Was it just my imagination? The survivors we occasionally encountered while passing through the corridor… I had the feeling they were moving to avoid us unusually. If even I, who couldn’t read people’s presence well, noticed it, it meant they were acting quite blatantly.
“Lee Gojun and his younger brother are in the auditorium. They’ll come running right away when they know you’re awake, but I don’t see the need for that.”
“……”
“When they come, they’ll just make a racket and bother you….”
Cha Woodan was chattering carefreely as if he didn’t care about those survivors’ reactions. Unlike me, Cha Woodan had his eyes wide open, so there was no way he didn’t know about this situation—he seemed to have already judged that this sight was familiar or sufficiently understandable.
Of course, the survivors had always had a strong tendency not to mix with us. However, the one they tried to avoid most intensely was only me, and while they might be needlessly tense toward the twins, they didn’t avoid them indiscriminately. But now the survivors weren’t naturally choosing different paths or quickly passing by while sticking to the end of the corridor—they were turning around and running away like deer discovered by a hunter.
‘…Did the twins threaten them or something?’
It wasn’t an impossible story for two people with enough determination to lock all the art room windows using Lee Geonwoo’s ability. They weren’t people with firm moral standards, and the era we were in wasn’t a society where one had to have a strong law-abiding spirit.
But would the twins have had the leisure to waste energy threatening others? If they were the ones I knew, even if their bodies were completely healed thanks to Lee Gojun’s ability, they would have been so exhausted from being restless while watching me unable to regain consciousness. They wouldn’t have caused trouble in such a situation.
Then, were they feeling more fear than before at the sight of the twins committing murder, and avoiding them obsessively?
‘The twins would have dealt with all of them who were running wild in the field.’
But now there was no Student Council President to manipulate and control their emotions either. So if they were really human beings, they should feel gratitude for having their lives saved rather than disgust first….
“Huh?”
Some woman’s displeased voice suddenly intruded into my thoughts. Thanks to that, I stiffened blankly, losing my concentration, and turned my head following the sound I heard.
“Cha Jeoh? And….”
For some reason, it was a familiar voice to my ears. Among the women I knew at Hanul High, it was a fairly familiar voice, so I could easily recognize who it belonged to.
“…Kim Hayoung, Hayoung-ah!”
The female student with her hair tied up in a ponytail, who had come to us yesterday and asked us to help her one last time.
Her presence, which had approached right in front of us before I knew it, was clearly felt. Before I could unnecessarily stiffen my body, Cha Woodan took a step back and put distance between himself and the ponytail girl.
“Thank goodness, you woke up! We were so worried that something might have gone wrong with you…!”
“Why would you worry about Hayoung?”
Cha Woodan voiced the very question I had. The ponytail girl, who flinched for a moment, slowly continued speaking.
“Of course we should worry. You’re no different from a benefactor to us, the Hanul High survivors.”
‘…Me?’
That doubt must have shown clearly on my face. It seemed like I could see the ponytail girl wearing an awkward smile beyond my closed eyelids.
“If it weren’t for you, Hayoung, we probably would have either died or been kicked out of here and wandered the streets. Even in the latter case, barely surviving, our chances of future survival would have been slim.”
She was right. The problem was that this was already the third time I was hearing the word ‘benefactor’ from someone, so that awkwardness was layered, giving me a rather subtle feeling.
I had never done good things or right things in my life. Of course, depending on the choices I made, results that aligned with righteousness and goodwill might have been achieved, but at least I had never experienced doing so intentionally.
Still, apart from the awkwardness, being regarded as someone’s benefactor wasn’t a bad thing. It would be better to have the title of benefactor, even if unrewarded, than to needlessly earn hatred and make enemies.
‘…Then it doesn’t make sense that the survivors here are avoiding me and Cha Woodan like they’ve spotted a bug.’
While I was mulling over the puzzling part, the ponytail girl, who had been silently hesitating for a moment, carefully opened her mouth.
“So, about that, won’t you come talk with us for a bit? To our club room.”
‘Club room?’
“There’s something I want to tell you directly, Hayoung. Not just me, but all of us… everyone.”
I unknowingly furrowed my brow slightly.
Going to the club room, together with ‘all of us,’ however many people that might be. It was a familiar proposal, and because of that, I could predict to some extent the future that would befall me if I followed the ponytail girl’s words.
