Ch.28Taking Off Your Glasses Doesn’t Exactly Make You a Hottie (3)

“This should be fine.”

As evening study hall officially began,

Hamin quickly ate the dinner provided by the school,

Then finished emergency repairs on his broken glasses using tape bought from the stationery store in front of the school.

“The taped part feels a bit awkward.”

The transparent tape clumsily wrapped around was quite unsightly.

The balance between the two arms didn’t match either, making him look like someone awkwardly wearing tilted glasses at first glance.

But it didn’t hinder his studying at all.

He wasn’t particularly interested in decorating his appearance to begin with,

And no one paid much attention to his looks anyway.

“Well, whatever. It’s not like I need to impress anyone at school.”

Hamin, trampling on his own self-esteem like that,

Deliberately put on his broken glasses and entered the classroom where evening study hall was taking place.

‘How could I not worry? My face wasn’t protagonist material to begin with,’

‘Pfft. Are you upset? Because an ugly guy called you ugly?’

As he entered the classroom, Hamin recalled the words Doyoung had said to him throughout the day.

Normally, he would have let such comments go in one ear and out the other, but strangely, the words from Doyoung’s mouth kept echoing in his mind, tormenting him.

“…Why am I making a big deal out of this now?”

It wasn’t like he was hearing these things for the first time.

In elementary school, in middle school, from kids who sat next to him,

Or from those who asked to change seats to sit next to their friends—he had heard such comments quite often.

Hamin was someone who could objectively evaluate his own appearance.

He knew he couldn’t be called handsome by any stretch—one look at his reflection in his phone screen was enough to confirm that.

Being hurt by such words had ended in elementary school.

After learning how to kill his self-esteem, he had become numb to such comments made behind his back.

So he thought it would be the same this time too.

“No, focus. I need to cover all the material I planned for today.”

*clap clap*

Hamin lightly patted his cheeks and focused on the workbook and notes spread out on his desk.

This was the only time he could concentrate solely on studying without being swayed by Doyoung.

“If I let those words get to me here, I’ll just keep blaming her.”

If he blamed his own incompetence and failures on Doyoung,

What could be more irresponsible and incompetent than that?

With that thought, Hamin picked up his pen and began solving problems.

‘You just look like shit.’

“Ugh…”

In the end, Hamin only managed to complete half of what he had planned for the first day.

.

.

.

“Good morning, Hamin! Even with evening study hall, you’re always first to arrive at school?”

“Ah, hello…”

“You took off the bandage on your nose, are you okay now?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t that serious, but I took it off on my way home because I thought my parents would worry.”

“You might get another nosebleed if you’re not careful.”

The next morning, Sahyang and Hyerang arrived at school and greeted Hamin, who was already in the classroom, with a wave.

After some time had passed,

He had become accustomed to having light conversations with Doyoung’s friends.

“Isn’t your home super far, Hamin? If you leave after study hall ends at 10, don’t you get home after midnight?”

“Ah, it’s fine. The night trains pass through many stations, so I get home relatively quickly.”

“And then you take the early morning train right back? Aren’t you tired?”

“I, I can still get about five hours of sleep. If I just lay down as soon as I get home.”

“I guess you get used to it.”

“That’s a routine our sleepyhead Doyoung could never follow.”

*clunk*

As they finished speaking, Doyoung opened the classroom door and entered.

The displeased expression Hamin had last seen when they parted the previous day was still there the next morning.

“Oh… what’s this? Why are you here so early today?”

“She probably came quickly because she thought we were talking about her.”

“Ah, hello…”

“…”

*screech*

Just like yesterday, Doyoung ignored Hamin’s greeting and pulled out her chair to sit down.

“What’s with her?”

“Dunno?”

“…”

*thud*

Doyoung silently put her legs up on the desk.

It seemed she couldn’t think of a reason to put her legs on Hamin’s knees today.

“Seriously, Doyoung. That’s so crude.”

“People can see your panties, girl.”

“Let them see.”

“…”

“What? You want to see too? Today I’m just wearing flesh-colored granny panties.”

“N-no…”

“What’s this? You voluntarily go to evening study hall when I offer to get you out of it, but you won’t voluntarily look when I offer to show you my panties?”

“Well, that would be a big problem…”

Sure enough, Hamin’s ominous premonition from yesterday had come true.

However, despite his premonition being correct, he still didn’t understand why Doyoung was expressing such displeasure toward him.

“Sigh, this is really troublesome.”

“W-what’s troublesome?”

