episode_0072

As the sports day approached, the overall atmosphere at Jinsugyo became very heated.

Of course, the boys’ main interest was soccer, but there was talk of many other sports, the biggest of which was the borrowing race.

“How many couples will appear this time?”

“I wish you could tell me this time what the content of the note was.”

“You’ll never tell me? It’s always been like that.”

“If I apply to join the student council now, will I be able to referee it during the sports day?”

“You idiot, are you acting like a slave in the student council just to see that?”

A race to borrow items.

In the grand scheme of things, it’s just a normal lap around the playground track, but this time they mixed it with obstacle running to increase the amount of things to see.

There is also a course where you have to reach for a donut hanging from a structure and put it in your mouth by jumping without using your hands, and the highlight of it all is, as the name suggests, ‘borrowing things.’

In order to pass the finish line, you have to borrow ‘something’ from someone and hand it to the judge, and there are all sorts of things there.

And as a long-standing tradition in Jinsu-gyo, it is said that there is a note written in this note that says ‘the person you like’.

The problem is that if you reveal the contents of the note, you will be disqualified, and the referee will never tell you about it, so no one other than the referee who confirmed it with the person involved will know what content was selected.

Because of this, when a woman borrows something from a man or vice versa, everyone thinks that she has chosen ‘the person she likes’, and regardless of what she actually chose, there are many cases where they develop into a couple because of this.

Seeing that the borrowing race was naturally included in this sports day, everyone was interested in who would be the couple this time.

Most people, regardless of gender, who voluntarily want to participate in this sport have a desire to connect with someone.

As everyone was talking about the upcoming sports day and the excitement was growing, the teacher who entered the classroom broke down.

“Hey, you guys. Sports day is great, but you should take care of the exam before that, right?”

“Teacher, sports day is coming soon. Can’t we just practice outside?”

“The exam is in two days, and they are only thinking about having fun. Quickly open the book.”

“Eay~”

“What kind of eee is that? ”

As the teacher said, the May sports day is just around the corner, but what is even closer than that is the May exam.

Although everything else except the progress was the same as the April exam, it was also a period that had some special meaning for Jeong Eun-ji and me.

Jeong Eun-ji, who almost lost her life after taking matters to a level that no one could handle, seems to have learned a lesson from that accident and made a new request, saying that this time we will not do anything and let it be a battle between the two of us.

Of course, the penalty… especially the penalty that Eunji Jeong would receive if she lost again was enormous.

After hearing that we were competing again, Yuri sighed and gave up mediation, saying, ‘I don’t know anymore, do whatever you want.’ And so we entered the second round.

Instead, this time, without the help of Yuri or Choi Su-yeon, they did it on their own.

And in the exam…

……

“Ha… Do you really have to go to the end like this? This time, you didn’t even tell me what you were going to bet on…”

Yuri sighed and looked at me and Jeong Eun-ji alternately before checking the tag.

From her perspective, it was understandable that the two of us would do something stupid like this.

“I can’t live like this after being humiliated like that last time! This time, I will definitely win and take revenge!”

“No, what if I lose again…”

Yuri had reasonable concerns, but Jeong Eun-ji, who was considered to be in the risk group for gambling addiction, was only beating her heart.

“I’m Eunji, Eunji Jeong! When you do it, you do it! Did I study really hard? I’m confident this time!”

“Seongjin, you should just stop like this. Are you guys going to fight over test scores all year long like this?”

“I stayed still. He came and hit me. And it looks like he has no intention of backing down?”

“I know! So, Yuri, please check. Now, here is my tag.”

“Ha… From next time, I won’t even check this. Compare yourselves. Give it to me.”

Yuri took the tags from Eunji Jeong and me and opened one with a sigh.

“Eunji’s average score was 69 points.”

“Look, it’s gone up a lot! How hard I worked!”

“And Seongjin… uh…”

Yuri unfolded my tag and looked at Jeong Eunji with a helpless expression.

“Seongjin… average score 70 points.”

“!!!”

“Nice! yes! Did you see it? You said you couldn’t do it to me!”

Jeong Eun-ji’s eyes widened, she snatched the tag from Yuri’s hand and quickly scanned it with her eyes.

And those eyes and expressions quickly became stained with despair.

2nd consecutive loss.

After losing twice in a row to Han Seong-jin, the bastard of bastards and an old-timer, it was inevitable that even what little pride Jeong Eun-ji had left would be shattered.

“Hey, do you remember the bet you made to go first? Do you even remember what I bet? Don’t think about falling out?”

“……”

I patted the head of Jeong Eun-ji, who was half unconscious, and did some teabagging, but she couldn’t even think of shaking it off.

All he did was mutter the same words over and over like a person who had lost his mind.

“It’s ridiculous… It’s a 1 point difference… It’s only a 1 point difference… It’s ridiculous…”

“But the first digit is different. You are in the 60s, I am in the 70s. Please take care of me in the future?”

“Ugh… Ugh… Ugh…”

As Jeong Eun-ji’s body began to tremble, Yuri quickly took me with her and moved away.

Unable to overcome her anger, Jeong Eun-ji remained alone in the classroom after everyone else had gone home and burst into tears.

