.  Yoo Chun Young quickly followed Eun Jiho, who made a sudden swerve. Meanwhile, Ham Donnie was just turning around after finish greeting the unknown bastard. Eun Jiho blurted out to her, “Hey.”


  Ham Donnie turned to look at him and asked nonchalantly, “Huh?”


  ‘How can you say that way right now?’ Eun Jiho stopped pouting his lips then pointed at the bastard with his finger, whose name he didn’t know. He tossed a question, “Who did you just say hi to?”


  “Huh? What do you mean?” Her response then followed unconcernedly enraged Eun Jiho. “What’s so wrong about saying hi to a friend?”


  “How can you befriend someone who doesn’t even know your name properly?!” Eun Jiho couldn’t help but shout that way.

  * * *

  “I mean, they are so ridiculous.”


  After school, I was studying with Yeo Dan oppa in a café near our house as if it now had become a routine. Suddenly ceasing to move my pencil, I uttered that way.

  While Yeo Dan oppa was looking in this direction with his chin on his palm, I kept grumbling, “Hwee Hyul doesn’t even know my name properly, but how can I befriend someone……? That’s what they’ve said to me. How can they speak that way when they don’t even call my name even though they clearly know what it is? Besides, lately, they also told me to ignore them.”


  “Uh-huh,” Yeo Dan oppa nodded his head heavily.

  Tapping my workbook hysterically with my pencil, I continued, “Between a person, who made an honest mistake, and someone, who did it on purpose, isn’t the latter bad? But how could they talk like, ‘Why did you become friends with Hwee Hyul?’ You guys are sincerely a hundred times worse than him!”


  Yeo Dan oppa just nodded wordlessly or patted my head, as usual. I suddenly wondered how much I would miss these times, which I was spending with Yeo Dan oppa, when our fake relationship was over.

  I once heard about a research that studied a result of human contact lowering violence and stress. As if it wasn’t incorrect, whenever Yeo Dan oppa touched or patted my head, I could feel the rage surging up in me slowly descending.

  Thinking that this would one day come to a halt once our fake romance was over, I even felt sad. When his hand left my head, at last, I also had those lingering feelings rising within me. Staring at his hand with a regretful glance, I raised my head upon the sudden question.

  “Hwee Hyul…… are you talking about the kid in the parking lot before……?”


  “Oh.”


  ‘Right, now I come to think of it, Yeo Dan oppa was also there when I first encountered Ban Hwee Hyul.’ While I nodded with that thought in mind, Yeo Dan oppa added, “Did you guys get close?”


  “Well, I’d rather say that we got to know about each other by chance, and he seemed to be a nice kid. We decided to remain on good terms.”


  Responding that way, I suddenly realized that it had been the first time for Yeo Dan oppa to ask me that many questions. Now I had come to think of it, we had been living next-doors for years but never really asked something to each other. Resting my chin on my hand, I tilted my head.

  Why did I believe that we had known each other so well just because we spent a long time together? Every time I found something new about Yeo Dan oppa these days, I got surprised and became more curious about him.

  ‘Is he also feeling the same?’ Wondering for a moment, I pulled myself together at his stare and opened my mouth.

  “Ah, so that is……”


  He might be concerned if I told him about the story of being locked up in the storage room. I also wasn’t sure whether the happening took place because of oppa’s stalker or someone relevant to Ban Hwee Hyul; therefore, I paraphrased the story into something more appropriate in this situation.

  “It’s just that I had to take out something from somewhere high above me, but since I was short, he lent me a hand with stepping on his back. But, later I found out that he was a marked man by the upperclassmen, so no one in freshmen didn’t really speak with him. It was pathetic since he’s a good kid.”


  I wasn’t talking about something special; however, Yeo Dan oppa gazed at my face too intently as if he was taking an online class. Feeling slightly embarrassed, I scratched the back of my head and continued, “Ah, and……!” I shouted out of the blue, “He overflows with warmth!”


  “Warmth?”


  “Um, Hwee Hyul can’t memorize my name.”


  “.……”


  While Yeo Dan oppa stared at me as if he didn’t understand my remark, I scratched the back of my head again with a giggle. ‘That means, Hwee Hyul, of course, doesn’t have any interest in me.’ I was aware of that too.

  “I was suffering from my academic performance while being surrounded by the kids, who transcended human abilities. However, once I met Hwee Hyul, it’s so…… it felt so warm and humane,” I added while feeling a little awkward.

  What I just uttered was true. I was glad that not everyone in this world was like the characters in web novels, who fought every day with other students but kept the first place in school at the same time.

  “He’s being very helpful to increase my motivation to study.”


  After dropping those words, I felt like I was backbiting Ban Hwee Hyul against my will. I laughed clumsily while scratching the back of my head and read Yeo Dan oppa’s countenance. ‘What if he’s disappointed at me?’


  However, he reacted utterly unexpectedly. Pointing at the part, which he was explaining to me just until now, he uttered quietly, “So do I.”


  “Excuse me?”


  “I also help you to study.”


  Feeling dumbfounded, I observed his expression. For some reason, he seemed to be in a bad mood.

  I dwelled on what he just said to me. ‘So do I. I also help you to study.’ It sounded different from the way the Bans spoke; they always talked very straightforwardly.

  I stared at him blankly; however, he was just looking at the table between us wordlessly. In the end, I had to infer what he was trying to say by myself.

  ‘Oh, god. Why am I suddenly facing the question about understanding the mood of your partner, which is called the toughest question of the century? How can this happen without any notice?’


  I tried to put my brain to work for now. Did I say that the law of web novel should be applied only to the nationwide number 1? That should be also applied to the female main character’s oppa since both had different races.

  Wondering for a second, I quietly opened my mouth.

  “Yeo Dan oppa.”


  “Uh-huh,” he replied while nodding his head abruptly. I seemed to get used to having only my appearance embedded in his purple-black eyes. Looking up at those eyes, I asked, “Why are you feeling upset?”


  Just now, I mumbled about inferring his intention; however, I chose to throw a straightforward question in the end. That was because I was almost becoming Sherlock Holmes since Eun Jiho and Yoo Chun Young made my mind explode from guessing why they had been behaving ridiculously to me these days. However, that didn’t mean my brain was equivalent to that of Sherlock Holmes. Doing a lot of guesses and doing them well were completely different.

  Anyway, I decided to ask him honestly. It was from my thought that Yeo Dan oppa wouldn’t lie to me.

  With a frown, he replied, “Do I look upset?”


  “Uh-huh. I don’t know why, but that’s what it looks like……” While I responded to him without a second thought, Yeo Dan oppa knitted his forehead even more. With a moment of hesitation, I soon asked again, “Is it because you don’t have much time to study lately since you’ve been taking care of mine?”


  Time really flew. In my memories, he was only a sophomore in middle school when I first met him––of course, I was very young at that time too––but now he was a sophomore in high school. Besides, it was his second semester.

  ‘So yeah, as a college prep student, he might have some stress, which he wasn’t even aware of.’ With that thought in mind, I nodded my head while insisting that my guess was reasonable. However, his remark struck me hard.

  “I’ve usually studied less than I’ve been doing these days.”


  “Oh……”


  “Instead, I’m reviewing…… um…… yeah, I’m doing something called a ‘review’ while taking care of your subjects.”


  Talking about the term, ‘review,’ Yeo Dan oppa was even stammering, which he seldom did.