# Chapter 78
Once again today, I glanced sideways at Kwon Dojin who was invariably beside me. As if noticing my gaze, he turned his head at that moment and gracefully curved his eye corners. Despite my annoyance, the fact that I still found him handsome proved that Kwon Dojin was truly, incredibly good-looking.
“What’s wrong?”
“That’s what I want to ask. What’s up with you these days?”
“Hmm?”
I wanted to give a light smack on the head to Kwon Dojin, who was tilting his head with an innocent face. It was ridiculous how he pretended not to know when he knew better than anyone.
“Let me go to the bathroom in peace. I feel like I’m under surveillance.”
“Ah-.”
He let out a short exclamation and noticeably rolled his eyes. Hmm, after groaning and dragging out time, Kwon Dojin chose to feign ignorance.
“I’ve never surveilled Habin?”
I had a lot to say but swallowed it all. I had an intuition that saying more wouldn’t get through to him.
Contrary to his claim of not surveilling me, Kwon Dojin hadn’t left my side for even an hour these past few days. I once thought that even if Kwon Dojin and I were in the same class, we couldn’t be together all day long, but I had to completely retract that thought, as there hadn’t been a time when we were apart.
He was so persistent and tenacious that if I made even the slightest move to get up from my seat, he would grab my wrist. Or he would subtly rest his chin on my shoulder to prevent me from moving, or speak to make me turn to him.
In fact, I should be annoyed by Kwon Dojin’s behavior by now, but it was strange that I wasn’t.
Was it because Kwon Dojin was handsome? As much as I’m serious about appearances, lately I seemed to let things slide that I would have been irritated by before. Unable to understand myself, I tapped the desk with my index finger.
“Habin?”
“Huh? What?”
“Is something wrong?”
“…Nothing’s wrong. Nothing at all.”
I shook my head at Kwon Dojin’s worried expression. I was having a non-issue to worry about, but I decided to think about it later. It seemed difficult to continue my train of thought with Kwon Dojin beside me.
“More importantly, don’t you think we need to create some distance between us?”
“Hmm, I wonder.”
He pretended to think about it while touching his lips, then soon smiled faintly and said he wasn’t sure.
“Then how long are you going to be like this?”
If he was planning to stay attached to me at school like this, I wanted to at least know how long it would last. This time, Kwon Dojin answered without hesitation, smiling.
“If possible, for a lifetime.”
I think this guy has really lost his mind.
* * *
Kwon Dojin’s resolve to stick together for a lifetime was in danger of breaking less than an hour later. Or more precisely, was at risk of breaking.
“Dojin-nim, Baek Han-nim said—.”
The person who was stomping their feet with a pitiful face looked distressed. Kwon Dojin, who had been pretending not to hear, finally let out a sigh with a hardened face when I poked him in the side.
“What’s with Baek Han.”
“He said it seemed too difficult to handle alone.”
“Is that all he said?”
Kwon Dojin sat with his legs crossed and lifted his mouth corner crookedly, tapping his foot. Though it was a delinquent attitude, the person who came to fetch him brightened up, perhaps moved that Kwon Dojin was at least pretending to listen.
“He also said he wants you to come as soon as possible!”
“What else?”
“…Pardon?”
“There must be more, right?”
I also didn’t think Baek Han would have said only that. Knowing his personality, he probably added all sorts of profanities directed at Kwon Dojin to the current situation. I wondered why that would matter in deciding whether to go help Baek Han or not, but it seemed important to Kwon Dojin.
“Well-, I think he also said that it would be very helpful if Dojin-nim came.”
“I doubt it… That doesn’t sound right.”
Thanks to Kwon Dojin, who pressured with a smiling face, the innocent person trembled. They looked like they were about to cry, which made me feel sorry, but honestly, it wasn’t my business. Besides, I shifted my gaze elsewhere, knowing I’d attract unnecessary attention if I tried to stop Kwon Dojin.
My luck had been bad enough lately, and I didn’t want to make it worse by trying to help. There’s a limit to complicating one’s own fate.
“Tell me honestly. I don’t mean anything by it, I’m just curious.”
Listening to Kwon Dojin’s words, I felt a sense of déjà vu and realized why after pondering. He looked just like a young authoritarian!
Who would believe such nonsense about wanting an honest answer, or just being curious?
“Ah! If that’s what you mean! Baek Han-nim said that he needs to borrow your dog-like skills because it’s urgent, so instead of giggling around, you should hurry up and get your ass over there!”
Do you really believe this?
I turned to look at the person who immediately defied my expectations. Among all the students in this classroom, only this person in front of Kwon Dojin lacked any sense of tact.
Everyone looked at him with eyes that couldn’t hide their shock, but the tactless person just tilted their head with a clueless face.
“Dojin-nim?”
“Ah-. So my skills are like crap, but it’s so urgent that he needs to borrow even that crappy strength, is that it?”
