore as she did at
the time when she haled Ruda to a prison-like space.
Things proceeded smoothly afterward.
While we all kept our eyes out, Yi Jenny organized some documents and made Lucas sign a few things.
Still, she grumbled, “So, you completely deceived me at the age of fourteenth, huh?”
“Oh, um… haha…”
Scratching his head in embarrassment, Lucas kept on reading the whole document. We watched the
whole sight while sitting on a couch on the other part of the reception room. Ruda, Yeo Ryung, Jooin,
and I, the four of us…
I whispered and explained roughly about what had happened in the past to Jooin and Yeo Ryung, who
didn’t know the truth of the incident that took place ten years ago. I considered that the two would also
get astonished at Lucas’ bold action that even deceived people on his side; however, Yeo Ryung and
Jooin paid attention to something utterly different.
Opening her eyes frightfully, Yeo Ryung diverted her gaze onto Lucas and uttered savagely, “So, that
bastard said to Donnie, she’s an idiot?”
“Um… uh…”
Shoot! Nothing could calm down Yeo Ryung, who entered that fierce mode. Everything was wrapping up
quite peacefully now. In this situation, how could I prevent the disaster that would soon occur in this
place?
That was when Yi Jenny flung a question.
“Ruda.”
Ruda, who was sitting beside me, quickly raised his head, replying, “Yes?”
Displaying a calm look on her face, Yi Jenny continued, “Aside from Lucas becoming my successor, I have
a right to exercise a certain level of influence on your education as your guardian.”
“…”
Ruda bit his lips in a pale face. I also furrowed my forehead since I had a rough idea of what would be
said.
Indeed, a question that was quite the same as what I just thought returned. Looking in this direction
with her tranquil, black eyes, Yi Jenny asked, “Do you think that school is necessary to you?”
“…”
Crossing her legs in the opposite direction, Yi Jenny kept on speaking, “That academy belongs to a quite
high-level educational institute in this country, but it’s still a regular high school. Don’t you think it’s too
uncomfortable to fit you into some silly PE classes?”
Sealing his mouth tightly, Ruda didn’t respond. Meanwhile, Yeo Ryung, Jooin, and I rolled our eyes to
study Yi Ruda’s face.
We couldn’t help doing that reaction since we were here to rescue Yi Ruda. Although we met him and
solved things out eventually, what mattered the most was Yi Ruda’s own opinion.
I, of course, believed that Ruda would prefer returning to school, but now I had come to think of it, that
was just my mere conjecture.
Wouldn’t Ruda feel better anywhere he could get away from Yi Jenny?
Now that Yi Jenny no longer regarded him as her successor, wouldn’t he be able to live a freer life in a
different environment that would better suit him?
A heavy silence prevailed around the space.
Meanwhile, Yi Ruda, who drew our attention, opened his mouth, at last.
“I…”
His following words then made me heave a sigh.
“I don’t think that school is necessary for me, but…”
“But?”
“I guess the kids in that school needs me.”
I burst out of breath that I had held back. Jooin was flaunting a slight grin beside me. I could hear Yeo
Ryung murmuring bluntly, “… At least not Donnie.”
Ruda continued, “Although I was a nobody or not such a great person, those kids regarded and needed
me as their friend. I also thought that the image they had about me was false; that was why I felt guilty.”
Yi Jenny asked, “So?”
Putting his hand on his chest, Yi Ruda kept on speaking, “However, that image was just another side of
me… one of my true colors in a different circumstance. That was also me.”
“…”

Ruda concluded briskly, “I want to see how much I can change while being with those kids.”
Looking at Yi Ruda talking that way, Yi Jenny slightly narrowed her eyes as if she felt dazzled; however,
that didn’t last long. Silence returned to the reception room. I touched my hands in tension.
At that moment, Yi Jenny called me, “Donnie, was it you? Did you say that Ruda also has the right to
change as he wants?”
“Excuse me? Oh, um, yeah…”
Replying with my eyes open wide, I felt my heart almost exploding. It was me who dared to say that to Yi
Jenny fearlessly.
However, if there was a difference between the life that Yi Jenny and Yi Ruda expected to live, it should
be adjusted by thorough conversations. Yi Jenny should not make a conclusion of what she was looking
forward to Yi Ruda in advance. Having those thoughts in mind, I heaved a sigh.
My parents could persuade me to become someone in the future; however, they didn’t have the right to
force me on their dreams. Besides, no matter how many conversations I had shared with others about
what I wanted to be, I should find my own dream and path for my future.
I opened my eyes wide upon hearing Yi Jenny’s following words. She lifted her hand and pointed at
Ruda.
“It isn’t the kids; he’s the one who needs that school. Considering how he talks, he still has a long way to
go. Please understand my dishonest son.”
“Excuse me…?”
“I’m asking you to please look after him.”
Although she dropped that remark, I couldn’t understand what was going on for quite a while. Thus, I
sat still in a daze. Once I turned my head aside and found Ruda showing a vibrant smile, I emitted a
whoop while embracing his shoulders.
Being startled at my reaction, Yeo Ryung and Jooin pulled my nape.
‘Yikes, Ruda wasn’t a girl!’ Recalling the fact that I forgot for a moment, I quickly got off from Ruda. I
thought, ‘Anyway, I should soon break this habit of hugging someone in delight as if I’m doing it to my
girlfriends.’ Meanwhile, I suddenly heard Yi Jenny murmuring something.
“… Now I can also get back together with Ian again.”
“Eh?”
Opening my eyes wide in surprise, I said to myself, ‘Yeah, that’s right! Ian and Yi Jenny were living
separately!’
Glancing at the look on my face, Yi Jenny uttered, “Why do you look so surprised? Ian and I aren’t really
on bad terms. We just have different educational views…”
“… Ian just ran off with me at my request.”
“Wow…”
Recalling Ian’s warm and kind face that I saw at my house sometimes, I murmured, ‘He does have guts
than he looks since he faced up to his fierce wife and ran away from their house. I mean… so they were
married, right?’
Yi Jenny uttered, “I’ll visit your house shortly. I must see how you were living without me. Leave your
address here.”
Ruda’s face quickly reddened at her remark. He almost shouted, “I… I was doing well!”
“I think so.”
Listening to Yi Jenny’s sarcastic response, I came up with Ruda’s room that I had seen a while ago. Was
that frowzy space an outcome of Ruda attempting a lot of escape plans? Or…
Anyway, the conversation between Yi Jenny and Yi Ruda sounded like a normal mother-and-son dialog;
Yi Jenny worried about her son’s school life and his tidiness, which made me burst into small laughter.
***
What I heard afterward was that Lucas, who had no place to go from traveling overseas, decided to stay
with Yi Jenny for a while. Ruda returned to Ian for a moment then would have a meeting with Yi Jenny
again shortly.
Sunday evening, the next day, I received a bunch of texts from Yi Ruda.
[Sent by: Yi Ruda
Help me, Donnie]
[Sent by: Yi Ruda
No, I would just die]
[Sent by: Yi Ruda
If I die, I’ll go to hell, but that place is worse than hell]
[Sent by: Yi Ruda

I really don’t want to go]
Reading his nonstop messages, I laughed aimlessly.
The almighty Ruda, who went through so many challenging things since his childhood, was almost
shouting in tears for some reason. That was because today in the evening, Ruda was having a family
dinner at a hotel after a long time.
Yi Jenny, Ian, and Yi Ruda were about to get together and unburden themselves from years of remorse.
According to Ruda, no matter how long they had not seen each other, the two would definitely have a
good relationship; only Ruda himself would be blamed for pieces.
Smiling awkwardly, I entered a response.
[To: Yi Ruda
But isn’t Lucas there too? Lol…]
That was true. Since it was Yi Ruda’s family dinner, Lucas, the new family member, would also attend
the event. Lucas and Ian would be meeting tonight for the first time.
Lucas took care of Ruda so much since they were young, so wouldn’t he stand by Ruda? Besides, it
would be his first time to meet Ian, so Ian and Yi Jenny might not become too naughty to Ruda…
Ruda’s response returned.
[Sent by: Yi Ruda
Do you remember what Lucas hyeong and mom promised before?]
Wow, did he just say ‘mom?’ Although it was such an everyday term, I never even imagined it would
come out from Ruda’s mouth, so I looked at the word for a while.
Then I moved my fingers again.
[To: Yi Ruda
I dimly recall… what was it again?]
[Sent by: Yi Ruda
No more lies!]
I blurted, “Oh…” and swallowed a smile involuntarily. This was a big deal.
In this regard, Lucas had to confess everything; Ruda was grumpy sometimes or pretended innocence in
front of me.
At that moment, my phone vibrated again. I lowered my head to check his message. A gentle grin
hovered around my lips.
[Sent by: Yi Ruda
Honestly, I don’t want to be scolded by my mom about my personality…
because I inherited that from…]
Suddenly, the message stopped. Why did it discontinue at this point? Was Ruda okay now? That was
when I gazed at my phone while having those concerns.
“Donnie.”
As the tranquil voice reached my ears like falling leaves, I raised my head.
When I met those warmhearted eyes looking down at me, I replied with the most polite smile I could
ever show.
“Yes…”
“We aren’t here to just smile, are we?”
Eun Hyung spoke that way while flaunting a gentle grin on his face. I saw an illusion of a gorgeous dish
breaking into pieces behind his back.
In other words, that beautiful plate is like Eun Hyung’s patience. I mean, Eun Hyung dropping such a
remark in the first place proved how serious this situation was.
Unlike his soft voice, Eun Hyung stared at me with a severe look. When he turned his head away from
me, at last, I could let go of my breath.
I murmured to myself, ‘Ruda, you said that your family dinner would become a supper in hell, but so is
this place. Another hell exists here.’
As we always did when we gather at a place, Yeo Ryung and Jooin were sitting on both sides of me; Yoo
Chun Young and Eun Jiho took their seats on my opposite side.
We had gathered for the first time at a café after the semester began; however, instead of talking
noisily, we were sitting there with our mouths shut. The reason was simple.
Eun Hyung continued, “Students should not go to a club.”

‘How did Eun Hyung know that we went to the club?!’ I yelled at myself inwardly.
Honestly, I could get why Yeo Ryung was caught. She was too pretty to remain unnoticeable that it was
her even when she wore a wig. I was, however, such a run-of-the-mill person. Jooin even dressed as a
woman. How could the two of us get caught, therefore?
What soothed me at this point was that Yoo Chun Young and Eun Jiho also got caught being in the same
club that night. Therefore, everyone had to be blamed instead of just the three of us.
However, that was why the situation became worse. Eun Hyung didn’t trust our words at all.
Inflating her cheek, Yeo Ryung slightly whined, “Come on, Eun Hyung. We keep talking that we were
there to rescue the bastard… I mean, Yi Ruda. We weren’t there to hang out.”
Eun Hyung replied with a smile, “Then why were Chun Young and Jiho also there? Was it necessary?”
Eun Jiho, sitting across from me, also intervened, “No, you’re totally getting me wrong. If I were about to
hang out there, why would I go there with them? I would rather go alone.”

Eun Hyung continued, “Keep going on.”
“So, it ain’t what you’re thinking… oh, I see!”
Eun Jiho’s following remark made my eyes open wide in astonishment.
“We were also there to help Yi Ruda! Ham Donnie, who disappeared from the abduction site, called me
with Yi Ruda’s phone out of the blue and said that she was rescued, so that tells us everything.”
Speaking that way, Eun Jiho dusted off his hair as if he felt annoyed. Watching his reaction, Eun Hyung
slightly nodded, saying, “Oh…”
“We owe him something, so we can’t just sit down and watch the situation. Thus, we tried to check out
what was going on and decided to take some actions.”
Scowling at us, Eun Jiho added bluntly, “Well, we never thought that they were also taking actions
separately.”
‘What?’ I thought while counterattacking his gaze, “If you guys had that in mind, you should have told us
in advance!’
The reason why I planned to take action only with Yeo Ryung was that I thought those two boys would
never agree upon our plan, but surprisingly, they were already acting independently! It would have been
better if we united our efforts.
Anyway, then Yoo Chun Young and Eun Jiho might have visited Club Papillon for the same reason as we
did. Perhaps the employee of REED partied hard since his identity had been spread all over the town.
Aside from that, I was very relieved that unlike the Four Heavenly Kings in other web novels, those two
boys went to the club for something else. Heaving a sigh of relief, I observed the situation again.
As if he finally understood the excuse we made, Eun Hyung looked a little calm down, but he still
furrowed one side of his brows. Putting both hands on the table, Eun Hyung asked with a tender voice.
“Then, why didn’t you let me know? You could have asked me to go together.”
“That’s because… it seemed too much to ask you to do such a thing.”
When Eun Jiho replied hesitantly, Eun Hyung perked the corners of his lips upwards to hint a soft smile.
Everyone around this table all knew that the look on Eun Hyung’s face right now indicated that he got
more upset instead of releasing his anger.
Eun Hyung asked, “Why? You know that I’m not just Mr. Nice.”
Dusting off his hair, Eun Jiho replied, “Geez, I don’t know, but you still have that image of a lighthouse
that leads to a good life. I wish you can remain as a light and salt to us… you know?”
Listening to Eun Jiho’s response from across the table, I quietly nodded my head. When I looked beside
me, Yeo Ryung and Jooin also seemed to share a similar thought.
That was true. I knew that it was sort of a fantasy, but I also expected Eun Hyung to play the role of a
lighthouse-type of person among us. Someone who could be our witness with generosity like a god.
That was why the boys could not involve Eun Hyung into some bad event. Thus, what Eun Jiho just said
was very understandable.
At that moment, Eun Hyung blurted out something with a gentle smile, which petrified us immediately.
“Really? Then should I teach you with all my heart that I’m worse than I look?”
What Eun Hyung just said sounded like the gate of hell swing open not only for Eun Jiho but also for all
of us. Stepping back from his seat, Eun Jiho replied in a hurry, “Um, my bad. Dude, it’s my fault, so would
you please stop that…?”
“I think I’ve behaved as honest as possible, but you still don’t know my true color… so I should show you
who I am.”
“No… if you show me more, I think I’m gonna die!”
That was when Eun Jiho’s voice sounded increasingly pathetic. As we heard someone calling us, we all
turned our heads toward that direction.
“Hello, sir!”
With a shout, the person bowed deeply at the waist.
I looked at the sight with my eyes wide open. The person’s school uniform looked familiar, which would
belong to a high school in our neighborhood. Was it probably Sun Jin High School? Even if I was right,
the school was quite far away from ours. Who on earth was he acquainted with among us? Wondering
about the question, I lifted my head and directed my eyes toward where the person was looking at.
In that direction, there was Eun Hyung smiling awkwardly. When the person raised his head, Eun Hyung
waved his head with a clumsy grin.
“Um, hi… were you Dong Woon?”
The boy named Dong Woon snorted as if he felt very delighted.
“You remembered me, sir! I’m very honored!”
“Yeah… haha…”
“Did the story about your friends that I told you before help you?!”
Listening to his words, Eun Hyung read our countenances with an awkward smile.
‘Hold on, a story about your friends?’ Repeating that part, I narrowed my eyes and took a closer look at
Dong Woon’s face.
Once I observed him carefully, I realized that I saw his face in the club. I didn’t have that good memory,
but I couldn’t help but remember most of the faces I had seen that night since it was such an
unbelievable situation.
‘Oh, lord! The person who gave the information about spotting us in the club… was it him?’ I murmured.
On the other hand, the boy named Dong Woon also observed our table and seemed to grasp the overall
situation. He might have found out that we were getting scolded from the information he had provided
to Eun Hyung…
Rolling his eyes with an awkward look on his face, he quickly stepped back.
“Then, have a good one, sir!”

“Thanks, but Dong Woon, you and I are the same age…”
Eun Hyung’s response that was dropped with a clumsy smile didn’t seem to reach out to Dong Woon.
Without any reply, he left the spot in a hurry.
While we encountered some enigmatic silence around our table, I heard Dong Woon yelling at his
friends, who were waiting for him, “Don’t you guys go there and say hello?”
The group of boys looked quite delinquent like Dong Woon. Perhaps, there were some familiar faces
that I might have encountered in the club.
One of the boys, who shoved his hands in his pockets, asked, “Why? Who is him?”
“Don’t you know who he is? Weren’t you there at Sun Jin High School’s schoolyard at that time? Didn’t
you see him fighting that day?”
“So, who is he?”
The boy tossed the question in slight annoyance. Dong Woon’s following words then made me have a
dry cough.
“He is the hidden Number 0 ranked fighter!”
“…”
Even I, who had the most terrible hearing, heard all their conversations, so other people would have
definitely listened to what they just said.
While Eun Hyung quickly coughed with his body bent lower, the look in our eyes began to turn strange.
Yoo Chun Young was the first to detach his lips, asking, “When did you become the Number…??”
“No, that’s not what you think. You know me since you have been with me for a long time, Chun Young.”
Following Yoo Chun Young, Eun Jiho blurted naughtily, “A-ha, so the hidden, nationwide Number O
planted his secret agents in every club, and was able to know about what we were doing… Ouch, I
should be more careful from now on.”
“Oh, come on! That isn’t true at all.”
Replying that way, Eun Hyung lifted his hand and swept down his face. He then continued with a sigh,
“Okay, cool. I misunderstood about the club thing. Let’s leave it that way, but you guys must not trust
that conversation.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Eun Hyung scowled at Jooin, who replied with a mischievous smile, then continued his remark while
switching his gaze to us.
“I only fought just once, but people added some comments, and false rumors spread out… well, but
those boys tell me quite useful rumors sometimes…”
Listening to Eun Hyung’s excuse with her chin on her palm, Yeo Ryung asked, “Rumors?”

