Chapter 15
The high-pitched voice ringing in my ears made me understand the situation right away.
‘So Myung Ajin finally spilled it.’
For bored high schoolers who were slowly adjusting to a new school and a new semester, this was the perfect entertainment.
Because of the crowd that had gathered, I couldn’t even see Jung Sumin.
Was it just my imagination, or were students from other classes mixed in too?
Just thinking about how noisy the classroom would be all day gave me a headache already.
“Morning.”
“Yeah.”
I sat down and greeted Yeon Jaehyun.
I glanced at his face, but with everything covered, I couldn’t read his expression at all.
So I decided to test him directly.
“What do you think?”
“About… what?”
“Jung Sumin. They’re saying he’s a White Killer trainee.”
“Ah…”
Yeon Jaehyun hesitated for a moment.
“I think it’s impressive.”
“What is?”
“Huh? Just… It’s hard to become a White Killer.”
Coming from someone who had been a White Killer since middle school, that sounded shameless.
‘Hard, my foot.’
I rested my chin lazily on my hand and looked at him.
“Not really. And Jung Sumin’s still just a trainee.”
“That’s true, but…”
“What’s so great about White Killers that everyone’s screaming about it this early in the morning? So loud.”
I stretched my arm out and flopped down on my desk.
“…Yeah.”
His answer above my head was both unexpected and exactly what I expected.
“……”
I decided to push a little further.
Seo Jinhyung’s recent behavior was making me too uneasy. I desperately needed a Plan B. And as always, I had nothing to lose.
I lifted my upper body from the desk. My darkened view brightened instantly. I leaned closer to Yeon Jaehyun.
“If you’re saying that, then I guess White Killers really aren’t a big deal. Sounds believable.”
“……”
“Want to meet after school?”
It was a subtle threat, hinting that I knew he was a White Killer.
But he didn’t answer. I couldn’t read anything from the way he looked down at me.
‘Was that too sudden? Ugh, I’m going crazy.’
As the silence dragged on, my throat went dry.
He looks suspicious. What if he becomes even more cautious and just refuses to deal with me at all?
If the Yeon Jaehyun route fails too, I’m in trouble.
‘I should just pretend I don’t know anything.’
I was about to pull away when Yeon Jaehyun grabbed my shoulder.
“…?”
“Wait for me at the back gate after school. And stop clinging to me.”
My body was pushed back slightly. I blinked blankly.
‘What was that?’
Did he just shove me away? No, that’s not the important part…
‘He’s not acting like a loser anymore!’
I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad, but at least he’d realized that his act didn’t work on me anymore.
My heart pounded.
Just getting a chance to talk to Yeon Jaehyun felt like a huge leap forward in my struggling survival plan.
‘If I don’t know whether it’s good or bad, I’ll just make it good.’
I made up my mind.
I would seize this opportunity and make sure the protagonist was firmly on my side.
* * *
“Ha… This is so damn annoying.”
“More than middle school?”
“Back then I could at least use basketball practice as an excuse and run off to the gym. Now there’s nowhere to run.”
Lunch break.
Instead of going to the cafeteria, Jung Sumin and I headed to a quiet corner of the backyard.
It was because of the leeches constantly swarming around him.
We sat on a low flowerbed and decided to have a simple lunch with food we bought from the convenience store.
Myung Ajin, the one who caused all this, was nowhere to be seen—probably enjoying herself somewhere.
“I thought you’d help me a bit, but you just pretended not to know.”
“How exactly was I supposed to help?”
I was dumbfounded.
I unwrapped my triangle kimbap and took a bite. Jung Sumin bent his large body and rested his head on my shoulder.
His hair tickled my neck, but I endured it.
“Aren’t you eating?”
“I’m too tired. I don’t even feel like swallowing.”
“Don’t complain about being hungry later. Eat now.”
The guy who bought three breads from the store had the nerve to lie like that.
Maybe he felt I was being cold. Jung Sumin let out a small whine.
“Ah, just let me stay like this for a bit. Just a bit.”
“Do whatever.”
My shoulder felt heavy, but after seeing how badly he’d been harassed all morning, I decided to be generous just for today.
“…Hey, Kim Seyun.”
“Yeah.”
“You okay these days?”
“Out of nowhere?”
I felt like I was going crazy because of Seo Jinhyung and Yeon Jaehyun, but I didn’t remember showing it.
I hadn’t even caught a cold recently.
As I thought about it, Jung Sumin snickered.
“Your quiz score. It was similar to mine.”
“Stop talking nonsense. I just made a mistake.”
