Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Lee Soyun #1
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Two sleazy-looking guys approached the girl.
"Ah, uh. Um, I... I have to go to cram school..."
She tried to steady her trembling voice as she backed away.
But the men didn't let her off that easily.
"Come on, skip cram school for once. Hang out with us."
Unable to voice a clear refusal, the girl hesitated, and before she knew it, the men were standing right in front of her.
"Heh. She's freaking adorable."
By now, it was too late for her to scream. She was too young, too scared.
'Dad... Mom...'
I should've hurried to cram school.
It's my fault for wasting time in a place like this.
As the girl blamed herself and sank into fear, just as the men's hands reached out for her...
"Stop it!"
The girl and the men's eyes turned toward the same spot.
There stood a boy staring them down.
The handsome boy, about her age, had appeared, and the girl couldn't tear her eyes away from him.
Grateful that he had come to save her, tears welled up in her eyes.
"What the hell, you little punk?"
But the men's fierce glares showed no sign of stopping, and the boy's face quickly hardened.
He had stepped forward confidently, but without a plan, he now looked terrified.
Then, another boy appeared.
The girl couldn't look away from him either.
He was undoubtedly a prince.
Just like the protagonist from the storybook she had stayed up reading the night before...
Unlike his cold demeanor, the brief glance he gave her carried a gentle warmth in his eyes.
And so,
the prince defeated the villains and rescued the princess.
The warmth from the hand clasped in his filled the girl's heart.
My heart's going to burst...
As the boy looked at her flushed face with concern,
following his gaze, vivid colors flooded the black-and-white world of the girl's reality.
In her imagination, she was already a beautiful princess cradled in the arms of her very own prince.
At last, her reality
had become a fairy tale.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Soyun, who had been feeling down, got inexplicably angry.
"Idiot."
Soyun pettily lashed out at Ijin for hiding something from her.
Then she buried her face in her desk.
"...Suddenly?"
"I don't know, idiot."
I like you so much, but you don't even notice.
"It's really nothing big. I'll post it in the group chat later, so check it out."
Keeping secrets with someone else.
Hiding it from me.
Soyun resented Ijin for that.
...
She resented him.
...But she liked him too much.
She liked his voice so much as he tried hard to soothe her.
As if her anger moments ago had been a lie,
her lips curved up foolishly without her realizing it.
Worried it might show, Soyun buried her face deeper in her arms.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ In the end, throughout the entire first period, Lee Soyun kept her head turned away, looking thoroughly sulky.
During the break after first period.
"...Lee Soyun."
"...What."
"Wanna hit the canteen together?"
"...Hmph."
Damn. Not working.
Time to solve the root problem.
I quickly pulled out my phone and posted a long message in the group chat as a pinned announcement.
It was the conversation with Seong Yurin.
"Here. What I talked about with Seong Yurin earlier."
Soyun glanced over at the announcement and pouted.
"...You could've just told me."
"Well, it was annoying to say it twice."
Her sharp glare terrified me.
"Am I annoying?"
"Ah, no. Sorry."
This is bad. I just got her calmed down.
Fortunately, Soyun softened her expression with a deep sigh and tapped Sea, who was chatting with Yoon Jiu in the front row.
"Guys. You see the chat?"
"Huh? No. What's up? Checking now."
Sea and Yoon Jiu both pulled out their phones.
A moment later, Yoon Jiu spoke up after reading it.
"Oh! Right. Sea's birthday's coming up. Spending it at Seong Yurin's place this year?"
"Hee. Thanks for remembering, everyone."
"Of course. We've celebrated together every year."
True that. What number is it now? Ah, my tenth, I think.
"Come to think of it, when are Seong Yurin and Hong Yeonseo's birthdays?"
I subtly glanced their way.
Seong Yurin was deep in study mode even during break, and Hong Yeonseo was chatting with the girls in class.
Sea shot me a look upon hearing me.
"Ijin, you don't check the group chat much, do you?"
"...Yeah."
The three of them sighed in unison.
Sighing too much brings bad luck, you guys.
"Yurin and Yeonseo mentioned it when we first added them to the chat. Scroll up."
I looked at my phone and scrolled; sure enough, there were their intros and casual chit-chat.
Guess I have been pretty oblivious.
"Ahem."
I cleared my throat to gloss over it and played dumb.
I mean, group chats blow up so much that everyone turns off notifications, right...?
And clearing the backlog is a hassle, so I just reset the count.
...Am I the only one?
"Seo Ijin can be so inattentive sometimes."
I didn't want to hear "inattentive" from the protagonist of the world's most oblivious harem romcom.
But since it was clearly my fault this time, I had nothing to say.