Nodding his head, Eun Hyung looked like he was choosing the right words to articulate. I could tell that
from the mixed feelings he was showing on his face. He then detached his lips with difficulty.
“Um… how should I explain this… I don’t want to act so sensitively, but anyway, no matter how
desperate you guys are, please don’t go to clubs or other places like that for a while. Please don’t
intervene in anything relevant to the ranked fighters.”
I had in mind that ranking battles or ranked fighters, which sounded very fictional, really existed in this
world, but hearing them from Eun Hyung felt more shocking.
I mean, it was a terrible shock in the first place that Eun Hyung turned out to be the nationwide Number
0 or whatever… Since Eun Hyung was flatly denying that way, I should assume that the group of boys
was getting him wrong.
However, there was something more important.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Eun Hyung threw a glance at me, at last, and spoke hesitantly, “It’s about the missing, nationwide
Number 1. His name is Ban Hwee Hyul…”
Chapter 317: Chapter 317 [BAN YEODAN THAT’S ALL]
Eun Hyung kept on speaking while sweeping his hair back as if he felt bewildered to bring out that story.
I gaped at what he just said, yelling to myself, ‘Ban Hwee Hyul! So, you’re finally showing up in this
world. The nationwide Number 1… What a name! It surely belongs to the nation’s top-ranked fighter!!’
Eun Hyung continued, “Not long after Ban Hwee Hyul became the nationwide Number 1, Ban Hwee
Hyul’s brother got beaten by other rankers and fell into a state of suspended animation even though his
brother was just a normal, model student.”
“Oh my god…”
Yeo Ryung, who had the closest relationship with her sibling among us, was the first to respond. Eun
Hyung’s face also turned dark like hers.
‘Now I come to think of it, does Eun Hyung have a little sister too?’ With that question in mind, I looked
up at his face. I wouldn’t have a wrong memory, but I couldn’t remember when he began to act like he
forgot he had a little sister.
‘I can’t bring up this topic carelessly though…’ While I wondered how I should react, Eun Hyung kept on
explaining.
“After the incident, I heard that he decided to experience how other weak and run-of-the-mill students,
just like his brother, would feel, so he disappeared without a trace. Perhaps he’s hiding his identity and
living a normal life… Many rankers are watching for Ban Hwee Hyul.”
“You mean he’s a walking time bomb.”
Eun Hyung nodded at what Eun Jiho just said. Lifting his eyes, Eun Hyung threw a glance at us one after
another then continued to talk about the story.
“When you guys went to the club, the rankers were having a conference probably about Ban Hwee Hyul.
Thus, what I want to say is that, as you guys have done so far, do not care about what they are doing
NEVER EVER since we’re at a delicate moment.”
“Got it.”
Our conversation finally ended once we agreed upon Eun Hyung’s request. We then began to talk about
some trivial things in our daily life, which we usually did. I, however, stared at the table with mixed
feelings.
Eun Hyung didn’t push his standard or moral compass to others. That was how his mature side came
into the light even more; however, he was behaving more severely than usual, so I did think that there
might be some reason for his reactions.
However, I never even imagined this kind of story… Touching my forehead, I lowered my head. I was
struck dumb to hear about the nationwide Number 1 from none other than Eun Hyung.
Now that all the stories were finished, my heart began to pound hard again.
It was my gut feeling of a new episode, a new turmoil to start.
Article 26. The Female Protagonist’s Brother and I (Part 1)
Without having enough time to feel that Yi Ruda returned to school, at last, we began our new semester
and was leading a very busy life.
First of all, we had to get career counseling. Every one of us submitted our career path sheets and took a
counseling session with our homeroom teacher individually.
As far as I knew, Ruda was the only person who didn’t write anything on the career path sheet but didn’t
get scolded by the teacher for doing such a thing.
The following dialog was what Ruda told me about the conversation he had with our teacher.
‘Why didn’t you write anything?’
‘I haven’t thought about anything since I became to free myself from the successor position just now…’
Even if I were the teacher, I would have stopped myself from pressuring Ruda to choose his career path.
Hesitating for quite a while, our teacher then flung a question to Ruda carefully.
‘Were you also an heir? Why does this school have so many heirs and heiresses?!’
‘I am of the same opinion, sir. I am very sorry to hear that you’re working at a school where you can
hardly know how many successors are there in your class,’ I said to myself.
Anyway, Yi Ruda ended up receiving permission to submit his career path sheet at the end of our
freshman year.
Still, the individual counseling proceeded with three people a day in the order of student numbers,
which was sorted by name; therefore, I was almost the last on the list.
Since I pursued my career in arts out of the blue, our teacher seemed to feel a little perplexed, but he
didn’t discourage me from making the attempt. Well, it was my career path, so what else could he say.
However, he was wondering if I suddenly changed my career path because I was lacking confidence in
my grades. Thus, he even gave me some positive advice that if I wish, I could go to any school I want.
Once the counseling session was over, I returned to the classroom alone and packed my bag. Since I was
the last person to have the session in our class, there weren’t any people except me. ‘It’s been a while to
go back home alone,’ I thought while carrying the bag over my shoulder.
Although Yeo Ryung said that she even brought a book to read while waiting for me, I forced her to
leave. Honestly, even if I promised myself that I would throw away all the jealousy over her, I wasn’t
sure whether or not I could keep that promise once I finished having the session and checked out my
situation.
However, the counseling result didn’t turn out bad; neither did I feel upset. My footsteps, striding along
the hallway, became lighter. Flaunting a grin, I quickly walked down the hall then threw a glance outside
the window.
Before the counseling began, there were masses of dark clouds in the sky, but now I found the flashing
sunset. Still, the rain was about to fall.
Feeling the cold and wet air surrounding me, I took a deep breath and quickened my pace. It was a
delightful afternoon to take a slow walk back home; however, I had to hurry since I wasn’t sure when
the rain would pour.
Wondering what to do at the crossroad close to our apartment, I soon turned my steps toward the alley
that I didn’t usually walk around.
It was the shortest way to my house; once I climbed and descended a slope, I would get back home
within five minutes. The path felt quite spooky, so I didn’t use it that much, but for today, taking this
route seemed to be the only option to get back home before the rain.
Both sides of the alley were full of dark, public parking lots. Meanwhile, the sky was getting darker. I
suddenly touched my arms and glanced around while shrugging my shoulders.
‘Am I getting it wrong? I think I’ve heard something… Uh, come on!’ Shaking my head, I quickly bent my
steps again. ‘I would never ever walk down this alley along!’ I promised myself while keeping up a fast
pace.
If I were with Yeo Ryung, strangers would start hassling us about five times more than just myself being
alone, but at the same time, the probability of those people getting counterattacked would increase five
times more too.
‘How dare I came up with walking alone in this alley without Yeo Ryung? Gosh, how reckless are you!’
Blaming myself, I finally reached the peak of the hill.
I breathed out harshly. The apartment complex came into view. All I needed to do now was just to run
down the sloped road without a break.
At that moment, I heard a kicking noise, and someone groaning loudly. It made me freeze at the spot.
I rolled my eyes in silence. I did think that some bullies in this neighborhood would like to hang around
this alley; however, I never thought I would actually encounter a scene of violence here. Grabbing my
chest that was pounding hard, I stood still and wondered for a while, ‘Geez, what should I do?’
The best choice was, of course, just dashing to my apartment without looking back as if a ghost was
chasing me from behind my back, but what if something happened to the person, who was being
attacked?
Worrying for a long time, I turned back eventually since I wasn’t a person, who was shameless enough to
avoid my responsibility.
I bent my steps stealthily toward the noise then finally paused. Once I looked around, I was in front of a
parking lot on the first floor of a small apartment on top of the hill. Hiding behind the outside pillar, I
carefully stuck out my head and looked inside the lot. Two shadows were swaying through the pillars
inside the empty parking lot.
Someone was there on the bottom.
‘Eh?’ As soon as the person’s school uniform came into my sight, I emitted a small whoop.
‘That’s our school uniform! What would have happened if I ignored him and just walked away? If I hear
kids talking about something has happened around my house tomorrow at school, how can I raise my
head from feeling so guilty?’ Murmuring that way, I took out my phone in a hurry and pressed 112.
Should I send a text message for an emergency? Typing down words for help, I tried to glance at the
student’s face and check who the person was. I wondered if it was someone I knew.
However, even at a glance, the person didn’t seem like someone I knew. His messy black hair,
disheveled by dirt and dust, still emitted an impressive existence, so if he was in my class, I would
definitely recognize him.
Was he then an upper-grade student such as a senior?
His overall physique, revealed through his uniform, looked unexpectedly robust that I could hardly
understand why he was getting attacked without any resistance.
Lowering my head, I finished sending the message written, ‘Someone’s getting beaten in front of XXX
apartment. Please come here ASAP!’ After a moment of hesitance, I carried my bag over my shoulder
again.
Honestly, I wanted to see how things would proceed until the cops arrived since I reported a crime
scene, but if I kept staying here, I had no idea when I would get caught.
‘Sorry, I’m scared, and I want to feel safe too…’ Murmuring those words in a small voice, I turned around
and tried to take a step forward. If I didn’t hear the following words, I would have done that.
A gasping voice shouted, “Hey, look at his name tag. His name is Ban Hwee Hyul!”
‘What did he just say???’
I quickly turned my head.
Some parts inside my head began to deny my memories in the past. ‘Ban Hwee Hyul? I never heard such
a name like that!’
No way, why would I not get that name? How on earth could I forget such a name?! My tranquil heart
started to throb breathlessly in a flash as if I just crossed the finish line of a marathon.
Bending down deeply with my bag in my arms, I stuck my head out again to glance inside the parking lot.
‘This is insane!!’ I yelled to myself.
Another boy, who was beating Ban Hwee Hyul with other boys, bent his waist backward and was
bursting into laughter as if he felt so excited.
“Holy sh*t! Doesn’t that name belong to the missing nationwide Number 1? What a coincidence! It isn’t
a common name, is it?”
One of the boys lifted his leg with a naughty grin and gently stepped on Ban Hwee Hyul’s shoulder. He
then shouted, “Very true. How can you have the same first and last name? Hey, Mr. Ban Hwee Hyul, the
nationwide Number 1, don’t you really have any money?”
The boy, who still laughed insanely, replied, “Dude, stop that. What if he really is the nationwide
Number 1?”
“Bahaha! What a joke!!”
Watching the boys laughing to death at their silly jokes, I showed a puzzled look on my face.
‘Guys, you shouldn’t be doing that…’
Meanwhile, the groups of boys were consistently harassing Ban Hwee Hyul with their feet.
“Ahahaha, hey, dude! Mr. Ban, say something!”
Please guys, you really shouldn’t do that.
“Mr. Nationwide Number 1 Ban Hwee Hyul, show us what you got! Bahahaha!!”
I said so, stop!
“Hahaha! Ayo, our nation’s Number 1 fighter, show us some killer moves!”
‘Why couldn’t you guys see through your eyes?!!!’ I couldn’t help but shout to myself.
Like a plush toy, Ban Hwee Hyul didn’t show any signs of resistance but just sat down on the ground and
endured their savage kicks quietly. His sagging shoulders and released waist had no will to defend
himself or pursue any primary needs for life.
However, his eyes were different. A pair of eyes under his messy black hair, which looked like it wasn’t
trimmed for a few months, was shining sharply in bloody red. Although he was wearing some thick
glasses, that vivid red light wasn’t concealed at all.
Checking his look to that extent, I covered my forehead with my hands in agony and shouted to myself,
‘Gosh! This is going nuts!’
My guts were telling me… no, not just telling me, they were alarming me crazily that the boy there was
really Ban Hwee Hyul.
Why on earth was that boy, who was known as missing, getting beaten in a place so close to my house? I
shrieked to myself again.
Aside from the fact that I was accepting this world as my reality, the law of web novels seemed to still
operate normally, or else that boy couldn’t just hide his threatening physique with messy black hair or
some thick glasses.
Where did those group of bastards, who were beating Ban Hwee Hyul fearlessly, have their eyes on?
Putting my back behind the pillar outside the parking lot, I still stuck out my head with my eyes wide
open.
The sun was setting; the rain was about to pour, so the lot had almost no light, but my eyes were soon
getting used to the darkness. I could figure out Ban Hwee Hyul’s appearance through the dim light.
Oh, lord… they said nationwide top-tier fighters in web novels also occupied the highest ranks in
appearances. It wasn’t a lie since I was facing the truth right in front of me. His nose under the thick
glasses looked so straight and sharp that I could understand the term ‘blade-like’ nose ridge.
So to speak about his jawline, it looked thicker and more chiseled than Eun Jiho or Yoo Chun Young. In
other words, his facial features were very masculine.
Besides, as I mentioned earlier, his overall physique such as shoulders, arms, and leg muscles was no
joke. I could tell how muscular he was even through his school uniform. Perhaps he was born that way. I
nodded my head.
What drew my attention the most from his entire look was… I swallowed my breath and stared at his
eyes over the glasses. His red and clear pupils that looked slightly out of angle probably because of
wearing glasses of heavy lenses…
I touched my forehead with a groan. Why, for what reason was the missing, nationwide Number 1
involved in such an incident at a place like this? I mean, was it something better to happen?
I quickly lifted my head. The reason why I was staying here in the first place was that I tried to prevent
any life damage taking place before the cops arrived; however, the person, who was getting beaten, was
none other than the nation’s Number 1 fighter, who even had a mighty physique.
Therefore, no matter how much Ban Hwee Hyul got attacked by some boys in this place, he wouldn’t be
carried off on a stretcher, would he? Having that conclusion in mind, I began to step back stealthily.
‘Hey, Mr. Ban Hwee Hyul, I’m a little sorry to leave you here, but I called the cops and played my role of
Neighbor 1 quite successfully…’
That was when I tried to take another step back. I heard two boys making sarcastic remarks.
“Ahahaha! Hey, how come you’re the nationwide Number 1 but have no money, huh?”
With a shaking noise, something light fell to the ground with a thud. I thought it might be something like
a wallet. It sounded that much light.
I heard other voices babbling, “Dude, stop using that term. It makes me sick to use honorifics to that
douchebag.”
“Hey, when would I have another chance to call the nationwide Number 1’s name this way?”
‘You are enthusiastically calling that name in front of the actual person, DOUCHEBAG,’ I said inwardly
while touching my forehead. I soon moved my steps again determinedly.
‘Okay, this is enough. I don’t have any will to protect the lives of those who can’t even assume that they
are insulting the real Ban Hwee Hyul even though they’re facing those red eyes and the bulky body…’
“Give me back my wallet.”
My will to protect…

I quickly raised my head. Didn’t I hear a voice just now which sounded utterly different from those that I
heard?
Dark clouds covered the whole sky. The air was wet and heavy. The voice just now that sounded lower
and heavier than the air struck terror into my heart.
I turned my head with a creak like a broken robot. The boys, who still didn’t grasp the overall situation,
kept on speaking nastily.
“Ha, what did he just say?”
“My brother gave me that wallet.”
Holy mother of pearl! I had a hunch that the boys stepped on a mine just now. In other words, they just
pulled the pin off a hand grenade.
Earlier in the café, Eun Hyung mentioned about the reason why Ban Hwee Hyul vanished without a trace
voluntarily. It was because of his little brother.
However, the wallet the boys just threw away was a gift from none other than Ban Hwee Hyul’s little
brother! How could this happen?
‘This won’t gonna work!’ I decided to modify my escape plan altogether, but at the same time, I couldn’t
help but shed tears of blood in the corner of my heart. Why should I have to do such a thing for a group
of kids whom I had never seen until now…
Moving my steps quietly, I stopped and stood right in front of the parking lot.
“… Excuse me?”
My voice echoed inside the lot as if I were in a cave. Two boys turned around to look in my direction.
“Eh?”
Biting my lips, I closed my eyes tightly and shouted each word with emphasis.
“Um… you should not do that…!”
The air inside the lot paused at my words.
When I slightly opened my eyes, I found Ban Hwee Hyul, who had been plopped down on the ground,
looking at me with his eyes wide open. He seemed to be quite startled.
I diverted my gaze back onto the two boys. Staring at me in a daze, they suddenly burst into laughter.
“Haha hahaha!”
Laughing out like crazy for quite a while, the two boys then changed their facial expressions and came
closer to me. They lifted their fists with angry looks on their faces.
“Hey, what the fu*k? Do you want to do something with us, right now?!”
“Uh… no… not at all…”
The other boy also added a few words while cracking his knuckles.
“Kids these days value their life so lightly.”

I agreed upon his words inwardly, saying, ‘Yeah, that is so true, or else you guys would have not done
that with Ban Hwee Hyul’s wallet!’ Closing back my eyes tightly, I yelled, “But I think you need to return
that wallet to him…!”
‘… If you guys don’t want to get killed!’ I couldn’t add these words, so I swallowed them, but it could
have been better to just put that into my sentence.
“Is she insane?”
If I did, I wouldn’t have to hear this kind of response for worrying about their lives.
I grimaced in frustration while wondering, ‘Why can’t they think that a boy with red eyes, whose name is
Ban Hwee Hyul, is the real Ban Hwee Hyul? Is it because of those thick glasses?’
Anyway, I got one thing; I should have not taken any action for this situation!
The kids in front of my eyes seemed to lose all their interests in Ban Hwee Hyul because of me. That was
thankful, but on the other hand, they began to threaten me on behalf of Ban Hwee Hyul.
“Hey, you’re also wearing the same So Hyun High School uniform. You look like a nerd too. Do you want
to taste my fist?”
“Why are kids these days so fearless? Hey, come here.”
Watching the two boys emitting murderous spirits in the parking lot like a scene in a movie, I tried to
think about something positive.
Gosh, my conscience, which couldn’t make me neglect a person dying in my sight, was getting me into
another trouble today in the end! I really couldn’t help myself.
I sank my head on my chest with a slight grin.
“Please forgive me for any inconvenience. Bye.”
“What a crazy b*tch! Hey, get your ass over here!”
No matter what they say, I carried my bag over my shoulder and got ready to run at full speed. It was my
first time to sprint since bumping into Yoo Chun Young when I was a freshman in middle school.
As if they felt something was going to happen, the two boys yelled immediately.
“Get her!”
“Don’t you dare to run away!”

That was when I turned around with all my force while holding my shoulder straps tightly. At the end of
the alley, someone’s shadow was stretching into this direction.
I paused to take a step forward and stood still. Blinking swiftly, I wondered, ‘That person can’t be here at
this time of the day!’ Well, since he was here, things were all resolved whether or not.
I called him in a loud voice as if I met a lifesaver.
“Yeo Dan oppa!”
Ban Yeo Dan, who was a man of few words except in front of his sister, responded to me with a mere
twitch of his head and walked toward us apathetically. His eyes met with those of the boys, who tried to
get me like a tiger running after its prey. No emotions appeared on his chiseled, handsome, but
indifferent face.
With a frown, he asked me, “What are you doing?”
I could feel a strong person’s breadth of mind from Yeo Dan oppa, who read the hostile atmosphere but
questioned me in composure. As if they also grasped the same thing, the boys, who barked like dogs just
until now, stepped back in astonishment.
Why couldn’t these bastards read the same spirit from Ban Hwee Hyul? Looking at them with a look of
wonder, I soon switched my gaze to Yeo Dan oppa.
Anyway, I was lucky! Thank god! Getting myself almost glued to his side, I asked, “Oppa! What
happened to the self-studying session after school?”
“I skipped it.”
Replying that way, Yeo Dan oppa’s face looked confident without feeling ashamed at all.
It was true that having to worry about grades or test scores were nowhere near in the life of the Bans.
Getting bewildered for a moment, I soon continued, “Oppa, help me. I was about to get punched just
now.”
Even if I mentioned that I was almost getting punched, the look on Yeo Dan oppa’s face didn’t change at
all.
“Why would they try to punch you?”
“Um… so…”
How should I explain this overall situation? His personality wouldn’t like to listen a long story. After
wondering for a second, I lifted my finger and pointed at the two stiffened boys.
“I tried to save their lives…”

At that moment, a voice came out from the opposite direction. One of the two boys was ranting and
raving, “Are you kidding me?! What a fu*king weirdo! Haven’t you seen people selling things? Is this
your first time? Mind your own business, jerk!”
The other boy, standing beside him, also waved his hand in the air and shouted, “Hey, is she your sister
or a girlfriend? No matter who she is, just get her out of here! I’m not gonna say it twice. Have you ever
heard about Kim Chul Min of Ilsang High School?”
Yeo Dan oppa didn’t look stirred upon their savage reactions at all. He just slightly furrowed his brows as
if he was recalling some memories. Returning to his nonchalant face, he replied, “No… I never heard
about it. Ilsang High School? What grade and class is he?
“ARGH!!! Are they out of their minds?!”
That was when one of the boys went berserk while frothing at the mouth. Another boy raised his hand
and stopped him from jumping into us out of rage. The look in his eyes clearly showed a sign of fear at
Yeo Dan oppa.
He then glanced in this direction in fright and said, “Dude, let’s go. Come on, let’s just go!”
“Uh, why?! What’s wrong?”
“He’s Ban Yeo Dan! Don’t you see his nametag? Geez, I heard that he lives nearby, which turned out to
be real. Gosh, come on, let’s go!”

‘Why are they calling Yeo Dan oppa’s name as if he’s something like a legendary beast or so?’ With that
thought in mind, I grimaced and wondered, ‘Is Yeo Dan oppa also involved in that ranking thing like Eun
Hyung before I even knew?’
Anyway, I was afraid if Yeo Dan oppa would get hurt by their remarks. I threw a glance at him with
worried eyes. Whether it was a fortunate thing or not, he didn’t show any feelings on his face.
Yeo Dan oppa was just staring at Ban Hwee Hyul, who was still sitting on the ground in the corner of the
parking lot. Now I had come to think of it, he was excellent in listening only to what he wanted to hear
just like Ban Yeo Ryung.
Meanwhile, the two bastards carried their bags over their shoulders and walked past me by at a fast
pace. While they were receding from me, their conversations reached my ears.
“Who is Ban Yeo Dan? I never heard about that name.”
“You, moron! How can you not know his name? He’s the one who knocked out Sang Jae sunbae last
time! He usually moves alone or else with a super fabulous girl. Whenever he confronts someone, I
heard he just destroys that person.”
‘That super fabulous girl… I think I know who she is…’ I murmured to myself.
Then I heard someone exclaim, “That’s insane!”
“Anyway, he’s such a merciless guy. Those who know him well call him, the Angel of Death or Cerberus,
the hound of hell. Thank god he’s just letting us go.”
‘The Angel of Death? The hound of hell?’
Staring at the view of their backs, which were receding from me, with mixed feelings, I soon turned my
head to look in the front. Yeo Dan oppa, whose nickname was the Angel of Death or Cerberus, the
hound of hell, was kindly stretching out his hand to Ban Hwee Hyul. I hesitated for a second then walked
toward them.
The closer I got, the more I got amazed at Ban Hwee Hyul’s aura as it reached me straightforwardly. He
was still plopped down on the ground; his school uniform was messy with dirt and dust, but he didn’t
look awful at all. Instead, Ban Hwee Hyul looked like a camouflaged beast that was after its prey.
Besides, his appearance was yet stunning. Even though he grew his hair long and wore glasses, those
couldn’t hide his handsomeness. Having those thoughts in my mind, I stared at his red eyes.
Surprisingly, Ban Hwee Hyul held Yeo Dan oppa’s hand and lifted himself up from the ground without
making a fuss. Dusting off his uniform blazer a few times, he then said to me and Yeo Dan oppa with a
brusque and heavy voice, “Thank you.”
That expression of gratitude astonished me again. His tone sounded so flat that I wasn’t sure if he was
provoking a quarrel or not, but he was surely showing his appreciation.
I never imagined that the nationwide Number 1 was such a sane person. While I was letting out an
exclamation, Yeo Dan oppa spoke to that top rank fighter, “Be careful when you walk around,” as if he
was being concerned about his little brother.
I was bewildered at their unbelievably warm and exemplary conversation. Suddenly, Ban Hwee Hyul
turned around to look at me. That was when I noticed the thing in my hand. I quietly handed it out to
him. When our eyes met, I said with gravity, “I picked this up on the way over.”
“…”
Ban Hwee Hyul slowly rolled his red eyes and diverted his gaze onto his wallet in my hand. Once I
realized the prolonged silence, I thought, ‘Eh? What’s wrong? I really picked it up on my way here, so I
just told the truth…’
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting any words of gratitude since I did nothing for him except for calling the
police. However, once I got to know Ban Hwee Hyul’s identity, I even regretted that if calling the cops
was necessary. Besides, I came forward to save the two boys’ lives, not for Ban Hwee Hyul… I also
couldn’t deny that homicide in our neighborhood could impact on falling house prices.
Thus, from these aspects, I couldn’t look forward to his words of gratitude and didn’t want to receive
them either. It would rather be thankful if he could forget my existence.
With that being said, I returned his wallet to his hand and even emphasized, “I really picked it up on my
way here.” It was to indicate that I didn’t pick it up for him.
However, Ban Hwee Hyul kept staring at me intently that I felt quite uncomfortable. Frowning at his
gaze, I wondered, ‘What’s wrong with him?’
At that moment, his name tag shook and cast a glow. My eyes were bent onto it naturally. It was a blue
nametag, which belonged to the freshmen of So Hyun High School. In other words, we were in the same
grade, same school.
Swallowing my breath for a second, I soon put down my hand and turned around stiffly. Even though we
were in the same grade, same school, we wouldn’t be encountering each other again, would we? Our
school was huge, so that wouldn’t happen. Thinking to that extent, I smiled awkwardly and tried to
quicken my pace.
“––Ham Donnie.”
I heard a low and dark voice from behind me, which sounded as if it just crawled out of a hellhole.
Moving my stiff, robot-like neck to turn around, I suddenly came up with something.
Geez, when I looked at Ban Hwee Hyul’s nametag, he also would have had time to check mine too.
Perhaps he memorized my name. Gosh, why didn’t I put my nametag in my pocket beforehand?! That
was when I had those regrets in my mind. The same voice, which came from behind me just now,
uttered again, “I memorized it.”
“…”
While I turned stiff as if I was put under a curse of becoming a stone statue once I looked back, Ban
Hwee Hyul bent his steps without hesitation and walked past between me and Yeo Dan oppa.
Watching the view of his back, disappearing over the alley, in a daze, I soon felt a sense of
incompatibility. There was something not like a student about him… what would that be?
I found the answer, at last, and murmured, “… Backpack.”

Yes, he didn’t have a backpack.
With my head in my hands, I groaned, ‘Why isn’t he carrying a backpack when he tried hard to look like
a model student while having messy long hair and wearing glasses?!’
While he was wandering around the school without a backpack, why did no one tell him about it? Kids
from the student council or teachers could have pointed that out! How could he tell himself that he was
having a normal school life without a backpack?
I suddenly turned my head to look beside me. Yeo Dan oppa was standing there still with his signature,
nonchalant look that made me calm down. Looking at his face for quite a while in the clouds, I suddenly
called him, “Oppa.”
“Huh?”
“I’m gonna change my name. What would be nice?”
“…?”
“Come on, give me some suggestions…”
I was saying that from the bottom of my heart.
It felt like a step from the small houses on the hill to the apartment complex where we were living. What
Ban Hwee Hyul said to me earlier replayed in my head over and over that I could hardly put myself
together.
‘I memorized it, Ham Donnie.’
‘I memorized it.’
‘Memorized…’
Oh, for what reason?! I paused my steps and stood still eventually. Yeo Dan oppa, who was walking a
few steps ahead of me in silence, stopped too.
Having my head in my hands, I flung a question to him.
“What should I have said when I handed over his wallet?”
“… What?”
After a moment, he tossed the question with a slight grimace. Quickly raising my head, I almost shouted,
“What should I have done to make him just forget me? ‘I picked this up on the way over…’ Is it indeed
too lame?!”
Keeping his frown, Yeo Dan oppa replied, “No… I think it’s impressive enough.”
“I don’t want to look impressive but wish I can be forgotten!!”
“…”
He slightly wrinkled the bridge of his nose. Having seen that facial expression since middle school, I
could clearly get what it meant.
‘Why did she turn weirder since I had last seen her?’
Reading his thought from the look on his face, I said to myself, ‘No, oppa, you can’t think that way if you
get to know who that boy really is.’ Biting my lips in anxiety, I suddenly raised my head.
“Eek!”
“…?”
I shouted at Yeo Dan oppa, who was still sending me a suspicious gaze, “Would it have been better if I
said, ‘Is this wallet yours?’ instead of ‘I picked this up on the way over?’ What do you think, oppa?”
He remained silent for a moment then murmured in a low voice.
“You ain’t the mountain god…”

