Chapter 42 – I’m Not Joking. I’m Being Serious.

My everyday life with Hana continued, the days of our cohabitation went by, and then a week had passed.

The day I had to go to school had arrived.

It had been a long time since I wore the school uniform. I packed my nutritional supplements as this was the day I was going to school.

Hana stood next to me showing off her uniform.

She asked me excitedly, “Sijoon! How do I look?! Pretty, right?!”

“Yeah, Hana, you’re pretty. The other students are going to be disheartened.”

 “Hehe… Right? I’m much prettier than the other kids, right?

Wouldn’t the other students find her cute rather than be disheartened?

But in order to live in society, some white lies needed to be told.

Ban Hana was an early admission student who got in under a teacher’s recommendation, she was going to be assigned to Shin Sihwa’s class.

She probably wanted to take responsibility for what her parents went through, and placed Hana in Class A.

I was certain the soft-hearted Sihwa did it because of that.

The reason she was able to enroll despite her ambiguous identity is because of Shin Sihwa too.

Considering the amount of information she concealed, it would be fine grounds to dismiss her as a teacher.

It was only natural for me to be grateful towards her.

For now, let’s go to school before we’re late.

I couldn’t be late when I just returned after all.

I hastened my steps.

But…

“Hana. You can’t leave from here.”

“Oh yeah!”

This was the male dormitory.

Hana immediately vanished into the hidden hole behind the mirror.

That was how I went to the academy after a long time.

 ***

Since Hana was a new student, she headed to the teacher’s office where her homeroom teacher, Shin Sihwa was.

I’ll see you in a bit, Sijoon!

Hana waved, her hand overlapping her face as she did so.

I stopped in front of my class with the sign 1-A on it. If I went inside the classroom, the quiet atmosphere would certainly get noisy. And the clamor would get even more rowdier.

But I wasn’t afraid.

Whatever their reaction was towards me, it mattered none to me.

As if nothing had happened, I opened the classroom door to the side in a confident manner.

Creak.

Now then, come.

Whatever question you have, I’ll take it.

With that in mind, I entered the classroom. However, unlike my expectations, it was a scene where no one took interest in me.

…What’s this?

When the reporters flocked to me, I thought I was a celebrity.

But the reactions of the students, how should I put it?

Their reaction was dry, and they wouldn’t even make eye contact.

They were oddly not reacting to me.

In such a strange atmosphere…

The one who spoke to me first was Yoo Hayeon.

 “Han Sijoon! Come over here! Did you even forget where you sit?”

The most suspicious suspect for creating the current situation, waved to me from afar.

Glance. Glance.

The students who had been hostile to me were watching out for Hayeon’s eye.

She definitely did something for them to react like this.

I sat down next to her as quickly as possible, and whispered to her, “Hey, Hayeon! What did you do for the kids to react like this?”

“Nothing much. I didn’t say anything. Just not to bother you?”

Not to bother me, huh.

That would create a situation where everyone wouldn’t dare to even speak to me…?

She seemed to have glossed over a lot of things.

I mean, it’s a good thing she told them not to bother me, but…

Just what kind of method did she employ for everyone to try to not show interest in me?

Maybe she read my mind, Hayeon replied in a whisper, “If you’re curious, should I tell you?”

“…No.”

Wouldn’t it be better to not know?

I knew what was going to happen in the future such as the suffering, some things were better off unknown.

Like right now, it was better to not find out about the current situation.

With her arms around me, Hayeon gave a playful smile.

When she made that kind of expression, I got the feeling that I’d rather not know the truth.

She giggled as she said, “Hehe. It’s been a while since you were here, right?”

“Yeah, about a month?”

I had been kidnapped by the villains for two weeks.

I took a break from school for one week.

It was three weeks in total, but my absence from school was almost a month.

In order not to flunk, some written and practical scores were mandatory.

Taking a month off in such a situation might prove to be quite detrimental.

Well, it’ll work out somehow, right?

The written exams could be taken care of with my knowledge of V. AGE, and as for the practical exams, since I gained a lot of abilities, so long as my luck wasn’t bad, I should have no need to worry.

I had gained enough skills to let go of my concerns about flunking.

Then, a group of students came walking over to me.

“You guys…”

They looked familiar.

How could I forget about them? 

The faces of the students who were in the same group as me.

To be honest, the only one I remember is Ahn Jiho.

The B-Rank Ahn Jiho, who had a knack for tanking, was memorable.

My teammates suddenly gave me an apology.

“Sorry! We misunderstood you!”

They bowed their heads as they said they misunderstood me.

It was because they received a lot of help from me on the group assignment.

They were apologizing for spreading the strange rumors about me. Like the rumor about me seducing women, stealing someone else’s woman, being normal in the morning, but a wolf during the night.

