Chapter 8
This is seriously uncomfortable.
I can’t move freely, and I’m mentally uncomfortable, so I can’t even sleep like I planned. Unable to do this or that, my frustration continues to build, and heat rises to my head.
When I sigh with a stifled feeling, Dojin, who’s been playing with my hair like it’s a toy, pokes my cheek with his index finger.
“Habin.”
“What.”
“Let’s go play basketball.”
Is this guy insane?
I can’t bring myself to curse out loud, so I curse with my eyes instead. Even then, it’s in a direction where Dojin can’t see.
“I don’t like sweating.”
“You’re so static, aren’t you?”
Then you’re dynamic.
I chose to keep my mouth shut rather than engage in pointless conversation. When I close my eyes, his hands ruffling my hair become even more aggressive.
“Why don’t you just go alone?”
Instead of bullying my poor hair.
My hair tangles easily, going wild even with a simple breeze, so what will happen if he keeps messing it up like this? Knowing it’ll be painfully difficult to untangle later, my voice naturally becomes irritated.
“Are you angry?”
Dojin withdraws his hand from my hair and bends down to meet my eyes. The surrounding sounds seem to fade away, and for a while, we stare into each other’s eyes without blinking.
His eyes, resembling a clear sky, look at me so vividly, filled with a bright light. As I continue to look into eyes that shine with a color different from my common black ones, I feel like I’m being drawn in—
“Habin, hmm?”
“…I’ll go to the bathroom for a moment.”
I quickly get up to escape from Dojin. I thought he would grab me, but he just looks up at me from his seated position, and I gently turn my head away from him.
Then, meeting the eyes of other students, I flinch. Those whose eyes meet mine also flinch and look away. Why are they looking over here—oh right, the number two ranker Dojin is here, so it makes sense that attention would be focused in this direction.
Shaking my head, I press my temples as I leave the gym. I should go to the bathroom to both wake myself up and fix my hair. Anyway, nothing good comes from staying next to Dojin, so I wanted to be alone even if just for a moment.
Opening the glass door, I glance back to see Dojin still in the same spot. He doesn’t seem to have any intention of following, so I breathe a sigh of relief and head toward the bathroom.
Trudge, trudge. The distinctive sound echoes through the empty corridor. Somehow, that sound gives me comfort, and I blink my eyes and stamp my feet a couple of times in place.
How long has it been since I felt this peaceful at school—
“Lee Habin.”
Damn it, don’t raise another flag.
I hit my own head hard as if punishing myself for my habit of jinxing things. I’m seriously dying to know why I only ever plant flags and never manage to avoid them!
“Yes, what is it?”
When I turn around with a smile as if nothing happened, the person who had been looking at me like I was insane takes a step back. Understanding their feelings all too well, I nod as if I know exactly what they’re thinking, and the person steps back again.
“You, what’s your relationship with Kwon Dojin-nim?”
Even so, they seem determined to state their business and ask with a resolute expression. Matching their serious demeanor, I rack my brain. How should I answer to give a neutral response?
In the first place, I was the one who wanted to know what my relationship with Dojin actually was. Still, I knew enough not to say that out loud, so after thinking hard, I found what seemed like a safe answer.
“What relationship? We’re just classmates.”
“Classmates? Are you saying you’re friends?!”
If even “friends” isn’t the right answer, then what is…
When the shouted response came back, I unconsciously touched my forehead. I was so curious about what answer they wanted that I wondered if there was some predetermined response. If so, I’m confident I could recite it without missing a single detail if someone would just tell me what it is.
“Who are you to be friends with Dojin-nim? That’s arrogant, you know?! How dare you call yourself his friend—”
“Okay, I get it. We’re not friends.”
“—friend! Huh? You’re not friends?”
“That’s right.”
Unable to find another term to describe our relationship, I didn’t add anything else. Seemingly flustered by my straightforward confirmation, they hesitated and covered their mouth.
“But you just said you were friends?”
“No way. You must have misheard.”
“Is that so?”
They seemed lost in thought, and I tried to use that opportunity to head to the bathroom as planned, but with unfortunate timing, they suddenly looked up.
“Anyway! Don’t get cocky just because Dojin-nim favors you! Got it?!”
“Sure, don’t worry about it.”
You’re really worrying about something unnecessary.
Favoring me? I looked at them with disbelief for interpreting Dojin’s actions as favoritism, but seeing the slight madness in their eyes, I quietly closed my mouth, thinking they wouldn’t listen to reason anyway.
“You’re more reasonable than I expected.”
They concluded snootily, then turned around sharply and returned to the gym. I stared blankly until they disappeared from sight, then heaved a deep sigh.
This is truly exhausting.
