The Girls Falling for Him (2)
The news of Lee Yu-ri's unauthorized early leave spread like wildfire among the third-years. Skipping class without permission wasn't exactly a minor offense, but it wasn't the kind of thing that usually blew up into full-blown rumors. The problem was who it involved. Lee Yu-ri. She had been the undisputed top student since her first year, never once losing the grade-wide number one spot. She'd been involved in student council work from the beginning and was already famous as its ace. She still held the top spot in the entire school and now served as student council president on top of that. Whether it was the CSAT or her regular grades, she had no weaknesses. If she wanted, every university in the country—including Seoul National—would basically be a done deal. She was the kind of person who had to choose between medical school and law school.
And that same Lee Yu-ri had skipped class without permission last week.
The story started with the third-years in our class and quickly reached students in other classes. From there it spread to some first- and second-years in the clubs. Once the underclassmen knew, it took less than a second to blanket the entire school. Gossip like this usually died within a day, but the speed at which it traveled also proved just how well-regarded Yu-ri had been at Jinsu High.
If only the rumors had stopped there.
"Now that I think about it, hasn't the student council president been hanging around Han Seong-jin a lot lately?"
"I think I saw them walking home together after hagwon last time."
"Wait, me too! I thought I was imagining it, but it was real?"
"Then... does that mean they skipped class together?"
"No way. No matter what, there's no chance the student council president would hang out with someone like Han Seong-jin..."
"It looked like they walked home together more than once or twice. She used to be with Gong Yeong-bae all the time, but not anymore, right?"
"Didn't you see them in the cafeteria last week? They were fighting like they wanted to kill each other."
"Maybe the president switched guys and that's why they fought?"
"Whoa... Yu-ri always seemed like the last person who'd do something like that. Was she two-timing them?"
"The student council president cheated?"
"I heard she already slept with Han Seong-jin!"
The rumors started adding flesh to the bones, and before long Yu-ri had become a used-up rag who had thrown away Gong Yeong-bae—the guy she'd been half-dating—to cling to me instead.
Maybe because of the rumors, after third period Gong Yeong-bae tried to say something to Yu-ri. She coldly slapped his hand away and walked off. From her expression and attitude, she wasn't showing it, but it looked like the stress was starting to get to her.
I didn't care how many ugly rumors spread about me. Those were based on facts anyway. But I wasn't about to let weird, baseless garbage about Yu-ri keep circulating. She acted tough on the outside, but she was actually softer than she looked and her heart shook easily. She would definitely pretend nothing was wrong while quietly stacking up the damage inside.
"Hey. What the hell are you doing?"
"Hiiik!"
When I stepped in, the girls who had been happily inflating the rumors jumped in fright. I backed the chattiest one against the wall, deliberately flexed my forearm so the tattoos showed, and growled at them with an exaggerated threatening expression.
"You bitches are really good at turning people into trash behind their backs, huh? The student council president and I have never even held hands, so when the hell did we start dating and fucking?"
Actually, we had held hands. And not just that—we'd interlaced our fingers like a couple madly in love. But Yu-ri had been drunk that time and not in her right mind. She probably didn't even remember, and she would never have done it while sober, so I decided it didn't count.
"N-no... we just heard it from..."
"Heard it? From who? Drag them here."
"U-ugh..."
"Hey, you love spreading rumors so much but you didn't hear the one about me? The one that says if I'm in a bad mood, I'll beat a girl just as fast as a guy?"
"Hiiiik!!"
Unfortunately, that rumor was true. The original Han Seong-jin really didn't care if someone was a girl or not when he was pissed off. He'd slapped plenty of them across the face.
... The more I dug through those memories, the more I realized what a piece of garbage that life had been.
"Han Seong-jin! What are you doing!"
Yu-ri, who had seen me threatening the girls, came running over and shouted at me. I heard her voice but didn't loosen my stance or shift my gaze from the rumor-spreaders. Unable to watch any longer, Yu-ri forcibly pulled me away and scolded me.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?! Do you really want to end up in front of the disciplinary committee? Follow me to the student council room!"
"...You girls better watch your mouths if you don't want to die on the side of the road someday."
"Han Seong-jin!!!"
Yu-ri dragged me away by force. As we headed to the student council room, I could hear the girls behind us finally releasing their extreme tension and starting to cry.
Yu-ri unlocked the door to the student council room. Once we were inside, it was just the two of us. She let out a sigh and glared at me with resentful eyes.
"Why are you like this? What were you doing to those girls?"
"They were turning someone into trash with their bullshit rumors."
"So you threaten to beat them up? And girls, at that? Is that the kind of person you are? To me... to me..."
"To you? Say it."
"To me... you've always been incredibly gentle and kind! If you acted like that with other people too, you wouldn't get those weird rumors! If you hate rumors that much, why can't you just hold it in once and treat others the way you treat me—"
"You're misunderstanding."
"...?"
Yu-ri's face filled with confusion. She made this expression a lot when she was with me, and every time I saw it, I thought it was incredibly cute.
"What I'm trying to stop isn't the rumors about me. It's the rumors about you."
"Rumors about me...? No, I don't care, so you can just leave it alone!"
"It doesn't look like you don't care."
"...?"
"You can't even get properly angry because you're worried it'll hurt your reputation, but you're still boiling inside, so you're keeping your mouth shut like a sulking kid. You already can't stand the sight of those girls, and then Gong Yeong-bae came and said something to you earlier. You must be dying of annoyance right now. Even if you pretend the rumors about you don't bother you, your heart must be pitch black inside. If you stay still, it just keeps bothering you more, so the moment break time started you pulled out that problem book you'd already finished and just stared at it without even moving your mechanical pencil. You try to show on the outside that you're saying 'I'm totally fine~' but I can see right through you."
