.
The day that I declared those words was also a hot summer day. Yoo Chun Young, who was staring at me nonchalantly in our living room, suddenly detached his lips.
“Then, let’s do it together.”
“Huh?”
‘Why would you do that? Aren’t you busy these days?’ No matter what I thought, Yoo Chun Young, who responded like that, ignored my gaze full of wonder and diverted his eyes onto Eun Hyung.
“What about you?” he asked.
“I’m fine, I mean, good for me. What do you think, Donnie?”
With that answer, Eun Hyung looked at me with his usual, generous grin, which made me hardly say, ‘No,’ to him at all. ‘Oh, lord… but isn’t this…’ I wriggled my hands that were awkwardly stretched out, but soon hid them behind my back.
Moving my eyeballs in perplexity, I perspired copiously. ‘Come on, isn’t this a little odd? Where on earth in the web novels do the Four Heavenly Kings devote themselves to study in the library during the break?’
You guys should… you know, get a fancy motorcycle and enjoy the coastal drive… or throw a crazy party, book luxurious vacation rentals, and do something like that? Isn’t hitting the library too run-of-the-mill or modest for such characters like you guys?
That was when I rambled those thoughts in mind without dropping them out of my mouth. Jooin, who had a swiveling smile, asked Eun Jiho.
“Sounds interesting! Jiho, what about you? Are you also traveling abroad this time?”
“Oh…”
As if he just came across the fact, Eun Jiho let out an exclamation and directed his eyes on me. Now that I got to think about it, Eun Jiho usually stayed abroad for a month or two on every break like an annual event.
When I asked about it specifically, he was there to have foreign college tours or take some classes, but I had no idea what all those were for. Having got to be the heir of the largest business conglomerate, he might be just spending money in a crazy way.
As if something was disagreeable, Eun Jiho opened his mouth again with a furrow.
“Yeah, I’m leaving soon.”
“Hmm, then you can’t make it.”
“But I still have about two weeks.”
“Dude, next time, put that out first,” said Jooin.
With a grin, he waved his hand to me. He then shouted, posing like a model student who had a question.
“Mama, we’re in too!”
Excuse me?
A sentence then quietly popped up inside my head.
The Four Heavenly Kings _____ during summer break.
Then I inserted the words ‘dedicating themselves to studying mock exam in the library’ in the blank.
The Four Heavenly Kings dedicating themselves to studying mock exam in the library during summer break.
‘Incompatible words coexist in that sentence… How odd it sounds!’ While I got startled and started to sweat, I suddenly realized how quiet Ban Yeo Ryung had been. Even Yoo Chun Young, who seldom voiced out his opinions, was trying to be active in his studies, but why was she staying so silent alone?
Raising my eyes to look at Ban Yeo Ryung, I noticed that her face was unusually pale. Eun Hyung, who followed my gaze, also hardened his face as if he found the same thing. He then asked in surprise.
“Yeo Ryung? Yeo Ryung, are you okay?”
“… took a…”
She was sinking her head on her chest. Her bangs, which seemed to grow longer, hung down loosely over her eyes that the look on her face wasn’t so visible to us.
“What?” I asked again.
“I took a part-time job…”
As the depressed voice escaped through her lips, she soon lifted her head. Instead of showing a dazzling glow, her jet-black eyes crumpled, looking very unhappy and disappointed, which was so hilarious to me that I almost laughed out loud.
Eun Jiho, beside me, looked as if his tension had decreased. He leaned against the couch and muttered to her.
“Geez, I thought something serious had happened. A part-time job… what about that?”
“If things were meant to be like this, I would’ve not taken the job but studied with you guys! Gosh, why did I took that position!”
Saying such words, Ban Yeo Ryung grabbed her head and stamped her feet while sitting on her seat.
‘Oh, Ban Yeo Ryung… your frustrated look seems the cutest sometimes,’ I thought, suppressing my laughter. Woo Jooin also giggled in front of me.
“You don’t even flip the book.”
“So are you!”
“I’d say, both of you,” said Yoo Chun Young.
In my perspective, it seemed like the same characters were fighting against each other, but as Yoo Chun Young, a man of few words, couldn’t also overlook what he had just heard, he backed up a bit. ‘Hmm, Yoo Chun Young, look who’s talking here…’ I thought.
This time, Eun Jiho and Eun Hyung were also about to add some words to each other that I finally dropped a remark.
“Let’s all shut up.”
‘No matter how much I think, I study, at least, fifty times more than all of you.’ As if it wasn’t just me who considered it to be true, the living room was soon enveloped by a deafening silence.
‘Good, at least they have a conscience,’ I sighed, crossing my arms. Then I switched my gaze to Ban Yeo Ryung who seemed to be restless with a furrow.
I asked, “But, what’s up with the sudden part-time job? You never said anything about it to me as well.”
“Um, it’s a coffee shop owned by a friend of my uncle. The place is quite brand new, pays well, the owner seems to be nice, and I have time on my hands…”
Ban Yeo Ryung’s voice trailed off little by little as she answered back. Her voice then sank to a whisper, at last, with a deep sigh. Her slender shoulders drooped at the same time. She added, closing her eyes.
“Oh, why did I accept that…”
“…”
“Donnie, should I just give a late refusal?”
“…”
“Donnie? Donnie?”
Oh, how many times did Ban Yeo Ryung call my name? While everyone dropped their gazes at me, I, who finally gathered back my senses, shook my head in a hurry. Then I hastily shouted at Ban Yeo Ryung who was almost about to cry.
“No, do it! You should do it.”
“Huh? Why?”
That is because, in a web novel, the female protagonist suddenly works at a part-time job during the break out of the blue.
‘Oh, what a stupid author you are!’ While I complimented my brain on having good memories, I ooh-and-ahhed at the author’s development of the situation on the other hand. Geez, how clichéd this story is going on!
In this case, it would definitely belong to the plot of a female protagonist starting her part-time job after getting a sudden recommendation. The owner of her workplace would have a very high possibility of being a handsome, gentle, and attractive single in his early twenties.
The other part-timer, working at the same shift, would be a guy likely to be involved in a bad relationship with the heroine in the past. For instance, he might have lost a fight to the female protagonist’s boyfriend before, so he could know her face, something like that…
Anyway, I couldn’t say to Ban Yeo Ryung that you’re destined for taking that part-time job no matter what, so I decided to just make up a story.
I said, “I mean, I just think that you should get that job. Take it, you’re not gonna study anyway even though we’re in the library together.”
“Well, that is…”
As if she couldn’t seek any particular falsehood in my words, Ban Yeo Ryung quietly closed her mouth with a look of discomfort on her face.
She then made a sign with her eyes at Eun Jiho and Woo Jooin to back out, but they weren’t such people who would simply do that regardless of her threatening gaze. For some reason, the boys looked as if they made up their minds to study in the library with me during the summer break.
Come on… why… for real…? Four Heavenly King… just throw the god damn parties instead…
Anyway, that being said, for this summer break, I got to study in the library with the Four Heavenly Kings, whereas Ban Yeo Ryung worked at the part-time job alone. And today was the day for all of us to visit eventually where Ban Yeo Ryung was working at. What adventure would I go through today? To be continued!
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
In hopes of someone to pause this situation, I yelled out those words, ‘To be continued.’ My gut, abnormally developed ever since I’ve lived in the world of web novel, alerted me fiercely that it was impossible to get through this summer break in peace. Of course, there was, always, nothing I could do although I had sensed such things in advance; therefore, if the situation had come this far, I was inclined to think that the gut was unnecessary…
Thus, I left my house along with Eun Jiho who was looking at me in wonder today as well.
