The Main Character is Obsessed With a Foreign Substance – Chapter 4-23

“What I heard is, it wasn’t just teachers…”

“Still, a man doing that to another man… it’s too disgusting.”

Suhwan felt confused by the sudden flood of stories. He raised his hand to stop his friends.

“Wait, wait, guys.”

“Yeah?”

Meeting their puzzled gazes, Suhwan spoke in a firm tone.

“Anyway, these are all just rumors, right?”

“Well… yeah.”

“And even if they were true, it doesn’t seem like it’s his fault.”

A teacher sexually harassing a student is the adult’s fault. The student is not at fault at all. Blaming the victim for such an incident is nothing but secondary harassment.

And it was also absurd that a teacher who harassed Seunghyun would leak exam questions. Not only was it an unbelievable story, but for Suhwan, who had directly seen Seunghyun’s math textbook, it was even harder to believe. Just looking at his notes, it was clear he studied hard. Both then and now, that boy must have been studying harder than anyone else, gritting his teeth. Yet he had to suffer from such rumors just because of his outstanding appearance.

Without realizing it, Suhwan became agitated and stared at his friends as if glaring. His friends, looking somewhat guilty, began to add various comments.

“No, we’re just saying that’s what the rumors are.”

“I don’t really believe it either, but everyone says so.”

“You’re probably the only one in this school who doesn’t know about that rumor, Suhwan.”

The more sensational a story, the more people tend to spread it. Even if it was just a small rumor at first, it would later evolve into something more provocative as details were added. What Suhwan heard today was just a small part of the rumors.

“I see.”

Suhwan recalled the beautiful boy who had stared at him coldly. Seunghyun, who had been wary of him, looked surprised when he realized Suhwan didn’t recognize him.

It seemed likely that he isolated himself in that place because of malicious rumors. For some reason, Suhwan couldn’t help but be concerned about him.

“But Suhwan, how do you know him?”

“Huh?”

“Well, you must have heard about him somewhere. The rumors probably spread to all the academies around here too.”

The truth was that he hadn’t heard rumors but had actually met the person directly and learned his name by chance. However, Suhwan instinctively realized that he shouldn’t tell anyone this fact.

“Um… I heard a bit at the academy.”

“I thought so.”

“Which academy do you go to again, Suhwanie?”

“You go to the same one as me.”

“Oh, should I switch academies too? Is the Korean teacher there good?”

The conversation naturally shifted to other topics. Shortly after, the bell rang, and they moved on to the next class. As the noisy friends returned to their seats and the classroom quieted down, Suhwan inwardly sighed.

He had only asked out of curiosity, but somehow he felt like he had heard too many difficult stories. His mind kept replaying his friends’ words rather than the content of the lesson.

He couldn’t stop thinking about Seunghyun. Suhwan’s reason told him to stay away, but he couldn’t help being concerned.

After much deliberation, Suhwan visited the old school building again after school. Although he didn’t want to enter the still-scary atmosphere of the old building alone, he persevered and went deep inside.

“Where was it?”

The problem was that the old building was so vast that it was easy to get lost. After wandering for a while, Suhwan was finally able to find the familiar classroom. It was that unusually bright, sunlit classroom. As he approached the doorway, Suhwan unconsciously stopped in his tracks.

“Ah.”

A small groan escaped Suhwan’s lips. The boy was half-sitting by the window, reading a book. His brown hair glimmered in the sunlight streaming through the broken window as he leaned against the windowsill. The old curtains behind him swayed dreamlike. Suhwan stared at the scene, entranced.

“What is it.”

“…!”

“Why are you here again?”

The gaze that met Suhwan, who had been secretly observing, was fierce. Suhwan hesitated at the doorway, looking at Seunghyun. Unable to approach Seunghyun who was showing such a sharp reaction, he pathetically fumbled.

“Ah, well.”

After hesitating, Suhwan cautiously approached Seunghyun while watching his reactions. But he couldn’t get too close and stopped at a certain distance. It was near the desk where Seunghyun’s math textbook, which Suhwan had mistaken for his own, had been placed. Suhwan took various snacks from his pocket and piled them on the desk.

