Love Never Goes as Planned
Kang Hyeona had known her place since she was little.
Not from the very beginning—only once she turned four, around the time memories first began to take shape.
"Hyeona, from now on you have to take good care of him. Got it?"
"Why?"
"Because Hyeongmin is a boy. You have to protect him well."
"……."
She couldn't understand it. This was before she had even learned about gender roles. At most, wasn't he just a friend she played with at kindergarten?
Then one day, when her father fussed over that friend named Kim Hyeongmin more than over her, Kang Hyeona naturally understood.
Ah. So he's more important than me.
Important enough that the parents who loved her would, even for a moment, look after him more carefully than her.
That child was someone special.
The moment she realized it, Kang Hyeona's heart settled into a surprising calm.
And so, for more than ten years after that, Kang Hyeona always stuck close to Kim Hyeongmin.
They grew used to each other, yet remarkably, she felt nothing for him. If anything, her feelings had gone cold.
Maybe it was simply the childhood conviction that she had to look after him. Or maybe it was a kind of rebellion that had grown as she got older.
Geunmukjahuk—near ink, one is blackened. That four-character idiom described Kang Hyeona perfectly.
By nature, Kim Hyeongmin was closer to a villain. Someone who took genuine pleasure in hurting others and making them suffer.
In that sense, Kang Hyeona sometimes showed a rare crane-among-chickens quality. She did the things he ordered at his side, yet she never enjoyed them. She kept a stance closer to neutrality.
But nothing changed. Whether directly or indirectly, the fact remained that she had played a part in Kim Hyeongmin tormenting people.
"Let's go."
"Yeah."
Kim Hyeongmin, Kang Hyeona, and Park Hyorin gathered. Of the three, only Park Hyorin's gaze wandered elsewhere.
Kim Hyeongmin's eyes always held Kang Hyeona. A good body, good grades—literally a pure, flawless existence. And she never chased after boys. She was the closest thing to his ideal type.
That woman named Kang Hyeona.
"Something wrong? You look down."
"…Is it that obvious?"
Kang Hyeona, by contrast, was cold as a company employee just getting through the workday. Her mouth held considerate words meant to please him, but her heart felt closer to habit, routine, or simply a job.
I have to keep him in a good mood. I have to look after him.
And so his feelings never quite reached her.
Was it because they were teenagers?
The distance between Class 1-5 and Class 1-3 was fairly long. Classes 1, 2, and 3 stayed on the first floor; Classes 5 and 6 were on the second. Meaning they had to go down the stairs.
As Kang Hyeona walked, her gaze stayed fixed ahead. Whether she felt Kim Hyeongmin's eyes on her or not, she was thinking of the male lead from the novel she had just been reading.
A political marriage. A story that began with a man who waited more than ten years for the wife who had fled the family promise made in their childhood.
Just imagining it made her heart race. Ironically, Kim Hyeongmin was losing out to a novel character.
And then they arrived at Class 3.
As she headed for the door almost in passing, Kang Hyeona's eyes began to widen.
His hair was truly beautiful—dark as if the night sky itself had been painted across it. Eyes that shone with the clear brilliance of set rubies. Skin as fair and smooth as milk, and lips tinged with a fresh, tempting flush.
Without realizing it, Kang Hyeona was painting the opening of a novel in her mind. A work of pure fiction. There were many media, but the one she enjoyed most was novels.
Yes—she could hardly believe that someone who belonged only in the pages of a story existed in reality. For the first time, as if she had fallen for someone, her expression went blank.
Love at first sight? Bewitched by beautiful looks? Just like the metaphors and sentences in novels, she was being captivated by a student she had never seen before in her life.
She was so deeply absorbed that she failed to notice the gaze that had gone cold enough to freeze falling snow.
Kang Hyeona took Han Sein into her eyes.
Her name is Kang Hyeona.
Figured as much.
It felt like electricity running through my body. Similar to what I had felt with Jeong Ayeong, yet different.
The figure I saw through the window… was a delinquent. Still, since she was a special soul, if I put it differently—an extremely pretty delinquent?
It might have been prejudice born from how much Ayeong feared her, but that was the first impression. Even just the face made the atmosphere leap out. Fox-like eyes and long bangs falling in a clean see-through fringe. Black hair, black eyes—a typical Korean. But she was a beauty. That much was undeniable. More beautiful than the girl who had come to fetch Ayeong before.
