.  Then I heard someone grumbling behind me, “If this was what’s gonna happen, why did you call me out? The number of people doesn’t match. What are you gonna do about it?”


  Although he was complaining that way, Yeo Dan oppa’s friend didn’t look upset at all. Instead, he was even sending us a satisfied glance with a smirk while resting his chin on his palm. Slightly frowning, Yeo Dan oppa turned his head in that direction and replied, “Why don’t you play a double role?”


  “Wow, does the girl beside you also know that you are such a person like this?”


  ‘Nope, I had no idea. I’ve been living next door for four years, but I got to learn that now.’ While I answered back only to myself, Yeo Dan oppa’s friend pointed at Chun Dong Ho.

  “Dude, but you went too far. How could you do that to him as soon as you returned? Don’t you think it’s like bullying at school?”


  Yeo Dan oppa replied shortly, “This place isn’t school.”


  “Oh lord.”


  “I did it because he deserved it.”


  Once he spoke that way, Yeo Dan oppa turned his head to look at Sohn Se Young, who was sitting beside Ahn Ji Young. As if he committed a deadly crime, Sohn Se Young’s face turned pale. Yeo Dan oppa’s friend seemed to grasp the behind story at that sight. Clearing his throat, he made some nasal sounds.

  “Yeah, you might have had a reason to do such a thing though.”


  Yeo Dan oppa replied, “I’ll explain it to you later.”


  “Fine.”


  Watching Sohn Se Young’s face turning even more pale from across the table, I murmured that it was a well-earned punishment and studied the look on others’ faces.

  While Ahn Ji Young and Moon Sarah were staring worriedly in the direction where Chun Dong Ho headed to, Lee Mina slightly puckered her lips and was blowing a whistle. Pointing her finger at Yeo Dan oppa, she then placed both fists under her chin and shrugged her shoulders as if she felt excited. I gave a little giggle at her, who looked like a viewer watching a romantic scene in a TV drama.

  Yeo Dan oppa and I left the café, at last. The sight of his friend waving at us until the end disappeared over the café door.

  Once we jumped into the crowded streets of the weekend, I burst into laughter while bending myself forward. Putting his hand on my back, Yeo Dan oppa asked concernedly, “Are you feeling okay?”


  I nodded without hesitance. If he heard what Chun Dong Ho said to me, he would definitely worry about how I would be feeling. However, I replied while wiping out my lips, “Uh-huh, I think I’m totally fine. Look, I’m smiling.”


  Covering my mouth with the back of my hand again, I began to giggle. I couldn’t help thinking about what he just said.

  As if he felt embarrassed, Yeo Dan oppa slightly grimaced and uttered, “I heard something ridiculous, so I just copied him.”


  “Geez, oppa, aren’t you really a genius of improvisation?”


  Speaking that way with a peal of loud laughter, I suddenly came up with something. Now I had come to think of it, he was really a genius. I turned gloomy out of the blue. The workbooks I left on my desk from early in the morning flashed through my head.

  Heaving a sigh, I dropped my gaze at the ground. The gray high-heeled sandals, which I seldom wore but put on today for this group hangout, came into view. All the efforts I made and the things I had given up in order to join this event… They all became meaningless.

  Feeling something stinging on my forehead, I raised my head again and found Yeo Dan oppa staring at me worriedly.

  Yikes! Waving my hand in the air, I said, “I’m fine… it’s just…”


  With a nod, Yeo Dan oppa asked, “It’s just… what?”


  I tapped the ground with the toe of my sandal. Bringing both hands behind my back, I replied, “It’s just that… if this was supposed to happen, I wondered why I had dressed like this… I mean, I didn’t wear this way because of those kids, but I feel like I’ve wasted too much time.”


  “….”


  That was when I tried to say the next words.

  “Don’t think about it anymore.”


  “Yeah, I won’t.”


  When I pointed at the corners of my lips, which I still perked upwards to hint a smile, Yeo Dan oppa nodded his head and patted my head. Bending his steps, he drove a wedge into me as if he still felt concerned.

  “I’m serious. Don’t think about anything stupid.”


  “I won’t. I told you.”


  “Are you sure?”


  “Yes! Gosh, oppa, why are you like that ever since we’re in front of the bathroom?” Tapping my chest, I continued, “Oppa, I may seem like a clear glass bead, but I won’t break that easily.”


  He then tilted his head, saying, “No, you don’t look that way…”


  “… This is a song lyric, oppa.”


  “Oh…”


  We moved our steps in silence.

  I began to blame myself, who forgot that Yeo Dan oppa didn’t know well about trending songs. Who would call herself a clear glass bead in a sober mind? How would I have looked in his eyes? I wanted to smash my head on the wall.

  Meanwhile, the street we moved forward started to look familiar as the surroundings turned from commercial sites to residential areas.

  ‘Are we already here?’ Glancing around, I nodded my head. Since we usually walked together while heading back home, we were naturally returning to our place although none of us announced it to do so.

  That was when we were walking pass by the convenience store near our apartment. Yeo Dan oppa, who remained silent until now that he made me feel uneasy, suddenly uttered, “Hold on for a second here.”


  “Huh?”


  Since I had encountered bullies in the alley so many times before––half of them were because of Yeo Ryung though––Yeo Dan oppa didn’t try to leave me alone outside. However, he was about to do the opposite right now.

  Watching him quickly disappear into the convenience store, I wondered why he was suddenly behaving that way, then I slowly leaned on the wall in the alley.

  It seemed like an eternity while standing in the street alone. If the weather was cold or hot, I wouldn’t feel this much bored and slow. Touching my phone for quite a while, I checked the time out of the blue.

  “What time is it now?”


  ‘Oh, thank goodness,’ I uttered like a sigh. I only wasted less than two hours in the group hangout. ‘Well, since I only had some short conversations and something to drink,’ I murmured.

  Once I returned home, I would change my clothes immediately. Next, I would take the blouse for dry-cleaning in the laundromat then finish studying, which I had left behind until now. If I study until ten o’clock in the night, I would be able to complete a few pages although it’s a little below my goal for today.

  Putting the phone into my pocket again, I rubbed my forehead and murmured, “Yeo Dan oppa told me not to think about something stupid…” However, once I became alone, I couldn’t help recalling the words I had heard earlier waving into me.

  Dithering for a moment, I soon sat down and crossed my legs while leaning on the dirty wall.

  “I really was so fortunate.”


  It seemed that I was living quite a spectacular life than others while spending my youth with the characters in web novels; however, maybe it was not. Instead, I might have been grown in a very sheltered environment since most of the characters in web novels clearly knew what they liked and disliked.

  Once again, I came to realize the sincerity and interest the Four Heavenly Kings and Ban Yeo Ryung showed and had in me were so precious and rare. It was such great luck that I was permitted to stay beside them.

  I always had the fear of those kids suddenly vanishing away or forgetting me; however, I never thought something like ‘What if they actually hate me but aren’t telling me about it?’ That was because I didn’t have to be suspicious about it.

  Their existence was like an umbrella for me. It was like a cocoon that was protecting me from getting hurt from things in the world.

  And today, it was my first time to try widening my world while escaping from Ban Yeo Ryung and the Four Heavenly Kings. ‘How was the outcome?’ Asking myself, I could only smile bitterly.