“These are my absolute favorites, try some.”

Seunghyun’s gaze swept over the various types of snacks and chocolates. Looking with indifferent eyes, Seunghyun turned his head with an unimpressed expression.

“I don’t eat sweet things.”

“Oh…”

He doesn’t eat sweets? Suhwan had never met someone like that in his life. Since he loved snacks, he was only surrounded by similar people. Surprised, Suhwan even opened his bag and rummaged through it.

“Then how about this?”

“……”

“This isn’t too sweet and it’s delicious.”

After searching through his bag, what Suhwan found was fruit jelly. Various fruit-flavored jellies were among Suhwan’s favorite snacks. Even people who occasionally rejected chocolate for being too sweet often ate fruit jellies well, so he always carried them.

Perhaps shocked that Seunghyun wouldn’t touch any of the snacks on the desk, Suhwan impulsively held out the fruit jelly directly toward Seunghyun. His fingertips trembled slightly. Maybe it was from nervousness, but his heart was pounding strangely hard. Suhwan couldn’t understand why he was so tense over something like this.

“…Hah.”

Seunghyun, looking at the jelly, let out a short sigh. It was that same irritated sigh from yesterday. Suhwan’s shoulders flinched as he held the jelly.

“Why? Are you also curious if I sucked math dick?”

“…What?”

For a while, Suhwan couldn’t comprehend what Seunghyun had said. With wide eyes, Suhwan belatedly recalled the dirty rumors about Seunghyun that he hadn’t even been aware of. Suhwan’s face turned bright red.

“N-no, that’s not it…!”

“Don’t do weird things and get lost. You’re bothering me.”

“…!”

Faced with the distrust and hatred on Seunghyun’s face, Suhwan was momentarily speechless.

He had just come back because he was genuinely grateful, but Seunghyun didn’t seem to trust him. When Suhwan stood there wide-eyed without saying anything, Seunghyun frowned his beautiful brow and said irritably:

“Can’t you hear me telling you to get lost?”

“Um…”

In his entire life, Suhwan had never been told to “get lost” to his face. Being mild-mannered, he might occasionally be called frustrating, but he wasn’t the type to make enemies, so people rarely said harsh words or picked fights with him directly.

So at this moment, Suhwan felt tremendous confusion. He became extremely anxious, not knowing how to respond to the other person. After hesitating like that, he could only say one thing.

“I’m sorry.”

With his head lowered, Suhwan looked at the fruit jelly in his hands. He felt so embarrassed and ashamed for holding it out to Seunghyun. He had unnecessarily approached someone who wanted to be alone and received a bunch of unpleasant words. Even Suhwan couldn’t continue pretending not to understand.

“I’ll leave this here too.”

“…”

“…Sorry for disturbing you.”

After placing the jelly next to the pile of snacks stacked on the desk, Suhwan left the classroom like he was running away. He continued running even after completely leaving the old school building. For some reason, his eyes stung.

***

Suhwan resolved never to go to the old school building again. He always thought he was somewhat meddlesome, but he wasn’t thick-skinned enough to visit again after being told to get lost.

“Haaa.”

But why? After worrying all day, Suhwan eventually slunk back to the front of the old school building. However, he couldn’t bring himself to enter and kept pacing back and forth in front like a puppy that needed to pee.

Even while attending classes at school and talking with friends, he couldn’t forget that face. Those dark brown eyes that had looked at the jelly he was offering. Why did he have eyes that looked more hurt while saying harsh words with an ice-cold face?

“…I’m crazy.”

What hurt eyes? It was probably just an angry glare, and he was imagining things. If so, constantly coming back like this was also a nuisance. Suhwan continued to agonize with all sorts of thoughts.

“…”

And Seunghyun was watching this scene from the window. The small head would approach as if about to enter, then back away again. Then turn around, then slightly turn his head back. Seunghyun had been quietly observing Suhwan doing this for a while.

Author: Hyacinthus B

Hyacinthus