10 Years < 1 Month
When Monday arrived, an insane rumor tore through Jinsu High like wildfire. It was the news that I—Han Seong-jin, the guy with the worst reputation as the school's ultimate delinquent—was dating Lee Yu-ri, the student council president who'd held the top academic spot for three straight years and stood as the perfect model student.
Similar rumors had gone around before, but those had fizzled out without any real confirmation, nothing more than students inflating the story among themselves until it got out of hand. The difference this time was...
"Wife! You're studying even during break? Come on, stop that and rest on my lap for a bit."
"W-who are you calling your wife! There are other people around, so stop saying weird stuff like that..."
"Fine, fine. Then, girlfriend! Come rest on my lap."
"......"
Lee Yu-ri squeezed her eyes shut with an expression that said she wanted to die. But when I patted my thigh again, she walked over from the front of my desk and sat diagonally across my lap.
"...I'll only stay for a minute."
"A minute? I want to breathe in my girlfriend's scent too. One minute is way too short. Stay the whole break."
"S-scent? What scent! I showered properly before I left!"
"There's this nice smell that only comes from you. I need to recharge too, so I'm keeping you right here so you can't leave."
I wrapped my arms around Lee Yu-ri's waist from behind. She flinched and struggled for a moment before finally giving up, sitting obediently while I held her in a back hug.
"I seriously feel like I'm going to die of embarrassment. It's one thing when we're alone, but why do you have to do this when the whole school is watching... Ugh, this is so embarrassing..."
"I need everyone to know for sure that you're my woman. You're pretty and popular, aren't you? Plenty of guys have been eyeing you. I want to make sure none of them try to approach you."
"...You and your silver tongue."
Even as she complained, Lee Yu-ri didn't seem to mind the compliment. She gently laid her hand over mine where it rested on her stomach.
......
Since we'd been openly acting like a couple from the moment we stepped onto campus, it would've been weirder if the rumor hadn't spread. Especially because the girl involved was Lee Yu-ri—one of the most admired girls in school—and her boyfriend was me, the notorious top delinquent. The story of this mismatched beauty and the beast spread like lightning.
The first person to react was Jeong Eun-ji, our classmate, Lee Yu-ri's best friend, and the girl who hated me enough to want me dead.
"Yuri! You... you're serious? You're actually dating... this bastard?!"
Jeong Eun-ji's voice shook with disbelief even as she stared at us glued together.
"Yeah, it just happened... Don't worry about it too much. It won't turn out the way you're thinking. Han Seong—"
Lee Yu-ri started to say my name, then turned to glance at me and cleared her throat awkwardly.
"...Seong-jin has changed a lot. More than either of us realized. So those things we heard about before... none of that will happen. He made me a real promise. You saw how hard he studied with us last time, didn't you?"
Watching Lee Yu-ri defend me so tenderly with our hands stacked together, Jeong Eun-ji could only stare in utter bewilderment.
"But this guy used to—"
......
However, Jeong Eun-ji couldn't finish. She thought to herself:
'Wait... Now that I think about it, neither the guy who got Mi-ae pregnant nor the one who pressured her to abort was this bastard... So I can't force Yuri to hate him over that, can I? Then what am I supposed to do...? Just leave them alone? Ugh, but that guy is...'
She now knew Han Seong-jin hadn't been the culprit behind what happened to her friend, but he'd still committed plenty of other scummy acts afterward. Having witnessed all of it since middle school, Jeong Eun-ji couldn't easily accept that he'd truly changed. Still, now that she realized the biggest reason for her hatred had been an illusion, she no longer had any real justification to explode at him.
Caught between both options, Jeong Eun-ji finally let out a heavy sigh.
......
After sighing, she shot me a fierce glare before declaring to Lee Yu-ri.
"Fine. Since you're saying all that, I won't say anything else about your relationship. But you remember our bet before the test, right, Yuri?"
"Uh... Isn't that penalty a little too ridiculous? You're really going through with it?"
"We both agreed to it. Han Seong-jin, you're not thinking of backing out now that you've got a girlfriend, are you?"
"Of course not. You should be the one getting ready. Despite how I look, I studied my ass off. The results come out the day after tomorrow. Not scared?"
My taunt made Jeong Eun-ji flash a rather vicious smile as she turned to my girlfriend.
"You heard him, right, Yuri? This bet happened before you two started dating, so even now that you're together it can't be canceled. Looks like he agrees too. You'll accept that, won't you?"
Lee Yu-ri, who clearly believed I couldn't beat Jeong Eun-ji no matter how hard I'd studied, turned to me with a worried look. She whispered softly.
"Seong-jin, maybe you should just beg Eun-ji to go easy on you right now..."
"Wife, don't you trust your husband? That hurts."
"W-who's your wife! Stop saying weird stuff and just beg right now. I'll even back you up—"
"It's fine. Don't worry so much."
I gave Lee Yu-ri's hand a reassuring squeeze. Jeong Eun-ji watched the entire exchange with a look that said she couldn't stand another second of it.
