Chapter 563

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“Well, since this time we’re going on a school trip, not a retreat, they won’t punish us to clean the spaces if we don’t do well, will they…?”

I spoke hesitantly, but the class atmosphere didn’t get better. We’ve just got the rough schedule and destination of our trip. Still, twenty days were left until the event. Thus, the class meeting ended from there.

With a suggestion of bringing more ideas until Wednesday, three days from now, we finished our discussion and had a recess time.

The hotter the weather was, the more laid-back we became, so most of the kids in the class enjoyed the break, rather than studying.

Maybe because the College Scholastic Ability Test was taken during the wintertime? Thinking about the relationship between the weather and the motivation to study, I, eventually, shook my head, then dropped my gaze at my workbook. If my parents didn’t get me this new phone as a gift for their daughter, I would have also joined the kids, chilling around.

My eyes felt sore from the rays of sunlight pouring straight down through the window, reflected on the paper. Rubbing my eyes with one side of my hand, I kept moving my pencil. But soon, it didn’t seem to work, so I quickly lifted my head, thinking that I should borrow someone’s empty seat. At that moment, there was a loud noise in the classroom.

“Wow, hold on! Click that one! This is insane!”

While the kids around me oohed and aahed at something, I had no idea what it was about. After having heard the word ‘click,’ I switched my gaze to the TV screen connected to the monitor. A familiar title and names under the search bar came into view.

‘<Black Rain> Advance Screening’

‘Lee Nara, Her Biggest Transformation Ever… for her role as a fierce investigator who lost her family.’

‘The first episode will premiere today, on the 2nd…’

‘This Mystery Thriller TV Series Set to Chill the Audiences in Summer’

That was when I blurted out, ‘Oh!’ after realizing that the TV drama in which Yoo Chun Young was making his first debut was also airing soon as the weather turned hotter. I should have paid more attention to it, but geez, never imagined that <Black Rain> will be released today.

Having it as their topic, the kids around me also began to stir.

“What time today?”

“Eight in the evening.”

“Is Yoo Chun Young appearing from the first episode?”

“No idea.”

“Hey, open the advance screening article. Yeah, that one.”

As the mouse pointer moved and clicked the small photo beside the headline, the image got enlarged, followed by a video.

Being surrounded by camera flash, Lee Nara flaunted a dazzling smile without blinking an eye. As she opened the event, holding her hair and bowing low to the crowds, the rest of the six people standing on the stage bent over one after another.

Indeed, Lee Nara was Korea’s most beloved actress. While all the spotlight was on her, only Yoo Chun Young was able to share the attention.

Words of exclamation slipped out of the kids’ mouths.

“Wow, Yoo Chun Young, how can he still look so captivating even in that place?”

“This is really insane. He just looks like a completely different person.”

“So true. Can you believe that he’s the same guy who slept in the middle of our class, shoving his face onto the textbook?”

‘Ay yay yay, folks, that’s too harsh, isn’t it?’ I frowned, wondering why they were even recalling memories to that extent. However, it was true that Yoo Chun Young didn’t feel like the same person he used to be unless we brought back such memories.

Meanwhile, Yoon Jung In made a fuss, tapping a boy’s shoulder in front of the computer.

“Oh, it’s Darlings. Yerin of Darlings! Look, she’s there on the left side of Yoo Chun Young!” shouted Yoon Jung In.

A girl with long wavy platinum blond hair was showing a vibrant smile on her face. Sweeping her hair back, she looked fabulous with a hot pink mini dress.

Watching the video, Kim Hye Woo turned his head to Lee Mina. He asked, “Hey, how come you become so quiet at that sight? Don’t you feel mad at Yoon Jung In acting like that?’

“Well, I also like the boy group Finish,” replied Lee Mina apathetically.

Oh, so that was the story behind Yoon Jung In acting so confidently, asking for the autograph of Yerin. If either of the two hated the fandom culture, things could have gone wild, but thankfully, the couple was cool about it.

Rambling those thoughts in my head, I diverted my gaze back onto the TV screen. My eyes then widened at the scene in the video.

As if she slipped down, wearing a high heel, two people’s hands stretched out at the same time to catch her falling. One was from a guy standing on her left, who initiated a conversation with Yoo Chun Young in the filming set last time. The other hand belonged to Yoo Chun Young.

Yerin, who almost stumbled but barely balanced herself from two guys’ helping hands, sent a smile to both her sides.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

The reporter on the stage praised, “Whoa, that looked like a scene from a romantic movie.”

The video then replayed edited footage of the three people’s moment with flowers falling in the background. After that scene, Yerin appeared again on the screen, covering her mouth, bursting out big, cheerful laughter.

“Oh my God, she’s so pretty!”

“How can she look so gorgeous even with a gummy smile?”

While every boy and girl in our class exclaimed in awe, the reporter in the video threw a question.

“Were there any funny episodes on the set? The three of you seem to have become very close,” she asked, pointing at Yoo Chun Young with her microphone. “Especially Mr. Chun Young, you look quite different from last time when I saw you. Perhaps, you’re feeling more comfortable with these great people, huh?”

As soon the question came out, Yerin shouted, “Once you get to know Chun Young, he’s such a cute guy!”

As an idol herself, Yerin’s comment could sound controversial at some point. However, she talked, showing a refreshing grin on her face and clapping her hands, which made her sound just bright and so right.

The actor standing beside her also replied, ‘I agree, Chun Young is different than he looks.’ It removed the risk of Yerin’s remark breeding any misunderstandings.

“Cool! Then shall we take a look at the <Black Rain> behind the scenes?”

At that moment, the bell rang to announce the start of class, so we quickly turned off the TV. On the way back to our seats, the kids kept talking about the scene in the video.

“Hey, did you just see Yerin? The look she had when saying cute to Yoo Chun Young, man, she looked way cuter!”

“Wow, how would it feel like hearing that you’re cute from Yerin in person?”

“Did Yoo Chun Young come to school today? Shall we go ask him?”

“I don’t think he’s in school today.”

Listening to their conversation, I took a deep breath in and out. My heart was pounding hard. I could even feel it in my hand holding a pencil.

Yoo Chun Young was, at last, on the TV. It was now time to put an end to my ordinary days.

The living room was busy all day. I helped my mom putting sheets of paper to cover the table. She told me it would make her life much easier to clean up after the party.

Placing the spoons on the table, she suddenly asked me, “Did you order chicken? Did you?”

I shook my head with a frown, “No, I asked you several times from earlier what delivery menu you prefer to order, but you never replied.”

My mom also furrowed her brows and said, “Come on, it isn’t us, but you guys who’re gonna enjoy the foods. You should then be responsible for delivering them. It’s already quarter to eight. If you order foods right now, those will arrive when the drama is over.”

“Then should I not order them?”

“No, then you guys have nothing to eat. We, the grown-ups, are having jokbal and bossam.”

“Well, Jooin likes bossam.”

“What about the rest of you?”

‘Oh, I see, my bad,’ I pouted my lips, then took my phone out of the pocket. I pressed the yellow app on my latest phone. It was ‘ChocolateTalk,’ a recent mobile messaging app quickly spreading all over the nation.

Before I had my phone changed, I heard kids talking about such things. Looking curious, I asked them a couple of times,

‘Data? What data? You mean some secret information?’

‘No, you silly. We need data to send messages.’

‘Is that like the limited text plan we used before?’