“Huhhh! Argh! Ugh, I’m pissed… Ugh!”

……

After some time has passed.

While Yuri went to the student council room again for final preparations for the sports day, I returned to the classroom.

Inside, Eunji Jeong was still sitting quietly with her head buried on the desk.

I walked up behind Jeong Eun-ji and massaged her shoulders with both hands. Jeong Eun-ji, who felt that it was me just by touching her, still buried her head and muttered.

“Do not touch it.”

“It’s me who gives orders, not yours.”

Then Jeong Eun-ji raised her head and glared at me with slightly swollen eyes from crying.

“Command? Yes, do it! Do whatever you want! Well, just take off your clothes like last time!? Or should I dance naked here?!”

“Hmm, that’s a very good idea. Should I try it later?”

“Ugh…”

“Well, think about it later. Follow me.”

I called Eunji Jeong to the playground.

The sun was still shining, but there were not many people in the playground because it was after school dismissal time on Friday.

Jeong Eun-ji, who had bad memories of ‘doing something on the playground’, looked at me with a slightly frightened expression.

“What… are you trying to do.”

“It’s nothing special. Let’s exercise together.”

“…… What?”

“It’s sports day soon and I’ll be playing soccer and all that, but I think I need to build up my stamina a little before that. So, let’s exercise together. You’re on the track and field team, so you have good physical strength and know the exercise routine well.”

“… That’s it?”

“Then why did you expect me to strip you naked here?”

At those words, Jeong Eun-ji took a step back, covering her chest with both arms.

“Who said that?! Why was it strange because it was so ordinary than I thought?”

“I’ll order the ordinary stuff later, so look forward to that separately.”

“Damn…”

“Instead, don’t whine and get annoyed while exercising. I thought I was teaching Gong Young-bae a lesson and treated him gently. This is a command.”

“Ha? No matter what, you can’t be the same as Youngbae!”

“Well, I have a much better body, manliness, and handsomeness than him, right?”

Jeong Eun-ji looked even more disdainful at those words than before.

“Now then, shall we get some close-up training from Eunji, who is cute but has a nasty personality?”

“What are you talking about? Don’t say anything unpleasant!”

“I told you to treat me like Gong Yeongbae, right?”

“Damn, damn, damn…”

After that, I started working out after school with Eunji Jeong.

It’s Friday so I don’t have to work part time, I have a lot of time.

Jeong Eun-ji also looked suspicious at first, but quickly regained her composure, probably because she was just adding another person to what she had been doing.

“Your posture is wrong. Doing so will put a strain on your back. You’re so big, why is your posture while exercising so bad?”

“It’s because I was born with it and I haven’t really learned anything. Don’t talk nonsense, just tell me. If possible, it would be better if you let me know in a more intimate and detailed way?”

“That’s not what I’m telling you! You’re the one who asked me to exercise with you, so I’ll just do as you say!”

“Huh? So, if I had asked you to teach me a lewd exercise from the beginning, would you have done so?”

“Well, that can’t be possible! No matter how much I lose, there is a line!”

And the exercise continued for a while.

We finished exercising just as the sky started to turn red, and we sweated a lot on the warm but slightly cool spring evening.

“Phew, you worked hard, Eunji Jeong.”

“Phew… I don’t have much experience teaching men exercise…”

I took out the handkerchief I had prepared in my pocket and approached Eunji Jeong.

Jeong Eun-ji, who was catching her breath with her hands on her knees, suddenly shrugged her shoulders in surprise when I approached her and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

“Aaaah?! What, what?”

“I wipe away my sweat.”

“Why did you do that… Okay, that’s enough, just get rid of it.”

“Stay still. This is the command.”

“Ugh…”

Jeong Eun-ji felt so awkward being treated kindly by me that she writhed around and didn’t know what to do.

We didn’t get along very well, but if you look at this moment, we are very close… we might even look like a couple.

After wiping the sweat from Eunji Jeong’s forehead and nape with a handkerchief, I withdrew my hand and asked.

“Hey, do you know why I left you alone like this?”

“How do I know that?”

Jeong Eun-ji responded in a complex and nuanced voice that was a mixture of emotions such as embarrassment, shame, and basic hostility towards me, but not with the same intensity as before.

I brought up something that had bothered me ever since I heard it last time.

“Don’t get angry, just listen. That friend of yours who I got pregnant and had an abortion in middle school… I’ve been thinking about it every single day since then, but nothing comes to mind. At the time, I said fuck it, it was a long time ago, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the case.

I don’t remember, but I feel like I should apologize. Do you think your friend would even want to meet me if I got down on my knees and begged? I’m not really trying to do anything weird when we meet, so please believe me.”

“Uh…”

Jeong Eun-ji must have been embarrassed by what I said, so she opened her mouth.

I thought, since she knew me from middle school, she couldn’t imagine me blaming someone for doing something wrong…

The words that came out of her mouth were something I never imagined.

“…… No.”

“What?”

“Well… I found out a while ago that it wasn’t you who got my friend pregnant back then. It wasn’t you who told me to erase the child…”

“…… Huh?”