Chapter 176

* * *Lee Jiyoon was getting squished by her friends on both sides. This happened because… one of her friends tried to carry her on their shoulders but failed. So her friends decided that they might as well carry her together. “C-can we not?”“You don’t have a choice in this matter!”“Yeah!”Ughh. Jiyoon clenched her eyes tightly as she walked over to her friends, thank goodness she was wearing pants. As soon as she got her legs in between her friends’ arms below, they stood up. Jiyoon screamed as she put a hand on their shoulders.“Ohh! I knew we could do it, Jiyoon’s so light!”“Let’s go!!”She’s only had quiet friends in middle school, she naively thought that it would be the same for high school as well. Unexpectedly, these girls were almost as energetic as the boys in school. The three of them walked around the first floor hallway in that manner, every student in the hallway was staring at them. Jiyoon wanted to try and hide her face, but it wasn’t like she could take her hands off of her friends. “Alright, to the cafeteria!”“Let’s go!”These two clearly didn’t have plans on stopping. Jiyoon asked to switch very quietly. Of course, she just got ignored. On their way to the exit, they ran across a teacher. Jiyoon thought the teacher would tell them to stop because this was dangerous. But…“Take it slow, girls.”That was it, to top it off, the teacher was actually smiling. Jiyoon wanted to cry, she just gave up by the time they got outside. Whatever, she didn’t care about what would happen anymore. On their way to the cafeteria, she spotted three boys just standing still on the way. No, they weren’t just standing, they were posing. “What is that?”“Don’t know.”Her friends seemed to be curious as well. Right then, Jiyoon felt trepidation. In fact, those bad feelings worsened as they got closer.‘T-they’re seniors from the acting club!’The plump senior’s name was Daemyung, she recalled. She has never seen the smaller person before, but he has to be in the club as well. Then there was the person who was posing as if he was picking something up from the floor.‘Senior Maru.’- Ask yourself that question, not others. The answer’s surprisingly easy. Keeping through with it’s what really matters.She instantly thought of the advice he gave her, she really didn’t want to display herself like this to someone who talked so seriously to her. “Looks like the acting club.”“What are they doing?”“Don’t know.”None of them seemed interested. Thank goodness. Jiyoon tried to hurry her friends under her, she didn’t want to be seen like this to her seniors. “L-let’s go.”“Hey! Our little miss is hungry!”“Leggo!!”Her friends ran forward with a shout.

* * *“I wonder if they’re sports students.”“N-no idea.”Daemyung smiled thinking of the girls that just passed by. To think they’d enter the cafeteria while carrying a girl…“There’s more coming,” Bangjoo said.Daemyung looked at the door of the first floor, there was a new group of students coming towards them.‘Second years.’There were a lot of familiar faces, a few of them wished them ‘good luck’ on their way inside as well. That alone gave Daemyung energy. Just as he readjusted his position, he heard a very familiar voice.“Eh? What are you guys doing?!”It was Iseul, she was here with Taejoon and Soyeon. Daemyung wanted to speak very badly, but he had to endure. “What the, you should’ve told me that you were doing this. I would’ve helped!”“Yeah!”Daemyung was thankful for his friends for their support, it looked like they figured out what was happening since he and Maru weren’t saying anything as well.“Good luck. Call us if you need anything.”“Work hard.”“Good luck!”Daemyung nodded very subtly, the three of them smiled as they walked into the cafeteria. Daemyung was actually planning on calling them for help at first. Maru stopped him, saying that it was important for actual members to be the ones working during recruiting season. Daemyung understood why after a bit of thought. Sure, they’d be able to get more attention if they got their friends’ help. But their friends were no longer club members. If some of the first years got into the club because of their friends, that could end up becoming trouble. ‘We need to solve this ourselves.’Daemyung tried to adjust his posture one more time. Right then, a shadow drooped over him, it was Geunseok.“Ridiculous.”That was all the boy said as he left, the students around him were muttering confusedly.“Geunseok, aren’t you in the acting club? Like them?”“They’re promoting the club because no one’s coming.”“Really? Why aren’t you doing it, then?”“I told them to do it. Plus, there needs to be someone to explain to the students who come after seeing the promotion. That’s my job as the president.”“Ah, you’re the president?”“I didn’t want to do it, but the seniors said there was no one more suitable.”“I see.”Geunseok walked away with a smile, Daemyung felt a bit bitter. He did ask the boy to join in as well. All Geunseok said was that such a childish act would accomplish nothing. Daemyung wanted to say something. Again, Maru stopped him.“Daemyung.”“Yeah?”“Still face.”“......”Daemyung sighed as he fixed his expression as he admired Maru. The boy was scarier than anyone else when he got mad, but most of the time, he was able to let things pass with a smile.‘Same with the fire.’Daemyung was a little suspicious that Yurim might be the culprit, everything from the timing when she moved away and the fact that Soyeon never mentioned the girl was proof enough. Miso wasn’t talking about it either. Maru looked like he knew who the culprit was and he even set up a plan with Miso. It looked like everything was resolved in the end, though Daemyung couldn’t even imagine what happened in the process. So he decided to ask Maru about it the day before school started. Maru avoided the question as much as possible, but he did leave a clue.- The person in question received their punishment.Daemyung didn’t ask any further, he was kind of afraid to know.“Senior Daemyung.”“Y-yeah?”“Isn’t the person who just passed by senior Geunseok?”“That’s right.”“So why isn’t he doing this with us?”“N-no idea.”Daemyung didn’t respond properly, he didn’t know how. He didn’t want to say there was tension between them, but he also didn’t want to say Geunseok was excluded from this activity due to his presidency. ‘Hopefully we can smooth things out with him.’Geunseok was definitely a necessary element of the club, but how should they deal with him now that his inflated ego set in?“Oh! They’re coming,” Bangjoo said. Daemyung gave up on thinking for now.