“Don’t try to outsmart me.”
“Nooo… I’m not doing anything.”
When I answered sullenly, Joo Unyoung lowered his head and tried to make eye contact with me, however he could.
‘Look at him, look at that cat-like face.’
“You’re lying.”
‘I’m going crazy. Why is this kid clinging to me like a leech? They’re going to squabble and make a mess of things themselves, so why bother me? They should worry about Go Yeol, not me.’
Jingi grumbled, slumped over his desk, and turned his head toward the window.
My back felt prickly—the sensation of being watched.
Being a supporting character in a romance novel was truly a miserable existence.
Jingi drew his own face as a shrimp stuck between four whales and sniffed.
‘I’ve ended up in such a bizarre, creepy novel.’
Everyone around me is gay.
‘Should I try to get a blind date? I should just live my life completely ignoring these guys’ business. Whether it’s Cupid or whatever, I’ll just let them handle it themselves.’
Just then, someone poked Jingi from the front.
When I lifted my head, a face as plain as tofu was poking me, saying, “Hey, take this,” and tossed a piece of paper at me.
At the very top of the paper, it read, ‘School Trip Group Formation.’
Joo Unyoung naturally reached out his hand.
His confident attitude, as if telling me to just stay still while he handled it, made me hand the paper over without a word.
Anyway, I didn’t have a single friend besides Joo Unyoung and Go Yeol.
I had no intention of being in a group with other kids, and there wasn’t anyone who would want to be in one with me, either.
Joo Unyoung wrote down our three names neatly.
His handwriting was clean, square, and very pretty. Jingi laid back down and groaned.
Thinking about the three of us—Baek Jaehui, Joo Unyoung, and me—hanging out together during the school trip gave me a headache.
It was my first school trip, and I wanted to enjoy a trip filled with friendship, but this felt like it was going to be a disaster.
Maybe these two would be openly flirting and showering each other with affection right in front of my eyes.
I didn’t know which guy Joo Unyoung would pick or how the plot would unfold, but it was crystal clear that Jingi, caught in the middle, would be the only one suffering.
‘It would be nice if Yeol were there.’
I distinctly remembered Go Yeol participating in the school trip in the original work.
Jingi stared hard at Go Yeol’s empty seat, trying to recall the school trip episode.
‘The four of us went. Right, why did the four of us go? The timing was the same, so the tournament must have still been happening.’
Tournament, school trip, four people.
As I recalled the scene where we were worrying about how to sleep in one room, I remembered Joo Unyoung taking out a pain relief patch.
And he sprayed it on Go Yeol’s ankle.
‘Why did he put it on? …Right.’
It finally dawned on me.
I had forgotten about it because it was just a throwaway line in the novel.
Go Yeol had only put his name down initially, but he ended up going on the school trip after spraining his ankle right before a match.
The guy, wrapped in a thick cast, couldn’t move around much.
It would have been better for his recovery if he hadn’t come to the school trip at all, but he insisted on participating.
So Joo Unyoung had spent the whole trip spraying pain relief patches for him, and Go Yeol, in his cast, had received that concern in silence.
I remembered reading that and cursing, “That clueless protagonist! He’s making my heart flutter even more!”
‘Then will he get hurt again this time?’
Jingi stared at the sky through the window with a sour expression, deciding to at least give him a heads-up to be careful with his ankle.
If it were a set fate, he would get hurt regardless, but there was no harm in being careful.
During the fifth period after lunch, Jingi ran frantically to the bathroom every single break.
I kept wondering why I had to go to such lengths.
But I couldn’t help it; I was terrified that Joo Unyoung, who would turn his head to look at me the moment the bell rang as if he were about to grill me with questions, would confront me.
Even though it was nothing special, a strange atmosphere was whispering that I needed to avoid his questions. I decided to follow my instincts.
But I would have to talk to him eventually.
‘They say it’s better to be hit with the whip early,’ so talking about it quickly and getting it over with was the best approach.
Even at my part-time job, if I made a mistake, I’d tell them immediately and take the scolding.
But I just couldn’t find the courage to do that with Joo Unyoung.
Maybe because I’d just had lunch, sleepiness came crashing down on me.
Since I’d rushed through my lunch alone, my stomach felt bloated, and the warm sunlight made my eyes half-close.
That was when a folded note flew over and landed with a thump.
Jingi straightened up in surprise and carefully unfolded the paper.
‘If you run away again, I’m really going to get angry.’
The tightly pressed writing seemed to show just how much he was holding back his anger…
‘I think I’ve only invited more anger by running away for no reason.
No, it’s really nothing. It’s Joo Unyoung’s fault for acting like it’s a big deal.
But then again, I’ve been acting like it’s a big deal by running away too. I’m scared of an eighteen-year-old kid.’
Jingi folded the note back to its original state and put it in his pocket.
My heart felt heavy, as if I’d shoved a rock inside.
‘What if the two of them actually end up together like this? Joo Hyeonje is the absolute worst.’
“Whew…”
I let out a sigh deep enough to sink into the earth, but the stuffiness in my chest remained.
