But before Lee Suchan could speak, a louder voice was heard.
“Aaaah! Run away!”
It was an urgent voice, as if announcing a disaster or the appearance of zombies.
“Her Royal Highness Princess is coming!”
In the middle of the reunion hall, the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea unfolded.
Iseul, the crystallization of love born from the meeting of an otherworldly romantic and a this-worldly romantic, toddled in.
Behind Iseul followed the otherworldly romantic Gong Pyeonghwa, and Seonwoo Jeong, who had made the mistake of befriending him during school days.
It was obviously a cute situation, but why did someone scream to run away?
“Let’s have our Iseul ask the uncles and aunties for pocket money.”
“This child can already tell the difference between 50,000 won and 10,000 won bills!”
“She’s adorable! But terrifying!”
“Kyaaa! It’s a fine approaching with a smile!”
Don’t treat our Iseul like a quokka.
Saebyeok opened his arms to the quokka—no, to Iseul. Despite the considerable distance, Iseul walked slowly but steadily to be embraced.
Her giggling sounded like an angel.
Feeling the lovely warmth that made the labor pains worth it, he nuzzled his nostrils against her milk-scented baby fat.
“What were you talking about?”
As Pyeonghwa arrived making kissing sounds with his lips pursed like a trumpet, a few former classmates who had found their lost social skills silently returned to their seats.
“We weren’t really talking about anyth—”
“Lee Suchan has a thin dick.”
The impact of “thin dick” was substantial. Thin dick? Thin dick? Thin dick? Who has a thin dick? “Thin dick” spread like a round song.
“Are you seriously talking about someone else’s dick other than your husband’s? Has your awareness of being a married man faded? This is going to be a big problem? Hmm? Are you going back to America? Hmm?”
“What are you saying…”
With an unperturbed face, Saebyeok spoke primly as Pyeonghwa squeezed in beside him, skillfully rummaging through his bag to put a bottle in Iseul’s mouth.
“Anyway, what were you really talking about?”
“What about you?”
“I was just chatting with Woojeong about our school days. Right. He didn’t know we’re well-off.”
Seonwoo Jeong was dumbfounded.
‘He never mentioned it himself…’
Regardless, the former classmates were curious about the Pyeonghwa-Saebyeok couple’s story and nudged Seonwoo Jeong aside to take their seats.
“Did you two really date since high school?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“Are you two conspiring to lie? No, really… I was about to report you for school violence… I even went to the teachers’ office.”
Me too. Me too. Evidence that justice still exists in this world kept emerging.
“So that’s why I got called to the teachers’ office so much.”
However, he couldn’t condemn their righteous actions.
Yes, it was proof of how well Gong Pyeonghwa and Shin Saebyeok’s acting synchronized.
“But why did you have to act like that? Couldn’t you just date normally?”
“My family and Saebyeok’s family, I mean, my in-laws, are rivals and don’t get along well. Besides, Classmate Couples are supposed to keep it secret until marriage.”
Gong Pyeonghwa and Shin Saebyeok, former Classmate Couple, now proudly interlocked fingers as a married couple.
“How exactly did you two end up dating? Was the Manito thing all an act too?”
While feeding Iseul formula, Pyeonghwa recalled exactly what happened eleven years ago.
Right, Manito. They had done that.
◀◀◀
After establishing the ‘Gong Pyeonghwa☆Shin Saebyeok Eternal Friendship Project,’ they decided to thoroughly remain sworn enemies at school.
In fact, they had lived that way for half of the past 12 years, so their everyday acting was already masterclass.
In daily life, they would look at each other like bugs, but once on the rooftop, they became incredibly affectionate.
“Mom cut my allowance. Isn’t that too harsh? What am I supposed to live on…”
“Want me to give you my card…?”
“No, it’s too obvious. You don’t even eat chicken. I eat three chickens a day…”
Even the most indifferent parents would find it strange if their son, who never ate chicken, suddenly devoured three chickens.
What kind of consumption pattern did Shin Saebyeok normally have?
Suddenly, Pyeonghwa became curious about Shin Saebyeok’s spending habits. Pyeonghwa spent 80% of his allowance on food.
“What else besides chicken don’t you eat?”
“I… don’t usually eat much.”
“Are you planning to become an immortal?”
Pyeonghwa opened a delivery app and listed all kinds of foods by category.
“Have you tried pigs’ feet? Pizza? Malatang? Yuxiang eggplant? Lamb skewers? Bun cha? Tom yum kung? Curry?”
“I don’t eat out much.”
“Then what do you live on?”
“Just, you know, low-sodium food…”
For Pyeonghwa, who ate highly seasoned food with plenty of artificial flavoring at least five times a day, he worried that Shin Saebyeok might ascend to heaven one day.
“So you’ve never even tried fish-shaped pastries?”
