Reverse-3

In front of the school gate. Kang In-ho, with a cast on his arm, awkwardly moved his crutches.

Even with two healthy arms, crutches were inconvenient, but with a cast on one arm, he looked even more unsteady.

Wobbling, he passed through the school gate with unsteady steps.

“This won’t do… I’ll take you to the classroom.”

Yoon Sia, unable to watch any longer, stepped forward, but Inho shook his head.

“It’s okay. There are plenty of kids at school who can help.”

“Besides them?”

Yoon Sia was referring to the group he usually hung out with.

“Yes.”

Rejecting Yoon Sia’s offer to help out of a sense of obligation wasn’t simply because he could manage on his own.

She already had so much on her shoulders.

He didn’t want to add the burden of helping him get to and from school.

“Hey, Inho!”

Yoon Sia called out to Inho, who was slowly walking away, making him stop again.

“Yes?”

“You missed class yesterday.”

It was an abrupt mention of class.

Inho nodded as if he was listening, and Yoon Sia, having gathered her thoughts, said,

“I’ll come over this evening. Is that okay?”

“…I don’t mind. Would you be alright with that?”

Would you be alright with that?

It was a question loaded with meaning.

Yoon Sia understood what he meant.

She swallowed hard.

“Yeah. I’ll just take a taxi or something.”

“I’ll pay for the transportation.”

“No. I should pay for this.”

“Since I’m the cause, I’ll give you the taxi fare separately. I won’t take no for an answer.”

“You talk like you’re all grown up.”

Yoon Sia muttered at Inho’s firm tone, and Kang In-ho felt a pang of guilt inside.

-Ding Dong Dang Dong

The bell signaling the end of class traveled across the schoolyard to them.

“I’ll get going. Have a good day today too.”

Inho smiled and turned around again.

“Yeah, okay….”

She had a lot to do today.

She had to do school assignments and go take care of her father at the hospital soon.

Nevertheless, she kept her eyes on Inho’s retreating figure until he was almost out of sight.

Their relationship had changed so rapidly, it was hard to believe that they had been treating each other like invisible people until recently.

He would act like a diligent student, but sometimes he gave off the feeling of talking to someone several grades above her.

He would speak like kids these days, but the words he occasionally used made her think he was mature.

“He’s such a… strange kid.”

Yoon Sia smiled softly and slowly turned around.

The sun was shining brightly, as if yesterday’s events were completely forgotten.

Going to school with a cast and crutches was bound to attract attention, then and now.

Especially if the person in question was someone whose face and name were known for delinquency.

As he walked down the hallway to the classroom, an encore of the attention he had received on his first day of school began.

An ordinary person might be bothered by the gazes mixed with suspicion, doubt, and curiosity, but he confidently moved forward, firmly planting his crutches.

He opened the classroom door and sat down in his seat.

Then he looked around. The gazes that had been directed at him had vanished like cockroaches scurrying away.

“Hi?”

He greeted Jeong Sanghoon, who sat next to him.

Not expecting to be greeted, Jeong Sanghoon was startled and nodded.

“If you have notes from the first and second periods, can you show them to me later?”

“Notes?”

“Yeah, I missed class because I had to go to the hospital.”

Inho smiled, raising his arm.

Jeong Sanghoon smiled back, but it looked awkward.

“I, I’ll lend them to you.”

He rummaged through his bag and handed over his notebook, and Inho tapped him on the shoulder, thanking him.

Jeong Sanghoon, as if in a dream, tilted his head and got up from his seat.

“Ah… um….”

Jeong Sanghoon, who was about to leave, called out to Inho, who was looking through the notebook.

“What?”

“I’m going to the cafeteria. Do you want me to get you anything?”

Anyone watching might have mistaken it for him volunteering to be a bread shuttle.

Inho paused, then rummaged through his uniform pocket.

What he pulled out was a wallet.

Kang In-ho took out a card and handed it to Jeong Sanghoon.

“Get me some chocolate milk. And buy yourself something to eat with this.”

“Huh? Really? Why?”

Jeong Sanghoon, who had taken the card without thinking, looked at his face as if to double-check.

“For the notes.”

He said, flipping through the notebook.

“Uh… thanks?”

“If you spend more than ten thousand won, you’re dead.”

Kang In-ho’s voice floated after Jeong Sanghoon as he headed to the cafeteria.

While Jeong Sanghoon was gone, someone approached Inho.

“Um… Inho.”

It was Shin Jeonga.

“……”

Still focused on the notebook, Kang In-ho didn’t even glance at Shin Jeonga.

“Um… Inho.”

Shin Jeonga sat down next to him and called out to him.

A voice filled with anxiety, nervousness, and fear echoed in his ears.

“There’s a seat over there.”

Still looking at the notebook, he said coldly.

Shin Jeonga bit her lower lip at his cold attitude.

She slowly reached out and grabbed Inho’s sleeve.

“C, can we… talk?”

“……”

It was a pitiful voice, but Kang Inho didn’t budge.

“Huh? Inho. Huh? Huh?”

Shin Jeonga shook Inho’s sleeve, causing the notebook to shake violently.

Only after the notebook closed with a thud did Shin Jeonga get to see Kang Inho’s face.

He was closing his eyes and taking deep breaths.

He looked like he was suppressing something.

“I, Inho?”

“Hey.”

An ice-cold voice struck her.

Shin Jeonga felt the blood drain from her body at the words that contained not even a gram of affection.

“What kind of person are you?”

“……”

Not knowing what he was talking about, Shin Jeonga waited silently for his next words.

“I thought you were just someone who smoked and drank….”

Tsk, he clicked his tongue.

“You’re really hopeless, completely hopeless.”

As he tried to turn away, opening the notebook again, Shin Jeonga clung to him.

“I, Inho….”

Please look at me with warm eyes.

That was what she was thinking.

But, as always, the world went against her expectations.

“If you do that one more time, I’ll hit you.”

Her body froze at the uncompromising declaration.

Unlike his usual rejections, her instincts warned her that she really might get hit if she clung to him any more.

“……..”

She assessed his mood, stuck in an awkward state, unable to move forward or backward.

“Kim Jin-tae. Did he come to school?”

Kim Jin-tae had left all the group chat rooms because of yesterday’s events.

“Uh? I, I don’t know….”

They weren’t in the same class, and Kim Jin-tae wasn’t a high priority for her, so she didn’t know.

“I see. Okay.”

“……..”

Then silence again.

Thinking that his question meant his heart had softened, Shin Jeonga cautiously placed her hand on his shoulder.

That was her mistake.

With a crash, Shin Jeonga rolled across the classroom floor.

He shook off her hand, and because she was so unsteady, she had simply fallen to the floor.

All eyes in the classroom turned to them.

“Ah….”

Kang Inho briefly wore a look of ‘oops,’ but he quickly hardened his face again and turned away from Shin Jeonga.

“I told you. Don’t touch me.”

“Ah… okay… I’m sorry.”

Shin Jeonga apologized without even thinking of getting up from the floor.

“……”

She began to feel goosebumps as the gazes turned to her.

It wasn’t the usual fear and avoidance.

The gazes directed at her, who had fallen to the floor, were filled with contempt, disregard, and schadenfreude.

‘Ah….’

Shin Jeonga closed her eyes, recalling old memories.

And she realized that her position was being reversed.