SAV Chapter 35

 

“Why are we going to my house?”

 

“Why? What did you hear earlier? Gyubeom came so I don’t want to go home. What, you want me to really sleep rough?”

 

“Go somewhere else. Not home.”

 

“Why?”

 

“That… Mom and Dad aren’t getting along well lately, they’re in a cold war.”

 

Since I had no particular excuse, I threw the harmonious family into a pit of discord.

 

“Besides, the moment I get home, mom will beat me to death.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Are you asking because you don’t know? I skipped an academy and just now couldn’t even answer mom’s call.”

 

“That wasn’t your mom.”

 

“Whether it was or not, I can’t skip any more academy. So stop being stubborn and go home.”

 

“Ah, whatever. I don’t know, just shut up and follow me.”

 

I shook off Min-gyu hyung’s hand on my arm, wishing he would get shaken off too.

 

“What did you hear? I have to go to academy, bastard. And I’m going to honestly tell mom that today was because of you, so you better watch your back and don’t run into my mom.”

 

There was no way mom would mercilessly beat the back of a high-ranking congressman’s son. It was just talk. Anyway, for that reason, I left him with the choice of either waiting outside until academy ended or crawling back to his own house, then quickly headed to the academy.

 

…I honestly thought he wouldn’t follow if I said that.

 

I thought his threat about being able to barge into the academy was just intimidation to scare me. In case I ran away in the middle. But I seemed to have underestimated Min-gyu hyung.

 

He really followed me stride by stride into the academy.

 

Even when they pushed him away saying outside students weren’t allowed, he boldly followed in and cheekily smiled asking where the class was, and I couldn’t close my mouth because I’d never seen such a crazy bastard in my life.

 

“Are you really going to do this?”

 

I glared at Min-gyu hyung. Then he glared back and pushed away my shoulder that was blocking his path.

 

“What am I doing?”

 

“Are you asking because you don’t know?”

 

“Yeah, I’m asking because I don’t know. Is it here? This is obviously the class.”

 

“That’s not it.”

 

When he immediately guessed the classroom where I took classes and tried to go in, I hurriedly grabbed his shoulder. Then he said “As expected, it’s here” and tried to go in again. He seemed to find my distress quite amusing as the corners of his mouth wouldn’t come down.

 

“Eunseong?”

 

While I was physically struggling to prevent Min-gyu hyung from entering the class, someone called my name. When I turned around, the Korean instructor was standing there looking at me. Now that even the instructor caught us, he’d really leave now. I let out a sigh of relief.

 

“Teacher.”

 

“Why aren’t you going in and standing here?”

 

“Well, this bastard doesn’t even attend our academy…”

 

Before I could finish speaking, Min-gyu hyung’s gaze quickly scanned the textbook the instructor was holding.

 

“I caught Cha Eunseong trying to skip academy. I did well, right, Teacher Gyujin?”

 

After checking the name written on the textbook, Min-gyu hyung cheekily mentioned the instructor’s name and acted like a student taking his class.

 

I was speechless with absurdity.

 

“You can skip other classes, but you must attend Teacher Gyujin’s class. Let’s go in quickly.”

 

Min-gyu hyung linked arms and pulled me toward the classroom.

 

“What are you saying, Teacher, this bastard isn’t from our academy…”

 

“It’s 58 minutes. Go in quickly.”

 

Since it was a famous academy, there were quite a few students taking classes in one classroom. Even so, I thought there was no way he wouldn’t recognize the face of a student who had been taking his class for months, but for some reason, the instructor passed between us without saying anything. At that moment, I made eye contact with Min-gyu hyung, who was making a murder threat by drawing his thumb across his throat, telling me to continue what I was going to say. Since I already knew he was completely crazy, it wouldn’t be strange if he did more bizarre things here, so I shut my mouth tight.

 

“Real-time observation of Cha Eunseong who can’t follow the class because he has nothing in his head, that’ll be fucking interesting.”

 

I wanted to hit the back of Min-gyu hyung’s head, who was even whistling excitedly by himself, just once, really just once with all my strength.

 

“I’m sick of this, really.”

 

“No.”

 

“What’s no?”

 

“If you get sick of me too, there won’t be a single person who says I’m pretty.”

 

“Then don’t do things that make people sick of you. And I never thought you were pretty in the first place.”

 

“Ah, yes.”

 

Then the instructor’s voice flowed out from Class A.

 

“Ha, shit. In the end, I’m late for class because of you!”

 

I pushed away Min-gyu hyung who was blocking my way and practically ran into the classroom.