Regardless of his response, I kept mumbling to myself while biting my lips.
‘What should I have said to make him forget about me? Well, since he already told me that he would
memorize me, would there be no way for me to get over this situation? GOSH!!’ I tore my hair out again.
Unlike what Ban Hwee Hyul said, all I could do now was to wish that he had forgotten my name. I hoped
that the Number 1 ranker in this novel wasn’t as smart as those in other novels. Thus, once he walked
about five steps after saying, ‘I memorized it, Ham Donnie,’ I wished he would utter, ‘I memorized your
name, Ham Baknoon.’
‘Oh, now I come to think of it…!’
The boys, who babbled about Ilsang High School or whatever, flashed through my head.
Lately, I seemed to memorize all the names of the punks in this neighborhood for no reason, but
anyway, if Yeo Dan oppa was famous enough to be called as ‘the hound of hell’ or ‘the Angel of Death,’
he would have heard some rumors around here.
Didn’t something similar also happen to Eun Hyung? Ever since he became the nationwide Number 0
against his will, other kids told him about the latest gossips and rumors spontaneously.
I asked hesitantly, “Oppa, do you know that story? You know the recent rumors about…”
“Huh?”
“… The nationwide Number 1.”
Yeo Dan oppa, who frowned for a moment, tossed a question with a strange look on his face.
“Are you talking about the Number 1 chef in a nationwide competition?”
“Um, sorry for asking, bro,” I replied with a calm look as possible.
I realized that if the nationwide ranking thing was a story about land animals, Yeo Dan oppa belonged to
a group of whales. No, actually, most of the problems in this world were irrelevant to him since he
always had been leading a free and quiet life as if he was floating in the ocean.
I turned my head to glance at Yeo Dan oppa’s profile face. He was walking down the hill beside me. The
fall of the second year in high school… Yeo Dan oppa only had about a year and a few months until the
College Scholastic Ability Test, but earlier, he told me apathetically that he skipped the after school self-
studying session and was going back home.
‘I should live this way since we only live once…’ Harboring an impossible wish, I bent my steps. Anyway, I
felt great to encounter Yeo Dan oppa after a long time.
The after school self-studying session in his school was until eleven-thirty at night, so it was already
midnight when he came back home; thus, I could hardly encounter him during the weekdays. The only
chance for me to see his face was during family dinner at the weekend, but once he turned second
grade in high school, our parents felt sorry to call him for dinner.
However, whether it had been a long time to see him again or not, our conversation wasn’t working
well.
“Yeo Dan oppa, how’s studying these days?”
“Good.”
“Only a year left until the college exam, right? Aren’t your feeling too pressured?”
“Not me.”
“Uh… yeah… anything going on?”
“…”
Instead of a conversation between a girl and a boy in the same age bracket, our dialog sounded like a
talkative old lady, who was interested in others, talking unilaterally to a brusque young man. However,
his face suddenly changed when I flung that meaningless question without any expectations.
He soon switched his gaze to somewhere else. Eh? I opened my eyes wide, thinking, ‘What’s the
matter?’
While we were having that kind of conversation, we approached the elevator before I even knew. As I
stretched out my hand to press the elevator button, he took his backpack forward and began to find
something inside. He then asked me, “You still like chocolate milk, right?”
“Excuse me?”
Instead of a suggestion, it sounded like a request of ‘take this and please be quiet.’
That was when I squinted my eyes while wondering what was going on. There was something falling
under the chocolate milk, which he took out from his bag unusually in a hurry. I directed my eyes on the
milk in his hand then diverted them onto the ground.
There was a pink envelope dropped in front of the elevator door. It didn’t look like a report card at all.
“…”
A heavy silence hung between us.
I hesitated for a moment but soon bent myself forward to pick up the letter and handed it back to him.
This time, of course, I didn’t say any bullshit like ‘I picked this up on the way over.’ He then gave me the
chocolate milk, which felt like a barter scene in the New Stone Age.
During the whole time in the elevator to go up to our floor, there was a suffocating silence as if the
world had ended. When I, at last, heard the bell ring sound of the arrival on our floor, Yeo Dan oppa’s
mouth also opened together.
“It’s not what you think.”
I smiled soullessly and asked him politely, “What was I thinking, oppa?”
“Oh…”
“I didn’t see anything at all.”
“I see…”
Once we arrived in front of my house, we just left each other without bidding farewell. It seemed like he
was trying to say something to me, but I missed it and just closed the door.
As soon as I stepped inside, I heard a thunder-like noise and trembled in bewilderment. That was when I
turned around to look back while touching my shoulders.
‘I think the door just slammed shut because of the wind. Yeo Dan oppa, you won’t get me wrong, right?’
I soon shook my head to remove that thought.
‘There isn’t any time to be concerned about Yeo Dan oppa! I have my own problems now!’
No one was after me, but I took off my shoes in haste and dashed into my room. Once I shut the door
and threw myself onto the bed, I was able to shriek, “URGH! What the hell!?”
Ban Hwee Hyul’s messy, long black hair and his red eyes, which I saw in the parking lot, flashed through
my mind so vividly.
‘He said he’ll memorize me… why… for what reason?!’ At last, I imagined Ban Hwee Hyul giving off that
nerdy look while taking off his thick glasses and getting some haircut. Flaunting his handsome
appearance, Ban Hwee Hyul would suddenly barge into our classroom. Although he was wearing our
school uniform, everyone in our class would whisper, ‘Who is he? Did he transfer to our school?’ with
their eyes wide open. Meanwhile, Ban Hwee Hyul would show his wallet and yell at me, ‘Hey, how dare
you say that you’ve picked this on the way over?’
“…”
No, my imagination was going too far; however, when recalling the things that happened between Ban
Hwee Hyul and me today, no conversation would take place other than that.
Holding my pillow, I rolled on the bed and murmured, ‘Okay, let’s just put this thing aside.’ That was
when I came up with the happening that occurred in front of the elevator earlier.
The pink envelope that fell under the chocolate milk to the ground… It even had a heart-shaped sticker
on it. Unless his mischievous friends were playing around, what the letter meant was obvious.
A love letter.
He didn’t carry many things in his backpack––yes, that was true since he didn’t even carry textbooks to
school––so it wasn’t so surprising that he had a love letter in his bag.
If someone asked who was the most popular high school student in this neighborhood, people outside
this place or strangers would point out Eun Jiho or Yoo Chun Young.
Yoo Chun Young was a public figure, who appeared even in TV programs; Eun Jiho, in another sense,
took a position that was somehow more famous and overwhelming than a public figure.
However, those who grew up in this neighborhood from long ago like me, who had been living here
since the time that I couldn’t even remember, would only choose Ban Yeo Dan as the hottest high school
guy.
What else should I need to say when he was Miss Perfect, Ban Yeo Ryung’s only brother?!
He received so many love letters that one could even imagine. There were even rumors about his school
locker that his school had changed all the lockers into metal ones since his locker door got destroyed
several times due to too many letters filling it inside. (That would probably be true.)
However, Yeo Dan oppa never ever brought those letters home. He read and threw them away at the
spot. The most practical reason people had guessed was that the letters were too many to even store
them at his house.

That was also true too. It wasn’t only Yeo Dan oppa who received that many letters in his house.
If he and his sister, Yeo Ryung, stored all their love letters at home, this apartment would have exploded
in the end, and the whole building should have been changed into a metal construction.
Putting aside the spatial issue, another reason why he didn’t bring the letters home was that he hated to
put other people’s things in the space, where he shared with Yeo Ryung.
“…”
I wasn’t joking. That unbelievable sister complex, which we could only encounter in something like
novels, had enabled such a thing.
Having some mixed feelings, I rolled on my bed again then quickly lifted myself. I severely murmured, “I
should better tell Yeo Ryung, right…?”
So far, Yeo Ryung and I, the two of us were the only girls in Yeo Dan oppa’s world.
When I was in middle school… I mean, when I just graduated from elementary school, Yeo Dan oppa
brought us to the cafeteria quite often to get us some snacks while holding Yeo Ryung and my hand.
What he bought me there was always chocolate milk or ice cream.
The world of only the three of us… and now, someone else was about to step into that world.
Showing mixed feelings on my face, I got up from my bed, at last.

Ban Yeo Ryung came over to my house less than three minutes after I texted her. She looked surprised
at my words.
She would definitely react that way since Yeo Dan oppa’s love affair was supposed to be shocking as we
had known him for a long time. I, who had seen him for only about four years––except for the times I
couldn’t remember–– was astonished this much; thus, Yeo Ryung would be more shattered as a sister.
I recalled the sight of Yeo Dan oppa in front of Nam Gye High School entrance. Whenever I saw him
there, I found Yeo Dan oppa being surrounded by hundreds of girls yelling out his name; however, he
just walked toward Yeo Ryung and said, ‘Let’s go,’ inexpressively and nonchalantly, which even made me
feel embarrassed.
Yeo Dan oppa and Yeo Ryung turned the people around them into something like stone figures. Didn’t I
also give up my crush on him because of that cold and apathetic look?!
That was true. As I had mentioned it several times, when I was in middle school, I was captivated by the
thought that if I could have a romantic relationship with only one person in this novel, it could possibly
be Yeo Dan oppa.
However, it had been proven all were just bullshit over the past few years. Frankly speaking, it wasn’t
necessary to take years to reveal such a thing since I should have just given it up beforehand.
Geez… recalling that memory of middle school, I blushed in shame. At that time, I ran on all kinds of
errands in hopes of encountering or talking with Yeo Dan oppa at least once more.
Since I was the only child, I had to run on errands for my family, but if I complained about how annoying
it was to do it sometimes, my dad often helped me too. However, at that time, whenever I heard we had
something to share with next door, I quickly came out of my room, snatched the dish, and tried to visit
next door, but before that, I looked in the mirror and adjusted my hair while putting the food plate on
the ground, which made the food turn cold.
Sometimes, when I was on my way to the grocery store, I encountered Yeo Dan oppa once in a while. He
was also generous about foods around that time, so when I waited for him after going through the
cashier, he always handed me something like chocolate or lollipops.
I blushed once again, thinking, ‘Gosh, I was insane! I should have realized that it was just the same as
opening a can for a cute cat living next door.’
Those candies and chocolates I got from Yeo Dan oppa were too precious to eat that I put them in a box
and shoved it somewhere in my drawer.
‘Geez, I don’t know. I never saw it after entering high school… maybe it’s somewhere in this house. I’ll
take the courage to look for it later.’ Rambling the thoughts in mind, I heaved a deep sigh.
Anyway, my eccentric behavior lasted only until middle school; when I became a senior, I clearly gave up
on him. That was also when I turned lazy that my mom shouted at me a few times every day, ‘She was
so diligent in the past, but what happened to her now!’
However, although my heart once experienced frustration upon him, I wasn’t regarding Yeo Dan oppa as
a coldblooded, heartless fellow at all.
Come on, there wouldn’t be only me who had a crush on him. I wouldn’t be the only girl next door in
this apartment complex who had a secret crush on Yeo Dan oppa. Even though there weren’t many
families close to the Bans’ as much as we did, still, so many girls followed and worshipped Yeo Dan oppa
for years.
He, however, refused every one of them too. He didn’t even give them any snacks––although it was
natural since they didn’t have a close relationship with him like I did.
What happened in school then?
If anyone had heard the epic of his love and war history when Yeo Dan oppa was an upper grade in our
middle school, they would all shed tears.
No matter how intense it was, Yeo Dan oppa was even standing outside of the chaos that was caused by
him. I vaguely heard the rumor about five sunbaes, who were famous for their beautiful appearances,
fighting against each other while pulling each other’s hairs.
Watching those things, I thought it was a great choice that Yeo Dan oppa was going to boys’ high school
instead of a co-ed school for the peace of high school students in this neighborhood.
That Yeo Dan oppa, who became a legendary figure from being so apathetic, was now having something
romantic going on…!
It wasn’t confirmed, but I could tell that he was having a special feeling toward the owner of the letter
since he had been keeping it preciously in his backpack. That was why I also shared this story to Yeo
Ryung, so that she could get ready to accept her brother’s romance.
I rolled my eyes in silence. Recalling my shameful history, I blushed and stamped my feet repeatedly.
Meanwhile, Yeo Ryung sank her head on her chest and became wordless.
I quietly put my hand on her shoulder. Being hesitant for a second, I detached my lips.
“Um, Yeo Ryung… please don’t get too shattered since we aren’t sure if he’s going out with her or not…
I’m just telling you to get your heart ready.”
Speaking that way, I couldn’t calm down too because I never imagined Yeo Ryung would behave this
stirred up.
Yeo Dan oppa devoted himself to take care of Yeo Ryung that, sometimes, he looked like her slave, but
now I learned that Yeo Ryung was thinking about his brother as much as he did too. With that thought in
mind, I nodded my head.
‘However, that Yeo Dan oppa was going out with a girl without telling anything to his sister…’
I suddenly came up with a memory of middle school.
Looking at Yeo Dan oppa, I thought about how much I wanted to have a big brother for the first time.
‘As the only child, I’m even jealous about this conflict between a brother and sister…’ That was when I
showed a slight grin on my face while looking down at Yeo Ryung.
She suddenly lifted her head and shouted out loud, “We must save that person…!”
I wondered in bewilderment, “… Eh?”
Scowling at somewhere in the air, Yeo Ryung quickly turned around to look at me. She then said, “I
mean, how could she date my brother? Isn’t she an angel from heaven?”
“Um, excuse me…?”
Weren’t you shocked because of something else? While I thought that way, Yeo Ryung continued to
speak, shaking her head as if she felt distressed again.
“I’m sure that she must be dating oppa while knowing nothing about him! Because oppa is… he is…”
When Yeo Ryung dropped her gaze at the floor with teary eyes out of the blue, I swallowed my breath
over my throat in nervousness. Suddenly, a tense air prevailed in my room.
I just wanted to tell her about the existence of Yeo Dan oppa’s girlfriend, but was I getting to know
about his big secret suddenly in this situation? For the sake of courtesy or manner, should I say, ‘This is
enough?’ While I hesitated what to respond, Yeo Ryung’s outcry scattered to the air, at last.
“Oppa… he pours sauce over tangsuyuk!!”
“…”
Silence swept the space. I looked up at Yeo Ryung in a daze.

With tearful eyes, she turned aside and asked me, “That’s true, Donnie. Can you believe it? He didn’t
even ask me but just poured the sauce over tangsuyuk as soon as he grabbed it! How brutal he is!”
I replied blankly, “Oh, I see…”

Furrowing her forehead, Yeo Ryung spat out each word so heavily as if she was confessing a great
secret.
“And you know what? He… he adds soy sauce on a fried egg.”
“Oh, yeah,” replying again calmly, I wondered, ‘Wasn’t I having too many fantasies about the Bans’ just
as the kids in our school did?’
I also began to think about something out of the blue.
‘Thank god to be the only child!’
***
I was glad that Yeo Ryung wasn’t reacting so seriously than I expected, but aside from her reaction, the
fact that Yeo Dan oppa was dating someone kept bothering me. Even right now, when I was having a
class at school.
I didn’t have any lingering feelings toward the guy next door, whom I had a crush on before, at all.
NEVER EVER! It was just that I couldn’t help myself wanting to know who that lucky girl was!
Wow, Yeo Dan oppa’s date! Would she have long or short hair? Since Nam Gye High School was for boys
only, he wouldn’t be going out with someone in his school; thus, the girl would be a student outside.
Which school would she go then? She wouldn’t be a middle school student, would she? How would they
date? What kind of romantic things would they share?
It was English class. A bunch of script letters was written on the board; the teacher was reading some
boring English passage from the book. Being lost in my thought in that situation, I suddenly turned my
head to look outside the window.
The lights of the city filled the schoolyard, our school entrance, the streets in front of our building, and
the bus station. I was picturing Yeo Dan oppa and his girlfriend, who would be somewhere in those
spaces.
Maybe they were walking side by side around the schoolyard or passing the school entrance. They could
order some beverages in a café and share conversations while putting their hands on the table. They
might hold each other’s hands or read the lines of their palms once in a while.
‘Yeo Dan oppa has cold hands, so I hope his girlfriend’s hands are warm.’
Thinking to that extent, I shook my hand vigorously. Why was I being so nosy? I was nothing to him,
but… I clenched my fist.
So to speak, I felt like my virtual daughter, whom I was raising in the game ‘Princess Maker,’ had brought
her hubby-to-be out of the blue, which was very praiseworthy!
That was when I wiped out my tears inwardly while having those useless thoughts in my mind.
“… Oh! Donnie!”
A sudden voice that pierced through the noisy classroom made me quickly raise my head. I glanced
around and found out that the teacher’s desk, where our English teacher was giving a lecture just now,
was empty; two students, who were on weekly duty this week, were erasing the blackboard full of
letters.
Lee Mina, who just called me, plopped into the chair in front of me.
“Hey, you look so out of your mind these days. What’s up?”
“Huh? Oh, no, nothing. Um… but why?”
Mina then said with a triumphant smile, “You didn’t hear us talking about something since the break, did
you?”
“What? No.”
‘Not at all.’ Once I added that way, I suddenly met Yoon Jung In’s eyes, who were looking at me
nervously from behind Mina’s back. Rolling his eyes here and there, he soon frowned then stamped his
feet for some reason.
What was going on? I switched my gaze to Lee Mina again. Suddenly bursting into laughter, Lee Mina
grabbed my hand and asked, “Don’t you wanna go together then?”
I blinked swiftly, “Go together? Where?” Lee Mina then dropped a response, which made my jaw drop
onto the floor, “A group hangout!”
‘Wow…’ I repeated only that word for a while. Until she released my hand from hers, I couldn’t get out
of the shock the two words had given me.
I kept saying to myself, ‘Group hangout? A group hangout?!’ Suddenly, a scent of youth, which was
surging into me so intensely, seemed to prevail around me.
As soon as the word escaped from Mina’s mouth, a few kids dashed into us and sat down. They were
the kids who were mostly close to Lee Mina. I was just their classmate, but since our class was sharing
great teamwork, I was also having a good relationship with them.
A girl, who slightly pushed away Lee Mina’s butt to take her seat, tapped my arm and whined, “Come
on, let’s hang out together. Dude, the boys are from Nam Gye High School.”
Nam Gye High School? I gaped at the name that happened to pop out at the perfect timing. How could it
be Yeo Dan oppa’s school?
Another girl added in excitement, “That school is famous for having smart and handsome guys.
Especially, there’s the legendary guy in second grade…”
When I heard that part, I could easily guess what name would come out. There was only one person
known as legendary right in our upper grade. As soon as I had that thought in mind, the other kids
shouted simultaneously as if they were singing a trio, “Ban Yeo Dan!”
Their voices were so loud that other kids in the classroom looked into this direction at once. Throwing a
glance around me, I lowered my voice and said, “Um, guys…”
“Huh?”
I continued to ask hesitantly, “You guys aren’t telling me that Yeo Dan o… I mean, Ban Yeo Dan is also
joining the group hangout, are you?”
Flinging that question, I was concerned whether or not I should confess that Yeo Dan oppa had known
me for years. It meant that I had to tell them Yeo Ryung and Yeo Dan oppa were brothers and sisters.
I could tell from Lee Mina and other girls’ facial expressions that they had no idea about this part. Well,
they would grasp it immediately once they saw their faces, but Yeo Dan oppa was difficult to even see
walking around.
That was true. As soon as Lee Mina heard my question, she waved her hand in the air with a delightful
grin.
“What? Haha, come on!”
“Oh, yeah, I’m going too far, right?”
I heaved a sigh of relief. Yeo Dan oppa turned out to have a date recently, so he couldn’t be joining the
group hangout… It didn’t make sense at all. I shook my head.
Another kid continued, “If he hangs out with us, that’ll be so thankful, but he’s famous for being seldom
seen in the town. He doesn’t seem to take any private education outside the school. They say he goes
straight back home right after class.”
“I wish I could see his face at least once.”
“True. Wish he’s around the town more often.”
Listening to their conversations, Yeo Dan oppa seemed like a legendary Pokémon.
Once they finished talking, they suddenly diverted their gaze onto me. While I felt startled, Lee Mina
urged me, saying, “So, are you in or not? We’re going four-to-four, and the group is almost full. We only
need one more person.”
“Um… uh… hold on for a sec.”
She had gotten me spoilt for choice again. Thank goodness Yeo Dan oppa wasn’t hanging out together,
but aside from that, this event was still a concern.
That was because I was still accepting my life in this world as a part of the novel; therefore, I was
keeping somewhat a lukewarm relationship with my classmates at the level of not feeling discomfort. In
fact, I never hung out with other kids except for Ban Yeo Ryung and the Four Heavenly Kings.
However, I decided not to behave that way anymore.
I took a deep breath. That was when I tried to open my mouth to respond at last.
“What’s wrong? Is it because of Ruda?”
The name that suddenly popped out from Lee Mina’s mouth made me gasp. As soon as that happened,
an apathetic voice came out from beside me. What great timing!
“Me, why?”
Tossing a question that way, Ruda looked nonchalant. Unlike himself acting to show a sunny figure
during the first semester, Ruda was now behaving indifferent, which was his natural character.

Once he returned to school after the happening with Yi Jenny, Ruda became truer to himself as he said
how regretful he had been from not showing his true color.
If there was another thing that had changed, Ruda grew slightly taller. His slender physique back then
wasn’t from his female crossdresser character––shame on me for the misunderstanding, for real–– but
from his delayed growth period. He was now about 5 cm taller than before.
When I broke into the building, I was confused since our eye level seemed to slightly change, but during
the break, he had confronted an explosive growth phase.
‘And he might keep growing taller.’ Looking at his yet sleek neck, I concluded my thought, ‘Someday, his
Adam’s apple would also become prominent.’
At that moment, Ruda took his eyes off from Lee Mina and had them on me. I was surprised to face his
beautiful pupils, which still amazed me from time to time.
Smiling mischievously, Mina uttered, “Dude, this is possible because we’re freshmen. If we’re in the
second year in high school, we would be suffocating since only a year is left until the college entrance
exam.”
That was also true. I nodded my head.
Yeo Dan oppa was acting too bold to skip and avoid the after school self-studying session even though
only a year was left until the college entrance exam. Unlike him, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy freedom
afterward as we did before.
Switching her gaze to me, Mina grabbed my hands and continued, “So, let’s go there together. I want to
join the group hangout with you. You know we never hung out before.”
“Um, yeah, you’re right.”
As soon as I replied that way, Lee Mina stopped flaunting a grin. She diverted her gaze back onto Ruda.
It made him flinch the corners of his eyes; however, Ruda soon blurted out with a nonchalant smile,
“Why are you looking me like that?”
“Hey, don’t you dare to disturb Donnie joining the hangout.”
Mina warned him so severely that even I was feeling ashamed. Ruda also slightly blushed. After a
moment, he returned to his usual look and replied while taking a step back.
“… What if I refuse that?”
“Gosh, I knew he would respond that way! Catch him!”
Before I was about to say something, the girls, who were probably joining the group hangout with me,
dashed into Ruda and grabbed his arms or poked his side.
However, Ruda wouldn’t let them attack him unless if it was during the first semester. He had
determined to be honest with everything and show his true colors after the second semester.
Unfortunately, Ruda’s abnormal, athletic ability was also included in the part that he decided to become
straightforward.
Within a few minutes, the girls, who got hit on their foreheads, stepped back with sobs.
“You’re so mean! Ruda, you’ve changed too much!”
“So, do you hate me now?”
Looking at Ruda, who asked that way while suddenly making a sad face, I was filled with amazement.
‘Wow, but his skill of using his face and voice to manipulate other people hasn’t changed,’ I thought. In
other words, he still had the ability to make others listen to what he wanted to do.
The kids, who tackled at Ruda with all their strengths just now, backed off hesitantly as if they were
feeling guilty. Exchanging eye contact with each other, they soon spoke to Ruda, “Um, not at all… I
mean, geez, why are you being so serious about what we just said?”
“Yeah, I’m so embarrassed.”
Being surrounded by the girls, who tried to comfort him, Ruda suddenly turned around to look in this
direction with a swiveling grin. He then flung a question while striding toward this side, which
bewildered me.
“Donnie, are you really joining the group hangout?”
“Huh? Um…”
Rolling my eyes, I slurred the end of my words.
I was about to express my opinion clearly just now but watching Ruda looking at me with those eyes, I
couldn’t articulate my response properly in my head.
Lee Mina, who sat across me, flared up again, “Hey, Yi Ruda, I told you not to do that sad-cat-eyes!”
“What’s so bad about using my skill?”
“Geez, Yi Ruda suddenly turned mean after the break.”
While Lee Mina grumbled that way, Ruda’s blue eyes were on me again.
That was when I evaded any definite answer. Someone, who popped out from behind, put his arm on
my shoulder. I looked back.
“Yoon Jung In?”
“Why are you here again?”
While Lee Mina furrowed one side of her brows, Yoon Jung In raised his hand and spoke in his usual,
confident attitude.
“Hey, why do you want to join the group hangout? That’s lame, don’t go.”
As he insisted that way, every eye was bent on him in a flash. While everyone around him gaped at what
he just said, my jaw also dropped onto the floor.
I stared at Yoon Jung In, who was standing beside me, wondering, ‘Did he already have been to a group
hangout?’
Well… I recalled something that happened during the first semester. At that time, most of us were new
to high school, so we often met our friends in middle school. Thus, it was common to introduce our
middle school friends to our new classmates in high school.
For instance, when only one person from a group went to a different high school, the person gathered
his or her middle school friends to make new friends, which was easier to make more personal
connections.
For that reason, those who went to different schools often hung out in downtown, which turned out
into a group hangout or group dating sometimes.
Yoon Jung In might have joined one of those events. He was surely a social butterfly, which wasn’t that
surprising at all now.
Other kids became more excited than me that they flung questions randomly.
“Hey, have you ever been to a group hangout? Really? With whom?”
Sweeping back his black hair nonchalantly, Yoon Jung In replied, “Oh, um, Ilsang High School.”
“Shut up! Are you sure?”
“You’re always one step ahead of us.”
Listening to words of exclamation showering from all directions, I realized that the name of the school
sounded familiar. I repeated the name in my mouth.
‘Oh…’ That was when I came up with what the bullies, who were beating Ban Hwee Hyul in the alley,
said a few days ago. They talked about someone from Ilsang High School although I couldn’t remember
the name of the person.
I suddenly displayed a look of sorrow while thinking, ‘… Are they still alive? Those bastards…?’ While I
was lost in thought, Lee Mina and Yoon Jung In were having noisy conversations in front of me.
“Ilsang High School? How lucky you are! That school is famous for having a lot of pretty girls.”
“Did you have fun?”

