Ch.131The Resemblance Is Uncanny (3)

[Me]

[Anyway, that’s what happened]

[I thought everything was gone when I fell in the water, but fortunately it survived]

[Ningen no phone is very sturdy]

[Eldest Son]

[So you were determined to give Miso noona a heart attack]

[Why would you dive into a lake when you can’t even swim?]

[Me]

[I thought I’d float]

[I wear a bio life vest every day]

[Eldest Son]

[Does Dad know?]

[That you almost died on the school trip?]

[Me]

[Yeah]

[I told him as soon as I got back and got scolded like hell]

[So I don’t plan on getting lectured by you too]

[Eldest Son]

[Okay, fine]

[If Dad already scolded you, I guess there’s nothing more for me to say]

[Wrong is wrong, so don’t get sulky]

[Me]

[K]

Monday morning after the school trip ended,

perhaps the lingering feelings of travel remained, as my eyes opened faster than expected.

A strong, powerful morning where my eyes sparkled as they opened.

Waking up with a surprisingly clear mind without even yawning, I decided to send a message to Solyoung, who was Bando-young’s older brother, to send him the photos of Teacher Miso that I had promised earlier.

[Eldest Son]

[So]

[The promised goods?]

[Me]

[Hehe]

[Rejoice, ningen]

[Teacher Miso and school trip.zip]

[I’m sending it as a compressed file in case people see it and misunderstand you as a lolicon]

[Eldest Son]

[Miso noona isn’t that young, you know]

[Me]

[Yes she is]

The eldest son in a family where the mother was Chuk Junsook and the younger sister was Bando-young

seemed to develop these peculiar tastes.

Still, it was fortunate that his preference for older women

resembled Bando-che.

If he liked younger ones too, that would be dangerous, yep.

[Eldest Son]

[There’s more than I expected]

[Me]

[But most are from day 1 and day 2]

[Since I was lying down sick]

[But I guarantee the quality]

[Eldest Son]

[Let me see]

.

.

.

[Me]

[Hey]

[Why aren’t you responding?]

.

.

.

[Me]

[What’s going on?]

[Are you using it right now?]

Solyoung’s quick responses suddenly stopped.

I thought maybe he was too busy to use his phone,

but the timing of the conversation stopping was too perfect.

[Eldest Son]

[I’ve checked everything you sent]

[Me]

[You scared me]

[I thought you were using it right away]

[Eldest Son]

[It’s only been 6 minutes]

[What would I be using it for?]

Shortly after, Solyoung’s reply came with the notification mark disappearing.

The gap was awkwardly short, so it didn’t seem like he had gone straight to “action.”

If he had used it and cleaned up by now, that would be too sad for Teacher Miso.

[Eldest Son]

[Those photos]

[Delete the ones with the loose yukata making a heart sign and the ones taken in the bathroom]

Despite giving him a bonus,

Solyoung suddenly ordered me to delete some of the photos I had taken.

[Me]

[?]

[You want me to delete those?]

[Those were my masterpieces]

[Title: Love is Like a Slug]

[Eldest Son]

[They’re too revealing]

[I’m surprised she let you take photos like that]

Well, that’s because I took them without permission.

[Eldest Son]

[You don’t need to meet the quota I asked for, just delete those photos]

[I’ll pretend I never received them and I’ve deleted them too]

“…”

I deleted the revealing photos of Teacher Miso as Solyoung ordered.

I was a bit reluctant to delete them since I liked the poses and composition, but what could I do?

Having already received payment in advance, I had to do what the client wanted.

[Me]

[I deleted them]

[This is a bit unexpected]

[I took those thinking that’s what you’d want]

[Eldest Son]

[Smiling photos are enough]

[I just wanted to see Miso noona’s happy face]

[She’s prettiest when she’s passionate about her work]

“Hooo…”

When I saw Solyoung’s reply, my mouth formed a circle and a sound of admiration slipped out.

I should tell that Doha-min kid to try this too.

[Eldest Son]

[Besides]

[I don’t need photos of revealing stuff]

[Me]

[Kihya]

[I’ve learned from the master]

[Eldest Son]

[So don’t give your teacher a hard time and be good to her]

“…Kuk. That’s funny, when you’re the one who’ll give her the hardest time.”

I couldn’t help but smirk at the sight of him looking after Teacher Miso

while his own body was stuck in the military, even if not for much longer.

“He must really like her.”

[Eldest Son]

[And about Hamin]

[Tell Hamin I said thanks]

[Thank him for letting me see my ugly sister for longer]

[Me]

[I know]

[Don’t worry about that, I’ll repay him with my body]

[Eldest Son]

[?]

[Wait a second]

[What do you mean repay with your body]

-Wooong

The 7 AM wake-up alarm rang.

This was usually when Bando-young would wake up.

“Bando-young! Get up, it’s morning!”

“I’m already up, so don’t worry!”

“Huh? Your voice sounds so bright today? How come you’re alert before the alarm went off?”

“Oh, I wanted to go a bit earlier today. I’ll be down soon.”

This morning was a bit earlier than usual.

I hurried my steps to school wearing the mango-scented bracelet that Doha-min had given me.

“I’m off then!”

“You’re leaving already? Are you on duty today?”

“No, I just want to get there early today!”

There was no special reason for hurrying to school.

I just wanted to see how much taller Doha-min had grown over the weekend.

.

.

.

At such an early hour that even the disciplinary teachers hadn’t yet appeared at the school gate,

I quickly passed through the gate and strode up the stairs leading to Class 1-1.