It was embarrassing to say, “I didn’t even know I was being pickpocketed, and then I got help, so that’s why.”
And if I just said, “I helped someone,” he’d grill me for details.
If I lied, my conscience wouldn’t let me rest.
On top of that, Joo Unyoung was trying to interfere, telling me not to get close to that guy, and I was worried that might actually deepen Joo Hyeonje’s affection for him.
I wish I could see their affection levels like in a dating sim game.
While I was agonizing over this, tapping my textbook with the tip of my pen, the back door slid open quietly.
When I turned, Go Yeol walked in, bowing to the teacher.
The teacher just nodded without a word, and the lesson continued.
The blackboard was soon filled with white text again.
“You’re here?”
“Yeah.”
When I acknowledged him, Go Yeol accepted the greeting with a faint smile.
Just having the giant guy fill the seat next to me made Jingi feel at ease, as if I’d gained a massive shield.
It felt as if I had someone who would talk back if Joo Unyoung started acting up.
Of course, in reality, I knew the two of them were in a “some” stage and I had nobody on my side, but it just felt that way.
After the greeting, I suddenly thought of this coming weekend.
Go Yeol, who had been coming to my front door for two days straight, showering me with gifts.
At first, I wondered what kind of guy he was, but now I knew the reason for his behavior.
It meant, “Please look after me and Joo Unyoung.”
He must already like Joo Unyoung, and since Joo Unyoung is pretty, he must know that eyes are on him from everywhere.
It was obvious he wanted me to block that.
‘I’m good at that, Yeol. So, just this once, please protect me.’
Jingi sniffed and tried to focus on the class.
I already knew everything, but the fact that I’d overslept today was quite a shock, so I studied hard.
Then, my mind started wandering again.
Thinking, ‘I’ll just add this one last thing,’ I took out a notebook and wrote clearly at the end.
‘Our school trip group. It’s you, me, and Unyoung. I know you can’t go, but I just put your name down. That’s okay, right?’
I could just say it after class, but for some reason, chatting like this during class felt fun.
When I slid the notebook over, Go Yeol stared at it blankly for a moment, then took a pen from my pencil case and wrote.
‘I’m going too.’
Jingi was surprised.
Setting aside the fact that he was going on the school trip, it was the first time I’d seen a guy with such cute, adorable handwriting.
It was quite round and precious, exactly like the handwriting of an elementary school girl.
‘The tournament?’
‘I’m not going.’
‘Why?’
‘Wait, was this the week he sprained his ankle? Did he sprain it already?’
But the school trip was two weeks away.
After the exams ended.
It was an injury that could recover within two weeks.
Jingi frowned and looked at Go Yeol’s fingertips.
His thick fingers were writing each character beautifully with a pen that looked smaller than usual.
‘Because I’m afraid he’ll get stolen.’
The notebook came back. It was a sentence I couldn’t grasp the meaning of.
‘Does that mean if he goes to this tournament, he can’t go to the next one? No, what kind of penalty is that? I heard he’s a top prospect. Shouldn’t he be entering as many tournaments as possible to build experience?’
‘What?’
I asked back, but no reply came.
Go Yeol laid his head on the notebook, turned away from the window, and closed his eyes.
I could see his healthy, sun-tanned skin and his neatly shaped face.
‘Is the reason he’s going, unlike the original, to prevent him from being stolen?’
‘…Could it be that ‘being stolen’ means Joo Unyoung?’
Jingi stared blankly at the note.
And thought briefly.
‘…Our Yeol, you’ve grown up so much.’
Whoosh…
A hot, sweltering summer breeze brushed past my cheeks.
Even though it was blowing hard, it didn’t feel cool at all.
Jingi looked at Joo Unyoung, crushing the sand scattered on the asphalt with his feet.
Like a standoff between cowboys, the two stood at a distance.
If Baek Jaehui hadn’t been watching from afar while eating a sandwich, there would have been an intense, heavy tension in the air.
Joo Unyoung, leaning his back against a pillar next to the bench, spoke first.
“Choi Jingi.”
“…Uh-huh.”
The outcome was already decided.
Jingi stared at a pizza bread wrapper rolling by instead of dry leaves.
Baek Jaehui snatched it up and threw it into the trash can.
As if he’d forgotten all the chaos he’d caused in front of us over the weekend, he acted just like his usual self.
“Now, tell me.”
The foxy-faced boy, as if he didn’t even feel the heat, wore a thin cardigan over his summer uniform.
Jingi knew that was a weapon meant to intimidate him.
Jingi, who was weak to the heat, stood in the shade, while Joo Unyoung was bathing in the fading sunlight.
‘It’s frustrating. How can he capture the momentum like that? In a fight between animals, expanding one’s size is important.’
Jingi straightened his back and lifted his head.
“Choi Jingi’s legs are shaking.”
…While I was playing cowboy and indulging in reality-avoidance, a voice shattered the silence, making me tremble and collapse onto the bench.
Then Joo Unyoung walked over, sat on the opposite bench, and crossed his legs.
