# Chapter 24
I leisurely walked along, swirling the still-plentiful iced tea in my hand. Not much time had passed since I got what I wanted and immediately left the café.
And it was more entertaining to watch than I expected. It was like watching a play. Everyone was more serious about the ranking than I anticipated, and I thought I might burst out laughing, but I nearly died trying to hold it in.
“By the way, is there a reason why being outside the top 10 isn’t acceptable? Being 11th in the ranks is still pretty impressive, right?”
Thanks to Kwon Dojin giving me his share of iced tea as well, I had more than enough. Baek Han looked up from his café mocha with an incredulous expression. It was as if he truly couldn’t believe I didn’t know this either.
“What exactly do you know?”
“…Nothing.”
I was left speechless by his heavy blow. I couldn’t explain that I was only four months into being transported into this fictional world—I’d obviously be treated like a weirdo.
Seeing my dejected response, Kwon Dojin raised his eyebrows and put his arm around my shoulders.
“He might not be interested, what’s wrong with that? Habin is only interested in studying.”
Is that supposed to be defending me? It sounds more like you’re dissing me.
Finding something odd about Kwon Dojin’s words, I elbowed him in the solar plexus, making him chuckle and step back slightly.
“If you’re in the top 10 ranks, you get a dignity maintenance allowance. You also gain territory and various other benefits.”
Dignity maintenance allowance? Dignity maintenance allowance??
I thought I might have misheard, so I cleaned my ear with my pinky finger. After that, I looked at them both again, but the information remained unchanged.
“You’re saying there’s really a dignity maintenance allowance?”
“Yeah. It’s another well-known fact. Many people aim for the rankings because of that allowance.”
“Habin doesn’t know a lot of things. That’s what makes him cute.”
“Please just shut your mouth.”
While Baek Han and Kwon Dojin bickered again, that wasn’t my concern. My head was spinning from the new facts that kept emerging one after another, like peeling layers of an onion.
Judging by the way they were talking, it wasn’t just pocket change. If that was the case, I could understand why their faces had turned pale at the condition of being pushed out of the top 10. And why they were even more terrified by the condition that they couldn’t recover for a year.
How could anyone remain calm when money is at stake! I also understood why they were so serious about the rankings. Of course they’d be serious when money was involved!
“Anyway, why bother with such troublesome conditions instead of just revoking their rank entirely?”
When Baek Han grumbled, Kwon Dojin openly sneered. By now, their bickering had become so familiar that it would feel strange if they didn’t do it. So instead of stopping them, I just sipped my iced tea.
“Even a cornered rat will bite back, you know. You have to give them room to breathe. We might be fine, but when people are cornered, it’s usually the weak who become targets.”
In other words, he did it because I might become a target.
Baek Han looked at me as soon as Kwon Dojin finished speaking. Seeing that he didn’t add anything, I assumed he agreed. Still, he clearly didn’t like it as he clicked his tongue and irritably stamped his foot once.
“What pathetic bastards. And they call themselves top 10 rankers?”
“They’re already mentally cornered. Now is the time to step back and observe.”
So don’t provoke them unnecessarily.
Baek Han nodded at the warning-laden words. As I quietly listened to their conversation, I noticed Baek Han’s deeply furrowed brows and poked them with my index finger, making him jump back in surprise.
“What the hell!”
“Keep frowning and you’ll get wrinkles on your handsome face. So stop frowning.”
“Hand-. What about me, Habin? Hm?”
I almost fell forward from the sudden large body tackling me from behind, but ironically, thanks to that body and Baek Han, I didn’t fall.
“You’re, uh… Do I really need to say it?”
“Yes. If you don’t say it, I won’t know. That’s only natural, Habin.”
I looked down with an expression full of unspoken words at Kwon Dojin, who rested his chin on my shoulder and gazed up at me with desperate eyes. In response, he wrapped his arm around my waist and rapidly fluttered his eyelids, urging me to answer.
“Ah shit, he’s being ridiculous again.”
Crunch. The sound of plastic being crushed came from somewhere, and I tried to turn to look, but Kwon Dojin captured my attention with his aegyo. After briefly taking in his flirtatious behavior, I opened my lips as he wanted.
“You’re handsome too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Especially your eyes. I like how they seem to contain the sky.”
“Argh! Are you serious?!”
It wasn’t difficult to say what anyone would acknowledge. So as I told Kwon Dojin what he wanted to hear, Baek Han shuddered and shook his ears as if to clear them.
“Why do you always do this crap when I’m around?! Do it when you’re alone, when it’s just the two of you!”
“What did I do?”
Not understanding why Baek Han was acting that way, I tilted my head, and he grabbed the back of his neck as if he might collapse from frustration at any moment. When I looked at Kwon Dojin, he seemed to have completely frozen.
“I thought only Kwon Dojin was crazy, but I was wrong! You’re both crazy!”
Kwon Dojin, who had buried his face in his hands, seemed to come to his senses at Baek Han’s outburst and suddenly embraced me, burying his face in my shoulder.
“…I don’t know who the real fox is here.”
