# Chapter 72
Ye Abin, who had been staring at the retreating figure of Kwak Junhee in the distance, turned his head.
Overall, his expressionless face wasn’t any different from usual. But his eyes, which were looking at me, were gleaming sharply. Looking at each detail, his displeasure was evident in his stiffly set jaw, twisted lips, and narrowed eyes.
I could guess what he was thinking. He might not have seen me talking privately with Kwak Junhee, but he would have heard us exchanging greetings and would think we’d been together the whole time.
I swallowed and straightened up. During that time, I briefly wondered whether I should stay quietly or approach Ye Abin. With him staring so fiercely, I doubted a proper conversation would be possible, and I just wanted to go home, feeling like this would only give me a headache.
Ye Abin slowly began walking toward me. I checked my phone discreetly and saw that the time he had mentioned had passed by quite a bit. Whether our meeting was coincidental or not, the timing was rather… convenient.
Soon Ye Abin approached me and turned his head to look at where Kwak Junhee and I had been, as if examining the spot. I too glanced back briefly before looking at Ye Abin and saying:
“Let’s talk over there.”
The backyard was a place I had found while trying to pick somewhere where I could be alone with Ye Abin. Though I ended up using it with Kwak Junhee first.
Despite pointing to the backyard and speaking as nonchalantly as possible, Ye Abin frowned as if something annoyed him and brushed past me, bumping my shoulder as if pushing me aside. It was fortunate that he agreed to my suggestion, but I didn’t expect to suddenly get shouldered.
Faced with his attitude, as if trying to establish dominance, I sighed in exasperation, thinking this wouldn’t be easy.
I followed Ye Abin and settled in a corner of the backyard again. Though the awning was protecting us from the rain, the hem of my pants had gotten slightly wet, and my uniform had become quite damp from the wind-blown rain. I tugged at my clinging shirt to let air flow through it and spoke first.
“So what did you want to talk about?”
Though I tried to ask calmly, I felt anything but calm inside.
Considering the conversation I had with that third-year student earlier, I had concluded that Yoon Taeho was being dragged around by this guy. Based on the current circumstances, I could naturally deduce that Yoon Taeho had been falsely accused.
Since it wasn’t certain and hadn’t happened yet, I silently waited for his answer.
Contrary to my expectation that he would bring up Moon Seoheon’s name, Ye Abin first mentioned Kwak Junhee.
“What were you talking about with the student council president?”
The tension that had built up in my body suddenly released, and I let out a long breath. Glancing at Ye Abin, I saw him glaring at me with a fierce expression on his frowning face.
I bit my lip slightly to prevent the sarcastic voice that was about to emerge, saying that I hadn’t talked about anything.
There was no point in provoking someone who was already in a foul mood; I would only be disadvantaging myself. I softened my expression and spoke as gently as possible.
“We didn’t talk about anything special. Just… asking how each other is doing, that sort of thing.”
It was a lie, but I had no intention of spilling everything to him. In reality, what Kwak Junhee and I talked about wasn’t much anyway. Besides, I had no reason to be nice to Ye Abin, who kept threatening me just because he felt slightly offended.
I briefly fell into thought as I naturally recalled my time with Kwak Junhee, and snapped back to reality at Ye Abin’s irritated voice.
“Are you kidding me? You were just asking how each other is doing, the two of you alone in a place like this?”
As if he no longer intended to hide his hostility, Ye Abin came close and shoved my chest. There was no space for me to be pushed back since there was a wall directly behind me, but my back hitting the wall made me feel even more uncomfortable.
“What are you doing?”
“What are you up to? Did you deliberately call the student council president to provoke me, showing off right in front of me?”
“…Ha.”
For a moment, I couldn’t help but laugh out of disbelief. I wasn’t upset or hurt by his attitude as he pushed me and pressured me. I was just bewildered that my being with Kwak Junhee had caused such a misunderstanding.
Wasn’t he the one who told me to wait for just one hour without specifying anything else? Did he think I had calculated the time and place and called Kwak Junhee out?
“What scheme? You just happened to come this way.”
As I pushed him slightly to create some space, Ye Abin exhaled in disbelief. Then with a somewhat irritated expression, he asked:
“Since this is where you always meet after making appointments, weren’t you planning this?”
“…”
After detaching myself from the wall, I was straightening my crumpled uniform when I tilted my head, puzzled by his incomprehensible words. Ye Abin looked at me for a moment, scrutinizing me up and down with suspicious eyes.
I looked around for a moment. Though it was the backyard, it was connected to the back door of the main building. While it wasn’t a very noticeable place, it wasn’t completely devoid of people passing by, and many students rested here during lunch or break times.
Right now it was after school, and there probably wouldn’t be students wandering around, so I thought this place was perfect for us to have a conversation.
