.  Woo San said, “At first, it looked like he scraped through the fight quite well when pitting against someone, but after a few days, the whole gang members came over to beat him up. In the end, he’s in the hospital in a state of coma.”


  “…”


  “Because of that, Ban Hwee Hyul became disenchanted with all the school captain thing. Do you know that the whole school gang members of Oh Sung High School retired? Ban Hwee Hyul’s whereabouts are unknown after that. He might be hiding himself with the run-of-the-mill kids. I guess he’s planning to go through his brother’s daily life.”


  “Wow.”


  As the heavy silence hung among them, the one who broke the ice was Lisa. She covered her mouth with her eyes filled with tears. People feared her while saying that she was far from being feminine, but she was still a woman, who could be emotional and shed tears under circumstances.

  The other boys also shared mixed feelings.

  “Do not touch the innocent students. A growing number of kids are breaking this rule,” Gong Haru opened his mouth in a darkened face.

  Woo San showed a smile and said, “Actually, something similar happened in So Hyun High School, too.”


  “What?”


  “A girl, nothing to do with the fighter ranking, got pushed by a school gang at the crosswalk. A dump truck was running towards her and stopped right before it ran her over. She crawled out from the bottom of the truck.”


  “Oh, god. How could that happen?” Lisa turned pale, for she couldn’t control her surprise. A girl was almost run over by not just a regular truck but a dump truck… The other three boys turned stiff too.

  Gang Han said, “I get what you mean. Let’s show them what we got.”


  “That’s it.”


  “Cool, it’s time for them to learn some lessons. I’m in,” with that said, Gang Han leaned back in his chair.

  Lisa also assumed a determined attitude while saying, “Me, too,” and so did Gong Haru, “I’m in, too.”


  Gan Han pointed at Lisa with his chin as an agreement with what she said. When Woo San looked at Kim Pyung Bum, he spoke with a nod, “Of course, then I’m leaving.” He then pulled out his chair back and stood up. Everyone stared at Kim Pyung Bum with a dumbfounded expression.

  ‘Gosh, for what now…’ Kim Pyung Bum said with a frown, “The one I have to meet right now isn’t a human being, so he doesn’t have a sense of time. He’d probably be chewing off my dad’s shoes right now.”


  “O…… ok… bye, kiddo.”


  Lisa put on a sour face. Kim Pyung Bum nodded while waving his hand and strode out of the equipment room. Before he left, he turned back and yelled, “I’m gonna feed my Beedollee; you guys enjoy your fu*king love business.”


  While everyone stared at him widely with their jaws dropped, Kim Pyung Bum gave a double flip off and left the room. ‘Geez…’ As soon as they all gathered their senses, they clicked their tongues while looking at each other.

  “Maybe it’s truly sad to be single.”


  When Dae Lisa reacted while turning pale, Gong Haru bent his waist to the front and wrinkled his eyes in wonder.

  He asked, “Dude, but doesn’t Kim Pyung Bum look handsome in a way? He’s a good fighter, too, but why doesn’t he have any girlfriends? Girls might have asked him to go out many times. Is he just being picky and refusing all that?”


  The one who answered back to that question was Gang Han. He responded bluntly, as usual, with a straight face.

  “Nope, I heard him going nuts while being half passed out after seeing that girls would escape his gaze when their eyes met. He cried so hard that I threw my clothes away because it got wet from his tears.”


  Dae Lisa, listening in silence, shot out her words, “Oh, it also reminds me of something that I heard.”


  As she drew the boys’ attention, she continued while stammering in perplexity.

  “I mean… You know Suh Doh Gyum in Pyung Bum’s high school, AKA the mad dog. He was unbeatable in middle school, right? Everybody said that he’s the school captain; he’ll be in the top 5 of the nationwide ranking. However, soon as he met Pyung Bum, he started to go silent.”


  “So?” Woo San asked.

  “The kids say that Pyung Bum is keeping his rank because of Suh Doh Gyum. He tries to cut off those who try to pick a fight with Pyung Bum.”


