Chapter 120: Friend
About a month had passed since June enrollment.
My girls had succeeded in making new friends, but me...?
"Shit."
I was alone.
I had Nayeong as my girlfriend.
Still, the girls who clearly showed interest in me even without asking were almost too beautiful, so the guys in my class looked at me unfavorably.
Occasionally some of them would approach and talk to me, but every single one was just a thug who had immediately confessed to one of my girls, gotten rejected, and still couldn't give up and kept barging in on them.
So of course I had no friends.
Plenty of enemies, though.
"Haah..."
Before I returned to the past, I'd thought that if I could go back, I wouldn't need friends at all.
But no matter how many beautiful women I kept by my side—
Even though I held nearly ten women, not just one—loneliness was something I couldn't do anything about.
Even if we were on the same wavelength, in the end there's bound to be a difference between men and women.
"Hm? What's up?"
Nayeong, who had been sitting on my lap like a chair, turned to me and asked as I gently stroked her waist and patted her.
"I'm going to drop by Class 3 for a bit."
"Class 3...? Ah. Okay, got it."
Nayeong obediently got up when I said I was going to Class 3.
"Have fun~!"
She smiled brightly and saw me off with an incredibly beautiful smile.
"Yeah."
Going to the class right next door was nothing, but we acted dramatically anyway. Not content to just walk out, I kissed her lips before leaving the classroom.
I walked over and arrived at Class 3.
It was break time, so the classroom was buzzing.
I swung the door open and stepped inside, and all eyes turned to me.
I was so well known among first-years that there was hardly anyone who didn't know me, so once the gazes locked on me, they didn't let go.
Some were even whispering about me."
Well, they were just jealous.
They had less money than me, inferior looks, and no girl that liked them, so out of envy they freely badmouthed me among themselves.
Did they think I'd suddenly disappear, or that Nayeong would inexplicably start hating me, or that my handsome face would turn ordinary?
All of it was meaningless. I almost felt sorry for them.
I forced myself to ignore those guys and walked over to a boy who was notably alone.
Naturally, I sat down in front of him.
"Yo, Jaehyeon."
"..."
The boy I'd met at the academy—the one who had a crush on Chaeyeon even though he'd said he gave up.
I greeted Jaehyeon.
"Mm. Was that wrong?"
When I was young—
That is, before I regressed, around this time—that kind of greeting had been slightly trendy, so I tried it out, but Jaehyeon looked at me like I was crazy, then averted his eyes.
I guess I was embarrassing myself.
Do the in-crowd not do this anymore? If so, well… I'd be embarrassed too."
"Jaehyeon. PC bang today?"
"I have to go to the academy..."
"You're going to the academy again?"
"Yeah..."
I hated Jaehyeon for always using the academy as an excuse to run away whenever I asked him to hang out.
I was dying to play together like this, but watching him flee into the shelter of his academy made me sad.
"Just skip it for one day."
"I can't... They'll call my house."
"Tsk."
Honestly, I wasn't convinced.
He went to so many academies, but his grades were only mid-to-upper tier. Did he really need to attend all of them?"
Personally, I think that if you're not in the top tier—or more accurately, the very top—you don't need to study at all.
After all, you'll enter a mediocre university, drop studying entirely, and just goof off.
Sure, entering a good university makes a slight difference, but even then, the name of a good school just gives you a head start of a few steps compared to others.
Anyway, mediocre grades aren't much different from rock-bottom ones, so unless you're going to start a business or go into a technical trade, studying is utterly meaningless.
Maybe that was why my vision blurred a little—that bitter experience made my eyes well up.
"I'll pay."
"..."
"Ramen? A drink? My treat."
"..."
The firmly rejecting Jaehyeon's eyes shook restlessly.
Since I said I'd cover not only the PC bang fee but also the ramen and a drink, it wasn't easy for him to turn down this time either.
If we played games for about two or three hours, the PC bang cost would be 3000 won. Ramen and a drink would be 2500 won."
That was almost the same as handing him 5500 won for free.
To me it was pocket change—boringly trivial—but to Jaehyeon, it wasn't something to brush off lightly.
"If you want to eat something else, I'll buy you more. How does that sound?""
Jaehyeon, who knew I was rich, fell into deep thought.
He must have known I wasn't joking because I had enough money to buy him anything.