 

***

 

“So what this passage means is…”

 

The instructor who was diligently writing on the blackboard occasionally looked back. The guy who had been talking about how he must attend Teacher Gyujin’s class just a few minutes ago was now sprawled on his desk sleeping, so his gaze naturally went that way. For me, it was most comfortable when Min-gyu hyung shut up and slept.

 

If only he had fallen into deep sleep.

 

‘I’ll ditch that bastard and run as soon as class ends.’

 

As I was listening to class and writing down answers to wrong problems, my left cheek stung. Contrary to my hopes, he seemed to have woken up quickly. Even though I tried not to pay attention, his gaze was so piercing that it kept catching my peripheral vision. The unmoving stare was burdensome, so I consciously didn’t look at him. I was anxious about what extraordinary mischief he might be thinking up with those quietly settled eyes, so I couldn’t concentrate on the class.

 

“Hey.”

 

The guy who was lying with his arm as a pillow suddenly called me.

 

When I didn’t look, he kicked my chair hard with his foot.

 

It was enough noise to disturb students who were concentrating on class. Having no choice, I tore off a corner of my notebook and wrote what I wanted to say to him. The crumpled paper I threw landed right in Min-gyu hyung’s arm pillow. Min-gyu hyung, who was reading the crumpled paper, took out a pen from his bag. Then he wrote something below what I had thrown and threw it back to me the same way. More than anything, I was a bit surprised that there was a proper pen in his bag.

 

<Please just stay still>

 

<What will you do for me if I sleep?>

 

Ha, I sighed deeply and wrote back.

 

<What am I supposed to do for you?>

 

<Should I get up and dance?>

 

<Stop bullshitting and stay still>

 

<What will you do for me if I stay still?>

 

<What do you want?>

 

<Let me sleep at your house>

 

<That’s not happening>

 

<Stay with me until morning>

 

<No>

 

<There are only two choices. Pick between 1 or 2. I’ll be choosing music to dance to>

 

‘How did Cha Eunseong endure without transferring schools?’

 

If I get entangled with this bastard for just one more week, I’m seriously going to consider transferring. Number 2 seemed better between the two. When I made a V with my fingers, Min-gyu hyung laid his head back down on his arm.

 

After putting him to sleep like that and focusing on class again, how many minutes had passed?

 

It was so quiet that I wondered if he had really fallen asleep, so I glanced at the seat next to me. The back of the guy lying face down on his desk rose and fell evenly. I solved problems again, hoping he would stay like that without waking up until class ended and I could escape the classroom.

 

Concentrating and listening to class while solving problems, the class ended quickly.

 

With the thought of quickly escaping before Min-gyu hyung woke up, I rapidly stuffed the scattered textbooks into my bag. Meanwhile, Min-gyu hyung got up disheveled and looked this way with sleepy eyes. As he blinked and stretched his long, solid arms, I thought this was my chance and sprinted toward the back door. But I couldn’t even cross the threshold before getting grabbed by the back of my neck. I thought those muscles were just for show, but he was more agile than expected.

 

Min-gyu hyung rolled his eyes while choking my neck.

 

“Hyung, are you a delinquent?”

 

I strongly felt that my life had rapidly become twisted since the character Min-gyu hyung appeared.

 

I was dragged out of the academy district in a headlock from his muscular arm. What kind of exercise does he really do? A high schooler’s forearm was like an elephant’s leg. After being dragged for about 15 minutes, we arrived at a telephone pole in front of a quiet playground. There was an expensive bike with a foreign emblem parked there, and I could tell who the owner was without being told.

 

‘Rich delinquents with good connections ride bikes worth nearly a hundred million.’

 

While I was admiring it, Min-gyu hyung handed me a helmet that was hanging on the bike’s handlebars.

 

For a moment, my blood ran cold.

 

When I was young, I rode on the back seat of my grandfather’s scooter and rolled into a rice paddy. Since then, I hated anything with two wheels.

 

“Where are we going? Can’t we walk?”

 

“Stop talking nonsense and get on quickly.”

 

“I don’t feel like it.”

 

“The bastard who always whined to get a ride is backing out?”

 

His piercing gaze was sharp.

 

A guilty conscience needs no accuser. Even though there was no way he could know I wasn’t Cha Eunseong, I felt momentarily flustered. Based on Min-gyu hyung’s words, it seemed Cha Eunseong had wanted to ride his bike.

 

“What are you doing? Aren’t you getting on?”

 

Min-gyu hyung frowned and pointed to the back seat of his bike with his chin. There was only one way for me to escape here. I had to pick a time when Min-gyu hyung and Cha Eunseong were apart and attach a reason why I couldn’t ride.

 

Coincidentally, there was a perfectly fitting period.