.  Yi Ruda, of course, used the word ‘pretty’ quite often especially to the girls in his class as a joke. He, however, seldom spoke it out seriously, from the bottom of his heart. Today, he found himself dropping that word quite smoothly.

  Putting his hand on his blushing cheek, he murmured, “That beverage…… did it have some alcohol in it?”


  Or else, he couldn’t be as giddy as a drunken man or feel excited immaturely like this. Tilting his head back, Yi Ruda looked at the full moon up in the sky. He then murmured, “Hope she gets back ASAP.”


  Now he would be able to say those words that he couldn’t earlier from feeling perplexed.

  Confronting Yoo Gun, who was still a frightening person to Yi Ruda, she said,

  “I will keep being friends with Ruda.”


  Yi Ruda wanted to thank her for responding such words to Yoo Gun so confidently.

  “I was glad to see you today.”


  He would also return those words to her who said the same thing to him.

  Yi Ruda lifted the back of his hand and swept down his lips. He had a lot of things that he wanted to say and had to say.

  The villain was not Yoo Gun but was Yi Ruda himself. Yoo Gun was a good hyeong, who was just concerned about his beloved little brother’s friend, whereas Yi Ruda a thug who wanted to make friends even by bringing others into dangerous things while hiding his identity.

  Ham Donnie, however, was on Yi Ruda’s side with good grace.

  Anyone could tell that he was bad and Ham Donnie was strange. Having those thoughts in mind, Yi Ruda said to himself with an aimless smile.

  ‘Was it the Good, the Bad, the Weird?’


  The name of the movie perfectly matched each person Yi Ruda was thinking just now.

  ‘Anyway, I don’t care,’ mumbled Yi Ruda, opening and closing his hand, ‘The weird, eventually, took the bad one’s side.’


  Yi Ruda, at last, came to a decision that he had postponed for a long time.

  “That’s why I have to give up.”


  It was just what Yoo Gun said earlier. The time had come to end this dangerous game. It was, at least, to stop Yi Jenny from stretching out her evil hand to people around Yi Ruda. Thus, he should quit the chase to prevent something bad happening to Ham Donnie.

  It would have been better if Ham Donnie just said something else at the spot such as ‘Okay, thanks for worrying about me,’ or ‘I’ll keep him at a distance……’


  That could have made Yi Ruda leave while having less lingering feelings.

  It was a bummer that she didn’t respond like that; however, if he heard those words, that would have also felt miserable at some point.

  Yi Ruda then burst into laughter, thinking, ‘Geez, when did I begin to expect such things to someone…… like warm words or goodwill……’


  He raised his hand and roughly disheveled his hair.

  “Gosh,” he muttered, “Anyway, it feels like even I’m getting weird too.”


  When he sensed something strange about Ham Donnie and their relationship, he should have just stopped. Yi Ruda had to give up when Ham Donnie was having tough times.

  He, however, couldn’t do so but just returned again and again when she directed her brown eyes on him……

  Before he knew, Yi Ruda was playing a fool in that silly game.

  He then opened his flip phone, which had no calls or texts received yet, and stared at the contacts. Along with a list of his classmates such as Yoon Jung In, Shin Suh Hyun, Kim Hye Hill, and Kim Hye Woo, other new names were added below.

  There was Kwon Eun Hyung’s number, whom he thought the least foolish among them, as well as Eun Jiho and Yoo Chun Young’s numbers given by Woo Jooin. Of course, Woo Jooin’s phone number was there too……

  His brows met in the middle. A moment after, he burst into a fit of giggles.

  Ha, haha……

  “Geez, he’s so quick-handed.”


  Who has said to save his name like this?

  Yi Ruda tried to edit the name ‘Little brother’ above Woo Jooin’s number but stopped to do so. Grabbing his phone tightly, he mumbled, ‘If I leave now, would I miss even this silly thing one day?’


  He felt like he already knew the answer, and therefore, his chest seemed to feel heavy and stuffy.

  “Ugh, shit. Never mind.”


  He shook his head to sweep off the complex thoughts. That was when he closed his flip phone with a slam.

