Gentle Giant Chapter 80
Knock knock.
The sound of knocking echoed in the broadcasting club room that had become sensitive due to festival preparations.
Everyone’s gaze turned to the club room door. 8 PM. Who could be an outsider coming to the broadcasting club at this hour? Everyone just widened their eyes and looked at each other.
The knocking sound came again and the broadcasting club door opened.
“Is Lee Youngju-ssi here?”
The person who opened the door and entered was someone who wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call the most famous on campus. When an unexpected figure entered, the broadcasting club members’ eyes grew even wider.
“L-Lee Juho?”
One of the broadcasting club members pointed at Juho and shouted his name.
The feeling of being pointed at before even getting an answer to his question was quite unpleasant. His mood, which had already worsened while putting Dain to sleep and coming here, now hit rock bottom.
“So where is Lee Youngju-ssi?”
Juho asked with his lips twisted upward. At his question, the broadcasting club members’ heads turned inward. They seemed to be pointing to the meeting room located inside the broadcasting club room.
Juho ignored the stares following him and knocked on the meeting room door. Then he opened the door wide before even hearing a response to come in from inside.
Looking inside, he saw Lee Youngju from earlier and what appeared to be another broadcasting club member, a man sitting with serious faces. They too just widened their eyes and stared at him due to Juho’s sudden appearance.
“Lee Youngju-ssi? I came because I have something to say.”
At Juho’s low rumbling voice, Lee Youngju shrank her shoulders and squeezed her eyes shut. She thought, “What had to come has come!”
She was already in the meeting room with the broadcasting club president. After struggling alone, she was just now telling him about causing Dain to get hurt during the day.
She could feel Juho’s blade-like gaze reaching her. She quietly sighed and stood up from her seat.
“Um, student Jung Dain is…”
“Finger fracture and wrist sprain. And bruises all over his body.”
“Gasp. H-he’s hurt quite badly.”
“It’s not just quite badly.”
Youngju just broke out in cold sweat with a face that didn’t know what to do.
If only she hadn’t gotten that excited back then.
She regretted it all day, but it was already spilled water. However, she had to somehow fix the situation.
Juho’s gaze toward the trembling Youngju was still blade-like and cold. No matter how she apologized, he couldn’t accept it.
“What if hyung had hit his head instead of his hand? How important is a promotional video that you chase after someone who says no and insist on causing this trouble?”
“Th-that’s…!”
Juho pressed her with a monotone voice. The president who was anxiously watching the situation quickly stepped in front of her.
“Youngju got ahead of herself with enthusiasm! Sh-she really wanted Lee Juho-nim as a model. We’re really sorry that Jung Dain-nim got hurt…!”
“Wait.”
“Yes?”
The president who was stammering through Youngju’s excuses closed his mouth at Juho’s gesture.
Juho’s head tilted sideways. He definitely heard “really wanted Lee Juho-nim as a model.”
So it wasn’t that they needed Dain and stuck to him like leeches, but because of me?
A hollow laugh escaped his mouth. So now Dain getting hurt was because of him.
But why? If they wanted him as a model, they could have come to him directly and said so. He couldn’t understand why they went to Dain specifically to harass him.
“Ha, you’re saying you needed me, not Dain hyung? Then why did you go to Dain hyung instead of me and cause all that chaos? Am I misunderstanding something here?”
At Juho’s voice that seemed almost like growling, both Youngju and the president stiffened. The two couldn’t dare open their mouths at his murderous aura.
“I’m asking why you went to hyung instead of me and acted crazy, right now.”
Juho spoke word by word while glaring at their faces. If they didn’t answer even after this, he was planning to flip everything over.
“B-because Lee Juho-nim ignores all of us!”
Seeing Juho with an ominous aura, Youngju urgently shouted.
Juho’s gaze turned to her. He moved his chin as if telling her to say more. At Juho’s gesture, Youngju just hoped this time would pass quickly.
“S-several times whenever we ran into each other, I tried to talk to you but you completely ignored us. So we tried to ask through your boyfriend Jung Dain-nim…”
“And?”
“But Jung Dain-nim also said no… while trying to persuade him! I-I really didn’t do it on purpose!”
Before she knew it, Youngju’s eyes were welling up with tears.
If she had known it would turn out like this, she naturally wouldn’t have chased after him that way. She just wanted to hear one word saying okay.
