My Childhood Friend Became the Delinquent's Woman
When I first met Yu-ri at the elementary academy, I thought she was an angel who had stepped out of a fairy tale. Her eyes were enormous, and her long black hair—which she had already been growing out back then—was so beautiful that I lost my heart to her the moment I saw her.
"Hi! Nice to meet you! I'm Lee Yu-ri! What's your name?"
Nine-year-old Yu-ri held her hand out to me in greeting, and that was the beginning of our story. We ended up in the same class many times throughout elementary school and naturally grew quite close. Even back then Yu-ri was the kind of kid who only cared about studying, so I naturally threw myself into studying just to keep up with her. Of course, there was no way I could ever beat her academically.
Unlike plain, ordinary me, Yu-ri was popular everywhere she went. She was pretty, she got top grades, and her personality was bright and friendly, so both boys and girls treated her like an idol. In middle school she was even offered a modeling gig for the academy’s website. She turned it down out of embarrassment, but the fact that the offer existed at all showed how brightly she had always shone.
I was happy to stay glued to her side, but deep down I felt anxious. The difference between us was simply too great. Just when I was worrying that someone as radiant as Yu-ri might suddenly fly off somewhere far away, I remembered what she had once told me.
"What? Where would I go? Sure, there are lots of boys who ask me out… but it’s obvious from the way they act that they’re only interested in my face. Don’t worry, Yeong-bae. I’m going to stay with you."
Neither of us had actually said the words “let’s date,” but that alone was enough to comfort me. It felt like Yu-ri had feelings for me too, like she wouldn’t abandon me. So I studied even harder to become someone more worthy of standing beside her.
Then we both entered Jinsu High. For the first time in my life, light shone on me after I had spent years chasing after nothing but the hem of Yu-ri’s skirt.
"Huh? You’re… the guy who’s always with Yu-ri, right? Gong Yeong-bae? Where did Yu-ri go? She said she’d help me study."
Jeong Eun-ji, the brown-haired, bob-cut track-and-field girl. She was tall for a girl and had excellent athletic ability; rumor had it the disciplinary committee wanted to recruit her as their public face. But because she neglected her studies for training, her grades were terrible and she was stuck taking remedial classes.
"Yu-ri’s busy with student council work, so she asked me to help instead. If it’s okay with you, I can tutor you."
"Hmm… Well, if you hang out with Yu-ri you must be pretty good at studying too! Okay, please take care of me."
After I started helping Eun-ji with her studies, my life began to change little by little. She taught me exercise while I taught her academics. We spent more and more time together, grew closer, and eventually started going on weekend café dates. After spending so long chasing after Yu-ri, having another girl show interest in me felt incredibly fresh and pleasant.
Then, when I became a second-year, a rumor spread that an incredibly pretty first-year had enrolled. But that girl belonged to the delinquent faction, and both Yu-ri and Eun-ji—who hated delinquents—kept clashing with her over uniform violations and other issues.
"Hmm~? So you’re the senior who’s always hanging around Yu-ri and Eun-ji… Senior Yeong-bae, right?"
I hated delinquents too, but Choi Su-yeon, that first-year delinquent girl, was far prettier than the rumors suggested. I didn’t know why she kept approaching me, but Su-yeon would regularly seek me out, asking me to teach her, and I ended up spending a lot of time with her just like I had with Eun-ji.
As time passed, Su-yeon began showing clearer affection toward me, and I didn’t push her away. Even though she was a delinquent, she didn’t smoke, skip class, or run around doing weird things with the other delinquents. Surprisingly, she was quite well-behaved.
That was how I ended up receiving the affection of three different girls at once. Anyone who wasn’t an idiot could tell that Yu-ri, Eun-ji, and Su-yeon all liked me. I wanted to hold on to that happy feeling forever.
I was scared that if I chose any one of them, the other two would leave me. Three girls who could probably date anyone they wanted were all interested in me at the same time—I didn’t want to lose that moment. I knew they were aware of each other’s feelings, but answering them felt impossible when the present was so blissful. It was fine like this. Eventually I would have to choose, but there was no need to do it right now. None of the three seemed interested in any other guys, so they would stay by my side forever.
That’s how it should have been.
Everything twisted the moment we became third-years.
"Lee Yu-ri, Jeong Eun-ji, Choi Su-yeon. Which one of them are you dating? Answer me."
Han Seong-jin, the worst delinquent in Jinsu High, suddenly dragged me out on the first day of the new term and asked me that. When I couldn’t answer, the bastard made an annoyed face and sent me away. From that moment on, something started to feel off.
When the teacher asked Yu-ri to tutor Han Seong-jin, I told myself it was nothing. But then one day I saw that Yu-ri had packed a lunch box for him, and my heart sank.
Han Seong-jin? That guy’s a total thug, isn’t he? I hate bastards like him more than anything. They beat up other kids because they’re strong, extort money, and of course they never study. I don’t understand how someone like that thinks. The people who hang out with them are just as bad.
She used to say things like that. She had never packed a lunch for anyone except me… so why would she do it for the exact kind of thug she hated most? Worried she was giving him the wrong idea, I called her out to talk, but Yu-ri took my words extremely badly and we had our first real fight.