Rolling his eyes at the question, Yoon Jung In replied, “I don’t think so. Well, the girls were all pretty, but
it’s better hanging out with you guys.”
There was soon widespread criticism pouring out to him.
‘Such a lucky asshole! That’s why you still don’t have a girlfriend…’ Among those jealous approaches
against him, there was particularly a clear voice.
“Dude, what matters is who’s joining that event instead of how exciting it is, isn’t it?”
“Hey, who said that just now? That’s really a meaningful quote.”
“Yeah, we should note that down.”
That was when some kids made a great fuss about that while others were laughing intensely. A person’s
remark suddenly paused the noisy air.
“Hey, but although they’re from Nam Gye High School, aren’t there anyone who’s more handsome than
Yoon Jung In?”
“…”
Sometimes, there was a moment when it suddenly turned silent during the break or lunchtime
as if someone had turned off the speaker. That was happening right now. Usually, there wasn’t any
specific reason for that thing to take place, but now it was a little different; a reason existed for this
sudden silence.
After a moment, everyone raised their eyes and began to scowl at the boy, who just dropped that
remark. Those staring their eyes out fiercely were mostly the girls.
The boy, who had talked just now, took a step back out of perplexity.
“Um, doesn’t Yoon Jung In look handsome?”
“What does Yoon Jung In’s handsome appearance have to do with us joining the group hangout?”
While Lee Mina tossed the question with an apathetic look on her face, I found Yoon Jung In’s ears
turning surprisingly red through his black hair.
I blew a whistle inwardly while thinking, ‘Yoon Jung In, you get embarrassed when you hear that you’re
handsome.’
I wasn’t the only one who noticed that. The kids around Yoon Jung In soon put their hands in his collar
frivolously and asked, ‘Dude, your neck is almost on fire. Aren’t you having a fever?’
Yoon Jung In blushed up to his neck just like what they said. Running backward, he yelled, “Handsome
appearance? What the heck is that?”

“Dude, you bragged about yourself when you were hosting at the retreat last time. I can’t get used to
you acting like normal now.”
“True, I thought you had an overinflated ego.”
While everyone threw a remark one after another, Lee Mina’s determined words intervened in the
noise. I turned my head into that direction.
“Hey, let’s get real. Yoon Jung In does look handsome. He is, but does any of you get fluttered while
looking at Yoon Jung In?”
Another round of silence swept the space. I expressed my condolences to Yoon Jung In in my mind.
‘Geez, Yoon Jung In… you joined the conversation just once, but the arrow suddenly turned and was
now aiming at you.’
However, how did the story go into this direction? While I wondered since when it began, Yoon Jung In
spoke in a slightly tragic voice.
“Guys, aren’t you being too harsh?”
“Why? I admitted that you look good, but that has nothing to do with any romantic feelings.”
“What?”
Somehow, a new story was about to begin. With my chin on my palm, I listened carefully to Lee Mina.
Catching everyone’s attention, she declared boldly, “There must be something mysterious or enchanting
to build chemistry between a man and a woman.”
‘Something mysterious or enchanting…’ I murmured. Meanwhile, Yoon Jung In slightly furrowed his dark
eyebrows. He asked bluntly, “Then, I don’t have any mysterious or enchanting ‘something.’ Is that what
you’re trying to say?”
“Do I have to repeat that again?” replied Lee Mina.
Yoon Jung In pouted his mouth sulkily. Pointing his chin at the class, he asked, “Hey, honestly, do you
think there’s anyone in class you can fantasize on?”
As soon as he flung that question, the kids began to look in the same direction at once. Likewise, I
turned my head to that side and understood what they meant.
There sat Shin Suh Hyun reading a book with a purple cover. He told us––especially Yoon Jung In––
earlier not to bother him during the break as if he found an interesting book after a while.
Watching him flipping the page cautiously, I turned my head after Lee Mina. Near the window, the Kim
twins were having a heated discussion about something academic. As they debated about molecular
binding or something like that, it seemed to be what they had learned during the education for the
gifted children recently.
While another round of silence swept the space, Yoon Jung In opened his mouth.
“Isn’t it too harsh for me to defeat them with a mysterious or enchanting aura?”
‘Very true,’ while I murmured to myself, Lee Mina rested her chin on her palm and continued her
remark apathetically.
“Who said to you to defeat them? I just wanted to let you know the truth.”
Speaking that way, Lee Mina lifted her forefinger.
“The truth that we are likely to get attracted to other guys in the group hangout than you, Mr.
Handsome, whom we’ve known for such a long time.”
Yoon Jung In grumbled again, “Gosh, how come you’re using that metaphor?”
“Then why would Donnie join the hangout?”
Eh? The conversation suddenly included me in the topic, so I raised my head in bewilderment.
Once I lifted my head, I found everyone’s eyes bent on me. I seemed to get cold sweats on my neck. Lee
Mina’s words kept on.
“Donnie is close to the Four Heavenly Kings. She and those guys have known for years. If we aren’t
gonna join the group hangout because Yoon Jung In is handsome, Donnie has no reason to attend this
event since she won’t get fluttered to no matter who she meets.”
“Oh, that makes sense.”
“Thus, gathering with those who want to build chemistry and those who don’t want to is completely
different in the first place.”
‘Hmm, fantasize… something mysterious or enchanting…’

Murmuring those words to myself after the conversation, I startled when Lee Mina diverted her gaze
back onto me.
Lowering her head to my side, she dropped a question with a refreshing smile as if she had never
blamed Yoon Jung In so savagely just now.
“So my question is, Donnie, you’re in, right? Come on, if there’s any weirdo, we’re leaving right away.”
“Um… I…” Scratching the back of my head in embarrassment, I uttered, “I… can’t join it.”
It was a decision that was quite irrelevant to the conversation just now which went on to persuade me.
Lee Mina and other kids looked at me in wonder. Showing her perplexed feelings on her face, Lee Mina
asked, “Eh? Why?”
“Um, nothing special, but it’s just that you know I’m very shy than I look. Besides, I’m afraid I would
mess up the good vibe because I’m not that funny.”
As I replied that way while rubbing my cheek, Lee Mina squinted her eyes.
“Why are you caring about such a thing?”
Once she responded like that, kids agreed with her, saying, ‘Yeah, don’t mind. Who cares if you’re funny
or not?’
Hmm, but… I threw a glance at Yoon Jung In. If someone like Yoon Jung In was joining the event, I wasn’t
sure whether or not I could follow the heated atmosphere.
Above all, the problem was I had no thoughts about having a boyfriend. If I attended the hangout while
having this state of mind and discouraged the kids, who wanted to go out with a girl, that would be also
something I would feel very sorry about.
Smiling awkwardly, I continued, “Just let me know when only you guys are hanging out next time. I want
to hang out with you all outside the school.”
“Oh, really? If you can, we would love to.”
As if my participation in the group hangout didn’t really matter, Lee Mina put a swiveling smile again
and began to bring in other people on the spot.
‘Who wants to come join then?’
‘Which boys in Nam Gye High School are coming?’
‘The kids from my cram school…”
Listening to their conversations, I suddenly lifted my head and said, “Um, Mina?”
“Huh?”
“If you’re okay, would you tell me about your cram school later? I’m looking for a prep class,” I said with
a grin.
Although I had studied in the library during the break, the result of my September mock exam didn’t
reach my expectations. Maybe because other kids also studied hard while taking prep classes or tutoring
sessions during the break. Especially, those who went to cram schools said that they took classes from
early in the morning to late at night. I couldn’t study for that amount of time by myself, so I had been
thinking lately it might be better to find and take some prep classes.
Opening her eyes wide at my question, Mina soon nodded her head. She then hunched her shoulders
and giggled, “You’ll then meet all the boys joining the group hangout because they are all from my cram
school.”
“Oh, really?”
“Uh-huh, I’ll introduce them next time.”
If it wasn’t a group blind date or something like that, I was utterly fine. With a nod, I went back to my
seat when the bell rang to announce the beginning of the next class.
Taking out the textbook and flipping over to the page that we were learning today, I noticed someone
gazing in this direction from a distance. Once I lifted my head, I found that it was Ruda.
He was staring with me with a look of huge satisfaction.
***
That day, I was with Eun Jiho on my way home.
Ever since Ban Yeo Ryung and I got kidnapped, Eun Jiho tried to give us a ride back home almost every
day if he didn’t have any schedule. Jooin was with us sometimes but not always.
While we shared some silly jokes as we usually did, I suddenly uttered, “Oh, I forgot to tell you that I was
almost about to join a group hangout today.”
At my words, Ban Yeo Ryung straightened up herself like a spring while asking me, “What? What did you
just say?!”
Eun Jiho, who was sitting across us, also looked surprised. He stared at my face with his eyes wide open
then suddenly sat straight and said, “Dude, that’s surprising. Don’t they know you’re very shy?”
“They do, but maybe they have no idea that I’m severely shy.”
“Really? How can’t they don’t get that when you can’t speak well and even tremble?”
Speaking that way, Eun Jiho leaned the bottle he just took out and tried to pour water in the cup. At that
moment, Ban Yeo Ryung, who was looking at Eun Jiho’s action suspiciously, detached her lips.
“Hmm, hey, Eun Jiho.”
Her voice sounded very cautious. Switching his gaze to her, Eun Jiho asked with a calm look as usual,
“Why?”
“Are your pants craving water?”
“What? Oh, shoot!”
Eun Jiho quickly took out some napkins and began to wipe out the water dripped on his pants.
Both Ban Yeo Ryung and I watched his reaction in bewilderment. How could he not notice at all that he
was pouring the water on his thigh while having that usual, nonchalant look?

That was when Ban Yeo Ryung leaned herself toward me and asked, “Donnie, so what did you respond?
You ain’t going there, right? Are you??”
‘Please don’t join something like that!’ Looking at Ban Yeo Ryung almost begging me not to go while
grabbing my hands, I slightly burst into laughter. Sweeping her beautiful, smooth black hair, I uttered,
“Why would I go there? I would mess up the good vibe.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t talk that way! But I’m glad that you aren’t going there.”
Yeo Ryung linked her arms to mine and smiled delightfully while leaning on my shoulder.
I stared at her with a grin. Anyway, one of the reasons that I wasn’t joining the hangout was that if I
turned out to have a boyfriend, I would have less time to spend with Yeo Ryung and other friends. I
wasn’t hanging out with them often these days. Besides, if I began to take prep classes at a cram school,
I wouldn’t be getting along with these kids. Thus, having a boyfriend had nothing to do with me.
Now I had come to think of it, something flashed through my head.
I turned my head again and looked at Eun Jiho.
.
Eun Jiho was frowning at his pants, which was stained dark gray with water. ‘Thank goodness it was just
water,’ murmuring that way to myself, I took a closer look at Eun Jiho from head to toe for the first time
in a long time.
His seamless, silver hair dazzled like a soft fur; his clear black eyes under that hair suddenly directed on
me. Taking off the wet napkins clinging on his hand and putting them in the garbage one after another,
Eun Jiho asked, “Why are you looking at me?”
“Oh, um…”
I slowly confessed the things that happened in my class today: the conversation that went between Lee
Mina and Yoon Jung In, the need for fantasy to build chemistry between man and woman, and the story
about how hard it was to bring romance into long years of friendship.
Listening to my words quietly, Eun Jiho detached his lips, at last.
“So, you’ve just checked if you get fluttered or not while looking at me. Is that what you did just now?”
Rolling my eyes, I replied, “Well, um… not really, but…”
“Is it yes or no?” Asking me that way, Eun Jiho gently pinched my cheek but soon got smashed on his
hand by Yeo Ryung for doing such a thing.
‘Geez, woman!’ Grumbling for a second, Eun Jiho rubbed his hand and uttered, “But although there’s
this long-term friendship, fantasy or something captivating can still last. We don’t know every aspect of
the person you know.”
“Huh?”
I opened my eyes wide. Switching his gaze to somewhere in the air, Eun Jiho continued, “Such as Woo
Jooin.”
“Oh…”
Not only me but also Yeo Ryung nodded at his response. Tapping his temple with his finger, Eun Jiho
kept on speaking, “I have known him for such a long time but still don’t get him yet.”
“Oh, that’s so true although it sounds a little away from what we call fantasy.”
While Yeo Ryung also voiced out some words of agreement, I, who was lost in thought, opened my
mouth out of the blue.
“So does Eun Hyung. I also don’t get Eun Hyung yet.”
“Oh, Eun Hyung…” Murmuring the name, Yeo Ryung’s black eyes subdued for a moment.
Recalling the Hanwool Group anniversary party, I realized that Eun Hyung behaved slightly differently to
Yeo Ryung compared to the past; however, when we were all together, that attitude wasn’t so
noticeable since Eun Hyung acted the same as before.
While I tilted my head in wonder for a few seconds, Yeo Ryung spoke convincingly, “Right. I also couldn’t
get Eun Hyung that well.”
“True.”
“And Yoo Chun Young.”
What she just said so determinedly made me burst into laughter for a moment. I wondered why she
didn’t bring out Yoo Chun Young into her response until now.
Eun Jiho, who was observing the look on my face, soon giggled and said, “I don’t think we’ll ever know
him. He’s just a man of mystery, isn’t it?”
“Very true.”
The moment when I agreed upon his response, the car pulled over in front of our apartment. With a
giggle, Yeo Ryung opened the door. That was when I got out of the car with a smile after her. I heard a
voice from behind me. I looked back.
“And you…”
“Huh?”
“My fantasy.”
I paused my step for a second. Meanwhile, Eun Jiho suddenly stretched out his hand and adjusted my
disheveled hair. Drawing my hair back over my ear, he gently pressed my forehead out of the blue.
“Ouch,” I groaned in a low voice.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“What did I do?”
While I tossed a question that way, Eun Jiho already got back into the car.
Scowling at Eun Jiho waving his hand to us, I rubbed my forehead and slammed the door. That was
when I soon realized how expensive that car was, which made me hunch my shoulders.
‘I didn’t scratch it, did I?’ Glancing at the vehicle with worries, I found Yeo Ryung approaching me. She
asked, “Why are you standing like that, Donnie? Did he say something to you?”
“Huh? Um, no…”
Rubbing my forehead again, I slowly bent my steps. Once I looked back again, the car was already gone
from my sight.
That weekend, I was about to spend time studying.
Recently, I took the nationwide September mock exam; the next nationwide test was in November, but
our school made us take other mock tests, so we had those exams almost every month.
If someone asked me about my results of the nationwide September mock exam, I would say I utterly
screwed up since the test was right after a week from the time I rescued Ruda with Lucas.
Therefore, I couldn’t blame myself that I wasn’t academically good; I wasn’t able to do my best on taking
the test since I got sick from running around the whole twenty-story building.
What happened to Yeo Ryung or Ruda then? It was such a lame question.
Yeo Ryung would, of course, never get sick even if the Reed building was sixty-three stories high. Ruda,
on the other hand, got the tenth highest score in the mock test, which he took as soon as he returned to
school. The break he had seemed like nothing to him.
Well, I couldn’t help. Once the alarm rang at nine in the morning, I got straight up from bed, sat at the
desk, did my best to keep myself motivated, and grabbed the pencil to study.
Although these kids were way above me in test scores, which looked somehow quite effortless, it didn’t
become a reason for me to not work hard. Repeating some self-motivating words, I opened the
workbook.
The house was deadly quiet since it was Saturday morning. Even if I left the door open, no sound came
from the living room. Only the birds chirped through the window above my desk.
‘Oh, no…’ Moving my neck into different directions, I tried to wake myself up and flipped the page of the
workbook. The tip of my pencil, which was righting down some mathematical formula on the notebook,
slipped long.
I gave a big yawn in the end. Rubbing my eyes, I murmured, “Gosh, was it too harsh to study in the
morning during the weekend…?” I carefully looked through my study planner.
According to what I listed down on it last night, today I had to go through one round of every subject
test: Korean, English, and Science… If those were what I was supposed to do in a day, it seemed okay to
have lunch and work on them after one o’clock.
I, eventually, changed my mind to enjoy the weekend morning in my bed. It was a dangerous world out
there, especially during the weekend. Thus, I should stay safe inside my comforter for now.
That was when I tried to throw myself into the bed while laughing in delight from taking a nap. My
phone on my desk began to vibrate so loudly.
RRRRR––Looking at the phone rotating half-way with noise, I quickly snatched it and said, “Hello?”
[Donnie! I’m glad you’ve answered the phone. Thank goodness!]
It was from Lee Mina. Her voice sounded very relieved, which made me wonder why.
There weren’t any assignments for the weekend. Thus, did something happened in our class in the
meantime? Except for that thing, I couldn’t come up with any reasons that made her call me so urgently.
Lee Mina’s desperate voice continued.
[Donnie, are you busy right now? Do you have anything going on today?]
“Huh? Um, no, not really…”
[Wow, you made my day!]

Eh? Feeling confused, I was soon startled at her following words.
[Donnie, then don’t you want to join the group hangout?]
No one was beside me, but I glanced at both sides then asked back while pulling myself together,
“What?”
[The group blind date! I told you about this on Thursday! One person just canceled it, and we can’t go
there without balancing the gender ratio. That’s why I’m asking you.]
Oh, that made sense. Since it sounded quite understandable, I heaved a sigh.
If the gender ratio didn’t match in this group hangout, one person from the other side couldn’t actively
participate in the blind date, so he would feel very bewildered.
With a grimace, I scratched my forehead while looking at the workbook. After a while, I sighed and
replied, “Okay, fine. What time and where are we meeting then?”
Mina’s voice perceptively brightened.

[Wow, you really made my day, Donnie. I can’t thank you enough. Let me buy you something at the
cafeteria next time.]
Having my phone between my shoulder and ear, I leaned myself toward the desk and wrote down the
gathering time and place in the notebook: at noon, in front of Twosome Place near Wangsimni station.
Suddenly, I came up with some silly thought.
‘Twosome Place? A place to have something going on between the two?’
Hmm… if Eun Jiho or other kids were beside me, they would have sighed upon my bad joke. Shaking my
head, I put my phone down and opened the closet.
“Oh, lord!”
I didn’t have any suitable outfits for this event since I preferred just comfy clothes and had no place to
dress up and attend. Home, school, library, home, school, and library… that was my everyday routine.
Thus, only casual outfits like hoodies or t-shirts took up my closet.
Well, since the other side, who was joining this group hangout, were also high school students, they
wouldn’t dress up too fancily too. Still, there was something called a ‘manner.’
Pressing my temples for a while, I finally decided to call a savior for this kind of situation. Instead of
texting a message, I just gave a call. Within a few beeping, a clear voice came through the phone.
[Hello?]
Ban Yeo Ryung, she was indeed the most thorough morning person whom I had ever known. With an
exclamation, I asked, “Yeo Ryung, do you have any suitable outfits to go outside? Not hoodies, but um…
at least like a blouse or something like that.”
[Yeah, my auntie gave me a few outfits recently. Come over to my house and check if they’re okay.]
“Oh, sounds cool. I’ll come over right away.”
Making an immediate response, I went straight to the shoe rack and wore my flip flops. Her question
returned.
[But why all of a sudden? If you’re going to the library, wouldn’t some comfy clothes more suitable?]
“Oh, that’s because… you know I told you about the group hangout thing in Eun Jiho’s car a few days
ago.”
[Uh-huh.]
“I happened to join that event.”

At that moment, Ban Yeo Ryung seemed to breathe hard then suddenly the call got disconnected. Eh?
“Hello? Hello??”
Saying that on the phone for about a few times, I decided to give up since she was living next door.
I knocked a few times on the familiar sky-blue iron door, but for some reason, there wasn’t any
response, so I decided to just enter the password to get in. Yeo Ryung’s family was already aware that I
knew their entrance password. Besides, all the Bans were morning people; therefore, they would have
all waken up from bed now.
Once I entered the password numbers, the door got unlocked with a cheerful beep. That was when I
tried to pull the doorknob. The door didn’t get open.
Eh? I pulled the doorknob again with a frown. ‘Strange, I heard the unlocking sound just now,’ having
that thought in mind, I suddenly uttered, “Ban Yeo Ryung… are you there?”
“No!!”
I gasped at her immediate response. Feeling bewildered, I replied, “Hey, who answers back, ‘No,’ when
you aren’t there?!”
“I don’t care! Anyway, there’s no such person like that in here!!”
What the heck was she talking about?! I shouted back, “Open the door!”
“Liar! You said you wouldn’t join the group blind date!!”
“What?!”
My jaw dropped onto the floor while thinking, ‘Is that why you aren’t opening the door right now?’
However, I couldn’t show up at the group hangout with hoodies or t-shirts on. That was too sorry for
Mina!
Meanwhile, the door got locked up again. My mind started racing that I knocked on the door and said,
“Come on, Yeo Ryung! I wasn’t trying to join that thing, but they say they need someone to replace the
person who canceled to show up! I was too sorry to tell someone on the opposite side to just go back
home, so that’s why I decided to join that event! Please, open this door!”
“Sob, sob… No, you betrayer!”
“Oh, come on… you don’t have to call me a betrayer!”

Her argument kept on for a while but came to an end once her parents intervened in this situation.
Losing strength to even cope with her, I just panted in perplexity while leaning on the iron door.
Suddenly, the door opened with a beep. Taking a few steps back with the open door, I raised my head.
“… What are you guys doing here?”
Ban Yeo Ryung’s parents, who got interrupted their peace during the weekend, showed a look of
bewilderment on their faces.
***
“You guys are now freshmen in high school, so no more fights!”
Scolding us that way, Ban Yeo Ryung’s parents barely understood what happened between us as we
strictly denied that we weren’t fighting at all.
Her mother heaved a sigh while folding her arms.
“I thought you guys were having a big fight like back in the days. Yeo Ryung was clinging to the door like
a cicada and wasn’t trying to get off.”
“Oh, I see, but we weren’t fighting at all,” I replied while glancing at Yeo Ryung in amazement.
The door didn’t move at all, so I wondered if I put in the wrong password or if the unlocking sound was a
hallucination. However, that happened purely from Ban Yeo Ryung’s mighty force, right? Anyway, she
was as strong as Hercules.
Being filled with admiration, I looked at her facial expression. My eyes widened. Yeo Ryung was just
looking down at the floor while biting her lips tight out of the blue.
Wondering what was going on with her, I soon realized something.
Her mother just said, ‘I thought you guys were having a big fight like back in the days.’
That was when I came up with the memory of Yeo Ryung’s attitude, the way she treated me when I first
fell into this world as a freshman in middle school.
Only Yeo Dan oppa knew about the incident with Baek Yeo Min, which happened around that time, so if
we had a big fight that both of our parents remembered, it would be probably during that period.
While I was lost in thought, Yeo Ryung’s mother, who left us at the spot and headed to the kitchen,
brought us some juice.
“Oh, thank you.”

As I replied that way and her mother left the space, the awkward silence surrounded us again. Ban Yeo
Ryung, in front of me, was scowling at the cup of orange juice with a swollen face. I carefully detached
my lips.
“Um, hey…”
Yeo Ryung suddenly opened her mouth.
“Which school are you hanging out with?”
“Huh? Oh, um, Nam Gye High School.”
Before I tried to ask her why, Yeo Ryung, who was fixing her gaze at the cup of orange juice for quite a
while, showed a determined look then got up from her seat.
“Before this orange juice cools down, I’ll go get rid of them.”
“Chill, Ban Yeo Ryung, and this is a cold juice.”
If she was born during the Three Kingdoms Period, she would have defeated Guan Yu.
Anyway, after a series of conversations, Ban Yeo Ryung opened up her closet while pretending to weep.
As expected, her closet was full of clothes that her relatives had given her. However, Ban Yeo Ryung
wore only a few from the pile of outfits.
Ransacking her wardrobe, I opened my mouth as something flashed through my mind.
“Where’s Yeo Dan oppa? I don’t see him today. He usually doesn’t go outside during the weekend and
isn’t even studying at the library.”
My voice was buried through the wooden wardrobe. Looking at me with her arms crossed, Yeo Ryung
replied unhappily, “Oppa? He went outside early in the morning to help his friends with studying.”
“Really? How come?”
When thinking about his grades or test scores, it wasn’t surprising at all that he was helping his friends
with studying. What mattered was his personality, which was far from taking care of others, even his
friends.
Well, even I wondered if he would help me with some academic things when I asked him for that stuff.
Besides, Yeo Dan oppa became more relentless to those who were close to him.

