.
Yikes, I clicked my tongue in my thoughts. I forgot the fact that Yi Ruda had to pick up the pieces after making much fuss about Hwang Siwoo and the class. Dusting off my hair, I heaved a sigh.
His plan included nothing about how to retrieve his impression in class, which indicated that Yi Ruda was utterly unselfconscious. Having that thought in mind, I sighed again.
Even though it was his mindset to antagonize every classmate with whom he would spend time for a year, who would really not even care about it? Even Yoo Chun Young wouldn’t tolerate such a thing.
Besides, it was still the beginning of the semester; we had plenty of time left to know each other and get close. But let’s say, there was someone hiding here who would become his best friend for life. That person wouldn’t be able to have that relationship while getting Yi Ruda wrong from the incident. That’s such a sad thing. I bit my lips.
However, I couldn’t just tell the truth on behalf of him since it would look quite odd. Above all, if other friends questioned something like, ‘Why isn’t he telling us directly?’ or ‘No matter what we think about him, it wouldn’t matter to him, right?’ If the kids reacted that way, it was still difficult to handle.
Ah, what should I do? Just bring him here and make him clarify his intention… was it the only way to resolve the situation? However, he said he didn’t care at all. That was when I moaned, being lost in thoughts.
“Me? Why?” asked Ruda. Sliding the door open abruptly, Ruda appeared and took a look around nonchalantly.
The boys from the athletic clubs and the rest of our class, who were talking about Ruda until just now, stared at him with their jaws dropped.
Yi Ruda asked them again, “Why did you call me?”
That was such surprising timing. When Ruda tossed the question, tilting his head, the kids responded in bewilderment.
“Huh? I mean, if you and Ban Hwee Hyul work together, our class will be almighty on Sports Day.”
Since the boys and Yi Ruda usually spent time together playing soccer during lunchtime, the kids replied without hesitation. Once the boys finished talking, they exchanged eye contact, revealing their embarrassments.
At that moment, Ruda, looking at the kids with some indescribable gaze, raised his voice out of the blue.
“Hey, I have something to tell you guys.”
Everyone directed their eyes on him. Only the Kim twins and Yoon Jung In looked at me and asked, “What is he trying to say?”
I just shook my head wordlessly, thinking, ‘Come on, I don’t know every aspect of his plan! Didn’t you all go through that enough from the incident at the gym?’
Ruda’s ringing voice came over and struck my ear.
“The thing I suggested at the gym, Hwang Siwoo and us having a fight, and those who lose will just stay silent at school… I was actually pretending to team up with Hwang Siwoo, but the truth is I’m gonna stand on Yoon Jung In’s side to defeat them.”
The words that slipped from his mouth without hindrance made me gape.
On the other hand, the kids were whispering, ‘Really?’ ‘Well, he was actually closer to Yoon Jung In and his friends…’ ‘I was wondering what his real intention was.’ Just as they uttered, most of them were agreeing to Yi Ruda’s plan and thoughts instead of reacting against him.
When the noise subsided, Yi Ruda continued speaking, “But now I come to think of it, I guess I’ve been doing wrong. Although Hwang Siwoo and his boys have fewer people than us, they still have ten people on their side. I’m not sure if excluding ten people in the class would make all of us go smoothly and well throughout the rest of the semester. Thus, I think we should have a conversation to find a way to better compromise.”
“Oh…”
“I’ll go tell Hwang Siwoo to stop all this fight and crap. Anyway, sorry for making the fuss without letting you guys know about the plan ahead.”
After confessing the truth, Ruda cast down his eyes like an accused person awaiting trial. He then stood still. The kids seemed to look at each other then opened their mouths one after another.
“No, you don’t have to feel sorry. I was just… surprised to see things happen out of the blue since I knew that you were close to Yoon Jung In.”
“Exactly, and if things worked as you planned, wasn’t it good for us? We don’t mind.”
