.
He was slightly over 180 cm tall with an average appearance and black hair. He even wore his tie neatly with his shirt all buttoned up. Kim Pyung Bum, who looked just average from head to toe, turned out to be the 17th in the nationwide ranking battle.
He glanced over everyone inside the room then waved his hand.
“Hi, long time no see. Sorry for running late.”
“No problem, Bum. Come here and sit next to me!” Lisa said with her eyes sparkling and tapped the chair beside her. Pyung Bum, who became shy in front of girls, sat next to Lisa in embarrassment.
“Hey, why are you flirting at him when you have a boyfriend?” Gang Han, who sat across Lisa, spoke in a low voice, but he soon shut his mouth when she kicked him in the shin by her.
Everybody’s eyes were on Woo San then. The four had no idea why he called them here. The one who first broke the ice was Gong Haru. He swept his purple hair back and spoke with a brusque face.
“Just be brief, I need to leave soon.”
“Why? What’s up with you?” It was Dae Lisa who asked in wonder. Gong Haru knitted his brows while having difficulty in answering her question.
He then questioned back, “You know my girlfriend has a hard time affording her living?”
“Yeah, I do. I also know that you’re from an extremely wealthy family.”
“Her father recently had a stroke, so I paid the hospital bills in a hurry… but I guess they knew it. I’m receiving so many calls right now, so I have to leave ASAP.”
“Oopsie.” Lisa covered her mouth in surprise.
Then, Gang Han, who remained silent after Lisa kicked him, opened his mouth. He glanced up to talk to Woo San.
“I also need to leave ASAP.”
“What’s up with you?” Woo San asked. Furrowing his face, Gang Han took out his phone from his pocket.
He said, “We’re having a gathering today, and Hanbee said she’s gonna wear a skirt, so I told her not to. I mean, who likes his girl showing off her legs? She seems angry and will wear that skirt, anyway.”
“Hanbee? You mean, the girl with the glasses? You’re the only one who finds her pretty, so why would you worry?” Lisa asked with her eyes wide open. Gang Han then opened his flip phone with a frown and revealed his phone screen. Every eye was bent on it.
A moment after, Kim Pyung Bum emitted a whoop.
“Dude, did she go on plastic surgery?”
“Are you kidding me? It takes months to recover.” As Gang Han asked back in annoyance, Lisa and Woo San murmured. “Wow, she looks different without the glasses. How can this happen?”
“Is it a magician’s glasses?”
Gang Han shut his flip phone and continued with a shrug.
“Anyway, she became truly gorgeous, so who knows if someone’s gonna hit on her? I should leave ASAP, understood?”
“Oh, me, too. I have to go soon.”
“Now it’s you, Lisa?” Woo San asked with an appalled look. How could three out of four of them have things to deal with?
Instead of responding, Lisa swept back her voluminous red hair. The beautiful curls waved through her hand, which made Kim Pyung Bum and Woo San exclaim.
She fluttered her long arc-like lashes twice and said, “Hmm, I received a text on my way here; my boyfriend went for a blind date.”
“Seriously?”
“He doesn’t want to live anymore.”
When Kim Pyung Bum and Gong Haru replied one after another, Lisa swept back her red hair again. There was no sign of frustration on her face.
“It’s time to catch him at the scene and break up. He should be thankful to have such a girl like me dating him. How dare he cheat on me?”
“True.”
“OMG, San, can I flirt with you once I’m single?”
Lisa looked attractive while flinging that question with a wink; however, Woo San just smiled without an answer. She was a good girl to be friends with but to have her as a girlfriend would be too scary.
The last person who opened his mouth was Kim Pyung Bum.
“Oh, I should go back soon too.”
His words drew everyone’s attention. Kim Pyung Bum felt a shiver running down his spine.
“How come you guys have that look on me? You all agreed with each other that you have some things to do that would make you leave, so why can’t I do the same? Is it because I’m taking my turn at the end?’
Woo San took the lead to ask, “Is your girlfriend’s father also sick?”
“N… o.”
Then Gong Haru followed, “Is your girlfriend fiercely hot without her glasses?”
“No.”
The next was Gang Han, “Did your girlfriend cheat on you?”
“No!” Kim Pyung Bum yelled while feeling dumbfounded.
The last one who asked was Dae Lisa. She pouted her red lips then dropped a bombshell in a nonchalant voice.
“Then is it a boyfriend instead of a girl?”
“Hey!!! Where are all these bullshit coming from!? No, all wrong!”
Feeling intolerable at last, Kim Pyung Bum shrieked out and got up the seat. When the usually gentle character exploded suddenly, the other three boys struck dumb. Lisa, however, just blinked her lashes apathetically.
These bastards… Kim Pyung Bum screamed out in anger, “Dudes, at least have in mind if the person has a girlfriend or not before asking such a question! I don’t have any girlfriends!!”
“…”
“I have to feed my dog at home!! He’s a beagle; as one of the three notoriously hyper dogs, he will mess up my house if he’s hungry. All my family members are out traveling, so I must go feed him!! Not a girlfriend but a dog food!!! Got it?!”
Kim Pyung Bum spat out his words like a rapper then shrugged to catch his breath.
‘Huff… puff… bastards!’
Even after his infuriated yell, the atmosphere was still, however, strange. Dae Lisa, who should have asked him for being mad about such a trivial thing, just stared at him with sympathetic eyes. Not only her but everybody was looking at him with the same gaze.
What the… Kim Pyung Bum stepped back in perplexity. Lisa then said to him in tearful eyes.
“Right, Pyung Bum. Feeding a dog is very important. Oh, yes, truly important.”
“It sure is.” Gang Han agreed while nodding his head, and so did Gong Haru while saying, “Yeah, girlfriends are nothing once you break up. A man’s true friend is indeed a dog, loyal forever.”
“…”
Kim Pyung Bum stood still at a loss of words. He then sat down with a sigh.
He crossed his legs, tilted his head, and said to Woo San, “Cool. Anyway, I should go back home to feed my goddamn true friend, so tell us what you have.”
“Oh, that is…” Woo San spoke with a smile, “I came up with important information about why Ban Hwee Hyul is missing.”
“What?”
Lisa sprung up from her seat in surprise. The other three boys also looked at Woo San with a darkened face.
The winner of the ranking battle was confirmed just a month ago, but Ban Hwee Hyul was missing right after. It was the earliest disappearance among the same cases that happened to the line of winners.
Gong Haru pushed Woo San for the update, “What happened? Where is Ban Hwee Hyul right now?”
It was enough for him to be anxious since the international ranking battle would soon take place when summer vacation started. If Ban Hwee Hyul didn’t appear until that time, Gong Haru would take his turn to participate in that competition.
Gong Haru didn’t like fighting at all; besides, going abroad to compete with the best high school fighters were not his thing.
Woo San replied with a cold smile, “Do you know that Ban Hwee Hyul had a twin brother?”
“What?”
“To put it briefly, Ban Hwee Hyul’s twin brother was enjoying his run-of-the-mill school life while hiding the fact that his brother was the Number 1 fighter. One day, one of the school gangs picked a fight on him, which pissed off Ban Hwee Hyul’s brother, but unfortunately, his fighting skill wasn’t equivalent to his temper.”
“That means…” When Lisa murmured with a grim face, Woo San moved his head up and down.
