Forced Transfer (3)
The sound of rain continued to pour without end, a monotonous drone I was forced to listen to as I made my way back to the classroom. For some reason, the student council guys hadn't followed me... no, they were still trailing behind. Creeping along like shadows. The cheeky one I'd knocked over earlier was huffing and puffing with rage. The big guy remained completely expressionless. The rest hadn't come along—probably had their own things to do. Still, the whole situation was as shitty as ever.
I'd thought about negotiating with my parents that morning over the phone issue, but I'd been too drained to fight back then and had just gone along with whatever they said. I never expected my mind to change so quickly. Honestly, it wasn't even the phone that was the real problem. It was these bastards. Kim Do-hun's annoying little lackeys.
I stared out the hallway window and let out a genuine sigh from my mouth. The Sumatra that had died that morning came to mind. It was the one I'd cherished, the one that had helped me endure those brutal times... One day, my parents had added a bunch of Bipas to the tank, claiming they'd received them as a gift. I'd hated the way the Bipas looked and told them it was a bad idea since the species were natural enemies, but... my parents didn't listen to a word from their son who'd been branded a school violence perpetrator.
Surprisingly, the Bipas and the Sumatra seemed to get along at first. But before I knew it, the Sumatra had died without me noticing and ended up getting torn apart by the Bipas. They never should have been added in the first place... Now, not a trace of the Sumatra's body remained anywhere.
It was only natural that no students were kicking a ball around on the rainy school field. It was only natural that my ornamental fish were gone too. I knew that. But my heart refused to accept it. The moment I got home, I resolved to give the Bipas away for free.
“Hae-in sunbae. I'm sorry.”
The guy who'd been acting so arrogantly toward me suddenly offered an apology out of nowhere. But his face still screamed irritation.
“You don't look sorry at all. If you're just saying it to avoid getting cursed out, stop being so disgusting and get lost.”
“They told me to monitor you during breaks and lunch every day...”
“Hey, kid. Don't you have anything better to do? Stop shoving your face in front of me all the ti— Never mind.”
It was frustrating to see this first-year underclassman blindly following Kim Do-hun's orders, but I held back for now. A glance at the clock showed only about five minutes left in the break.
“Hey, big guy. Why haven't you said a single word?”
I spoke to the one who'd been standing there silently the whole time, but the cheeky one answered instead.
“He's got gastroesophageal reflux disease.”
“Yeah, that happens when you only eat spicy food and then lie down right after.”
The previously expressionless guy glared at me with narrowed eyes. I ignored it and spoke to both of them.
“Don't you two have any opinions of your own? Everyone else is doing their own thing, but you two are just awkwardly standing around monitoring me. This isn't right. You're both being used by those student council sunbaes or whatever they are.”
Since they were first-years, I tried to reason with them and encourage them to change their thinking. Why couldn't they see they weren't even being treated like proper underlings by their bosses? The two of them just stood there with trembling expressions, offering no response.
“Names. Both of you.”
“I'm Park Jun-woo, and this is Jung Min-jae.”
“So the arrogant one is Jun-woo, and the big one is Min-jae. Listen up. Even if you keep doing this, you're dead wrong if you think those guys will give you any kind of reward. No matter how much Kim Do-hun has, none of it will come your way. Any normal person wouldn't even consider making someone spy on another person.”
I told them to think it over carefully before heading back to the classroom. If they had any sense, they'd try to escape being treated like servants.
The bell rang—ding-dong-dang-dong—signaling the end of break, and the two of them finally left. I sat back down at my desk, but studying was the last thing on my mind. All I could do was drift in pointless thoughts.
* * *
Lunchtime arrived. I had to move faster than those calm bastards who would come bursting through the door to monitor me. I could put up with my parents watching me, but I refused to take this shit from a bunch of green first-years. I already felt suffocated at home—I wasn't about to let it happen here too.
I wandered every corner of the new school's hallways... Why do I have to do this? Without remembering which path I'd taken, I eventually sat down on the stairs. I felt pathetic. What the hell was this? Me, running away from other people. Me, dodging everyone like some worthless coward...
“Damn it...”
I swallowed the surge of emotion and simply held my breath. Why did I have to go through this when I hadn't even hurt anyone...? That bastard with the glasses. The son of that politician who'd committed all those dirty deeds and gotten punished by my father. It was all his doing. I didn't know what tricks he'd pulled, but whatever it was, the damage I'd suffered was far greater... I was still trying to suppress the rage boiling inside me, lost and wandering without direction, when—
Rattle, rattle.
Huh? A Ferrero Rocher wrapped in gold foil rolled down the stairs. I stood up and picked up the chocolate. What was this? Stepping out into the hallway, I saw more Ferrero Rochers scattered at regular intervals. Just like the breadcrumbs Hansel and Gretel had dropped to mark their path... I quietly gathered the gold-wrapped chocolates and began following them toward some unknown destination.