  “…”


  “And Suh Doh Gyum also scowls at the girls who like Pyung Bum, so they all give up, eventually.”


  “…?”


  “…!”


  “…!!!”


  All three of them showed their surprises on their faces and soon became speechless. A moment after, Woo San murmured with his now pale face.

  “Then Kim Pyung Bum… will soon have a boyfriend.”


  “Yeah.”


  While Gang Han responded with a face as white as a sheet, Gong Haru made an apathetic reaction.

  “Our Pyung Bum’s wish of going out with someone will soon come true. I should write a congratulatory card.”


  Then they all began to get up from their seats. The meeting was over shortly after 10 minutes.

  Gong Haru moved his steps toward the door without looking back. Gang Han and Dae Lisa followed while walking together. Woo San watched their backs and flung a few words.

  “Hold on.”


  “…?”


  The three of them turned back. Woo San continued with a grin.

  “To show them what we got… The higher the ranking of the attempted murderer is, the stronger the impact he will get from us, right?”


  “We should make the leader set an example for the group.”


  Gong Haru responded nonchalantly. Woo San put a refreshing smile on his face while waving his hand to the kids. When they all left the room, he sat alone and took out his phone to write a text.

  To: My dearest adorable, cute brother

  We’re ready

  He moved his fingers to press the send button then had a twisted smile.

  Article 9. Boys and Girls Fight and Quarrel but Love Can Bud As Well

  At the break after the first class, Yi Ruda pulled me to a hidden space near the garbage incinerator between the freshmen building and the sophomore building.

  While I crouched at the most out-of-the-way spot in the space, Yi Ruda stuck her head out to glance around then walked toward me. She bent her knees in front of me and said, “The bell’s about to ring. Should we go back?”


  I was hesitant for a moment, but soon swept my knees and stood up.

  It will take over two minutes to go from Class 1-1 to 1-8 especially since Eun Jiho, Ban Yeo Ryung, and Eun Hyung always get ready before the class starts. Since they only 3 have minutes left until the next class, they would have already gone back to their class. With that being said, we only have 5 minutes to talk when they come over to our class during the 10-minute break.

  Did they try to come over to my class to talk for that short time? I began to wonder and checked my phone for any texts. Strangely, I received no messages. This weird silence made me even more anxious than having an overload of texts.

  Yi Ruda stretched out her hands naturally on her way up the stairs then held my arms for assistance. When I walked to the garbage incinerator, I almost had myself inside her arms, so she might have thought I couldn’t walk well.

  In fact, I felt my legs weakening, which made me lean towards her to walk back to our classroom. When I got back, fortunately, I didn’t see any colorful hair.

  As I fetched a sigh of relief, my eyes met with Shin Suh Hyun’s, who was looking at his desk from across the room. He blinked his light dark-brown eyes and spoke to me.

  “Hey, did you almost got hit by a car?”


  “Oh, everyone really knows that.”


  “Of course, you almost died. Did you go to the hospital?” Shin Suh Hyun asked back while tossing my words.

  Although I crawled out from the bottom of the truck and trembled like crazy, I went out of the situation with no injury. Only a few scratches on my face or on my palms remained. As soon as I laughed while saying that nothing was serious, I found his face turning dark. It was when he tried to continue his words.

  Pushing the front door wide open, Yoon Jung In strode toward me.

  He suddenly screamed, “Ham Donnie! Are you okay? I heard you got involved in a car accident!”


  His voice was so loud that kids, who were studying with their heads down, also turned back to look at us. Soon, those who sat around me asked the same questions.

  “Donnie, are you okay?”


  “Anywhere hurt?”


  “Have you been to the hospital?”


  I covered my face in confusion. Yi Ruda’s gaze on me was showing a sign of wonder, but I had no time to consider. Inside my head, many words came across as a response to the kids giving me kind regards; however, I could say none of them.

  My cheeks blushed even more that I covered my face desperately. Think about it. For the last 3 years, I never was apart from Ban Yeo Ryung and the Four Heavenly Kings in school for hours.

  I was not trying to confess that I had no friends except them, but all the attention was heading toward my fancy friends, not me…