.  “Ah……” I uttered.

  Turning her head, Dae Lisa gave a sideways glance at Ban Hwee Hyul who was sitting at the end of the bench. She continued, “Due to that temper, I thought he wouldn’t be able to hide that long. You know he’s been so busy getting in trouble once a day, so I believed I would soon hear his news somewhere. However, there was really nothing about him…… Come on, I truly had no idea that he could hold his anger if he wore glasses.”


  “Haha……” I smiled awkwardly. Just by putting glasses on, a person could keep his temper in check. That was indeed nonsense even among the nationwide top-ranked fighters, who seemed like a group of main characters from other novels.

  At that moment, she kept on speaking, “The glasses you’ve been wearing…… are they your brother’s? After ‘the incident,’ everyone worried about you that you would……”


  “Dae Lisuk,” called Ban Hwee Hyul.

  Her shoulders then stiffened with a flinch. She could have said, “I’m Dae Lisa, as*hole,’ but instead, she bit her lips firmly and spoke in a low voice.

  “Sorry, I’ve been so indifferent.”


  “.……”


  “I have a brother too, so I am able to assume how you’ve been feeling. So sorry.”


  Speaking that way, Dae Lisa dropped her eyes and wiggled her fingers. I felt suffocated again at that sight.

  If it was in the past, I would have just tilted my head in wonder. However, ever since Ban Hwee Hyul revealed his identity, I couldn’t be unaware of what ‘the incident’ was and why Ban Hwee Hyul was wearing his brother’s glasses.

  There was also another person suffering in pain as much as Eun Hyung under the necessity of a novel. However, there was nothing I could do although I was aware of the things this time too. Turning my head away from them, I stealthily sat one seat apart from them.

  That was when Dae Lisa opened her mouth just in time.

  “Hey, you’ve heard nothing about the ranking battle news, right? You didn’t just hide from us, but you also went off the grid intentionally, huh?”


  “.……”


  Watching Ban Hwee Hyul not responding to her question, I realized that his silence was a yes.

  Dae Lisa heaved a sigh and added, “While you were gone, many things happened.”


  “I don’t want to hear,” replied Ban Hwee Hyul determinedly. The moment he tried to get up from the bench, there was a loud shriek. Both Ban Hwee Hyul and I turned to look in that direction while flinching in surprise.

  “Listen! You must also be aware of this, at least, this time. This is really, really something critical. Besides……!” Deeply bending herself down, Dae Lisa continued, “You and the incident are also related to this.”


  Opening his eyes wide, at last, Ban Hwee Hyul switched his gaze to her.

  Dae Lisa added while gently biting her lips, “You’ve been missing without handing over your nationwide Number one title to someone else; even Gong Haru graduated school this year. You know what that means, huh? Both Number one and two, the highest rankings are remaining vacant.”


  “So?” asked Ban Hwee Hyul bluntly.

  “Since the most significant, top two titles are missing, what is the use of the rest of the rankings? Thus, in this year’s ranking battle, all the rankings are being reset; we’re gonna start all over again, get it? That means someone else can take your Number one title!”


  Listening to her words in silence, I soon turned my head toward Ban Hwee Hyul. He was just showing an apathetic look on his face as if he was asking, ‘So what?’


  ‘Does he really have no lingering feels upon that title?’ Having that thought in mind, I diverted my gaze back onto Dae Lisa.

  She raised her eyes all of a sudden then retorted, “Just in case, what if someone like Hwang Siwoo, that bastard takes the Number one place?”


  “I don’t care,” replied Ban Hwee Hyul. It still sounded like he had no feelings left toward the title.

  Blinking swiftly, I looked up at him and thought, ‘I mean, a person like me, who’s such a run-of-the-mill, has no business with someone else becoming the nationwide Number one, but does he really don’t care if Hwang Siwoo takes the title? Isn’t that too much? Besides, Ban Hwee Hyul and Hwang Siwoo have some bad history between them, don’t they?’ I became tense.