Among the various complicated thoughts in her head, resentment toward Jung Dain who stubbornly refused to the end was also slowly bubbling up.
Looking at her aggrieved face, a curse finally burst from Juho’s mouth.
“Fuck, this isn’t your first time.”
“Pardon…?”
“You met Dain hyung at the library a few days ago. You must have heard him say no then.”
“How do you…”
“Ha. This is really absurd.”
Juho clenched his fist tight. The one lying down injured and wronged right now is someone else. He couldn’t understand why those people were making expressions like they were the most wronged in the world.
He was angry at Dain who hadn’t said a word, supposedly for his sake since he hated meeting people.
But his teeth were grinding at these broadcasting club bastards who pestered such a kind person and caused this trouble.
Seeing Juho who had turned pale with anger, the president stepped forward to handle the situation.
“I apologize once more on Youngju’s behalf. We’re really sorry. Um, our broadcasting club will take full responsibility for Jung Dain-nim’s medical expenses. We’re really sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing on her behalf?”
“What do you mean…?”
“Did that student plan this on her own? So that student chased after Dain hyung alone? That’s not it. This was planned by the entire broadcasting club, wasn’t it? But why are you apologizing on her behalf? Why are you covering it up like you did nothing wrong and only that student did something?”
At Juho’s rebuttal, the president who had been standing one step back and watching turned pale.
The president felt wronged in his own way. He had only told them to go persuade Lee Juho, not to go cause an accident like this. That’s why even after hearing Youngju’s story just now, he only had the brief thought of “Youngju’s in big trouble.”
The broadcasting club offering to cover medical expenses was also half empty words. Because it seemed like only this would calm his anger.
However, as Juho’s story continued, the scope of that big trouble spread beyond her to the entire broadcasting club.
Only then did the president speak urgently like someone whose feet were on fire.
“O-of course all the broadcasting club members got ahead of themselves wanting to make a good festival video…!”
“So that’s not something you should do while causing such trouble to others, is it? If you want to make a good video, you should do well among yourselves in the broadcasting club, not through other people.”
“That’s right. You’re absolutely right. We’re really sorry. Even tomorrow, I’ll represent the broadcasting club and properly apologize to student Jung Dain.”
The president bowed his head and offered polite words of apology. Seeing the president’s changed attitude, Juho’s murderous look subsided a little.
Next to the president, Youngju quickly added her words.
“I’ll also visit tomorrow and apologize again. I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing to me and apologize to hyung tomorrow. And you’ll need to promise that from tomorrow onward, you’ll absolutely never come near hyung, let alone near me.”
“Ah. That’s…”
“Why? Do you still have lingering attachment?”
“No! I-just.”
It was a clear restraining order. Under his gaze like he was looking at a stalker, the two just hung their heads. Even with a hundred mouths, they had nothing to say.
After firmly imprinting the frozen president and Youngju in his eyes one last time, Juho left the meeting room.
Click.
When the door opened and Juho came out, the broadcasting club members’ gazes stuck to him. The members outside had been loitering near the meeting room, unable to contain their curiosity about what was happening.
The members hoped that maybe Juho had come to say he’d film the promotional video. However, their hopeful thinking was instantly extinguished by Juho’s expression, which came out even colder than when he went in.
Juho scanned the members once before opening the broadcasting club door.
He was memorizing all their faces right now. If any of them loitered near Dain from tomorrow onward, he wasn’t going to let them be, same school students or whatever.
When Juho left the broadcasting club room, the air that had been taut with tension finally loosened. The members each massaged their stiff shoulders while waiting for the president to come out.
Not long after, Youngju and the president appeared from the meeting room. Both had pale faces.
“President? Why did Lee Juho come? The atmosphere was really murderous.”
“Sigh, let’s find someone else for this promotional video. Leave out Lee Juho.”
“As expected. I guess he came to refuse.”
“Mm. Anyway, from now on, don’t think about going to Lee Juho. Let’s just interview seniors who graduated from our school like last year.”
“Yes.”
At the president’s sigh that seemed like the ground would cave in, the members just glanced at each other.
They were recalling how the president had earnestly insisted that this year’s video should be differentiated from last year’s. However, they couldn’t ask why to the president whose enthusiasm seemed greatly dampened.
After responding properly to avoid going against the president’s mood, the members’ hands were busy quickly revising the proposal.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
