I’ve never been looked at like this before in my life. It’s disorienting.
The memory of his past self surfaces — a well-built adult man, tall, well over 180 centimeters, physically superior. With a striking face and the dense, compact muscles that came from being an alpha, he had never once been subjected to such blatant harassment.
The moment Cha-heun’s expression cracked for the first time, Ha-gyeong kept piling on without pause.
“Ah, it would’ve been better if you were a little prettier… Still, you’re handsome enough that there’ll be demand for you. You should be grateful to your mother. Oh wait — maybe not? Given your current situation, she probably can’t be too proud.”
Those wide, rounded eyes. That innocent gaze. Cha-heun’s expression hardened. He had heard plenty of times in his life that he was handsome, but a compliment on his looks delivered this insultingly was a first.
“…Well, thanks for saying there’s demand for me. I did take after my mother a bit in the looks department.”
Ultimately clenching his fist tight, Cha-heun narrowed his eyes and pulled the corners of his mouth up.
“…….”
An unexpected reaction. At this point, most people would do one of three things — blow up in anger, lose themselves to rage, or tremble with humiliation — but the other person responded as if none of it mattered, and it left Ha-gyeong thrown off instead.
Cha-heun, meanwhile, cooled his head and calmly cast his gaze downward before surveying the surroundings. After listening quietly for a good while, Cha-heun looked back at Ha-gyeong and tilted his head. His slightly wavy black hair shifted with the tilt.
“But you, on the other hand — looks like there’s no demand for you. What are you going to do about that.”
“…Excuse me?”
Catching the way Ha-gyeong’s eyes narrowed, Cha-heun finally let the corner of his mouth curl upward.
…It’s childish, going at it with a kid like this…. But I can’t let that one go.
He could overlook other things, but bringing up his parents — that was something he couldn’t allow. And that meant his dead parents.
“Setting aside what you just said to me — just the way you talk about your own brother says enough. It shows you were raised with questionable discipline. Who would ever choose you.”
“Is that… directed at me?”
Whether it was because she had started it herself yet still bristled at having her mother brought up — Ha-gyeong’s voice, which had been so relaxed until just moments ago, dropped low.
“Why are you being so prickly about it. You’re the one who brought up my mother and even Baek Yu-gyeong’s mother, and then had the nerve to talk about upbringing.”
“…….”
“From what I can see, you and your brother don’t get along very well…. But I’ve never once heard Yu-gyeong bring up your name. So between him and you — who would you say has less class? Who’s the one to be pitied?”
The smile finally broke. Even so, Cha-heun kept a careful eye on Ha-gyeong’s reaction as he continued.
“Baek Yu-gyeong, at least, is decent by any measure — but you, with both parents still around, how did you end up this rotten?”
Cha-heun pointed squarely at him and let his expression go cold. He had intended to give him a deliberately irritating smile, but the more he thought about it, the angrier he got — he couldn’t manage to bring any amusement to the surface.
Even bringing up upbringing with the intent to correct someone feels bad — so how could he have said something like that earlier?
What he really wanted was to make Ha-gyeong take back what he had said, but for now, he had already thrown something positive in the direction of Baek Yu-gyeong — and that would have to be enough. Cha-heun had thought to leave it there and wrap things up.
That was, at least, before a string of unexpected reactions began spilling out.
Atmosphere was something like the wind.
When a fierce gust blowing westward was forced to turn east, people’s sentiments would follow that current and drift in the same direction —
And for adolescents who hadn’t yet fully matured, that was all the more true.
“She’s right, Yu-gyeong really is decent. Honestly, what’s his deal?”
The timid girls nearby and a few omega students chimed in easily, beginning to murmur among themselves.
— Is that Baek Ha-gyeong? The one who supposedly came back from studying abroad? Listening to him just now — why is he suddenly talking trash about Yu-gyeong?
— He shows up and immediately brings troublemakers along to ruin the class vibe. Is he really Yu-gyeong’s younger brother?
— But didn’t Yu-gyeong help carry the class president’s documents last time? Is that seriously what they’re using to call him a simp right now?
— And isn’t that the one who confessed to Ji-su, got rejected, then caused a whole scene saying she was seduced, and then ran off the moment Yu-gyeong showed up…? That —
— …Oh, so they’re doing this because they were humiliated by Yu-gyeong back then? Ugh, seriously…
— Honestly, even for Baek Ha-gyeong — bringing up Yu-gyeong’s mother was going too far.
