# Chapter 95
The pen I set down rolled away without giving me a chance to catch it. It crossed the curve of the desk, invaded the seat next to mine, and only stopped when it touched Kwon Dojin’s arm.
I straightened my awkwardly bent back after watching the pen I wasn’t agile enough to catch. Kwon Dojin smiled gently at me, as if he had been watching since the moment I reached out to catch the helplessly rolling pen.
Ding-dong-dang-dong~
“Since finals are coming up soon, everyone study hard. We’ll consider the end-of-day meeting done, so you can all go home now.”
This was the good thing about having the homeroom teacher for the last period. Everyone cheered freely and quickly began packing up. Kwon Dojin picked up my pen from his desk, put it in my pencil case for me, and nodded. At that action, I moved my previously still arms and packed up too.
I slung my bag over my shoulder and stood up alongside Kwon Dojin. Even though we hadn’t made any plans about what to do after school, lately we’d been going to Kwon Dojin’s house to study, so I figured we’d do the same today.
“Oh right, Habin.”
“What?”
“Do you like water activities?”
The category of water activities was so broad that I couldn’t answer immediately. Seeing this, Kwon Dojin added an explanation as if he had expected it.
“Want to go to a water park?”
“Not the beach?”
“If you prefer the beach, we can go there.”
His nonchalant attitude made me nod without realizing it. It really felt like I could just choose what I wanted. There were obstacles like money, time, and transportation standing in the way, but somehow it seemed like Kwon Dojin would take care of everything.
“Then I prefer the beach. Water parks feel too confined.”
“Okay, let’s go to the beach then.”
“But what about Baek Han? Are we going just the two of us?”
“I want to go with just the person I like. Is that not okay?”
I gasped at Kwon Dojin’s face, which had suddenly come closer. Reflexively, I stretched out my arm to push his chest, and he obediently stepped back. Judging from the smile lingering on his lips, he didn’t seem affected at all, which was a relief but also annoying, making me bite my lip.
Kwon Dojin had been doing this often lately, which was troublesome. It’s not that he never got close before, but it had become more frequent since our trip to the amusement park.
“Still—, no. Never mind. Where are we going?”
I exhaled a light sigh, feeling somehow like I was being drawn in. Kwon Dojin must have clearly heard that sigh, but he only showed a bright smile. Then he casually put his arm around my shoulder and tapped on his phone with his free left hand, as if looking for something.
“There’s a vacation house near the beach. I’ll ask them to leave it empty for a few days, so let’s go there.”
“A vacation house?”
He has a vacation house? My lips trembled at the different scale of things, but then I accepted it. This is the world of webtoons, and Kwon Dojin is ranked second. So it’s not strange for him to be rich enough to own a vacation house. Probably.
“Yes. Don’t worry about how to get there. I’ll take care of all the preparations.”
“Mm. Okay.”
From the moment the vacation house was mentioned, I just nodded, thinking there wasn’t much I could add to the conversation.
“When are we going?”
“How about during the break? Do you want to go on the day of the closing ceremony?”
“No matter what, I don’t want to wear my school uniform when going on a trip.”
“Then the next day?”
“The next day, I’m going to sleep in to celebrate the first day of vacation.”
As soon as I finished speaking, I felt a subtle gaze and turned my head to look at Kwon Dojin. When our eyes met, he cleared his throat and forced a smile.
“Then how about a week later?”
“Sounds good.”
That time seemed reasonable, so I nodded readily, and Kwon Dojin visibly relaxed. I wondered why he was acting that way when we’d only decided on a date, but since we had settled on going to the beach, figuring out what to do there was more important, so I put aside my minor questions.
Once the general details were decided, Kwon Dojin put away his phone, and taking over, I took out my phone and opened the internet browser.
“Habin.”
“Mmm?”
I was searching for various things, thinking about what we could do at the beach, relying on Kwon Dojin who had his arm around my shoulder, and answered half a beat late.
“Has anything unusual been happening lately?”
“Unusual, like—, ah.”
There was only one thing Kwon Dojin would ask about so cautiously. He must be asking if there had been any bullying or similar incidents. Fortunately, there hadn’t been any, but separate from that, there was something on my mind, so I let out a groan.
“Did something happen?”
At that, Kwon Dojin immediately bent down with a serious face and pressed his body closer, narrowing the already close distance. It was burdensome being so close that we could almost share heartbeats.
However, before I became aware of this feeling, I had accepted this distance without any issue, so I couldn’t outwardly show my discomfort. Why was my past self like that? A shallow regret washed over me, but I tried hard to maintain my composure.
“It’s not so much that something happened, but lately I feel like there are eyes watching me on the way to and from school? The number of students has noticeably increased.”
“Students? How many?”