Before I knew it, an adventure had begun.
“They dropped a ton of these.”
I shook my head at whoever had clumsily spilled so many Ferrero Rochers and gradually approached the destination. An empty classroom. Maybe an unused study room or something. I picked up the last one. There were so many, it was hard to hold them all in my arms. Fortunately, the door was open. I cautiously approached the other person inside.
A delicious smell wafted through the air. They'd ordered delivery instead of eating school lunch. Or maybe takeout? It wasn't normal. The person was... Eun Na-rin sunbae, a third-year who shared a name with my old friend Gong Na-rin, the one who'd lent me her umbrella that morning. She had spread a pizza box across a desk and was smiling happily. With her medium-length black hair and purple eyes, she was giggling to herself, completely unaware that she'd dropped her chocolates. An eco-bag sat beside her... She was a bit of a mess, but it somehow looked incredibly charming.
“Hey, you dropped all these Ferrero Rochers. I picked them up for you.”
Eun Na-rin finally looked at me, then at her eco-bag, and her face turned bright red. By then, the rain had stopped and the sky had cleared to a brilliant blue. The way the sunlight shone on her was incredibly... beautiful. Just like Gong Na-rin...
I walked over to her without thinking and placed the chocolates back into her eco-bag.
“How did you even carry that pizza box that you ended up dropping all these chocolates from your bag? It's kind of amazing~.”
“Th-that can happen. Don't tell anyone about this!”
“Got it. But why are you eating alone here? And where did you get the pizza from?”
“I've got my ways. I just wanted to be by myself.”
“Alone? Not with your friends?”
“They're all way too obsessed with me. I'm just that amazing, you know.”
Eun Na-rin quickly regained her composure and offered me a slice of pizza. It was Hawaiian. Oh no...
“What's wrong with pineapple? It's sweet and delicious.”
A light scolding for being a picky eater. I didn't want to eat it, but it was free...
Gulp.
It was surprisingly good. It actually worked together...! I'd been completely won over by Hawaiian pizza.
“It's good.”
My reaction brought a satisfied smile to Eun Na-rin's face, and she scooted closer to me.
“Hae-in. When I first saw you coming in soaked from the rain, I thought you were some edgelord with main character syndrome. But you're surprisingly normal. That's a relief~.”
“Thanks for calling me normal.”
She had probably already heard from her friends who I was, but on the surface, there wasn't a trace of the wary looks I'd gotten that morning. I didn't know what she was really thinking, but it felt good that she was being kind to me. It had been so long since I'd received such warm hospitality that I nearly teared up.
“By the way, why did you have so many Ferrero Rochers?”
“A friend's birthday is coming up. I'm helping out.”
“I see. But you know those are all made in China now, right? They switched from Italian production, so they're not as good anymore.”
“Ah, I already opened all the wrappers and dumped them in my bag. I can't even return them now!”
Eun Na-rin looked devastated at the revelation that the Ferrero Rochers were Chinese-made and that she'd wasted her money. The brand had dropped in quality the moment production moved from Italy to China. They used to be luxurious enough that Gong Na-rin would occasionally buy them... but she probably wouldn't anymore.
“Hae-in. You look perfectly fine—why were you walking in the rain like that?”
“I had an umbrella, but I gave it back to the owner.”
“Gave it back to the owner? You're such an idiot. If it were me, I would've ignored them and just kept using it.”
“If I had, I wouldn't be here talking to you right now, sunbae.”
I gave her a bright smile. Her eyes sparkled with amusement as she looked at me.
“Here, I'll give you my number. Hand over your phone~”
“My homeroom teacher confiscated it.”
“Right, because of your record. Hold on.”
She tore a page from her notebook, wrote her number with a mechanical pencil, then handed the pencil to me.
“Your turn!”
And just like that, we exchanged numbers. This third-year sunbae treated me—no hesitation at all—despite my reputation as a school bully.
“I don't know if this is okay. I'm kind of...”
“It's a little rebellion. I know you're a bad kid, but... hehe.”
The empty study room still smelled of pizza, and the sky outside had cleared completely. It felt like fresh air just for me. For Na-rin sunbae, it was probably just a small act of defiance.
* * *
School ended before I knew it. After getting my phone back, I saved Na-rin sunbae's number and sent her a KakaoTalk message.
The message tone chimed back almost immediately. Already? I'd thought it'd be later.
With that, I'd formed a new connection. I walked along the rain-soaked paths toward the bus stop. Now... it was time to reorganize my priorities. I was sinking back into gloom when—
You? One of the sycophants who'd been sucking up to that politician's son came walking straight toward me. What the hell? He looked absolutely terrified.
“Hae-in... I'll tell you everything, so please just... No, I'm really sorry...”
He was babbling incoherently. I took a small step back to create some distance.
“Calm down. Tell me what's going on, slowly.”
It looked like today was going to be an incredibly long day.