episode_0020

Episode 20: He in the Girls’ Talk (1)

Another week had passed, and it was Monday.

During lunch break, after everyone had finished eating.

“Hey DDK, what are you doing?”

Hong Jahui went over to Kyungjun’s seat and spoke to him.

But there was no answer.

“……”

Since lunchtime, until now after finishing eating, he had been continuously writing something in his notebook in a similar posture.

“What is this brat doing, studying English? He’s acting like he’s studying.”

With him concentrating and not answering, Hong Jahui glanced over at his notebook.

Of course, at her level, only being in middle school first year, she couldn’t possibly understand the contents of the notebook.

“Quantum… Teleportation… Telpo? Hey, man, you should have graduated from these practice notebook RPGs back in elementary school.”

Since there were also strange drawings (experiment setups) and words like Teleportation.

Hong Jahui just thought it was the setting for the practice notebook RPG games she used to enjoy with the boys in elementary school.

“Ah, Hong Jahui.”

Only then did Kyungjun notice her presence and finally turn his gaze to Hong Jahui.

His expression suggested he hadn’t known she was there.

“But what’s DDK?”

Of course, in reality, he had heard her call him earlier.

“You don’t know? It came out on the news? Your name came up.”

“Ah, you don’t mean the DDK Lee Kyungjun stock manipulation incident, do you?”

“Uh, I think that’s right.”

The name Kyungjun is not common, so he rarely saw it on the news.

If it did appear, in this era, it was only that incident.

“But stock manipulation? Is it like match-fixing?”

“It exists. Something like that.”

He had no intention of having a political conversation with a child who knew nothing.

So, Kyungjun just appropriately changed the subject.

Then, he glanced through Hong Jahui’s long bangs and said,

“Seeing you’re fine, I guess you didn’t get beaten by your mom.”

“Hey, shut up. If you tell the other kids that, you’re seriously dead?”

“I should text your mother that her child isn’t actually in the science club and was just playing games.”

“Ah, hyungnim, please.”

Hong Jahui instantly became humble and servile.

“But how the hell do you know my mom’s number? You don’t even know mine.”

“I sent out the emergency contact list before.”

“Damn, you’re right.”

Back then, they would go around and write down the phone numbers of each child’s house or parents.

And the paper they collected was circulated to each house as an emergency contact list.

Usually, if someone went out to play with someone and hadn’t come home yet, they would call that house and ask.

For example, “I’m so-and-so’s mother, and my child hasn’t come home yet.”

“I’m going to focus, so go play with other friends.”

Kyungjun said that and took out his glasses and put them on.

His increased physical stats improved his eyesight, so he didn’t need glasses anymore.

However, having studied with glasses on his whole life during the first timeline (1st playthrough), it had become a habit.

In the current second timeline (2nd playthrough), it felt like a routine (a jinx) that athletes do before an important match.

“If you’re lonely because you have no friends, I’ll play with you.”

“This brat is introducing himself? I have tons of friends? Geez, I’m leaving, it’s dirty.”

Hong Jahui turned around, pretending to spit.

“Hey, but I was thinking this even at the PC cafe…”

But instead of leaving right away, she turned back slightly, chuckled, and said,

“You look totally like a dork with glasses on.”

“Yes, is this Ms. Jahui’s mother?”

Kyungjun immediately took out his phone, dialed a number, put it to his ear, and pretended to make a call.

“About what happened at the PC cafe the other day, I actually have something to tell you about your daughter…”

“Okay, okay, it’s a joke, a joke! I’ll really leave and not bother you. You damn model student brat…”

* * *

Hong Jahui, having been chased away by Kyungjun, wandered around the classroom.

“Hi. Jahui-nim has arrived.”

Soon, she went to the group of girls gathered in a different section.

There weren’t that many, a group of about 3 girls.

Including Hong Jahui, there were 4 in total.

They could be considered the last group to form among the several groups that had already split up since the beginning of the semester.