I heard him groan into my ear. He’s been saying he doesn’t know who the fox is since before, but I couldn’t understand why he kept asking such an obvious question.
“It’s obviously you who’s the fox.”
“Ugh. I’m leaving rather than staying here.”
“You’re going already? Weren’t we supposed to have dinner together?”
I called out to Baek Han’s back as he strode away, but he shouted back:
“Why would I want to have dinner with you two and risk getting high blood pressure?!”
“Hmm? Why?”
“Just ignore him and let’s go by ourselves.”
After watching Baek Han’s retreating figure, I tilted my head slightly. I wouldn’t really mind having dinner with just Kwon Dojin, but we’d eaten out frequently recently—
“I was thinking of eating at home today. It’s been a while since I’ve studied properly.”
“Just because Baek Han left, you’re abandoning me too?”
He looked up at me with pitiful eyes like a rain-soaked puppy, and I felt my resolve weakening, but I managed to hold firm. I had been spending a lot of time with Kwon Dojin lately, after all.
“I can’t say I’m abandoning you. We’ll meet tomorrow anyway. Today I’ll eat with my family.”
“…Then I’ll take you home.”
“How far?”
“All the way.”
It doesn’t seem necessary, really.
But looking at Kwon Dojin’s expression, he showed no signs of backing down, so I nodded. I wasn’t particularly keen on dissuading him if he was willing to go through the trouble.
“But it’s quite far from here. About thirty minutes by car?”
“Then let’s take a taxi.”
I let out an exclamation at his answer, which came without a moment’s hesitation. Was this because he was Rank 2 and received that dignity maintenance allowance? It was on a completely different level from me, who had only considered taking the subway or bus.
We chatted meaninglessly while waiting for the taxi we called. Throughout this time, Kwon Dojin’s arm around my waist was slightly annoying, but since he showed no signs of letting go, I decided to leave it be.
“So you can’t drink coffee?”
“That’s right. Caffeine doesn’t seem to agree with my body. My heart beats too severely.”
Thump-thump-thump. When I drank caffeine, my heart would pound loudly as if the world was collapsing, and I felt dizzy like I might faint at any moment. As I spoke, I remembered the first time I drank coffee and couldn’t help but shudder.
Kwon Dojin laughed softly and naturally rested his head on my shoulder. With his eyes gently closed, facing the blowing wind, he looked like he could have been part of a masterpiece painting.
“Habin, I think you’re really cute.”
I let Kwon Dojin’s soft whisper slide. I’d heard it so many times that it no longer affected me. More importantly, I spotted our reserved taxi and raised my hand to signal it.
“The taxi’s here.”
“The way you casually ignore me is charming too.”
“Yeah, sure, now get in the taxi.”
I opened the door of the taxi that had stopped in front of us, pushed Kwon Dojin in, and then took a seat beside him. When he started chattering about how I was being too harsh sometimes, I shut his mouth and told the driver our destination, which made him deliberately appear dejected.
“Habin~”
“Yes, yes, I get it.”
Feeling like this could go on endlessly, I put a straw to Kwon Dojin’s lips. Caught off guard, he blinked several times before reluctantly taking a sip of the iced tea.
“If you keep complaining, I’ll make you keep drinking.”
“…But I don’t really like that iced tea.”
“Yeah. I know.”
That’s why I’m making you drink it. If you had shown signs of enjoying it, there would be no need to use it to shut you up. Kwon Dojin moved his lips a few times but eventually reduced his talking. The iced tea must have been quite unpalatable.
Thanks to that, I could enjoy a pleasant ride home. Although there was the side effect of not being able to go straight home when we got out of the taxi, since Kwon Dojin was still pretending to be upset.
“Let’s put those lips away and talk.”
I flicked his lips with my index finger, as they had been bothering me since the moment I faced him. In response, he bit his lower lip slightly before releasing it and turned his head away pointedly.
I looked at Kwon Dojin, who was expressing “I’m upset” with his entire body, and sighed. What should I do with this overgrown child? When I made no attempt to hide my perplexed expression, Kwon Dojin spoke first.
“…Spend time with me tomorrow after school.”
“What? Tomorrow too? Let’s study a bit.”
I immediately expressed distaste. I could barely remember the last time I had sat down properly to study. It wasn’t that I was worried about the midterms, and I certainly wasn’t worried about the college entrance exam yet, but the problem was that my body was itching to study.
“Then let’s study together.”
Your skill at changing tack is top-notch, isn’t it?
Still, I liked this suggestion and nodded. It was better than being asked to play. At this, Kwon Dojin’s upset expression disappeared, and as he was flashing a pretty eye-smile, a familiar voice interrupted.
“Lee Habin?”
“Ah, Lee Yumin.”
“You, you…”
“Your sister?”
After looking back and forth between our faces, Kwon Dojin quickly deduced Yumin’s identity, and I nodded in confirmation. As he was about to step forward with a smiling face, seemingly to greet her, Lee Yumin suddenly burst out:
“I told you not to follow anyone who offers you food, you crazy idiot!”
When did I ever follow anyone for food!
I felt genuinely wronged by her unexpected outburst.
