Chapter 44

"......."

I nearly died of embarrassment during lunch.

No, honestly, it's more accurate to say I nearly died because my heart, pounding way too hard, almost burst.

Seriously, what kind of guy could possibly dislike being fed by two beautiful girls pressed right up against him on both sides?

Of course, if that had happened in my previous life, terror and panic would've come before any pleasure. Distance wouldn't have mattered—the mere combination of an adult and a teenager practically invited legal trouble, and if rumors started spreading that we were 'dating,' my life would've been over.

Not that something like that ever had the slightest chance of happening to the old me.

Anyway, after those two had thoroughly shaken me down to some deep corner of my soul throughout lunch, I decided to dial things back a little for the afternoon classes.

Come to think of it, there was no reason I'd needed to have Ha-neul sit on my lap during first period, or for me to sit on hers. A teacher might object if we dragged her desk over to mine, but what if I moved my desk to hers? That was different. I was already sitting in my chair; it wasn't like I was going to move it.

Sure, if I'd acted this way from the start, the other students might have paid far less attention. But thanks to the provocative display we gave them during first period, even just the sight of us sitting with our desks pushed together was enough to make kids keep glancing our way.

Then, during the next break, Lee Su-a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠came to our classroom herself and argued that having me sit beside her would be even more effective, so I ended up visiting her classroom for the next period.

There was no spare desk, obviously, so I just dragged a chair over, groaning as I went. I had to move it alone, since a teacher was bound to show up and tell me to stop if anyone helped.

Groaning, I went into Class 6, sat down next to Lee Su-a, and she immediately pulled my left arm over and tucked it against her right side.

And she stayed like that for the entire class.

It wasn't quite the same as when I sat on Ha-neul's lap, but it was still mortifying.

Of course, it was also ridiculously effective at drawing the students' stares.

*

"......Why are you so slumped over before we've even started running?"

That's what Nam Da-un asked when he saw me. I was completely drained after class—my brain had overloaded and short-circuited multiple times.

"Things happened," I answered, sprawled out flat on the ground after changing into my gym clothes.

Up to now, whenever I changed in the locker room, I'd focused on changing as fast as possible at my locker while avoiding looking anywhere. Honestly, no one ever paid particular attention to me, so I'd adapted to changing clothes faster than I'd expected. As long as they treated me like a rock, I just treated them like a rock right back.

But when I changed into gym clothes after school before running, it was just the three of us in the locker room: me, Ha-neul, and Lee Su-a. The soccer club got changed before we even showed up, and more importantly, they barely had any girls. There were enough guys to form a team, but not many girls were eager to play soccer—the club just sort of let them join in during training.

......Though if you followed those girls' gazes to where Nam Da-un was, they didn't exactly seem like soccer was their real goal.

At any rate, that meant it was pretty much just the three of us when we changed in there.

Before, I'd been so consumed with figuring out how to save my own skin that by the time after school came, I hadn't had the mental space to notice my surroundings while changing. All I thought about was how to escape the Chairwoman. Those quiet moments spent changing in silence had been a good time to dwell on those worries, too.

So I hadn't paid any attention to the sound of Ha-neul or Lee Su-a changing—

Swish, swish.

But today, after spending all day with our skin pressed together one way or another, yes, that phrasing sounds seriously weird, but honestly there's no other way to describe it, I noticed the sound of fabric brushing against skin as the two of them changed.

Their bodies had been warm. Whether that was because Ye Sa-ra's body temperature runs low, or because they'd gotten a little flushed from embarrassment while pressed against me, I can't say for sure. What I know is that the places we'd been touching, mostly the arms and sides where we'd linked elbows, had gotten slightly damp. Their bodies were that warm.

And from being pressed together, I felt like I'd grasped the rough shapes of their bodies through their clothes, too. What you know from sight and what you perceive through touch are completely different things. Today, entirely against my will, I'd been made starkly aware of just how good their figures were.

So, before I could get any more conscious of it, I'd hurriedly changed and come outside, then flopped down spread-eagle on the track.

