I recognized Fake Hwi’s face and shouted in surprise.
“I am not Fake Hwi! How dare you call me by such an insulting term.”
“It’s not meant to be insulting. Fake Hwi means ‘Fake is Nam-hwi-nim, but isn’t this person actually the real one?’ It’s an abbreviation popular among kids these days, you must not have known.”
“Oh- that sounds plausi— no wait, what a cunning kid. I almost fell for it.”
Too bad. But if these guys are going to pick a fight, they should take away the phone, they don’t know how to be proper villains. I took out my cell phone and pressed speed dial number 1.
“There are thugs trying to beat me up in the residential alley next to Inseong intersection!”
“Shi-dan?”
I heard In-sae’s voice, and the thugs snatched my phone away. It wasn’t the police, I must have pressed the wrong button. Fake Hwi hung up the call and got angry.
“How dare you use such a shallow trick? And I haven’t laid a finger on you!”
You looked like you were about to hit me any moment. And who’s the one who didn’t even take away the phone? Fake Hwi and the thugs surrounded me. This is quite villain-like and scary.
After facing off for a few minutes, In-sae burst out, apparently on his way to school. I looked at In-sae with wide, surprised eyes.
“The police officers were on patrol so they came with me.”
“We got one!”
The police grabbed the thugs and clapped their hands together. In-sae grabbed me and pulled me out from among the thugs. I said as I got my phone back from the police.
“It’s really absurd, but I’m relieved.”
Humanly speaking, if you’re going to do villain stuff, shouldn’t you avoid patrol times? Why so sloppy?
“Aseon High School, I curse you!!!!”
The cursed high school, solve that mystery! Opening November 17th this year. Fake Hwi shouted loudly.
“You wait and see, my friend will go to overturn Aseon High School…”
Our school isn’t a pancake so it can’t be flipped. In-sae looked me over and asked.
“Shi-dan, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. I’ve never encountered thugs on my way to school before, this is my first time experiencing this.”
I straightened my disheveled uniform. As if to help, In-sae patted my shoulders. Coming out to the intersection, In-sae said,
“Let’s go to school together from now on.”
“Yeah, let’s do that. It’ll be better if I go with you.”
“Going to school, leaving school, classes, let’s do everything together.”
“We did that before too, why are you being so dramatic, are you that worried about me?”
“Yeah.”
“Really? Thanks for worrying. You be careful too, you heard what he said about cursing us, right?”
In-sae nodded. The warnings of villains must not be ignored. I should remember it well. In-sae fiddled with the zipper on my bag and said,
“And I want to be with you.”
My steps slowed for a moment. I looked back at In-sae.
“Right… why do you want to be with me?”
“Because I like it. I want to keep being with you.”
In-sae answered matter-of-factly. Too plainly. Saying he likes it is strange and keeps bothering me. He really likes me when I’m just an extra? I smiled and changed the subject.
“…Haha, okay. What time is it now?”
“8:35. We have 5 minutes left.”
“Really?”
As soon as I asked back, In-sae grabbed my hand and ran. I stared at In-sae with confused eyes. Thanks to running like crazy, we were able to arrive at school without being late.
“You just grab my hand so casually.”
“Shi-dan does it too.”
I wiped the sweat that formed from running. In-sae is fine as if it wasn’t hard at all. Still confused. Before opening the classroom door, I looked back at In-sae and asked,
“You know. I’ve always thought of you as a good friend.”
“I know.”
“And Hee-ae and the other kids too, I’ve thought of everyone as friends.”
In-sae put his hand on the door handle. I didn’t hide my anxious expression. I could feel In-sae carefully observing my expression.
“But you guys have been strange lately. I’m not misunderstanding, am I?”
I chose my words for a moment. In-sae waited patiently.
“You guys think of me as a friend too, right?”
“Yeah.”
An answer without hesitation. I felt slightly relieved.
“But you’ve been really awkward lately.”
“Shi-dan, keep being awkward.”
“What do you mean?”
In-sae grabbed and turned the door handle. He went into the classroom and said indifferently,
“I was awkward around Shi-dan too.”
“What?”
“But, it was because I liked you that I was awkward.”
“You said you think of me as a friend.”
“Well.”
“Kim In-sae, tell me clearly. What exactly is it?”
“I’ll tell you properly after school today.”
In-sae smiled and the classroom door closed before my eyes. I was scared to ask him to tell me now. Because I’ve believed we were friends all this time. If the person In-sae likes is me, that means all three of my close friends like me.
I couldn’t bring myself to enter the classroom and went in just before the bell rang. There were already many kids in the classroom. Seeing Cho-yeon hanging out with the fan club kids, he must have decided to become friends with them. Yeah, rather than going around alone, hang out with our fan club kids.
