Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Sports Festival #9
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“Yes. It’s fine.”
Yoon Jiu finished his phone call with his parents and slumped back onto the bed, all the tension draining from his body.
“What did they say?”
Lee Sea, who had been sitting quietly beside him the whole time, cautiously spoke up.
Yoon Jiu turned his head to answer her.
“They said they’ll come right after work.”
“I see.”
“...They mentioned you guys too.”
“......Really?”
Lee Sea’s eyes widened slightly, and the two others next to her also glanced up at Yoon Jiu.
“They didn’t say much, so don’t worry about it. Anyway, how’d the relay go?”
“The relay? We pulled off a comeback somehow. Yeonseo was incredible.”
At Lee Sea’s words, Hong Yeonseo—who now had all eyes on her—crossed her arms and worked her pursed lips.
“Seo Ijin too.”
The moment Seo Ijin’s name came up, Yoon Jiu’s brow twitched.
Lee Sea noticed the subtle shift and let out a small sigh.
“Ah. Yeah. Good job. Anyway, sorry. For falling like such an idiot. With my leg like this, the sports festival’s pretty much done for me.”
“Yeah... Couldn’t be helped. Hope you get better quick.”
“Dunno. They said I’ll need the cast on for at least two weeks.”
“...Ah.”
Lee Sea awkwardly clasped her hands together and rubbed the backs of them.
Hong Yeonseo, who had been watching their exchange, leaned back comfortably in her chair and muttered in a casual tone.
“Still, they found replacements for you. Just rest up.”
The words themselves were innocuous, but somehow everyone there sensed a hint of mockery in her attitude.
Naturally, Yoon Jiu wasn’t immune to it either, and his expression soured as he heard her.
Seeing Yoon Jiu’s crumpled face, Lee Soyun hesitantly tried to rein Hong Yeonseo in.
“Y-Yeonseo... Why say it like that...”
As Lee Soyun shook her with anxious eyes, Hong Yeonseo switched up her demeanor.
“Ah. Sorry. I won’t say anything else.”
She whipped her head around and flashed Lee Soyun an utterly innocent smile—the thorny vibe from moments ago completely gone, replaced by pure cheer.
Yoon Jiu’s frown deepened, his lips twitching, but in the end, he didn’t say a word.
“...What’d the doctor say? Can you make it to school tomorrow?”
Lee Sea, picking up on the awkward tension, steered the conversation elsewhere.
“Yeah. Not serious enough for admission, so I’m discharging tonight.”
“That’s a relief.”
Yoon Jiu smirked at Lee Sea’s utterly sincere words, without a trace of pretense.
The three others shot him puzzled looks at the sudden laugh, but he just shook his head.
Whatever thought or meaning lay behind that smile... only Yoon Jiu himself knew.
Silence settled over the hospital room once more.
Lee Sea glanced toward the door.
“The others are running late? We were gonna hand over some drinks from the convenience store and let you rest easy...”
“Do something together, you two.”
Yoon Jiu murmured softly at her words, the corners of his mouth twitching like he was holding back a grin.
And yet, his gaze remained fixed on Hong Yeonseo.
“...Guess they’re debating what to get.”
Hong Yeonseo ignored Yoon Jiu’s little jab entirely, staring off into the distance.
Lee Soyun answered in her place.
“Oh right. Sea, now that Jiu’s out... won’t handling class president stuff alone be tough?”
Hong Yeonseo, who’d been quiet until then, turned to Lee Sea.
Lee Sea panicked at the question.
She’d told everyone about what happened in the staff room on the way to the hospital.
Which meant...
Hong Yeonseo already knew Seo Ijin was stepping in for Yoon Jiu’s vice class president duties.
Oblivious to Lee Sea’s fluster, Yoon Jiu spoke up.
“Yeah. Sports fest prep’s gonna be hectic. ...Why not get someone else to cover?”
“Hmm~ I’ve got a ton of events to compete in, so I’m pretty busy. Sorry, Sea.”
In truth, the vice president role had little to do with competing, but Hong Yeonseo turned it down anyway.
“Th-that. Sigh...”
Lee Sea sighed and pressed on.
“I went to ask the teacher which hospital you were at earlier. She assigned the vice president duties to Ijin.”
“...What?”
Yoon Jiu bit his lower lip.
“Ha. Yeah. If Ijin’s covering, that’s reassuring.”
His expression didn’t match his words one bit.
Lee Sea let out yet another silent sigh—god knows how many that made.
To get back to their old dynamic, she realized they’d need to sort out Yoon Jiu’s antagonism toward Seo Ijin... and Hong Yeonseo’s toward Yoon Jiu.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ “Looks like other kids came to visit too.”
I nodded at Lee Sea’s comment.
“Yeah. Guy’s popular, all things considered.”
Hong Yeonseo snorted at that.
“Guess we didn’t really need to bother going.”
Hong Yeonseo probably hadn’t wanted to come from the start.
“Yeonseo...”
Lee Sea called her name, but Hong Yeonseo just huffed.
“Hmph.”
“Haha...”
Yoon Jiu was one thing, but it looked like Hong Yeonseo needed soothing too.
They used to bicker and play around like it was all a joke, but now it felt real.
I got why she was pissed at him, though.
Everyone mulled over Yoon Jiu in their own way, and silence fell for a moment.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“So, about practice—what’s the plan?”
“...Ah.”
Seong Yurin deflated at Hong Yeonseo’s words.
“Practice?”
Lee Soyun looked baffled as she asked.
“We were gonna do three-legged relay practice this evening.”
“Oh, aaah. That...”
Lee Soyun finally caught on, shooting envious glances at Hong Yeonseo and Seong Yurin all the while.
Hong Yeonseo bringing up practice sparked a natural question.
“So, heading back to school like this?”
Hong Yeonseo tilted her head at me.
“Do we have to? The park works fine.”
“...Dude. Park’s packed at this hour.”
It was empty early in the morning, sure—but evenings drew tons of locals out for walks or light exercise.
“So what? We’re not doing anything sketchy.”
“It’s sketchy enough.”
Lee Sea, who’d been listening in, laughed and chimed in.
“Then I’ll come watch too.”
“Sweet. Let’s go!”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ “We’re seriously doing this here...?”
“What’s the big deal? Gotta practice to get good~”
Hong Yeonseo beamed as she smoothly pulled out the cloth.
The neatly folded fabric unfurled toward our ankles. Her fingers wriggled as she bound our feet together, the soft material tickling our legs.
...That lady passing by just glanced over.
“Fighting~”
Lee Sea and Lee Soyun cheered from the bench nearby, casually munching on ice cream.
I slid my opposite ankle toward Seong Yurin.
“I’ll tie it.”
Seong Yurin took the cloth Hong Yeonseo had prepped for me, bent down, and carefully knotted it tight.
“All set? Okay, unlike this morning—let’s start slow this time.”
“Yeah.”
“Got it.”
In truth, she just needed to take it easy.
...But I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud.
Taking a close-range chop from this girl might rupture my guts.
Kidding, of course.