Indiscriminate criticism, the selfishness of singling out one person to place responsibility on and frame them with guilt, the ignorance of being unable to judge the situation before one’s eyes logically due to being swayed by one’s emotions. That unpleasant experience once was enough.
Cha Woodan seemed to have the same thought as me, as I could feel a slight force added to his arms holding me.
“That’s a ridiculous thing to say, Jeong Yubin.”
The ponytail girl flinched at Cha Woodan’s thorny tone. Then, belatedly realizing why we were being cautious, she hurriedly waved both hands.
“Sorry, I’ll say it again—I was really sorry about that time. Back then, the student council guys were firmly holding the survivors, and for some reason we kept acting impulsively and emotionally….”
“……”
“No, that’s just an excuse. I’m sorry.”
But this time it’s really a misunderstanding, she’s not asking us to come to the club room to make that mistake again. The ponytail girl laid out desperate protests.
Even while listening to the ponytail girl’s words, my furrowed brow showed no sign of smoothing out. To me, the Hanul High survivors were never that trustworthy from the start. Above all, I had left the art room to catch Cha Jeoh, but I was having my time stolen in an irrelevant place, so there was no way I could be pleased.
I had no interest in what the Hanul High survivors did, nor did I have the slightest desire to get involved. Telling the twins yesterday to help them was just the minimum debt I repaid to the ponytail girl, and I didn’t want to form new relationships beyond that.
I moved only my index finger on the hand that had been touching Cha Woodan’s shoulder, moving it up and down. Cha Woodan, who didn’t miss the minor gesture that didn’t last long, turned his steps.
“We have something urgent to do, so we’ll go first.”
“Wait, 5 minutes. No, even just 3 minutes if you could spare the time…!”
“When Hayoung wants to, come find us then.”
Cha Woodan moved past the ponytail girl as he was. The thick presence of the ponytail girl quickly faded. I turned my head without looking at her any further.
***
“It seems he’s hiding in earnest. I can’t even feel his presence.”
The air I lightly breathed in was much cooler, as if the sun had set in the meantime. However, since it was a time approaching summer, it wasn’t particularly cold or chilly.
Nevertheless, Cha Woodan seemed concerned. He pulled me tightly into his arms as if binding me. Our bodies, which had already been touching as if buried together, became even more closely pressed.
“He wouldn’t have gone outside the school. There’s no way he’d leave on his own when you’re here, Hayoung.”
“……”
“Then the only remaining candidate is the annex.”
So we were now heading toward the annex along the path by the field.
“If we can’t find him at the annex either…. Well, should I put on a show that you got hurt, Hayoung? Then he’ll pop out right away.”
I nodded to show my agreement. Just as I felt a gaze staring down at me, Cha Woodan soon asked quietly.
“But what are you going to do after meeting Cha Jeoh? Are you going to soothe and coax him sweetly?”
‘…I haven’t thought about that.’
It was just that him pacing outside the door alone particularly bothered me and caught my eye. I had tried to bring Cha Jeoh into the art room, but he quickly ran away, which even stirred up needless stubbornness in me. I wasn’t chasing him while seeking some particular plan.
“He did something wrong, and he knows it himself, so that’s why he’s running around watching out like that.”
Strictly speaking, Cha Jeoh wasn’t at fault. It was because he had fallen victim to the Student Council President’s ability, not that he had done such a thing because he wanted to. One might think he had harmed me because he had the desire to do so in the first place, but people even curse the king when no one’s around, so who couldn’t harbor thoughts as they please?
And if Cha Jeoh had truly intended to harm me with all his heart, I would have long since ceased to be a person of this world. At the very least, the back of my neck he bit would have been torn. But Cha Jeoh didn’t do that.
‘It did hurt a bit, but thinking about it now, it wasn’t particularly hateful or unpleasant.’
It wasn’t because he hated me, was it? I still didn’t know what intention he had, what he wanted when he suddenly bit me, but I was certain it wasn’t an act stemming from hatred or disgust.
‘So there’s no reason for Cha Jeoh to feel guilty and avoid me.’
Cha Jeoh should know this attitude of mine so there won’t be needless misunderstandings or conflicts between us.
‘So first, I need to find him.’
While I was thinking that, the clear air characteristic of the outdoors faded. My eyelids, which had been feeling faint light relying on the moon and stars, suddenly detected approaching darkness.
“We just entered the annex.”
Cha Woodan whispered softly, informing me of our position we had just reached.