Ah, honestly, I'm at the point where I just want to sleep like this, hard ground and all.

"Just, things happened."

"Right. It sure looked like things happened."

Nam Da-un plopped down a few steps from my face and answered. Then, narrowing his brow slightly, he asked:

"You know rumors are spreading, right?"

"Rumors have spread?"

Ah, well, of course they had. Lee Su-a had told me herself—that some kids in her class were talking about me and Ha-neul.

"What kind of rumors?"

I shot upright and asked, and Nam Da-un braced his hand against the ground, leaning back a little. He thought for a moment, then answered.

"Let's see... that during class you spent ages pressed up against someone you seem to be dating, in some incredibly inappropriate position."

Completely accurate.

"That you poured water on a famous bald teacher's head."

An utterly objective description of the situation.

"That you seem to be trying to add another lover for some reason...... What's with that look?"

I'd been grinning as I listened, and she said that with a slightly displeased expression.

"No, nothing. Whoever passed the news along, it's just very accurate."

"Is it really?"

"Yes. All true. All of it happened just today."

Ah, I'm actually feeling proud. If I'd known it would be this effective, I would've started sooner. Of course, I probably couldn't have managed the whole rubbing-up-against-another-girl thing, but at least pouring water on a teacher's head would've been doable.

"What on earth makes you do stuff like that?"

"Just, I'm sick of people treating me like nothing."

I said that and shifted my gaze to where the other soccer club members were gathered. They'd been staring this way even from a distance, faces brimming with overwhelming curiosity, but the moment our eyes met, they hurriedly looked away.

"So basically, you just want attention?"

"Not just attention. Honestly, it's a bit of me taking out my anger, too."

Especially the rage I felt toward those adults—adults who called themselves teachers yet led the charge in dismissing Ye Sa-ra.

"Heh."

Nam Da-un made that sound. What kind of feeling was behind it? Admiration? A sigh?

After saying that much, I stood up, brushing the dirt off my backside with my hands. Nam Da-un stood up as well, stretched, and said,

"So, shall we start running now?"

"No."

"Huh?"

When I shot down that proposal instantly, Nam Da-un let out that sound.

"More importantly, when does soccer club training start? They can't just stand around gathered like that forever."

"Well."

Nam Da-un lowered the arms he'd stretched up and stared blankly toward the soccer club huddled in the distance.

"Lately, after you guys leave. I'm technically in the soccer club, too, even if it's just in name. I have to join them when they train."

"Sounds like you don't really take club activities all that seriously."

"Well, yeah."

Nam Da-un shrugged.

"I'm only here because the captain begged me."

"And this captain, how serious is he about soccer?"

At my question, Nam Da-un narrowed his eyes and stared straight at me.

"......No matter what, don't interfere during training. He looks gentle, but when he gets mad he's terrifying, you know?"

Well, unless I broke a club member's leg or something, he'd probably just keep ignoring me like he always did.

Of course, today I intended to put an end to that, too.

"I don't plan on making him mad."

I gave Nam Da-un a smile as I said that.

"So, where are the soccer balls?"

*

"Done already?"

The captain asked as Nam Da-un trudged over, hands in his uniform pockets.

"She says she doesn't feel like running today. Said she'll just exercise a bit on her own over there and then head out...... so."

Nam Da-un drew his shoulders in slightly.

"She'll take care of herself, I guess."

"Is that so......?"

After saying that, the captain looked toward where Ye Sa-ra was. She was loitering near the storage shed. The sight made him a little uneasy, but she didn't seem to be gearing up to cause any trouble. Not yet.

"Hey, but listen."

The captain dropped his voice as low as he could.

"Did you ask about that rumor? You know, the one about those girls spending the whole class period......"

"......."

Nam Da-un looked up at him with a look of disbelief, and the captain hastily straightened his back, clearing his throat with a loud "Ahem, ahem!"

"Alright, now that everyone's here, let's get started with today's training!"

"Heh......."

Faced with that miraculous change in attitude, Nam Da-un only let out a short, dumbfounded sigh.

