Chapter 7
In the end, I got up on my own and dusted off my uniform with my uninjured hand. My right palm must have been scraped pretty badly—blood was seeping through.
“Oh god, are you really okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine.”
The guy’s face went pale at the sight of blood, but I casually walked past him. In that brief moment, I noticed the two stars on the uniform of the person I’d bumped into. I wondered why he was so nervous, then realized it was because his rank was lower than mine.
While I was debating whether I should get my throbbing palm treated, I heard the guy who’d gotten the drink shower coming out of the store, cursing with a nasty expression.
“Fuck. My clothes are soaked!”
“Consider yourself lucky that’s all that happened. Don’t you remember when that psycho went crazy and almost killed someone last time?”
“Of course I remember. It was the first time an upper class couldn’t do shit against a lower class.”
“Exactly. Plus, you’re lucky it was just that drink. At least it’s not sticky, right?”
“It still feels disgusting!”
“Haha, just think of it as putting on cologne!”
“Fuck off. Hey! Give me your shirt.”
The guy who got drenched grabbed someone passing by and barked at them. It was the person who’d bumped into me. The grabbed guy looked flustered—same as he’d been with me—and reluctantly took off his shirt and handed it over.
The asshole who stole the clean uniform didn’t even give his wet clothes in return, and rudely ripped off the badge from the taken shirt before throwing it on the ground.
Wow, what a piece of shit. The nastiness was enough to make any sympathy I had completely evaporate. Clearly an upper-class student bullying someone lower. I was shocked but decided not to get involved unnecessarily. I wanted to get away quickly. What a disaster—and just when I was trying to avoid the main tops.
I abandoned the idea of going to the infirmary to treat my injured palm. I was afraid of what else might happen there. I decided to just head to the classroom and lay low, but on my way there, I locked eyes with a familiar figure approaching from a distance and froze.
“…”
It was the pretty boy I’d seen this morning—Yoon Taeho’s younger brother. In other words, my younger brother. I wondered if I should greet him and just stared, but he only blinked at me slightly in acknowledgment as he passed by.
“Hmm…”
I was relieved he didn’t greet me outright. I naturally slipped my awkwardly raised hand into my pocket and kept walking. I couldn’t remember his name, but as he passed, I saw “Yoon Taean” engraved on his nameplate.
Siblings don’t have to be overly affectionate, but I recalled that in the series, Yoon Taean did care for his brother. Unlike his brother, he was talented—a five-star Middle Class student, if I remembered correctly.
Considering his relationship with Moon Seoheon, he was also a top. Not quite on the level of the main tops, but he got along well with Moon Seoheon and treated him kindly—very much the secondary male lead type.
Since he was my brother, I couldn’t distance myself from him, and he wasn’t someone I particularly needed to avoid, so I figured I should just act like normal siblings would.
“God, more importantly, the rumors are the problem…”
How should I apologize to Moon Seoheon? Plus, considering what Yoon Taean said about me fighting with Moon Seoheon, I could roughly guess how the fight went down in the current situation. Judging by how Yoon Taeho had spread rumors about Moon Seoheon to his friends, there must have been some dialogue from Yoon Taeho to Moon Seoheon that would’ve infuriated viewers.
“You seemed fine earlier—why are you in a bad mood now?”
“You think I go around smiling all the time like you do?”
“I don’t understand why you’re angry. Honestly, shouldn’t I be the one who’s pissed?”
“What do you mean?”
“I compromised by doing the presentation instead of the assignment, and in return, you defended me to the others, saying I don’t have a computer, right? But now it seems like you’re the only one who’s unhappy about it.”
Rather than being placated, Yoon Taeho brazenly snapped back.
“Honestly, it’s not that you can’t do it—you just won’t! Just ask The Four to buy you a computer. They help you out even when you just sit there doing nothing.”
That was roughly how he’d spoken. Really, maybe because he was young, his way of speaking was childish and he tended to be careless with his words.
The fight must have happened after Yoon Taeho gossiped about Moon Seoheon in class. They say group projects never lead to pleasant conversations anywhere, but everyone makes sacrifices—you can’t just blame others. Well, except in cases where someone genuinely deserves criticism.
“First, I’ll apologize for speaking carelessly, but then keep some distance.”
If I sincerely apologized and suggested getting along well from now on, it would be wishy-washy. I didn’t want to be marked by the main tops and get thrown out, so it seemed better to maintain a relationship that wasn’t extremely close to Moon Seoheon but wasn’t hostile either.
I deliberately walked slowly and, upon reaching the classroom, glanced at the main tops who were still sitting around Moon Seoheon.
“So should we watch a movie later?”
“We watched a movie last time too. Let’s do something else.”
“But there’s only movies or games… You wanna do puzzles?”
“Puzzles? Forget it, man.”
Were they planning to hang out after school? I was curiously eavesdropping on what sounded like surprisingly normal conversation, but I still couldn’t get close. Finally deciding to head to the hallway window, I was about to turn when Moon Seoheon glanced at me. I tried to react calmly, but my injured hand throbbed, making me visibly flinch.
I was about to turn around, thinking I should run away quickly, when Maeng Moa called out from behind.
“Oh. Seoheon hyung’s friend—that is… Yoon… what was it again?”
As if he’d forgotten immediately, Maeng Moa looked at Moon Seoheon.
“Yoon Taeho.”
“Ah, right. Taeho sunbae. Why are you getting here so late?”
No—if you forgot, just leave it forgotten. Why are you calling me over? Abandoning my plan to escape to the hallway, I reluctantly turned toward the group and spoke.
“I went to the store.”
“Huh, again? You seem to like eating more than you look like you do.”
“Well, something like that.”
