Trouble
Even with what had happened on the way to school, nothing had really changed.
Maybe just a hint of bewilderment mixed into the stares that followed us? The unfriendly looks and the gossip were still there, but it seemed like the faintest trace of change was beginning to show.
…This is right.
I had been running away. Because I didn't want to repeat the past.
Making every excuse I could think of, I had been hesitating to take a single step forward.
Not turning away from what was precious must mean something like this.
If you don't act, nothing changes — a simple truth.
Easy to say. Not so easy to live by.
Propping my chin in my hand, I watched Seol-hwa's back as she diligently followed the lesson, and made a quiet vow to myself to try harder.
"So like… isn't it kinda gross?"
Lunch period arrived, and as Seol-hwa and I headed toward the rooftop like it was the most natural thing in the world… a familiar voice drifted into my ears.
"Right, right~ That loser grabs one little outcast and suddenly thinks he's somebody. Totally hilarious."
"Everyone's staring at them weird and they're still grinning away… it's just annoying to look at."
Ju-hui and her little crew were blocking the stairwell that led up to the rooftop, running their mouths however they pleased.
The rooftop side of the building was already out of the way, and since the roof itself was off-limits, foot traffic around here was almost nonexistent.
Last time it might have been a coincidence that they gathered in a place like this. This time they were talking loud enough that we were clearly meant to hear every word.
Their eyes kept flicking toward the wall where we had stopped.
I started to step forward without a word, but Seol-hwa caught my arm the way she had before.
She must have thought I was about to explode again. Instead I told her, "It's fine," in a voice meant to reassure her, then took her hand and pulled her along as I walked straight up to them.
Seol-hwa looked flustered and unsure what to do, but I ignored that and strode forward until my eyes met Ju-hui's at the front of the group.
"What, it's Han Yu-seong~ And behind him is…"
"You're in the way. Move."
I cut her off before her casual, mocking tone could finish the sentence and reached for the door handle.
"What… is Han Yu-seong actually ignoring me right now?"
My attitude clearly didn't sit well with her. The cheerful lilt vanished from Ju-hui's voice, turning sharp as she slapped my hand away like she wasn't about to let it slide.
"Aren't you being a little full of yourself?"
"Yeah, yeah. Ju-hui even went out of her way to say hi to trash like you~ Isn't that a bit much?"
Three pairs of eyes narrowed into slits like snakes, glaring at us with open hostility.
Ugly, muddy eyes.
Not worth answering. I was about to ignore those stares completely when I looked at them a moment longer… and an involuntary "Ah" slipped out of my mouth.
"It was you guys who started it back then too, now that I think about it."
Something unpleasant had surfaced, and I made no effort to hide the irritation as I let out a heavy sigh.
(Isn't it a pain? Looking after some kid.)
Of course it was. The one who had first planted the seed that turned the whole class against Seol-hwa was Lee Ju-hui herself.
One offhand, joking remark had become the spark for malicious rumors, and Seol-hwa had been forced to be alone even in the place she had run to for safety.
At that realization, I felt my free hand — the one not holding Seol-hwa's — clench tight.
But I couldn't let anger take over the way I had last time.
I forced those feelings down and let out another deliberate, pointed sigh without changing my expression.
It wasn't just that getting angry would do no good. Losing my temper here was exactly the picture these people wanted.
I had no intention of dancing to their tune.
But still…
(I… tried to be strong.)
Again and again, without fail… Seol-hwa had kept trying.
Driven to the edge of a cliff, with no one looking her way, no one acknowledging her, she had still hoped — this time, this time for sure — for a friend, for recognition, for a little human warmth. And these people who fed on other people's misery had made her suffer for it.
No matter how hard I tried to hold the anger down… that fact alone made my teeth grind.
"You never change, do you."
I spoke to Ju-hui and the others who were still glaring at me. Even I could hear how cold my voice had become; I hadn't managed to strip the anger out completely.
"Han Yu-seoong… you've got a real talent for pissing people off, don't you?"
Maybe she was frustrated that all her provocations hadn't gotten the reaction she wanted. They landed better than you think, I thought, but of course Ju-hui had no way of knowing that. Her temple started to twitch.
"You're not exactly lacking in that department either."
I met her gaze head-on — the one packed with heat meant to intimidate — and answered her calmly.
Eyes nothing like Seol-hwa's… no, eyes that didn't even deserve the comparison. Muddy, ugly eyes.
The thin corners of her eyes twitched like a snake's, a thoroughly unpleasant sight.
"In the first place, you were the ones blocking a hallway people actually use just so you could trash-talk someone behind their back."
"Trash-talk…?"
Her voice began to tremble with rising heat.
"Want me to call it cowardly instead? Or maybe just small? What I'm saying is keep that filthy mouth of yours from spitting low-grade garbage about my friend.
Want me to put it bluntly? Say it to her face if you're so brave. All you're good at is tearing people down behind their backs — doesn't that make even you feel pathetic?"
The anger was gradually giving way to something closer to pity.
Looking at someone who could only fill herself up by tearing others down… that kind of foolish, empty existence.
"You little shit, just because you've got a mouth—!!"
Ju-hui was shaking so hard she finally raised her hand like she was about to swing. I had no choice but to start pulling Seol-hwa behind me—
That was when it happened.
"You little bastards—!!!"
A sudden roar of pure volume…
No, it was closer to a full-throated bellow, so terrifying that Ju-hui's raised palm froze in midair.
I looked around wondering what kind of monster had just screamed, and found the source in less than a second.
