.  I pressed my chest pounding nervously. Once I returned to class, the news was already spread in the classroom.

  “Woo San got attacked!”


  “Not only Suh Doh Gyum but also Woo San? Aren’t they both very strong? Although some had made a surprise attack on them, who on earth could actually defeat the two?”


  “Who the heck is the culprit? Who did such things to them?”


  “They still don’t know.”


  “Perhaps, aren’t the attacker the same person?”


  My heart dropped at the words that slipped from someone’s mouth. ‘The same person……’ I murmured in my thoughts. For some reason, I had this intuition that it might be right; the two top rankers might have been surprised attacked by the same person.

  Soon after, Yoon Jung In also returned to the classroom and gave me the same advice in which Eun Jiho said to me earlier.

  “I guess an unidentified assailant’s surprise attack is going in fad these days, so don’t consider it as something irrelevant to us. Try to avoid wandering around alone outside. Go home before it gets dark since it’s kind of chaotic out there due to the ranking battle thing.”


  Nodding thoughtlessly, I suddenly directed my eyes to Hwang Siwoo sitting in the corner of the classroom.

  Hunching his shoulders round, he just sat there quaking his legs with a pale face, which looked quite suspicious in every angle. ‘He’s kind of overreacting against the sudden attack news……’ I thought. However, Hwang Siwoo wouldn’t let me know what was going on even if I asked him questions since he wasn’t speaking to anyone lately.

  Just as I approached the window, Eun Jiho and Jooin walking across the schoolyard came into my view. While I stared at them worriedly, the two boys shortly got on the cab and disappeared from my sight.

  After all the classes were over, I stepped outside in the hallway and found Eun Hyung and Yeo Ryung waiting for me, just as Eun Jiho told me earlier. My eyes then widened at the unexpected person standing beside them.

  “Didn’t you say you have a filming schedule?” I asked.

  Yoo Chun Young slowly nodded with a look of bewilderment. As if he was concerned, Yoo Chun Young spoke, lowering his voice, “I wish I can ride you back home.”


  “What? No, it’s fine. We all know your busy.” I added, “That’s too much,” and tapped him on his back.

  Heaving a deep sigh, Yoo Chun Young barely bent his heavy steps, forbidding farewell to us. “See you tomorrow,” he uttered, then quickly walked away from us, holding his phone that just began to ring.

  While I watched him receding away while answering the call, my thoughts ran on Jooin out of the blue. Taking out my phone immediately, I called him.

  “Yes, mama,” answered Jooin right away. Thankfully, he didn’t sound that bad. When I saw him earlier in the hallway, he looked almost dying. Taking a big sigh of relief, I dropped a question.

  “Jooin, are you okay? How’s your cousin doing?”


  Without hesitation, he responded casually, “Oh, he’s just neatly injured, not as bad as I thought. It wasn’t on his head, but just one side of his arm and leg.”


  Oh, that’s good. Thank god…… I was almost about to reply that way but soon lifted my head while perceiving the truth in his words. Hey, how could getting hurt on the arm and leg just a neat or slight injury……?

  “Jooin, I don’t think it’s something slight…… Are you really okay?” I was worried since he smiled when he was mad; thus, I was afraid if he was behaving the same right now.

  However, he still responded cheerfully, “No, I didn’t say that it’s slight, but it’s neat. San hyeong is a righty; thankfully, he got hurt on his left arm. I feel sorry for what has happened on one side of his leg but although he’s a senior in high school, he isn’t preparing for studying PE or entertainment and sports in college, so I guess he’s okay for now. The doctor told us that his leg is broken so NEATLY that the bones will join back together without any problems. Besides, San hyeong is such a healthy person that his injured parts will get healed ASAP. I know that since he had fractures a couple of times before.”


  “Uh, yeah……” I replied bitterly, but on the other hand, I thought that it was thankful since, at least, Jooin seemed okay. However, I couldn’t deny that I was applying some weird standard here……

  That was when his bleak voice suddenly came over the phone.

