Chapter 72
The school was in a commotion due to the earthquake that occurred last night. Until the first period started, all the kids were chattering about the earthquake.
I glanced at the noisy kids. I had a lot to tell Jung-seok and Yang Juhee about what happened at night.
About Hong Mi-ri, Kwon Suho, Gu Hyena, and Yoo Dahee, who would be our new ally. I had sent a brief message about the incident via phone.
「I'll tell you more details at lunch time. Come out to the old school building.」
As I sent the message, a thought occurred to me.
If we had our own space in this school, we wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of changing meeting places. It would be nice if we could find a place like a secret base.
Rattle-
The classroom door opened. And Class D's homeroom teacher, in charge of the first period, came in with a rather tired face. Seems like they had trouble sleeping because of the earthquake.
"Alright, everyone turn off your local broadcasts and sit down. Open the windows for some ventilation. Phew, what's this smell? Anyway, we have a transfer student in Class D today. Hey. Come in. What are you doing out there?"
A boy standing in the corridor entered the class. Soon, the kids got excited, mostly the girls.
"Wow, he's tall."
"Amazing."
"Doesn't he look like an idol? Oh Chan-hyuk from TTS group!"
The corners of the mouths of girls like Gong Ye-rin and Im Hee-yeon, who usually hang out together in class, rose uncontrollably.
It was because the transfer student who came in was tall and handsome. He had a fair face with neat hair, and overall looked like a gisaeng's brother.
"Hi everyone, nice to meet you. I'm Wang Ja-hyun, transferred from Seoul. This is my first time in Gaeryong City, so there's a lot I'm unfamiliar with and don't know. I hope we can get along well without any hard feelings."
His voice was refreshing. Mostly the girls cheered and clapped, while the teacher looked around the classroom and pointed to an empty seat.
"That Kim Geonho brat didn't come today either? Ja-hyun, for now, sit in that empty seat over there."
The transfer student was seated in Kim Geonho's place. It was a seat in the back, close to the rear entrance.
The transfer student packed his bag and sat down. The first period started, and the class atmosphere was still unsettled. The real commotion began after the first period ended.
"Where in Seoul did you live?"
"Do you have a girlfriend? Kyaa!"
Squeal squeal.
It was complete chaos with kids crowding around the transfer student, with mostly girls.
Kim Young-ho, a delinquent who seemed to dislike this situation, raised his head from lying down and frowned deeply.
"Ah, damn it's so noisy. Did you guys rent this place? I can't sleep because of the noise."
"Hey! If you want to sleep, go to a motel!"
Gong Ye-rin, one of the popular girls, snapped at Kim Young-ho. Most of the girls hurled insults like "Drop dead!" or "Get lost!" at Kim Young-ho, who seemed unable to bear it and stood up.
"Hey. In-bae. Let's go out."
They're probably going out to smoke. It was quite nice to see them staying quiet after their leader Kim Geonho disappeared and they all got a quirk stuck to them like a lump, but the group of girls was a problem.
"No way! You don't have a girlfriend?"
"How about me? I don't have a boyfriend either. Hehe."
"How come your name is Wang Ja-hyun? Are you a prince? Prince?"
"Oh, boring, you get lost."
Squeal squeal!
The girls gathered around Gong Ye-rin and Im Hee-yeon were leading the class atmosphere these days. There wasn't outright violence like with Kim Geonho, but...
How should I put it... it's hard to explain.
Swish-
The very handsome transfer student looked around the class and asked.
"Who's that?"
The transfer student looked at Yang Juhee, who was sleeping with her head tilted back on the desk, snoring.
He must have noticed Yang Juhee, who could be considered the prettiest in the class.
Yang Juhee was pretty enough to be rare even in Seoul, a city with 6 million women. I know well, having lived in Seoul for a long time.
He might be thinking something like, "How can such a pretty girl be in this countryside delinquent school?"
"She's taken."
"She's a delinquent."
"She smokes and skips school and stuff."
Gong Ye-rin and Im Hee-yeon frowned at Yang Juhee and showed obvious dislike. Yang Juhee was an outcast among the girls in our class, though she didn't seem to care much.
"Hey, you bitches, I can hear everything."