Ban Yeo Ryung replied, “He said he lost a bet.”
“Oh, so that’s what happened.”

Nodding my head, I picked up a checked blouse and put it under my face. Turning around, I asked, “Yeo
Ryung, how does this one look?”
“You look too pretty.”
“Nah, only you’re thinking that way.”
Anyway, I tried wearing about five clothes and drew a conclusion, ‘Hmm, Ban Yeo Ryung… you aren’t
helpful at all when choosing what to wear.’
I, eventually, took a picture and attached it to the text message.
[To: Kwon Eun Hyung
Eun Hyung, which one looks the best?]
Eun Hyung, who was also the most morning person I had ever known, sent me an immediate response.
[Sent by: Kwon Eun Hyung
All of them look good. Lol]
Hmm, he also wasn’t that helpful. While I thought that way, another message arrived.
Where are you going?]
[To: Kwon Eun Hyung
Oh lol My classmate asked me for help, so I’m joining a group hangout!]
Hesitating for a second, I added a few more words.
[To: Kwon Eun Hyung
I’m not expecting something big, but just filling in for someone lol I won’t get blamed, right? Sad face]
There wasn’t any response for a while.

Hmm… Tilting my head in wonder, I put my phone down and tried wearing the clothes again then picked
up one, at last. It was a red-brown blouse with fallen leaves and red fruit patterns on.
‘Let’s pair a jean on the bottom and wear a lightweight cardigan on top.’ That was when I murmured
those words and hung the hanger on my arm. My phone rang again.
Lol Why would you get blamed? If someone dares to do that, I’ll]
There wasn’t any response again.
I stared at my phone screen for quite a while. Eun Hyung always finished a sentence along with a proper
punctuation mark. Thus, he seldom sent any incomplete messages.
‘Eun Hyung?’ When I called his name inwardly, his response arrived.
What about wearing something more casual?]
[To: Kwon Eun Hyung
Oh, it’s fine. I already chose what to wear.]
Lol… Okay…]
What was he trying to leave behind that ellipsis mark? Having that question in mind, I checked the time
and gasped.
‘I’ve been spending almost an hour just choosing an outfit! No, specifically, I spent half an hour from
that time quarreling with Ban Yeo Ryung behind the door…’ Turning around, I uttered, “Yeo Ryung, I
don’t have much time left until that group hangout, so I’m leaving! I’ll dry clean your clothes and return
them to you. See you later in the evening.”
“Don’t go, Donnie.”
“Oh, come on. Nothing’s gonna happen to me. I won’t get any boyfriend from this event, will I?”
‘It won’t happen,’ adding a few more words, I headed to the shoe rack.
She didn’t have to bid farewell to me, but since she followed me to the front door, I gently patted her
cheek and bowed politely to her parents. Once I stepped outside, my phone rang. I answered the call.
“Hello? Eun Hyung?”
[Oh, Donnie.]
Eun Hyung’s voice sounded warm as usual. ‘I’m getting quite a lot of calls today,’ with that thought in
mind, I tossed him a question.
“What’s up?”
[Um, I just want to hand you out a list of people to beware…]
“Huh?” I asked him with a clumsy smile. For some reason, I can’t stop imagining ominous things.
***
When I finally arrived at Twosome Place in Wangsimni on time, my mind was almost worn out. Gasping
hard for no reason, I murmured, ‘Geez, Eun Hyung, how can you name about a hundred people for me
to beware?’ There would be about a thousand students in Nam Gye High School; thus, it was the same
as telling me to beware ten percent of them!
He tried to name more, but I asked him to stop. I heard him listing names while putting on my makeup,
coming out of my house, and even until I arrived here. I didn’t have any excuses, so I couldn’t tell him to
hang up the phone. If I did that, Eun Hyung seemed to take some action for some reason.
Other people had no problem joining a group blind date, but why was I experiencing difficulties even in
the preparation step? Taking a deep breath, I raised my head when someone called me all of a sudden.
“Oh, Donnie. Thank god you’re here!”
The person, who walked across the weekend crowds and approached me, was Lee Mina.
‘Wow,’ emitting a whoop, I looked at her from head to toe with eyes wide open.
She always had a ponytail at school, but her long and radiant black hair was now swaying around her
back. Now I had come to think of it, Lee Mina had really dark hair.
Wearing check patterned purple blouse, gray pants, and black short boots, she naturally linked her arms
to mine and pulled me to the door.
“What are you doing outside? Are you embarrassed? Come on, let’s get in.”
“Uh, yeah.”
The café door gently opened and closed.

Mina didn’t look nervous at all having a group hangout ahead. Well, did she say the boys were from the
same cram school she went to? Bending her steps on the black tiled floor, Lee Mina continued to speak
without hesitation.
“You look so pretty today, huh? Everyone’s really nice, so don’t worry too much.”
“Oh, um, yeah…” I smiled awkwardly.
Before joining this event, I was concerned about a lot of things; however, once I went through such
difficulties with Ban Yeo Ryung and Eun Hyung, nothing in this world felt scary to me…
Mina’s following words then made me quickly raise my head.
“Oh, one person is a stranger to me. He’s filling in one of his sides.”
“A sub?”
“Yeah, just like you,” replied Mina while nodding her head. “I was told that he’s in his second year in
Nam Gye High School, but I never heard his name. Even if I did, I would still have no idea since he isn’t in
my cram school…” Speaking that way, Mina directed her eyes on somewhere and stopped talking out of
the blue.
I asked her, ‘Mina?’ and turned my head in the direction where she was looking at.
A group of boys was waving their hands awkwardly at us to say hi. As if they had arrived here earlier and
already took their seats, I also found the girls from our class sitting across the boys. However, the
person, who caught my attention, was someone else.
His outfit looked as if he didn’t want to stand out. He was wearing a black coat and a comfortable
looking white t-shirt on top. On the bottom, he wore jeans and a pair of sneakers, which belonged to the
outfit when going to the grocery store. Even he pulled his black beanie right over his eyes.
Still, his aura overwhelmed the entire space inside the cafe. Just as I expected, I could tell that people
around him were all throwing a glance only in his direction.
Dropping his gaze under the table as if he felt uncomfortable, he suddenly raised his eyes then opened
them wide. I found that his familiar, black eyes were focused on me.
‘Why is he here?’ I murmured to myself. Even if he was in a very comfy outfit, Yeo Dan oppa looked
damn gorgeous.
Scanning myself from head to toe, I heaved a sigh. I tried my best to look good, but once I saw him, I
quickly felt kind of cheap. He was only a year older than me; however, he emitted a mature vibe
probably because of his height, appearance, or mental age.
When we came close and sat down, the boys tapped the table and said, “Hey, why are you guys running
late? Something very interesting happened earlier. It was insane.”
Gawking at Yeo Dan oppa for a while, Lee Mina shook her head and pulled herself together, at last. She
asked back, “Something very interesting? What’s that?”
“Have we been sitting here for about ten minutes? Guess how many college girls came by to our table.”
“I don’t know. How many?”
“Twelve! Can you believe that?”

Lee Mina quickly shouted in astonishment, “Did you say twelve?!”
I was also startled to hear what they just said. Feeling some distance as deep as a precipice between me
and him, I moved my body back defensively. Although we would say hi to each other every morning, Yeo
Dan oppa seemed very distant right now.
The boys continued to speak.
“He told them he’s in high school, but none of them believed that although they obviously noticed that
we were high school students.”
That was quite a common sight when being together with the Bans. Still, I never thought that even
college girls would flirt on Yeo Dan oppa. Well, looking at his overall appearance right now, I couldn’t
help but understand that though…
The boys told her to sit in front of them; however, Lee Mina, hesitated while looking at Yeo Dan oppa as
if she had seen an extinct dinosaur. I could understand her reaction since I had the same experience in
the past.
I recalled the time when I first saw Yeo Dan oppa, which was four years ago. It was in front of my
apartment entrance.
His hair, around that time, was the same, radiant black color as right now, and dazzled purple under the
sun just like that of Yeo Ryung. His face was as clean white as a cup of milk with gorgeously chiseled
facial features. The pair of his jet-black eyes were fastened on me like a still object.
Four years ago, when I first encountered him, I immediately turned stiff on the spot. At that time, it
wasn’t long ago since I had seen the Four Heavenly Kings, so I had no immunity to that kind of
appearance. Besides, the Four Heavenly Kings’ had too fancy hair colors that they felt surreal like game
characters. However, Ban Yeo Dan had normal hair, so he was perhaps the most handsome but realistic
guy I had ever seen in this world.
Looking down at me, he said, ‘Hi,’ nonchalantly. As I stood still wordlessly while holding the doorknob,
he came closer and gently put his hand on my forehead. His touch felt a little cold.
I wasn’t able to bring to my mind how I got back home that day, but I clearly remember that I passed
that night without sleep. Recalling the times, I was about to laugh at Lee Mina’s stiffened face.
Barely suppressing my laughter, I switched my gaze into Yeo Dan oppa’s direction, but then our eyes
met. Since we had eye contact as soon as I turned my head toward him, he would have been staring at
me until now. While I flinched my shoulders, he shook his head.
Eh? I tilted my head. Why was he saying no? Just in case, I sent my thought to him through the look in
my eyes.
‘Don’t act like I know you?’
I wasn’t sure if it worked, but at that moment, Yeo Dan oppa nodded, which made me startled. Was he
now able to even read other’s mind? That was when I heard someone’s voice from beside me.
I turned my head. The girls from my class, who were sitting across, threw questions with bright smiles.
“Twelve girls? That truly makes sense since you’re so handsome. Hi, you’re the sunbae, who’s the sub,
right?”
Diverting his gaze onto the girls, Yeo Dan oppa slightly nodded. It was just simple eye contact, but the
girls shrieked in a low voice while holding each other’s hands.
Mina, who finally returned to herself, also nodded to greet him. Sitting across Yeo Dan oppa, she
introduced herself then politely asked, “Um, may we know your name, sunbae?”
“Ban Yeo Dan.”
He replied as briefly as usual, but the air around the table began to stir. When I looked aside, Lee Mina
and the other girls blinked swiftly and whispered, ‘Oh my god!’
No wonder they reacted that way since people mentioned Ban Yeo Dan as the hottest guy of the
neighboring high school from a week ago, and they were now seeing him right in front just a few days
after hearing that gossip.
Frankly speaking, the hottest guy of the neighboring high school was a valuable existence to us more
than the K-pop idols of the same age. We could see him in person in real life whenever possible and
could even go out with him if things were meant to be. The girls soon held their hands in excitement.
Once the fuss subsided, at last, we ordered a few menus and returned to our seats to have some time
introducing ourselves.
“My name is Kim Jimin.”
“Hi, I’m Sohn Se Young.”
“I’m Chun Dong Ho.”
As Lee Mina said, everyone except Yeo Dan oppa was freshmen in high school and knew each other
although they weren’t super close.
I was the only one who didn’t know their names, so the boys naturally introduced themselves while
looking in my direction. The girl, who was listening to them beside me, dropped some remarks while
resting their chin on their palms.
“Hey, that’s too cheesy.”
“Speak as usual.”
Meanwhile, when one of the girls placed her hand on her chest and uttered, ‘Hi, I’m Sohn Se Young,’ in a
low and husky voice, everyone burst into laughter. I also began to giggle after them; however, Yeo Dan
oppa was the only one who remained as firm as a rock.
At that moment, I found the boy, who introduced himself as Chun Dong Ho, throwing a glance at Yeo
Dan oppa. Since he sat right next to him, Chun Dong Ho seemed to feel uncomfortable about Yeo Dan
oppa’s silence.
Yeo Dan oppa would behave that way during the entire hangout. Would it be fine? Looking in that
direction with a worried gaze, I had eye contact with Chun Dong Ho.
He opened his eyes wide then smiled awkwardly. I also grinned at him clumsily and turned my head to
the front again.
The familiar noise, but the stranger boys, the secret eye contact and awkward smile between the boys
and girls… While I opened and closed my hand under the table in nervousness, the girls beside me
uttered one after another.
“I’m Moon Sarah.”
“Hey, I’m Ahn Ji Young.”

The only person here, who didn’t know them, was Yeo Dan oppa, so the self-introduction went naturally
by using honorifics.
Lee Mina, the last person to introduce herself, then pointed at me while saying, “Hi, my name is Lee
Mina, and this is my classmate––.”
As if she was being considerate to me, who came here to fill in someone, Lee Mina indicated me with an
exaggerated attitude like a magician. I mean, I knew that it was her intention for me to relax, but what
she was doing right now felt more embarrassing! With a blush, I stammered, “Hi, I’m… um… H… Ham
Donnie…”
“H… Ham Needa?”
Listening to the voice coming from across, I covered my mouth with both hands. Gosh, my tongue got
twisted!
Covering the part under my nose, I raised my gaze stealthily and looked across. The person who teased
me was none other than Chun Dong Ho. ‘Geez, how long have you been knowing me to joke around?’ As
my ears reddened, the people around the whole table burst into laughter again.
Lee Mina, sitting beside me, pulled me in her arms and tapped my shoulder.
“Aw… it’s because you’re cute. She’s so cute, isn’t she?”
She threw that question toward Chun Dong Ho.
I became even more bewildered. We could tell each other cute like nothing, but it would be so
embarrassing to hear that word from a boy.
Something happened at that moment.
“Uh-huh.”
The question was aiming at Chun Dong Ho; however, the response came out from somewhere else.
Everyone on the table directed their eyes in the same direction.
Looking at me unconsciously, Yeo Dan oppa suddenly blinked swiftly and turned his head to glance
aside. That was when he showed a facial expression of a person who just woke up from sleep.
A moment after, Moon Sarah and Ahn Ji Young, my classmates, emitted a whoop while covering their
mouths with their hands.
“Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Wow!”
“Yeo Dan oppa, can I call you oppa? Your voice sounded so sweet just now.”
“Wow, that was lit.”
Amid the fuss, I heaved a quiet sigh.
Oppa just now forgot that we weren’t the only people sitting on this spot. That was why he spoke like
that as if he was taking care of me just as he did when I was with Ban Yeo Ryung.
Would this be fine? I was covered with a veil of concerns. Why was he trying to pretend that we didn’t
know each other when he wasn’t a person who could act in the first place? Besides, I didn’t think it was
a proper manner to hide our close relationship in front of the kids who were here to enjoy the group
hangout. However, Yeo Dan oppa, who left home early in the morning to help his friends with studying,
would have some reason to be here instead of going to the library.
That was when I touched my forehead while having some complicated thoughts in my head.
“Aren’t you feeling well?”
When I turned my head toward someone’s low whisper, Chun Dong Ho came into view who was looking
at me worriedly. He had the most outstanding appearance among the three freshmen boys. The tips of
his blond hair, which seemed to be bleached, turned almost white; his slanted, keen eyes and delicate
facial features reminded me of Yi Ruda. Inside his Adidas jersey, he was wearing a white t-shirt, and
between those clothes, a black necklace was dangling on his neck. He might be carrying his student ID
around his neck.

I dressed very modestly, so if we walked around together outside, we wouldn’t look so good to each
other. Having those thoughts in mind, I came up with the fact that he had initiated a conversation with
me.
With a clumsy smile, I shook my head.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“Excuse me, are you guys doing small-talk there?”
When one of the boys spoke naughtily that way, Chun Dong Ho laughed casually and turned his head to
the boys.
“Oh, come on.”
Watching them having a mischievous fistfight, I noticed that Yeo Dan oppa, who was sitting beside
them, was making an eye gesture to me. Pointing his finger at his temple, he mouthed, ‘Are you not
feeling well?’
I shook my head to say that I was fine. Yeo Dan oppa nodded at my response and averted his eyes from
me.
We soon began to talk about our private lives. Lee Mina, whose excellence in livening up the mood was
second to none in our class, bossed the conversation. Our conversation topics changed swiftly from our
hobbies to favorite musicians and celebrities.
As the conversation continued, I gradually began to relax. Though it was said to be a group hangout, the
dialogues we shared mostly sounded like those going on among our classmates maybe because
everyone went to the same cram school.
Leaning on the couch while being completely relaxed, I soon straightened up myself as the subject of the
conversation changed into something quite interesting.
“Rap?” I asked.
Chun Dong Ho smiled bashfully and replied, “Uh-huh, so I remixed my favorite songs, hung out in my
friend’s studio, and sometimes rented a space to record my own songs… yeah, I’m doing something like
that.”
“Wow, that’s cool.”
My sincere response came out involuntarily. Chun Dong Ho lowered his head and rubbed his student ID
that he wore around his neck as if he felt slightly embarrassed. Watching his reactions, I scratched the
back of my head.
Did I overreact? However, I always became astonished to those who worked in unfamiliar fields and
wondered about their lives. Besides, this boy wasn’t just planning and thinking about what he wanted to
do; he already did some legworks and was diving into the field of hip hop music.
Suddenly, Chun Dong Ho turned around to look at the speaker in the café and said, “I have a remixed
version of that song on my phone.”
“Wow, really? Do you mind if I can hear that?”
Chun Dong Ho nodded without any sign of embarrassment. He might be used to letting others listen to
his recorded songs. Taking out his earphone from his pocket, Chun Dong Ho tried to give one side of it
across the table but halted to do so. The table was too wide to share the same earphone.
I got up in the end and moved to the seat right beside him. Once I sat down next to him, the tension I
head earlier suddenly returned.
For some reason, I felt that we were being too close. Well, of course, I couldn’t help since this couch was
too small for five people to sit together.
I glanced aside. Chun Dong Ho kept having difficulties with untying his tangled earphone. He murmured
in a small voice, “Oh, gosh…”
Watching him do that, I stretched out my hand for assistance, but it wasn’t helping at all. Trying to untie
the untangled earphone made us touch each other’s hands. Thus, the air between us turned more
awkward.
‘I was just trying to hear some songs, but geez… what am I doing right now?’ Having that thought in
mind, I took my hands off from his earphone and began to hand fan my neck then glanced around out of
the blue.
After the girls in my class sent him such enthusiastic supports, Yeo Dan oppa was now sitting on a seat
to the far end. Moon Sarah and Anh Ji Young showered him questions such as ‘Where do you live, oppa?
Do you have any younger siblings? Why did you go to the boy’s high school?’ Lee Mina, beside them,
was talking to one of the boys. His name seemed to be Kim Jimin, a boy with decent appearance and
glasses on like the class president character in romance comics. Mina’s fast and cheerful voice went
along with Kim Jimin’s slow and heavy voice like an orchestra.
Suddenly, Yeo Dan oppa turned his head to look in my direction as if he felt my glance. I flinched when I
read the SOS sign in his eyes.
Well, since he hated something tiresome, Yeo Dan oppa wouldn’t enjoy this kind of situation. ‘For what
reason did he come here?’ Wondering why, I smiled awkwardly.
It looked as though he wanted me to take him out of here while making any kind of excuses for him, but
sorry, I was quite having fun here than I expected. I didn’t have any chance to meet someone new
outside the school, so I never thought this kind of hangout would be this much interesting and
refreshing. Haha!
I quickly turned my head while ignoring Yeo Dan oppa. Someone’s glance was making me blush.
Scratching my cheek, I heard Chun Dong Ho’s voice reaching my ears.
“Okay, so here you are.”
“Ah, thanks.”
I took one side of his earphone and put it on my ear then looked at him. Looking at his hand pressing the
play button, I suddenly came up with Yoo Chun Young for some reason.
I murmured to myself, ‘Now I come to think of it, I never imagined last year that I would be listening to
music with someone, who wasn’t Yoo Chun Young, like this.’
If I didn’t think that this place was a world inside a novel, many different ways of life were possible just
like this. I could welcome and have relationships with not just the Four Heavenly Kings and Ban Yeo
Ryung but also other people to my life such as Chun Dong Ho or the kids from Mina’s cram school. A lot
of other people…
I, at last, came to think that I had been confining myself in my prejudice, which was having such a closed
mind.
This was the first time to spend the weekend without the Four Heavenly Kings or Ban Yeo Ryung, but I
thought this was quite good than I imagined.
I rolled my eyes and looked aside. Chun Dong Ho’s eyes, which were busily moving under his bleached
hair, were on me. Now I noticed that his eyes were a lighter brown than other people.
How long did it pass since we had eye contact? Feeling the awkward silence, I uttered with a clumsy
smile, “This song is so cool. It’s very new to hear a remixed version.”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
Though he spoke that way, Chun Dong Ho’s face brightened. Taking his earphone out from my ear, I
handed it back to him and continued to speak.
“No, it isn’t. You really record your songs like professional musicians out there. I never heard anything
like this. This is truly cool.”
“Oh, this is really nothing,” replying that way, Chun Dong Ho’s face was still blushing.
That was when I heard someone clapping out of the blue. I, Chun Dong Ho, Yeo Dan oppa––who was
facing a fusillade of questions from the excited Moon Sarah and Ahn Ji Young––Sohn Se Young, and Kim
Jimin, who was sitting quite quietly, all raised their heads.
The person, who clapped hands, was none other than Lee Mina. When every eye was bent on her, she
asked cheerfully, “So, should we now change our seats and sit in a pair?”
That was when I realized that this was a group hangout. Earlier, I was in tension while sitting close to a
boy, but just now I was hyper to make new friends or something like that. Geez, what was wrong with
me? I felt hilarious about myself.
Disheveling my hair, I showed a look of mixed feelings. ‘Geez, what should I do?’ I felt comfortable just
now since everyone was sitting together on a couch. If we were splitting into pairs, I would get so
nervous.
At that moment, Sohn Se Young and Chun Dong Ho, who was sitting across the table, quietly raised their
hands.
“Do you mind if we can go to the bathroom quickly before that?”

Kim Jimin, who looked like a model student, tossed a question, unexpectedly, in a mischievous voice.
“Why are you two going together?”
“Ah, get off, Kim Jimin,”
Pretending to slightly punch Kim Jimin, Chun Dong Ho soon put his arm around Sohn Se Young’s
shoulders then disappeared to the other side of the café. Watching the view of their backs, I turned my
head and suddenly encountered Yeo Dan oppa’s eyes. I realized that he was making an eye gesture to
sign me outside the café. ‘Hmm, what should I do?’ I frowned.
If I kept neglecting him, I would feel sorry since I knew how struggling this kind of event was to him.
Since we were now having a short break, wouldn’t it be okay to breathe some fresh air with him?
After deep thinking, I stood up from my seat and spoke in a loud voice on purpose.
“Let me go make a call. There’s some music here, so I’ll have a quick call outside the café.”