“Anyway, it was all part of your plan to befriend Hwang Siwoo, huh? That’s freaking me out, Yi Ruda.”
Heaving a sigh of relief at their harmless comments, I trembled for a second at the last words. I raised my head and observed the look on the kid’s face, who dropped that remark, but he didn’t seem to hurt Yi Ruda with his words.
As if Ruda also grasped that, he replied with a swiveling smile.
“Now you get to know how struggling I am to live kindly every day?”
Soon, mischievous responses showered from everywhere. ‘Yeah, sure. That’s all you can do?’ Listening to some jokey and nasty words, Ruda returned to his seat.
He then suddenly turned his head to look at me and grinned. Perhaps that was an accomplice’s smile meaning, ‘Only you’ll know that this isn’t a joke.’
It was true that I felt a little scared of him; however, I didn’t reveal that but just showed a smile, following him.
After school, the Four Heavenly Kings and Ban Yeo Ryung dashed to me in surprise. I roughly explained the overall situation to them, which made them all nod in the end.
As soon as I finished telling them the story, Eun Jiho uttered, “Anyway, good that it’s resolved without causing any further troubles. Well, I can’t say things are utterly settled, but… They say the ranking battle or whatever is gonna be held soon, so won’t Hwang Siwoo become busy preparing for that soon?”
I nodded, “Maybe yes, right?”
“Then he won’t be able to care about things in class.”
However, the very next day after Eun Jiho spoke that way, something unexpected occurred. Hwang Siwoo disappeared all of a sudden.
He didn’t come to school; only those who recently joined his clique, who had been just normal kids until they became sophomores, showed up in class with pale faces.
They looked too unwell that if someone asked them something, the boys seemed to pass out. Thus, the kids in our class couldn’t question them, ‘Where is Hwang Siwoo?’ but just tried to guess by themselves.
Another incomprehensible thing took place too. Not only Hwang Siwoo but Ban Hwee Hyul also vanished away from school.
Our teacher, Mr. Noh Min Chan, who came to the class for morning assembly, pounded the teacher’s table with the roll book. He said, “Siwoo says he’s sick, and Hwee Hyul…”
Scratching the back of his head, he looked at us then asked, “Is there anyone who’s keeping in touch with Hwee Hyul? He isn’t answering the phone; I can’t reach out to his home phone either.”
My face turned dark at his words. He might not answer his phone for some reason, but if he wasn’t even picking up the phone at home, something worse would be happening.
When nobody responded to him, the teacher heaved a sigh and said, “If Hwee Hyul comes to school, tell him to come see me at the teacher’s office. And the last people who saw him were the class president and Donnie, right? You two, follow me to the office.”
Exchanging eye contact for a moment, we shared a look of bewilderment but soon stepped outside the class to follow our teacher. As soon as we arrived at the office, Mr. Noh sat on his chair and tossed us a question.
“Did something happen at the hospital that day?”
“Ah, um…” I hesitated for a second. Should I tell him that we saw Ban Hwee Hyul’s brother at Balhae Medical Center? However, strictly speaking, it was violating the school policy since we were only allowed to leave the school for bringing the injured boys to see the doctor. Besides, I wasn’t sure how much I could open up someone else’s family history.
While I was being lost in thought, Yoon Jung In, beside me, opened his mouth.
“We met someone who said he was a friend of Ban Hwee Hyul’s little brother.”
Yoon Jung In? While I became perplexed at his sudden remark, our teacher responded to him, “Really? Do you know his name?”
“Yeah, Jung Yohan. He was wearing Sung Woon Science High School uniform. He said he was our age.”
My eyes wide opened at his explanation dripping from his lips.
Would it be okay to tell the teacher something this further? The boy named Jung Yohan might have nothing to do with Ban Hwee Hyul’s disappearance, but what if he got called in as a person involved in this situation because of us? Of course, there could be a possibility that he would have a vital clue of this incident. However, Ban Hwee Hyul and Jung Yohan didn’t seem to know each other that well in the first place…
