# Chapter 35
When all those who had been fighting hard while ignoring them finally collapsed on the floor, Dojin gestured toward the students still gathered around. As if they had been waiting for that signal, everyone returned to their classrooms, and classes resumed immediately.
“So, why were they fighting?”
As the impatient Baek Han tried to move things along regardless of whether class was in progress, Dojin frowned.
“Not here, let’s go up to the roof. Class is in session.”
“Ah shit, what a hassle.”
When Dojin pointed to the two who appeared to be the instigators, Baek Han grabbed them by their necks and led them to the roof. Dojin watched him go, then firmly pressed his foot on the back of someone still lying face down on the floor.
“Stop doing useless things and go back to your classroom for lessons.”
“Ugh-, yes…”
When Kwon Dojin heard the weak response, he turned and followed Baek Han. He took off his dirty gloves, threw them away, and put on new ones. Slowly climbing the stairs to the top, he found the rooftop door wide open. Clicking his tongue once at Baek Han’s carelessness, Dojin entered the rooftop and locked the door.
“You’re here?”
“Why did they fight?”
“One side just didn’t like the other, and the other side got pissed about being shoulder-checked while passing by. Does that make any sense? If it was such a trivial reason, they should have stopped when we arrived.”
Angry that they had to come mediate a fight that broke out for such a trivial reason, Baek Han hit the shoulder of one person kneeling down. He must have hit quite hard because the person groaned, but neither Baek Han nor Dojin paid any attention to it.
“I know, right? I could understand if it was a ranking challenge, but this?”
“Ranking challenge? That’s prohibited for two weeks after the ranking determination.”
“That’s just how sloppy their excuse is. I think there must be some other reason—”
Dojin knelt down with one knee on the floor, reached out his arm, and grabbed the person’s hair. Roughly pulling it to make eye contact, he smiled with his eyes curved as was his habit.
“I wonder what that could be?”
“Judging by their expression, they won’t talk no matter what. Why don’t we just stop wasting time, write up the incident report, and end this?”
“Well, I’m a bit curious about why they started a fight for such an obviously sloppy reason, making both of us come to mediate.”
Baek Han clicked his tongue and leaned against the wall. It didn’t seem like this would end easily.
“Maybe if you kneel until the end of school, you’ll tell us?”
“Just hit me instead. I have no desire to stay here until the end of school.”
“I can’t hurt someone when I came to mediate.”
“Then make him bow repeatedly. That’s not hurting him, right?”
Finding it a better idea than expected, Dojin let out a small sound of admiration and checked his watch to gauge the time. When he realized lunch break would start in 20 minutes, he frowned.
‘I need to finish this before lunch so I can be with Habin—’
As Dojin naturally thought of Habin, he suddenly realized something was wrong and abruptly stood up. The person whose hair he had let go of staggered, but there was no reason to care about that.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m going to the classroom. Keep an eye on these bastards.”
“Why suddenly the classroom—hey!”
Dojin didn’t even listen to all of Baek Han’s words and hurriedly opened the rooftop door, running to the classroom. Left alone on the rooftop, Baek Han raised his eyebrows, wondering what was going on.
“That crazy bastard.”
Dojin didn’t care whether Baek Han was cursing him or not. He quickly arrived at the classroom and flung open the back door. He used too much force, causing quite a loud noise, but no one in the classroom dared to point it out.
“…He’s not here.”
Habin, who should have been attending class, was nowhere to be seen. At that moment, Dojin realized why they had started a fight for such a ridiculous reason, and he bit his lip.
“I shouldn’t have gone!”
Dojin hit the innocent door and spoke irritably. But there was no time to dwell on regrets. As he left the classroom where Habin wasn’t, he prayed that Habin hadn’t been hurt.
* * *
“Mmm…”
I shifted my body as I woke from a light sleep. It felt like I could sleep a bit more, but my body demanded to wake up. I covered my eyes with my forearm, letting out an irritable groan at the contradictory opinions of my body and mind.
How long have I slept that I need to wake up?
I instinctively realized that not much time had passed. I guess it was because I wasn’t used to taking naps that I woke up so quickly. I fumbled around, extending my arm to find my phone and check the time, and indeed, only 40 minutes had passed.
“It’s almost lunch time.”
Should I get up and go eat? I had planned to buy bread later, but I woke up just in time for lunch at the cafeteria.
Of course, I stared blankly at the door that would still be locked, then operated my phone to find a number I had never contacted before. I pushed aside the blanket covering my body and looked at the number on the screen.
“Will he answer the call?”
Since it’s class time now, will he not answer? No, since he’s one of the Four Heavenly Kings and second-ranked, he might answer boldly.
