Ch.128Equipment Shutdown (11)

“Sorry, I thought it would be better to appear as normal as possible, but I guess that wasn’t the case. Were you worried a lot?”

“Of course. No matter how I think about it, it’s so unlike you, Ban Do-young. Refusing to go on a trip when you’re perfectly fine.”

“Unlike Ban Do-young… I suppose that’s true.”

“Do-young, what happened this morning? From the looks of it, you don’t seem to have been in a condition that would prevent you from going on the field trip. Were you really just faking being sick?”

“…Sigh.”

Do-young noticed that the children’s faces were not in a mood to take jokes, so he put down the rice cracker he had been nibbling on back into the box, as if he had made up his mind about something.

“Hey, you can’t put something that was in your mouth back in there.”

“…”

*Crunch*

After Hye-rang’s admonishment, Do-young picked up the rice cracker that had touched his mouth and quickly ate it. Seemingly aware that he shouldn’t waste time, he hurriedly finished the cracker, leaving crumbs of various sizes scattered on the floor.

“Sorry. I thought you might get angry if you heard the crunching sound of the rice cracker. Um… Sa-hyang, Hye-rang.”

“…Huh?”

Having disposed of the rice cracker, Do-young called out to Sa-hyang and Hye-rang with a slightly trembling voice.

“Could you… give us some space for a moment?”

“Now…? Just the two of us?”

Sa-hyang and Hye-rang tilted their heads at Do-young’s request to leave them alone. They had often left Do-young and Ha-min alone together, but it was the first time Do-young had directly asked them to leave.

“I need to talk to Do Ha-min alone.”

“…Is it something we shouldn’t hear?”

“Hmm… I wonder. What do you think, Do Ha-min? It’s about what happened between us yesterday. Do you want Sa-hyang and Hye-rang to hear it too?”

“…”

Do-young deflected Sa-hyang’s question to Ha-min. Normally, Ha-min would have lost his composure at such a sudden question, but…

“I’m sorry, Sa-hyang, Hye-rang. Please let us talk alone for a moment.”

Ha-min quietly nodded and asked the two for their understanding, as if he too had something to discuss with Do-young in private.

“What is it that we can’t hear? It’s not like we haven’t been worried about you, Ban Do-young. Why only Ha-min…”

“Alright, we’ll step out for a bit.”

“What? Sa-hyang… what are you doing?”

“Come on, let’s go outside, Hye-rang. It seems like this isn’t a place for us right now.”

After hearing Do-young and Ha-min’s request, Sa-hyang grabbed Hye-rang’s shoulder and stood up.

“Wait, just a moment… Hey, Sa-hyang, let go…”

“Call us when you’re done talking, or Ha-min can just report back to us.”

“Ah, okay. I’ll do that.”

Ha-min nodded in agreement to Sa-hyang’s request.

“Okay, we’ll go ahead then. Have a good time, you two.”

“Yeah, thanks…”

“But not too good of a time.”

Sa-hyang gave a wink and a smile to Do-young and Ha-min before taking Hye-rang out with her.

*Slide*

Only after confirming the sound of the front door closing did Do-young exhale deeply, as if finally certain that the two had completely left.

“It’s better that they’re not here, right?”

“Huh?”

“I figured that you definitely wouldn’t have told anyone that I accepted your confession.”

“Y-yeah… that’s right.”

“Heheh, I thought so. No one would believe me if I talked about it alone, so why bother spreading it around? That’s what I thought you’d be thinking.”

“…”

Ha-min quietly listened to Do-young’s words and nodded with a slightly embarrassed expression. It was true that he had kept their relationship secret from others for the very reason Do-young had guessed, but it was also true that he had confessed about his relationship with Do-young to a girl he met for the first time today, for that same reason.

“‘The officially accident-free goddess is getting ahead of herself just because Ban Do-young played with her a bit… She should say she’s dating Jeong-gyu and the class president instead. That would be more believable…’ I thought you might be keeping it as your own secret in case such rumors started flying around.”

“Hiccup.”

Of course, part of the reason he couldn’t refute was that he was surprised by how well Do-young had seen through his thoughts.

“You thought well. It wouldn’t be good if something irreversible happened later because you told others unnecessarily.”

“…Huh? Irreversible? What do you mean by that?”

“Remember when I pretended like I was about to go somewhere far away when we parted yesterday?”

Ha-min’s hand, which had been resting on his pocket, flinched. He hadn’t expected Do-young to bring up the incident where he had raised his voice at her.

“O-of course I remember. It just happened yesterday… and I wanted to talk to you about that—”

“What would you do if it wasn’t an act?”

“…Huh?”

Do-young asked Ha-min while averting his eyes from him.

“…Are you playing another prank that involves acting? Like you did yesterday?”

“You can think of it that way if you want. If you think everything I’m saying now is just acting and joking, you can respond accordingly.”

Do-young continued speaking while avoiding Ha-min’s gaze.

