Look at These Guys? -3

We sat huddled together, focusing on our trays without a word.

After a brief pause, the utensils soon clattered against the trays.

I picked up my chopsticks and examined the tray.

Brown rice, stir-fried sausage and vegetables, seaweed soup, seasoned spinach.

This was a pretty good menu.

To have this kind of menu on the first day, I seemed to be lucky.

Usually, this was the kind of menu you’d get on a Wednesday or Thursday.

“Ugh, this is so tasteless today.”

Seong Yun-ho stirred the sausage with his chopsticks.

Is this guy crossing the line?

Stir-fried sausage and vegetables are invincible and divine.

“I should have just gone to the store and bought bread.”

Shin Jeonga gave Seong Yun-ho a look, but he ignored her, grumbling and tapping his tray with his chopsticks.

He’s complaining about the side dishes, but why did he take so much sausage?

It’s as unsightly as a five-year-old complaining about food at the table.

Even good songs get old if you listen to them repeatedly, and listening to someone whine constantly ruins a pleasant meal.

Despite Seong Yun-ho’s grumbling, no one actively stopped him.

Kim Jin-tae, who I hit, was silently focused on the side dishes, and Shin Jeonga was slowly eating, watching my reaction.

In other words, I was the only one who could stop Seong Yun-ho.

“If you’re not going to eat it, give it to me.”

“Sorry….”

Seong Yun-ho seemed surprised that I spoke to him and quickly apologized.

Then, he focused on his tray and started using his chopsticks diligently.

Now it’s a bit quieter.

I picked up a plump sausage, put it in my mouth, and chewed.

As the warm sausage burst, savory flavor spread throughout my mouth.

Yes, this is the kind of food I wanted.

I swallowed my emotion and picked up another side dish with my chopsticks.

“Inho, your chopsticks….”

While I was crunching on spinach, Shin Jeonga, who had been quiet, spoke to me.

Her gaze was fixed on my right hand.

“What?”

I turned my hand back and forth, but I didn’t see anything particularly strange.

“Have you always held your chopsticks like that?”

Shin Jeonga narrowed her brows and leaned forward.

She probably reacted like that because it was different from how the previous person held them.

Her observation skills are scary. I guess this is what you call being obsessive.

“I don’t know? I don’t remember.”

I said casually and picked up another sausage.

As I focused on eating, Shin Jeonga tilted her head and turned her eyes back to her tray.

As we continued to eat in a quiet atmosphere, I felt Kim Jin-tae’s gaze on me and turned my head.

His cheeks were swollen, and he was leaning back in his chair, having finished his meal.

And, as if thinking about something, he gripped one of his chopsticks tightly and looked at me.

Our eyes met, and Kim Jin-tae, surprised that he had been caught staring, quickly turned his head away.

…Well, he has a reason to be angry.

I humiliated him so badly in front of everyone, so it’s natural for him to hold a grudge.

“What? Are you going to stab me in the head with that?”

I joked with a slight smile, and everyone stopped eating for a moment.

“…….”

Kim Jin-tae couldn’t bring himself to turn his head towards me.

“Ah, that was good.”

I scooped up the remaining seaweed soup with my spoon and got up.

One by one, people followed me and stood up.

We left the cafeteria.

Watching the students who had quickly finished lunch playing soccer on the playground, I slowly walked towards the classroom.

“Hey, Kang In-ho.”

Shin Jeonga, who had been quietly following me, called me again.

I turned around and saw Shin Jeonga and my ‘friends’ looking at me.

“What?”

It seemed like they were going in the opposite direction from me.

“Want to smoke?”

“What?”

“This.”

Shin Jeonga brought her index and middle fingers to her mouth and moved them back and forth.

It was clearly a smoking gesture.

“I’m good.”

I didn’t smoke when I was older, why would I start now?

I said somewhat coldly and turned back towards the classroom.

I heard Shin Jeonga saying something from afar, but I didn’t turn around again.

The back gate of the school connected to the mountain.

It was usually locked, so no students passed through this way.

Teachers often came here to look for delinquent students, but Shin Jeonga and her friends, who were experts at avoiding such things, were enjoying a post-meal smoke in a safe place.

“Something’s definitely weird.”

Seong Yun-ho, who had backed down at Inho’s words, said while exhaling cigarette smoke.

“What is?”

Lee Mi-jeong, who was smoking next to him, asked.

“Inho. Doesn’t he seem strange today?”

“……”

Seong Yun-ho raised the issue, but no one responded to his words.

“He probably got scolded by his father.”

Someone dismissed Kang In-ho’s change as nothing special.

“……”

Kim Jin-tae was just silently smoking in the corner.

“Jeonga, haven’t you heard anything? You’re the closest to Inho.”

When Lee Mi-jeong asked, Jeonga smiled bitterly and shook her head.

Close? Me?

Shin Jeonga questioned herself, recalling Kang In-ho’s recent behavior of drawing a line between them.

She thought they were close.

No, she believed without a doubt that they were more than that.

Kang In-ho, though rough in his expressions, had treated her passionately at night.

She didn’t think that the warmth and pleasure of those times were fake.

But suddenly everything had cooled down.

Suddenly he was talking about studying, and he had changed.

“That tutoring bitch….”

After a long thought, Shin Jeonga finally spoke.

“Tutoring?”

Kim Jin-tae, who had been silent, reacted for the first time.

Shin Jeonga, who had been squatting, stood up at Kim Jin-tae’s low voice and waved away the cigarette smoke with her hand.

“I told you before. That there was someone annoying.”

Shin Jeonga gestured as if asking if he remembered.

“Oh… you did.”

It was the story where she asked him to take care of someone who was completely unrelated, and he changed the subject, saying they should talk about it later.

“That bitch is Inho’s tutor now.”

“So?”

“She must have done something to Inho.”

Shin Jeonga’s voice was full of conviction.

“Hey, say something that makes sense. Inho….”

“Shut your fucking mouth if you don’t know, you little shit.”

Shin Jeonga raised her voice when Seong Yun-ho interrupted.

Shin Jeonga took another drag of her cigarette and approached Kim Jin-tae.

“Anyway, it’s certain that that bitch has influenced Inho somehow, right? She even said she was going to separate Inho from me….”

“So she’s annoying?”

Shin Jeonga slowly nodded at Kim Jin-tae’s question.

“Will you help?”

“Hmm….”

Kim Jin-tae lowered his head and thought for a moment.

“Sure, why not.”

When the cigarette in Shin Jeonga’s hand was about halfway burned, Kim Jin-tae said, gently touching his swollen cheek with his fingers.

“Thank you.”

“Oh, but we’re not just going to mess with her a little, are we? We’re going to mess with her properly, right?”

Looking at Shin Jeonga’s smiling face, Kim Jin-tae said.

“Of course.”

“Then, should I call some older friends?”

At his calm voice, Shin Jeonga nodded without much suspicion.

“Yeah, the more the better.”

It was Shin Jeonga’s simple calculation.

“Yeah, the more the better.”

Kim Jin-tae smiled as he rubbed his swollen cheek.