.  When we all came out of Jooin’s house, it was snowing. The boys tried to bring Ban Yeo Ryung and me safely back to the subway, so they walked together with us while wearing hilarious outfits. When I gathered my senses, the white snow was gently falling from the coal-black sky.

  “… okay?”


  Someone’s voice then fished me out of my endlessly continuing thoughts. I, at last, opened my eyes wide and noticed that someone’s white fingertip was just above my forehead.

  The pale fingers that had cold air around as always were Yoo Chun Young’s.

  Since it happened on one summer day in the hot classroom, his long finger reached my forehead naturally, his big, pale, skinny hand with thick knuckles…


  Putting his finger on my forehead, Yoo Chun Young frowned.

  He said, “They said that your head was hit many times…’


  Excuse me? At that moment, the fondness I had toward him soon vanished. I replied while furrowing my brows.

  “My head was just hit a few times; would you please stop treating me like a disabled person?”


  “What did I do?”


  “You tried to bring me to the doctor when a car almost hit me.”


  ‘Aren’t you treating me like a vulnerable and weak person?’ I tried to finish my words like that.

  If his blue eyes didn’t shine brightly and gorgeously with a hint of sharpness within, I would have said that. Yoo Chun Young frowned while glaring at me with those irresistible blue eyes.

  At last, I stopped what I was trying to say and fell into thought. The boy before me then spoke while pouting.

  “Yeah, a dump truck almost hit you.”


  “I mean, that’s…”


  When he said that, I had gone speechless. ‘It happened quite a while ago, but how can he still remember that? Hmm…’ I frowned.

  Well, when I got to thinking about it, I realized that Yoo Chun Young’s words made sense and seemed to be correct.

  Perhaps I had a confused look on my face, but Yoo Chun Young, who stared at me for a while, finally broke the ice with a sigh.

  He then said to me, “You treat yourself too much like an iron man.”


  “Who? Me?”


  “But, you’re still getting hurt anyway.”


  With that said, Yoo Chun Young heaved a sigh. He then lightly pushed my forehead and took his fingers away from me. Stepping a few paces back, I rubbed my forehead and looked at him.

  ‘Is that all he can say to me after a while?’ I fixed my gaze at him with a frown. Of course, I knew that he was only expressing these words to me as a friend who knew me for such a long time; however, I somehow felt a little disappointed.

  ‘Aren’t my charms popping out whenever one saw me after quite a while? Something like… I look a little cute since you haven’t seen me for a week… No, that ain’t what I want!’


  Anyway, listening to Yoo Chung Young’s remark made me feel like an idiot.

  ‘Geez…’ That was when I complained to myself quietly.

  “Take a seat here, if you’re not leaving,” said Yoo Chun Young.

  “Take a seat?” I asked with a surprised gaze. He pointed at the seat beside him.

  Well, his action wasn’t that friendly since he could have just gently tapped the chair beside him or something; still, what he did was truly exceptional. Hesitating for a moment, I finally went closer to him and plunked down on the seat beside him.

  When I took a seat, I noticed that something felt weird. ‘I mean, there’s nothing strange about…’ I murmured while dropping my gaze.

  I didn’t have any remarkable things to do today, although it wouldn’t be much different if I stayed here. ‘Well, maybe he’s just bored too…’ That was when I kept some useless thoughts in my mind.

  Yoo Chun Young raised his hand and placed it on my head. He then slightly moved his hand to dishevel my hair.

  “Don’t you know that you drive me nuts sometimes?” Yoo Chun Young said with a sigh.

  ‘You’re saying those things again,’ I grimaced eventually. ‘Don’t I have any appealing qualities? Hmm…’ but now that I had thought about it, I really had to admit that I would sometimes drive others crazy, which was obviously one of my flaws.

  ‘But I do have other strengths too…’ I thought while knitting my brows, ‘There should be… no, of course, there is.’


  “…”


  ‘Hold on, don’t I have any charms? A run-of-the-mill appearance, grades, ability… Jesus!’ I sighed as hard as I could to find anything to argue with Yoo Chun Young’s remark.

  ‘Wait, no!’ A thought then flashed through my mind.

  While Yoo Chun Young stared at me in wonder, I opened my mouth with a smile.

  “Dude, I drive others crazy sometimes, but that isn’t a big deal.”


  “How so?”


  “Because I have you guys!” I answered back while pointing at Yoo Chun Young.

  He stared at me with wonder, which made him look like he had a question mark plastered on his face. Perhaps, he might be thinking that I might have hit my head the wrong way at some point, and it was now in a messy state.

  No, no… I waved my hand in a hurry and kept on my words.

  “I mean, I am sometimes driving others crazy with my stupidity, but you guys are so determined! Think about Ban Yeo Ryung. Except to me, she talks and behaves so straightforwardly and determinedly to Eun Jiho and you guys. Jooin and Eun Hyung… let’s exclude them, but Eun Jiho, who’s a swindler, acts so hard-nosed to strangers. While you…”


  “…”


  “You’re the most adamant person I know.”


  Yoo Chun Young looked speechless for a few seconds. It had been a long time since I had last seen that look on his face.

  Once we began to get closer, I would start acting unpredictably sometimes—for example, I would have a fit at the word ‘ranking’ or faint at the term ‘Four Heavenly Kings’—but Yoo Chun Young had this distinct look on his face. As we got closer to each other, I could barely see his face like that sometimes whenever he had his guard down.

  Oh, there was also another thing that came across my mind. Yoo Chun Young stared at me with a face of a person who forgot how to speak; however, I continued my words regardless.

  “Yeah, right. Do you remember that Eun Jiho cursed me?”


  “Huh?”


  “You know, he said that later when I started living alone, he said that a door-to-door salesman would definitely scam me at some point. Once the person came with an insurance contract and some free gifts, I’ll soon sign the paper and will be holding the gifts in my hands since I’m pathetically bad at refusing others’ requests.”


  “Oh…”


  As if he had finally recalled it, Yoo Chun Young nodded, but he still looked kind of blanked out.

  “But let’s say you’re right beside me at that time. You’ll then triple-attack the salesperson by saying, ‘We’re not buying, signing, and trusting it.’ So, isn’t it okay for me to be a little dumb and drive you nuts?’


  “Well…”


  Yoo Chun Young, who slightly furrowed his brows, spat out his words in a tone that sounded as if he was, simultaneously, dwelling on what he just said.

  “That means I should keep… staying beside you.”


  “Aren’t you?” I asked instinctively, but at the same time, I covered my mouth in surprise.

  Now that I had thought about it, I wasn’t sure about how long I would be staying in this world… but withdrawing what I just asked him was also a bit off too. Yoo Chun Young, who was fiercely quick-witted, would interrogate me about what I was thinking. It was the moment when I had those thoughts in mind.

  I drew in my breath, motionlessly.

  Under the sunlight pouring through the glass window, his quietly smiling eyes were on me with a warm glow.

  I knew these eyes, which was from those in the video.

  It looked like he couldn’t stand something anymore, but I wasn’t sure whether it was something pathetic, hilarious, or something else… What would that be to stain his eyes so colorfully and vibrantly like this?

  If possible, I’d give it all away if given a chance to ask him one question; however, when looking at those eyes, I could hardly open my mouth. No matter what I would say, I feared that my words would fade away at this moment.