  Having heard Ban Hwee Hyul’s stifling response, Dae Lisa shouted, “You don’t care?! Don’t you understand what will happen if kids like Hwang Siwoo become the nationwide Number one? What are you gonna do if those bastards move in a group with the rest of the rankers and sweep out other kids that they don’t like? In that case, we can’t help the situation either!”


  What? That was such a dreadful thing to hear.

  The moment I just quietly swallowed my breath with glaring eyes, Dae Lisa, who was looking back and forth between us, heaved a sigh and leaned her back against the bench.

  Her voice sounded slightly broken in spirits.

  “Up to this time, we were able to hold the handle and manage things, but that was available just because Gong Haru stepped into the breach and the Number one position was vacant. However, if some weirdo appears and leads the ranking battle into some random direction…… we can’t guarantee to stop that thing from taking place.”


  She then reached out her hand to Ban Hwee Hyul.

  “Why don’t you just come back before the ranking battle starts? Then we don’t have to welcome someone else as the nationwide Number one,” she uttered.

  There was a moment of silence. Feeling tense, I glanced at the two and tried to read their minds.

  For some reason, I just happened to intervene in these people; however, if this was a novel about Ban Hwee Hyul’s life story, I could get that the scene right now was one of the highlights of this book. There was some solemn beauty in the two as if they were a king secluding himself and a knight asking him to return.

  Stringing my nerves, I stared at Ban Hwee Hyul. He didn’t show any facial expression but just looked at Dae Lisa’s stretched out hand indifferently.

  After quite some time, he finally detached his lips.

  “I…… will not fight with other people anymore and stand above someone. That’s just making myself the same person as those bastards.”


  That was when the heavy air surrounding us disappeared. Turning my head, I gasped my breath; Dae Lisa lowered her head as if she gave up.

  While I watched her reacting that way, Ban Hwee Hyul snapped his fingers at me.

  ‘Is he doing that to me?’ Lifting my hand, I pointed at myself.

  Nodding, Ban Hwee Hyul asked, “Who else is there then?”


  ‘Come on, Dae Lisa is right beside me…… You’re still going too far also without the glasses,’ I replied in my thoughts. After a moment of hesitation, I pulled my backpack and got up from the bench.

  At that moment, Dae Lisa, who was sinking her head on her chest, suddenly raised her hand and began to search for something in her pocket. She then said, “Ban Hwee Hyul, let me ask you one thing in the last place.”


  Ban Hwee Hyul tilted his head.

  “This text message…… Is it then……?” Asking that way, she took out her phone.

  I was at a loss for words while looking at her phone screen. What the heck was that?

  [Sent by: Unknown

  Content:

  Sorry that I hit you.

  I’m regretting what I’ve done.

  Never let it happen again.

  I’ll get beaten too.]

  Sweeping back her long hair falling in front of her eyes, Dae Lisa asked, “Did you send this message then?”


  A response returned without hesitation.

  “Yeah, so?”


  “You’re totally insane.”


  Watching Dae Lisa blurting out in disgust, I also felt the same way this time.

  ‘Eh, hold on. This structure is very familiar……’ With that thought in mind, I began to interpret the text while feeling like I had met some very challenging reading comprehension questions based on a long passage in the mock exam.

  ‘Sorry that I hit you;’ clarify what you did wrong.

  ‘I’m regretting what I’ve done;’ let them know how much you regret it.

  ‘Never let it happen again;’ tell that you’ll never ever do the same thing again.

  ‘I’ll get beaten too;’ explain how you plan to behave afterward to prove that promise.

  GOSH! After I finished interpreting the text, I shoved my blushing face onto my hands. What should I do……?

  “That’s just literally the written apology guide I’ve told you……”


  Ban Hwee Hyul, didn’t you right the apology statement too frankly?

  Aside from that, the reason why he asked me those was to apologize to the kids he hit in the past? Was it because I said to him, ‘Then just apologize to those people instead of acting like this. Even if you expiate your wrong over here, those people won’t know it at all?’