Chapter 76

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Inside his golden-brown eyes showed a hint of his awkwardness he was feeling, which made me laugh. I stepped closer to him and swept his hair with a smile. His brown hair moved around my hand smoothly.

I said, “No, it’s not because of you. My mom told me to check if the coffee beans are running out, so is there anything else you need?”

“Donnie, are you going outside? Let’s go together.”

Eun Hyung spoke to me while walking toward my side from the living room. I glanced at Eun Hyung and answered back.

“I’ll be back shortly.”

“You can go later. Besides, Hwang Siwoo…”

When Eun Jiho mentioned Hwang Siwoo, he glimpsed at Eun Hyung, who was standing behind me and stopped what he was saying. After a moment, he shook his head and continued his words as if he persuaded himself.

“… would never beat you up even if he comes in a group.”

“You’re going too far.”

Eun Hyung said with an awkward smile. Yoo Chun Young, who stood behind Eun Jiho, added his words nonchalantly.

“Come on, who caught the whole group alone yesterday?”

“You did it alone?”

Yoo Chun Young knitted his brows and shook his head as a response to my question.

He said, “I didn’t even touch them.”

“Okay, you’ll be fine. Be careful, be safe, and get back home soon.”

When Eun Jiho waved his hand after saying those words, Eun Hyung gave an awkward smile as he frowned.

Yeo Ryung, who was inside my room, told Jooin to bring me to her, but as soon as she saw me wearing a jacket, her eyes opened widely.

She asked, “Where are you going?”

“I’ll be back soon; I’m just going out with Eun Hyung.”

I replied while putting on my shoes.

Yeo Ryung then nodded and said to me, “Get back ASAP! I have something to show you.”

“Gotcha, I’ll be back shortly,” I replied while raising my head.

Eun Hyung was standing against the open door while wearing a gray coat. The wind blowing in through the door was quite chilly, so I sniffed my nose and proceeded to leave the house with Eun Hyung.

When I walked past the entrance of the apartment complex, I saw cherry blossoms fluttering down from the trees. It made me think of how spring had finally come no matter how cold the weather was.

Eun Hyung’s red hair scattered after feeling the blow of the wind. A pink blossom fell on his hair. He looked so beautiful with the blossom on him that I almost burst into laughter.

He asked in wonder as he saw me shrugging my shoulders.

“Why?”

“Nothing.”

I spoke vaguely with a smile and stood in front of the crosswalk.

It was Saturday afternoon indeed. High school students with uniforms on and middle school students wearing plainclothes were crowding the streets. There were also some crowds in front of a big supermarket across the intersection.

About twenty people were waiting for the signal to change. The same amount of people were standing across us while staring at the traffic lights.

I saw big cars running in front of me. I was gazing thoughtlessly at the big cargo truck coming towards us from a distance.

A car accident… I repeated the fortuneteller’s words in my head. It was still not a realistic thing to think about.

While I had a blank stare at the red signal, at some point, I realized that Eun Hyung’s gray coat was out of my sight.

What’s going on? I looked beside me in confusion, but he was still nowhere to be found. As soon as I turned back to check what was going on, I was terrified to see that someone who was wearing our school uniform was about to smash Eun Hyung’s back.

Eun Hyung avoided the attack easily and twisted the guy’s arm in a flash. He surely deserved to be a part of the Four Heavenly Kings. However, more people sprung out at Eun Hyung.

People who stood in front of the traffic light started to make a commotion by reporting the situation to the police.

Oh, what should I do?! Should I call 112? Most of the web novels did not provide any advice if one should call the cops when a group fight happened. When I tried to dial 112 to stop the commotion, someone from the crowd jumped in and grabbed me tight.

Eun Hyung, who just avoided a guy’s kick and simply threw him to the ground, yelled something to my side; however, I did not hear it clearly.

I could barely see the boy’s face through my blurry vision. I only knew from the color of his nametag that he’s a freshman.

The boy seemed to be more adamant on snatching my phone rather than focusing on the prospect of knocking me down. No, way. I had to call the police!

I lost my balance in a deserted street of all things while I was shaking his hand off violently. As I stepped back, I stumbled upon someone’s feet and rolled down the ground.

My sight rotated heavily. I then heard Eun Hyung yelling out something. Still, I could not hear his voice clearly. At the very next moment, my cheek touched the heated concrete ground. Then I saw the image of a huge dump truck heading towards my direction.

I closed my eyes tightly out of surprise; however, the smearing heat from the concrete ground where I had my cheek on would not disappear.

I did not have any strength left in my body. Although I could have gotten myself up, it seemed that my body would fall off before I could even recover my balance.

SCREEEEEECH! As if the driver just found me falling in front of him, he stepped on the brake to halt hurriedly; the horrifying screech tore the frowst. The heavy truck was weighing wheels down the concrete ground as it spun furiously. I felt like I could smell the burning rubber of the wheels heading towards me. When my thoughts finally realized that the wheels were closing into me in about a few meters, I realized that my life would cease then and there. Seriously, it seemed like my poor heart would stop beating before the truck could have the opportunity to hit me.

The vehement screech of the truck’s wheels rang around my ears. It made me think that this could be the last moment of my life. However, there was no panorama of memories going through my mind, which was something unfair to me when I thought about it. How could I face my death like this without the presence of all my memories flashing before my eyes in a matter of seconds?

Then there came a moment of silence. Everything stood still. The frowst and the furious screech were all gone. Maybe my mind was just fooling me into thinking that the noise had disappeared. My ears were losing its ability to hear anything as if I had plunged deep into the deep sea.

However, I could still think, and therefore, I was still not dead. Well, who knew if I was already a soul freed from the confines of my body? Being able to think didn’t necessarily mean I wasn’t dead.

Should I open my eyes? However, what if the thing appears before me is the sight of my corpse, bleeding under the truck after getting run over? How can I handle my mentality then? I wasn’t brave enough to open my eyes.

While I closed my eyes tight, I could feel my body functioning well again: I could smell the horrid smell of burning rubber, I could feel the fume of heat incomparable to that of the concrete ground, and I could hear the faint rumblings of the crowds.

I plucked up the courage to open my eyes slowly. Then I realized I was trapped inside the dark, which scared me to death, but soon noticed that I was lying under the head of the truck.

Oh, thank god. I stared at the pair of huge wheels right next to me which could have crushed my head in a flash. Then I turned my head with eyes wet with tears.

Through my tearful sight, I saw a few people putting their heads under the truck to check my condition. One person stretched out something like a hand to me, and I held it to crawl out of the truck with my knees.

Under the truck was, however, not high enough space for me to crawl out with my knees. My strength had also depleted, so I collapsed to the ground several times instead.

When I left the truck by myself, covered with wounds all over my body, the bright sunlight greeted me at last. Suddenly, I felt my heart melting all at once as I felt tears filling my eyes again. At that moment, someone from the crowd yelled at me.

“You… you little bastard! Why did you jump into the street, huh? Do you want to ruin others’ life? Ptooey! God damn it!”

The truck driver scowled at me while spitting at the ground threateningly, which looked menacing enough through my blurred vision.