“I don’t know exactly since I haven’t counted, but definitely enough to notice.”
Otherwise, I wouldn’t think it was strange. Honestly, if someone called it an overreaction, I wouldn’t have anything to say. It’s not that unusual for there to be more students on the streets.
At first, I scolded myself that I should limit my self-consciousness. But the feeling was ominous, and after Lee Yumin casually mentioned that she’d been seeing unusually many students lately, I became anxious.
The fact that it wasn’t just me who thought so meant that the probability of that thought being correct was also high.
“Really?”
Kwon Dojin spoke almost in a whisper and then showed signs of pondering something deeply. While he was busy thinking, I took it upon myself to be the eyes and walked looking forward.
“At what time of day were there the most people?”
“During the time going to school there were the most. There are also some when going home, but school ending times vary so much.”
Since I often forgot the time while studying with Kwon Dojin and went home after 10 PM, there were relatively fewer people during my going-home times. Perhaps because my going-home times were irregular, they might have divided people by time slots, but I didn’t know those behind-the-scenes details. I didn’t want to know either.
“I’ll walk you home today.”
“Hmm. That would be good for me.”
In the past, I would have refused, but these days I couldn’t do that. It was because my once loose vigilance had started doing its job. And because I enjoyed being together for a long time.
“Are you going to sign up for self-study during the break?”
“Ah—”
“Hm?”
“No. I’m not sure.”
I was about to say I would definitely sign up but changed my words midway. It hadn’t been long since I’d thought about distancing myself from Kwon Dojin during the break, but I’d forgotten.
“Oh? I thought you would for sure.”
“I might go to a reading room instead.”
“I, see.”
Kwon Dojin seemed flustered and stumbled slightly over his words. His expression twisted as if something displeased him, but it quickly smoothed out.
“Wow, it’s raining.”
“Huh? Really? Don’t joke around.”
“Why would I joke about something like this? It’s really raining.”
When we had leisurely finished descending all the stairs, I stopped abruptly at the words heard from among the children gathered in front of the entrance.
“Kwon Dojin, do you have an umbrella?”
I had kept a spare umbrella at school, but since I used it last time, I didn’t have one. I stretched my neck to look outside, and though it didn’t seem to be raining heavily, it was enough to get wet.
Clothes could be washed, and if the body got wet, I could shower. However, the books in my bag couldn’t get wet, so it was troubling. In a situation where I couldn’t help but sigh, I just bit my lips. Standing still wouldn’t solve anything, so I would have to move at some point.
“Kwon Dojin?”
“Just a moment.”
When I heard only rustling sounds and no response from Kwon Dojin, I looked to the side and saw him rummaging through his bag. Since he was searching with one hand, it seemed difficult, and his usually smooth brow was deeply furrowed. When I helped by holding his bag that was slipping from his arm, he smiled slightly.
“Found it.”
As if he had found what he wanted, he exclaimed briefly and pulled out a black folding umbrella from his bag. I was also delighted at the appearance of the most necessary item at this moment.
“Shall we go now?”
“Yes.”
Now that we had an umbrella, there was no reason to hesitate, so I nodded quickly. The opened umbrella was smaller than I thought, but it was enough to protect our schoolbags. I slung my heavier-than-usual bag to the front and hugged it preciously.
Kwon Dojin, who had been watching with his arm lowered from my shoulder while I changed my posture, wrapped his arm around my shoulder again as soon as I hugged my bag. He acted as if he had been waiting for this moment, which made me chuckle.
“Are we taking a taxi again today?”
“Well… how about walking leisurely?”
If we walked, it was obvious that it would take more than an hour from school to Kwon Dojin’s house. Since it took 20 minutes even by taxi, it was natural that it would take a considerable amount of time on foot.
I could clearly see the future where I would get tired from walking and lose all my energy, but I couldn’t say no. I moved my lips, delaying my answer, and finally nodded when I saw Kwon Dojin’s eyes shining with expectation for some reason.
Clearly, I would lose study time, and even if we made it to Kwon Dojin’s house, I might have used so much energy that I couldn’t focus on studying. Since I usually had simple meals like sandwiches to save time for studying, I would have refused under normal circumstances.
But looking at Kwon Dojin smiling brightly with his eyes crinkled, it didn’t matter anymore, so I closed my eyes tightly and then opened them.
Is this what they call using beauty as a weapon? No, since Kwon Dojin didn’t particularly use his looks, it’s probably not that. Maybe it’s more accurate to say that I’m seeing through rose-colored glasses.
Even though I realized my state, I didn’t particularly feel the need to fix it. I even thought this might be okay as it is, which made me laugh involuntarily.
This is a severe case, really.
ばか!
白痴!
바보!
HE SAID YOU’RE THE PERSON HE LIKES