Chapter 356

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Yoo Chun Young quickly followed Eun Jiho, who made a sudden swerve. Meanwhile, Ham Donnie was just turning around after greeting the unknown bastard. Eun Jiho blurted out to her, "Hey."

Ham Donnie turned to look at him and asked nonchalantly, "Huh?"

'How can you speak that way right now?' Eun Jiho stopped pouting before pointing at the bastard with his finger, although he didn't know his name. He tossed a question, "Who did you just say hi to?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Her response then followed unconcernedly enraged Eun Jiho. "What's so wrong about saying hi to a friend?"

"How can you befriend someone who doesn't even know your name properly?!" Eun Jiho couldn't help but shout that way.

* * *

"I mean, they are so ridiculous."

After school, I was studying with Yeo Dan oppa in a café near our house. This became our routine now. Suddenly ceasing to move my pencil, I uttered those words.

While Yeo Dan oppa was looking at me with his chin on his palm, I kept grumbling, "Hwee Hyul doesn't even know my name properly, so they asked how I can befriend him... That's what they said. How can they say that when they never call my name even though they know what it is? Besides, they also told me to ignore them."

"Uh-huh," Yeo Dan oppa nodded his head slowly.

Tapping my workbook hysterically with my pencil, I continued, "Between a person who made an honest mistake and someone who's doing it on purpose, isn't the latter worse? How could they say, 'Why did you become friends with Hwee Hyul?' Those guys are sincerely a hundred times worse than him!"

Yeo Dan oppa just nodded wordlessly or patted my head, as usual. I suddenly wondered how much I would miss these times I spent with Yeo Dan oppa once our fake relationship ended.

I once heard about this research that studied a result of human contact and how it lowered violence and stress. I'm sure it was correct because when Yeo Dan oppa touched my head, I could feel the rage surging in me slowly descending.

Thinking that this would one day come to a halt once our fake romance was over, I felt sad. When his hand left my head, I also had those lingering feelings rising within me. Staring at his hand with a regretful glance, I raised my head upon the immediate question.

"Hwee Hyul... are you talking about the kid in the parking lot before...?"

"Oh."

'Right, now that I had come to think of it, Yeo Dan oppa was also there when I first encountered Ban Hwee Hyul.' While I nodded with that thought in mind, Yeo Dan oppa added, "Did you guys get close?"

"Well, we got to know about each other by chance. He seemed to be a nice kid, so we decided to remain on good terms."

Responding that way, I suddenly realized that this had been the first time Yeo Dan oppa asked me these many questions. We had been living next-door for years, but we never really asked each other anything. Resting my chin on my hand, I tilted my head.

How could I possibly say we're close just because we spent a long time together? Every time I found something new about Yeo Dan oppa, I would be surprised, making me even more curious about him.

'Does he also feel the same?' I pulled myself together at his stare and opened my mouth.

"Ah, so that is..."

He might be concerned if I told him about how we were locked up in the storage room. I wasn't sure if it happened because of oppa's stalker or someone relevant to Ban Hwee Hyul; therefore, I paraphrased the story into something more appropriate in this situation.

"It's just that I had to take out something from somewhere high above me, but since I was short, he lent me a hand by making me step on his back. Later, I found out that he was a marked man by the upperclassmen, so no other freshmen spoke with him. I found it sad since he's a good person."

I wasn't talking about something special; however, Yeo Dan oppa gazed at my face too intently as if he was taking an online class. I scratched the back of my head and continued, "Ah, and...!" I shouted out of the blue, "He overflows with warmth!"

"Warmth?"

"Um, Hwee Hyul can't memorize my name."

"..."

While Yeo Dan oppa stared at me as if he didn't understand what I had just said, I scratched the back of my head again with a giggle. 'That means, Hwee Hyul is not interested in me.' I knew that too.

"I was suffering from my academic performance as kids with transcended human abilities surrounded me. However, once I met Hwee Hyul, everything became so... life started feeling so warm and humane," I added while feeling a little awkward.

What I just uttered was true. I was glad not everyone in this world was like the characters in web novels, who fought every day with other students but kept the first place in the school at the same time.

"He makes me so much more motivated to study."

After dropping those words, I felt like I was backbiting Ban Hwee Hyul against my will. I laughed clumsily while scratching the back of my head and read Yeo Dan oppa's countenance. 'What if he's disappointed in me?'

However, he reacted unexpectedly. Pointing at the part that he was explaining to me until now, he quietly uttered, "So am I."

"Excuse me?"

"I am also helping you study."

I observed his expression while feeling dumbfounded. It looked like he's in a bad mood for some reason.

I thought about what he just said. 'So am I. I am also helping you study.' It sounded different from the way the Bans spoke; they were always straightforward.

I stared at him blankly; however, he was just looking at the table between us wordlessly. In the end, I had to infer what he was trying to say by myself.

'Oh, god. Why am I suddenly faced with the dilemma of knowing what my partner's mood is? Isn't this the toughest question of the century? How can this happen without me noticing it?'

I tried to put my brain to work for now. Hadn't I said the law of web novels should only be applied to the nationwide number 1? Well, I take it back since the law should also be applied to the female main character's older brother since he would also be invariably leading and outstanding.

Wondering for a second, I quietly opened my mouth.

"Yeo Dan oppa."

"Yeah," he replied with a nod. I was already starting to grow accustomed to seeing my appearance embedded in his purple-black eyes. Looking up at those eyes, I asked, "Are you upset?"

I mumbled, inferring his intention; however, I chose to throw a straightforward question instead. After all, I might as well be Sherlock Holmes after trying to guess why Eun Jiho and Yoo Chun Young had been avoiding me these past few days. However, that didn't mean my brain was equivalent to that of Sherlock Holmes. Creating a lot of guesses and making them up well was utterly different.

I decided to ask him honestly. I knew Yeo Dan oppa wouldn't lie to me.

With a frown, he replied, "Do I look upset?"

"Uh-huh. I don't know why, but that's what it looks like..." While I responded to him without a second thought, Yeo Dan oppa knitted his forehead even more. With a moment of hesitation, I soon asked again, "Is it because you don't have much time to study lately since you've been handling mine?"

Time flew by swiftly. In my memories, he was only a sophomore in middle school when I first met him—of course, I was very young then too—but he was a sophomore in high school now. This was also his second semester.

'So yeah, as a college prep student, he might be stressed, and he wasn't aware of it.' With that thought in mind, I nodded while insisting that my guess was reasonable. However, his remark struck me hard.

"I've usually studied less than I've been doing these days."

"Oh..."

"I'm reviewing... um... yeah, I'm doing something called a 'review' while tutoring you on your subjects."

Yeo Dan oppa suddenly started stammering while talking about 'reviewing,' which seldom happened to him.