Chapter 455

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Since this world existed in a novel that became realistic in some useless situations, I became more concerned about some things from time to time. However, I felt relieved as Ban Hwee Hyul told me that he never argued with or harassed any innocent people.

Lastly, I tapped him on the back and spoke quite cheerfully, “Hey, even if you’ve done something wrong, you don’t have to be Hwang Siwoo’s punching bag. However, you told me that you did nothing wrong, then why are you getting harassed? Though you knock him down, no one’s gonna notice that you’re the nationwide Number one since Hwang Siwoo is such a loser.”

“…”

I added, “If you don’t want me to shorten my life, don’t let Hwang Siwoo harass you. Just as you’ve said earlier, I get to intervene in your situation if you behave like that even when I don’t want to.”

Then I turned my head to look at the opposite side of the road. Eek! The traffic light right beside the bus station was flickering green in the meantime. Exclaiming at the sight, I waved at Ban Hwee Hyul in a fluster then quickly turned around.

“Bye, I’m really going home!”

“Hold…”

Ban Hwee Hyul tried to say something from behind me; however, I couldn’t hear it since the signal changed and the cars began to hoot.

‘I don’t know… Well, if it’s something important, I can hear it at school on Monday then,’ I thought. Covering my ears, I maneuvered my way across the sidewalk hurriedly.

Once I reached the opposite side, I took a long breath, at last, while placing my hands on my knees, but suddenly, a long dark shadow cast over me. Lifting my head in surprise, I soon uttered, “… Yeo Dan oppa?”

I reflectively looked at the bus station behind him. The digital bus sign inside the bus station was blinking with the time, ’12:10 AM,’ on it.

Oh, my God! My jaw dropped onto the floor. I might have spent much time having a conversation with Dae Lisa more than I’d thought. I was, of course, wearing a watch but didn’t even think about checking the time.

Uh, hold on… I calculated the time in my head. The evening self-studying session at Yeo Dan oppa’s school was over more than an hour and ten minutes ago. However, the fact that he was here would be…

My eyes trembled anxiously.

“Yeo Dan oppa,” I murmured. His black eyes were on me. Taking a deep breath, I slowly exhaled and said, “You’re here to go grab something at the convenience store while studyiiiiii… OUCH!”

He pinched my cheek out of the blue.

I urgently muttered, ‘S…oo…oo…rr…yyy…’ Whether he heard my weirdly pronounced apology or not, Yeo Dan oppa released my cheek from his hand.

Rubbing my cheek that didn’t actually hurt, I kind of thought, ‘It’s been a while that Yeo Dan oppa is treating me like a little sister. Ever since we started dating, he never treated me this way though…’

He asked, “Why are you wandering around so late at night?”

“Sorry, I met someone else on my way home,” I replied.

“Why did you not keep in touch?”

Just when he tossed me another question, I took out my phone broken into half while showing an awkward smile. Looking at the device, he immediately furrowed his eyebrows and asked, “Didn’t someone break this on purpose?”

His sharp-sightedness made me shudder. Shaking my head, I replied, “No, I just sat down on it by mistake. I mean it.”

“How heavy do you think you are to break this phone this way, huh?”

“Um, oppa, I don’t think that’s right…” Replying that way, I added in my thoughts, ‘I’m able to break more than ten phones, not just one…’

Averting my eyes from his gaze awkwardly, I soon realized that he was looking back and forth between me and the opposite side of the crosswalk.

He might have indeed seen Ban Hwee Hyul, right? Since Yeo Dan oppa always sat down at the bus station while waiting for me, he would have not missed the sight…

Then I began to wonder about his next reaction.

I was, of course, aware that I had to make an excuse first since I returned home way over midnight when I’d said to him that I would be hanging out with my friends. Thus, if I didn’t want him to get me wrong, I should explain every detail even the things that he didn’t even ask me.

However, Yeo Dan oppa’s indifference that continued from early in the morning made me anxious.

