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Article 4. Maybe You Have a Gender Recognition Disorder?
In front of the auditorium, I stood still looking at the attached class lists and with a devastated look on my face as I found out how Yeo Ryung and I were in different classes. Ban Yeo Ryung’s name was listed right under Class 1 followed by the Four Heavenly Kings. My name was, however, listed all the way at the end of Class 8.
All I could say was this was such a shattering experience to me. Since I was the only female friend of Ban Yeo Ryung! Commonsensically, Ban Yeo Ryung and I could not attend different classes.
The author… Was the author of this god damn novel setting a different girl for Ban Yeo Ryung’s bestie position in high school? Was I now depreciated? How… how could this happen?
While I remained rooted to the spot for a few moments, Ban Yeo Ryung stood beside me as her shoulders shook with tearful eyes. She could have given up if I had no reactions to her for minutes, but she kept on performing her cry to show her absolute melancholy.
That drew everyone’s attention to us.
I, at first, thought it was simply because our behaviors stood forth, but as their conversation crept slowly towards my ears, I realized that our tragic performance was not the only reason for their mutterings.
“Is she Ban Yeo Ryung from Ji Jon Middle School? The top student in our grade?”
“She got a perfect score on our entrance exam. You know, how notorious So Hyun High School’s entrance exam is because of how difficult it is, but she aced it.”
“She also entered middle school with full marks. Wow, look at her. She’s so pretty.”
Their discussions made me upset. Only when I said did Yeo Ryung stopped shaking my shoulders. Oh, I felt dizzy. Maybe it was because of Yeo Ryung’s continuous shaking or because of the considerable noise around us.
As I frowned while grabbing my head amidst the chaos, I found some fancy-looking human shadows behind Ban Yeo Ryung walking toward us. At the same time, they happened to split the crowds as if they were Moses crossing the Red Sea. Regardless of the unexpected runway created especially for them, the Four Heavenly Kings seemed unbothered of their surroundings but came toward us while chitchatting.
Oh, hold on. I slowly raised my hands and closed my ears. Soon, a wave of screams and cries burst out from all sides.
“OMG! The Four Heavenly Kings!”
“Oh, dear Jiho! You’re so handsome!”
“So glad to get accepted to this school, boo hoo…”
The boys neither paid heed to the eyes of envy and jealousy nor the cries of adoration directed at them but walked toward us. It turned my face bluish while their sudden appearance drowned me in thoughts.
I guess people would still call them the Four Heavenly Kings even in high school. Oh geez, that goddamn name, Four Heavenly Kings…
I decided to forget the little hope I had of relieving my body and soul; I also trashed the desire of ever having a normal life. It truly is true when they said life would get easier when one gave up.
Meanwhile, Eun Jiho, who strode toward us with his usual unhesitant and confident attitude, looked at us surprisingly. As I gazed at his face through the pouring sunlight, I could grasp the outline of his face amidst the breaking chaos permeating the surroundings.
Eun Jiho then placed his hand on Ban Yeo Ryung’s shoulder and stared at me with a mockingly sad gaze. It was his unique expression he only showed whenever he’s in a crowd which looked graceful and also sorrowful at the appropriate level for the other party to sympathize with him.
As it annoyed to the point where it made me frown harder, he spoke in a warm and soft tone out of the blue.
“Ham Donnie, though we’re in different classes, we could always hang out, so don’t be so sad. If you’re too upset, it would break my heart.”
If Eun Hyung spoke to me like that, I would shed tears immediately and dash into him; however, those words from Eun Jiho’s mouth held nothing, and he only spoke that speech of his in order to spite me. His uncharacteristically polite attitude convinced me that I was surely right.
I huffed at him with an evil eye and spat out, “Dude, sod off. I’m good without you.”
“Oh, for real?”
“Hell, yeah.”
I responded shortly to his face which apparently reverted to his usual sneer. He said nothing, but he looked rather excited. Then Eun Hyung hit Eun Jiho’s tummy with his elbow as if to warn him of his sheer delight.
Eun Hyung looked hesitant but soon tapped my head with a warm smile.
“We’ll hang out in your class sometimes.”