“Oh… Jahui, you’re here.”

“You were talking to Han Kyungjun, what were you talking about~?”

Shy Han Somi greeted her first, and lively Yu Eunha added.

“I don’t know. That guy is totally trash.”

“Huh? Did you two fight~?”

“We totally fought. That guy used a dirty trick and won unfairly, but damn, Stop Mind crossed the line.”

“Huh~?”

“Stop Mind…?”

The other two were confused by Hong Jahui’s strange answer.

But the remaining one girl accurately caught the meaning.

“…I think Hong Jahui is just talking about a game.”

A middle school girl with a slightly sharp aura, Lee Aram, spoke dryly as she pushed her long straight hair behind one ear.

Hong Jahui agreed and responded to her observant answer.

“Oh, right. I met him at the PC cafe the other day and played StarCraft with him.”

“Oh, really~? When?”

“Friday.”

“What, that was during our ethics class group debate time~”

All three except Hong Jahui looked surprised.

That’s because at that time, the relationship between Kyungjun and Hong Jahui was the worst.

Since that was their first point of contact, it wasn’t like they had ever been good or bad from the start.

However, she remembered being completely messed with by Kyungjun’s words and logic at that time.

The idea of them meeting and enjoying a game together made no sense at all.

“Did… you happen to be in the same class in elementary school…?”

“Huh? No, I don’t even know which elementary school he went to? I didn’t even know he existed in the first place.”

“What, then how did you get close~ Did he confess?”

“Bullshit. Confess what. Hey, for people to get close, damn, one game of StarCraft is enough.”

Hong Jahui’s explanation was utterly unhelpful in making the other kids understand.

Perhaps if they were boys, the conversation would have progressed like, “Ah, can’t help it with StarCraft.” “Agreed. So, who won?”

In 2008, girls, except for a few peculiar ones like Hong Jahui, hardly enjoyed games.

Even if they did, they didn’t play games involving fighting, aliens, and blood like StarCraft, at least.

Although strangely, Sudden Attack was an exception.

“What~ I thought you fought because of the debate during ethics class.”

“Ah, right. Back then, his way of talking was really annoying, but unexpectedly, he’s not such a bad kid.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Although he plays the game really dirty.”

Hong Jahui conveniently left out the part where she used illegal programs like maphack and multi-command.

But anyway, the other kids weren’t interested in games like StarCraft at all.

Instead, they empathized with other parts.

“Right~ I also thought he was a scary kid because of the rumors, but unexpectedly, there were no problems when we were in the same group~”

“Yeah, he also helped me when I was cleaning alone…”

“Right, right~ He seems to be really good at studying too? It feels like he’s read a lot of books~”

Han Somi recalled giving him her Hello Kitty wallet unknowingly back then and felt a little embarrassed.

Yu Eunha recalled Kyungjun’s appearance during the debate class, speaking very logically and coherently, seeming unlike a middle school student.

“…Really?”

On the other hand, Lee Aram, who had not seen such aspects at all, responded neither affirmatively nor negatively.

There was one middle school girl who showed a reaction closer to suspicion.

* * *

Even when she was with her friends, she alone felt particularly subdued.

It wasn’t that she was in a bad mood.

It was that kind of atmosphere where she would always feel this way, whether she was alone or with others.

“Thinking about it now, you were in the same group for ethics, right?”

“Ah, yeah, yeah~”

Lee Aram continued to give minimal responses with that feeling and listened quietly to her friends’ conversations.

“Thinking back now, who was it? The kid whose wrist was broken and transferred, he was actually the one who hit him first to bully him, right~?”

“Was he? I just thought it was boys playing stupidly among themselves. I also tried One-Punch with boys when I was in elementary school. All the guys with dicks were really weaklings.”

“Haha… Maybe they went easy on you because you’re a girl…?”

“Absolutely not! Those damn jerks used to tease me by calling me a boy all the time!”