I murmured, ‘Can’t you just ask me first, at least, once?’ As his girlfriend, it wasn’t so odd that I longed for him to become curious about what, where, and whom I had been while we weren’t staying together.

Forgetting to even breathe, I blankly stared at his stiffened side face in the streetlight. Whenever the cars passed us by, the vehicles’ lighting tinged his face pale.

Amid the suffocating silence in which the time even seemed to stop flowing, Yeo Dan oppa switched his gaze to me. He uttered, “Let’s go.”

With those words, he stretched out his hand.

After quite a while, I grabbed it while heaving a small sigh. We then went up the hill toward our apartment in silence.

Article 37. The New School Year Starts with Nationwide Number 1! (Part 3)

There’s a moment when everything that we think we know turns unfamiliar all of a sudden.

One evening was like that to Ban Hwee Hyul. It was the day when he bumped into a student in his school, who was getting beaten in the street, by chance. Ban Hwee Hyul tried to ignore the situation and walk past them; however, his brother made him interfere.

Taking a few steps forward against his will, Ban Hwee Hyul grumbled, “We’re gonna miss the TV show then.”

“Hyeong, I know that you can clear this situation within a minute,” said his brother seriously.

In the end, Ban Hwee Hyul clicked his tongue and cracked his knuckles. Once he felt that his hands were ready to throw a punch, Ban Hwee Hyul stepped forward and initiated a talk in a heavy voice.

“Excuse me.”

At that moment, the bully was already running away from the site. Ban Hwee Hyul watched him, who was dashing away hurriedly and even stumbling at some point, with a dumbfounded look. He then diverted his gaze back onto his brother.

“Done, you cool? Let’s go then,” asked Ban Hwee Hyul.

His brother replied, “Hyeong, hold on. We should, at least, check if this person is okay.”

“Why are you taking care of someone who’s even a stranger…?” grumbled Ban Hwee Hyul. However, when his brother’s stiffened face came into view, Ban Hwee Hyul shut his mouth.

Biting his lips for a moment, he blurted out again, “I can’t spend any more time on this. You know that I’ve been waiting for this TV show all week.”

He didn’t add the phrase, ‘While working part-time every day.’ Ban Hwee Hyul trusted that his little brother was smart enough to understand his situation. Thus, they would just leave the person, a stranger, in the street and return home as soon as possible.

But…

“Go back first.”

The words slipped from his brother’s mouth frigidly. Ban Hwee Hyul stared at the front with a grimace. His red eyes began to subside heavily.

Ban Hwee Hyul retorted, “How can you treat me this way?”

“Your legs are working fine, but not his. I’ll bring him to the hospital or so after checking out his condition.”

“By yourself? How are you gonna do that?” asked Ban Hwee Hyul.

“I’ll figure it out anyway, so go home first. Today right now is your only pleasure of the week.”

Speaking that way, Ban Hwee Hyul’s brother carried the knocked-down student on his back in the end.

Ban Hwee Hyul panted in bewilderment and muttered, ‘Just as you’ve said, if you know that today right now is my only pleasure of the week, why are you wasting my time to help a stranger?’

His brother was already sweating heavily on his forehead. That was inevitable since his little brother was clever and brilliant inside the brain, but was not when it came to using his physical strength. If Ban Hwee Hyul left his brother act that way, he would definitely spend the Sunday evening without him.

Watching his brother with a stiffened look for quite some time, Ban Hwee Hyul, eventually, approached the knocked down student and carried him on his back instead.

“Hyeong… just go back home…”

“I’m fine.”

Ban Hwee Hyul dashed the street with ease while having a boy as tall as him riding on his back. Passers-by turned to look at them once in a while.

After bringing the boy to a hospital nearby, Ban Hwee Hyul and his brother were able to return home late at night.

He asked, “You aren’t helping these kinds of people when I’m not with you, are you?”

“That’s…”

His brother avoided Ban Hwee Hyul’s glance while biting his lips.