"You... you..."
Yu-ri's expression practically screamed 'How did you know that?' I'd already figured out her personality and tendencies a long time ago, so I could roughly guess what she was feeling right now, and my guesses were usually right.
"I've had tons of rumors about me since way back. Why would I start caring about them now? But you're different, aren't you? No matter what, wouldn't you rather stay the beautiful, top-ranked student council president like before instead of being known as the slut who skips class with a delinquent? That's why I got angry for you."
I said that and stroked Yu-ri's hair. I figured this level of skinship would be allowed by now. Sure enough, while my large, rough hand gently stroked the crown of her head, Yu-ri stayed silent and simply felt my touch. When I pulled my hand away, she looked up at me with trembling eyes full of mixed emotions.
"You... I really, really hate you..."
"That's harsh. I gave you the best comfort I could."
"That's the problem! Why... why do you... why do you act like this only toward me? You act like that with other girls, so why am I the only one... why are you so gentle only with me? Why do you keep making me feel strange! If you keep doing this, I really..."
I might actually end up liking you.
Those words never made it out of Yu-ri's mouth.
"Alright. Since you told me not to, I won't do that kind of thing again. But the rumor that the two of us skipped class together is complete nonsense, so make sure you tell people that too, okay?"
"...Okay."
I moved to sit right beside Yu-ri. She kept her lips pressed tightly together as if holding back tears and just stared at me.
"And if you're upset, don't hold it in. It's bad for you. Tell the kids clearly not to spread weird nonsense. When the top student and student council president says something, would they dare ignore her? They might hold back because they're scared of me, but if you ask them nicely, they'll listen."
"Okay..."
"Tsk. You really are a handful, like a little kid."
"Sorry..."
"Well, since we're already here, want to stay in the student council room for a bit during break? To help you feel better."
"......"
Yu-ri stared at me for a moment, then adjusted her chair so she was sitting at an angle facing me. Without a word, she quietly leaned her cheek against my shoulder.
"You must have been really stressed."
"...Just let me stay like this for a little while."
The shoulder where Yu-ri's cheek touched felt slightly damp and warm. I wanted to hug her, but I held back. Everything had its proper order.
With Yu-ri leaning her head on me and me accepting her weight, we stayed quietly together inside the student council room like that.
"Senior! Is the rumor true? That you and Yuri-sunbae held hands and skipped class together?"
When lunch arrived, Choi Su-yeon came running after hearing the rumor that had spread even among the second-years.
"Don't you remember who I was with the day I skipped?"
"Ah."
"So why did you come all the way here to check?"
"Hehe. Nope, nope! I heard you and Yuri-sunbae even went home together and seem really close these days?"
"And?"
"You didn't seem to have any signs of it at all, so I came to congratulate you on getting close with Yuri-sunbae! And while I'm at it, I also wanted to brag a little!"
"Brag?"
"Hehehe... Ta-da!"
Choi Su-yeon smiled brightly and shoved her phone in front of me. On the screen were the KakaoTalk messages with Gong Yeong-bae. Surprisingly, he had been the first one to message her. The content started with asking how she'd been lately, then moved on to saying it had been a while since their last date and asking if she was bored, and whether she had time on weekdays or weekends—light flirting lines. The send time was...
That's during third-period break, isn't it?
Timing-wise, it was clear that after Yu-ri completely ignored him when he tried to talk to her, he had immediately turned and sent a message to Su-yeon instead.
This bastard... He's dying of jealousy because of the rumors between me and Yu-ri, but when Yu-ri ignores him he just switches targets? What the hell does he think Su-yeon is?
It was a cheap jealousy ploy. He was trying to show Su-yeon acting lovey-dovey with him so Yu-ri would get jealous and come back to him. It was painfully obvious. Since Su-yeon would definitely say yes if he asked her out, he was planning to use her like this?
I barely held back the rage boiling up inside me and smiled at Choi Su-yeon.
"What, so things were going well with you too?"
Choi Su-yeon's face turned slightly red as she made a V with her fingers.
"Hehehe, somehow it turned out that way. Until yesterday I was almost ready to give up. I thought we were both failures, but it turns out we were both succeeding? Isn't that amazing? So! I came to give my congratulations—and gratitude—to you, sunbae, for doing well with Yuri-sunbae! And to brag a little! Since I'll probably end up doing way better with Young-bae-sunbae, I'll give you dating advice from now on!"
Choi Su-yeon's relationship with me wasn't that deep yet. We had skipped class and spent time together, but that was it. Unlike Yu-ri, we weren't in the same class so we didn't see each other all day. Our houses were in different directions, so the times we could run into each other were extremely limited. And crucially, we didn't have a big dramatic event that rapidly advanced our relationship like I had with Yu-ri.
That was why she—who had liked Gong Yeong-bae from the beginning—got so happy the moment he reached out to her.
But...
Do you really think that bastard who approached you with such dirty intentions will treat you properly?
I felt sorry for Su-yeon. She might have gotten away with just one wound, but now she would inevitably receive a second one. I couldn't stop her from getting that second wound. No, even if I could stop it, I wouldn't. I'd actually speed up the timing.
Just like with Yu-ri, Su-yeon needed to see the bottom of Gong Yeong-bae's true nature at least once.
Gong Yeong-bae, thanks to your greed of trying to keep all three of them in your fish tank without answering any of their hearts, you'll soon lose your second woman too.