His resolve finally seemed to waver; his eyes sparkled as he opened his mouth—
"Hey. If he's treating like that, you should just go, right?"
A boy with a really rough face had approached us at some point. He patted Jaehyeon on the back of the head, then stroked it as he spoke.
He looked exactly like a thug, but you shouldn't judge people by their face.
I was over 180 cm tall and had built some muscle from steady exercise, so I was fairly big."
But this guy was a little taller than me, with a boar-like, massive build and a menacing impression—no matter how you looked at him, he was the very image of a thug.
Even with that appearance, he might have a gentle heart inside.
And since he was friends with Jaehyeon, maybe I had a chance too.
"Wanna come too?"
"What?"
"I'll pay. I'll buy for you too."
"..."
He stared at me blankly, as if he never expected me to say that to him too.
"Do you know who I am?"
"No? I don't."
"Then why are you buying for me?"
"Just because. It's better to have more people to play games with."
I had lots of pretty girls and plenty of money, but the big problem was that I lacked friends to show off to.
Even if they treated me like a sucker, I didn't care.
All I wanted was to brag about the things I'd never been able to brag about, and to somehow make friends—real friends—who felt so achingly nostalgic.
"I guess... that makes sense. Deal. Let's go."
This guy didn't seem to know who I was.
It was safe to say there was no one in the school who didn't know me—just from the fact that I not only had an incredibly pretty girl named Nayeong as my girlfriend but was also extremely close with other equally pretty girls.
First years, second years, third years—
Even among the teachers, I was famous.
"You must be rich, huh?"
"Rolling in it."
"Then we'd better get close."
He truly seemed not to know me, blurting it out as he extended his hand.
"I'm Cheolyong. Park Cheolyong."
"Oh. That's a unique name. Sounds like something out of a '90s period movie."
I took the hand of Cheolyong, who had such a unique name.
"Lee Jihoon. The name of the man whose ass you'll be sucking."
"Pwahahaha!"
Cheolyong burst into hearty laughter and nodded.
"What'd you eat this morning?"
"Curry."
"Man, your tongue's gonna stink of curry all day."
"Heh heh heh."
I felt like Cheolyong and I would become good friends who clicked well.
*
When I told my girls that I'd made a new friend in Class 3, they absolutely refused to believe me.
I couldn't really blame them—I'd gone without friends this whole time and then suddenly made one.
Still, it stung a little to know I'd been branded as someone who would live his whole life alone without friends.
Anyway, after the school day ended, I told my girls I was going out with Jaehyeon and my new friend Cheolyong, then left the classroom first and ran over to Class 3.
When I arrived in front of Class 3, the homeroom period had just ended and students were coming out.
"Oh. You were waiting."
Cheolyong came out of the classroom and greeted me with a bright smile.
"Where's Jaehyeon?"
"I brought him."
"Ugh..."
Jaehyeon must have wanted to run away because he didn't want to get scolded at home for ditching the academy over a mere 5500 won, but Cheolyong had him firmly in his grip.
"What, you don't want to play?"
"..."
I widened my eyes as much as I could and met his gaze. Jaehyeon let out a deep sigh.
"Only today..."
"Oh!"
In the end, Jaehyeon agreed to hang out with us.
"But, uh... can you let go of this now..."
Cheolyong was still gripping the back of Jaehyeon's collar, pulling his shirt up, leaving his cute belly button completely exposed.
"Ah. Sorry."
His face was flushed bright red from the humiliation and embarrassment.
Unfazed, I led the two of them out of school."
I saw my girls walking in the distance, but I headed in the opposite direction from them.
"So. Anything you guys want to eat? I'll buy."
"Anything?"
"Anything."
"Okay. I'm picking right now."
Cheolyong, as if he'd been waiting, went into the convenience store and picked up a banana milk and a bag of chips.
"That's it?"
"?"
I never dreamed he'd only pick those two things.
Even though I knew I shouldn't judge by appearances, he looked like he'd rob the store, so I expected him to grab a lot more, but it was surprisingly modest.
"Nah. What about you?"
"Me... I'm fine."
"Shut up and pick."
"O-Okay."
Jaehyeon picked the same things as Cheolyong—a banana milk and a bag of chips.
"Awesome~ Thanks. Want me to suck your ass right now? I'll do an amazing job."
"Nah. Let's just go play games."
I laughed off Cheolyong's joking remark, and we arrived at the PC bang.