Ch.2So that bastard is the one who’s going to take my virgin away (2)

“It’s okay, son. Just do well there.”

Before leaving the front door, Hamin’s mother patted her dejected son’s back as she spoke.

He had failed the high school entrance exam.

It wasn’t that he was unprepared for the exam.

It was simply a combination of his easily nervous personality and a bit of bad luck.

He was unlucky.

He was confident he could pass if he cleared his mind of everything he had studied so far and took the test again.

But, as mentioned earlier, there was no retaking [再修] the high school entrance exam.

“What does it matter if you fail an entrance exam? That’s not everything.”

“Even though I’ve been too busy to pay much attention to you, you’ve worked so hard on your own. I’m so grateful. No matter which school you go to, I believe my son will do well, so I’m okay.”

Hamin’s mother was a loving person who adored her child.

She wasn’t the type to hit her child’s back or raise her voice just because he failed a high school entrance exam.

“Now it’s really all about studying.”

Hamin was the type to place “responsibility” on his shoulders even without others telling him to.

He knew his mother was genuinely looking out for him without pretense.

That’s why he was all the more disappointed in himself for failing the goal he had set,

for not being able to make his mother happy by passing the exam.

“You’re selling all of these secondhand? But Hamin, these are things you loved.”

“It’s okay, I said I’d study properly when I get to high school.”

Before enrollment, he cleared out the comics and novels he used to enjoy reading.

It was a self-inflicted punishment for misjudging that he could achieve good results while leaning on entertainment.

“Are you sure it’s okay to go to a school so far away? You won’t know anyone there… Wouldn’t it be better to transfer to somewhere closer to home even now?”

“No, it’s fine. If I know people there, I might get distracted easily.”

The high school he chose next was quite far from Hamin’s home.

Even by subway, it took an hour one way, and purely in terms of commuting time, it easily took two hours.

He intended to focus entirely on studying during his high school life.

To do that, he needed to minimize time spent hanging out with friends.

Besides, having boasted so confidently only to fail his target high school,

it would hurt his pride to attend the same school as if nothing had happened.

“I’m the first one here.”

Students with long commutes had no luxury of choosing their arrival time.

Unless it was just two or three stations away, the subway schedule wasn’t made to accommodate students traveling nearly two hours.

As a result, Hamin, living the farthest away among all students,

was the first to reach the classroom on the first day of the entrance ceremony.

That was the only time he could take the subway from his station without being late.

“Well, I guess there wouldn’t be any crazy person at this school who lives nearby and comes at this hour.”

The school Hamin had chosen as his backup was a humanities-focused school with relatively lenient admission requirements.

It was an old school that didn’t particularly aspire to high university admission rates,

made for children living in that neighborhood.

Since only local children attended this school,

there would be almost no one who knew Hamin or had even seen his face before.

“Sigh…”

In the cold classroom that seemed to mockingly laugh at his failure from the very first step,

Hamin swallowed his solitude alone.

“Three years, just three years.”

In the still cold March morning air,

Hamin comforted himself as he faced the wind coming through the open classroom window.

Just three years,

he would study relentlessly to make up for the first failed button of his life.

-Clank!

Just as he was giving himself a pep talk, calling nearly one-fifth of his life “just” a period of time,

Hamin turned his head at the particularly loud sound of the classroom door opening.

“…”

There stood a girl with long, flowing black hair that contrasted with her snow-white skin.

She looked like someone who had never come to school this early in her life.

How could he tell?

The answer was simple.

Because she was pretty.

He knew it wasn’t good to have prejudices about appearances.

There were many cases of famous beautiful actresses who had far better academic achievements than ordinary people,

and led exemplary lives.

But in a classroom where young students gathered,

appearance was both power and a shackle.

Children with outstanding looks, no matter how much they wanted to study hard,

no matter how sincerely they wanted to commit to school life, other children wouldn’t leave them alone.

For the opposite sex, they became objects of attraction,

for the same sex, objects of admiration or jealousy,

somehow they inevitably became the center of attention.

Actions conforming to those appearance-based prejudices were somewhat forced upon them.

Most of the good-looking girls Hamin had seen in middle school were like that.

Especially those who were aware of their outstanding appearance.

‘There’s no way she doesn’t know how pretty she is, that face.’

Though it was just a fleeting glance, the girl’s face left a strong impression on Hamin’s mind.

In all of Do Hamin’s 15 years of life, there probably hadn’t been anyone with more striking looks than her.

Being alone in a classroom with such a girl,

a situation that would normally make him extremely nervous, Hamin actually felt relieved.

‘At least she won’t talk to me.’

