Chapter 238: Look at These Guys?-3
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 238: Look at These Guys?-3
Huddled together in our seats, we focused on our trays in silence.
After a brief moment of hesitation, the clatter of utensils hitting the metal trays began to ring out.
I picked up my chopsticks and scanned my meal.
Brown rice, stir-fried sausages and vegetables, seaweed soup, and seasoned spinach.
As far as school lunches went, this was a top-tier menu.
To get a spread like this on my very first day back—I guess luck was on my side. Usually, this was the kind of meal you’d only see on a Wednesday or Thursday.
"Ah, today’s food tastes like absolute shit."
Sung Yoon-ho poked at a sausage with his chopstick.
Is this punk serious?
Stir-fried sausages and vegetables are invincible. They are god-tier.
"I should've just gone to the snack bar and grabbed a bun."
Shin Jeong-ah shot him a look, but he ignored her, grumbling as he tapped his tray with his chopsticks.
If he was going to be such a picky eater, why did he take so many sausages? It was a pathetic sight, like a five-year-old throwing a tantrum at the dinner table.
Even a good song gets tiring if you hear it too much; listening to someone whine incessantly was a surefire way to ruin a pleasant meal.
Despite Sung Yoon-ho’s constant muttering, no one was actively trying to stop him.
Kim Jin-tae, whom I’d beaten earlier, was silently focused on his food, and Shin Jeong-ah was eating slowly while stealing glances at me.
In other words, I was the only one left to shut him up.
"If you're not going to eat them, give them to me."
"Sorry..."
Startled, as if he hadn't expected me to speak to him, Sung Yoon-ho apologized immediately.
He then fixed his gaze on his tray and began moving his chopsticks busily.
Finally, some peace and quiet.
I picked up a plump sausage, popped it into my mouth, and chewed. The savory flavor burst across my palate as the casing snapped.
Yes, this was exactly what I wanted.
Swallowing my inner delight, I moved my chopsticks toward the other side dishes.
"In-ho, your chopsticks..."
I was chewing on some spinach when Shin Jeong-ah, who had been quiet until then, spoke up. Her eyes were fixed on my right hand.
"What about them?"
I flipped my hand back and forth, but I didn't see anything particularly strange.
"Did you always hold your chopsticks like that?"
Shin Jeong-ah furrowed her brow and leaned forward.
She was likely reacting because my grip was different from the original owner of this body. Her powers of observation were terrifying. I suppose you have to be this sharp to be considered "obsessed."
"I don't know. I don't remember."
I brushed it off and picked up another sausage.
Seeing me focus on eating, Shin Jeong-ah tilted her head in confusion before turning back to her own tray.
As we continued eating in that quiet atmosphere, I felt Kim Jin-tae’s gaze on me and turned my head.
His cheek was swollen and bruised. He seemed to have finished his meal, as he was leaning back in his chair.
He was staring at me, gripping a single chopstick tightly as if lost in thought.
Our eyes met. Startled at being caught staring, Kim Jin-tae hurriedly looked away.
...Well, it made sense for him to be angry.
I had humiliated and beaten him in front of everyone, so it was only natural for him to hold a grudge.
"Why? You planning to stab me in the head with that?"
I let out a small smirk and made the joke. Instantly, everyone’s chopsticks froze mid-air.
"......"
Kim Jin-tae couldn't bring himself to look back at me.
"Ah, I'm full. That was good."
I finished the last of the seaweed soup with my spoon and stood up.
One by one, the others followed suit.
We exited the school cafeteria. Watching the students who had finished their lunch early kicking a ball around the field, I began walking slowly toward the classroom.
"Hey, Kang In-ho."
Shin Jeong-ah, who had been following silently behind me, called out.
I turned around to see her and the rest of the 'friends' looking at me.
"What?"
It looked like they were heading in the opposite direction of the classroom.
"Aren't you going to light up?"
"Light what?"
"This."
Shin Jeong-ah brought her index and middle fingers to her lips and moved them back and forth. It was the unmistakable gesture for smoking.
"I'm good."
I didn't smoke even when I was older; why would I start now?
I spoke somewhat coldly and turned back toward the classroom. I heard Shin Jeong-ah saying something in the distance, but I didn't look back.
*
The school's back gate was connected to the mountain.
It was usually locked, so no students used it as a thoroughfare.
Teachers occasionally stopped by to catch any delinquents, but Shin Jeong-ah and her friends, who were experts at evading them, were enjoying their post-meal cigarette in their safe haven.
"Something is definitely weird."
Sung Yoon-ho, who had tucked his tail the moment In-ho spoke earlier, said as he exhaled a cloud of smoke.
"What is?"
Lee Mi-jung, who was smoking beside him, asked.
"In-ho. Doesn't he seem weird today?"
"......"
Sung Yoon-ho raised the issue, but no one responded.
"His dad probably chewed him out or something."
Someone else dismissed the change in Kang In-ho as nothing special.
"......"
Kim Jin-tae remained silent, smoking in the furthest corner.
"Jeong-ah. Have you heard anything? You're the closest to In-ho."
When Lee Mi-jung asked, Jeong-ah shook her head with a bitter smile.
Closest? Me?
Shin Jeong-ah questioned herself, recalling how Kang In-ho had been drawing a line between them lately.
She had thought they were close. No, she had believed they were more than that.
Kang In-ho might have been rough in his speech, but he had been passionate with her at night. She didn't believe that the warmth and pleasure from those moments were a lie.
But suddenly, everything had gone cold.
He had suddenly started rambling about studying, and his entire personality had changed.
"That tutoring bitch..."
After a long silence, those were the words that left Shin Jeong-ah’s mouth.
"Tutoring?"
Kim Jin-tae, who had been silent until now, reacted for the first time.
At the sound of Jin-tae’s low, heavy voice, Shin Jeong-ah stood up from her crouch and waved away the smoke with her hand.
"I told you before. There's someone getting on my nerves."
Jeong-ah jerked her chin as if asking if he remembered.
"Oh... right. That."
It was a conversation they had moved past before, as she had asked him to "take care" of someone completely unrelated to their usual business.
"That bitch is In-ho’s tutor right now."
"And?"
"She definitely did something to him."
Shin Jeong-ah’s voice was full of conviction.
"Hey, talk some sense. In-ho wouldn't—"
"Shut your trap, you piece of shit."
When Sung Yoon-ho tried to cut in, Shin Jeong-ah raised her voice.
She took another drag of her cigarette and approached Kim Jin-tae.
"Anyway, it's certain that bitch is influencing In-ho. She even told me to my face that she was going to pull him away from us..."
"So, she's an eyesore?"
At Kim Jin-tae’s question, Shin Jeong-ah slowly nodded.
"Will you help me?"
"Hmm..."
Kim Jin-tae lowered his head and thought for a moment.
"Sure, why not."
When the cigarette in Shin Jeong-ah’s hand had burned down halfway, Kim Jin-tae spoke while gently stroking his swollen cheek.
"Thanks."
"But, we're not just going to mess with her a little, right? We're going to do it properly?"
Seeing Shin Jeong-ah’s beaming smile, Kim Jin-tae spoke.
"Of course."
"Then, I'm calling some older brothers I know."
At his casual tone, Shin Jeong-ah nodded without any suspicion.
"Yeah, the more the better."
It was a simple calculation on her part.
"Yeah, the more the better."
Rubbing his swollen cheek, Kim Jin-tae let out a wicked grin.