.  When Jung Sae Yeon took out the chair in front of me, Ban Hwee Hyul returned to his seat naturally. While I was watching the view of his back, Jung Sae Yeon leaned her head toward me all of a sudden and put her face close to mine.

  She whispered, “Donnie, that boy, Ban Hwee Hyul……”


  “Uh-huh.”


  “He looks different after the weekend. Is it just me who thinks that way?”


  “Oh, haha……” I smiled needlessly. Since Ban Hwee Hyul’s glasses weren’t repaired yet, he was wearing those that I bought him from the street vendor. There was a big difference in the lens prescriptions between the two glasses; thus, he might look, of course, different. Perhaps, his eyes would look about twice as bigger as those before.

  However, I pretended not to be aware of it and asked, “Isn’t it because he changed his glasses frame?”


  “Oh, really! That’s right!” she agreed, but after a second, Jung Sae Yeon tilted her head and murmured, ‘Nah, his glasses frame isn’t that different though.’


  Showing an awkward grin to her response, I soon widened my eyes upon her following words.

  “He looks kind of handsome like that……” said Jung Sae Yeon.

  I stammered, “W……hat??”


  “You know he’s the tallest in our class but has a well-balanced, proportional figure. Maybe he would look great as a model for men’s suits. Even our school uniform looks decent and sophisticated like formal attire, isn’t it?”


  “Ah, yeah……”


  Jung Sae Yeon continued, “Sometimes I see him walking while stretching his back in which he looks like a different person. Have you ever seen him like that, Donnie?”


  I nodded. Ever since I first saw him, his appearance was quite another level that made me wonder how could he hide such a face with just those glasses.

  Beside me, Jung Sae Yeon kept glancing in that direction and murmured, “Wow, come to think of it, his skin is so flawless. How can that happen?”


  Getting a little embarrassed, I lowered my head and whispered, “Sae Yeon, if you keep staring at him that way, he’ll notice your glance.”


  “Ah, no, I should leave then. Yikes, that isn’t why I came here!”


  When she suddenly increased her voice, I flinched in surprise. She spoke in a very excited tone.

  “Do you know the ranking battle is taking place this time?”


  Khoff Khak Khak! I slightly coughed. If I was eating something right now, I would have spitted it out immediately.

  While I covered my mouth and gently shook my head, she swung her hand in the air with a look of excitement. She added, “They say it’s gonna be held on a big scale this year! The nationwide Number one has been missing from a year ago; just in time, it’s been quite a while since the Number two has graduated school, so they say the entire ranking will be reset, and new people will be chosen for the positions.”


  If that was the case, I also heard it from Dae Lisa yesterday. While I nodded nonchalantly, Sae Yeon asked me, ‘You aren’t that surprised, huh? Did you already know about this?’ I scratched the back of my head.

  “It just happened……” I replied.

  She asked, “How? Do you know anyone in the ranking?”


  “Uh-huh……”


  I recalled my memories for a second.

  First, the one you just talked about, the missing nationwide Number one, was in our class…… though I could never tell that to anyone.

  Other than him, the only people I had seen in person were Dae Lisa and Woo San. And lastly……

  I slightly grimaced. As if she read my countenance, Jung Sae Yeon pounded the desk and urged me to respond.

  “Why? Ah, come on, who are they?”


  I replied, “I mean, there isn’t anyone I know…… It’s just that I heard other people talking about this while I was outside during the weekend. Probably they were a group of the rankers.”


  “Oh, I thought you had some other story……”


  Jung Sae Yeon sighed apathetically, which made me gently smile behind her.

  Last year, the bloody haired nationwide Number one appeared out of nowhere, made hamburgers out of Hwang Siwoo and his clique, and disappeared. I barely got to know who he was quite recently, but I couldn’t let Sae Yeon know about that.

  ‘Ah, I keep having more secrets that I can’t tell anyone. Where’s my ordinary school life heading to?’ I murmured in my thoughts.

  At that moment, Sae Yeon opened her mouth again. Her following words made me cough again which I barely stopped myself from doing it.