"You okay?"
A few seconds that felt longer than several minutes passed. Kang Hyeona seemed to snap back to herself and stepped into the classroom. Ayeong kept her head bowed low, eyes filled with fear. Even when I asked if she was all right, no answer came.
"Ayeong~ Unnie Hyorin's here! Aren't you going to say hello?"
"……."
Thump, thump. A woman lightly smacking the top of her head with her palm as she spoke. It was the same girl I had seen last time. So her name was Hyorin?
The classroom atmosphere turned ice-cold in an instant. Even the girls who usually put on airs were suddenly busy with their own work. This was Seoul, after all—no one was going to cross Kim Hyeongmin's group, who had backing and no one to stop them.
The assessment came faster than expected. With Important Souls Jeong Ayeong and Kang Hyeona gathered in one place, I started figuring out how to use the situation.
The answer came quickly. Han Sein, with nothing to his name, a background close to an orphan. A beggar, so of course he would make a mistake in front of a king who had shown up without warning, right? Even more so if he was a little beggar who still didn't know how the world worked.
"Get up, get up. Let's go play for a bit?"
"No."
"…?"
A look that said, Who the hell are you? Seeing desire bloom in those eyes made her seem like an honest person. The hand that had been hitting the back of Ayeong's head stopped.
A quiet voice ringing through the classroom. The students' eyes were on the floor, but their nerves and attention were all pointed at me.
"She promised to teach me math problems."
"……."
Yeah. I knew it too—how absurd that reason was. But I was looking past Hyorin. The words were aimed at Kim Hyeongmin, the one controlling her.
I didn't say it outright. Didn't tell them to stop bullying her or ask what they thought they were doing. Instead I offered a different reason and shielded my friend Jeong Ayeong.
And those words seemed to leave quite an impression. In the crossed gazes, my eyes met Kang Hyeona's. I saw pupils filled with a trembling, confused heart.
Then the voice of Kim Hyeongmin, who had been watching the situation in silence, reached us. It started with a burst of laughter.
"Puhaha! Interesting. You don't know who I am?"
"We're in different classes. How would I?"
I answered him clearly, word by word—clear enough to be irritating. The moment I finished speaking, both Ayeong and Hyeona's bodies flinched at the same time. In reality it was no different from David standing before Goliath. The height difference was barely ten centimeters, but still.
"I'm Kim Hyeongmin."
"Oh. I'm Han Sein."
"You're an interesting kid, huh?"
I just shrugged without answering. Kim Hyeongmin's eyelids twitched faintly, then he spun around. He brushed Kang Hyeona's shoulder as if dusting something off, patting it lightly.
"Let's go."
"R-Really?"
"She has to teach him math problems, right? We shouldn't interrupt. They look good together."
"……."
As if he were chewing and swallowing every word. The way that last line landed unpleasantly wasn't just my imagination. I didn't know what kind of storm it would become, but I had succeeded in making eye contact with the souls. The situation was quite to my liking.
Just like that, Kim Hyeongmin's group left the classroom.
The first to break the silence was Jeong Ayeong.
"Why… did you do that?"
"Hm?"
Not gratitude. Not silence. A single line laced with resentment.
You have acquired 6 Points!
Looks like there was an emotional shift. When I tilted my head, Ayeong bit down hard on her lip. Wondering what she should say? I get it—I don't know either.
"We're seatmates."
"…Seatmates?"
"You looked like you were having a hard time just from looking. Of course I should help."
Ayeong fell silent. Honestly, it was sophistry. If it had bothered me that they were bullying a friend, I should have helped from the first time I saw her. But she wasn't free enough to make that kind of deduction. Proof of that was the points still rising even now.
Anxiety, Worry.
I know. Shut up.
I spat an irritated curse at the hologram. Math class would be starting soon, after all. Just thinking about studying made my head hurt.
"G-Good?"
"Yeah. It's delicious."
I suppose I should call it fortunate. Contrary to my worries, Kim Hyeongmin's group didn't do a single thing to me all the way home. I shared quiet conversation with my noona while eating dinner. Normally I wouldn't have said a word, but ever since that day things had been changing little by little. The speed was faster than expected, which was a relief. She was one of the Important Souls too, after all.
And a few days later, the price for shielding Jeong Ayeong arrived—slowly, yet intensely.
"…?"
The male students who always used to come over to my seat to chat started ignoring me as if I had become invisible.