“I wasn’t talking to you.”

For a while after that, Doyoung’s attitude remained cold.

No matter what he asked, her responses were cynical.

“Fortunately, no one in our class was late today. Doyoung, thank you for showing improvement today!”

“I couldn’t let the teacher cry because of me and miss class again.”

“Uh, yesterday’s schedule change wasn’t because of that!”

“Sure, sure, whatever you say.”

“I’m serious!”

“…”

While she maintained a cordial appearance with the teacher and other friends,

“Why are you smiling?”

“Ah, no. I wasn’t smiling…”

“Then why aren’t you smiling?”

“Uh, huh?”

She was noticeably colder to Hamin than to the others.

It certainly didn’t seem like it was her period or a bad mood day yet.

What was continuing to make her so displeased?

Would it get better tomorrow?

With vague hope, they parted ways. Hamin went to evening study hall, studied, and came to school the next day.

“Hello…”

“…”

Doyoung still wouldn’t acknowledge Hamin’s greeting.

.

.

.

Several days passed like that.

At some point, the frequency of conversations with Doyoung gradually decreased.

Nine out of ten conversations had always been initiated by Doyoung.

Hamin would always follow her conversation topics or protest with a blushing face at her perplexing questions.

That had become the natural flow of conversation between them.

But during those few days, Doyoung neither made small talk nor played her usual mischievous pranks on Hamin.

“Yawn… Today’s fifth period makes me feel especially stiff and sleepy. Why is this happening? It wasn’t like this before.”

“Tsk, why do you think? It’s because you voluntarily go to evening study hall, so your stamina is dropping and you’re getting weak.”

Yet somehow, when he muttered to himself without expecting an answer,

She would grumble quietly in response to his self-talk.

“…What did you just say?”

“Nothing, just thinking you deserve it. Tell me if you feel like dozing off in the middle. I’ll slap your back really hard.”

“…”

He could guess that Doyoung was particularly sensitive to the term “evening study hall” at that time.

Of course, while he understood she was sensitive about “evening study hall,”

He couldn’t figure out why his attending evening study hall made Doyoung so persistently displeased.

He asked her several times that week what he had done wrong,

But each time, her responses only stung his long-standing complexes.

‘What good would it do for you to know, Mr. Model Student? Just focus on your precious studying. I’m looking into other things.’

‘Talking to me would just waste the precious energy you need for evening study hall. You can’t even move when pinned down by a girl’s legs. Just ignore me and listen to your online lectures. Before you get another nosebleed.’

“I know already… that I’m short and weak.”

Being aware of his own issues didn’t make the arrows piercing his heart any less painful.

Especially the experience of being pinned to his chair by Doyoung, a girl, without being able to move was enough to wound the pride of even the mild-mannered Hamin.

.

.

.

And so, still on awkward terms with Doyoung, he faced another night at school.

Hamin was in the classroom for evening self-study as usual.

*drip*

*drip drip*

Just then, red droplets began falling one by one onto the workbook he was solving.

“Ah.”

“Hey, Do Hamin.”

“What’s this, were you watching porn or something?”

“N-no. That’s not why I’m bleeding, this is…”

Only after seeing the blood drops on his workbook did Hamin realize

He was having a nosebleed.

Whether his senses had dulled slightly,

Or he had been distracted by something else.

Even though blood drops were falling onto his white school uniform shirt,

He hadn’t noticed it at all until it caught his eye.

“Do Hamin, are you alright?”

“Ah, yes. I’m fine. It’s just the injury from Monday acting up a bit. I’ll just go to the bathroom for a moment.”

Hamin hurriedly grabbed some tissues and went to the bathroom sink.

Although he had been injured on Monday, this was the first time he’d had nosebleeds with such frequency.

“Maybe she’s right that I need to build up my stamina…”

Truly, since entering high school,

This was a moment when he keenly felt his lack of physical strength.

For now, should he just jog around the field during dinner time?

No, he’d rather not risk getting hit by a ball from one of the sports teams while loitering around there.

If not that, maybe he could look for a jogging course or park near the school.

Yes, if he ate dinner quickly, he’d have about an hour to spare, so putting on his gym clothes and going for a light jog wouldn’t be a bad idea.

With that thought, Hamin used one hand to stop his nosebleed,

And with the other hand, he took out his phone to search for a map of the area around the school.

“…Huh?”

At that moment, just a 5-10 minute walk from the school,

A place with a very familiar name caught Hamin’s eye.

“Ban’s… Kendo Dojo?”