Ch.193Wherever You Are (6)

On the first day of the second semester, Do Hamin hadn’t returned to his seat even by the end of first period.

“What’s today’s date? I know it’s the first day back, but I forgot what date it is.”

“It’s the 24th.”

“Is that so? Then number 24, come up and solve this problem.”

“Number 24 is Do Hamin, but he’s in the faculty office with the teacher right now.”

“Ah, that’s right. I forgot. Then Ban Doyoung, who sits next to Do Hamin, come up and solve it.”

“Ehhh?!”

“What do you mean ‘ehhh’? Come up and solve it quickly.”

Thanks to that, I had to endure a harsh initiation at the front of the classroom starting from first period math.

How could I possibly focus on the math problem in front of me when my nerves were already on edge wondering what conversation was taking place between that guy Hamin and the teachers in the faculty office?

I was tempted to just draw Marina-chan’s face with the chalk in my hand.

“Wait, I’ve seen this problem somewhere before.”

The fragments of my study sessions with Hamin during the break, which I thought had completely disappeared, were still faintly present in the depths of my frontal lobe.

Following that vague memory, I started writing out the equation with the chalk…

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“What? How did I solve this?”

“Ohhh, Ban Doyoung!”

“Hamin’s wife is amazing!”

The problem that seemed completely unsolvable had been solved.

“Kid, why are you so shocked when you solved it well?”

“…”

“You used some methods that differ from the standard approach here and there, but that’s just your personal habit or style when solving problems, so it’s fine.”

Even though the process was so hazy that I couldn’t explain in words how or why the problem was solved, or what principle I had used, the answer that had been locked inside the problem eventually popped out.

I hadn’t even tried hard to find the answer, and I was fully prepared to just muddle through if I couldn’t solve it properly. Yet somehow, the answer naturally came to me, as if that was how it was always meant to be.

“Since your method itself isn’t wrong, you’d get full credit if you encountered the same problem on a subjective test.”

“Hehehe. Hey, Do Hamin! Did you see that? This is Ban Doyoung class, solving problems easily even after a month of goofing off… Oh.”

I proudly called out to Hamin’s seat, wanting to show off the traces of his forced education that remained in me, but when I saw his empty seat, I felt strange.

He was only in the faculty office for a short while, but the emptiness where he should have been felt incredibly awkward.

Wait, come to think of it, why did I automatically try to show off to Hamin as soon as I succeeded in solving the problem?

“Good job, go back to your seat.”

“…Yes.”

It was the first time that returning to my seat after solving a problem felt more empty than going up to solve it.

“…I miss Hamin.”

“Hamin is just in the faculty office.”

“What are you saying when you two were late together?”

“I’ve been seeing him all along but I still miss him.”

My mind was already filled with thoughts of showing off the problem I just solved to Hamin when he returned from the faculty office.

“But Hyerang, is it normal for a chairman to personally visit a student they want to admit as an additional acceptance?”

“No. Usually, even for additional acceptances, they just make a phone call. And it’s not even the chairman who calls, just a regular staff member.”

“But for Hamin, the chairman personally came to the school.”

“Well… for the chairman to personally visit, there wouldn’t have been an incident where a student who should have been accepted through admission corruption was rejected in the first place.”

As Hamin’s return was delayed, other students in the class, including Sahyang and Hyerang, naturally began whispering about matters related to Hamin.

It was true that the chairman’s actions were unusual, even shocking. I understood these things because I knew Hamin was the protagonist of this “Half of Half” world, but to the other kids who until recently had only seen him as a corner-dwelling nerd who was the shortest among the boys in class, had an unremarkable face, and only knew how to study, it must have seemed quite dramatic.

Well, even that pales in comparison to the dramatic development of him dating Sister Ban Doyoung, the most beautiful girl in the world setting.

“So is Hamin really transferring to Seongcheon now? With the chairman’s help? What will happen to Doyoung then?”

