# Chapter 84
Though I had reluctantly packed it, the food I’d intended to take and eat for myself vanished in an instant. Watching Moon Seoheon devour everything on the spot—he must have been hungry—left me with mixed feelings.
I felt somewhat proud seeing him eat well, but also a bit dazed. He didn’t stop there either, taking the other food items too. The ziplock bags I had been holding armfuls of were all gone from my hands now. After tasting each of my creations one by one, Moon Seoheon smiled with satisfaction.
“Were you hungry?”
“A little?”
Moon Seoheon nodded slightly and sucked the seasoning off his finger. Was he really hungry? I blinked and asked awkwardly.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
Even if he was hungry, to eat so casually like this… I was a bit worried because I knew how terrible my cooking skills were. But Moon Seoheon replied lightly, with an expression that seemed to say ‘why are you even asking?’ I felt embarrassed and rubbed the back of my neck.
But seeing his calm face somehow made me feel relieved. Confirming he was perfectly fine made my earlier concerns seem pointless, and reminded me of something I’d been curious about but hadn’t asked.
“Oh, where did you go earlier?”
“Just went for a run. I was sweating, so I splashed some water on myself too.”
“You went for a run? Where?”
“Down there, by the gym.”
Moon Seoheon turned his upper body at an angle and looked behind him. The place he pointed to with his eyes was the basketball court with grass laid in front of the gymnasium. Even though quite some time had passed since the bell rang, a few students who hadn’t gone home yet were bouncing basketballs and running around.
I was surprised and my eyes widened. Looking carefully at Moon Seoheon, I noticed his hair was damp. He seemed to have washed his face too, as he wiped his jaw with the back of his hand where moisture remained. No wonder he looked more radiant somehow.
“You know how to play basketball too?”
“I’m not great at it. Just a little.”
The way he shrugged his shoulders was as refreshing as his tone. He spoke as if it were true, but somehow it felt like modesty to me.
“Anyway, it seems like nothing happened, so that’s good.”
“Why? Were you worried?”
“Well… I couldn’t see you. Plus, I heard there was a fight in the backyard.”
My heart had dropped at those ominous stories about someone being dragged away. Since this place was already unpredictable enough to make me anxious, and I naturally thought they were talking about Moon Seoheon, I was even more shocked.
At my words, Moon Seoheon raised his eyebrows as if to say “is that so?” but didn’t seem particularly surprised. I felt awkward, as it seemed I was the only one taking it seriously.
“If we’re done here, let’s go now.”
Moon Seoheon nodded, carefully folded the emptied ziplock bags, and stuffed them into his bag. I silently watched as he put away what I and my group members had made. I had brought it to give to him, but I didn’t expect him to take everything. Not that I felt regretful—rather, it made me laugh.
After zipping up and adjusting his bag on his shoulder, Moon Seoheon signaled with his eyes that we should go. I moved closer to him and we began walking together as he turned his body.
Going home together—this is the first time. Though we come to school together every morning, so it shouldn’t feel special, but somehow it felt different.
Maybe because summer was approaching, the sunlight felt hotter. When I first came here, the sunset would have been visible around this time, but the sky hadn’t started changing colors yet. Seeing the clear sky without a single cloud and the sparkling green leaves made me feel languid.
Perfect weather for a stroll. As I was about to cover my mouth, feeling like I might yawn, suddenly someone grabbed my hand from beside me.
“Huh?”
I was so startled that the yawn disappeared back down my throat, and I looked to my left. Moon Seoheon, who had been looking somewhere else, pulled my hand toward himself. I was simply dragged along with the force. He stopped our path, changed direction, and because he was walking so fast it was almost running, I had no choice but to turn around with him.
“Hey, what are you doing? Aren’t we going home?”
“We are. Let’s just take a slight detour.”
Before I could even ask why, he walked so quickly that we instantly ended up behind the main building. As we were about to turn around the corner, I tensed up seeing colorful hair in the distance, but the pulling force was stronger.
Being helplessly dragged behind the building, I found myself unconsciously scanning the surroundings thoroughly. There were no students around, and we were far from the incinerator or storage areas, but given what I’d heard, I couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
Despite the mountain scenery in the back making the atmosphere far from gloomy, the shadow cast by the building lay across our path, making the temperature noticeably different.
Of course, there was a path leading to the main gate, so we could pass through this way, but I couldn’t understand why he chose this narrow alley instead of the wide-open field.
I clearly mentioned there had been a fight, but did he not think it was important? Or was he perhaps curious and wanted to take a look?
He’s not the type to be interested in such things, though. All sorts of thoughts were running through my mind, and I was just being dragged along without stopping until I noticed our pace slowing down and came to my senses.
“Wait a moment. Why are we going this way? I told you there was a fight near the storage area, didn’t I?”
