# Chapter 12
“Yoon Taeho!”
When I turned my head toward the voice, a boy standing at a distance beckoned me to come closer with his finger. He was one of the Middle Class members from our club who had just stolen our drinks. I ignored his unpleasant gesture and returned to my seat.
“Hey! You!”
Even if he’s Middle Class, he probably won’t make a scene here. If he says anything, I can just say I didn’t see him. As I sat down and put my plate on the table, the Middle Class guy ran over, calling me loudly.
“Hey!!”
People turned to look at his shout. The guy, who had been huffing, seemed a bit flustered as he cleared his throat, then came closer to me and lowered his voice.
“What’s with you? Are you ignoring me?”
“I didn’t hear you. What is it?”
At my annoyed tone, he gave a short “ha” laugh and told me to get up.
“Go over there and run an errand.”
An errand? I wasn’t expecting anything nice, but this was so random that I was dumbfounded. I wasn’t the only one who felt offended; Oh Seulbi defended me.
“Why should Taeho go run errands over there? You seem to be confused sometimes, but we’re the Food and Cooking Club. We’re not servers; we’re people who research and develop recipes that are more convenient, delicious, and safe to eat.”
At her words, the Middle Class guy frowned deeply and said:
“Oh come on, he should just come when I say so. What’s with all this talk from a Low Class?”
At the mention of class rank, Oh Seulbi made a displeased face but had nothing else to say and kept her mouth shut. Then the guy pointed his finger at Oh Seulbi and wiggled it.
“Hey, if you don’t like Yoon Taeho going, why don’t you go instead? You could make an impression on the High Class folks. Good for you, right? Or Kim Yuna, do you want to go?”
Oh Seulbi and Kim Yuna’s expressions darkened. I reluctantly stood up.
“I’ll go.”
At my words to avoid making a scene, the guy didn’t exactly relax his expression, but he seemed to agree as he turned around first. As I followed him, I waved at Oh Seulbi and Kim Yuna, who were looking at me anxiously, to let them know it was okay.
“Anyway, it would’ve been better if you had just followed me when I called earlier. Suddenly ignoring me and all. I was so frustrated… Do you think it’s easy to get a chance to face the High Class? Last time you were asking for help and all.”
The guy muttered in an irritated voice as we moved. Listening to him, it seemed like I was partly at fault. Holding back a sigh, I quietly listened and followed him.
“I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll let it slide. But next time, don’t expect any mercy. You should consider it an honor to be allowed in here.”
I ignored the nonsense, of course, but I sighed, thinking this was becoming a hassle.
Wouldn’t you know it, the place the guy led me to was a table on the opposite side from where the main characters were sitting. Though there was some distance, I could see them if I turned my head, so I decided not to turn my head in that direction at all.
“Oh, is this him?”
“Yes.”
Six students sitting arrogantly at the table looked at me. Ridiculously, the group that had just stolen our drink boxes stood around like servants.
The guy who brought me here nudged me with his elbow. When I looked at him with a “what?” expression, he slightly furrowed his brow, though he couldn’t openly scowl, and quietly told me to greet them. Though it was infuriating, I thought it best to do as told for now and bowed my head.
“…Hello.”
“Oh, right. So, you know how to do this well?”
One of the lighter-looking guys at the table asked while chewing his food.
Do what? Given that he called it an “errand,” they must have something for me to do, but I didn’t know what he was talking about, so I just quietly looked at him.
I glimpsed the energy drinks we had brought earlier on the table. They were being passed around as Oh Seulbi had said, but I wondered if they were really suitable for this place. As I was having these pointless thoughts, the light-looking guy handed me his empty dish.
“Take this away and bring me some dessert, nicely arranged.”
What the… Does he really think I’m a waiter? I glanced up at the Middle Class guys. Their expressions clearly showed they didn’t trust me, which almost made me laugh. If they didn’t trust me, they shouldn’t have brought me in the first place.
It seemed they brought me because they didn’t want to do it themselves. This was obviously shallow bullying for their own amusement, but I was afraid my face might contort even slightly, so I maintained a blank expression and nodded.
“Oh, this too. Fill it with tasty-looking stuff.”
I was baffled as he held out another plate and told me to bring it back fully loaded. But I decided to calm myself by thinking of them as just difficult customers I might encounter at a part-time job. I immediately turned and headed to the main table to select some food. Behind me, I could hear the guys snickering.
At the main table, I wondered what to bring.
This kind of thing might be partly about bullying, but it could also be a sort of test. It seems like Yoon Taeho wanted to make connections with the High Class and asked for help.
I felt like just piling on whatever food and shoving it at them to eat. But acting rashly could get me in trouble, so I carefully selected some food.
It would be better to choose simple, mild food, right? On one plate, I neatly arranged lasagna made with barbecue and tomato sauce, and on the other, I stacked the rice cakes and macarons that Oh Seulbi and Kim Yuna had said were pretty.
Just as I effortlessly picked up the two precariously full plates with both hands:
“You were at that table just now. Did something happen?”
Startled by Moon Seoheon’s sudden appearance, I stared at him for a moment, then remembered his question and awkwardly replied.
“No, nothing special.”