But if this place had been used like a meeting square all this time, I could understand the misunderstanding. I shook my head, feeling a headache coming on, and said:
“It’s not like that, really. Anyway, didn’t you have something to tell me?”
I didn’t care whether Ye Abin was jealous about me being with Kwak Junhee or not. What was important here was my well-being. Since he had deliberately made me stay and even called me out, I looked at him seriously, urging him to speak, and after a moment of silence, he chuckled.
“Right. I did have something to say. Nothing much… it’s about what I asked during lunch.”
Ye Abin tilted his head slightly and then shrugged. Along with his casual gesture, his tone also seemed as if he was making a joke.
“Just wondering why you don’t show photos of Moon Seoheon anymore.”
I debated whether I should laugh as if I had just heard something ridiculous. I wondered where on earth he got the idea that Yoon Taeho should be showing photos of Moon Seoheon to him.
He seemed to be setting the stage before cornering me, but I found it rather pathetic and let out a small scoff before saying:
“Hey, just get to the point. Stop beating around the bush.”
Ye Abin’s eyes widened in surprise. Seeing his slightly embarrassed face, it seemed he hadn’t expected me to respond this way.
After his lips quivered slightly, he soon composed his expression and said:
“You always take photos of Moon Seoheon and show them whenever you get the chance. …Well, honestly, I laughed it off, but it’s a bit strange, isn’t it?”
“…”
“Of course, you probably just took them casually. There are plenty of guys taking photos of Moon Seoheon, and he knows and lets it slide. But who knows? You might upload those photos somewhere on your own.”
As I just listened silently, Ye Abin seemed to gain confidence, and his voice became stronger. Before that, his voice had been either drawling or shaky, not at all convincing. From there, I noticed that he was bringing up an uncertain issue and pressuring me unnecessarily.
When I looked at him with no expression, his eyes gleamed. He probably thought I was silent because I had nothing to say.
“I’m just worried you might get caught by The Four. It won’t end with just getting hit once like last year.”
“…Hit once? By whom?”
At my question, Ye Abin opened his eyes wide as if he found it absurd. Soon he chuckled and ran his hand through his hair as he spoke.
“Who else? I’m talking about Seongcheol sunbae. Are you pretending not to know?”
“Lee Seongcheol?”
At my question, he furrowed his brow, looked at me with displeasure for a moment, and then nodded.
Lee Seongcheol was the name of that third-year student I had encountered in the classroom where I went to meet Kwak Junhee. Thankfully I remembered it from seeing his nametag, otherwise I might have been caught off guard.
I took a deep breath in and then exhaled. My mind was complicated, but I felt refreshed, as if something had been cleared up.
“…So?”
“What?”
“You’re saying all this because you’re worried about me? Afraid I might upload photos of Moon Seoheon without permission?”
“Well… yes.”
“I have no intention of doing that at all.”
At my calm response, Ye Abin frowned. Seeing his face as he pondered what to say, I asked without pausing:
“What does me getting hit by that sunbae have to do with anything? I’ve never taken photos of Moon Seoheon without permission and I have no intention of uploading them, so why bring up The Four?”
“Well, because The Four would get angry if they thought you did it.”
“How would they know I did it? Even with Seongcheol sunbae, I still don’t understand why he hit me; I just feel wronged.”
When I deliberately spoke in a dejected manner, Ye Abin exhaled as if he found me pathetic. There was a hint of amusement mixed in.
“Then why were you filming the presentation video? The sunbae got angry because you might upload it anywhere.”
I stared at Ye Abin expressionlessly. That thug’s words echoed in my head, telling me not to whine about being wronged.
“…Everyone films the presentation videos and uploads them. I’ve never uploaded anything anywhere.”
In reality, just by searching on social media, you could find videos of Imperial High’s presentations.
“Oh, so what do you want me to do? You apologized and we agreed to let it go with just one hit, but you’re still feeling wronged that even I found out about it? After I went out of my way to look after you when you were alone… If you’re trying to score points with The Four by trying to look good to Moon Seoheon, just stop and act like you always did. Don’t go causing trouble.”
Ye Abin seemed to be trying to agitate me, but it wasn’t working well, and he wore an irritated expression. He was spouting words because I was dragging out the conversation, and I felt a chill run through my entire body.
If I had actually been the same age as these guys or a bit younger, I might have been flustered. But maybe because there was almost a ten-year age difference, even this behavior seemed laughable. It was an awkward situation, but the pattern was so obvious that I wouldn’t lose in this battle of wills.
And as expected, unless I had filmed the presentation video for commercial purposes, I had undoubtedly been falsely accused of secret filming. And perhaps even the claim that I had secretly filmed Moon Seoheon wasn’t true.
I was just about to become convinced that the problem I had been racking my brains over was nothing at all.
“What did you normally do with Moon Seoheon?”
If only it weren’t for that chilling voice I just heard.