“Sure,” replied Mina brightly while looking down at her phone. I took mine and quickly got out of the
café.
Wandering around for a moment, I found a telephone pole and hid behind it. Yeo Dan oppa soon came
outside and looked around with a look of wonder. I waved at him.
“Yeo Dan oppa, here!”
As soon as he came over to me, I pushed him between the pole and the wall; however, it didn’t work
that well since I was a head shorter than him.
Feeling urgent, I slapped the wall beside him fiercely and asked, “Oppa, why are you here?”
He then sent a mixed glance to my hand, which was on the wall, and replied, “Before that question,
what kind of action is this?”
“It’s hitting-the-wall.”
“…”
While there was a moment of silence, I quietly took off my hand from the wall and spoke in a low voice,
“… Sorry.”
“No problem.”
Heaving a sigh, Yeo Dan oppa tapped my head as he usually did. Suddenly turning his head to look at the
passersby, he changed the look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked while feeling anxious.
“Hold on for a sec.”
He suddenly opened the collar of his coat and hid me inside it. Having myself in his arms in an
unguarded moment, I opened my eyes wide. Yeo Dan oppa’s turtleneck sweater was pressed down on
my cheek. I could hear his heart pounding faintly through my ears.
How long had it been? Once the collar of his coat disappeared from my sight as if a curtain was opened,
I, who was in a daze, raised my head.
I felt a little dizzy as if I suddenly got out from a heated spot to a cold place. Even my breath felt slightly
hot.
Getting my breath back for a moment, I asked, “What happened just now?”
Yeo Dan oppa grimaced as if he was in an awkward situation. Stretching out his hand to adjust my
disheveled hair, he opened his mouth.
“The reason why I came here…”
“Huh?”
“It’s because of a stalker.”
“What? A stalker?!”
What the hell was he talking about?
Still, with a grimace, Yeo Dan oppa observed the passersby in suspicion then suddenly pulled my hand
and headed to the alley nearby.
Once we arrived at an utterly desolated spot, he brought up his story in detail.
The incident began about two weeks ago. Yeo Dan oppa’s stuff started to consistently disappear. Since
he had a lot of mischievous friends, he thought one of them would be just playing around, so he just
neglected it. However, as the happening took place more often, he got annoyed at last. Most of the
response he received after voicing out his irritation was something like, ‘What the heck are you talking
about?’ Yeo Dan oppa fell into confusion.
That was when he began to get some strange letters in his backpack. Listening to that extent, I asked
him with my eyes wide open, “Then, the letter I saw last time was also…?”
Recalling the letter that he dropped in front of the elevator, I threw the question. Yeo Dan oppa nodded
his head. His straight face looked quite gloomy somehow.
“I don’t know what you’ve been thinking, but I was surprised since I didn’t even know that it existed in
my bag. There isn’t any reason other than that.”
Smiling awkwardly, I hid my hands behind my back in embarrassment.
What I had been thinking? Well, nothing so special. I just wondered how the girl, whom Yeo Dan oppa
was dating, would look like or what she had done in her previous life to go out with this super-hot guy in
the neighborhood.
Anyway, I heaved a sigh for some reason once the whole story about this letter thing got revealed, at
last. I felt a little empty and relieved at the same time.
I was then lost in thought again. Actually, the existence of a stalker wasn’t something that unfamiliar to
Yeo Dan oppa. What I became more concerned about was something else.
Hesitating for a while, I carefully flung a question.
“Um, but, oppa… Since you have someone stalking you, is it okay to show up at a group hangout? You
know the safety of the girl, who would be your partner…”
Frowning faintly, he replied, “I also have that in mind, but… my friends read the letter and estimated
that this person seems to be very noble and pure.”
“Oh, that’s why…!”
“If she’s such a romanticist, she wouldn’t be chasing a guy who has a girlfriend.”
A-ha, so that was how things were going. I nodded my head.
Unless that person was a wicked stalker, he or she would be just repeatedly taking Yeo Dan oppa’s stuff
or leaving letters since the person wasn’t brave enough to reveal his or her identity. In that case, this
method would block out the stalker, which was making a girlfriend.
However, a question was still left. Tilting my head in wonder, I asked, “But it’s quite surprising that you
accepted to join this event without hesitance. I mean, oppa, you hate getting along with strangers, don’t
you? No, not just strangers, you also feel exhausted hanging out with your friends.”
I often saw him showing a frantic look on his face while being dragged by his friends. I, on the other
hand, liked people but couldn’t get along with others that well since I lacked confidence. However, Yeo
Dan oppa felt tired of hanging out with people. His friends were so outgoing regardless that they often
dragged him to get along, which I felt jealous and sorry at the same time.
That kind of character was about to have some romantic relationship now. Really? I slightly frowned.
Was I wrong that he would never get interested in other girls except for Yeo Ryung?
How long it had been since I gave up my crush on him? Well, although the iron wall around his heart had
collapsed, I wouldn’t have a chance to go out with him… Suddenly, I lifted my head while hearing
something from him.
“I didn’t accept it without hesitance.”
“Eh? Then…?”
“They told me they would let me know a secret plan to get the stalker away, so I came here on time
since I had nothing to lose and then found that I was in a situation like this.”
“Oh…” I uttered in a daze.
“Those bastards,” Yeo Dan oppa blurted the words with downcast eyes. I laughed awkwardly then
turned my head, thinking, ‘So that was what happened. It’s hardly likely he’ll join an event something
like this.’
Checking the look in his eyes again, I offered my sympathy inwardly to his friends. There would soon be
a big fight in his classroom.
At last, he talked about why he took me outside here. As if he felt so lighthearted to confess everything,
Yeo Dan oppa asked me with a face that looked like a bright and clear sky.
“I heard you came here to fill in someone. If you’re also in an awkward situation, do you want to leave
together?”
“Oh, so that’s why you asked me to pretend that I don’t know you?”
Now I clearly grasped why he gave me that order out of the blue when he was a person who hated lies
and couldn’t act well. Yeo Dan oppa nodded at my question without hesitation.
Although he was forced to join this event, he surely didn’t want to go out with a girl yet. He felt sorry to
participate since he didn’t long for any romantic relationship. At that moment, I showed up among the
girls on the other side, so I would indeed look like an exit or a savior to him.
Yeo Dan oppa stared at me with his deep black eyes. Receiving his glance, I was lost in thought for a
moment but soon shook my head slowly.
“Um… sorry. I still want to wait and see. I don’t feel that bewildered or something like that. You know
the kids are all funny and nice.”
“Yeah, I do agree with that,” he replied without the slightest hesitation. He didn’t seem to ask me
against my will when I refused to do so. Well, did he ever force me to do something that I hated?
Something then flashed through my mind.
I asked, “Now I come to think of it, how did you know the boys, oppa?”
“They are the hoobaes of my friends. Not that close not that far…”
“Oh, I see.”

Another mystery was solved. While I nodded my head, Yeo Dan oppa slowly pointed at the outside of
the alley out of the blue.
Once I bent my steps toward that direction, he walked after me while shoving his hands into his coat
pockets. He then continued, “The boy, who was about to show up, made me join this thing on behalf of
him all of a sudden, so other kids would have also become very bewildered. I think they haven’t received
any messages that I’m gonna join here. Well, they were nice enough to not show how surprised they
were.”
“Oh, I get that.”
“As you just said, they seem to be good kids. Maybe…”
I showed a swiveling smile at the word that he just added cautiously. Finding the similarities between
Yeo Dan oppa and Yeo Ryung always made me fun. Whenever it happened, I felt that he, who felt very
unreal although he was my next-door neighbor, was getting so close to me.
They gave a positive review to strangers under any circumstances. It was such a careful and considerate
attitude as if saying something negative about others would harm them for real.
That was one of their strengths that I realized how lovely Yeo Ryung was and the reason why I liked Yeo
Dan oppa. They were the friendliest people I had ever met until that time.
.
I agreed with a smile, “Yeah, they seem nice,” then suddenly added, “But it was a little uncomfortable to
follow them since everyone seemed to be close except me. That’s why I felt so delighted and relieved to
see you.”
The moment when I looked up at Yeo Dan oppa thoughtlessly, I found him losing his expressionless look
momentarily on his face. Staring down at me with agitated eyes, he replied, “You were talking well.”
“No, I wasn’t. I felt very nervous. Wasn’t it noticeable?”
“Not really.”
“Oh, that’s good to hear.”
Yeo Dan oppa still fastened his gaze at me while showing a mixed feeling on his face. Suddenly, he raised
his hand and disheveled my hair. It wasn’t his usual, cautious touch but more of an intimate and casual
gesture.
‘What’s going on?’ While I adjusted my messy hair, Yeo Dan oppa quickly walked away while leaving me
in the alley.
“Ah, hold on!” I ran after him in a hurry.
Halting our steps in front of the café, we checked our intentions once again.
“So, you want to keep staying here, right?”
I nodded at his question, replying, “Yeah, now that I’m here, I’ll stay with them for a while. I even
dressed up like this.” Speaking like that, I swayed the blouse that I borrowed from Yeo Ryung. Yeo Dan
oppa’s face turned slightly enigmatic.
I asked, “What about you?”
“I’m leaving.”
I nodded again at his immediate response. He was indeed getting out of this place alone whether I
helped him to leave or not. Since his friends deceived him into joining this event, Yeo Dan oppa was kind
of a victim. Thus, although he tried to leave, he didn’t have to feel sorry for other kids. If there would be
someone, who should feel sorry for us, it would have to be his friends, not him.
Being aware that he couldn’t stand uncomfortable situations, I tilted my head. Now I had come to think
of it, he was kind of praiseworthy that he didn’t stamp out of the café until now. Was he staying here for
me since I looked too nervous? Having that thought in my mind, I soon shook my head. ‘Come on, don’t
be deluded. He might have been just feeling sorry for the kids…’
That was when I heard him flinging a question nonchalantly. I lifted my head.
“Who are you gonna sit with?”
“Huh? Probably the one whom I spoke with the most? I mean, as long as he doesn’t hate me.”
“Chun Dong Ho?”
Wow, you remembered his name. Thinking that way, I nodded at him.
“Yeah, maybe.”
“I see,” he said shortly.
Yeo Dan oppa didn’t add any more words. Before stepping into the café again, we spent some time
checking the situation inside through the glass wall.
Thankfully, no one was looking into our direction. Some were applying lip tint while looking at the
mirror, whereas some were checking their phones while sinking their heads on their chests.
I thought it would be fine to step inside now. Walking side by side with Yeo Dan oppa, I flung the door
open. Once I got closer to the passage through the bathroom, I turned to that side and said, “Ah, oppa,
let me go to the bathroom.”
“Me too,” responding that way, he soon walked after me through the narrow hallway. The woman and
man’s bathrooms were standing side by side.
When we opened each of the doors at the same time, I heard a familiar voice coming through the man’s
bathroom door. I paused and turned my head.
The owner of the voice was Sohn Se Young, one of the boys who left the spot earlier to go to the
bathroom. What surprised me wasn’t the identity of the voice but the conversation he was having with
someone.
“Gosh, why does it have to be Ahn Ji Young?”
His irritated way of speaking, which was covered with a veil of aggressiveness, made me flinch
instinctively. Turning my head, I murmured in a low voice.
“What’s going on with him…?”
He didn’t show any sign of dislike until just now. Besides, he was going to the same cram school with Ji
Young. In other words, they had been hanging out quite often. Being frozen for a moment with my hand
on the doorknob, I threw a glance at my side. Yeo Dan oppa was also standing still while holding the
doorknob.
That was when I realized that Sohn Se Young didn’t go to the bathroom alone. ‘Then his conversation
partner now would be…’ As soon as I had that thought, someone’s voice came over the door.
“That’s what I’m saying! I thought she was joking about bringing her here, but she really showed up.”
I could grasp the sarcastic tone in his relaxed voice as if he was talking with downcast eyes. His way of
speaking sounded very natural in backbiting others. Once I heard that remark, I felt my heart sink within
me.
It was Chun Dong Ho. He was talking in an utterly different way from earlier when he spoke about what
he liked. Sohn Se Young’s voice continued.
“Geez, I could stand her only when seeing in the class, not here. Do we have to see her even outside the
class? Shoot! Why is Moon Sarah close to Ahn Ji Young to make this thing happen?”
Wow… I clicked my tongue with a big grimace. How could he talk that way?
Sohn Se Young uttered again, “Gosh, who should I be partners with? Well, I must not sit beside Lee
Mina, right?”
Chun Dong Ho’s calm voice replied, “Uh-huh, you know Kim Jimin likes Lee Mina.”
“Would she also like Kim Jimin?”
“How should we know?”
“Lee Mina was the only one who didn’t even glance at Ban Yeo Dan while other girls were just
captivated by him.” Sohn Se Young’s voice suddenly subsided, “Gosh, the more I think the more I get
annoyed! Why did that hyeong send Ban Yeo Dan here? Fu*k!”
The arrow was pointing in this side out of the blue, which made me hardly breathe. Pouting my lips for a
while, I turned my head and found Yeo Dan oppa shrugging his shoulders with his usual, nonchalant look
beside me.
Meanwhile, Sohn Se Young’s backbiting kept on ruthlessly in the bathroom. It was like a runaway train
without a brake.
“Not only those hyeongs but also Ban Yeo Dan can’t distinguish whether or not to join such an event!
Although we said okay, how can he come here? Isn’t he insane?”
“True.”
“Fu*k! What should we do? We’re like playing a supporting role here. Sh*t, so annoying! I’m not here to
be treated that way!”
Listening to their conversations in silence, I shook my head. ‘Those bastards are out of their minds!’ I
murmured to myself. Sohn Se Young was, of course, rude, but Chun Dong Ho, who replied passively such
as ‘Yeah,’ ‘Uh-huh,’ ‘True,’ ‘How do I know?’ was also behaving the same. I got disgusted by both of
them.
I, who said that I would stay here just until now, decided to tell Yeo Dan oppa about my plan afterward. I
should ask him for bringing me back home. I didn’t want to spend even a minute to those bastards.
Instead, I would just take a nap at home.
That was when I tried to pull Yeo Dan oppa’s sleeve. The topic of their conversations switched to
something else out of the blue. I drew in my breath.
“Dude, what are you gonna do?”
“What?”
“That girl… what was her name again?”
“Ah, Ham Donnie.”
As soon as my name slipped out from Chun Dong Ho’s mouth, my heart seemed to freeze. He was saying
my name apathetically as if he was talking about some animal’s name in the zoo.

Sohn Se Young pushed him, “Yeah, her, Ham Donnie… What are you gonna do with her?”
“Didn’t you hear that before?”
“About what?”
Chun Dong Ho’s following remark smashed my nape like a cold wave. I felt a sudden shiver down my
spine.
“Ham Donnie, that girl is super close to Ban Yeo Ryung. I heard that they even live next doors. Everyone
in So Hyun High School knows this story.”
The moment I heard those words, my eyes were wide open, but I closed them and tried to stop my
hands trembling in surprise. ‘So that was what happened,’ I murmured to myself.
The shock and fright didn’t last long. I had been going through so many things to get surprised at this
kind of thing. Nothing occurred once I entered high school, so I had been forgetting about these things,
but I never knew I would recall such memories in this way.
.
I put my hand down from the doorknob without a sigh. Chun Dong Ho and Sohn Se Young’s voices kept
coming from the bathroom like background music.
“Dude, that’s why you’ve been so nice to her. I thought you were out of your mind since it was my first
time to see you not using any F-words.”
“Ah, but I also tried to be nice to her since I felt sorry. She was so damn kind.”
Unlike the way he spoke, his voice didn’t sound that sorry. Sohn Se Young agreed lightly.
“Yeah, why is she so kind? I heard that she’s close to Lee Mina, so I thought a bossy type of girl would
come out.”
At that part, I slightly frowned. It didn’t mean that I hated to be described as a kind girl, but in this
situation, the word ‘kind’ didn’t imply something so positive, which made me upset. It sounded like I
was a person who would never get angry no matter what happened to me.
Well, even though I had those thoughts in mind, I was becoming enervated, so what they said wouldn’t
be wrong. I clicked my tongue. It was a waste of energy and time to lose my temper at them. It was also
true that I didn’t want to cause a disturbance.
I gently wiped out my sweaty hand on my skirt then turned to look at Yeo Dan oppa. Outside the
bathroom, Chun Dong Ho continued to speak.
“But I really felt sorry for her. Don’t you think it’s rather better to ask Ban Yeo Dan for providing a bridge
between us and Ban Yeo Ryung?”
“Dude, don’t you hear that? That hyeong is cherishing his sister very much. They told me don’t you ever
bring up anything about his sister, not even a joke.”
“Well, then there’s nothing I can do.”
He accepted the reality so easily. Smiling aimlessly, I was about to ask Yeo Dan oppa to just leave the
spot. That was when I saw the look on his face and tilted my head in wonder.
He remained silent during the whole time, so I thought that he had been angry with those boys. Just as
they said, I was aware that Yeo Dan oppa would vent his anger when it came to something about Yeo
Ryung. I even wondered how weird he was since he didn’t kick the door open and jump into those boys
immediately.
However, he looked somewhat enigmatic to describe that he was just enraged since he was observing
none other than my face. Once I realized that he was showing concerns than just a feeling of anger, I
tilted my head again.
Something then flashed through my head. Was he thinking about that?

Leaning myself toward his side, I whispered, “Oh, I don’t fight with Yeo Ryung against those things, so no
worries, oppa.”
I came up with the happening that took place before I stepped out of her house. Yeo Ryung’s parents
remembered that Yeo Ryung and I had a huge fight against something for some reason. Besides, since I
had watched them for a long time, Yeo Ryung was closer to his brother than her busy parents. Thus, Yeo
Dan oppa would also know the fight we had in the past. In this regard, he would definitely worry about
me having a big fight with Yeo Ryung since I could turn upset from this incident.
Thinking to that extent, I smiled bitterly. ‘But still, he knows nothing about me, doesn’t he?’ If I were
about to end our friendship while being jealous of Ban Yeo Ryung for a thing like this, I would have done
that a hundred times.
Aside from that, it wasn’t Yeo Ryung’s fault from the very beginning; instead, I would rather become
concerned about Yeo Ryung, who was receiving attention from those trashes.
At that moment, Yeo Dan oppa opened his mouth with a slight grimace.
“No, I’m not talking about that…”
I shook my head while implying that he didn’t need to make an excuse. I repeatedly uttered, “Really, I’m
fine. I ain’t mad at all… Although I’m a little surprised, this isn’t my first time going through such a thing,
so…”
However, Yeo Dan oppa frowned even more instead of looking better.
That was when Sohn Se Young’s voice intervened between the two of us. I turned my head again.
“But that girl… she’s close to Ban Yeo Ryung, but why doesn’t she know Yeo Dan sunbae? At first, I
thought they knew each other, but no. Once she had eye contact with him, she just turned her head
away.”
“Aren’t she pretending to not know him?”
Chun Dong Ho’s response, which hit the nail on the head, pricked at my conscience. Yeo Dan oppa and I
turned our heads and exchanged eye contact. At that moment, Chun Dong Ho’s apathetic voice went on.
“Ah, I don’t know. Maybe it is what it is. Honestly, I can’t even trust that Ham Donnie is close to Ban Yeo
Ryung.”
“Yeah, agreed.”
“Why is she such a run-of-the-mill?”
With a giggle, Sohn Se Young replied, “Yeah, who would even look at her if she’s together with Ban Yeo
Ryung?”
“Ha…” I heaved a sigh.
If a word could have a physical form, I would have just gotten hurt. If that happened, Yeo Dan oppa,
standing beside me, would notice it immediately.
Thank goodness it didn’t. Looking down at my non-wounded hand, I tried to think about something
positive.
Well, how good it was to know about the truth anyway. I almost got to be friends with them without
being aware of their intentions. If so, I would have encountered a moment of introducing Ban Yeo Ryung
to those bastards as if I had done to Yoon Jung In in the party before.
Thus, I felt so thankful to hear such things in here. I kept repeating to myself how fortunate I was. At
least, I got to avoid the worst scenario.
That was when I heard some snarling noise as if someone was clenching his teeth. I quickly turned my
head aside. Facing Yeo Dan oppa’s radiant black eyes, I asked in surprise, “Yeo Dan oppa?”
Before I could stop him, the bathroom door swung open with a loud thud. The quickly opened door was
bumped against the opposite wall with noise then returned to the original spot. Between the gap, Sohn
Se Young and Chun Dong Ho’s pale faces came into my sight.
As soon as the door closed, I grabbed Yeo Dan oppa’s arm.
“Oppa, what are you doing!” I shouted. Honestly, I felt cool in my inside, but this place was a café in our
neighborhood, where we had been living in over a decade. Besides, the café was crowded with students
from other schools since it was Saturday!
If we made any troubles, the rumors would spread out in a flash; moreover, when people found out that
Yeo Dan oppa was the one who caused tumult, things would turn out more hectically.
I yelled in haste, “Oppa, please do it with your word! In words!”
“But…”
“I promise I would take care of Yeo Ryung.”
Yeo Dan oppa, who tried to say something with a frown, shut his mouth once he heard my remark. He
then asked me still with a grimace, “What did you just say?”
“I’ll make sure not to let those bastards approach Yeo Ryung, so please don’t worry, oppa.”
“No, that’s not what I’m talking about…”
“You should resolve this after discussing it with your friends. Why are you trying to pick a fight right
now? Anyway, it’s us who overheard their conversations, so if you lose your temper here, it would make
us feel better right now, but there might be rumors later about Ban Yeo Dan listening in on other’s
conversations. What are you gonna do then?”
“I don’t care about that.”
His determined response made me feel stuffy. ‘I don’t care about that? Come on, those boys look like
they have many acquaintances.’
Once bad rumor spread out, it was difficult to straighten out things. He might also be aware of that, but
why was he acting that way? That was when I tried to dispute with him like that.
Yeo Dan oppa suddenly blurted out something, which made my eyes wide open.
“What about you?”
“Huh?”
“I’m talking about you, not Yeo Ryung.”
I didn’t get what he was trying to say, so I tilted my head in wonder, thinking, ‘Me?’

“Are you okay?”
At that moment, for some reason, his voice, which echoed around the narrow hallway, sounded very
unreal. I just blinked swiftly at his sudden question then replied bitterly, “Uh… um… I’m… okay… for
real.”
Even if I emphasized that I was fine, he tossed another question as if something truly mattered to him.
“Aren’t you mad?”
“No, I’m not mad. I’m really fine since I’m used to these things…”
“Used to these things?”
For some reason, Yeo Dan oppa repeated my words. Feeling like a kid getting scolded by her teacher for
no reason, I just nodded my head. In my perspective, I had no idea why he was looking at me with that
frightening look and urging none other than me.
.
When he kicked the wall for the second time, I stepped back instinctively and shouted, “Yeo Dan oppa!
What’s going on, again?!” He, however, scowled at the door nonchalantly and blurted, “Those bastards
are the ones who made you get used to these kinds of things.”
“What?”
He tried to step inside while kicking the door open. I pulled him away with a pale face.
Thankfully, the bathroom was all the way inside the hall, so the noise didn’t reach the counter. A few
customers came toward this side without being aware of what was going on. Then I saw them quickly
moving back as they found out the strained atmosphere.
Trying to grab and pull Yeo Dan oppa’s waist, I yelled, “Oppa, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble if some
bad news comes out! You really hate troublesome things, don’t you?!”
At that moment, he replied with a subsided voice, “I hate that you’re used to this. That’s what I hate
more.”
I raised my head that I shoved between his side and his arm until then. I tossed a question involuntarily,
“What?”
“I hate that you’re used to these kinds of things.”
He slowly repeated the sentence with a frown. Standing still blankly for a moment, I released my hands
that were around his waist desperately.
Staring at me while showing a mixed feeling in his eyes, he uttered, “You still worry only about me.”
I didn’t know what to respond, so I dropped my gaze to the floor in silence.
Since I had spent a long time with Ban Yeo Ryung and the Four Heavenly Kings, I couldn’t help but, first
of all, think about the aftermath instinctively whenever this kind of thing happened. As I mentioned
earlier, rumors could sometimes work as a lethal poison to people like Yeo Dan oppa, who had a high
reputation. Besides, he hated troublesome things; therefore, I didn’t want him to be involved in such a
situation.
While I wiggled my fingers, his determined response returned.
“I don’t care how much I become annoyed.”
“Uh…”
“When it’s something about you.”
My eyes widened at his words. Pouting my lips for a moment, I soon covered my mouth with both hands
as if I was suddenly lacking oxygen then stood still in that posture for quite a while.
Meanwhile, there was a fuss behind us. Probably Sohn Se Young and Chun Dong Ho would have heard
all our conversation over the bathroom door. Thus, they might have roughly grasped the relationship
between me and Yeo Dan oppa.
Suddenly, their irritated voices intervened in the hallway that was silent for a moment.
“You fu*king idiot, I told you to watch what you say!”
“Did I know this would happen?”
Their stinging words, which scratched my heart sharply just until now, felt like nothing as if they were a
story about someone else. Blinking my eyes vacantly, I looked up at Yeo Dan oppa out of the blue.
Glancing at his stern face, which looked as though he was still angry, I suddenly smiled. I knew that it
was inappropriate to grin at someone, who was losing his temper for me, but I couldn’t help but smile at
him.
Yeo Dan seemed to wonder why I was suddenly showing a grin. Placing my hand on his hand, I quietly
detached my lips.
“Oppa, to be really honest, I actually didn’t feel good until just now.”
“Uh-huh.”
“But now, I’m sincerely fine.”
Yeo Dan oppa pulled one side of his brows upward as if my response sounded doubtful. Watching him
having that look, I shouted with a smile, “I mean, really! I’m truly okay.”
“I don’t think so.”
Speaking that way in a slightly louder voice than before, Yeo Dan oppa threw a glance at the bathroom
again where Sohn Se Young and Chun Dong Ho would be inside. Wondering about his intention, I soon
grinned.
I then corrected my impression I had about him. I thought he was a tactless guy, but he could threaten
others with a straight face than he looked.
Now I was able to grasp the facial expressions of the two boys inside the bathroom without seeing them
directly. With a giggle, I beckoned to Yeo Dan oppa to come closer. He tilted his head toward me. I
brought my lips near to his ears.
“Actually, when you kicked the door…”
I lowered my voice as much as possible on purpose. Sohn Se Young and Chun Dong Ho would be dying to
know what we were now talking about right now.
Yeo Dan oppa nodded, “Uh-huh.”
“I felt so cool.”
Watching him put a slight grin on his lips, I added, “I’m quite mean, right?”
“Not at all.”
Replying that way, he lifted his hand and gently patted my head. That simple gesture felt like I was
suddenly returning to my days in middle school. The time when the difference between his and my
height was larger than now… In my eyes, he looked so handsome, reliable, and undefeatable.
Being with Yeo Dan oppa, nothing in this world seemed that frightening. When someone snatched my
wallet in the arcade, I returned home crying. He saw me and got my wallet back. Whenever I was
involved in a dangerous situation with Yeo Ryung, he finally appeared and saved us. Recalling those
memories, I flaunted a smile.
That was why I wanted to be his real sibling at one point and later had a crush on him. If I couldn’t be his
real sister, I would rather become his closest person, so that he could stay beside me as long as possible.
Well, nothing came true eventually, but thank god, he was still living next door. Keeping my smile at him
for a while, I soon shook my head when he asked me what I was thinking about. I made an eye gesture
to the table. It had been too long since I said to the kids that I would just make a call shortly.
When we returned to the table, Lee Mina, who was touching the phone, raised her head. She suddenly
asked, “What took you so long? I heard some loud noise from the bathroom just now.”
The person who made that loud noise was here beside me. However, I couldn’t respond that way, so I
just threw a glance at Yeo Dan oppa. He sat across me while showing a nonchalant look on his face as if
nothing had happened.
Kim Jimin, who was sitting here for the whole time, gently greeted both me and Yeo Dan oppa. Nodding
my head, I heard Lee Mina’s voice.
“Do you know what happened? You were just there from the bathroom.”
“Uh, that’s because…” Glancing at Yeo Dan oppa, I continued, “There was almost a fight…”
Lee Mina’s eyes brightened as if they were lit at once. Geez, what people said was true; watching a fire
or fight was indeed the most exciting thing. Including Mina, Ahn Ji Young and Moon Sarah also got closer
to me and asked, “A fight? What fight? Why?”
“What happened?”
Haha… I opened my lips with a grin.

