Love for Love's Sake - Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Following the unclear and ominous message, everything happened quickly.
This time, a translucent shadow extended from the bus ceiling. The ashen shade, like vines, descended and entangled the arms of the students passing by Cha Yeowoon.
“What, man?”
A male student who was passing by chatting stopped as if someone had grabbed him. As he brushed off his arm and looked to his side, his eyebrows twitched. His initially displeased expression soon turned into an unpleasant smile.
“Oh, who’s this? Cha Yeowoon?”
The tone sounded almost like a street thug. Thug A, B, and C surrounded the area where Cha Yeowoon was seated.
Cha Yeowoon didn’t react. He didn’t move or make a sound as if he couldn’t hear them.
“Ignoring me?”
The bully at the front of Cha Yeowoon leaned in. The way he gripped Cha Yeowoon’s shoulder didn’t seem right.
“Hey.”
Naturally, I decided to intervene. When I raised my voice from behind, the attention of the three thugs shifted to me.
“Hey? What is it, bastard?”
The guys who seemed ready to retaliate instantly shut their mouths.
“Why is it so noisy?”
I suppressed my voice as much as I could. When I stared intently, Thug A lowered his gaze.
It was like my time in high school…uncomfortable nostalgia resurfaced.
Although I didn’t go around beating children, maybe because of my intimidating appearance, I often ended up in altercations. At that time I also had a bad temper and hadn’t even considered the option of overlooking it.
“We were just talking a bit, what do you mean noisy…”
Thug A apparently thought he couldn’t back down and tried to say a few more words.
“Tak Jungyeong.”
Instead of paying attention to Thug A’s nonsense, I read the name tag pinned to his chest.
Tak Jungyeong flinched.
“Go quietly.”
That was it, and the bus suddenly became silent.
Why all this fuss? Rather, I was the one who felt flustered. I didn’t mean to tell innocent children to be quiet. I felt apologetic.
With everyone packed tightly like bean sprouts in the narrow space, the silence became suffocating.
Anyway, the inside of the bus remained eerily quiet until we arrived in front of the school. Fortunately, it wasn’t far away. The students quickly disembarked, and Cha Yeowoon and I somehow found ourselves among the last to get off.
I walked a bit apart from him. I thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to act like we were close after having caused a scene earlier.
Cha Yeowoon, who had been glancing around at the students getting off the bus, spotted me.
Our eyes met. He stood still in place. I thought maybe he was waiting for me to approach, but I didn’t.
He frowned when he saw me suddenly feigning ignorance. Confusion flickered in his eyes.
Then he bit his lip, turned, and walked away.
I watched his retreating figure and waited.
[ 1m to Love Supremacy Zone. ]
This message.
First guess. The ‘zone’ didn’t seem to be as large as I had thought. It was roughly within a radius of about 50 meters from Cha Yeowoon.
Second guess. Given that Cha Yeowoon currently held a negative perception of me at a favorability of negative 10, being near him might result in unfavorable outcomes.
Third guess. So, if Cha Yeowoon started to like me, would good things happen?
The third guess was something I would have to investigate.
* * *
First and foremost, as a new student, I should do what students were supposed to do.
I may not know how long I would be 19, but my philosophy had always been to do my best in the tasks at hand. Including not only the matter with Cha Yeowoon, I also needed to adapt to my new school life.
“Glasses.”
Perhaps I was early, but there weren’t many students in the classroom at this time. When I sat down next to my glasses buddy I had seen on the first day, his eyes widened inside the glasses frames.
“Who’s the top student in our class?”
Who was the top in this school? When it sounded like I was making a declaration of war, Glasses’ shoulders slumped in response.
“P-Probably me.”
Glasses answered timidly. He was the top student around here?
“Don’t those who are good at studying usually sit in the front?”
“Our seats were chosen by drawing lots.”
Despite the hesitation in his voice, a response came immediately. It seemed my seat selection might be excellent in that case.
“Really? Then can you teach me how to study?”
“M-Me…?”
“Yes. You, Gyeonghun.”
Ahn Gyeonghun. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the name tag, which seemed like it was created by the author without sincerity.
“I’ll count on you.”
Of course, Ahn Gyeonghun wasn’t smiling.
* * *
My eyes twitched. However, I was more concerned about the math problem in front of me than the children who were glancing at us.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t completely ignore the fact that someone was staring right in front of me. When I raised my head after placing my mechanical pencil down on the desk, Ahn Gyeonghun quickly averted his gaze.
“Why? Speak.”