  “But no matter how neatly his bone is broken and how healthy he is to quickly recover the injury, we must show them we’re willing to give as good as we get, right?”


  “Huh? Uh…… ye……ah……” Stammering my words, I rubbed my sweaty eyes.

  ‘Jooin, it’s the Hammurabi code that notes ‘an eye for an eye,’ but we’re now living in the twenty-first century Korea. Aren’t you getting confused here?’ While I pressed myself to leave those words unspoken, Jooin’s voice returned to his usual, refreshing tone.

  “Considering the facts that only three days are left until the ranking battle and San hyeong is a strong candidate for the winner position, it’s obvious who’s taking advantage of this incident. If we just watch the flow of the battle while taking some time, the answer will come out soon, but better if it comes out earlier.”


  “Right……”


  “Mama, I may not be in touch for a while, but always be careful. No matter where you go, be right next to Eun Hyung. Got it?”


  “Uh-huh, you also beware too……”


  Before I finished the sentence, the phone ended. Jooin, who always waited for me to hang up first, seemed to be much in anger.

  When I turned around, scratching my head, Eun Hyung and Yeo Ryung were staring at me from beside yet in concerns. Holding both hands together, Yeo Ryung asked urgently, “How is he? Is he severely injured?”


  “Hmm, though it isn’t that slight, Jooin says he’s NEATLY injured, one on his arm, the other on his leg.” Borrowing Jooin’s words, I responded, rolling my eyes in perplexity.

  Making a long face, Yeo Ryung dropped another question, ‘How can he say it’s a neat injury?’


  Exactly Yeo Ryung, I could never agree with you more. Showing an awkward smile, I continued calmly, “And…… Jooin seems to prepare for an act of bloody vengeance.”


  “Oh……”


  Both Yeo Ryung and Eun Hyung’s faces turned surprisingly composed. A sudden silence prevailed in between us. Amid the situation, I pulled them clumsily.

  “Should we…… go……?” I uttered. Moving my steps in the silent air, I sorted out the truth left unspoken within me.

  ‘I must not feel sorry already for the culprit who didn’t get caught yet, right? Besides, that person didn’t pay for his sin yet…… However, no matter who the culprit is, why am I thinking that he or she will suffer retaliation for about ten times more than what the person actually has done?’


  Rambling such thoughts in mind, I revealed a dark expression, then soon as I passed the school entrance, I turned my head.

  Looking at Eun Hyung, I asked in wonder, “But no matter how much I think, we don’t have to be careful, do we? Although everybody says to stay safe, I just see this situation as someone, who’s aiming for the nationwide Number one position, just clearing out the candidates before the actual ranking battle. In that case, we won’t be the target of the attack. Don’t you think so?”


  Even if we became the targets of the attack, the only thing I could come up with was getting kidnapped. With that thought in mind, I rubbed my chin.

  However, the close rankers around us were only Ban Hwee Hyul or Woo San; besides, Woo San was actually Jooin’s cousin, not someone close to us.

  Whenever something like this happened, the Four Heavenly Kings came forward and protected me in which I felt like a kid under overprotection sometimes. Even though Ban Yeo Ryung and I had been kidnapped before and it remained a big shock to them, I couldn’t resist such feelings.

  Nodding at my words, Eun Hyung made an eye gesture toward both sides of the school entrance.

  “Yeah, Donnie, you’re right. The reason why we’re urging this is that we’re concerned about something else rather than getting attacked by that person.”


  “What do you mean?”


  “We provoked the hive, so won’t the bees come out from it?”


  Grasping the meaning of his words, at last, I emitted a whoop and looked around.

  Indeed, the streets had a lot of students with threatening looks wandering around in groups. Some picked a fight to a couple of kids passing them, yelling, ‘What are you looking at?’ Watching that sight, I clicked my tongue.

  So that was the overall situation. Just as Eun Hyung said, their leaders got attacked, so the henchmen couldn’t help but rise up against the incidents, which was either to, instead, aim at the leader position or to revenge.