“It’s a long story. Let me tell you later at school.”
I should tell them what happened anyway since they were also the people, who were involved in the
situation. While I rambled those thoughts in my head, Chun Dong Ho and Sohn Se Young came back to
their seats.
Looking incomparably pale than before, they just rubbed their faces with their hands and glanced at
someone to study his face. In the direction where they fastened their gazes, there was Yeo Dan oppa
typing something quickly on his phone.

That was what he had been doing right now; however, the two boys couldn’t move as if they had turned
into frozen statues. ‘Yeah, that’s all you guys can react now.’ Clicking my tongue with that thought in
mind, I suddenly came up with something then quickly raised my head.
Yikes, now that I had come to think of it, did I ask Yeo Dan oppa to bring me back home? Recalling the
conversations I had with him in front of the bathroom, I finally got the answer.
Since I was desperate to let Yeo Dan oppa understand that I was fine, I forgot to ask him to bring me
back home, which I actually was about to say to him outside the café! I disheveled my hair nervously.
What should I do now? I had no way left to get out of this place and no excuse to make. Should I have to
keep facing these kids until the end of this group hangout then?
That was when I bit my lips while having those thoughts in my head. Lee Mina, sitting beside me, poked
my thigh under the table. I lifted my eyes and directed them on her.
‘Huh?’ When I asked her with my eyes instead of speaking them out loud, Lee Mina pointed down.
Under the table, I saw a typed message on her phone screen.
[Did something happen between that oppa and those boys?]
The cursor was flickering at the end of the sentence.
It was quite a long story to tell her this way; however, I had to, at least, notify her that I needed to get
out of this place. The moment I tried to quickly take her phone and type in a response, Yeo Dan oppa
opened his mouth all of a sudden.
“Excuse me.”
Those, who were talking to each other in twos and threes around the table, looked in this direction.
Sohn Se Young and Chun Dong Ho, of course, turned incomparably stiffer than earlier.
Lee Mina asked in wonder, “Yeah?”
Yeo Dan oppa brought up his remark in the most commonsensical way that I had ever seen.
“I wondered whether I should talk about this or not… Actually, I came here without being aware that
this was a group hangout.”
“Eh? Oh…”
‘That’s why you seemed reluctant to hang out with us,’ whispered Moon Sarah and Ahn Ji Young as they
grasped his words immediately.
Yeo Dan oppa continued, “I’m not good at talking to people I don’t know well. There are things I couldn’t
say more because I was surprised. Sorry if you guys felt uncomfortable.”
“Oh, no, not at all! Nothing was uncomfortable!” As Mina replied that way, Moon Sarah added her
response after her, saying, “Very true. We had so much fun just looking at your face, oppa.” The two
girls then hit each other’s arms with a smile while whispering, ‘Aren’t you being too honest?’ Anyway,
thank goodness, they were such outgoing and humorous characters.
Heaving a sigh of relief, I threw a glance at Chun Dong Ho and Sohn Se Young. Perhaps Yeo Dan oppa
was holding down the fort until now while thinking that he would make those girls uncomfortable when
he left the spot. However, he would now be willing to leave even if he felt sorry for the girls since he
could no longer stay beside those bastards.
He kept on speaking, “I told my friend, who deceived me to join this event, to come here ASAP. He says
that he’s near around and will be here soon, so don’t worry about matching partners.”
“Ah, then…”
Nodding their heads meekly, the kids expressed words of gratitude one after another.
“Oppa, we had fun.”
“You might have felt so uncomfortable, but thanks for staying patient.”
Meanwhile, Kim Jimin, who was looking at Yeo Dan oppa and the other two boys alternately as if he
noticed something from the overall atmosphere, also bid farewell to him slowly.
“Sunbae, see you again next time.”
“Sure.”
Watching the sight, I sincerely wondered if Kim Jimin was also the same type of guy like Sohn Se Young
or Chun Dong Ho. Could I trust him? That was when the café door opened with the sound of a small bell.
Once I realized that the person, who was just stepping in through the open door, looked familiar, I got a
little surprised. Recalling a memory, I permitted myself a wry smile.
‘Yeo Dan, mommy can now die in peace!’ ‘No, don’t leave yet, mama!’ Having those silly conversations,
he was one of the boys, who showed some excellent performances in front of the school entrance.
‘Anyway, I’m sure that this event would become more clamorous,’ murmuring to myself that way, I
found the guy running toward us while waving his hand in the air from side to side as if he was a valet.
As soon as he came closer to us, he slapped Yeo Dan oppa very hard on the back. Yeo Dan oppa, who
was just getting up from his seat, moaned with a frown. Regardless of his reaction, Yeo Dan oppa’s
friend uttered in excitement, “Dude, why are you being so shy like this? Huh? You can’t even speak in
front of the girls without me.”
“I did well, so shut up.”
Ignoring Yeo Dan oppa’s response casually, he glanced around us.
“My bad! I made him join this event on behalf of me since I had something going on, but I never thought
that he would become this much shy. In less than an hour, he sent me a text message asking me to save
him…”
“I didn’t ask you to save me though.”
“Haha, you guys didn’t have much fun because of this dude, right?”
Watching them chatter, I murmured, ‘They have such different characters. How could the two become
friends?’ That was when Yeo Dan oppa suddenly grabbed his friend by the collar. He then roared with a
voice that I had never heard from him.
“You deceived me to join this thing in the first place.”
However, his friend didn’t look overwhelmed at all but just burst into a big laughter.
‘Indeed, only a person, who has that much guts, like him can be friends with Yeo Dan oppa, right?’
While I exclaimed at the sight while having those thoughts in mind, Yeo Dan oppa and his friend
changed their seats naturally. What his friend then said made me quickly pull myself together.
“Now, we became four… four again.”
Yikes, I missed the chance to get out of this situation.

I glanced at Sohn Se Young and Chun Dong Ho, who was sitting across the table. Although they were
now just exchanging eye contact wordlessly while being overwhelmed by Yeo Dan oppa’s great force, I
wondered how they would treat me once Yeo Dan oppa left the spot.
Would it be better to just stamp out of this place then? Being restless with thoughts, I heard Yeo Dan
oppa’s voice.
“Have fun, and you… we’re gonna catch up soon.”
Leaving a final warning to his friend, he soon grabbed his friend by the collar once he heard him saying,
‘Do you like me that much?’ He then released his hand and turned around. Before he left the spot, Yeo
Dan oppa glanced at the table and stopped his gaze at me for a second. However, as if it was his way to
care about me, Yeo Dan oppa bowed politely then turned back to leave.
That was it. He left the café without any hesitation and didn’t turn back to look in this direction even just
once.
I stared blankly at the view of his back disappearing over the glass wall alongside the faint sound of the
bell. As soon as he stepped outside, he took out his phone and made a phone call to someone, probably
to Yeo Ryung. He might be giving her the names of Chun Dong Ho and Sohn Se Young to let her stay
away from these boys. Having been living next door to the Bans for years, my experience wouldn’t lie.
I looked in front again. Yeo Dan oppa’s friend flung a question cheerfully while putting his hands on the
table.
“So, where were we?”
Lee Mina replied, “Um, we were about to sit in partners, but now you’re here…”
“Oh, really? Then let’s just take seats that way and begin.”
We got up from our seats as he dropped those words without hesitation. However, I truly didn’t know
where I should sit down, so I just stood still with downcast eyes.
This place, which was just a regular café space, was now a minefield. I, first of all, stared at Kim Jimin. As
if it was not a lie that he had a crush on Lee Mina, Kim Jimin was defending the seat beside Lee Mina
desperately. Thus, I had only three choices left, but two of them were mines.
Gosh… Heaving a sigh shortly, I threw a glance at Yeo Dan oppa’s friend. I wished he could save me, but
since his eyes were fastened on Moon Sarah, he might have been captivated by her at first glance.
As I expected, he sat down beside Moon Sarah. Being surrounded by enemies on every side in a flash, I
touched my stinging forehead.
Reading my countenance for a moment, Sohn Se Young stealthily moved next to Ahn Ji Young. He had
been backbiting her so much in the bathroom not so long ago, but now he was greeting her with a bright
smile. Since Ahn Ji Young also responded to him in delight, maybe they had been close to each other.
‘Come on, how could he say one thing and mean another…’ That was when I clicked my tongue
inwardly. Feeling the seat beside me being sunken with someone’s weight, I turned aside with a frown.
Just as I expected, it was Chun Dong Ho. His student ID gently swayed like a swing between his t-shirt
and Adidas jersey.
Putting his body close to mine, he lowered his voice and said, “Let’s have some talk.”
“Would you please don’t sit close to me?” I spoke from the bottom of my heart. Even I thought that my
voice sounded surprisingly cold.
Well, I could understand that some people might backbite me when I wasn’t present. My brain wasn’t a
flower garden, which would only function with positive thinking such as having expectations of people
always talking good things about others. I couldn’t control others’ feelings toward me; therefore, I was
clearly aware that people could hate others for no reason.
However, it was a different story if someone tried to involve Ban Yeo Ryung into our matter. My face
turned stiff even more. Those, who tried to approach me to get closer to Ban Yeo Ryung, were the type
of people that I hated the most.
After my remark, Chun Dong Ho didn’t come closer to me anymore. Still, I felt very unpleasant to sit
beside him while leaving a space between us as small as a palm.
Putting my elbow on the table, I rested my chin on my hand to avoid his gaze as much as possible. ‘Geez,
I should have asked Yeo Dan oppa to bring me with him. Why did I forget to tell him about it? Such an
idiot!’ I bleated out a complaint to myself.
At that moment, I heard something like a faint chime. Someone seemed to step inside the café again,
but since I was desperately averting my eyes from Chun Dong Ho, I didn’t have a chance to look in that
direction.
As soon as a question pierced through the bell sound, I turned to look aside.
“What did I do so wrong?”
“What?”
Glancing beside me, I found that Chun Dong Ho’s face looked as upset as I was. I forced a laugh while
feeling dumbfounded.
Come on, wasn’t it me who got verbally abused by this boy in the bathroom? If someone had to be
upset, it should be me, not him. Why was he now in a bad moon when he just uttered whatever he
wanted to his friend?
Chun Dong Ho continued, “Okay, I admit that I’ve tried to get along with you while expecting to be
closer to Ban Yeo Ryung. That could look like I was trying to use you.”
Although he insisted that he had done nothing wrong, Chun Dong Ho lowered his voice as much as he
could in order to avoid Lee Mina and the other kids from hearing his words. Feeling ridiculous, I let out a
peal of empty laughter and retorted, “Look like using me? You were about to use me. Why aren’t you
putting that out clearly?”
I tried to end this up without making a fuss, but I couldn’t help loudening my voice. Yeo Dan oppa’s
friend, who was sitting across the table, threw a glance in our direction.
Yikes… I had my mouth shut for a moment to calm down. Chun Dong Ho then flung another question.
“Is it that bad to have a crush on Ban Yeo Ryung instead of you?”
His question struck the back of my head with a loud thud. Feeling the shock, I asked, “… What?” and
firmly pressed my aching head with my hand. If the words that went between us just now were only an
awl, his remark this time seemed like an iron bar.
As if he thought that he hit the nail on the head, Chun Dong Ho spoke triumphantly, “Honestly, I don’t
think you have to lose your temper that much just by what you heard near the bathroom. Why should I
like you instead of Ban Yeo Ryung?”
“Hey, you’re really not catching the point.” Suppressing the anger rising within me, I kept on speaking,
“Did I ask you to like me? Don’t you ever dare to compare others like…”
At that moment, Chun Dong Ho cut me off, saying, “Who would have a crush on you instead of Ban Yeo
Ryung… Is this what you’re angry about? I could speak out what I have in mind, don’t I? What’s so wrong
with that?”
As soon as I heard those words, all the noise around me disappeared, and I began to space out as if I was
fallen into the water. After quite a while, I murmured to myself, ‘So this is what they say you can’t even
get angry when you’re so dumbfounded.’
I directed my eyes to Chun Dong Ho. It was just a few hours ago when I thought that his bleached hair,
black eyes, and loose outfit resembled Ruda. ‘I cancel those words,’ I mumbled. In every aspect, this
bastard in front of me didn’t look similar to Ruda at all.
There was this moment when I got to compare myself to others; however, that should be done by
myself to accept the truth and endure what I was lacking. If I had to hear those words from someone
else, it was intolerably miserable.
When my anger reached the top of my head, the periphery of my sight faded to white. Meanwhile, only
Chun Dong Ho’s face was visibly clear as if it was surrounded by a frame.
Now he even threw away his reflective attitude and began to believe that he had some lethal weapon to
change this situation. Switching his behavior to that of a person, who trusted that he had the right and
way to attack others, Chun Dong Ho blurted out with pride, “Gosh, this is so annoying. Why should I
walk on eggshells when I didn’t do something that bad?”
I just bit my lips. He was acting too ludicrously that I was at a loss of words. If this situation was a scene
in a TV drama, I would have pointed at the screen and yelled, ‘Throw some water over there right now!’
However, as I became the person, who was directly involved, that wasn’t easy at all too.
Pouting my lips, I opened and closed my empty hand over and over. That was when the look on Chun
Dong Ho’s face turned gradually elated with time.
‘Splash!’ With a loud noise, there was water spilling over Chun Dong Ho’s hair.
Time seemed to stop for a second. Lifting my head blankly in that situation, I came up with some
hilarious thoughts.
‘Did I gain some supernatural or magical power to make the cup fly over to him automatically and pour
water over his hair? If not, how could that happen?’
Lifting my head more, I saw a person, who was looking down in my direction while placing his hand on
the back of the couch that Chun Dong Ho and I were sitting on.
“Whoa…”
I gently emitted a whoop. There stood a person, who looked like a perfect fit for the leading role of a TV
drama.
As if he drank soju bottoms up, Yeo Dan oppa was waving an empty shot glass. His friend asked him in
perplexity, “Hey, what did you just do?”
“Drink some cold water and pull yourself together.”
“What? Dude, what the…”
Leaving Yeo Dan oppa’s friend, who looked flustered, aside, I observed Chun Dong Ho’s face. He was
blushing like a boiled octopus.
He would, of course, feel embarrassed since he got harassed in this place where even the girls in his
cram school were also sitting around. Wasn’t he such an arrogant boy who talked something like, ‘Is it
that bad to have a crush on Ban Yeo Ryung instead of you?’ while he got caught backbiting others?
Chun Dong Ho struck a retort, at last, as if his anger went beyond a critical point of his patience.
“What are you doing?”
Yeo Dan oppa replied as if he had been waiting for that question.
“This girl… she doesn’t like you.”
I became blanked out again, wondering, ‘Did he hear all our conversations until now? Since when? How
far did he listen to?’ Anyway, his response was so cool that it pierced into my suppressed feelings at
once and released myself from the strained atmosphere.
His following words almost made me burst out laughing while forgetting about the situation.

“If a girl is with me and you, she will, of course, like ME, not you.”
“…”
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
While Yeo Dan oppa spoke that way, not only his friend but also all the people around the table stared
in our direction vacantly.
Although he wasn’t behaving that active earlier, he still didn’t look so confident enough to drop this kind
of remark. Only I, who knew the entire situation, kept back my laughter like do or die.
When I switched my gaze back to Chun Dong Ho, he was staring blankly in this direction while getting
defeated by Yeo Dan oppa’s simple response. Meanwhile, Yeo Dan oppa stretched out his hand to me
and said, “Let’s get out of here.”
As if I was possessed by a devil, I grabbed his hand and stood up from my seat.
Then I heard someone grumbling behind me, “If this was what’s gonna happen, why did you call me
out? The number of people doesn’t match. What are you gonna do about it?”
Although he was complaining that way, Yeo Dan oppa’s friend didn’t look upset at all. Instead, he was
even sending us a satisfied glance with a smirk while resting his chin on his palm. Slightly frowning, Yeo
Dan oppa turned his head in that direction and replied, “Why don’t you play a double role?”
“Wow, does the girl beside you also know that you are such a person like this?”
‘Nope, I had no idea. I’ve been living next door for four years, but I got to learn that now.’ While I
answered back only to myself, Yeo Dan oppa’s friend pointed at Chun Dong Ho.
“Dude, but you went too far. How could you do that to him as soon as you returned? Don’t you think it’s
like bullying at school?”
Yeo Dan oppa replied shortly, “This place isn’t school.”
“Oh lord.”
“I did it because he deserved it.”
Once he spoke that way, Yeo Dan oppa turned his head to look at Sohn Se Young, who was sitting beside
Ahn Ji Young. As if he committed a deadly crime, Sohn Se Young’s face turned pale. Yeo Dan oppa’s
friend seemed to grasp the behind story at that sight. Clearing his throat, he made some nasal sounds.
“Yeah, you might have had a reason to do such a thing though.”
Yeo Dan oppa replied, “I’ll explain it to you later.”
“Fine.”
Watching Sohn Se Young’s face turning even more pale from across the table, I murmured that it was a
well-earned punishment and studied the look on others’ faces.
While Ahn Ji Young and Moon Sarah were staring worriedly in the direction where Chun Dong Ho
headed to, Lee Mina slightly puckered her lips and was blowing a whistle. Pointing her finger at Yeo Dan
oppa, she then placed both fists under her chin and shrugged her shoulders as if she felt excited. I gave a
little giggle at her, who looked like a viewer watching a romantic scene in a TV drama.
Yeo Dan oppa and I left the café, at last. The sight of his friend waving at us until the end disappeared
over the café door.
Once we jumped into the crowded streets of the weekend, I burst into laughter while bending myself
forward. Putting his hand on my back, Yeo Dan oppa asked concernedly, “Are you feeling okay?”
I nodded without hesitance. If he heard what Chun Dong Ho said to me, he would definitely worry about
how I would be feeling. However, I replied while wiping out my lips, “Uh-huh, I think I’m totally fine.
Look, I’m smiling.”
Covering my mouth with the back of my hand again, I began to giggle. I couldn’t help thinking about
what he just said.
As if he felt embarrassed, Yeo Dan oppa slightly grimaced and uttered, “I heard something ridiculous, so
I just copied him.”
“Geez, oppa, aren’t you really a genius of improvisation?”
Speaking that way with a peal of loud laughter, I suddenly came up with something. Now I had come to
think of it, he was really a genius. I turned gloomy out of the blue. The workbooks I left on my desk from
early in the morning flashed through my head.
Heaving a sigh, I dropped my gaze at the ground. The gray high-heeled sandals, which I seldom wore but
put on today for this group hangout, came into view. All the efforts I made and the things I had given up
in order to join this event… They all became meaningless.
Feeling something stinging on my forehead, I raised my head again and found Yeo Dan oppa staring at
me worriedly.
Yikes! Waving my hand in the air, I said, “I’m fine… it’s just…”
With a nod, Yeo Dan oppa asked, “It’s just… what?”
I tapped the ground with the toe of my sandal. Bringing both hands behind my back, I replied, “It’s just
that… if this was supposed to happen, I wondered why I had dressed like this… I mean, I didn’t wear this
way because of those kids, but I feel like I’ve wasted too much time.”
“….”
That was when I tried to say the next words.
“Don’t think about it anymore.”
“Yeah, I won’t.”
When I pointed at the corners of my lips, which I still perked upwards to hint a smile, Yeo Dan oppa
nodded his head and patted my head. Bending his steps, he drove a wedge into me as if he still felt
concerned.
“I’m serious. Don’t think about anything stupid.”
“I won’t. I told you.”
“Are you sure?”

“Yes! Gosh, oppa, why are you like that ever since we’re in front of the bathroom?” Tapping my chest, I
continued, “Oppa, I may seem like a clear glass bead, but I won’t break that easily.”
He then tilted his head, saying, “No, you don’t look that way…”
“… This is a song lyric, oppa.”
“Oh…”
We moved our steps in silence.
I began to blame myself, who forgot that Yeo Dan oppa didn’t know well about trending songs. Who
would call herself a clear glass bead in a sober mind? How would I have looked in his eyes? I wanted to
smash my head on the wall.
Meanwhile, the street we moved forward started to look familiar as the surroundings turned from
commercial sites to residential areas.
‘Are we already here?’ Glancing around, I nodded my head. Since we usually walked together while
heading back home, we were naturally returning to our place although none of us announced it to do
so.
That was when we were walking pass by the convenience store near our apartment. Yeo Dan oppa, who
remained silent until now that he made me feel uneasy, suddenly uttered, “Hold on for a second here.”
“Huh?”
Since I had encountered bullies in the alley so many times before––half of them were because of Yeo
Ryung though––Yeo Dan oppa didn’t try to leave me alone outside. However, he was about to do the
opposite right now.
Watching him quickly disappear into the convenience store, I wondered why he was suddenly behaving
that way, then I slowly leaned on the wall in the alley.
It seemed like an eternity while standing in the street alone. If the weather was cold or hot, I wouldn’t
feel this much bored and slow. Touching my phone for quite a while, I checked the time out of the blue.
“What time is it now?”
‘Oh, thank goodness,’ I uttered like a sigh. I only wasted less than two hours in the group hangout. ‘Well,
since I only had some short conversations and something to drink,’ I murmured.
Once I returned home, I would change my clothes immediately. Next, I would take the blouse for dry-
cleaning in the laundromat then finish studying, which I had left behind until now. If I study until ten
o’clock in the night, I would be able to complete a few pages although it’s a little below my goal for
today.
Putting the phone into my pocket again, I rubbed my forehead and murmured, “Yeo Dan oppa told me
not to think about something stupid…” However, once I became alone, I couldn’t help recalling the
words I had heard earlier waving into me.