And it wasn’t even that similar. There was a 20-point difference. I had no idea what he was on about.
I shrugged my shoulder where he was leaning.
Thud.
He bumped his head lightly, but only my shoulder hurt. Damn it.
“You’ve got something going on, don’t you?”
“No.”
“Hey, we said no secrets!”
“Ugh. Are you crazy?!”
Jung Sumin suddenly wrapped his arms around my waist and rubbed his forehead against my shoulder.
‘Has he finally lost it?’
It was absurd and disgusting.
With my right hand trapped against his chest, I punched his solid abdomen repeatedly. Instead of letting go, my fist just started to hurt.
Fortunately, he let go after a while.
His face was bright red under his messy hair.
‘Anyone would think I hugged him.’
Maybe he read my expression, because he quickly opened his mouth as if making excuses.
“No, it’s because it hurt. You hit me.”
“Yeah, sure.”
No wonder he didn’t scream. It must’ve hurt so much he couldn’t even make a sound. I felt satisfied for aiming at his weak spot.
“You hate it that much…?”
Jung Sumin looked sulky, as if he really thought I was hiding something.
‘Annoying bastard.’
I didn’t have many friends either, but he didn’t really have anyone close besides me. I guess he had a reason to feel upset.
‘Still, I can’t tell him about Seo Jinhyung. What if Jung Sumin dies?’
It was a valid fear.
He was already an association trainee, which probably didn’t please Seo Jinhyung much. If Seo Jinhyung found out that he knew about the White Killer serial plan? He’d obviously become the number one target.
“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you… There’s really nothing going on.”
“……”
Jung Sumin went quiet and started staring at me.
“What?”
“Forget it. Why would I even try talking to Kim Seyun… I’m the idiot.”
Glad he knew that. I finished my triangle kimbap, which I’d managed to protect despite his attack.
Jung Sumin gave up and started eating one of his breads.
* * *
After school, I walked up to the sedan waiting in front of the main gate.
I knocked on the passenger window, and it slowly rolled down.
“Sir, I’m going to hang out with a friend today. You can go ahead.”
“A friend?”
“!”
That wasn’t the driver’s voice.
Startled, I looked at the back seat and locked eyes with Seo Jinhyung.
‘What? What happened to the car he took this morning?’
I almost fainted from shock but forced myself to act calm.
“Oh, nothing going on today, I guess… I’m hanging out with a friend. Go on ahead.”
“Who?”
“Why do you care? Even if I tell you, you wouldn’t know them.”
At my slightly rebellious answer, Seo Jinhyung leaned his head against the window and tilted it lazily.
“Is that so…? Even if you tell me, I wouldn’t know?”
‘Why the hell am I so scared of that kind of behavior?’
Even I couldn’t understand the fear rising inside me.
I swallowed dryly and clenched my fist until it hurt. There were too many problems with just honestly saying Yeon Jaehyun’s name.
So I lied and named someone else.
“There’s this girl, Myung Ajin. We’re going to eat and then head home… You can tell Mom that.”
“Myung Ajin… Alright. Have fun. Don’t be too late.”
“As if.”
I turned sharply and quickly walked away.
When I glanced back, the car was already gone.
“…Phew.”
I should talk to Myung Ajin beforehand and match our stories.
What if Seo Jinhyung asks her?
It was unlikely, but better to prevent what I could.
‘It’s better to be a little annoyed than let him find out about Yeon Jaehyun.’
The back gate was much quieter than the main gate.
After looking around briefly, I spotted Yeon Jaehyun standing in the corner by the wall.
‘We made eye contact, right?’
With his glasses and bangs, I couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like he’d noticed me too.
I hurried over and stood in front of him. He silently looked down at me.
“……”
“……”
A brief silence passed.
“…So, are we talking here?”
“No.”
Yeon Jaehyun answered sharply, then turned around and started walking ahead without any explanation.
‘Ugh, what a jerk.’
The way he immediately acted like that after being exposed was so like him.
“Where are we going?”
“My house.”
“Far?”
“…Fifteen minutes.”
That was walkable.
His pace was so fast it annoyed me, but I didn’t want to provoke him unnecessarily, so I just followed quietly.
“……?”
He suddenly stopped. I almost bumped my face into his back.
When I looked up in confusion, he turned his head and looked at me.
“I live alone.”
“So?”
It was already mentioned in the original story, so I knew.
“……”
He stared down at me again. I wanted to kick his leg.
“Can we go already?”
I said irritably. Only then did he turn back and start walking again.
For some reason, his pace was slower than before, which made it easier for me to keep up.
