Chapter 8
I stood frozen, unable to say anything. Instead, I frantically wracked my brain for a way out of this situation.
Kwak Junhee was just smiling softly at my stiff expression. Though it looked bright and friendly to anyone else, to me it felt like the kind of smile that made me fear for my life. What is this? A polite declaration of war saying he’s going to kill me?
Realizing there was no solution no matter how much I thought about it, I stood there awkwardly and composed myself. Let’s just play dumb.
“Hello.”
I greeted him first. Kwak Junhee disliked impulsive people, but he was also accommodating to those who were polite.
“Hey there, hello.”
I bowed my head deeply, being as polite as possible, and fortunately, Kwak Junhee responded gently. He didn’t seem particularly angry. But knowing his generally kind personality, I remained on edge. You never know when he might snap.
I put on the most innocent expression I could muster and looked at Kwak Junhee. Seeing my harmless expression, he stroked his chin and asked.
“So, is it true?”
“Pardon?”
I had a pretty good idea what he was asking about. But with no subject in his question, I decided to play it safe and looked at Kwak Junhee with a ‘what do you mean?’ expression.
After staring at me blankly for a moment, he gave a small chuckle. My lips went dry, and I barely resisted the urge to swallow.
“I’m talking about the nasty rumors about Seoheon.”
My body instinctively flinched. Noticing this, Kwak Junhee’s eyes sparkled. I had no choice but to deliberately bow my head deeply. Sensing that I couldn’t use any tricks in this situation, I realized it was time to just grovel and decided to apologize first.
“I’m sorry.”
“Huh?”
Kwak Junhee’s eyes widened at my sudden bow and apology. Jo Youngmin, who’d been beside me, was already standing far away like he had nothing to do with me.
“The bad rumors about Seoheon.”
“So you’re saying it really was because of you?”
“…Yes.”
Would he be lenient since I answered honestly? Hopefully a punishment less severe than stripping away my two stars.
It was lucky that I’d run into Kwak Junhee of all people. If it had been Byeon Seungha, I’d already be sprawled in a corner of the hallway.
As I squeezed my eyes shut in anticipation of the impending disaster, Kwak Junhee looked at me for a moment, stroked his chin like he was thinking about something, and asked.
“Do you like Seoheon?”
I hesitated for a moment on how to respond. Saying no would contradict what I’d just said earlier, but saying yes might also land me in trouble.
“Yes.”
After that brief moment of deliberation, my answer was affirmative. At my response, I had the illusion that Kwak Junhee’s eyes gleamed. I quickly clarified to prevent any weird misunderstandings.
“I really like him as a friend.”
“Hmm?”
“Even from a classmate’s perspective, Seoheon is handsome, good at sports, and has a great personality.”
Kwak Junhee seemed to find something odd but decided to hear me out, nodding his head and prompting.
“And then?”
“So of course I can’t help but like him. I want to be good friends with him, but I’m not used to this sort of thing, so I think I screwed up. Seoheon is so kind… he’s still treating me nicely even though I did something wrong.”
“Hmm, so what do you want to do?”
“First, I want to apologize and be forgiven.”
Shit, what is this, a campaign speech? I had a moment of self-awareness. Yes, I did something wrong, but did I really have to go this far? It was a situation that made me want to curse, but I focused all my efforts on appearing genuinely remorseful.
“Really? Then let’s go apologize right now.”
“Pardon?”
“You said you wanted to apologize. Let’s go to Seoheon and speak honestly.”
What gives you the right to decide that? Hiding my bewilderment, I just stared at Kwak Junhee blankly as he grabbed my arm. We ended up linked arm-in-arm, and I could hear the students around us gasping. Ah, please! I don’t want to draw attention!
“Um… I’ll apologize on my own.”
“But isn’t it hard to do it alone?”
“That’s true, but I’m not mentally prepared yet…”
“What preparation do you need? Just speak honestly. Like you just did with me.”
Kwak Junhee smiled and said. No—if it were that simple, I would’ve resolved it already. Unable to tell if he was deliberately doing this or not, I couldn’t come up with any more excuses.
When I came to my senses, we were already in the classroom. The expressions of the students who saw us turned bizarre.
“Seoheon.”
“What’s up? You two coming together?”
Moon Seoheon, who’d been sitting quietly chatting with some other guys, looked back and forth between Kwak Junhee and me as we approached. Then, glancing at my arm linked with Kwak Junhee’s, he asked with a puzzled expression.
“This guy… um, I mean, Taeho here has something to say to you.”
Kwak Junhee paused mid-sentence, checked my nameplate, and then said this. The guys who’d been around Moon Seoheon were now keeping their distance.
Stop it, you bastard! I suppressed the curse that was about to escape and smiled awkwardly at Moon Seoheon. Moon Seoheon looked at me blankly and then assumed a posture like he was saying, ‘If you have something to say, go ahead.’ Damn it, do I really have to do this like this?
I unlinked our arms and looked at Kwak Junhee, who’d moved slightly away from me. Whether he was clueless or pretending to be, Kwak Junhee smiled warmly and mouthed ‘Go on,’ like he was urging me to speak quickly.
Finally, I turned my gaze back to Moon Seoheon. Moon Seoheon had his elbow on the desk, resting his chin on his hand. His posture gave off more of a seductive, languid impression than an arrogant one, which was quite something if you could call it that. I swallowed hard and slowly opened my mouth.
“Um, Seoheon.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.”
At my sudden apology, Moon Seoheon, not particularly surprised, blinked once and simply asked, “For what?”
“Well, you know.”