"Jeong Eun-ji, I'm not backing out, so just wait until Wednesday. But if you lose, I won't go easy on you either. Like I said—you'd better prepare yourself properly."
"Hmph. That's my line."
After we confirmed neither of us would back down, Jeong Eun-ji returned to her seat.
Then, after the next class ended and another break began, my phone buzzed three minutes before the bell. When I checked it, I saw a message from Choi Su-yeon.
It felt like it had been quite a while since I'd last seen Choi Su-yeon, even though only a few days had passed. The moment the next break arrived, I headed down to the second-year floor to soothe her.
As soon as Han Seong-jin left his seat, Gong Yeong-bae approached Lee Yu-ri. When he'd first seen Han Seong-jin wrap his arms around her waist and flaunt their affection, his mind had gone completely blank. But he was too scared to confront them, so he'd stayed silent until now. With Han Seong-jin gone, he decided to hear the full story.
"Yuri."
"Yeah?"
Until recently Lee Yu-ri had refused to even speak to him, but now she could hold normal conversations again. That sliver of hope still burned inside Gong Yeong-bae.
"You... you're really dating Han Seong-jin...?"
He asked while praying she'd say no. If she was being forced into it by threats or blackmail, he planned to report it to the teachers immediately.
However...
"Yeah, it just happened. I told him not to keep hugging me in front of everyone, but Seong-jin never listens. It's a little embarrassing."
Gong Yeong-bae's heart dropped like a stone. Lee Yu-ri's cheeks were flushed, and she fidgeted with her fingers in shy embarrassment—the perfect picture of a girl newly in love. Nothing about her suggested she was being forced.
So Gong Yeong-bae found it impossible to believe. The fact that Lee Yu-ri had chosen, of her own free will, to date Han Seong-jin—the worst of the worst delinquent thugs she supposedly hated most in the world—instead of him, her childhood friend of ten years.
'Why... Weren't we okay again? But why... after only a few days... Were you just playing with me?'
Because he'd taken her affection for granted, it never occurred to him that he was the one who had been playing with her heart.
"Sorry. It looked bad, right? No matter what, there are so many other students around... I'll talk to Seong-jin about it."
'Seong-jin...? Why is she calling that bastard so affectionately? She only used to call me like that!'
Watching Lee Yu-ri use a pet name for another man right in front of him nearly drove Gong Yeong-bae insane. She had definitely liked him. So why? Since when? There hadn't been the slightest hint of this on the first day of the semester.
Finally unable to hold back, he asked.
"Yuri... Just why... why are you dating Han Seong-jin? You hated that type, didn't you..."
"Yeah, I did. But... Seong-jin is surprisingly really caring."
The expression on her face, her gestures, the look in her eyes—every part of her radiated clear affection for Han Seong-jin.
"Last year... no, even at the start of the semester, I never imagined I'd end up like this. But Seong-jin has changed so much. You can see he hasn't caused any trouble, right? He's seriously trying to live properly now. He studies hard, and when he came over to our house the other day, he worked incredibly hard."
"Your house...? Han Seong-jin came to your house...?"
"Yeah. Eun-ji and that second-year Choi Su-yeon came too, so the four of us studied together. Anyway, he promised he won't do any of those weird things from last year anymore. And above all... he keeps telling me he likes me. He's helped me a lot too... and before I knew it, we started dating."
Gong Yeong-bae wanted to grab Lee Yu-ri by the shoulders and demand why she would let trash like that into her house so casually, but the happy glow on her face crushed every ounce of his courage.
Still drowning in despair, he gathered one last bit of resolve.
'That's right. Yuri is just... blinded right now. She's been tricked by Han Seong-jin. She hasn't seen his truly filthy side yet. If I can just persuade her properly...'
"Y-Yuri. This weekend... do you want to go to Seokchon Lake with me? We were supposed to go there when the cherry blossoms bloomed this year, remember?"
"Ah, that's right. We did say that."
Fortunately, Lee Yu-ri still remembered the promise. A single ray of hope lit up inside Gong Yeong-bae, but...
"But I'm sorry. I don't think I can go. Seong-jin would probably hate it if I went out alone with another guy. Why don't you ask Eun-ji or Choi Su-yeon instead?"
That hope turned into an even heavier despair that crushed him completely. Another guy. The declaration that he—a childhood friend of ten years—had been reduced to "another guy" by Han Seong-jin, whom she'd known for barely a month.
The smile on Lee Yu-ri's face now that she had completely become someone else's woman carried a powerful sense of alienation he'd never felt before. She was smiling like always, yet none of their old closeness remained.
'No... No! Han Seong-jin, you tricked her! Innocent Yuri... Before you can lay a hand on her, I'll take her back from you! She's not someone a bastard like you should ever touch! You're definitely doing dirty things behind her back. I'll find the proof and show Yuri who you really are!'
Gong Yeong-bae never realized that the single month Lee Yu-ri had known Han Seong-jin now outweighed the ten years she'd known him. And he especially didn't know that she had already given her body to Han Seong-jin the previous weekend.