Kwon Dojin recited the sarcastic sentence in a flat voice. Only then did the person sense that something was wrong and trembled again. This time, they had dug their own grave, but since Kwon Dojin was being unusually mean, I felt sympathy.
“That’s not what I—”
Now even their complexion had turned pale, and perhaps Kwon Dojin felt guilty too. He exhaled a light sigh and apologized, saying he was just playing a mean joke.
“Huh, not at all! It’s fine!”
After one word of apology, I had the illusion that a non-existent tail was wagging furiously at the base of the revived person’s tailbone. That’s how blindly reactive they were to Kwon Dojin.
“Be careful on your way.”
Seeing the situation, it seemed Kwon Dojin had made up his mind to go, so I quietly offered a farewell. He looked at me and slightly furrowed his brow. Following that, Kwon Dojin let out a groan and grabbed my hand.
“Don’t follow just anyone, okay?”
“This is school, you know?”
“Don’t accept food from anyone, even if they offer it.”
“I said this is school.”
“You must stay in the classroom. If anyone tells you to come out, tell them I said not to.”
I closed my mouth, at a loss for words at the clear treatment as a child. These sentences revealed exactly how Kwon Dojin thought of me.
Still, let’s think positively. The fact that Kwon Dojin instructed me to stay in the classroom in front of everyone might be a good thing.
If a situation like “Hey, come with me for a moment” arises, I can make an excuse—
“…Don’t you think you’re treating me too much like a child?”
Even trying to think positively, wrong was wrong. Kwon Dojin smiled brightly and deliberately ignored my words.
“I’ll be back, I’ll try to return within an hour.”
Kwon Dojin’s time promises in these situations were not to be trusted. It was because his predictions were always off. Anyway, I was displeased with how he naturally ignored my words, so I waved the hand he was holding to indicate he should go quickly, which made him burst into laughter.
“I’m just worried about you, Habin.”
“At this rate, you’ll be carrying me around in your pocket.”
Though it was just a grumble, Kwon Dojin’s eyes widened. Soon, with his face brightly lit up, he grabbed my hand again.
“Right, that would be—”
“Dojin-nim! Baek Han-nim has requested backup!”
BANG-! Someone appeared, flinging open the back door that had been slightly ajar, and shouted loudly enough for the whole class to hear. Kwon Dojin’s voice was also drowned out by the noise, causing his face to harden somewhat.
“I should go quickly, right?”
“Yeah, you should hurry.”
Grinding his teeth, Kwon Dojin lowered his head and took a couple of deep breaths. After a momentary pause, he raised his face, smiled with curved eye corners, and released my hand with a touch full of lingering attachment.
“I’m really going now.”
“Yeah. Go quickly.”
Please.
Swallowing the last word, I waved my arms again to see Kwon Dojin off. Either he couldn’t see the people behind him stamping their feet impatiently, or Kwon Dojin maintained his consistently relaxed attitude.
“Did you see Dojin-nim just now?!”
“How can even his sulking look be so perfect?”
“Dojin-nim and Baek Han-nim seem like rivals on the surface, but seeing how they always handle matters together, don’t they look close?”
“I know right! It’s so great-!”
Once the eye of the storm had passed, the classroom was captured by an even greater commotion than before. I had thought it was noisy when Kwon Dojin was here, but it was actually relatively quiet because everyone kept their mouths shut since he was the center of attention.
Unwillingly caught in the middle of the commotion, I quietly sighed. It was lunchtime, and there were still 10 minutes before class would start. Judging by the heated atmosphere, the praises didn’t seem likely to end within 10 minutes.
“Thank you for letting us see another new side of Dojin-nim today!”
“Sigh, I wish I could have seen Baek Han-nim asking for help. Even that would have looked cool—”
“Don’t worry. I heard the president of Baek Han-nim’s fan club captured that moment in a photo. They say they’ll make it into official merchandise later, so you’ll be able to see it.”
“Really?!”
Whew, did those guys have no shame? How could they say such things so loudly? As expected, the students in this school hierarchy world were incredible.
Anyway, studying in this situation was out of the question, and since the public opinion about me was also unsettled, making it impossible for me to leave the classroom for a while, it would be better to endure with earphones on.
I took out the tangled earphones that were always in my pocket, put them on, and played music on my phone, making the cringeworthy praise less audible, which was a relief.
Listening to music turned up louder than usual, I laid my head on the desk. I brought over one of Kwon Dojin’s belongings, a small cushion, to rest my head on. The cushion, which was just the right height and also soft and fluffy, was something I frequently used.
Very fortunately, even though Kwon Dojin had disappeared, negative attention wasn’t drawn to me. I didn’t know whether there was some reason for this, or if they had decided not to bully me anymore.
However, thinking it was nice to be able to rest now, I exhaled a “phew-” and lowered my eyelids.
The surroundings were noisy, but not bad. Even the barnacle-like Kwon Dojin had temporarily left his seat, and no one was bothering me.
It was a long-overdue moment of rest at school.