I didn’t know if anyone was still there, but it would be best not to go anywhere near that place, not even with our shadows. Thinking he might be planning to jump straight into something dangerous, I decided to stop him.
“Why are we going through here when there’s a wider path? There’s not even any sunlight here.”
As I put strength into my legs, Moon Seoheon stopped abruptly. The hand that was already firmly holding mine tightened even more. I glanced at our joined hands, then looked up at Moon Seoheon. He slowly turned around from where he had been standing a step ahead of me.
Moon Seoheon avoided my gaze and looked behind us, then scanned our surroundings just like I had done. His attitude was as if he was checking whether someone was following us. I thought he might be curious about the fight, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Of course not—why would he be?
Then what is it? I looked behind us again before straightening my head. Moon Seoheon’s calm expression came into view.
“Is someone following us?”
“…No, it’s not that…”
Trailing off, he gently pulled me closer. As I backed away from the close proximity, he positioned himself next to me. Standing with our shoulders aligned, Moon Seoheon slowly continued what he’d left unsaid.
“I just wanted to walk alone with you. Quietly.”
“Huh?”
My eyes widened at his meaningful words. We were already walking alone together, so what did he mean? Besides, wasn’t that too embarrassing a thing to say between friends? Like when he changed seats before, he’s quite good at saying things that make me feel tingly.
Not wanting to make things awkward by bringing it up, I just laughed it off.
“Let’s go.”
“Sure.”
Moon Seoheon moved forward slowly. It seems he really wanted to walk quietly, so he hurriedly came to this deserted path. There were many students since it was time to go home, but I didn’t see anyone who might jump in or pick a fight with us. I wondered if it bothered him that much, but decided not to think too deeply about it.
He might be experiencing troublesome things that I don’t know about, so I decided to go along with his intentions. The air around the mountain was quite refreshing, which put me in a good mood.
“By the way, you left in the middle—don’t you need to contact anyone?”
“Who?”
“Well, Sunbae Junhee or the others?”
Even if they were watching a movie, they must have noticed him leaving in the middle. I was already a bit surprised they hadn’t followed him out immediately. But more than anything, I was concerned about the fact that he didn’t go back and just skipped out.
“Why would I contact them?”
“Well, you just left. Even if not those guys, won’t your teacher say something?”
“Ah.”
He let out a short exclamation as if he understood what I meant, then continued.
“The teacher doesn’t care what we do, so it’s fine. There were probably many others besides me who snuck out in the middle.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
As I nodded to indicate I understood, a ringtone sounded from somewhere. It was from Moon Seoheon’s pocket.
“Ah, just a moment.”
“Oh? Okay.”
Moon Seoheon let go of my hand, seemingly to answer the phone. Only then did I realize I’d been holding hands with this guy the whole time. My heart felt suddenly cold, and sweat seemed to seep into my palms. I felt a bit better after rubbing my palms together as if wiping them.
“Hello?”
In the meantime, after checking who was calling, he gave me a brief glance before quietly starting the conversation.
“I’m still at school, but I’m on my way home now.”
I couldn’t hear the other person’s voice clearly, but I focused momentarily on his soft voice floating through the air. Judging by his polite speech, he seemed to be talking to an adult. Or maybe it was Kwak Junhee? Since Junhee was the only one I could think of that he would use formal speech with.
“I don’t need dinner. I got something to eat… Yes, I’m fine.”
After continuing the conversation a bit longer, he soon hung up. Reflexively, I asked without thinking.
“Who was that?”
“My uncle.”
My footsteps stopped abruptly at the unexpected word. Uncle? That’s the first I’ve heard of this. Could he be using “uncle” in a general way rather than referring to a blood relative? I had no idea, so I cautiously asked.
“Uncle? Your uncle?”
“Yeah.”
“Just someone you call uncle?”
“No. My real uncle.”
You have an uncle? I almost blurted out in shock before covering my mouth. That was nearly a big mistake. Beyond the surprise, my head was pounding at the appearance of a character never mentioned in the animation.
I knew his parents weren’t around, so was he living with his uncle? Judging from their conversation checking on each other, my guess didn’t seem entirely wrong.
“Do you live with your uncle?”
At my question, Moon Seoheon raised his eyebrows. He didn’t look upset, but his expression suggested he didn’t understand the intent behind my question. Wondering if this was something Yoon Taeho already knew about, I was racking my brain when Moon Seoheon, who had stopped walking, took my hand again.
The contact jolted me back to awareness, and as I awkwardly smiled and tried to pull my hand away, he seemed to notice and held on more firmly.
“Wait a moment.”
“Why?”
“Let’s walk slowly.”
We’re already walking slowly enough—how much slower can we go? We had already left the alley, so I wondered why he was acting like this.
Thinking someone might really be following us, I scanned the surroundings and briefly glimpsed the main characters we had passed earlier.