After contemplating for about 5 minutes, I finally decided to leave a text message. Moving my thumb slowly, still feeling drowsy, I sent a message to Kwon Dojin.
He’ll see it eventually. With that thought, I put my phone on my chest and gently closed my eyes. Then, less than a minute after sending the text, I heard a ringtone and opened my eyes wide.
Checking the screen, I saw Kwon Dojin’s name prominently displayed. I was flustered because I didn’t expect him to call right away, but I pressed the answer button.
[Where are you!]
“Huh, what?”
I was startled by Kwon Dojin’s urgent voice, unlike his usual tone, and stumbled over my words. Then I heard a pained sound through the speaker.
[I’m sorry for yelling. Are you hurt anywhere?]
“Hurt, ahem. No, I’m not hurt.”
I cleared my throat because my voice was quite hoarse from just waking up. Kwon Dojin asked in a suspicious tone.
[Are you sure you’re not hurt? No, never mind. Where are you now?]
“I’m in the storage room at the gym.”
[Why on earth are you—I’ll come there.]
I answered that I understood Kwon Dojin’s words. After all, the door was closed, so I couldn’t go anywhere. As soon as he heard my response, the call ended, and my somewhat stiff mind started working again.
I hadn’t noticed it earlier, but thinking about it now, Kwon Dojin’s breathing was rougher than usual. It was the first time I’d heard his breathing so disturbed, as if he had done intense exercise.
“Was he looking for me?”
Or was mediating the fight more difficult than expected?
Either way, it was a bit surprising to see Kwon Dojin’s disheveled state. Come to think of it, I did see him sick yesterday, but this was dishevelment in a different sense.
I let out a sound of admiration at having glimpsed an unexpected side of him, then folded the blanket. It seemed best to tidy up before Kwon Dojin arrived. And when he did arrive, we could head straight to the cafeteria.
With these carefree thoughts, I moved my body diligently, and soon after, I heard the sound of running footsteps along with the characteristic echo of the gymnasium.
“Habin!”
“You came faster than I expected?”
Hearing the familiar voice, I hurriedly gathered my things. As soon as he heard my voice, he removed the mop handle that was blocking the door from the outside.
“Hel—”
With the characteristic creaking sound of the metal door opening, Kwon Dojin appeared. Just as I was about to greet him, feeling newly glad to see him, he ran to me and embraced me.
“Kwon Dojin?”
“Are you really not hurt anywhere?”
“No. I’m not, but—”
The arms embracing my back were so strong that it was a bit suffocating. Still, since his voice was trembling, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him to let go.
“How did you end up in a place like this…”
“I was sleepy and wanted to take a nap.”
“You could have stayed in the classroom.”
“There are mats here. I wanted to sleep comfortably.”
A sigh escaped from Kwon Dojin’s lips, which were buried in my shoulder. He separated our closely pressed bodies and met my gaze.
“You could have at least told me.”
“I thought you would finish late… And I planned to contact you after taking a nap and waking up.”
It wasn’t for nothing that I had brought my phone. In fact, I did send a text immediately after waking up. Despite my excuses, Kwon Dojin continued to stare at me with eyes full of discontent, then sighed again and ran his hand through his hair.
“I was surprised when you weren’t in the classroom.”
“I was also surprised this happened.”
“…I’m sorry.”
My eyes widened at the apology that came after hesitation. Not understanding why he was apologizing, I just blinked my eyes, and Kwon Dojin continued.
“This probably happened because of me.”
Since that wasn’t exactly wrong, I nodded a couple of times, and he bit his lip.
“I was sure I was managing things so this wouldn’t happen—”
I was taken aback as he even began to blame himself while slightly lowering his head. It’s true that this happened because I was by his side, but he didn’t initiate it, so there was no need for him to react this strongly. If I had known he would react like this, I wouldn’t have nodded earlier.
“Not everything goes as planned.”
I placed my hands on his forearm and patted it slowly, and Kwon Dojin gently raised his head.
“You, are you crying?”
Surprised to see his eyes slightly wet up close, I brought my face closer.
“…I’m not crying.”
“Your eyes look wet for someone who’s not crying.”
I reached out my arm and wiped away the small teardrops with my thumb. He subtly leaned his face into my palm, so I cupped his cheek. Kwon Dojin then deliberately blinked his eyelids quickly to clear the gathered tears.
Kwon Dojin held my hand that was on his cheek and tilted his head with a sorrowful expression.
“You’ll stay with me, won’t you?”
It was clearly similar to his usual words and pleas. But why couldn’t I brush it off as usual? I looked at him for a while, moving my lips, but couldn’t say anything.
It felt as if something had changed within me.