Is he joking with me again despite what happened yesterday? Like he did to me yesterday. Like he just did to Sa-hyang and Hye-rang.

Is he being sincere? Or is it a prank involving acting?

The infinitely serious tone of questioning from yesterday was clouding Ha-min’s judgment.

If it’s a joke? That would be the worst.

“Don’t use people’s concerns as material for jokes.” It was just yesterday that he had raised his voice and gotten angry about that.

And yet, even today, without any sign of remorse, he was repeating the same lies and jokes.

Moreover, he had even skipped the field trip that he normally wouldn’t miss. It was essentially deceiving not just him but the concerns of the entire Class 1.

‘But if it’s not a joke…’

That would be the worst too.

The moment everything Do-young had said became truth rather than a joke, it meant that Do-young would soon be leaving for somewhere far away.

“What if the Ban Do-young who’s been happily hanging out with you until now was all an act and fake, and the real Ban Do-young who will change as we date is the real one…?”

“…”

Ha-min’s abilities weren’t enough to discern what parts of Do-young’s words were true or false. He was the type who was easily swayed by others’ words and readily accepted what others said.

“…Since you said I could think as I please, I’ll do that.”

After hesitating for a moment, Ha-min spoke to Do-young as if he had made a decision.

“Even if it’s true that you have to leave me, and everything you said earlier is true, I’ll accept it. Because that’s better than a Ban Do-young who lies as a joke about the concerns others have.”

Ha-min decided to accept Do-young’s words as truth. Even if those facts were all absurd,

Even if all the aspects of Do-young he had seen until now would become fake that would eventually disappear, Ha-min didn’t want to make the Do-young he remembered a liar.

“I like you, Ban Do-young.”

“…”

Do-young’s back flinched slightly upon hearing Ha-min’s words. Although Do-young gave no response, Ha-min continued speaking regardless.

“The Ban Do-young I like is the one who loves Zero Lime. And hates mango flavor to death.”

“…”

“The Ban Do-young I like is the one who helped me at the entrance ceremony. The one who forcibly tried to make me sit next to her.”

“…”

“Also, the Ban Do-young I like is the one who changed my glasses. The one who deliberately broke my already broken glasses even though she knew she would get scolded by the master.”

It was the first time he had said “I like you” so many times, and without trembling.

When Ha-min was uncertain about himself, he always trailed off or stuttered. Because he thought that even his confession of love could be a lie deceiving himself.

“…Even so, you’ll have to like the ‘real’ Ban Do-young from now on.”

“The Ban Do-young I like doesn’t exist in the future.”

But there was no trembling in the words of love he conveyed to Do-young. He could be certain. That this feeling was real.

“What if I say I don’t like you even half as much as you like me?”

“Then I’ll have to create new reasons for you to like me.”

Ha-min said this as he pulled out a gift box tied with a green ribbon from his pocket.

“Take it. It’s nothing compared to what you’ve given me so far.”

“…What’s this?”

“Open it.”

Do-young looked down at the gift box received from Ha-min for a moment and then followed his instruction to unwrap it.

“A bracelet…?”

“I thought you wouldn’t like cumbersome accessories. So I bought something as light as possible to wear.”

“…There’s writing on it.”

The bracelet in Do-young’s hand, reflecting the evening glow, had messages engraved on the inside in English, Japanese, and Korean, which shone brightly in the sunset light.

“Um… it’s a bracelet with words you want to say to someone you like. I chose one with the words I wanted to say to you, Do-young.”

“…”

“First of all, the color is pretty… and they said it has a lime-like scent. I thought it would suit you well.”

Do-young brought the bracelet from the gift box close to her face.

“I wanted my words to reach you, even a little. That’s why I chose that bracelet.”

“The words you wanted to say to me…? ‘Love Your Family♥’?”

“…Eh?”

“And this… it doesn’t smell like lime, but mango.”

Sensing something was off, Ha-min looked up to check the bracelet on Do-young’s wrist.

On Do-young’s wrist was an orange bracelet engraved with the message [Love Your Family♥].

“Oh, that’s the one I gave to Scarlet… But why is that…”

“What? Who is Scarlet? What kind of girl receives such gifts from you, Do Ha-min?”

“Ah, no… that’s…”

“Won’t you tell me the truth? Don’t you know it’s common sense that Do Ha-min’s gifts should only be given to ‘a girl whose name starts with Ban and ends with Young’! Are you determined to keep someone from going home forever!”

“Hieek…!”

It took quite a long time to clear up the misunderstanding.

.

.

.

[I♥YOU]

“Hmm… I wonder what meaning this gift has. That short big brother.”

That evening, the girl smiled as she looked at the letters engraved on the green bracelet she had received from Ha-min.

“Ban Si-young, dinner’s ready, so come out now.”

“I told you to call me Scarlet Swordmaster, Mom.”

“You’ll thank me in a year for not calling you that even when you asked. I regretted calling myself Crimson Blader in my youth too.”