“Hey, Doha-min! Good morning!”

-Slide!

I shouted as I opened the back door right next to the stairs.

It was a cry made with strong confidence that no one but Doha-min would be in the classroom right now.

“…Huh?”

My spirited call of Doha-min’s name.

However, the shout dissipated into thin air without any response.

“What the…”

When I opened the back door, the figure of Doha-min who should have been sitting at the window seat at the far end, looking at the scenery outside, was nowhere to be found.

“What kind of crazy girl shouts like this first thing in the morning… Oh, it’s you, Bando-young?”

“…Lee Jeong-gyu?”

And at the desk where Doha-min should have been, stood Lee Jeong-gyu, who until recently had been hospitalized due to a traffic accident.

“What’s this, when did you get discharged?”

“The day you all left for the school trip.”

“Oh my, that’s a shame. If you’d been discharged just one day earlier, you could have joined us on the fun school trip.”

“Don’t say things you don’t mean.”

“Oh, I’ve been caught.”

Lee Jeong-gyu frowned,

though discharged, he was still on crutches with thick plaster bandages wrapped around his leg.

“I couldn’t have gone anyway, even if I’d been discharged earlier. What school trip with this leg? Why would I want to be treated like baggage by the others?”

“True. Looking at that condition, no group would have taken you in. Though I suppose they wouldn’t have accepted you even if your leg was fine, hehe.”

-Tsk

Lee Jeong-gyu clicked his tongue and turned his gaze away,

looking as if I’d hit a nerve he’d been concerned about.

“You really just say it straight out.”

“I don’t need to watch my words with a loser who fainted in front of Doha-min, right? Even if I openly mocked you to your face and ran away, you couldn’t chase me anyway.”

“Fine, mock me all you want. I don’t care.”

“Really? Then I won’t.”

I’d rather tease Doha-min than someone like you.

It’s a big mistake to think that the great Bando-young would tease just anyone.

I put my bag down at my seat next to Doha-min’s, where Lee Jeong-gyu was standing, and pulled out a chair to sit.

-Thud!

“So, how long are you going to stand here!”

I banged on Doha-min’s desk with my left hand wearing the bracelet and shouted at Lee Jeong-gyu.

“Why have you been standing like a pole in front of Doha-min’s seat? It’s already annoying enough that you’re about 10cm taller than Bando-young!”

Roughly estimating, Lee Jeong-gyu’s height was about 185cm.

There was about a 10-12cm difference from Bando-young’s height.

It was infuriating that he was creating what media calls the “exciting height difference” with Lee Jeong-gyu instead of Doha-min.

“Hey, it’s uncomfortable seeing you stand, so sit down.”

I couldn’t keep making a patient stand, but I didn’t want to let him sit in Doha-min’s seat, nor did I want to lend him Sahyang’s or Hyerang’s seats.

“Fine, I’ll let you use the class president’s chair.”

I pulled out the chair from Ahn Seong-kyung’s seat in front of the teacher’s desk and made him sit.

“What do you want? Just say it briefly and go back, or skip class altogether like you usually do.”

“I heard Doha-min comes to class earliest, so I came early. I need to say this now before others see.”

“Why, want to hit him with your crutch when no one’s watching?”

“To apologize. To you all.”

“…What?”

Bando-young waking up early and Lee Jeong-gyu apologizing to Doha-min? What kind of world is this?

Fortunately, my cheek hurt when I pinched it, and the morning sun wasn’t rising from the west, so it wasn’t a dream.

“I’m sorry, really.”

Lee Jeong-gyu put his crutch down on the floor,

and bowed his tall head toward me.

“For speaking rudely to you, Bando-young, for disrespecting Teacher Miso, and for everything I did to Doha-min. I’m apologizing for all of it right here.”

It didn’t seem like a lie or that he had other intentions.

While he wasn’t as transparently honest as Doha-min, whose lies were immediately obvious,

I didn’t think Lee Jeong-gyu would come to the classroom at this hour with his injured leg just to tell a lie.

“I’m not apologizing because of what he said about helping me. I’m doing this because ignoring what I’ve done seems even more pathetic.”

“…Hooo.”

“Tell Doha-min when he comes. That I apologize, but I won’t accept his help.”

“No, tell him yourself.”

-Thud

I kicked away the crutch that Lee Jeong-gyu was trying to pick up to stand, and made him sit back in the chair.

“What, what are you doing?”

“How dare you commit assault offline but try to apologize online? You grabbed his collar in front of the whole school, but you can’t apologize in front of the less than 30 students in this classroom?”

“…”

“I see you still haven’t shed that pathetic loser attitude you mentioned. Right?”

“Ah, fine, damn it! I’ll apologize to his face! No matter how many people are in the classroom!”

“Good, that’s more like it. Don’t worry though. It’s natural for Doha-min to be at school at this hour. He’s probably in the bathroom or something. Someone his size probably takes a long time to finish. He’s probably still waiting for his stream to end.”

“What, what are you saying? Have you seen his thing or something? How would you know that?”

Well, I’ll see it someday.

Someday.

“Anyway, just wait a bit. He’ll come into the classroom with an awkward face soon!”

So I sat Lee Jeong-gyu in Ahn Seong-kyung’s chair,

and waited for Doha-min to return to the classroom.

.

.

.

“Ab-absent…? Doha-min is?”

“Yes, he seems to have come down with something right after returning from the school trip. I received a call from Hamin’s mother this morning.”

“That can’t be… That healthy kid! To suddenly fall ill without any foreshadowing…”

There was plenty of foreshadowing.