***
Tell me it’s a lie.
My head was spinning at this unbelievable reality. As I held my forehead and looked down, Dojin pulled my wrist.
“Habin, that’s dangerous.”
“Who do you think is making me—!”
“Hmm?”
Dojin tilted his head slightly and blinked. The sight was devastatingly beautiful, but unfortunately, I’d long since grown accustomed to it, so my sour expression remained unchanged.
“What was your mock exam score?”
“Is that why you’re acting like this?”
He blinked a couple of times as if surprised, then curved his eyes into a smile. Then he cupped my cheek and lightly stroked it with his thumb.
“Even though you scored better than me?”
“That’s because I—!”
After practically studying for college entrance exams for three years, it would be inhuman not to do well on a mock test!
I’m so frustrated I could go crazy. Dojin always seems to be fooling around, so how is he good at studying? No, he could be good at it, sure. He could be. He has that Four Heavenly Kings buff and seems to pay attention in class. Besides, the March mock test for first-year high school students is only a mock test in name; it can barely be called one.
But still, Dojin is a fight-obsessed thug!
I wasn’t saying this without reason. Once school ended, he would disappear to go fight. How do I know this? Because the other members of the Four Heavenly Kings would come to school to pick up Dojin even before the day ended.
“This won’t do.”
“What won’t?”
“I’m going to study.”
It seems I’ve been ignoring reality for too long, struggling with the fact that three years had vanished and that I’d suddenly fallen into a fictional world. I need to start studying now to get better grades than my scattered college entrance exam scores; only then will I be satisfied.
In fact, I hadn’t completely abandoned studying, but compared to before, it was fair to say I wasn’t studying at all. Reflecting on this, I quickly planned out my study schedule in my head.
“Habin.”
“Sorry. Bye. I’m leav—”
“Lee Habin.”
I urgently tried to turn around and head home, but Dojin grabbed both of my forearms. He pulled me close and brought his face near mine.
“What, what.”
“You agreed to hang out with me today, didn’t you?”
“That’s—”
Ri-ght. Now that I think about it, I did. Dojin suggested it, and I mindlessly agreed. There was no forced intervention in between. More precisely, I couldn’t refuse due to pressure from everyone around us, so it’s debatable whether there was truly no forced intervention.
Anyway, I had to admit that it would be rude to suddenly say I was going home after agreeing to hang out, so I fidgeted with my lips.
“…Sorry. Where should we go?”
Only then did Dojin’s rigid expression soften, and he took a step back, slightly raising the corners of his mouth.
“Well, how about the arcade first?”
Seeing Dojin smile prettily as if things had gone his way, I gave up and sighed softly.
“But which arcade?”
“I have a place I go to often. Let’s go there.”
You have a place you go to often? Wait, a place you go to often?
Without hesitation, I yanked Dojin’s arm as he started walking. He turned around with a puzzled look as his path was suddenly blocked.
“Why?”
“Who did you go there often with? Hmm?”
“Ah—”
He let out a small exclamation but didn’t say what I needed to hear, which made me anxious. As I hugged my arms and fidgeted nervously, Dojin’s smile deepened.
“Are you jealous?”
“Are you crazy?”
My reflexive response surprised both me and Dojin. We both stared at each other with wide eyes for a while in a silent standoff until Dojin’s laughter broke the tension.
“I used to go there with my middle school friends.”
After laughing for a long time and wiping away the small tears that had formed, his answer horrified me. Dojin’s middle school friends could only be the Four Heavenly Kings, right? That means if we go to that arcade, we might run into the Four Heavenly Kings, and following the typical fiction cliché, there’s a high possibility of encountering rivals and getting caught up in a fight.
Thinking about it that way, I desperately didn’t want to go there, so I clung to Dojin’s arm.
“Let’s reconsider.”
“What?”
“I don’t think that arcade is a good idea.”
“Then is there somewhere else you want to go?”
“Anywhere but that arcade would be good.”
I absolutely do not want to get caught up in a fight. I shook my head firmly with determination, and Dojin made a troubled expression.
“Where did you usually go with your friends?”
“The arcade.”
“Besides the arcade?”
“My apartment?”
“Apartment? Even though you’re just high school students?”
“Yeah.”
Well, that’s possible. Because they’re the Four Heavenly Kings. Nodding at this magical phrase that makes everything possible, I realized this conversation was going nowhere and felt stuck.
“Besides the apartment?”
“…Well.”
Dojin avoided my eyes as if he had nothing to say. Then he suddenly looked straight into my eyes.
“What about you, Habin?”
“…Huh?”
“Where did you go?”
…Don’t ask, you bastard.
This bastard Dojin had precisely hit my sore spot.