“No…”
“Hey. You eat tuna though, right? Sashimi.”
Was tuna in season during January-February? Seasonal foods were regularly on the table. Saebyeok nodded.
“Tuna isn’t the only seasonal food. Fish-shaped pastries are seasonal too.”
Pyeonghwa went on a filibuster-level discourse about his philosophy and praise of food. He seemed obsessed with food.
“Don’t you eat cake either?”
“I can eat it, but why bother?”
How could “why bother” be an answer to eating cake? A student in his prime not eating simple sugars?
Pyeonghwa thought Saebyeok had never had a proper cake, which was why he dared to answer “why bother.”
He wanted to feed Saebyeok a truly delicious cake. This might be a kind of corruption, but anyway, he wanted to do it.
How could he naturally give cake to Shin Saebyeok, who was publicly his sworn enemy? It was too big to give secretly, and there were too many watching eyes.
But! I want to feed Saebyeok!
However! There’s no suitable method!
Feeling like Hamlet—to feed or not to feed—Pyeonghwa racked his brain all day and finally found a solution.
“Hey. Everyone, pay attention.”
Standing at the teacher’s desk, Pyeonghwa spoke with gravitas.
“Who wants to do Manito?”
With midterm exams approaching in the second semester, the stone called “Manito” that Pyeonghwa threw created enormous ripples.
Students, whose main job was studying but who wanted to neglect their duties more than anyone, jumped up like boars hit by a trap at the word “Manito.”
“Me! Me! Me!”
“Me, sir! I’ve wanted to do Manito since the beginning of time! Me!”
“If not me, then who! Me!”
The Manito, which started with Pyeonghwa’s desire to feed Shin Saebyeok delicious cake, grew larger than expected.
And thus the era of the Great Manito began.
Naturally, Pyeonghwa, who had targeted Shin Saebyeok from the start, used every form of corruption and illegality to become Shin Saebyeok’s Manito.
To maintain a natural atmosphere, Pyeonghwa only revealed to his closest confidant, Seonwoo Jeong, that he was Shin Saebyeok’s Manito, even expressing annoyance about it.
When Seonwoo Jeong offered to “secretly switch Manito assignments,” suggesting corruption, Pyeonghwa outwardly rejected it claiming fairness while inwardly breaking out in cold sweat.
The Manito period lasted until the day before the sports festival, during which time the students of Class 1-1 secretly performed good deeds for two weeks.
Among them, Pyeonghwa worked really hard to keep it unnoticeable.
As the person who proposed Manito, he was passionate.
As time passed, the momentous day of the Manito reveal arrived.
For this day, Pyeonghwa had even made a reservation at his favorite hotel. During lunch break, he secretly left school, took a taxi to pick up the cake, and smiled triumphantly.
He had spent two weeks as a guardian angel to introduce Saebyeok to a new world.
Finally today, he could show Saebyeok the corruption—no, he could show him “what a truly delicious cake tastes like.”
Expecting Shin Saebyeok’s brown eyes to sparkle and fill with hearts, Pyeonghwa returned to the classroom.
One by one, they revealed their Manitos, creating an atmosphere mixed with warmth and awkwardness.
The momentous time of revelation came, where they disclosed being someone’s Manito and exchanged small gifts.
Pyeonghwa, carefully holding the seasonal tropical fruit cake from his favorite hotel, approached Shin Saebyeok.
A beautiful tropical cake with specially selected high-sugar pineapple, mango, kiwi, and strawberries studding the moist layers, armored with soft milk cream…
“Hey, I’m your Manito…”
Wait a minute.
“This is the cake I bought…”
He has a mango allergy.
“…Do you think I’d let you eat it?”
Concerned the cake might somehow touch Shin Saebyeok, Pyeonghwa slammed it to the floor.
Everyone in the class was shocked.
Among them, the most surprised wasn’t Pyeonghwa or Shin Saebyeok, but Seonwoo Jeong.
Seonwoo Jeong jumped up from his seat and shouted loudly.
“Hey, you crazy bastard, that’s not how you do Manito! Manito means guardian angel! You Satan!”
▶▶▶
“So that was high-level acting too? The Manito cake incident.”
“No, that was just my quick thinking. I almost killed my husband…”
“What are you saying?”
Pyeonghwa still broke out in cold sweat just thinking about it.
“I thought if you were dating back then, you might have hidden a ring in that cake or something.”
“The food hygiene law is sacrosanct.”
After finishing feeding Iseul formula and making her burp, Pyeonghwa said:
“We didn’t start dating then… we started dating when we became second-years.”
“How did you end up dating? Did you start right after finding out he was an omega?”
Materials that were popular in the old days are gaining attention again these days.
Stories where a woman hides her identity by disguising as a man, or where an omega pretends to be a beta.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