After that, Yu-ri stopped eating lunch with me. Instead, she ate with Han Seong-jin.
I tried to endure it, but as Han Seong-jin started openly acting closer to her and Yu-ri didn’t seem to mind, I called her out again to reason with her…
Slap!
"You fucking bastard. What disgusts me most isn’t that you’re obsessed with Han Seong-jin—it’s that I was childhood friends with trash like you. Don’t ever speak to me again."
Yu-ri slapped me across the face. Why? I had only told her not to hang around with that garbage, so why was she defending him? Was it really important enough to slap someone she had known for over ten years?
Still, we eventually made up, and I thought Yu-ri’s rebellious phase wouldn’t last long…
"You… you’re really dating Han Seong-jin…?"
"Yeah, that’s how it turned out. I told him not to keep hugging me in front of people, but Seong-jin never listens. It’s a little embarrassing."
It was like a bolt from the blue. Yu-ri, who had claimed to absolutely loathe delinquents, had become the girlfriend of Han Seong-jin—that thug and delinquent. Why? How could this happen?
We had known each other for over ten years. We both understood each other’s hearts. So why would she throw that away and go to Han Seong-jin? Just because I said a few words? I couldn’t accept it.
Han Seong-jin must have found some weakness and blackmailed her. Otherwise there was no way my Yu-ri—diligent, kind Yu-ri—would ever become the girlfriend of a piece of trash like him.
Convinced that Yu-ri was being threatened, I decided to save her. I followed her in secret. I wore a hat and mask, waited at a distance until her student council work ended, then tailed her home. But one day she noticed me. Yu-ri ran away in fear, and after that Eun-ji started walking her home, making it harder to follow.
Still, I couldn’t give up.
Then it was Friday. I sent Yu-ri a message asking to meet on the weekend, but she said she already had plans. At least she didn’t seem to know I had been following her…
No way…?
With growing anxiety, I waited near her house from around noon on Saturday and watched where she went. The place she headed toward was what we called the slums—an unsafe back alley with terrible security.
Why would Yu-ri go somewhere like that…? It’s dangerous for a girl to go alone.
She went straight into a run-down building. I followed immediately, confirmed which floor she got off on, then headed up after a short delay. There were multiple doors on the floor and I had no idea which one she had entered, so I was pacing around when a food delivery person left a bag in front of one of the units. A moment later, a blond guy with ridiculously thick forearms opened the door and took the bag inside.
"!!!"
He didn’t see me, but I saw him. It was definitely Han Seong-jin. Yu-ri had entered this building, and Han Seong-jin had come out on this floor…
I clutched my heart, which felt like it was about to explode, and stood in front of that door. I could hear sounds from inside but couldn’t make them out clearly, so I pressed my ear against the door. The soundproofing must have been terrible, because once I got close I could roughly understand what was being said.
"Hngh… Sex! I want sex! I want to have sex!!"
At that moment my world stopped. The woman’s voice coming from inside the door belonged to my childhood friend Lee Yu-ri—the girl I liked, the girl who was supposed to like me. What was she begging for? What on earth had Yu-ri just said? Sex…? Was she saying that to Han Seong-jin? To the guy she used to hate more than anything?
Then came a constant stream of female moans.
"If it feels that good, what do you want me to do next? Say it yourself."
"Sex… Have sex with me! Put it in! I want to do it with you, Seong-jin! I can’t hold back anymore! Hurry…"
Han Seong-jin’s voice spoke as if he already had Yu-ri completely under his control. And Yu-ri’s voice was begging for his affection. Soon her moans grew far more intense than before, and the only sounds leaking through the door were the ragged breathing of a man and woman.
I couldn’t see what they were doing inside, but I knew. Those moans didn’t stop. They would die down for a moment only to surge again; after a long pause they would start once more.
"I like you more! I like you way more than Gong Yeong-bae, Seong-jin!"
Eventually Yu-ri even denied me, acting coquettish toward Han Seong-jin. It was a voice I had never heard from her before. The anger was so intense that my tears wouldn’t stop.
"I love you, Seong-jin-ah!"
After several breaks and more rounds, Yu-ri cried out in climax and confessed her love to Han Seong-jin. At that moment, standing in front of the door, I shed tears and came in my pants. The humiliation was unbearable; I wanted to die.
Afterward the two of them kept pouring out “I love you”s at each other, and Yu-ri’s moans grew so loud that I could hear them faintly even without pressing my ear to the door. An unpleasant wetness soaked my pants, and at the same time something inside me burned away until only blackness remained.
When I looked out the hallway window, quite a lot of time seemed to have passed, but I had no desire to check exactly what time it was. For a moment I even forgot where I was or how to get home. Inside my head, only Yu-ri’s voice saying she loved Han Seong-jin and her moans kept echoing on repeat.
Slowly—very slowly—I staggered away from that cursed building.
Yu-ri hates delinquents. She’s the girl who always liked me. She isn’t the kind of girl who gives her body to a thug she despises, who moans like a whore while screaming that she loves him. The Yu-ri right now is wrong. That isn’t her. Han Seong-jin did this to her. Han Seong-jin ruined Yu-ri.
I have to get her back.
"Yu-ri… is mine."