— But so what even if it was. Yu-gyeong is such a good person. Plus, just like Cha-heun said — completely decent.
— Right, right.
How fortunate — Baek Yu-gyeong was well-liked enough that the situation could turn around without Cha-heun having to offer any lengthy defense on his behalf.
“Yeah, I think everything Cha-heun said is right…”
Having surveyed the mood among the students from other classes mixed in with Ha-gyeong’s, Cha-heun finally understood something.
Ah. That’s why — why Seo Ha-ra was bullied by the girls.
That must have been the reason why, in the original work, Seo Ha-ra had been put down or ostracized by certain girls after falling out with Baek Yu-gyeong.
Unlike the typical high school boys who were either immature or had some petty, obnoxious streak to them, Cha-heun could now roughly grasp how Baek Yu-gyeong carried himself. It seemed like something close to a fanclub had formed around him.
Unlike those beasts who had no sense of where the line was, Yu-gyeong apparently read the room well enough — and was enormously popular among omega students and the girls because of it. From what Cha-heun had just heard, it sounded like he even helped out without hesitation when it came to physical tasks, like carrying heavy documents.
…If just what reaches my ears by chance is already this much, it’s not hard to picture how he normally conducts himself.
He didn’t seem to put on airs despite being from a well-off family — the kids seemed to know he came from money, but didn’t seem to know he was the son of the Baekgyeong Group.
On top of that, among the things Cha-heun had just overheard, there was something about one of those boys harassing a girl named Ji-su and getting thoroughly dealt with by Baek Yu-gyeong —
Wait, the more I hear about him, the more he actually sounds like a decent guy?
Yu-gyeong’s popularity wasn’t simply a matter of looks, it seemed. If this kind of near-fanbase had carried over into his third year as well, then it was only natural that Seo Ha-ra — who had said something ill-informed about Yu-gyeong — would have made enemies.
Hm? Wait — does that mean I’m in danger?
Remembering some of the harsher things he had said to Baek Yu-gyeong up until now, Shin Cha-heun felt a sudden chill and quietly glanced behind him.
The girls, the moment their eyes met his, either looked away shyly or burst into giggles at having made eye contact at all.
…Guess not?
It didn’t seem like hostility, which was a relief.
There was a reason nothing had come of the rumors about Baek Yu-gyeong chasing after some third-year omega boy.
It was thanks to Cha-heun’s way of handling things.
“Hm? Oh, sorry. Was I blocking the way?”
When those girls had come flooding into the third-year hallway — showing up out of curiosity to check things out — and bumped into him, Cha-heun had simply smiled and stepped aside in the wide corridor. There was no particular reason behind it. He had just found it pleasant to watch a group of noisy young girls running around the way kids that age do.
“…You should be more careful. You could get seriously hurt doing that.”
He had even said something to them once. The next day, when another wave of them came rushing through and one nearly fell, he had caught her. He had braced the girl who nearly fell with his arm, checked to make sure she wasn’t hurt, and only then let her go.
“I hope Cha-heun accepts our Yu-gyeong soon.”
“Right? He seems interested too. He did take Yu-gyeong’s side.”
And since it didn’t look like he and Baek Yu-gyeong were at odds — more like they were on good terms — things had fortunately smoothed over without issue.
By the time the morning homeroom bell was about to ring, Cha-heun hurried out of the second-year classroom. He asked around and eventually made his way to class 2-8, supposedly Baek Yu-gyeong’s homeroom — but Baek Yu-gyeong wasn’t there.
…Don’t tell me he didn’t come to school at all because of Baek Ha-gyeong?
That possibility felt real. The Baek Yu-gyeong of the original story hadn’t been particularly well-regarded — but seeing the girls’ reaction just now, the contrast was almost jarring.
…If the reason for that was Baek Ha-gyeong…?
Cha-heun had intervened today, but if the original Baek Yu-gyeong had been skipping school and avoiding things instead, that was a different story entirely.
If this kind of thing kept happening…. Rumors aren’t something you can just ignore.
With this as the turning point, strange stories about Baek Yu-gyeong would start circulating, and if that incident had happened out in the hallway, of course it would plant a bad image of him.
…Right. Because Yu-gyeong, in the end, beat up a student in the hallway at the start of the original timeline.
Even so, it seemed Yu-gyeong had still maintained a decent image among the girls. Though some negative talk would have spread in certain circles.
The problem is I can’t quite remember the details anymore. Some girls gave Ha-ra a warning of some kind. What was it.
