Chapter 16

* * *“Huff, huff. You guys are too much, seriously, huff.”Daemyung appeared behind them, short of breath.“Yo, we just ran ahead to save a spot for you, man. You should exercise more.”“......”“You should play less games. No, no. Why don’t we start playing basketball from today?”“I can’t play basketball though.”“It’s okay, you’ll learn quick if you’re punched enough.”“...?!”Daemyung stared at Dojin dumbly, who responded with a grin. This was pretty nice. Daemyung was a popular kid in class now. After all, in a boy’s class, the only things to talk about were girls, soccer, and games. Daemyung happened to be an absolute master at the game that he played, so his popularity was inevitable. The boy’s face didn’t have any of that timidness from the beginning anymore. “Who the hell knows? We might need a chubby actor for the play,” Maru said, shoving another spoonful of rice into his mouth.It was a Saturday, the day the club got together again. He was pretty excited on finding out what they were going to do today.“I wonder if we’re finally going to choose our play?” Daemyung seemed excited too.“Speaking of which, did you join the club to become an actor, Daemyung?” Dojin asked. The boy slowly extended his hand out towards Daemyung’s bottle of yakult. “Yeah. I wanted to try it,” Daemyung responded with a slap on Dojin’s hand. “I was thinking of becoming the lead, but gave up. That Geunseok dude’s definitely set to become the lead at this rate.”“Honestly? Yeah.”The two of them looked up with a jealous glint in their eyes. Hong Geukseok. For sure, the guy was different from all the other kids. He came to this school solely to join the acting club. That took conviction. Conviction that Maru liked seeing.“I went to the design class yesterday. There were so many girls. Like, more girls than guys for both classes.” Dojin continued.“R-really?”“Oho, Mr. Daemyung, you interested?”“.....”Daemyung blushed pretty quickly. Man, he kind of sucks at acting. Maru took a swig from his bottle of yakult. It was almost time for them to go to the club. They finished their greetings last week, so they’d spend this week working properly. He stood up with the food tray with all the other kids. He could see some of the other kids getting up to leave the cafeteria as well. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Dowook eating by himself.“.......”Dojin clicked his tongue annoyedly. “What, you starting to like him or something?” Maru asked.“I have no idea.”Dojin left to return his tray. Daemyung was looking at Dowook with a saddened expression.“I don’t like that guy. He was pretty mean. But...”“But?”“I never wanted to see him like that.”Maru knew very well what Dowook did to Daemyung. The boy took over Daemyung’s seat by force. Clearly intent on bullying the other boy in the future as well. Suddenly, Dowook looked up to meet his eyes with Maru’s. Daemyung looked away, but Maru decided to hold his gaze. Dowook glared his way for a few more seconds before turning away first, looking back down on his tray like a scared animal. That was enough. Maru didn’t want to see any more of this.“Let’s go.”“Y-yeah.”It would be better not to talk to him right now. Maru looked over Dowook one more time before going outside.

* * *Dowook didn’t have an appetite. He returned his half-eaten tray of food before heading out. It’s been four days since he started eating alone. He tried to think nothing of it at first, but it turned out to be harder than he thought.He could feel other people make fun of him. Insult him. Dowook ran away to the deli. He was still hungry. But when he rounded the corner, he happened upon Changhu’s group. Their eyes met.Changhu grinned at him mockingly. He just passed by without saying another word. Dowook was relieved. At least he wasn’t made fun of.How did this happen?He bought himself some bread and sat down to eat it in front of the deli, but he saw his classmates coming from the other side. He didn’t want to be seen eating in front of them, so he hid his bread behind his back.Why, he had no idea. It was like his body was acting against his will. He sat down on a random bench he found and chewed on the bread. It was tasty. It was tasty, but….“Hah, fuck.”Why did he feel so lonely?

* * *Maru discovered Dowook eating by himself from the second floor window.‘Man, he looks like a total outsider.’An outsider since high school…. Some of the other kids in the class found Dowook as well, and clicked their tongues in disapproval. Some were even laughing.“Fucking knew it, that childish fucker.”“Did he really think his middle school antics would work in high school?”They all commented before returning to their original conversations. Dowook wasn’t even worth talking about right now. Maru tapped at the windowsill as he thought. Having a rhythmic beat to listen to helped him think. Dowook… The little carnivore forced into independence prematurely.‘You should really stop drop your act and let out your thoughts for a second, man. Is it really that embarrassing to live like a herbivore?’Surely Dowook didn’t want to live by himself for the rest of his three years here. Maru stepped away from the window. He wanted to help, sure. But Dowook wasn’t willing to accept the help to begin with. The bell rang across the school, signalling him to head over to the club.