Hamin knew his own place and position well.

That’s why he knew that girl wouldn’t be interested in him.

For a moment, he thought about putting in earphones and pretending to sleep like he used to in middle school, but decided against it.

He might miss the entrance ceremony broadcast if he waited with his vision and awareness of surroundings blocked.

Hamin quietly turned his head back toward the window.

Girls like her might find it unpleasant if someone like him stared at them.

‘I might as well do some advance studying. If I’m going to be at school from the morning.’

Hamin calmly took out a workbook from his bag.

It was to show that he was a diligent student preparing for upcoming tests from the first day of school.

He also calculated that if she realized he was from a different world than hers, she would pay even less attention to him.

-Step

-Step

But contrary to Hamin’s thoughts, the girl approached him.

Since he hadn’t put in his earphones, he could clearly hear the footsteps getting louder.

‘Why, why is she coming this way.’

Did she think he had taken her seat?

The girl passed the third and second row seats,

and came exactly to the end seat of the first row where Hamin was sitting.

He regretted claiming the window seat at the end when no one was around.

He had chosen a seat far from the teacher’s desk to avoid looking like a teacher’s pet.

Should he move his bag to the front seat near the teacher’s desk, the territory of good students?

No, leaving without saying anything would obviously show he was scared.

With no one around to watch, now was actually the time to assert himself against the type of kids who draw strength from being in crowds.

Hamin bit his lower lip and stared directly at the girl approaching him.

‘She’s really tall…’

The girl’s shadow covered Hamin sitting in his chair.

Her long legs and small face made her look even taller than she actually was.

She seemed to easily exceed 170cm.

If the difference he felt now was real, this gap probably wouldn’t be reversed even if Hamin stood up from his chair.

Of course, other parts of her were also very big.

He couldn’t specify which parts.

The girl’s shadowed eyes were piercing him sharply.

“…”

A face that looked extremely displeased.

Had she been offended just by him looking at her face briefly?

Or was it because his gaze had momentarily gone to that part bigger than her face?

As the distance closed, not only appreciation for her appearance but also the emotions contained within were conveyed from the girl’s face.

An inexplicable displeasure was deeply etched on the face of the girl looking down at him.

-Screech

-Screech

Hamin instinctively pulled his chair back to distance himself from the girl.

But even as Hamin created distance, the girl leaned her upper body forward toward him, as if no longer intending to hide anything.

“…Do, do you have something to say to me?”

At a distance where their cheeks would touch if he leaned his head forward just a little,

Hamin finally gathered his courage and spoke to the girl.

-Thud

However, the girl reached her arm behind Hamin’s shoulder and closed the window that was open behind him.

“Haa… *inhale* It’s fucking cold.”

“…Oh.”

-Puff

Only after seeing the white breath rising from the girl’s mouth did he realize.

Her business was not with him but with the still cold March morning air.

He felt relief from the bottom of his heart.

That made sense.

“Whew…”

Hamin stroked his chest with a deep breath.

Of course, someone like her wouldn’t be interested in someone like me.

Though it was just a confirmation of a reality that was both obvious and bitter, Hamin felt more relieved than ever.

‘Alright then. I’ll just nod and continue with my advance studying.’

-Screech

I’m glad she didn’t have business with me.

As Hamin was genuinely feeling relieved, he turned his head sideways at the sudden loud sound of a chair being dragged next to him.

‘…Huh?’

He thought she would leave quietly after closing the window.

But strangely, the girl didn’t leave Hamin’s side.

“Hey.”

The girl’s low voice, seemingly in a bad mood, pierced Hamin’s ears.

“Move that bag.”

The girl pointed at the bag Hamin had placed on the chair to his right.

When Hamin picked up his bag, the girl nodded as if that was right.

“M-move it…? Why?”

“Because I’m going to sit next to you.”

Why on earth.

The girl suddenly demanded the seat next to him where he had placed his bag.

“No one’s claimed this seat, right?”

“Y-yeah…”

“Well, I would’ve sat here even if someone had claimed it.”

Saying that, the girl pulled the chair next to Hamin and sat down.

There wasn’t even a chance to express any objection.

No, he didn’t know how to refuse in the first place.

He had heard people say they wanted to sit in their own seat, but never that they wanted to sit next to him.

“…”

“…”

A strange silence flowed between the two, not matching the busy morning of the entrance ceremony.

Hamin didn’t know how to break the ice when sitting in the same place with girls his age.

10 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute…

When the ticking of the clock at the back of the classroom became more familiar than human voices.

“Ah, I want to have sex.”

“Huh?”

The girl spoke first.