Yang Juhee opened her eyes. She had started sleeping as soon as she came to school, and this was the first time she opened her eyes.
"Who's that?"
Yang Juhee seemed to have just noticed the transfer student. Soon, Yang Juhee's eyes widened.
"Oh? You?"
What's this? Do Yang Juhee and the transfer student know each other?
Yang Juhee said,
"You came to our class?"
"That's right. You're Yang Juhee, right? Deaconess Kim Yeo-ok's daughter."
What's going on?
I quietly asked Yang Juhee in a low voice.
"Do you know each other?"
"Him? He's the guy who came to church last week. Said he was from Seoul. I heard he's Chan-mi's cousin or something? He transferred to our class. Small world. Really small."
While Yang Juhee was marveling, the transfer student got up from his seat with a rattle and approached Yang Juhee.
"This is great. I still don't know where the school facilities are, so you could show me around."
Is the world really allowed to be like this? If I were a girl, I would have felt my heart fluttering here. But Yang Juhee wasn't an easy girl.
"What are you talking about? Why should I? No."
Yang Juhee frowned. She really seemed to dislike it.
Wang Ja-hyun awkwardly scratched the back of his head and smiled slightly, but his eyes now turned to me. I looked at him too.
"Then you do it. There's about 5 minutes left in the break. First, where's the bathroom?"
"Okay."
Swish-
Wang Ja-hyun and I got up from our seats and left the classroom. I could hear various cries from the classroom, but I didn't care.
On the way to the bathroom.
As kids in the hallway glanced at Wang Ja-hyun, he said to me,
"So you were here after transferring to Gaeryong? What's this now, Ha Young-won?"
Swish-
Wang Ja-hyun touched the name tag on my chest with his index finger. I didn't like having my chest touched by a guy.
"Ha Young-won, huh. I see, you wanted to change your name and start a new life. But what can you do, I didn't know I'd end up transferring here from Seoul."
Wang Ja-hyun! This bastard was the one who made my school life miserable from 6th grade through middle school!
He wasn't violent like the delinquent Kim Geonho, but in some ways, he was even more vicious, despicable, and nasty.
You know those guys who act nice and are popular with people on the surface, but behind the scenes do crazy, psycho things?
Like Jung Sojin, for example. Yeah, this guy was like Jung Sojin. The problem was that Wang Ja-hyun's level made Jung Sojin look like cute aegyo in comparison.
Why did this bastard have to transfer from Seoul to Gaeryong? Why our class of all places!
"Anyway, let's get along well for another 3 years, Young-won."
***
"Then, let's have the transfer student answer this question."
"Yes. The answer is 4."
"Hey, man, where's 4 in a subjective question? Sleeping in class on your first day of transfer."
Hahaha-
The kids laughed loudly. Transfer student Wang Ja-hyun became friends with everyone in Class D more quickly than I had in several months.
It was because of his good social skills. No, actually, his social skills weren't that good.
Wang Ja-hyun treated people normally, but people just unilaterally liked him.
It was because of his handsome looks. Wang Ja-hyun had always used his good looks and likable attitude to turn people to his side one by one.
And once he takes over the class... that's when his politicking begins!
After school.
"Sojin, I heard you're the class president? You live in Jewel Apartment, right? I live there too."
This bastard Wang Ja-hyun was extending his evil hand to class president Jung Sojin. He must have figured out with his snake-like eyes that class president Jung Sojin was somewhat of a big shot in our class.
This was actually good. If Jung Sojin, who's been bothering me lately, falls for Wang Ja-hyun, she'll bother me less!
"You live in Jewel Apartment too? The sale price is expensive. Ja-hyun, you must be well-off. Your father or mother must make a lot of money?"
Jung Sojin's eyes sparkled behind her glasses. Did Jung Sojin, who likes alpha males, smell a successful man from Wang Ja-hyun?
Wang Ja-hyun didn't miss that opportunity either.
"My dad runs a huge church in Seoul. But I still don't know the way home. Could you maybe go home with me today?"
It was almost like asking for a date. Soon Jung Sojin chuckled.
"Find the way with your phone. Turn on the map app and it's all there."
"Huh?"
Swish-
Jung Sojin brushed past Wang Ja-hyun and approached me.