Every student in the class was watching me and The Four. To make matters worse, Ye Abin and Hong Hachan, who were still in the classroom, were also staring at us from where Jo Youngmin was sitting. They definitely looked like they were going to grill me later.
“Well… then I’ll be…”
Having nothing to say, I stupidly raised my hand in goodbye and turned around again. This time I thought I could actually get away, but my steps halted at Maeng Moa’s loud exclamation of “Oh!”
“What happened to your hand?”
“Huh? Oh, that…”
I looked down at my hand that Maeng Moa was pointing at. The palm, crusted with dried blood turned dark red, looked painful even to me. I clenched my fist and spoke casually.
“I fell.”
“Damn, that must hurt.”
With Maeng Moa grimacing at the center as if it really hurt, Byeon Seungha just looked at me like he couldn’t care less.
The blue-haired one seemed curious about who I was, while the yellow-haired one didn’t even look up, focused on his phone instead.
I couldn’t tell what Moon Seoheon was thinking. His expressionless gaze at me contained no discernible emotion.
Setting aside their reactions, I honestly just hated this situation where I was standing at the classroom door, continuing a conversation with the distant Maeng Moa while receiving everyone’s attention.
I maintained a casual expression, but cold sweat ran down my back. Fortunately, the bell rang, and I cheered internally.
“Ah, the bell.”
“Let’s go.”
“See you after school, Seoheon.”
“Yeah.”
The Four got up from their seats, said goodbye to Moon Seoheon, and headed my way. Since they were coming straight toward the door, I quickly entered the classroom, afraid I might block their path and piss them off.
As I was heading back to my seat, Maeng Moa, passing by me, smiled slightly and said:
“You’re clumsier than I thought. Be careful from now on.”
“…Right, thanks.”
Whether it was concern or mockery, what he said didn’t sit well with me. I forced my twisted lips into a small smile and saw them off. Jesus, I haven’t been this much of a kiss-ass even at work—how pathetic.
While lamenting my situation and about to sit down, I heard the blue-haired one asking The Four who I was as they passed. My attention was drawn to them, but I deliberately avoided looking their way.
In the end, unable to hear the rest of the conversation, I sat down and opened my book. It felt weird that class time seemed the most comfortable—is that a thought a normal student would have? Not that I was actually a student.
“Did you really fall?”
“Huh? Why?”
Before the teacher came in, Moon Seoheon whispered to me softly. When I asked what he meant, Moon Seoheon just said “Nothing” and trailed off. I tried not to read too much into it, but because of what I’d done, I couldn’t just brush it off.
Just then, the teacher came in, and throughout the lesson, I couldn’t concentrate at all. The whole time, I kept thinking about how I should apologize to Moon Seoheon.
And then break time came again. While I was wondering how to start a conversation with Moon Seoheon, Jo Youngmin approached me.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s go to the bathroom.”
“What?”
Why the hell would we go to the bathroom together? Well, high school students do that, I guess.
Still thinking it was weird for guys to go to the bathroom together, I was clearly showing my reluctance, but he pulled on my arm, urging me to hurry. This guy obviously had something to say, which made me want to avoid going even more.
“You—how did you get close to Maeng Moa?”
As expected, Jo Youngmin got straight to his question. While finding it ridiculous internally, I saw it as an opportunity and paused briefly before speaking.
“What are you talking about? Close? How could I get close to Maeng Moa?”
“But you were talking to each other this morning and just now too.”
“That’s just because he was with Moon Seoheon, so he happened to talk to me.”
“…Oh, is that it?”
“Yeah. As you know, I became Moon Seoheon’s desk partner by chance, so we got a bit closer. Seoheon introduced me as his friend, so Maeng Moa just showed me some respect as an upperclassman.”
Jo Youngmin glanced at me and said “I see” with a deflated expression.
“I guess being in the same class as Moon Seoheon means we see The Four more often than other classes do.”
Somehow, calling them “The Four” was funny. It wasn’t like they were fictional characters—using a term like that for people you encounter in real life felt artificial more than strange. Well, at least they weren’t called “The Four Heavenly Kings.”
“Anyway, you’re lucky. You seemed to have a falling out with Moon Seoheon, but try to get along well. Who knows? You might become friends with The Four and maybe even gain another star.”
I deliberately hardened my expression at Jo Youngmin’s words, which clearly revealed his ulterior motives. Then I spoke with exaggeration.
“I’m not being friendly with Seoheon to get something out of it. Seoheon is nice, so he talks to me because I’m his desk partner. I just… want to be good friends with Seoheon.”
Jo Youngmin made a strange face at my words. Yes, I know that even as I’m saying it, it sounds ridiculous and cringeworthy, so stop with that look.
Resisting the urge to cringe, I continued shamelessly.
“Actually, I did wrong by Seoheon. I shouldn’t have done that. I just… I was a bit jealous that Seoheon got along well with other people. So before I knew it, I ended up saying nasty things about him being poor. I should apologize, but I don’t know how.”
“Whaaaat?!”
Jo Youngmin seemed to find my continuing words really bizarre, making an indescribable expression while dragging out his response. Then, as if startled by something he saw, he shut his mouth. I was confused by his reaction and turned my head to see what he was looking at, only to feel my entire body freeze.
“Hmm, so that’s what happened. I was wondering who spread the rumor about Seoheon being a beggar…”
Thick eyebrows, a straight nose, and a handsome face that looked small compared to his large eyes and ears, which added to his cute charm—above all, his striking hair color gave him a mysterious yet sophisticated impression. He was smiling meaningfully.
Kwak Junhee. Judging by the name on his nameplate and his hair color, he was the only third-year among The Four.
I muttered internally. I’m fucked.
