My arms were stiff with tension. I had absolutely no idea who this guy was.
It seemed my body only retained “important” information—like who the class president was, or the fact that the Korean teacher has a tiny voice and requires careful listening even with a microphone.
But this guy, who occupied the seat next to me with such familiarity, drew a total blank.
It suggested the original Choi Jingi either didn’t consider him a friend or had ignored him so thoroughly he barely registered as a person.
Then, my phone buzzed with a message.
[Go Yeol: Come out for lunch]
I replied immediately.
[Where?]
[Go Yeol: School gate]
No rejection here. It was much better than eating with a nameless stranger or Joo Unyoung.
“I think I’m eating with Yeol. Do you two want to eat together?”
I didn’t hesitate. I looked up and asked directly.
Joo Unyoung pouted, looking a bit hurt. He tilted his head and grumbled.
“Just the two of you? Can’t I come too?”
“You?”
“Yeah, me. I mean, can’t the four of us just go together? Why eat separately?”
I bit the inside of my cheek, flustered.
‘Crap, what do I do? I want to run away, and he wants to tag along?’
But I had no excuse to refuse.
After a moment of agonizing, I messaged Go Yeol asking if two more could come.
Without even asking who, Yeol replied: [Sure].
As my expression soured slightly, Joo Unyoung, who had been watching like a hawk for an opening, jumped up.
“Go Yeol said it’s fine, right? Let’s go, hurry.”
“Huh? Oh…”
“Baek Jaehui, did you bring your phone and wallet?”
“Who carries a wallet these days? Oh, you’re an iPhone user, right? Use GPay, you punk.”
Jaehui… Ah, Baek Jaehui.
I let out a silent groan.
Baek Jaehui was the guy who acted like a thug despite being the Student Council President.
In the mid-to-late part of the novel, there was a scene where Baek Jaehui brought a gang of friends to beat the hell out of Choi Jingi.
He had even brought weapons, leaving Choi Jingi in despair while Baek Jaehui gloated.
He had then blackmailed Joo Unyoung, who felt there was no way out and told Choi Jingi she was giving up on him to protect him from further harm.
It was a standard “trial” trope; eventually, Choi Jingi got his revenge and rescued Unyoung.
“I use an iPhone and it’s inconvenient, but what can I do?”
“If you use a S-sung long enough, the iPhone becomes the inconvenient one. Just buy the new one coming out.”
“Maybe I should? But this one isn’t even broken yet.”
“Do people only change phones when they break? Whatever, let’s go. What are we eating?”
I frowned at the two pairs of eyes fixed on me. If I successfully distanced myself from Joo Unyoung, could I avoid being targeted by Baek Jaehui?
He didn’t actually seem like that bad of a guy right now.
“I don’t know either.”
“Let’s get meat. Meat.”
“Barbecue places aren’t open at this hour.”
Baek Jaehui stomped over and threw an arm around my neck, walking in a sort of rhythmic skip.
He seemed to have completely forgotten about the school cafeteria bulgogi, looking thrilled at the prospect of real meat.
I tried to push him off a few times, but he wouldn’t budge.
It was 12:00 PM and starting to get muggy, making me scowl, until Joo Unyoung grabbed Baek Jaehui’s shoulder. His hand brushed my cheek. It was cold.
“Jaehui, let go. Jingi is uncomfortable.”
“Huh? Hey, what’s the big deal…”
“I said let go.”
The atmosphere turned strangely heavy. Baek Jaehui looked at Joo Unyoung in disbelief, then snapped, “Fine, fine!” as he pulled his arm away. Only then did Joo Unyoung beam.
“Jingi, it was hot, wasn’t it? Let’s go.”
With his eyes crinkling into half-moons, Joo Unyoung pulled me along by the arm.
Behind us, I could hear Baek Jaehui grumbling about “what’s wrong with guys these days.”
“Ah, ugh!”
“Just a little more… relax your body.”