She vaguely listened to Hong Jahui’s subsequent stories about hitting boys in elementary school.

And every now and then, she heard stories saying that he (Han Kyungjun) seemed a bit different from other boyish boys.

That he seemed somehow mature, and while she didn’t know his personality.

He didn’t seem to be a delinquent who messed around as much as the rumors at school suggested.

“……”

Within that topic, only Lee Aram was silently just listening.

Although she wasn’t naturally a person who initiated conversation or led discussions.

That didn’t mean Lee Aram was timid and couldn’t speak up like Han Somi, not at all.

‘Absolutely not, I don’t think so.’

Instead, she was completely denying it internally.

That’s because, unlike the other kids, she had good observation skills.

That included both being good at reading people and actual eyesight.

‘Anyone could see that back then, he deliberately broke it.’

At the beginning of the semester, exactly about a week after enrollment.

When Kyungjun was being subjected to a One-Punch by Lee Ho-kwon, just before Lee Ho-kwon punched Kyungjun’s forearm.

When everyone was only looking at Lee Ho-kwon preparing to hit.

Lee Aram was looking at Kyungjun instead.

‘…And he was definitely smiling.’

And by chance, she saw him smirk and curl up the corners of his mouth.

Seeing him smile was by chance.

But looking at him wasn’t by chance.

It wasn’t like she was beaten or extorted like the boys.

But in elementary school, she was ostracized and treated badly by the girls for being annoying.

Her pencil case would disappear or her textbooks would be stepped on, etc.

She had suffered such malicious bullying.

Every time that happened, Lee Aram didn’t care and always reported it to the teacher.

If that didn’t work, the head of student affairs.

If that still didn’t solve it, she would even go to the vice-principal and principal.

That wasn’t limited to herself.

She dealt with all kinds of bullying that came before her eyes in that way.

‘I just don’t understand why they live like that. It’s irritating to watch.’

Of course, what came back from doing that was being treated as if she didn’t exist, the invisible punishment in the class.

But still, there was no direct harm.

Rather, the class became quiet, which was good for reading.

In Kyungjun’s case too, bringing the teacher was for a similar reason.

And now, she was judging that bringing the teacher was a good decision, for a completely different reason.

‘…Perhaps if I hadn’t brought the teacher back then…’

It might not have ended just like that.

The reason Lee Ho-kwon could end up with just one broken wrist and a transfer.

It was definitely all thanks to Lee Aram having informed the teacher beforehand.

“…Someone might have died, I’m sure.”

In reality, for Kyungjun at that time, Lee Ho-kwon was the person who ruined his first timeline (1st playthrough).

So, as long as the juvenile law allowed, he intended to make him irrecoverable.

Saying someone might have died is an exaggerated expression, but her intuition could be said to be quite accurate.

“Huh? Lee Aram, what did you say?”

“…It’s nothing.”

Lee Aram, who had unknowingly spoken her thoughts out loud, vaguely brushed it off.

“I just thought I should have eaten porridge because my stomach hurts.”

“Oh no, what do we do~ Aram-ah, are you okay? Shouldn’t you go to the nurse’s office?”

“So that’s why your expression has looked bad since earlier…”

“Yeah, Somi, no. Lee Aram always has a gloomy face. She was like that even when I talked to her on the first day of school.”

“…Want to die?”

“No. I’ll have rice, not death.”

“……”

At Hong Jahui’s absurd retort, Lee Aram just let out a deep sigh and habitually swept her long straight hair behind her ear.

“…Anyway, honestly, I’ve never talked to him much, so I don’t know him well.”

After saying that, Lee Aram started walking away from the group.

“Hey, Lee Aram, where are you going?”

At that moment, Hong Jahui stopped her verbally and motioned with her eyes towards where Kyungjun had been.

“Are you going to talk to Han Kyungjun? He went out somewhere and isn’t here anymore?”

Kyungjun had disappeared from the classroom at some point.