“Tsk tsk, Choi Sahyang, Yoo Hyerang, you two still don’t get it. Would someone like Hamin want to go to a science high school crawling with guys like him when he has Ban Doyoung, the most beautiful girl in the world setting? Would he abandon Ban Doyoung, who isn’t just like a fairy but is a fairy incarnate?”

“That’s true, but hearing it from your own mouth is really irritating.”

“Make sure you have a daughter who looks exactly like Hamin during his nerd days.”

“Hehehe.”

“She’s laughing at a curse…!”

That would be even better. It means we’d have a baby who looks like Doha-mi.

I didn’t know what Hamin and the chairman were discussing for so long, but I wasn’t particularly worried.

Just from Hamin’s expression this morning while watching the news, I could tell how he felt about Seongcheon.

Just remembering that face, dark with burning anger, was enough to make Ban Doyoung’s panties naturally get wet, proving this wasn’t just simple trust but a physiological reaction—in other words, science. As Hamin’s girlfriend, I can’t resist science.

Though his face was filled with terrifying anger, it also reassured me. It was a face that convinced me he would never leave for that place.

After all, Hamin’s purpose in wanting to attend Seongcheon was ultimately to please his mother, Doha-mi. Now that he knows there are plenty of ways to do that without going to Seongcheon, no sweet offer from them could persuade him.

“Don’t worry. Knowing that guy Hamin, he’ll reject the chairman’s offer right away and come back to the classroom soon, saying he can’t miss the first class of the second semester.”

“But when it comes to studies, doesn’t Hamin tend to charge ahead without telling Doyoung?”

“…”

“Come to think of it, he did that when signing up for night study. Well, that was before you two were officially dating, so it didn’t matter then.”

“Even when he volunteered to help Doyoung with exam prep, he only told Teacher Miso and Doyoung’s parents without telling Doyoung herself.”

“He did the same after you two officially started dating. That guy Hamin didn’t tell you about signing up for summer supplementary classes either.”

“Ugh, you nosy cats! Shouldn’t students focus on class?”

“You there, by the window in the back, stop talking and concentrate!”

“See, even the teacher is warning you!”

“You too, Ban Doyoung!”

It’ll be fine. I can swear on the panties I changed into today.

That nothing will happen. That he’ll return to the seat next to me before the bell rings, making all these worries meaningless.

-Ding dong ding dong ding dong ding~

“Oh my, the first period bell already rang. Good job studying on the first day back.”

“Thank you…!”

“Hamin ended up skipping first period. Let him know what we covered when he gets back.”

“Come on, Hamin’s the top student in school. Who’s teaching whom here?”

“…”

But my expectation that he would return before the bell rang was completely off the mark.

…

The next time I saw Hamin was right after first period ended.

I immediately headed to the faculty office to check if Hamin was there, and when I heard that he and the chairman wanted to talk privately in an empty club room on the fourth floor, I rushed to the location without looking back.

“Old man, why are you trash-talking our baby?”

And that brings us to now, with me clinging to Hamin with all my limbs.

“Hamin… Is that female student who’s intensely clinging to you…”

“Y-yes. I didn’t expect to introduce her like this… D-Doyoung, could you let go for a moment?”

“No. Just talk like this. Where I can hear. You’re tough enough for this much thanks to my training.”

“B-but it’s disrespectful to the chairman.”

“Ah, it’s fine. Nice to meet you, Doyoung. I’m Cheon Sangmin, the chairman of Seongcheon High School.”

“I’m Ban Doyoung, the Goddess of Bulsa High (unofficial). Not nice to meet you, Chairman old man.”

“D-Doyoung…!”

“It’s alright. From her wariness of me potentially taking Hamin away, I can see how much affection she has for him.”

The chairman wasn’t as stubborn or obstinate as I’d seen in any creative work. But that didn’t mean I wanted to lower my guard.