*

And so, the soccer club's training began.

The soccer club captain was pretty serious about soccer, but not to a life-or-death degree. Though Hwayeong High School's soccer club was fairly strong, it almost never produced professional players. Most students planned to inherit their family businesses later. For them, club activities were rarely more than a way to build memories of their teenage years.

That was also the fundamental reason a mostly boys' team accepted a small number of girls. They weren't going to use them as actual team assets anyway, so they essentially helped them train at the level of assisting a hobby.

Even the captain himself planned to inherit his father's company, so if there was anyone in this club with a real shot at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠going pro, it was probably only Nam Da-un. The captain thought that was such a waste that he'd begged Nam Da-un to stay on as a member, but...... well, relative to his talent, Nam Da-un hadn't exactly shown a burning desire to keep playing soccer.

At any rate, the soccer club was still the soccer club. The captain intended to play hard until graduation, and accordingly, he took training seriously.

......Right. Impossibly seriously.

Even during dribbling drills, he coached each individual girl with surprising earnestness. The girls who'd probably just come to stare at Nam Da-un's face, even they gradually improved under the captain's slow, sincere guidance over a long period. Some kids quit right away, but some surprisingly developed a hobby for it and kept showing up for training, which the captain found genuinely rewarding.

......Right. He'd found it rewarding.

Until today, when he saw the three people playing with a ball near the girls doing their dribbling drills.

Sure, out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the three, two of them at least had some 'athletic sense.' Not player-level, of course, but about on par with the other girls who'd passed through here.

But just one.

One girl was losing a fight with the ball. Over and over.

"Ngack!"

She tried to kick the ball, stepped on it instead, slipped, and went sprawling flat onto the artificial turf. The two girls nearby yelped in shock and dashed toward her.

The girl who'd fallen was 'Ye Sa-ra.'

The person he had to ignore, no matter what, because of all the complicated incidents tangled around her.

"......."

Of all the balls, the one she'd stepped on and tripped over rolled right up next to the captain's foot.

He sidestepped it. As if he hadn't seen the ball at all.

In response, the girl who'd fallen sprang right up, ran over, and started kicking the ball again. While sneaking little glances at the other girls who were exercising.

But it was completely, utterly wrong.

What should he say; the problem wasn't even how she kicked the ball; her running form itself was awkward. The way she moved her feet, the way she balanced her body as she moved.

"......."

The captain clenched his fist tight.

He wanted to correct her.

He wanted to correct her so badly.

The soul he'd cultivated over the past year as soccer club captain, teaching other girls, his feelings for soccer, were being outright negated by this flopping-around motion that looked like a squid trying to run around.

"Ughik!"

This time ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she tried to kick the ball, missed it completely with her foot, and plopped over sideways.

"......."

Ye Sa-ra got up again and nudged the ball with her foot as if attempting a dribble, but the ball rolled off somewhere she never could've predicted.

"......."

Having chased the ball down again, Ye Sa-ra picked it up and tossed it high into the air. She moved her head as though going for a header, but the ball had been thrown too high and sailed clean over her, behind her.

......And then Ye Sa-ra repeated that sequence three times.

A full three times.

Exactly the same way.

And then she picked up the ball one more time—

"That's not how you do it!"

—and the captain, watching that spectacle, shouted those words before he even knew what he was doing.

"......Ah."

A moment later, the captain regretted it.

Because his outburst had been unmistakably aimed at Ye Sa-ra. Anyone could see that.

"......."

Ye Sa-ra, still holding the ball, was staring straight at him.

And then, after giving the captain a small smile, she ran toward him.

"Not how I do it?"

"No, I, uh, well."

The sounds of movement around them gradually died down. Everyone was looking this way. The other club members were staring at the captain with their mouths slightly open, as if they couldn't believe what he'd done.

"Then how should I do it?"

He'd screwed up.

The captain could feel beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

"Will you teach me?"

The 'Walking Misfortune' looked up at the captain and beamed.

And ironically enough, that smile carried no malice whatsoever.