They were apologizing for contributing to spreading those bad rumors about me.

Should I accept it or not?

I contemplated it a little.

If I had to be honest, I tend to be oblivious to the attention around me, but it was frustrating hearing the verbal abuse from students passing by.

How about I just not take their apology, and yell that I’m going to steal their girlfriends…?

I was feeling a little mischievous, but I settled on starting anew with this opportunity.

They apologized to me first, and if word got out that I accepted their apology, the bad rumors about me would die down.

I decided to forgive their past mistakes.

“I’ll accept your apology, but… It doesn’t seem sincere though…?”

Do you apologize only with your mouth?

With that meaning behind my words, my teammates began to raise their heads.

They had flustered expressions on their faces.

When the mood froze up, Hayeon said to me, “Sijoon, stop fooling around.”

“Alright, I’m joking everyone. It’s a joke. Don’t take it seriously.”

When I told them it was a joke, it was only then did the students loosen up their expressions.

Well, there was some seriousness mixed in with my words.

I told the relieved teammates, “Let’s get along well in the future.”

But were misunderstandings this easy to clear up?

I couldn’t get rid of Ms. Sihwa’s misunderstanding at all though.

As I was having such thoughts, Hayeon stared at me from the side.

“…?”

She tilted her head as she gave a smile which asked, “Is something the matter?”

Something didn’t feel right,

Curious, I threw questions at them.

“…By any chance, did Hayeon do something to you guys?”

That made my group members flinch.

From their reaction, I could tell she did do something to them.

As if to confirm my assumptions, Ahn Jiho gave Hayeon a glance then shouted on behalf of the teammates, “N-Nothing happened! Everyone genuinely means their apology!”

If I were to interpret the panic in Jiho’s voice, it would be that something did happen, but the apology was sincere.

That was what I took away from it.

Just what exactly did Hayeon do?

I gave her a look which demanded an explanation.

“Why’re you staring at me, Sijoon?”

“No it’s just, it’s been a while so…”

Why was her smile the most scary?

When Hayeon smiled giving off the vibes which said, “Do you really need to know that?” I turned around.

That was how I accepted their apology, and they returned to their seats one by one.

“Um….

While they were doing that, the female student who wore glasses like a model student spoke to me.

She was one who possessed a talent for healing, her name which I couldn’t really remember.

I still remembered what she did though.

After our hands touched, she yelled, “Won’t I get pregnant…“ making me appear as a criminal.

That female student.

The student whose name I couldn’t remember.

She must’ve read my “Who are you” expression, she began to introduce herself.

“I’m Park Jiu… Park Jiu.”

“Ahh… I knew that. I remember it.”

I could see the complete look of doubt in her eyes.

Was it that obvious?

So that the others couldn’t hear, she said, “C-Congrats…on your relationship!!” so that only Hayeon and I could hear.

“Thanks Jiu~ We’ll spend our time happily together!”

“…”

I didn’t know she and Hayeon were close to each other, but she apparently knew we were dating.

I don’t think the two talked to each other during the time I was in school…?

I was suspicious, but they probably did so during the three weeks I was gone.

Time didn’t matter in friendships, if they liked each other, they’d get close quickly.

I thought that way and decided to simply move on.

Afterwards, the atmosphere in the class settled down, then Hayeon’s slender hand came to mine, which was on top of the desk.

Just like that, she began to interlace our fingers. 

“Han Sijoon.”

“Hey… You…”

“Without me, you’d be in big trouble. Right?”

She vaguely smiled as she entwined them more tightly.

As if to say she would never let this hand go ever again.

As if to mean she wouldn’t let me escape anywhere else.

Was she always this passionate…?

I answered her casually.

“You’d also be in big trouble without me, you know?”

“…Probably, yeah.”

Huh?

If it were her usual self, this would be the timing where Hayeon would yell, “I’ll be fine even without you!”

She briefly wore a bitter smile.

“So…”

At that moment, Hayeon’s laugh returned, and she slightly moved our clasped hands.

Then, she whispered in a subtle yet different tone, “So, don’t go anywhere. I’ll be in huge trouble.”

Her voice had some playfulness mixed in, but also seriousness.

With a faint smile and to finish it off, she said, “It’s not a joke. I’m being serious.”

“Hayeon, you…”

She was the one who said let’s practice dating, but then started to act like we were an official item.

I couldn’t hide how taken aback I was from her honesty.

Although Hayeon was smiling, there was a serious look in her eyes. 

She sat at her desk as she stared at me and said, “We’re not childhood friends anymore, but couples, are we not?”

A relationship as couples, which came after childhood friendship.

Hayeon squeezed onto my hand as if she was never going to let me go.

I could feel from her action that she was telling me not to run away.