.  What’s with that story in this context? While I showed a dumbfounded look on my face, the boy suddenly turned pale and shook his head like a fan.

  “No! Never!”


  In the end, he put his palms together and began to beg for mercy; however, Hwang Siwoo didn’t look like he would forgive him at all.

  “Let’s see what happens.”


  Scowling at the boy with glaring eyes, Hwang Siwoo retorted that way like a crazy person. The boy then covered his mouth and ran outside the gym alone.

  As soon as the disrupter disappeared, Hwang Siwoo and Kim Hye Woo’s acute tension surrounding Ban Hwee Hyul started back. As if he had recovered his confidence from defeating someone with just a few words, Hwang Siwoo perked the corners of his mouth upward to resemble a sneer again.

  “Aren’t you also getting lost?” he asked sarcastically.

  “I’m afraid you’re gonna kill someone.”


  Clenching his teeth, Kim Hye Woo replied like a roar. However, it didn’t seem to turn Hwang Siwoo on at all. Casting his eyes down, he just replied, ‘Really?’ then suddenly directed his eyes to us who were watching that sight.

  While we recoiled in fear, Hwang Siwoo raised his hand and said, “Okay, now I’m gonna count to ten. Everyone leaves the space except Ban Hwee Hyul and me. Next, I’m gonna close the door shut.”


  His way of speaking sounded so nonchalant that we weren’t able to quickly grasp what we had heard just now. While we stood riveted on the spot in a daze, Hwang Siwoo slightly tilted his head toward us.

  He uttered again, “Get it? I said, ten seconds. If you’re still here after that, I won’t be responsible for what’ll happen next.”


  His ultimatum-like words brought a heavier silence to the space. As I realized, at last, that Hwang Siwoo wasn’t just a mediocre punk, I bit my lips firmly.

  However, it had nothing to do with the actions I was about to take right now. With that thought in mind, I barely moved my stiff legs.

  Once I became the first to take a step forward, the other kids also glanced around in confusion as if they barely woke up from a dream. Amid the situation, I kneeled beside Ban Hwee Hyul, still lying down on the floor.

  As if he knew that I would come to them, Kim Hye Woo didn’t look surprised at all but just made me hold Ban Hwee Hyul’s arm that was put on his shoulder. It seemed like he was handing me out an object that he had been taking care of.

  “Hey, good to join us. He’s too tall to carry him back by myself, so grab him in that side,” said Kim Hye Woo.

  “Sure,” I replied without hesitation.

  Hwang Siwoo narrowed his eyes even more at my response. In the end, he finally started counting down ten seconds.

  “Ten, nine, eight……”


  Ignoring his cold, machine-like voice, I put Ban Hwee Hyul’s arm around my shoulders. That was all I did, but I moaned, ‘Argh, if I knew he was this much heavy, I should have come helped him earlier,’ I thought.

  While I regretted that way, Kim Hye Woo said to me, “Yeah, isn’t he so heavy? It’s no joke. One, two, and we’re gonna lift him up. Cool?”


  “Uh-huh,” I replied.

  Kim Hye Woo and I barely got up; however, we squatted on the floor within a few seconds. Was Ban Hwee Hyul too heavy? Did we have poor physical strengths? We finally lay face down with both hands on the floor in frustration.

  Hwang Siwoo’s voice kept flowing above us, “Five, four, three……”


  That was when Kim Hye Hill walked past Hwang Siwoo nonchalantly as if he was a human cuckoo clock. She came to a halt in front of us.

  “Need help?” she asked.

  We nodded without a second thought.

  Looking rosy, Kim Hye Woo spoke, “Yeah, hold that side with Ham Donnie and lift him up together that way. All we need is just the lowest level of your power that you use from hitting me in the morning. That will take us through.”


  “I’m tolerating this since it’s your sin, not Hwee Hyul’s. You must be thankful to him,” blurted out Kim Hye Hill, but all of a sudden, she lowered her head while hearing a small voice.