I kept watching Moon Seoheon while trying not to be conscious of the stares around us. Somehow, it felt like not only our class but students from other classes had gathered, but I wrote it off as an illusion and bowed my head slightly.
Well, whatever happens, happens. I had to apologize anyway. Even though Kwak Junhee had intervened unexpectedly, a crisis can also be an opportunity—if I handle this well, things will be easier from now on.
“About speaking carelessly about you. Actually, I wasn’t in my right mind at the time. I said such harsh things to you that I don’t even remember exactly what I said…”
I laid the groundwork first, in case he might ask what I’d said to him. Since I didn’t know in detail what words I’d actually used, I spoke continuously without even making eye contact.
“I was wrong. I shouldn’t have done that to you. I apologize for talking shit about you.”
After I delivered my apology, the surroundings went quiet. Wanting to escape this place quickly but finding it too silent, I had no choice but to raise my head slightly. That’s when I made eye contact with Moon Seoheon, who was just staring at me with his hands clasped, covering his mouth.
Feeling a chill down my spine from his calm gaze, I lowered my head again. Is this okay? It was hard to tell whether his reaction was good or bad, making it unclear what more to say. Then Moon Seoheon asked in a curious tone.
“Why are you suddenly apologizing?”
“Huh?”
“You didn’t seem sorry at all until just now. So why apologize now?”
I realized I needed to choose my words carefully here. Rather than simply saying I wanted to or that it was something I should’ve done, I needed to say something more persuasive.
Just then, my gaze crossed with Kwak Junhee’s, who was smiling softly at me. His eyes seemed to say, ‘Tell him everything, like you just told me.’ Somehow feeling reassured that it was okay to speak honestly, I bit my lip slightly.
“Because I want to get along well with you.”
Moon Seoheon’s eyes widened slightly at my words, and he showed an expression of incomprehension.
“Aren’t we already getting along well?”
Well, that’s just on the surface. Moon Seoheon—that guy knew damn well and was really… quite slick.
“That’s because you’re kind enough to be nice to me.”
“…”
So I decided to be slick too. Or rather, shameless might be more accurate.
“You’re incredibly handsome, good at sports, and have a great personality.”
So please accept my apology.
“So I just… was a little jealous that you got along well with other people. I got mad and took it out on you for no reason. I’m really sorry. I want to keep getting along well with you. That’s why I’m apologizing like this.”
I repeated the exact same words I’d said to Jo Youngmin. A high school student acting petty because he was jealous of his friend getting close to others. It seemed like a typical thing for that age, so I figured it would pass without issue.
I raised my lowered head to look at Moon Seoheon and was slightly surprised. Moon Seoheon looked like he hadn’t expected to hear such words, wearing a subtle expression I’d never seen before. It was so vivid that I was reminded once again that the person in front of me wasn’t just a character from a series.
“Seoheon?”
“Oh, right. I didn’t know that. Thanks for being honest.”
After responding like that, Moon Seoheon stood up and grabbed my shoulder. Does this… mean he accepts my apology?
“You’re really apologizing like this because you want to get along with me?”
“Yes.”
“Alright. Let’s keep getting along well, then.”
“Huh? Yeah.”
For the first time today, Moon Seoheon smiled brightly at me. He’d mostly been expressionless or giving slight smiles, so seeing him smile so radiantly for the first time was somewhat shocking for me, with no immunity to his face when confronted up close like this.
As I looked at him with dazed eyes, Kwak Junhee, who’d been quietly standing beside us, gave a short round of applause.
“That’s great, Seoheon. Now there won’t be any unnecessary rumors going around.”
I felt cold sweat running down my back as I smiled like I was relieved at his words.
“So, do you… accept my apology?”
“Yeah.”
“Great, thanks.”
I smiled broadly, like I was deeply moved. My lips felt like they were about to cramp from forcing the smile. Moon Seoheon also seemed to be in a good mood as he smiled softly.
Then I naturally glanced at the people he’d been talking with and the scattered students around us. The students who’d been quietly watching began whispering to each other.
Mostly, they were saying things like they hadn’t expected this from me, or praising Moon Seoheon’s character for accepting my apology, calling him a saint. I also occasionally heard comments about how I’d scored points with him.
The previously quiet classroom suddenly became noisy. Only then did I realize that I’d apologized like I was making a public confession in front of the entire class. How embarrassing, fuck.
Still, I was relieved to have cleared that hurdle. I tried to ignore the whispering guys while comforting myself.
“Your hand—I think it needs treatment?”
In the midst of catching my breath, Moon Seoheon lowered his hand from my shoulder and grabbed my right hand. He turned it palm-up to examine it and murmured.
“No, it’s fine. It doesn’t hurt that much.”
“What do you mean? There’s dried blood. It must be pretty sore.”
As I tried to pull my hand back saying it was fine, Kwak Junhee chimed in. Because of these two guys checking my hand again, I ended up going to the infirmary.
“It’s really fine! And class is about to start soon.”
“It should be okay since you’re going for treatment for an injury. Right?”
“Yeah. If you’re worried, we can tell the others before we go. I’ll come with you.”
It’s not like I injured my leg. Although the wound was pretty big, it wasn’t serious enough to need two people supporting me. I shook my head, not wanting to go, but Moon Seoheon said:
“Are you refusing because you feel bad, or was your desire to get along with me a lie?”
“No, it’s because I feel bad. I don’t want to be a burden.”
At my rushed response, Moon Seoheon said it was fine and led me to the infirmary. He even showed his thoughtful side by asking a group at the door to inform the teacher about us missing the next class. I could only watch helplessly as the students nodded and told us to be careful.
This is driving me insane.
