Chapter 52 …
The corners of her eyes, which usually curved pleasantly, snapped upward impatiently.
Vanessa sneered openly.
“Geum Hyojin, don’t you ever get tired? Do you like me that much?”
“Like you, my ass. Hey, do you think the whole world belongs to you?”
“At least I’m better than you.”
“Tch. Coming from a multicultural kid.”
Why is she suddenly throwing personal attacks?
Am I the only one who doesn’t understand what’s going on?
As if that wasn’t enough, one of the girls in the group piled on.
“Go back to your country. You’re disgusting.”
“Haha… wow, the more I listen to this…”
Vanessa strode past me and marched toward them. I hurried after her.
“Benny—Vanessa. Wait, if you go any further—”
“What’s this now? You even found yourself a new errand girl?”
Sharp gazes instantly turned toward me.
A girl I had never seen before muttered while looking at me,
“Wow. After all that, she still has friends.”
“Shut up.”
“Pretty privilege really is nice, huh? Even after stealing your friend’s boyfriend—”
“Watch what you say.”
“Watch it? Who the hell’s not watching it?”
Now the two of them were close enough to touch if they reached out.
I gave up trying to understand and just watched the tension carefully.
“Hey, you should be careful too.”
…If only she hadn’t dragged me into this.
“Uh… me?”
Me, suddenly?
The girl named Geum Hyojin gave a hollow smile and muttered,
“I’m giving you advice because I actually feel sorry for you. She’s a pro at stealing her friends’ boyfriends.”
“I don’t have a boyfriend to steal.”
“….”
“And if something like that really happens, then the guy’s just trash.”
“Do you think this is a joke right now?”
“It doesn’t seem like one… but do I have to take it seriously?”
If someone you just met insults your friend, don’t you usually take your friend’s side?
Apparently that was hard for them to process.
“Hey, I don’t think you understand the situation—do you even know what kind of person she is?”
“Not really. That’s why I’m planning to get to know her slowly.”
“….”
“I’m in the middle of getting to know her, so you don’t need to warn me.”
At this rate, something was really going to happen.
What if this turns into an accident here?
I lightly tugged on Vanessa’s hand.
Even if they needed to settle things, a deserted mountain trail was not the place.
“Benny, let’s just go first—”
“Hey, multicultural. Figures you’d be friends with someone like her.”
“….”
“Dragging around that pathetic loser who used to grovel in front of Lee Juho.”
The hand I was holding slowly slipped free.
Vanessa stepped in front of me protectively and growled sharply.
“Why are you talking shit about my friend now?”
“Friend, my ass.”
The forced curl of her lips crumpled instantly.
Geum Hyojin twisted her face and raised her voice.
“Hey, she’s your friend? No—do you even have real friends? Is she really your friend?!”
“Who my friend is isn’t your business—”
“Then what about me?”
“….”
“What about me? We—hey, you were the one who betrayed me first!”
If this were a comic, it would be a heart-pounding ‘Gasp, a hidden secret is revealed?!’ kind of line.
But right now I wasn’t a reader—I was half stuck in the middle of this fight—
“You looked down on me, treated me like I was nothing…!”
We were on a mountain.
And not even on the main trail anymore.
When did we come this far?
I had been so focused on following Vanessa that I hadn’t paid attention to our surroundings.
One wrong step and someone could roll down.
Apparently I was the only one worried about safety; they were still completely absorbed in fighting.
“Who was it that treated me like a servant first?”
“Guys, can we at least move somewhere safer before you keep fighting?”
“Get your facts straight. You were the one trying to use me.”
“Seriously, should I book you two a room or something?”
“You knew I liked him back then…!”
“Why are you still throwing a fit about that? What do you want me to do about it?!”
“You should’ve acted properly. Properly.”
A slender hand shoved Vanessa’s shoulder.
Yeah. Nobody’s listening…
I tried to pull Vanessa away, but the other side moved first.