"Young-won. I found a feng shui book but there are parts I don't understand. Would you like to read the book with me at the library today? We can prepare for the final exams too."
Oh, shit...! This was hell in a way.
I felt dizzy.
"I... well, I'm supposed to go to the PC room with Jung-seok today! We have to play ranked games!"
"You're going to a PC room when exams are next week?"
At Jung Sojin's sensible questioning, I felt my heart tighten.
I looked at Jung-seok for help, and he opened his eyes wide as if hearing this for the first time, but then nodded.
"Yeah. Young-won was supposed to go to the PC room with me today."
"Hey! Jung-seok! I heard you haven't been going to academy lately, are you okay? Your grades will drop! You came to Class D instead of Class A. Aren't you going to study properly?"
Jung Sojin is Jung-seok's cousin. She seems to know that Jung-seok hasn't been studying much lately.
Jung Sojin asked,
"Are you guys ghosts by any chance?"
Huh? What's she saying all of a sudden?
Jung-seok asked,
"We're ghosts? Suddenly?"
"They say ghosts do the opposite of what people do. It's exam period but you're going to the PC room to play games, which is the opposite of studying. It's suspicious. Jung-seok! You lured Young-won, didn't you?!"
This is killing me.
Wang Ja-hyun, who was watching this scene, said,
"Wow. Yeongji High is interesting. Ah. Then I guess I have to go home alone."
Wang Ja-hyun complained as if for everyone to hear. Soon, like an eagle swooping down on its prey, bob-haired Gong Ye-rin raised her hand.
"I live near Jewel Apartment! Should I go with you?"
Gong Ye-rin. Aren't you being too obvious?
She always acted hard to get when guys like Park In-bae approached her, saying "I'm busy" or "Are you going to buy me dinner?"
Soon, Gong Ye-rin and Im Hee-yeon disappeared with transfer student Wang Ja-hyun. Watching this, Park In-bae clicked his tongue.
"Wow. Gong Ye-rin. That's really something."
I headed to the PC room with Jung-seok. Yang Juhee said she had something to talk about with Bong Ji-yeon, so she went home separately.
Jung-seok said as he turned on the computer,
"You should be a bit nervous."
"...Me?"
"The transfer student is super handsome. And he keeps glancing at the back seat as if he's interested in Yang Juhee. If you keep going like this, you'll lose Yang Juhee."
"What do you mean lose? She wasn't mine to begin with, and she's not an object."
"Why are you being so shy? Yang Juhee doesn't seem to dislike you. Your relationship with Yang Juhee went sour on April Fools' Day at the beginning of the semester, right? In my opinion, I think Yang Juhee was going to accept your confession then. Now you seem to be even closer than before."
I didn't expect the April Fools' Day story to come up again. And to say that Yang Juhee seems to secretly like me.
Thinking about it now, it wasn't really an impossible or groundless guess. I've been showing a lot of cool sides lately, even defeating ghosts left and right.
"Or is it Yoo Dahee after all?"
"Yoo Dahee?"
"You, Ha Young-won. You stutter like a broken robot when you're with Yoo Dahee. And Yoo Dahee seems to treat you quite affectionately. Is it Yoo Dahee? Or Yang Juhee? You need to come to a conclusion."
Jung-seok always gave me helpful advice, and it seemed to be the same for my romantic issues.
However, I was doubtful whether I should believe the love theory of Jung-seok, who showed an ugly side by clinging to Bong Ji-yeon. I should only half-listen to this guy's love stories.
Still, Jung-seok was quite perceptive. Wang Ja-hyun might be targeting Yang Juhee.
It's probably because she seemed to be close to me, Ha Young-won. He could target Jung-seok too.
When Wang Ja-hyun sets his mind on destroying someone, he's the type to slowly recruit the people around them first.
"Jung-seok. In my opinion, Wang Ja-hyun will target you too."
"...Damn, is that bastard gay? They say a man who's too perfect is gay. No way..."
"No, that's... I'm not sure about that either. Actually, I know that Wang Ja-hyun guy. I told you I lived in Seoul. Wang Ja-hyun and I were classmates in elementary and middle school."
I thought it wouldn't be bad to tell Jung-seok why I transferred schools. This was a really huge decision.
"When I was in elementary school, something happened..."