Ha-ra did get bullied, but in keeping with the teen drama genre, there were also ally characters around. Though whether to call it skepticism toward Baek Yu-gyeong or simply fear that kept them at a distance — it was closer to the latter.
Ha-ra, you have to be careful around Baek Yu-gyeong.
…Careful about what, exactly?
Baek Yu-gyeong, he — Min… at the window…
What could it have been.
Ugh, I must have scrolled too fast because it seemed like an unimportant scene.
Cha-heun felt the limits of his own memory and squeezed his eyes shut. It felt like it was right on the tip of his tongue, hovering just out of reach — which only made it more frustrating.
Ah, forget it. Either way, the Baek Yu-gyeong of the original seemed like a pretty prickly character. Of course the girls would have been scared.
Because of things like that, Yu-gyeong had become increasingly sensitive — and if something like that had actually happened in the hallway, the way it did with Ha-ra when they met —
Yu-gyeong’s reputation would obviously take damage. Even if he had some recognition, he’d start looking bad in the eyes of teachers and other students.
Teachers in particular tend to be conservative. They might just chalk it up to Yu-gyeong going through a late rebellious phase. Even if his popularity among the girls held to some degree, it might actually have the opposite effect and turn others against him. If anything, if that near-fanbase was responsible for bullying Ha-ra, Yu-gyeong’s reputation would sink even further — and since he never cleared things up and things only got worse between them, there was nothing more to say.
That way, Yu-gyeong would naturally become the problem student, and Ha-gyeong would be cast in contrast as the responsible one. Yu-gyeong the troublemaking headache, and Ha-gyeong the devoted younger brother trying to protect him —
…He could picture Yu-gyeong’s cold expression. The complete opposite of the face he wore now.
…Somehow, it’s a picture I feel like I’ve seen before….
Cha-heun surfaced from the memory and immediately scowled. Then he shook his head and pushed the thought away.
…Either way, Yu-gyeong is ultimately the victim here. He got talked about behind his back and fought back, and if this keeps going, the rumors will only get worse….
If things stayed this way, it was natural he would grow more sensitive — and even someone with good patience, if it just kept happening, again and again…. At some point, Baek Yu-gyeong would reach a moment he could no longer hold himself together.
And once he fell out with Ha-ra and then eventually developed feelings for her — the heartache that would follow was obvious.
Suddenly, the image of Yu-gyeong’s face comes to mind. That look on his face like he could die of happiness, pressing close like a puppy wagging its tail at his side — the thought that this boy, who liked people so much, would in the future suffer over something so unfair settles like something deeply uncomfortable inside him.
If he’s skipping school over this right now, he’s probably quite timid, too….
After the Min Ha-seong incident, Cha-heun had harbored suspicions about Baek Yu-gyeong — but the more he watched him, move by move, the harder it was to believe this was actually the unsettling character he’d expected. The spoiler comments had definitely said Yu-gyeong was bad news, yet from what Cha-heun had actually experienced, he wasn’t nearly that terrible.
A vague memory lingers — that this character was the regretful male lead. A scene where he reconciles with Ha-ra is probably somewhere later in the story, but the flood of hateful comments in the spoiler section has him worried.
For now, whether or not it had been Yu-gyeong’s intent, Ha-ra beginning to be isolated in class had been covered by the part of the original story Cha-heun had read — and there seemed to have been an episode where Ha-ra was accused of theft and caught up in bad rumors, with hints pointing to Yu-gyeong as the culprit. The comment section had been in absolute chaos over theories and arguments about it, but Cha-heun, having already been spoiled, had skimmed through carelessly and moved on.
Thinking about it now, it didn’t seem like something Yu-gyeong would do — it was probably another case of being wrongly blamed. Since Yu-gyeong was cast in the role of the one at odds with Ha-ra from the readers’ perspective, he would naturally have come across as the villain.
…Which means I’ve been treating him with preconceived notions, without knowing the circumstances or anything else.
It had only been a few days, but looking back — yes, that was the case. The way he had treated Baek Yu-gyeong up until now weighs on him.
Keeping his distance now, because of things that hadn’t even happened yet. Being hard on him….
Being hard on him for no reason….
…Wait, I pushed him away because he kept clinging to me. And I was strict with him because he kissed me on the cheek without my consent.
Thinking about it again — he hadn’t really been that hard on him. It was just the way you’d treat a high schooler who still had some growing up to do.