I checked their birthdays and pocketed my phone.
"Both are pretty far off."
Seong Yurin in August, Hong Yeonseo in July, I think.
TMI: Soyun's in May, mine's December, Yoon Jiu's January.
With two more in the group, we've added two extra "super-annoying socialite" birthday events.
I'd love if mine just got a quick message and some cash transfer.
Fat chance, though.
"Ah. I'm beat."
As I flopped onto my desk, Sea playfully bonked my head.
"No sleeping."
"Just lying down for the break."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ I survived second period math,
...but ended up dozing off briefly during third period social studies.
During the break after third,
I finally headed to the canteen with Soyun, whose anger had fully subsided.
Not for snacks before lunch—she'd forgotten to buy a notebook for club activities, so we went together to wake me up too.
"Ijin."
"Yeah."
"Got a gift for Sea yet?"
"Nah, not yet. Gotta decide with you."
"Yeah! Hee hee."
Since middle school, after getting close with Soyun, we'd always puzzled over Sea's birthday gift together.
Yoon Jiu handled his own fine.
I'm just awkward picking gifts for others; I struggled a ton in elementary school.
When I asked Soyun for help, she said let's go together, and it's been our annual ritual since.
The canteen welcomed us with Dawn High's characteristically massive scale.
But big meant crowded, so with Soyun behind me, I pushed through the throng.
"Hold on tight."
"Mhm..."
I felt her tiny hand gripping my uniform.
I wove through the gaps in the crowd.
Once past the entrance, it wasn't so bad inside.
"They should expand the counters and entrance."
It's a total bottleneck there.
"Notebooks... Ah, there."
I spotted them for short Soyun.
She scurried over, rummaged through the stack, and pulled out a plain-designed one.
"That one?"
"Yeah."
Soyun liked simple designs.
No hair accessories or phone charms that other girls her age might have one or two of.
Didn't fuss much with casual fashion either.
Thanks to Sea's influence, she'd started grooming a bit more.
Otherwise, she'd probably skip makeup altogether—total lost cause vibes.
Of course, as a heroine, her bare face was still pretty.
"Anything else?"
Soyun scanned around, thought a bit, and said,
"Hmm... Maybe some candy?"
She pointed to a small jar of candies—her sweet tooth showing.
"Candy? Lunch is soon."
"I'll save it for later."
She grabbed a small container of a few pieces and looked at me.
"Nothing for you, Ijin?"
"Nah, just here to wake up."
"Ah! How about this."
She showed me some wake-up gum.
"My treat. For coming along. Heh."
I could've paid, but accepted the small kindness with a nod, and we headed to the counter.
After a short wait, she finished paying and handed me the gum.
"Eat one after lunch if you get sleepy."
"Yeah. Thanks."
We grabbed our stuff and squeezed back through the entrance crowd to class.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ After school.
"Okay, I'll text you about this weekend!"
"Sure."
We set a meetup for the weekend, then split for club activities.
I made my way across the now-familiar sprawling campus to the old building housing the Subculture Club.
Seniors must've had late classes today; I arrived first.
Got the key from the old building office, unlocked the clubroom, and went in.
Flipped on the lights, opened the windows to air out the stale smell.
Let cool breeze circulate, closed them after a bit, and the dust settled.
Then, into the mug I'd brought from home, I scooped some hot chocolate powder—also from home, stashed here—and added hot water from the purifier.
All set.
On my first day, I'd claimed a corner with some shoved-aside desks as my spot and sat there.
Hard to believe how much of my trace was already here, just days after joining.
I glanced around the empty clubroom, then set up pen and paper.
I usually drew on my tablet at home, but not here.
Practicing concept art-style sketches on paper.
Club activities were like this unless something came up.
Everyone doing their own thing.
Pretty minor club, honestly. Advisor teacher, coaches for sports clubs, but here?
Just four members.
We could probably skip and no one'd care.
Other small clubs too. Weird nothing's happened yet.
Ah, right—romcom world.
...Anyway, I get something out of it, seniors are fun, so I keep showing up.
Savoring the loner's three nutrients—warm hot chocolate, quiet, solitude—
the door burst open.
"Junior!!"
"...Yes, Club President."
Two of my three nutrients gone, energy low, but I replied nonchalantly.
"Junior! That girl you went to the canteen with today—is she your girlfriend?!!!"
Too many exclamation points, President. You're loud.
More importantly, what?
"Nah, just a friend from middle school. Same class now. Not girlfriend, girl friend."
"For friends, you two were awfully close!!"
That day, for some reason, calming the hyped-up president meant
my hot chocolate only got one sip before the rest went cold.
Sorry, hot chocolate. Couldn't save you.