Dithering for a moment, I soon sat down and crossed my legs while leaning on the dirty wall.
“I really was so fortunate.”
It seemed that I was living quite a spectacular life than others while spending my youth with the
characters in web novels; however, maybe it was not. Instead, I might have been grown in a very
sheltered environment since most of the characters in web novels clearly knew what they liked and
disliked.
Once again, I came to realize the sincerity and interest the Four Heavenly Kings and Ban Yeo Ryung
showed and had in me were so precious and rare. It was such great luck that I was permitted to stay
beside them.
I always had the fear of those kids suddenly vanishing away or forgetting me; however, I never thought
something like ‘What if they actually hate me but aren’t telling me about it?’ That was because I didn’t
have to be suspicious about it.
Their existence was like an umbrella for me. It was like a cocoon that was protecting me from getting
hurt from things in the world.
And today, it was my first time to try widening my world while escaping from Ban Yeo Ryung and the
Four Heavenly Kings. ‘How was the outcome?’ Asking myself, I could only smile bitterly.
‘Others just all live this way, but is it only me who doesn’t get to know who I am? Instead of realizing
how precious I am through relationships, am I just recognizing my objective value?’
I was being treated as a valuable person among my family and friends; however, once I got thrown out
to the world, I got to grasp that I was actually nothing than my expectations…
Wrapping my blushing cheeks with both hands, I thought, “I must have had the wrong end of the stick
since I received too much love.” I might have kept deluding myself that I was enough to receive this
much attention, love, and support.
I closed my eyes tightly.

‘Is it so wrong to like Ban Yeo Ryung instead of you?”
Chun Dong Ho’s words echoed around my ears. I frowned in silence.
‘Everyone would have a crush on her, not you. Don’t you think so too?’
A stupid thought… Yeo Dan oppa told me not to think about anything stupid. However, would this really
be a stupid thought? What if it was me who wasn’t actually facing the truth?
A voice came over from behind me. I lifted my head. Through the pouring rays of early fall, Yeo Dan
oppa came into view. He stretched out his hand and gently poke my forehead.
“I told you not to think about anything stupid.”
“Oh…”
“Don’t take it personally when those who know nothing about you shoot their mouths off.”
His words surprised me a little that I blinked swiftly.
Yoon Jung In once told me something similar to what Yeo Dan oppa just said. When I was suffering from
bad rumors, he gave me a piece of advice while telling me that he also had a similar experience.
Maybe those who had some challenging times from bad rumors would have the same thought.
‘What they’re saying about me isn’t true. I’ll be able to find those who know and like the real me.’ Were
people all barely tolerating such relationships combined with all kinds of misunderstandings and
betrayal while having that thought?
Rambling those things in my head, I rubbed the part of my forehead where Yeo Dan oppa poked just
now.
However, my mind kept wandering. When things like this happened, I couldn’t even trust the kind
advice given by my people.
What if I was neglecting others’ fair criticism since I only wanted to hear something good? What if I was
deluding myself that I was qualified to become cherished?
‘Who would like you?’
What if I was ignoring the objective truth and living in my false hope?
The moment when I murmured those things to myself, something cold touched my cheek out of the
blue. With my eyes wide open, I saw Yeo Dan oppa’s face that came so close to me before I even knew.
Rolling my eyes, I found out what just touched my cheek.
It was a bottle of chocolate milk, the thing that he often handed out to me since middle school, high
school, and even a few days ago while taking it out from his backpack.
Suddenly bursting into laughter, I reached out my hand to get the milk and murmured, “Oh my god… Did
you go there so urgently…?”
That was when I tried to complete the sentence, saying, ‘… to just get this thing?’ Yeo Dan oppa
intervened in my words.
“You know, I’m not taking care of my backpack so much.”
His sudden remark soon made me nod my head. What he just said was true. When he tried to fight with
someone, he first put his backpack down, which was almost throwing it onto the ground. At that
moment, I often wondered if the things inside his bag were okay.
His response returned as if he read my thought, “So, the bottle of milk almost exploded and splashed a
few times in my bag.”
“What?”
I furrowed my brows at the story I had never heard before. Oh, Lord, how could the milk explode in the
bag? That was one of the three most annoying things that could happen in school. Besides, if the milk
splashed on our school uniform, we could just wash it away; however, if that happened in our bag, other
things inside would also turn wet and messy. Whenever we opened our textbook, the bad odor would
interrupt the student sitting beside us, therefore. Recalling a memory in elementary school, I squinted
my eyes.
The reason why I came up with the memory of my elementary school year was that I got disgusted at
the bottle of milk from a similar incident and gave up the pleasure of drinking it while adding a pack of
cocoa powder to it.
That was when Yeo Dan oppa continued, “But I like you as much as I keep bringing that stuff for you.”
“…”
“So… don’t think about anything stupid.”
A moment of silence swept the space.
Blinking my eyes, I looked at him in a daze. Meanwhile, his hand, which was in the air equivocally while
losing where to go, soon touched my head. Standing still for a while, I suddenly lifted my hand and
placed it on top of his hand.
I replied like a murmur, “Fine.”
“Cool.”
“… But, next time, don’t bring it.”
‘I feel sorry for your bag.’ That was what I tried to add; however, my throat felt suddenly hot as if I was
choked with tears, so I stopped to say so. Watching me slowly hiding my eyes with the back of my hand,
Yeo Dan oppa patted my head.
The refreshing fall breeze scattered my hair, and his hand, which was subtler than the gentle wind, kept
touching my head.
Yeo Dan oppa uttered, “Though you didn’t dress like that because of those bastards, you look too fine to
just return home…” He added, “Would you like to hang out with me then?”
Pouting my lips for quite a while, I drew a deep breath and nodded my head desperately as if I forgot
how to speak. His hand came closer and grabbed mine firmly. We then left the alley in the showering
sunlight.
As soon as we entered the movies, a sweet popcorn smell waved into me. Instead of looking at the
popcorn stand, I quickly checked the seats left.
I was a little concerned since it was the weekend; however, there were several seats left than my
expectations maybe because it was two or three on Saturday afternoon. Still, those could be taken soon.
Feeling nervous, I pulled out a ticket number from the machine before deciding what to see. That was
when I began to read the movie titles and each of their synopsis. Suddenly, something flashed through
my head––it was my first time to go to the movies with only Yeo Dan oppa.
I went to the movie theater with him when Ban Yeo Ryung and I were freshmen in middle school. We
had nothing to do around that time, so Yeo Dan oppa brought us to the movies while holding each of
our hands. According to Ban Yeo Ryung and my taste of genres, we watched some action movies. At that
time, Ban Yeo Ryung still preferred anything that featured something exploding, breaking, and flying
around. So did I.
I mean, I could, at least, pay attention to some romance movies; however, Ban Yeo Ryung wasn’t at all.
One time, someone in our class played a classic romance movie, but she began to doze off while resting
her chin on her palm then buried her head onto the desk eventually.
Watching her reactions, I wondered, ‘Well, since she has a sibling, who looks like a male lead in a
romance novel, her life will be a romance movie itself. Thus, why would she pay attention to those
stories? It’s like a person with supernatural powers getting bored to hero movies…’
Anyway, Yeo Dan oppa was always considerate of Yeo Ryung and me, so I had no idea what type of
movie he enjoyed.
The moment I tried to turn my head toward him and detach my lips, the number on the board turned
into seventy-two. Checking the same number on my ticket, I quickly pulled Yeo Dan oppa and walked
toward the booth. ‘Gosh, I didn’t decide what to watch yet!’ I murmured to myself while clicking my
tongue.
The female staff asked politely with a smile, “May I assist you with the film?”
“Let’s see what you want to watch, oppa.”

As soon as I flung that question, Yeo Dan oppa shook his head. Pointing at the monitor with his chin, he
said, “Choose what you want to see.”
“No, just tell me what you want to see. I’m really fine.”
“Me, too. I don’t care.”
“Oppa, come on. Unlike Yeo Ryung, I enjoy watching any genres. I don’t care if it’s a romance movie.”
“You want to see a romance movie?”
“No, that’s not what I’m talking…”
Listening to our conversation, the beautiful, female staff soon wrinkled up her forehead.
Beckoning the customers standing behind us with her hand, she asked, “Would you please decide what
you want to watch and come back?”
‘Um, yes…’ Replying that way, I tried to step back, but that was when I heard some whispers around my
ears. As soon I grasped their conversation, I blushed to the roots of my hair, wondering, ‘WHAT?’
“Geez, that couple is causing a lot of trouble.”
“If they feel happy no matter what they see, why don’t they just go to a café and watch each other’s
faces? Why does it have to be the movies, gosh?!”
Couple… A COUPLE??!!!
Besides, we would feel happy no matter what we were gonna see? No, you were getting it wrong! We
were just two people who had some problems with decision making…
Blushing in embarrassment, I quickly snatched Yeo Dan oppa’s arm and got out of the queue. This
reaction would, of course, make us look more like a couple; however, getting away from this place was
the number one priority for now. As if he didn’t hear the whispers about us, Yeo Dan oppa just followed
me quietly.
The girls, who were standing behind us, with school uniforms on, tried to scowl at us, but once they saw
Yeo Dan oppa’s face, they froze on the spot. They soon whispered again, “Isn’t that person… from Nam
Gye High School…?”
“Holy cow! Oh, my god! I saw him in the photos but never in real life.”
‘Anyway, Yeo Dan seems to be a famous figure in this neighborhood, for real,’ thinking that way, I barely
pulled him to the corner of the movies and heaved a deep sigh. Hand fanning my nape to cool myself
down, I uttered, “Yeo Dan oppa, let’s just choose ASAP. I really don’t mind watching anything.” After a
moment of hesitation, I continued, “We became a couple who were causing a lot of trouble. That’s why
they had whispered at us.”
Even though I was telling him what others had said, I couldn’t stop blushing.
“Oh…”
I brought those words to finalize our decision as soon as possible, but Yeo Dan oppa was unresponsive
while just rubbing his lips.
‘I mean, don’t you really care even when others treat us as a couple right now?’ Having that thought in
mind, I blushed again. ‘Gosh, you’ve been making my heart sink since we were in the alley!’
Thankfully, Yeo Dan oppa, who was lost in thought for a second, soon chose a movie. Since he picked a
late, monster adventure film, I was sure that he remembered and reflected my taste on his choice, but
anyway, he made a decision, at last, so I reserved our tickets immediately.
We still had some time left until the screening, so we tried to hit the arcade beside the movies, then…
“URGH, oppa!!! I don’t want to play any games all of a sudden. Let’s just go.”
… I decided not to, once I found someone familiar in that direction. Yelling that way, I pulled Yeo Dan
oppa’s arm. Thank god, he didn’t look that interested in playing games in the arcade. ‘Really? Okay,
then,” with that nonchalant response, he turned around to return to the movies.
‘Whoa, I was so surprised!’ Sweeping down my pounding chest, I glanced at the arcade and wondered,
‘Why are they here!’
The boy, who was taking up the two DDR machines and showing his fancy moves, attracted too much
attention to avert my eyes from him.
‘Yoon Jung In, we never encountered each other in the streets until now! Why on earth are you
suddenly here? Why does it have to be today, right now, at this place?!’ Shouting those words only to
myself, I touched the ribbon around my blouse.
If he got to catch me wearing this outfit and with a guy in the movies, he would definitely call me
tomorrow and ask a lot of questions. Besides, he seemed to be here with Shin Suh Hyun and also a few
other boys in Class 1-8.
‘Please… please don’t let me run into anyone I know today!’ Looking for all the gods in the world, I
uttered a desperate prayer, which I didn’t make even when I had an exam. As if it worked, thankfully,
none of them came to this side until the movie began. When it was time to go inside, I pulled Yeo Dan
oppa to enter the space and quickly walked down to our reserved seats.
There were some ads and previews before the actual screening. During that short break, we chatted
about the poster we brought just now. Pointing at the people running away from the beast, I asked, “Are
these people all gonna die?”
Looking down in that direction, Yeo Dan oppa replied nonchalantly, “Looking at their faces, I think they
will.”
“Eh? How do you know that?”
“They all look scared. Usually, the one who loses the peace of mind dies first.”
“Ah, that makes sense.”
‘Yeo Dan oppa, you’re sharp,’ thinking that way, I nodded but soon turned my head when I suddenly felt
some piercing gaze on my cheek. Since it was the weekend, there were couples beside us.
The girl from the couple threw a glance at Yeo Dan oppa and me as if she was asking us why we were
having that kind of conversation. When our eyes met, she quickly turned her head and spoke to the guy
sitting beside her.
“Oppa, how many people would get killed? I really hate it when people die.”
“Don’t worry, it’s just a movie. Don’t take it too personally.”
Listening to their heartwarming conversation, I realized why she had been staring at me that way.
Perhaps the conversation I had with Yeo Dan oppa just now wouldn’t sound like a dialogue between a
couple.
Besides, both of us didn’t enjoy eating something during a movie, so we didn’t even have popcorn
between us. That was why we looked utterly different from the sight of other couples sharing a popcorn
so chummily. We would, of course, not have any plot developments taking place between us such as
bumping into each other’s hands while having popcorn.
However, I just laughed instead of feeling upset. There wasn’t such a thing as romance in my desolate
life. I was just here to watch a movie with my neighbor.
The entire space was in the darkness just in time. It seemed that the movie was about to begin.
Watching the projector light flashing on the screen, I turned my head to look aside out of the blue. It
was now very quiet that I couldn’t distinguish if the sound of breathing was from Yeo Dan oppa or the
person beside me.
Looking at his side face that dimly appeared through the dark, I flaunted a grin since it looked very
familiar and old at the same time as if it was a face I suddenly found from a film roll.
Turning my head back to the front, I murmured to myself, ‘This is how it feels when watching a movie
alone with Yeo Dan oppa.’
Although this time could be meaningless between us, it was such a wonderful thing to encounter a
moment that I wanted to remember for a long time.
***
The movie was very interesting, although as Yeo Dan oppa predicted earlier, the Smiths, who became
the leading roles of the movie, all died without any survivor…
On our way out of the movies, he asked, “Was it good?”
“Uh-huh, what about you?”

“Me, too. It was nice.”
“Everyone died, just as you said.”
Speaking that way, I giggled. The couple earlier went past behind us. The girl from that couple sent me a
gaze as if she was looking at the beast in the movie just now.
Feeling embarrassed for a moment, I soon grumbled, ‘What do you want me to do when I didn’t feel
scared at all…’ Then I realized something… that I missed the chance to grab Yeo Dan oppa’s hand, at
least, once in my lifetime.
‘Geez, you idiot! It’s my first time to come to the movies only with him, and I could have grabbed his
hand while acting scared!’ I regretted the situation with my head in my hands. Yeo Dan oppa came
closer to me and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Uh, nothing.”
He would, of course, immediately lend his hand to me if I asked him for doing it, but that was just
meaningless.
Shaking my head, I walked straight towards the arcade right beside the cinema. Thankfully, there
weren’t Yoon Jung In, Shin Suh Hyun, and the other boys this time.
Feeling excited for some reason, I brought Yeo Dan oppa to a few game machines and inserted coins.
However, he didn’t look that used to hanging around in the arcades. Touching the light gun of the
popular zombie game ‘House of the Dead’ as if he felt embarrassed, he uttered, “I never played these
kinds of things.”
“No worries, oppa. You’ll get used to it!” I yelled at him vigorously. However, in less than five minutes, I
was dead since my hand slipped at the time I had to throw the grenade. Watching him surviving alone
and leveling up to mini-boss, I asked him with bleary eyes, “Are you sure this is your first time?”
“Yeah.”
Well, he wasn’t a person to lie.
What could he not do well, except for cooking? Once again feeling how unfair God was to us, I led him
to a different game. I was weirdly determined to find, at least, one game he couldn’t do well. Yeo Dan
oppa, however, achieved a victory in almost every game including rhythm game and fighting game while
telling me everything was his first attempt. He even broke the record in the basketball game and gave
me a huge teddy bear, his winning prize.
“I’ll hold it for you if it’s heavy.”
“I’m fine, oppa…”
Pulling the big plush toy into my arms, I murmured, ‘Now it’s unavoidable that we look like a couple.
Unless other people have heard our conversation near us, we’ll be seen as a couple in their eyes no
matter what we do…’
I desperately prayed once again that I wouldn’t run into anyone in town today.
Meanwhile, time continued to roll forward. Once we stepped out of the arcade, the sky was already
tinged with dark purple. After a short discussion, Yeo Dan oppa and I went to a family restaurant, where
the three of us always visited, and had dinner.
Still, something felt insufficient for some reason. Looking down at the clearly emptied plate, I wondered.
“Hmm.”
Directing his eyes on me, Yeo Dan oppa asked with his chin on his palm.
“Is there anywhere else you want to go?”

Maybe Yeo Dan oppa was about to suit everything to please me today. Well, he usually treated me that
way though…
Was he being concerned about what happened between me and Chun Dong Ho for the whole time? I
had already forgotten that part.
Frankly speaking, it was true that today could have been the worst day of my life, but Yeo Dan oppa
changed it into the best day ever. I wondered if this was what I would be feeling when dating a
handsome character in a dating simulation game although I was out of touch with reality. However, we
weren’t actually dating. I moved my fork around the plate for no reason.
Anywhere else I wanted to go… Honestly, I didn’t want to return home while having this lingering
feeling. Something then flashed through my mind. I quickly lifted my head.
“Yeo Dan oppa, I want to go to the karaoke.”
Now that I had come to think of it, I never went to karaoke with him. I flung a question brightly, “Can
we?”
“If you want.”
He returned the same response as before.
Bending my steps toward the karaoke in excitement, I tried to guess what he would be singing there.
Ballad? Rock? I couldn’t even imagine him singing a song at all. Not only just songs, but I also couldn’t
come up with Yeo Dan oppa taking vocal tests during the music class.
‘Oh, I’m so looking forward to it!’ That was when I shouted those words out in my thoughts and tried to
take a step forward the karaoke.
“Eh? What are you doing here?”
As soon as someone dropped the question, I froze on the spot. Yeo Dan oppa, who was descending the
stairs behind me, halted his steps.
Standing still, I put my brain to work. It was clear that the person knew Yeo Dan oppa, but who would it
be? No matter how much I tried to recall, the voice wasn’t in my memories. Feeling too scared to check
the person’s face, I hesitated what to do. It took me a while to work up the courage and turn my head,
at last.
A huge figure, who was a head taller than me, was standing in front of the fridge right beside me. He
had a handsome face, an outgoing vibe, and was wearing some casual outfit, which confused me
whether he was a high school student or a college boy. I stared at the stranger with a puzzled look,
wondering, ‘Who the heck is he to talk knowingly of Yeo Dan oppa?’
That was when Yeo Dan oppa took a step forward and stood in front of me.
“Ji Yeon Woo.”
I blinked swiftly at Yeo Dan oppa, who was blocking my sight as if he tried to protect me. Were they not
close like a rival? My heart began to pound.
The guy named Ji Yeon Woo narrowed his brown eyes. Looking back and forth between Yeo Dan oppa
and me, who was having a giant teddy bear in my arms, he blurted out with a smile, “Oh, is she that girl?
Your one and only sibling?”
What he just said startled me. ‘What the heck is he talking about? Is he confused about me and… none
other than Ban Yeo Ryung? Does he have some vision problems?’
The moment when I had those rude thoughts against a stranger, Yeo Dan oppa stroke a retory with a
frown.
“No, so just mind your own business.”
Yeo Dan oppa’s savage remarks never sounded familiar to me no matter how many times I had heard
them. Blinking my eyes, I looked at Yeo Dan oppa and the guy alternately.
Even observing Yeo Dan oppa’s attitude, I couldn’t grasp at all whether the guy was his friend or an
enemy. That was because… frankly speaking, Yeo Dan oppa treated his friends more recklessly than he
did to strangers.
At that moment, Ji Yeon Woo’s eyes widened at Yeo Dan oppa’s response. He then turned around and
left the spot while shouting out a remark, which made me realize something, at last.
“Hey, everyone come on over here! Ban Yeo Dan… our Yeo Dan…!”
That person…
“He is with a different girl, not his sister!”
… Would definitely be Yeo Dan oppa’s friend.
“What!?”
“Holy sh*t! Oh lord!!”
Watching people shrieking that way and dashing outside the door, I felt my jaw dropping onto the floor.
We were soon surrounded by a group of people, who swarmed into us like a colony of ants.
Oh, my god… Barely escaping from Yoon Jung In and other boys, I prayed so enthusiastically that today I
would no longer run into anyone I knew. That took place just a while ago, but now about fifteen people
were enclosing us.
Lifting his hand, Yeo Dan oppa covered my face and hid me behind his back. As soon as he took that
action, the group of people cried out, “How can you do this to us?!”
“Why aren’t you letting us see our daughter-in-law’s face?”
Yeo Dan oppa replied with a slightly exhausted expression, “My father is at home.”

Just in time, the owner of the karaoke, who was waiting and seeing the overall situation, scowled at us,
“What are you all doing here? Go back to your room!”
The crowd flinched at his howl of range and moved like a wave of the ocean. In an unguarded moment,
we have swept along in the crowd and stepped into the room.
Burying my nose onto Yeo Dan oppa’s back, I heard loud music coming out and barely lifted my head to
glance around. Inside the room, which was large enough to accommodate about twenty people, there
weren’t only Nam Gye High School students. A few high school girls, who were wearing uniforms of a
neighborhood high school, were sitting on the couch. They soon opened their eyes wide when they
found Yeo Dan oppa and me.
Covering their mouths with their hands, the girls came toward us.
“What’s going on? I heard Yeo Dan wasn’t coming here.”
“Wow, unbelievable! In real life…”
While the girls murmured those words slightly in a daze, the boys behind them made a fuss while
greeting Yeo Dan oppa mischievously, but soon after, everyone’s eyes were bent on me.

Inso's Law (Chapter 311-340)

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Chapter 311: Chapter 311

“Disqualify me for cheating.”

Lucas replied without hesitance, “Yeah.”

“Um… excuse me?”

Speaking that way, Lucas turned his head to look at Ruda.

“… That I would betray Ruda.”

“But that doesn’t mean it isn’t painful.”

“Heard from ‘Donnie…’ Is that what you just said?”

“When did you two become that close?”

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“Um, that’s not what I was thinking at all…”

“Not even through the keyhole…”

Chapter 312: Chapter 312

At that moment, I heard two people talking.

“Ruda, my boy, you became a baby. Can’t even button up…”

“Should I button up for you?”

“Oh, come on!”

After a good while, I blurted, “Were you a… boy…?”

“Oh, isn’t that a part of Korean culture?”

No, it was tough, really tough.

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“That was in the past.”

Chapter 313: Chapter 313

Hold on, then what about Yoo Chun Young?

Through the open door, a breathtaking sight flooded into my view.

I, Lucas, and Ruda couldn’t raise our heads.

Her following words then solved my question so simply.

With that said, Yi Jenny tapped her in-ear headphone.

‘That’s what happened,’ heaving a deep sigh, I showed a sign of nervousness.

“What? You pretended to bear a grudge against me to deceive me, huh?”

I then threw a glance at Lucas, who was also looking in my direction.

As if she couldn’t wait any longer, Yi Jenny asked, “So?”

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A moment of silence came by.

Chapter 314: Chapter 314

With that remark, a moment of silence swept the rooftop.

“Do you still wish to be my successor?”

“Excuse me? Oh…”

“The fact that you’ve deceived me is worse than you think.”

“We’re gonna further our conversation in the reception room.”

Things proceeded smoothly afterward.

That was when Yi Jenny flung a question.

A heavy silence prevailed around the space.

His following words then made me heave a sigh.

“I don’t think that school is necessary for me, but…”

“I guess the kids in that school needs me.”

Yi Jenny asked, “So?”

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Chapter 315: Chapter 315

“I’m asking you to please look after him.”

Being startled at my reaction, Yeo Ryung and Jooin pulled my nape.

“… Now I can also get back together with Ian again.”

“… Ian just ran off with me at my request.”

[Sent by: Yi Ruda

Help me, Donnie]

[Sent by: Yi Ruda

No, I would just die]

[Sent by: Yi Ruda

If I die, I’ll go to hell, but that place is worse than hell]

[Sent by: Yi Ruda

Reading his nonstop messages, I laughed aimlessly.

Smiling awkwardly, I entered a response.