“No, it’s okay. My class is too far from yours, so not today.”
See? Nice words for nice words. Old masters were never wrong. If he spoke fondly and sincerely like Eun Hyung, I would be more than happy to respond as sweet as possible.
As I felt a bit shy and responded to Eun Hyung in a faint voice, Eun Jiho frowned behind Eun Hyung. This jerk…
I looked back at Jiho. Eun Hyung then said, “Let’s catch up after school.”
“Oh, yeah, okay. Text me after class.”
“Yup.”
Eun Hyung patted my head before he left the auditorium. This time, Yoo Chun Young and Woo Jooin were the ones who had their gazes at me.
As if the conversation we shared yesterday embarrassed him, Yoo Chun Young shrugged his shoulders and moved his lips to whisper ‘cheer up’ when our eyes met. I nodded back.
Woo Jooin, the last and the most exceptional one, bent his monolid eyes giving me a bright smile as he threw his body into my arms.
Hundreds of gasps and grunts burst out from everywhere. Oh, this dramatic reaction. I murmured and released Woo Jooin out of my arms. He had a sad face while dropping his golden eyes on me.
He said, “Mommy, don’t cry.”
“Okay.”
“If you cry, I’ll cry too.”
“I’m not crying.”
“Come on, stop crying. It makes me cry, too.”
‘I-am-not-crying.’ It was too exhausting to repeat the same response, so I said that to myself instead.
Woo Jooin had his hands on my shoulder during the whole conversation, which seemed like a big golden retriever having its two paws on me.
If I should categorize Woo Jooin, he belonged to dogs. However, there were moments when he took off his doggy side to reveal his human character, which was, for example, yesterday evening. That was his side I feared the most.
As Eun Jiho dragged Woo Jooin out of my sight, there stood Ban Yeo Ryung with sorrowful eyes, but she soon left the space as well pulled as Eun Jiho pulled her away.
Oh, bye. I bid farewell while waving my hands to them. Then I stared at the sunlight shedding through the glass doors inside the auditorium. The sky beyond was so sheer and blue that made me think of the author dropping her gaze at me from above. She would definitely be in a state of bliss after screwing me over like this. Perhaps that’s why the sky looked so bright.
I murmured while looking up at the sky, “Maybe, I’m getting punished.”
It was indeed a punishment for saying my desired to cut my beloved ones off my life in a flash by requesting to act like strangers in our new school.
The thought somehow eased my mind while having my hands shoved into the pocket and striding alone to Class 1-8 gallantly.
Through the opened classroom door, I could see kids already scattered around doing their things: enjoying chats while sitting in a group as if they went to the same middle school together. Some were gazing around on the seat alone looking shy. I even saw some sitting by the window, staring outside nonchalantly.
Among them, a kid who sat by the window had his back at me, which made his face invisible from my side.
The only thing visible was his yellow hair almost blonde similar to that of Caucasian people. Looking at his sitting posture, he did not seem to be a bully or anything like that. Above all, his skin tone under the bright sunlight was transparently fair, so maybe he hailed from a foreign land.
He wore a uniform for men; however, his hair was quite long for a boy. The slightly dark brown trousers looked great on his slim legs.
When I had my vacant stare at him for a while, someone passed me by so close that it nearly knocked me down like a feather. Only then did I realized that I was blocking the doorway.
The girl who almost bumped into my back as she passed me by also had an impressive appearance. All her facial features seemed as if like an artistic engraving and her outstandingly black hair was covering her temples.
Her pupils were pitch black with no speck of light gleaming from within, but as I inspected her, they seemed to have some hints of blue. Her skin as pure as a newly washed sheet.
What caught my eyes were not only her looks but also her vibe.
She had this aura of a holy crane paddling alone idly at a place from a distant lonesome island far from life. In other words, she looked like a person living out of touch with the world.
She lifted her eyes at me, which appeared gorgeous as her long black lashes created shade on her pale cheeks.
She then moved her lips mumbling, “Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
She nodded at my response and dropped her gaze to my name tag before she quickly walked away to her seat in the back.
Behind her, another boy was following her track. Except for his height which was about 10cm taller than her, he looked like a photocopied version of her.