  “Above all, I’m curious whether the nationwide number One would show up or not this time! They say he’s been completely out of touch since last year, but if it’s the nationwide ranking battle, wouldn’t he appear? If he doesn’t show up, his ranking will be gone too.”


  After her remark, I kept coughing. Sae Yeon then listed up the names of the rankers she knew. Among them, there was Hwang Siwoo, Dae Lisa, whom I just recalled, and even Woo San.

  The actual impressions I had about them in real life flashed through my head. My brows slightly met in the middle. Those people were, of course, seemingly cool, but the problem was when they were not fighting……

  Meanwhile, the kids arrived at school and began to fill up the classroom by ones and twos. When half of the classroom was full of our classmates, Jung Sae Yeon left the spot to search for other classmates and talk about the rankers.

  The Kim twins, who came to school a little late than usual, sat down in front of and beside me. As soon as Kim Hye Hill took a seat, she slapped Kim Hye Woo on the back who was right in front of her.

  “Geez! I told you to stop playing video games yesterday because we have school today! Is it that difficult for you to distinguish the days of the week?” she shouted.

  Kim Hye Woo whined, “Ah, if that’s the case, the only day I can pull an all-nighter is just on Saturday, but isn’t Sunday also a weekend? Come on, give me a break.”


  Completely ignoring Kim Hye Woo’s grumble, Kim Hye Hill sent a word of greeting only to me.

  “Hello.”


  “Ah, hi,” I replied. Greeting her back, I had a hunch that the twins would say nothing to each other today. Ban Hwee Hyul wasn’t also that talkative; thus, the lunchtime will be quite a pain in the arse.

  At that moment, the classroom door opened. The teacher came in with the roll book in his hand.

  Calling the attendance, as usual, the teacher then said abruptly, “Oh, and the list of honors class and regular class for English and Math has come out today. I’ll put it here in the front, so don’t forget to check it out.”


  While the kids responded with a lack of stamina, the teacher continued, “As I mentioned before, those in honors class will stay in this classroom; the regular class will go to Class 2-7 and take the classes there. That’s all.”


  That was when someone asked, “Ah, teacher, but if the honors class starts with the first class and the regular class the second class, aren’t we the regular class? Why did they assign the classes that way?”


  “I have no idea,” said the teacher. He didn’t comfort us whining about it but just replied determinedly with a smile. Telling us to start the self-studying session, he left the classroom. As soon as the door closed, disrespectful words popped out from all quarters.

  “What the heck? Why is he so full of himself?”


  “Why is he talking that way?”


  Listening to those words, I tilted my head. In my perspective, he didn’t seem to change that much compared to the beginning of the semester. The public opinion toward our teacher, Mr. Noh Min Chan, was amicable at first; however, it was now reversed as if flipping one’s palm.

  “We can’t even take a nap during the break now.”


  Amid the kids grumbling that way, I stood up and walked toward the bulletin board. Just as expected, the Kim twins, Yoon Jung In, Lee Mina, and I were assigned to the honors class, but only Shin Suh Hyun belonged to the other class.

  Maybe because he was busy training as a student-athlete. I wished Yoon Jung In to not tease Shin Suh Hyun too harshly. Having those thoughts in mind, I smiled bitterly and returned to my seat.

  As if it was worthless to check the list, the twins were just sitting in their seats. I went there to deliver the result.

  “We should just stay here.”


  “Oh, sounds good. The first class is math just in time,” replied Kim Hye Woo. He quickly lied his face down on the desk. ‘Hey, wake me up later,’ he added.

  However, Kim Hye Hill turned a deaf ear to his request and just searched for something in her desk drawer. Watching that sight with a smile, I let out a small yawn.

  Kim Hye Hill put her math textbook on the desk. Flipping the pages, she asked, “Are you also sleepy?”


  “Uh-huh, I slept quite late…… yesterday,” I replied while rubbing my eyes. Being lost in some thoughts, I wasn’t able to sleep a wink the other night. The most concern that I wasted my time on was, of course, the things between Yeo Dan oppa and me.