  There was a vibration. The time was now 3:14 in the morning. Only one person would call him right now. Feeling so excited, Yi Ruda didn’t check the name on the screen but quickly took his phone next to his ear and said, ‘Hello.’


  An utterly unexpected voice came into his ears. Yi Ruda soon furrowed his forehead.

  [Yi Ruda! Is Ham Donnie there?]

  It was Eun Jiho.

  He had heard that Eun Jiho was better than him at controlling his feelings, but unlike his character, why was his voice trembling?

  Yi Ruda grimaced. He didn’t like Eun Jiho calling his name as soon as Yi Ruda answered the phone. It sounded like they were close friends.

  ‘Should I just tease him a little?’ Yi Ruda, however, suddenly noticed that something was too noisy around Eun Jiho. There were a lot of concerned voices coming and going here and there.

  Eun Jiho wasn’t a person who easily showed his emotions in such a public place like that. Lowering his voice in a flash, Yi Ruda replied, “No. I did want to ask you, where’s Donnie? Did you guys send her back home properly?”


  [Damn it! That’s what we aren’t sure about!]

  “What do you mean?”


  Yi Ruda’s voice sounded sharper.

  There was, again, another swearing words coming over the phone. The phone was then handed into someone else with a thud.

  [Hello?]

  The calm voice was from Kwon Eun Hyung.

  [We sent the girls back home by car, but now we found out that it wasn’t one of ours. Only registered vehicles are allowed, and somebody let it in, but we aren’t sure who it is.]

  “Shit, do you think that makes sense?”


  Yi Ruda hurled abuse at Eun Hyung involuntarily. As they were confronting a serious situation, Kwon Eun Hyung, on the other side of the phone, didn’t seem to get surprised at all. He then replied in a suppressed voice.

  [I think somebody has planned this. Still, I don’t understand.]

  “You don’t understand what?”


  [How can someone prepare such a meticulous plan and just kidnap a high school student? Isn’t it weird? The person could have abducted anyone in this place; however, this whole plan was to just kidnap Donnie and Yeo Ryung? That’s strange.]

  Ha……

  Yi Ruda heaved a deep sigh.

  How could he still be so rational in this situation? Yi Ruda was eager to make a sarcastic remark; however, what Kwon Eun Hyung just said made sense when thinking about it with a cool head and relieved mind.

  In a place where heirs and heiresses of mega-rich families are as many as the stars in the sky, why would someone choose and kidnap such run-of-the-mill kids? If the abduction was aiming at ransom, this plan was a total failure. If the whole plan turned wrong, there was a high possibility that the person would lose all the money and go straight into prison.

  Rubbing his chin, Yi Ruda put his brain to work.

  Mistake…… was it a mistake? How could these bold culprits, who had committed kidnapping in Hanwool Group’s party, make such a mistake?

  The chances of that were extremely low. Thus, abducting Ban Yeo Ryung and Ham Donnie would be their original intention. The crime was then committed out of resentment than a matter of money. But who, then?

  Before he furthered his thought to that point, there was a name flashing through Yi Ruda’s head.

  He then shouted, “What about Choi Yuri? Is Choi Yuri there?”


  [What?]

  A bewildered voice came over the phone. Soon several people talked at the same time.

  ‘What did he say? He asked if Choi Yuri is here……’


  A moment after, with another thud, the voice on the other side of the phone changed. The low and savage voice that came after belonged to Jooin.

  [No, she isn’t.]

  They also seemed to grasp the situation at last.

  Jesus, Yi Ruda smiled bitterly.

  When thinking about Choi Yuri’s abnormal obsession toward Eun Jiho, she might have not left the party yet since Eun Jiho was still there.

  Besides, Ham Donnie and Ban Yeo Ryung, the disturbers, were gone now, so Choi Yuri would have not left the spot at all.

  However, Woo Jooin said that she wasn’t there. Why? For what reason?

  Choi Yuri would then surely have something more important. If there was something significant than Eun Jiho to her, it would definitely be something relevant to Ham Donnie.