It seemed finding a suitable dwelling wasn’t easy. Following the first day, on the second day too, the twins didn’t achieve any particular results.
From what I heard, there seemed to be several places where one could stay while taking on a reasonable amount of danger. However, the twins’ standards were too high, as if this were the most ordinary of ordinary times. Even if they were eager real estate agents desperate to sell properties, if they faced the twins, it was obvious they’d dry up and die.
What’s more, the twins weren’t being so picky for themselves, worrying about their own safety and convenience. They had placed me at the center of those standards and were trying this and that, maintaining some incomprehensible passing grade. Since they wouldn’t listen even when I intervened and tried to mediate, I too had already given up long ago.
‘Why are they checking whether there are other survivors nearby, whether there’s a convenience store, pharmacy, and mart all within close distance, when they’re just trying to find a place to live?’
It wasn’t that those conditions were bad. If there was a place where all of that was fulfilled, it would truly make a perfect nest beyond comparison. But there was no way such a heavenly place existed, and even if it did, it was certain others would have already claimed it.
Unless they killed everyone and stole that spot…
“……”
I turned the direction of my thoughts without pondering further. I had not even a rat’s ass worth of desire to be deeply involved in anyone’s life or death.
Letting out a languid sigh, I leaned against the chair back and stretched my body. Then I examined the hallway outside the window where no signs of people could yet be felt.
In place of Cha Jeoh, who had gone out to search for a dwelling, today Cha Woodan was supposed to be staying by my side. However, Cha Woodan had stepped away briefly. After hearing him say he hadn’t yet brought today’s food and water to Lee Gojun, and my request that was almost like coercion for him to go do it now, Cha Woodan had headed to the third floor.
This morning too, Lee Gojun had come to find me half-asleep as usual and performed something like a morning worship service, and if they’d given him food then and sent him back, there would have been no need to go through this trouble. The twins belonged to the smart side, so they couldn’t have been unaware of that fact.
‘It seems like they’ve been sharpening their blades even more toward Lee Gojun since that day.’
Precisely, since I said Lee Gojun was handsome.
Even though the twins hadn’t originally welcomed Lee Gojun’s fanatic actions or remarks, that rejection had been openly blatant without hiding. They hadn’t resorted to tormenting him this cunningly before.
Lee Gojun was one thing, but the twins also seemed to be increasing the frequency of incomprehensible eccentric behavior.
‘Or did they have a separate fight with Lee Gojun…’
Knock knock—a quiet knock echoed in the empty classroom. Thinking the culprit would naturally be Cha Woodan, I turned my head naturally, then slowly froze my movement.
Beyond the vertically narrow window in the classroom door, an unfamiliar man’s face appeared. When he saw me looking at him, he made eye contact as if he’d been waiting and smiled brightly.
It wasn’t the twins. It wasn’t Lee Gojun or his younger brother either. Since humanoid monsters hadn’t been discovered yet, then that person was.
‘Probably a survivor from the main building side.’
It was a continuation of the conversation I’d had with Cha Jeoh yesterday. Whether he came to raise hell or to propose a new deal, a person worthy of conveying the main building’s opinion on their behalf had come here.
‘But then he would have come to the annex to talk with the twins.’
Why all the way here?
Setting aside Cha Jeoh as an exception since he’d gone outside the school, Cha Woodan was on the third floor, one floor below where I was. If that person had come here to talk with the twins, he should have encountered Cha Woodan on the lower floor without needing to come up here.
While I was lost in thought, the man who had been staring at me soon showed signs of movement. Right after I keenly noticed that and closed my eyes, the sound of the door opening as the frame engaged was heard slowly.
Soon, an endlessly carefree greeting crossed through the air and reached me.
“Hello. Your name was Kim Hayoung… wasn’t it?”
“……”
“Right? I have a really good memory.”
I concentrated my hearing and followed those quiet footsteps. The faint presence became gradually clearer as it approached me. Feeling that shadow arrive right in front of me, I swallowed soundlessly.
He let out a small laugh from above my head.
“Wow, I’m a bit nervous. I’ve really wanted to meet you separately, sunbae.”
Me, why?
“Right? The fact that those twins, famous enough that there’s no one at school who doesn’t know them, kept by their side something called a friend that they’d never had in their lives.”
“……”
“And also, you’re the upper floor representative.”
‘Ah, upper floor representative.’