“Piss off, bitch.”
“Wait, that’s dangerous—”
In the worst possible way—
Crack. A rotten tree branch snapped.
Vanessa slipped backward—
—and the hand flailing in the air grabbed my wrist.
“Aah!”
I tumbled down together with Vanessa, rolling as one.
The smell of damp grass, dirt, the spinning sky, and—
I’m… alive.
Thankfully we hadn’t rolled for long.
The slope was relatively gentle. But…
“Shit, what do we do?”
“I—I didn’t do anything…!”
I lifted my head, but I could only hear voices, not see them.
A trembling voice echoed faintly.
“They just fell on their own, right? Right? You guys saw it too, didn’t you?”
“Y-yeah! That’s right, Hyojin—you didn’t do anything.”
“Let’s go, let’s go.”
I couldn’t believe the ones who caused this were this shameless.
These punks seriously ran away?
The rustling presence completely disappeared.
I carefully shook the girl lying diagonally on top of me.
“Benny, did you hit your head?”
“N-no…”
“That’s good. Anywhere else hurt?”
“I think I’m oka—ah…!”
“Looks like your ankle. Don’t move for now. Ah—your phone?”
Completely smashed…
After helping Vanessa lean against a nearby tree, I stood up. Thankfully, my phone was fine.
“Sanha, Sanha—what about you? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. Hold on, I’ll make a call.”
The homeroom teacher went up with the other students, so the person still below should be…
—Hello?
“Yes, PE teacher. This is Yeon Sanha from Class 1.”
—Oh, Sanha. What’s wrong?
“There’s something I need to report. Vanessa and I just slipped.”
—…What? Slipped?
—You slipped?
A familiar voice overlapped from the other end of the call.
So they were together.
But there was no time for greetings. I quickly summarized the situation and gave the most important information.
“Right now we’re somewhere before the shelter—”
Ah. It cut off.
After Vanessa’s phone, now mine too. We were completely isolated—but I wasn’t too worried.
They’ll figure it out.
There was only one hiking route the students took, and once the mountain rescue team moved, we’d be found soon.
“…Sniff…”
Apparently Vanessa didn’t think the same.
Tears dripped down her scratched cheek. I brushed the dirt off my hands and tried to comfort her.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. We didn’t climb that far. We’ll get back safely.”
“What—what do we do…?”
“It’s still morning, so sunset’s far off. And hey, at least it wasn’t a cliff, right?”
I even forced a smile to reassure her, but the tears showed no sign of stopping.
“Does it hurt somewhere? Where? Your ankle earlier, right?”
“No, no, it’s not that…”
“Then what?”
“I’m sorry…”
“Huh?”
“I… because of me… I’m so, so sorry… what do I do…?”
Vanessa’s face was a mess.
Her pale cheeks were soaked with tears, and her lips were roughly bitten.
“Because of me… I grabbed you wrong… I…”
“It’s not your fault.”
“No. It is. It’s my fault. I grabbed you, and you got dragged in too…”
“It’s okay. Really.”
Not because she was hurt or scared—but because she felt guilty.
Even in a situation like this… honestly.
From her perspective, it made sense to worry, but still…
“Isn’t it actually a good thing you grabbed me?”
“…Why…?”
“What if it had been one of those girls instead? The vibe would’ve been terrible.”
I meant it as a joke to make her laugh, but the tears only grew bigger.
Guess that didn’t land.
Maybe adult humor really doesn’t work on teenagers.
I gave up trying to be funny and slowly pulled Vanessa into an embrace—tight enough that our chests pressed together.
“I’m seriously fine. You don’t have to apologize. The ones at fault are those girls from earlier, not you.”
“I… Sanha…”
“Stop crying. You’ll get dehydrated.”
As I gently patted her back, she finally said something other than an apology.
“You know, Sanha…”
“Yeah?”
“…Don’t you hate me?”