The Five Great Kings have been glaring at me since last time. Especially whenever our eyes meet with Cho-yeon, they seem even more suspicious. I tried to pretend not to notice, but eventually couldn’t stand it and asked.
“Five Great Kings-nim, do you have something to say to me?”
“No.”
The Five Great Kings answered in a cold voice. And then started observing me again. Just because I made eye contact with Cho-yeon a bit, I’m receiving suspicion from 5 people I absolutely don’t want to be involved with. They’re scary guys.
“Are you sure it’s okay to be with us?”
“It’s fine, you’re much better than those 5.”
They must have really hated the Five Great Kings. You got along fine before, why are you like this? Did you lose your resistance during vacation?
I nodded to Cho-yeon in greeting and sat down.
“Ah, I got ink on me.”
While checking if the pen worked well, it got on my hand. When I got up from my seat, Hee-ae showed a curious expression. I showed him my ink-stained hand and said,
“I’ll go wash my hands.”
“Okay. See you.”
It’s oil-based so it doesn’t wash off easily. I was scrubbing my hands hard when Cho-yeon came in. I shook off my wet hands.
“Let’s talk.”
Good thing there’s no one in the bathroom. Why don’t we just advertise that we’re friends? Cho-yeon grabbed me and went into a bathroom stall.
He even locked the bathroom door, indeed security should be thorough. But it’s stuffy having two people inside a cramped bathroom stall. I pressed against the wall and asked,
“What’s up?”
“It’s annoying. Why are those 5 being suspicious and making a fuss? When I’m barely managing to be friendly in front of others, they interfere like this?”
Cho-yeon burst out in frustration. A friend who always has it rough no matter when I see him. I asked what I’d been curious about since before.
“Why did you declare you were cutting off friendship with the Five Great Kings? You got along fine until now.”
“Do you think I could hang out with you if they were around?”
“You cut ties to hang out with me?”
I asked mischievously. Cho-yeon, who looked like he’d been hit right on the mark, made an annoyed face as if asking when did he ever. He pinched my cheeks hard.
“What are you saying? I just did it because they were annoying. Don’t get the wrong idea.”
“Ow, let go.”
At the words that it hurt, Cho-yeon immediately let go of the hand that was pinching. I rubbed my tingling cheeks. Cho-yeon made a fierce expression but asked with a sad-looking face,
“You’re going to stop making contact with me now, right? Since the Five Great Kings suspect you.”
“I’ll keep pretending to slowly become friends? If we suddenly become distant, it’ll be even stranger.”
“Then that’s fine.”
Whether impulsively or not, Cho-yeon hugged me tightly. Then he flinched as if surprised by himself. I patted Cho-yeon comfortingly. In-sae’s words kept coming to mind. I was about to ask if that person is me.
Suddenly there was a sound of the door opening and kids’ chattering could be heard. Cho-yeon panicked and covered my mouth.
“Hey, what are you going to do with the water running at the sink?”
“I’m going to float the paper boat I made yesterday.”
The kids laughed heartily. Soon there was a sound of water and the kids laughed even louder. I removed Cho-yeon’s hand covering my mouth. The presence got closer and there was a rattling sound at the door.
“Huh? Hey, this door is locked.”
Cho-yeon muttered something quietly. It’s probably a curse. The kids were still talking outside the door. I held my breath without moving.
“Just look at my paper boat, will you?”
“Oh… wait, come here for a sec.”
“What. Why are there four feet?”
Oh boy, it turned out like this? I whispered quietly to Cho-yeon.
“I should have practiced levitation. We’re getting caught because of our feet.”
“Don’t say absurd things and go practice something else first.”
The kids murmured and then suddenly became quiet. Cho-yeon frowned with a puzzled expression. The kids whispered very quietly.
“I guess two people were secretly meeting in the bathroom.”
“Wow, there really was a couple in our school.”
“Let’s get out of here. Amazing, we should tell the other kids.”
There was a sound of the door opening and the surroundings became quiet. I took a deep breath and left the bathroom stall.
“Should I try doing a handstand next time? Then we won’t get caught.”
“Stop saying useless things and go to class. Now I’m being misunderstood as dating you.”
“Cho-yeon, so how did you feel?”
“Why are you asking such a thing? Obviously it’s absurd.”
Cho-yeon turned his head to the opposite side so I couldn’t see his expression. I was asking because I wondered if he liked me, but was I wrong? I smiled awkwardly.
“I guess I misunderstood.”
“You’re asking all kinds of questions, what a situation.”
Looking back suddenly, Cho-yeon’s ears were red.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