  As we also lowered our heads after her, the low voice slipped out from Ban Hwee Hyul’s mouth.

  “Just go……”


  “There’s a vital point at the back of the head,” insisted Kim Hye Woo as if he needed no further elaboration.

  Kim Hye Hill also added, “True, and you must also beware of your nape. That’s the part connected to the spinal cord.”


  “You really like to say, just leave, huh?”


  When I also dropped that question after the twins, Ban Hwee Hyul sunk his head on his chest as if there was no way to stop us. My eyes turned narrower while looking at him.

  In my perspective, Ban Hwee Hyul wasn’t being unable to put himself together but, in fact, just had no will to get up from the floor. Regardless of his intention, the Kim twins and I tried to bring Ban Hwee Hyul back to the class, so eventually, he couldn’t help but open his eyes again.

  We, of course, wouldn’t leave Ban Hwee Hyul that way at all and let Hwang Siwoo beat him as much as he liked.

  I urged him again, “Come on.”


  Once I spoke that way, Ban Hwee Hyul quietly raised his big body, at last, that didn’t move an inch while being firm and huge like a rock. The moment when we also lifted ourselves halfway from the floor falteringly, Hwang Siwoo concluded pronouncement.

  “One.”


  Like an angel of death, his voice sounded so cold that even I, who looked down upon Hwang Siwoo, felt a little scared. However, those feelings didn’t last long. Once I raised my head and glanced around, I heaved a sigh of relief.

  Not only the four of us but most of the kids also didn’t leave the space yet. Only about five people disappeared, but considering their usual characters, they didn’t run away but were gone to call the PE teacher.

  Clenching his fist upon that sight, Hwang Siwoo’s face blushed in rage. He then shouted at us with veins on his neck sticking out.

  “Hey, don’t you all get lost?! Does my word sound ridiculous?! Why are you letting the chance go when it’s given to you?!!!”


  Yelling like crazy, his overall appearance frightened us, for sure; still, none of us moved an inch from the spot.

  Lowering his head, Hwang Siwoo murmured in a low voice, “You all…… are dead meat today. I’m gonna kill you all……”


  Mumbling those words to himself, Hwang Siwoo looked like he was putting a curse at us.

  At that moment, Yoon Jung In and Lee Mina came into view. They were dusting off their messy hands as if they had finished cleaning up the storage facility just now. Once they found the overall situation, the two dashed toward us without a break.

  They shouted one after another, “What’s going on? Did you guys fight?”


  “Ban Hwee Hyul, why are you that way? What happened?”


  Since their sight was blocked, the two only saw Ban Hwee Hyul and us, at first; however, as soon as they found Hwang Siwoo standing proudly in the gym, they were able to grasp the situation.

  Stretching out his hand, Yoon Jung In stood in the way between Hwang Siwoo and us. He then uttered in a low voice, “Guys, bring Ban Hwee Hyul to the nurse’s office ASAP. If things get worse, would you take him to the hospital? I ask you.”


  “Hey, we were trying to do that before you appeared. Don’t snatch our idea.”


  Amid the situation, Kim Hye Woo replied naughtily that way and pushed himself up. Kim Hye Hill and I also supported Ban Hwee Hyul and bent our steps, which felt way easier than when he was unconscious.

  As the four of us walked side by side in a group, the kids surrounding us divided into half and let us move through them like the miracle of Moses.

  The look in their eyes wasn’t something like staring at an infectious case. Their glances were rather showing signs of sincere concerns, so I felt quite warm somehow. Among the crowds, there was also Jung Sae Yeon, looking at Ban Hwee Hyul with worried eyes.

  That was when another unexpected incident occurred and hindered us from leaving the gym.

  SLAM!!

  It was such a sharp and firm sound utterly different from when Ban Hwee Hyul got hit on the back of his head. I quickly turned my head.

  The moment when Yoon Jung In came into view, collapsing on the floor, my face turned pale. Lee Mina then shrieked like crazy.

  “You fu*king bastard!!!”