.
‘Geez, I can’t believe this,’ I thought while firmly pressing my temples stinging from headache.
Dae Lisa also cast a question in a voice that sounded as dumbfounded as I was.
“Ban Hwee Hyul, did you really write this as an apology? For real?”
After a moment of hesitation, Ban Hwee Hyul nodded and said, “I thought that, at least, I had delivered the message of my regrets.”
Dae Lisa’s face turned immediately pale. Leaning heavily against the bench, she swung her hand in the air with a swish toward Ban Hwe Hyul. Her following words struck my heart.
“Hey, you’d better not return to the ranking battle. Those bastards who got pissed off at your message would assassinate you…”
‘…”
Cold sweat seemed to go down my back. ‘Uh-oh!’ I murmured. Lifting my head, I found that Ban Hwee Hyul was sending me a gaze that seemed to look like he was saying, ‘You, too, Brutus!’
I grimaced at the unfair feelings within me. ‘I mean, how do I know that you’ll send a message that way? If I knew that ahead, I would have stayed right beside you and correct every detail! Your destructive writing skill matters, not my advice!’
At that moment, Dae Lisa swung her hand in the air again and uttered, “Never mind. I am an idiot to ask you to come back. Now I come to think of it, we’ll never see each other again. Well, that sounds good. Get lost, go away ASAP!”
“…”
That text message seemed to play a part in Dae Lisa giving up Ban Hwee Hyul without any regrets; however, I didn’t feel that delightful even though I had helped her.
Ban Hwee Hyul beckoned at me, who was staring at Dae Lisa with mixed feelings. Holding my backpack, I finally bent my steps toward him and paced the ground with heavy strides.
<hr />
Thankfully, on our way home, Ban Hwee Hyul didn’t say anything special about the written apology.
It seemed that I would have to bow down to the ground immediately and beg, ‘That is so unfair, your highness!’ like the king’s servant in the historical drama if Ban Hwee Hyul said something as, ‘I wrote the message just as you told me, but did I just hear that I can get assassinated, what kind of crap is that? Is it a conspiracy to slander me?’
Instead, he just threw a glance at my pocket and asked, “Where’s your phone?”
“Ah, my phone…” replying that way, I took out my phone, no, a thing that used to be a phone from my pocket. The device got neatly broken into half, so it didn’t seem to work. Just in case, I pressed the power button on; however, there was no such thing as a miracle.
Dropping my gaze at the pitch-black screen in frustration, I uttered, “Tomorrow’s Saturday, so I’ll just go to the service center in the afternoon and have it repaired.”
Ban Hwee Hyul nodded at my response. We then stood at the crossroads toward his store and the way to my house. While I tried to bid farewell, Ban Hwee Hyul said abruptly, “Um…”
“Huh?”
Turning my head to look at him unconsciously, I slightly furrowed my brows at the phone that was handed out to me all of a sudden.
Ban Hwee Hyul said nonchalantly, “I’m fine without my phone during the weekend, so take it. No one’s gonna reach out to me too.”
Listening to his last words, I gently pressed my nose ridge with my thumb and forefinger. Ban Hwee Hyul, did you know that you just said something very sad so nonchalantly…?
Anyway, aside from that… I quietly shook my head and replied, “No thanks. I have a trauma about borrowing someone’s phone.”
Ban Hwee Hyul tilted his head in wonder.
I continued, “Last time, the person who lent me his phone got kidnapped… no, was out of touch for a while…”
Recalling the case of Yi Ruda, I spoke in my thoughts, ‘Do you know how many times I’ve regretted at that time saying, ‘If I didn’t borrow his phone, wouldn’t I be able to, at least, bid a last farewell?’ something like that?’
If that was some kind of law, I was afraid that Ban Hwee Hyul couldn’t also come to school next week once I borrowed his phone.
Shaking my head, I uttered, “Anyway, I should go now. When I met you earlier, things happened since I tried to take a short cut, but now I’m only gonna walk along the main road, so it’s fine.”
“Oh…”
However, Ban Hwee Hyul, who was looking at me with mixed feelings, suddenly took out his phone and began to call somewhere.
Didn’t he just say he doesn’t need his phone? I watched him in curiosity.
Ban Hwee Hyul then hung up the call and said, “I got allowed to run a little late. Let’s go.”
“Huh?”
“Let me walk you back home,” he uttered.
Looking up at him dropping the remark, I murmured to myself, ‘That was such a touching moment just now, right?’
However, why did I keep thinking, ‘That was the most proper words that I’d ever heard from Ban Hwee Hyul the last couple of days…?’ Heaving a small sigh, I bent my steps along with Ban Hwee Hyul.
The more we walked away from the subway station, the more secluded the way became. When we crossed more than three crosswalks, there was nothing else left except the road with speeding cars, traffic lights, and buildings with their lights out.
That was when we stood in front of the last crosswalk to my house. Ban Hwee Hyul suddenly detached his lips. I turned to look at him.
“Ham Donnie.”
“Huh?”
“I think it’s very respectful that you can help others without hesitation while you’re so weak and fragile. However…”
I thought for a second, ‘Hey, you’re speaking in a historical tone again…’ then I waited for his following words.
“… Please be aware that it can shorten your life.”
With that said, Ban Hwee Hyul slowly sighed. Instead of a threat, it seemed like he was trying to give me a piece of advice from his sincere experience.
Thinking about it for a moment, I nodded and replied, “I don’t care but above all…”
“You don’t care?” Ban Hwee Hyul cut me off in bewilderment.
Yikes, what I just said could sound weird. As I realized that, I quickly added, “It seems like I have good backing that can solve those things.”
“…”
“Hmm, the people I know who’s willing to support or defend me… they’ll be more awesome than you think. I mean it. Anyway, there’s something else that really matters…”
Ban Hwee Hyul loosened the strained look in his eyes.
Lowering my voice, I continued, “Hey… did you ever harass other kids, you know just normal kids, not the ranked fighters such as Dae Lisa?”
There was a look of surprise gradually spreading over in his eyes.
Taking a deep breath, I uttered, “Hey, you have to be clear about this, or else, you can’t have my back when things happen afterward.”
There was a moment of silence.
Being lost in thought for a while, Ban Hwee Hyul soon shook his head.
“No, I never did it.”
“Thank God.”
The moment I heaved a sigh of relief, Ban Hwee Hyul quickly added, “However, I’ve got along with some kids before who’ve done that.”
“Oh…”
“In the past, I regarded those things as something irrelevant to me, then one day…”
For some reason, Ban Hwee Hyul threw his glance at his empty hands. He continued, “… After paying a big price for what I’ve done, I realized that I should stop those things from taking place as much as I could.”
Listening to his story, I suddenly responded, “Hmm, I think that’s enough for now,” then went down the street.
Ban Hwee Hyul, who kept on speaking while dropping his gaze at his palm, lifted his head out of the blue and showed a look of perplexity toward me.
“What?” he asked.
“Except for fighting at the ranking battle or against other rankers, then you’ve never bullied or picked a fight with any innocent people.”
“So?”
“If you did something wrong to someone and I got to help you, that could be very sorry to that person. That was my biggest concern.”
Based on what I had seen in other web novels, the only case when the nationwide Number one tried to pick a fight with a relatively innocent citizen was that if he or she made his girlfriend or bae cry. However, there could be something unexpected or a twist in the plot.
Since this world existed in a novel that became realistic in some useless situations, I became more concerned about some things from time to time. However, I felt relieved as Ban Hwee Hyul told me that he never argued with or harassed any innocent people.