“Wait… I mean, ugh, hngh!”
My arms were trembling violently. I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling the pressure on my lower abdomen.
The original Choi Jingi would have cleared this easily. But current me had zero knack for using physical strength.
“Jingi, is it hard?”
“No… ugh, haaa…”
With my face beet red, I finally managed to pull myself up onto the wall. I never imagined a school wall would be this high.
Plus, the other guys had hopped over like snakes while I—the big, tall one—was struggling. I felt like dying of embarrassment.
“Jingi, jump this way. I’ll catch you.”
I supported myself with my arms and gently rubbed my squashed stomach.
I heard voices from below telling me to hurry down, but I didn’t have the mental capacity to process them.
“Haa, fuu… ah, that hurts.”
‘Damn, that seriously hurts.’
I swallowed the curses I wanted to scream. If I acted like my usual self and swore up a storm, these guys would realize Choi Jingi had turned weird. And “I got transmigrated into a novel” wouldn’t exactly pass as an excuse.
“Jingi.”
A pale hand reached up. It was Joo Unyoung, who had been calling my name. As I wavered and wobbled, Go Yeol suddenly reached out his thick arms and gripped both sides of my waist. I realized what he was about to do.
“Ye-Yeol.”
“What?”
“I’ll… I’ll just jump. You’ll hurt your arms.”
No matter how strong Go Yeol was, lifting a near-adult male seemed like a stretch. I hurriedly tried to push his hands away with mine.
But looking down, my breath caught. The wall was much higher than Go Yeol, who was nearly 190cm.
“I’ll do it myse—ack!”
Suddenly, the world spun. Or rather, the earth must have spun, because Go Yeol wouldn’t have just flipped me. I let out a short scream.
When I snapped my eyes open, I was in Go Yeol’s arms. He was blinking at me blankly as if nothing had happened. I felt dazed, like a kid who was crying his eyes out because he didn’t want a shot, only to be told, “It’s all over.”
“I can lift this much.”
“O-okay. Put me down.”
Feeling awkward and embarrassed, I squirmed, and Go Yeol gently set me down. The moment my feet hit the ground, I slapped my burning earlobes and marched ahead. I could feel Joo Unyoung’s gaze lingering on me pointedly.
“Jingi, not that way, come this way.”
“…”
I quickly turned and followed them. Before long, the four of us arrived at a Jajangmyeon place. Go Yeol walked in like a regular, and the owner greeted him warmly, leading us inside.
He seemed to know Go Yeol well, asking after his family while Yeol gave short, adequate answers. We ordered one Jjamppong for Joo Unyoung and three large Jajangmyeons for the rest of us. We also ordered a medium Tangsuyuk, but the owner brought out a large as a “service.”
“Jingi, say ‘ah’.”
“Huh?”
“Eat some Tangsuyuk too. And you’ve got sauce on your lip.”
Joo Unyoung smiled sweetly and wiped the corner of my mouth. I had been shoveling down the sweet noodles, but when I stared at the piece of fried pork he was thrusting at me, he made an “aaah” sound as if encouraging a child.
Feeling the eyes of Go Yeol and Baek Jaehui on me, I laughed awkwardly and took it from his chopsticks.
“Uh, thanks… You, uh, you eat too.”
“Hm? Me too? Should I say ‘ah’ too?”
“What?”
“I meant ‘eat it yourself’.”
I looked at Joo Unyoung, who was smiling shyly with his mouth slightly open, and fumbled to pick up a piece of Tangsuyuk. At that moment, Baek Jaehui slammed his water glass onto the table after taking a huge gulp.
“Hey! Damn it, what is wrong with you two? Joo Unyoung, you crazy bastard, are you missing hands or feet?”
“Jingi, hurry. Aaah.”
“Ugh… are you guys seriously dating?”
Baek Jaehui shuddered as if disgusted, making Joo Unyoung burst out laughing.
