.  Shaking my head strongly, I attempted to continue my remark.

  “Anyway, what I want to say is that Ruda was taken away by his mother probably because of us. Thus, can’t we do something for Ruda?”


  “Oh…”


  “Ruda didn’t have a chance to bid farewell to anyone. Our classmates are very upset about that, and so does Ruda…”


  I hung my head in sorrow.

  “Yi Ruda will be very upset too. He would have not said goodbye to the class maybe because he was placed under his mother’s strict surveillance since he had been running away from her.”


  “Then, what you’re saying is that…”


  Nodding my head slightly, I replied, “I wish we can help Ruda escape from his mother again. If he already left the country, there’s nothing we could do, but, at least, we can find whether he is here or abroad…”


  “I’m in.”


  Yeo Ryung replied as soon as I dropped those words. Raising my head that was hung down, I saw her determined will glittering in her eyes.

  Indeed, it was what I had expected. When Yeo Ryung knew that the reason why Yi Ruda had left the school in such a hurry was because of none other than us, I thought she would cooperate immediately based on her personality.

  Well, I was just an ordinary high school kid, and even though Yeo Ryung was a girl of versatile talents, she was also a high school kid who had a law-abiding spirit. Thus, things wouldn’t work out that well although we united efforts; however, she was notably smart, which would be helpful than me struggling alone.

  I then turned my head to look at Jooin sitting across us. Unlike Yeo Ryung, he didn’t have much respect for the law––sorry, Jooin–– but his hacking or tracking skills were so specialized that even the cops had given him credits for such abilities. He would, therefore, be a big help.

  However, something that I utterly unanticipated happened. Staring at us for a while, Jooin then shook his head in silence.

  His reaction was quite staggering. While I looked at Jooin in frustration, he spoke in a quiet voice.

  “I disagree, mama.”


  ‘Why?’ I wondered. Lowering his head, Jooin put his palms together and continued to speak with a composed attitude as if he felt concerned.

  “There’s something that you guys should know. Hyeong… I mean, I also feel sorry for Yi Ruda, but please understand that it’s not because of mama or Yeo Ryung that he got caught. That was about to happen someday from the very beginning.”


  Detaching his palms, Jooin then flung a question.

  “Don’t you remember? Every time he came to school, he jumped off from the window on the second floor when all the classes were over. He always seemed to be chased by someone.”


  I nodded while showing the mixed feelings on my face.

  “That’s true…”


  “Thus, to sum up, Yi Ruda had been chased by his mother because of his own problems. It was something that occurred before he met you guys. Even though mama and Yeo Ryung didn’t get kidnapped, he would have been caught by his mother one day. The two incidents, therefore, exist separately, get it?”


  He then raised his hand and pointed at his chest.

  “Let’s say, Yi Ruda had a time bomb, and it exploded right now. Although it got exploded because of us, we weren’t the people who installed that bomb on him. In this regard, how can we tell that everything is our fault? There’s no need to feel so guilty.”


  ‘A time bomb…’ I repeated his metaphor in my head.

  It was such a cold metaphor to use when Jooin had called Yi Ruda as hyeong back then. While I had that thought in mind, Jooin, who hesitated for a second, added, “And… we don’t need to volunteer to get involved in a dangerous situation.”


  Looking at Jooin saying like that with his eyes directed on somewhere else, I realized that he approached that conclusion while putting our safety at the center of his thoughts.

  Eek, I bit my lips. Not only Eun Jiho but also Jooin might have been shattered by our abduction. I had totally missed that fact. Even though Jooin was cool-headed, he was still our best friend.

  Besides, it was true that Yi Jenny’s side looked a few more times dangerous than Choi Yuri’s case. We, who just got out of Choi Yuri’s evil hand under Yi Ruda’s assistance, was planning to step inside Yi Jenny’s kingdom with our own feet. How hilarious would Jooin feel about that? In his point of view, he had no choice but to object to the plan.

  I slightly bit my lips again. Jooin always complied with our requests, so I never had thought he would refuse my suggestion. Well, there wasn’t any specific plans made for the suggestion, but should I revise the entire proposal?

  I then turned my head when I heard Ban Yeo Ryung shouting beside me.

  “But we can’t say that it isn’t our fault at all! We never know whether he would have gotten caught or not if he wasn’t involved in our situation.”


  Jooin’s brows then met in the middle. He replied, unusually, with a look of annoyance.

  “Yes, he would have been caught one day. We already knew how risky his situation was ever since he was in school.”


  “That’s just an assumption! So, how dare can we say we aren’t responsible? I’m gonna help him.”


  “You guys were kidnapped and got released just a few days ago, but now you’re telling me that you’re jumping in at the deep end again? Yeo Ryung, please think about us, PLEASE!”


  Listening to Jooin’s words that changed into a begging tone at the end of his sentence, Yeo Ryung and I both heaved a deep sigh.

  The reason why I only called Jooin among the kids who could be also helpful was that they would all object my suggestion. Since Jooin acted unexpectedly different sometimes and were always so open-minded, I looked forward to such things from him.

  Yeo Ryung and I quietly exchanged eye contact. If Jooin wouldn’t help us, we should just move on without him; however, we felt the lack of his amazing tracking skills. How far could only the two of us accomplish the goal?

  That was when an uninvited guest’s voice echoed cheerfully around the subdued air in the classroom.

  “About Ruda’s case, the two girls might be right?”


  Flickering my eyes for quite a while, I barely turned around.

  The sky-blue hair stood out so vividly against the red sunset over the window. His face looked so white that I felt too scary to stare at; his facial features were excessively well-defined, which reminded me of the face of a china doll. Thus, although he looked so gorgeous, I would better use the term ‘spiritless’ to describe his overall appearance.

  When the guy flaunted a smile at us, he looked close to the animated character inside a stop motion film. Soon, a soft voice came over from him like a water flow.

  “I’m talking about not to limit Ruda’s ability on your own. His capabilities are something needless to reveal in ordinary life. What you guys know about Ruda is just the tip of an iceberg.”


  Jooin’s eyes that were directed on the guy turned fierce. Having an unusually sharp look on his face but showing a grin, Jooin responded, “Who the hell are you to overhear our talk and even intervene?”


  The sky-blue hair then smiled elegantly and continued to speak.

  “I’m sorry for that, but I couldn’t help breaking into that conversation when my…”


  “When my…?”


  The guy’s following remark surprised me, which made me rattle down from the desk.

  “Ice Pri––”


  Before he dropped the whole word, I stopped his mouth and shouted with awkward laughter.

  “Haha, we’ll be… right back!”


  I quickly pulled the guy with sky-blue hair’s arm to go out to the hallway. Using the other hand, I disheveled my hair like crazy.

  Gosh! What should I do?!! Ever since he brought up that Ice Princess or whatever, I, who had been reading so many web novels, began to put the puzzles together in my head. I mean, I kind of anticipated something at the perfect timing of his sudden appearance, but I never thought that something I assumed would turn out to be correct!

  As soon as we stepped outside to the hallway, I asked him while holding his shoulder.

  “The Ice… or whatever you’re looking for in this school… That’s Ruda, right?”


  I, who couldn’t utter the word ‘Ice Princess’ from my mouth, just slurred the end of my sentence. Watching the guy nodding nonchalantly, I shouted to myself, ‘Jesus! Christ!’


  “Yeah, correct, but everyone told me Ruda dropped out and transferred to somewhere else before I came here. They said he didn’t even leave any proper contact information.”