It seemed that unpleasant misunderstanding still hadn’t been cleared up. Then it made sense he’d come to me, passing by the twins. Then the person before my eyes had come representing the main building, so he was likely either the student council president Cha Jeoh mentioned or one of his close associates.
‘It’s probably closer to coming to propose an unfair deal to us rather than coming to cause a disturbance.’
“That’s strange.”
My ears, where all my senses had been concentrated, twitched as if reacting to that voice. As I fumbled with my earlobe to compose the unpleasant sensation of muscles contracting, he continued in a leisurely manner.
“Sunbae, do you perhaps have a problem with your vocal cords? Your eyes… look fine without any injuries.”
It was an excessively calm and proper tone and voice, enough to make me think he might have intended this from the beginning.
“When I first saw you last time, you were covering your eyes with cloth, so I thought you’d been seriously injured? But looking now, it seems that’s not the case.”
“……”
“Then is it about your ability? You weren’t opening your eyes when I was outside the classroom earlier.”
Intentionally voicing and explaining everything one by one meant the form of that speculation was almost complete. In other words, he was now blatantly testing me while simultaneously wanting to seize control of the atmosphere and push forward.
I wasn’t swayed by it, and I didn’t want to be. But currently, I couldn’t speak or write to reverse control of the conversation. With the means of communication limited, there was no way it would be possible to seize control.
‘…It doesn’t seem like he’s trying to kill me or do something to me right now.’
What the main building survivors wanted was the twins’ abilities, and this man before my eyes knew I was in a fairly close relationship with the twins. Then he wouldn’t recklessly gamble and try to harm me.
‘The deal proposal too—he must have come all the way up here to have it with me rather than the twins.’
Then it seemed silently taking it was the better choice. If this was just to establish dominance early to make it easier to seize the upper hand in future discussions, there seemed no reason to go to the trouble of refusing that reckless challenge.
As I thought that and released tension from my somewhat tense body.
Bang!
A sharp striking sound burst without warning. As if he’d struck down the desk right next to me, a shallow vibration rang and transmitted through the object touching my arm.
“You’re still not opening your eyes.”
I thought I wasn’t that startled, but my heart was busily pounding differently from my reason. My body seemed to have been startled enough that it was remarkable I hadn’t snapped my eyes open as soon as I heard that sound.
And before even that physical reaction could subside, he asked while gently scratching at my nerves.
“What happens if you open your eyes?”
“……”
“Do you become endangered? Is it an ability penalty?”
Just because I couldn’t speak differently didn’t mean there was absolutely no way to express my will. Nodding or shaking my head to show simple affirmation or denial wasn’t particularly difficult or hard.
But instead of showing a specific reaction, I gently furrowed my brow.
Was it common to all Hanul High students? That groundless recklessness, and that confidence.
“Sunbae, so…”
“Hayoung-ah?”
A voice now too familiar reached me, passing over the man before my eyes. When I jerked my head up at that, I felt the shadow that had been cast over me shift away from me as if to look behind him.
“…Seong Taehyeon.”
Following that, a voice sunken as if scraping the throat pronounced three syllables of a name. Seong Taehyeon… I think the name of the student council president Cha Jeoh told me about yesterday was similar to that. Then the one who came to find me really was the student council president himself.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing right now?”
“Hello, sunbae.”
“If you’re doing this to really grate on my nerves too, congratulations, you succeeded.”
Following the cold sarcasm, the sounds of clothes crumpling, of stumbling back a few steps, and of hurriedly approaching me past that opponent were heard in succession. Considering even that presence and roughly picturing the situation, it seemed Cha Woodan had pushed the student council president aside and approached me.
“Hayoung-ah, just a moment.”
The touch that left a brief gap even after uttering a quiet warning brushed my cheek. Soon that cool hand headed below my chin and fiddled with every part of my fine arms, legs, and all non-sensitive areas, examining them thoroughly.
After confirming I didn’t have a single broken part anywhere, Cha Woodan finally lightly subdued the killing intent that had been spreading in all directions. However, still in a tone where hostility hadn’t disappeared, he whispered small enough to be heard only by me.
“The classroom door is open.”
It was a warning not to rashly open my eyes or speak. Seeing me nod to show I understood, Cha Woodan turned his back and stood blocking my front.
“Now, want to explain? Seong Taehyeon.”
There’s always a rat bastard around…