Having barged in on their conversation, I didn’t know what they had discussed before, but this was a man who threatened Hamin by asking “How is your mother?” when Hamin refused to come to his school. I couldn’t overlook the variable that he was the type to resort to threats when his offers were rejected.

Huh? How do I know Hamin refused the offer when I just arrived? If he accepted the transfer offer, would that be a pure love ending? Of course he’d refuse. What do you take our Hamin for?

“I heard earlier. That you’re someone precious to Hamin.”

“That’s right, and I’m going to become even more precious. More than some school called Seongcheon or whatever.”

“Ahaha… I see. That’s fortunate then. I’m relieved to hear that you’re a more definite goal for Hamin than Seongcheon.”

“…Huh?”

“I believe that for Hamin, someone like you is a greater driving force for growth than Seongcheon. I’ve taken up too much of your time. I’ll be going now.”

The chairman passed by us with a strange smile and left the empty classroom. For someone who had threatened using Doha-mi, he was surprisingly compliant.

“Ch-Chairman…!”

“Yes, what is it, Hamin?”

“Um… thank you. I hope we can meet again.”

“…Thank you too. For growing into such a good student.”

The chairman nodded lightly and went down the stairs. Hamin didn’t take his eyes off him until the chairman’s figure disappeared down the stairwell.

“Tch, who does he think he is, your dad? Suddenly saying he’s grateful you grew up well. This is the result of me and Doha-mi raising you, you know? It’s me who raised you, not that old man.”

“D-don’t be so harsh as he’s leaving.”

“And you too, Hamin. Why were you two talking in this gloomy place instead of the faculty office where everyone can see? Did he call you here? Was he trying to get you to enroll in his school away from the teachers’ eyes?”

“N-no… it’s not like that.”

“Then what is it?! There’s no reason to talk in a place like this unless it’s something like that!”

Just this morning, his eyes had been filled with dark anger when watching the news about Seongcheon. But now, that turbid flame was nowhere to be found. It was hard to believe this was the same person who had just met with the head of Seongcheon.

Hamin’s eyes sparkled when greeting the chairman, almost as much as when he looks at me or Doha-mi.

“N-no…? It’s not that, is it? Is it studies again? Are you making some strange decision on your own, putting studies ahead of me again?”

“I-it’s not something strange like that.”

“Then tell me what you were talking about with that old man here! Why are you hiding it…!”

“Th-that…!”

Hamin blushed, squeezed his eyes shut, and shouted.

“It’s something you don’t need to know, Doyoung…!”

“…”

-Thud

At that moment, when the rejection I expected to fly at the chairman came to me instead, my legs gave out.

“D-Doyoung…?”

“…Sniff.”

“A-are you okay…?”

“You bastard!”

I knocked Hamin over with the arms that had been holding him and straddled him.

“Don’t go, don’t go! Don’t leave me behind! You jerk! I didn’t leave you like this! After I made you this handsome, after I made you this tall, after I came to like you this much, you should be thinking about staying by my side, why do you keep doing this! I’ve really come to like you now! I’ve come to think I want to be Ban Doyoung forever!”

“D-Doyoung… Wait. I never said anything about going to Seongcheon High…”

“Why! Why do you keep making me anxious! You said there would only be a pure love ending! No sweet potatoes, no ex-boyfriend drift, no childhood friend returning from studying abroad drift… You said there would be none of that, and now you’re trying to pull a ‘Two years later in the Shabondi Archipelago’? Who wants that? I don’t care if you become the worst student in school or shrink back to being a nerd again, just stay by my side…! If you’re worried about not making money, I can earn it… I can seriously do modeling jobs… Or at least make it a fact right here so you can’t drift away…”

“W-what are you trying to do! Even if this is an empty classroom, other kids might come!”

“Screw the general audience rating, today’s the 24th. Yesterday was my ovulation day, so if we do it just once…”

“D-Doyoung, I was asking about your birthday present! Not about Seongcheon High!”

“…Eh?”