“Are those for you to eat?”
Moon Seoheon glanced down at the plates I was holding.
“…I’m taking them to them.”
I pointed to the table where the High Class guys were sitting. There was no point in lying since I’d be found out anyway, so it was better to just tell the truth, even if it was embarrassing. Moon Seoheon looked in the direction I pointed, then gazed at me for a moment. Just then, Maeng Moa approached us and spoke without hesitation.
“Don’t tell me you’re being their bread shuttle? Are those people bullying you?”
I felt a headache coming on. Not knowing what to say, I hesitated for a moment, then shook my head.
“No. I’m just bringing them food.”
“Hmm, it looks like you’re being forced to, though.”
That bastard hit the nail on the head. I calmed my rising temper, afraid I might say something like “What’s it to you?” Based on what Kwak Junhee and Moon Seoheon had discussed when leaving the infirmary, along with Oh Seulbi’s comments, I had a pretty good idea of how the Food and Cooking Club was treated.
Well, it was probably mostly the Middle Class guys who sucked up to them, but it was clear I hadn’t been treated like a waiter just once or twice.
“I’m busy, so I’ll go ahead.”
With nothing to say and wanting to quickly deliver the food and go back to eat my cake, I turned around first. After walking about three steps, Moon Seoheon spoke:
“If you ever need help, let me know.”
I stopped at his words, hesitated, then turned my head slightly and said with a small smile that I wouldn’t need any help.
As I headed back to the table where the High Class guys were:
“Really… strange.”
Moon Seoheon seemed to be muttering something, but I couldn’t hear it clearly.
“Here you go.”
I carefully placed the plates of food on the table. The guys looked surprised as they watched me set them down skillfully without even a tremor of my hands. Did they expect me to make a mistake? They probably gave me two plates hoping I’d break one, but I’d worked at restaurants for years. Who knew that experience would be useful here?
Their slightly puzzled faces soon changed to expressions that suggested they were going to have fun, which made me uneasy. I forced myself to compose my face and said I’d be going.
After bowing to leave, as if my business was done, I started to walk away when someone grabbed me. It was the guy who had brought me here. My expression involuntarily frowned slightly as I wondered what it was now.
“You did better than expected. It must have been hard, so drink this.”
“No, thank you.”
One of the six, a guy with short hair, held a large glass and spoke to me. Unable to guess what the liquid was, I scanned the table and saw open energy drinks, so I shook my head. But the guy ignored my refusal and simply pointed to the glass. I swallowed a sigh, turned back, and tried to take the glass.
“Before that, try eating this.”
But the short-haired guy took the glass back and held out a plate with his other hand. On the plate was braised fish topped with wasabi and garlic. And some unidentified sauce was poured over it, giving off a strong pepper scent. It seemed like they had just mixed various foods together, but it wasn’t something that couldn’t be eaten.
If I had known this would happen, I should have brought them anything with bad combinations. But then I mentally shook my head. No matter what, I shouldn’t waste precious food. These guys were doing this on purpose.
It was clearly bullying. But since I couldn’t avoid it here, I said okay and used chopsticks to pick up the food from the offered plate and put it in my mouth.
As I chewed slowly, I decided to savor it a bit since it tasted surprisingly good. It was soft with a nice kick that would be good for people with sinusitis. Though I felt bitter about the situation, there was no real damage, so I decided to think positively. This kind of bullying was always welcome.
As I ate without complaint, calmly facing the guys’ twisted smiles, I was about to take the glass the short-haired guy handed me when someone suddenly grabbed my arm.
“Spit it out.”
It was Moon Seoheon. Having appeared out of nowhere, he grabbed my arm that was holding the glass and said again:
“I said spit it out.”
“Huh?”
I wasn’t the only one surprised by his sudden appearance; everyone at the table widened their eyes before their faces turned pale. That’s because Kwak Junhee and Maeng Moa were coming this way.
As I stood dumbfounded, not properly chewing, Moon Seoheon took the plate from my hand and held it up to my face.
He wants me to spit into this? No, why should I spit out this delicious food here? Unable to speak properly since I was still eating, I just shook my head at his incomprehensible behavior. Then, with a hardened expression, Moon Seoheon grabbed my chin and forcibly opened my lips.
I was startled for a moment as his fingers entered my mouth, but then I noticed that the expressions of the main characters watching from the opposite table had turned nasty. Hey, I didn’t bite him on purpose!
Flustered, I grabbed his hand that was probing my lips and pulled it away, then gulped down the food. I wanted to chew it more… Looking at Moon Seoheon with a gloomy expression of disappointment, he let out a small sigh.
“What are you doing?”
Could it be that this guy was worried about me? I appreciate it, but it wasn’t necessary.
As the two approached right in front of us, I quietly asked Moon Seoheon while keeping an eye on them. Moon Seoheon didn’t answer and just took the glass I was holding and carelessly placed it on the table.
Is it because he’s the protagonist? He was very confident even in front of the High Class. The High Class guys couldn’t say anything to Moon Seoheon. It was probably because of the main characters standing guard behind him.
I just stood there blankly in this awkward situation, and so did the guys at the table. After a moment of silence, the first to speak was Maeng Moa.
