.  “Ugh…”


  I groaned in defeat as I lay my head on my hands. This was not what I expected! I would not involve myself with Ban Yeo Ryung and the Four Heavenly Kings. I had been thinking about it for the last 3 years! However, I just went on a senior trip with them! What is going on!?

  As I buried my face into the pillow and moaned for a while, someone knocked on the door twice. Without my response, the door swung opened. It was Ban Yeo Ryung.

  I blinked my eyes in a daze. Ban Yeo Ryung then plodded to my bed and sat next to me.

  She asked, “What were you doing?”


  “Just lying down and thinking.”


  “Thinking about what?”


  She asked with her sparkling black eyes on me. One could hardly smile if I confessed that I was thinking about breaking up with these guys for the last 3 years. I gently grinned instead of uttering my voice to form a response.

  Normally, she would have added something more, but Yeo Ryung no longer asked me anything, just to show how exhausted she was. She turned around to switch off the light and lay down beside me. Before long, I could hear her breathing lightly.

  I blinked my eyes silently and stared at the darkness all around. As I looked aside, Ban Yeo Ryung’s face appeared in the dim light filtered through the window.

  Small high nose, slim face, and the doll-like long and rich lashes. Her face was stunning as always. Then a moment later, I softly closed my eyes and slept like the dead.

  * * *

  At the beginning of the semester as a freshman in middle school, I tried my best to escape the clutches of Ban Yeo Ryung.

  The only thing that changed in my real life was Ban Yeo Ryung and Ban Yeo Dan, who lived next door. Therefore, if I could separate myself from them, wouldn’t my life get back on the track?

  To be honest, I was quite captivated by Ban Yeo Dan at first. His bright white skin, purplish-black hair, and his obsidian-like eyes were a national treasure. What made him more attractive was his ascetic but sexy vibe.

  He was only fifteen but that vibe was everywhere even on his fingertips, so it was obvious that he would become mad attractive as he grew up. Every time I saw Ban Yeo Dan, I could hardly handle myself dribbling.

  No matter how stunning he was, Ban Yeo Dan’s interest was, however, only his sister Ban Yeo Ryung. Therefore, it was worthless for me to have a crush on him. Would I be winning his girlfriend position one day? No, never.

  If he ever dated anyone, the poor girl would just leave the position of being his girlfriend in less than a week. It’s all because he does not give a sh** to any girls except Ban Yeo Ryung.

  What I always noticed from Ban Yeo Dan’s eyes was that apathy. He sure was the brother of the female protagonist. I applauded him from within my mind whenever I saw him.

  Anyway, Ban Yeo Ryung or Ban Yeo Dan was not that attractive characters to me. I mean, Ban Yeo Ryung was pretty, smart, and nice. That was hard to deny. But what is so special about that?

  If we kept our friendship, I should pretend to know her; a person whose identity was foreign to me. I didn’t even remember our prior memories together! Why would I act friendly for her sake? It was such a tiresome thing to pull off every day.

  With these thoughts in mind, I tried to ignore Ban Yeo Ryung and made a large circle with my class.

  Well, to take a look at my class 1-4, there was a total of 34 students. 34 was not that big of a number for a class, but ridiculously, these 34 students were divided into a number of small groups. Relationships in the class were generally like that.

  Let’s say, girls would find at least someone to befriend. As the girls extended their circle by following this process, there would be about 10 people in the group eventually.

  Not only girls but also boys. Unlike girls, boys did not get personally close with others. They get along playing soccer or basketball a few times in the yard after class and after a while, they’re already friends.

  However, girls undergo more complicated ways to fit in or become a part of a group. They did not appear to be that divided, but people could tell anyway. To be more precise, I could explain their friendship as ‘those who get along after school.’


  The group Ban Yeo Ryung and I were in was more tenderhearted and had no interest in dressing up. I would call this group ‘the moderates’, from now on. Although, it did not mean anything special. There was this group led by an outstanding girl called Baek Yeo Min. This group liked to see magazines together and had a lot of interests in celebrities. I would call this group ‘the radicals’. Again, there was no special meaning behind it.

  It took me about two months to figure out the power game in our class. No, I would say it took about two months for these two groups to form.

  Now it was May, and the breeze blowing through the window delivered the fragrance pf various floral elements. Sometimes, cherry blossoms would fall on the desk. It was about 2 pm at Korean History class when I was doodling on my textbook.

  Our class had a policy of girls pairing up with girls and boys with boys; therefore, the class was not particularly a class where students of the opposite gender would mingle with one another.

  Jung Yoora, one of the girls in the radicals who sat beside me, was nodding off with her chin sitting on her palm. While looking at her polished nails, I noticed that the history teacher’s attention was on us, so I tapped her shoulder to wake her up.

  Then she looked at me with her drowsy eyes. As I pointed in front of the class with my chin, she nodded and slapped her face a few times. I grinned and looked out the window again.

  I turned my head when someone tapped my arm. It was Yoora. She had a sad expression on her countenance as she tapped the desk with the tip of her pencil. I slowly looked down to see the corner of her book and laughed at what I saw.

  “So sleepy T-T”


  I replied the same way besides the words she wrote.

  “Wish our teacher leaves the room so that I can sleep LOL”


  “LOL”


  We spoke through the paper. Yoo Chun Young, who sat behind me, looked at the two of us who were smiling to each other. He then turned his head back to the window. When his blue eyes were at me, I felt a chill in my chest.

  I stopped smiling and glanced back. I was thinking about what if our laughing noises annoyed him. He, however, had no response. As I took a closer look, there was a white earphone wire poking out of his jacket. Not to mention, instead of the Korean History textbook, he had crossword puzzles from the newspaper in front of him.

  I looked at Yoo Chun Young, who was seriously staring at the puzzle, frowning his blue-black brows with curiosity. A boy who was solving a puzzle at Korean History class with his hands on one ear to hide the earphone. I guess he was not a model student after all.

  As I lost my mind looking at him, we suddenly had eye contact again. I turned my head with surprise. Yoora grinned and tapped the paper with her nails. I giggled at what she wrote down.

  “Yoo Chun Young is so… so handsome.”


  “O… My heart…”


  “LOL Thought I’m having a heart attack.”


  “LOL Me, too”


  When I turned my head back, I saw Yoo Chun Young laying his head on the crossword puzzle deeply asleep.

  During the break, I went to the cafeteria and sat back on my seat but found out Ban Yeo Ryung was not coming back to class. What is going on?

  Then I saw her talking with Yoo Chun Young so friendly while coming back inside. My eyes were wide opened and thought of what this situation meant.

  It was not only me who got surprised. A few of our classmates, especially the girls, had their eyes wide opened at them and began to scowl. Honestly, no one could deny that they were jealous of Ban Yeo Ryung right now.

  Yoo Chun Young spoke with other boys and got along well with them since he kept silent but looked reliable during conversations. However, with girls, I was not sure since I only spoke a few words with him over the last two months. Our conversation often went like this:

  “Did you have the milk?”


  “Oh? Yeah.”


  “Okay.”


  It was later that I realized Yoo Chun Young wanted to add some chocolate powder in the leftover milk, and maybe, he preferred sweets. Wasn’t it so silly for our first conversation? However, I also found out later that it was only me who he asked about the milk.

  A moment after when I saw him drinking chocolate milk with a straw, I wondered why I was the only one he asked.

  However, I would not dare ask about it on his cold face, so the situation just ended like that.

  This happened about a month ago. Today, Yoo Chun Young and Ban Yeo Ryung were walking into the classroom looking so intimate. The attitudes of other girls were quite understandable.