"I caught you red-handed!!"
Eyes blazing, radiating a terrifying aura like a bull that had just spotted a red cape, Cheon Yu-rim came charging toward us at full speed.
"Ugh, that Dokkaebi bitch…! Run!"
They clearly had practice at this.
The moment they saw Yu-rim, Ju-hui and her crew bolted like wild animals that had just met their natural predator, vanishing in a flash.
"Tch, those slippery little eels… they're professionals at running away for no reason!"
The comparison to a car… no, that was too mild.
Yu-rim dragged her feet to a stop the way a dump truck would slam on the brakes, breathing hard, and I found myself swallowing without meaning to.
"Just wait till I catch you next time…" she growled, and the sight of her really did make the nickname fit — Dokkaebi, or maybe some kind of beast.
A string of titles that had no business belonging to a girl kept popping into my head. She looked that terrifying.
I've somehow managed to survive this long around someone like her…
I knew her face because of our homeroom teacher, but I had never seen her this furious. I made a firm mental note to be more careful from now on.
Honestly, she was scary enough that a wrong move might actually get me killed.
"Hah… huh? Yu-seong and Seol-hwa?"
Only after catching her breath did Yu-rim notice us. She lifted a hand in a casual wave and said, "Hey~," so I answered with the same gesture.
"Wow, that was reeeally fast. She went from the first floor to the fourth in a blink…"
"Well. We're natural enemies. Can't help it."
Far down the hallway I could see Eun-ha coming toward us, and beside her a guy whose name I didn't know.
"Seol-hwa, you okay?"
With everything happening so suddenly I had almost forgotten she was still right behind me. I turned and asked.
Seol-hwa, still clutching the back of my shirt with her face buried against it, answered, "I-I'm fine…"
"Anyway, what the hell is all this?"
The sudden crowd left me a little stunned, so I asked. Eun-ha made an "Ah…" sound and scratched her cheek.
"Well, we were planning to raid the rooftop with Tae-yang, but…"
"Hey."
I cut her off in a flat, cold voice. Eun-ha immediately squealed, "Kyaa~ Yu-seong's bullying me~!" and ducked behind the guy next to her.
The boy called Tae-yang gently patted the head of that mouse-like girl and said with a soft smile, "Come on, Eun-ha," then held out his hand to me.
"You're Han Yu-seong, right? Nice to meet you. I'm Seong Tae-yang."
"Ah, so you're that guy." Only then did it click. I took his hand and answered.
He was famous, but he was in a different class like Eun-ha, and I had never paid much attention. Hearing the name was what finally made me place him.
"You already seem to know, but yeah — Han Yu-seong. You talked with Seol-hwa once before, right?"
I gave his hand a light shake as I asked, and both of them nodded at the same time.
"It just kind of happened… I really owed you last time, Tae-yang."
"Looks like things worked out well. I'm glad."
"Thanks to you… thank you."
Seol-hwa bowed her head. Tae-yang waved it off like it was nothing.
"…We're getting off track. Anyone want to finish the explanation?"
The warm atmosphere was nice and all, but the actual point of the conversation had wandered off somewhere far away.
I raised a hand and spoke up, pushing down a vague sense of irritation. Eun-ha stuck out her tongue and tapped her own head. "Right, duh!"
"Anyway, so we head toward the rooftop and the vibe's all hostile, right? So! We went and got the expert in this field — the Dokkae… I mean, the teacher!"
"You were about to say Dokkaebi just now, weren't you?"
"Ahaha, of course not."
"You—!"
"Tae-yang, Yu-rim's bullying meee~!"
Eun-ha darted behind Tae-yang's back again so fast she looked like a clownfish diving into an anemone.
Yu-rim looked thoroughly fed up. She crossed her arms and sighed. "Honestly…"
"Those girls are famous for a lot of reasons. …None of them good. You saw how fast they ran just now? It's not the first or second time. They stick together and just flap their mouths…
There's a limit to how low you can go. Someone tipped me off before that they were trash-talking people again, so I've been keeping an eye on them, but they never get tired of it… Seol-hwa, you okay? They didn't do anything to you?"
"Huh? …Oh, yeah! Th-thanks to you, I'm fine. Yu-seong helped too… everyone, thank you."
Caught off guard by the sudden concern directed at her, Seol-hwa looked a little dazed as she insisted she was okay and bowed.
"Come to think of it, when did you start calling him Yu-seong?"
Eun-ha's eyes sparkled like she had just found a fun new toy, and she suddenly dropped that line.
"Eh? Ah, th-that's…"
"Something progress over the weekend~?"
Seol-hwa turned to me with a face that was half pleading for rescue, eyes a little watery. I sighed and lightly bopped Eun-ha on the head to peel her off Seol-hwa.
"Something did happen. Don't tease her too much."
Progress… well, it wasn't like nothing had happened.
But even thinking about it now made me a little embarrassed, and I had zero intention of saying a word about it out loud. My tone was firm enough that Eun-ha just pouted. "You're no fun—"
"Maybe we should stop teasing already. I'm hungry! Let's eat lunch first!"
"Yeah. Standing around this long is getting old. Want to move somewhere else?"
Tae-yang backed up Eun-ha, who was rubbing her stomach and whining.
"So… why here?"
…And the place we ended up was the school rooftop.
They had even brought a big picnic mat and were spreading it out like they had planned this from the start.
"Come on, the more people the merrier, right? It's lively♪"
Eun-ha said it with a bright, beaming smile, and I could only sigh like I had no choice in the matter.