.

Yi Ruda then replied leisurely while blinking her blue eyes.

“I’m a boy and she’s a girl. Is there a problem to play the game?

“Shooooot… Eun Hyung, we’ll never lose.”

“Ok.”

Kwon Eun Hyung smiled softly after her words then raised his green eyes to look at us. When I put on a vague smile at him, he turned his head to the front.

Under the lights, hundreds of colorfully shining eyes were directing the stage.

Yoon Jung In then held the paper up high and yelled, “Get set, go!”

And at the same time, Yi Ruda gently bent her knees and held me up in her arms. I suddenly felt so dizzy and blurry that I hugged her neck tightly in fright. Her hairs got entwined in my fingers. As if she found me funny, her quiet laughter rang around my ears.

Screams and shouts soon burst out from everywhere. Within a second, a boy from my side collapsed to the front with a roar. Yoon Jung In’s voice then came out from the speaker.

“Class 1-3 is out! The first to be on stage is Class 1-3!”

In the meantime, I got to enjoy the game, so I took my arms off from Yi Ruda’s neck and looked around. Frankly speaking, Yi Ruda’s posture, holding me up like a princess, felt so comfortable. While supporting me in her arms, she didn’t waver at all.

I mean, how could she be this strong as a girl? I would be as heavy as the weight of two rice sacks; however, hanging in her arms like this felt like myself made of Styrofoam. As I looked her up slyly, our eyes met. She grinned.

“Why?”

Her golden hair melted into the lights and shined warmly like honey. Furrowing my brows, I spoke with a delicate heart.

“It’s so comfy.”

“Oh, yeah?”

Yi Ruda replied nonchalantly then, for some reason, she suddenly threw me up. It wasn’t that high but about 2~3 cm. Still, it sent chills up my spine that I hugged her neck tightly. Yi Ruda burst out small laughing.

“I just thought you’re too bored.”

“No, I’m not!”

“Ok, then.”

We then maintained the posture like that for a while. The twinkling gazes at us, Yoon Jung In’s voice, and the orange lights pouring to the auditorium all seemed like a distant future that’ll never come.

There is this moment sometimes when I realize that this scene will be left inside my memory in a clear picture. As I bit my lips while falling into the distant feeling, Yoon Jung In’s voice from aside seemed like it was coming from far away.

“The second is Class 1-6, the third 1-7, fourth 1-4, fifth 1-2… Oh my god! Class 1-5, you were close. Wow, only three teams left now.”

His words made me come back to reality.

When I raised my head to look my side, I saw Kwon Eun Hyung also holding up Ban Yeo Ryung in his arms naturally and comfortably as if he was sitting on a chair. His posture didn’t show any signs of pressure or heaviness.

Ban Yeo Ryung, who was looking up at the ceiling as if she was bored inside Kwon Eun Hyung’s arms, moved her gaze at us. She then scowled at Yi Ruda. It made me giggle.

At that moment, the couple from Class 1-5, who were shaking in an unsettling posture between us and Ban Yeo Ryung’s, collapsed at last. As soon as the girl jumped to the floor tactfully, Yoon Jung In shouted on the mic.

“Class 1-5 is the sixth! Now, only two classes are left here… why are these guys so stable?”

Yoon Jung In’s question made people burst into laughter. Kwon Eun Hyung turned his mouth up slightly to put his unique gentle smile and Yi Ruda was staring at me in naughty eyes as she did before.

Yi Ruda asked me again, “Aren’t you bored?”

I shook my head crazily. Yi Ruda laughed again. Then I heard Yoon Jung In speaking through the mic.

“Class 1-8, you guys aren’t here to date. Both must look at the front.”

“Bahaha!”

Yi Ruda now laughed out loud and, at the same time, I heard kids giggling boisterously and blowing whistles at us.

When I looked at Ban Yeo Ryung and Kwon Eun Hyung, I was at a loss of words. Ban Yeo Ryung, who released herself comfortably in Kwon Eun Hyung’s arms in a bit languid face, looked as if she was a piece of statue. A few kids already dwelled upon her appearance with a wistful and yearning glance.

After quite a while, still, nothing changed. Ban Yeo Ryung then pulled Kwon Eun Hyung’s arms to her. When Kwon Eun Hyung hung his head down to get closer to her ears, she whispered something to him. And the next moment, Kwon Eun Hyung seemed to nod then carefully put Ban Yeo Ryung down. ‘Tap,’ as her sneakers reached the floor, it made a rhythmical sound.

‘What?’ Both Class 1-1 and 1-8 watched the scene with eyes wide open.

Kwon Eun Hyung then said, “It’s never-ending. We’ll let them take the 1st place. Class 1-1, the 2nd place is not bad, right?”

“Yeah!”

“Hurrah, our class president!”

“Kwon Eun Hyung, I love you!”

As soon as Eun Hyung said that to the audience, kids showed an enthusiastic response. Eun Hyung, who had the capability to lead people, surely received great support from his class as always. While listening to their shouts of joy, I came down from Yi Ruda’s arms.

Yoon Jung In said, “Cool. Both participants, please give a handshake before you go down.”

“What’s about a handshake?!”

“We don’t have any prize for the winners, so take it as a reward.”

‘Oh, boy! Yoon Jung In, so funny!’ While kids shouted something like that and laughed out loud, Kwon Eun Hyung came to our side with a smile. As I adjusted my hair, Eun Hyung, who came close to me, spoke in a low voice.

“If we didn’t say we lost, were you gonna hug him forever?”

“Huh?”

As soon as I tried to ask him back, Eun Hyung removed the rigor in his eyes then turned back into his everyday generous look.

“Said Yeo Ryung. She wanted me to deliver this to you.”

“…”

‘Oh, my Ban Yeo Ryung…’ As I turned back to look at her, she already went back to her class. She then stuck her tongue out to this side. Obviously, she was targeting Yi Ruda.

Yi Ruda smile ambiguously then responded, “I’m sad.”

“…”

‘Come on, if you say like that, kids will get us wrong!’ When I raised my eyes to glance at Eun Hyung, his face showed no signs of a smile. ‘Oh, lord…’ I pulled Yi Ruda’s sleeves to go back to Class 1-8. On my way through the kids, I heard them yelling out something like these.

“You guys look so good together!”

“Go, Yi Ruda!”

Clear whistling sounds popped out from the roaring crowds. As I sat down on my seat in exhaustion, Shin Suh Hyun and the Kim twins, sitting in front, gave compliments. I smiled back and looked in front while thinking, ”Anyway, our class is taking the last stage.’

The lighting above our heads got turned off with a ‘ching’ sound, then soon a bright white spotlight shed over Yoon Jung In’s head.

As the kids in front predicted, dancing performances filled most of the stages; however, contrary to my expectations of typical dance moves, it was a series of shock from the first stage.

When the lights turned on, I bent my waist and laughed out loud while looking at the stage. In front of me, Kim Hye Hill burst into laughing while grabbing her brother’s shoulder.

Wearing big cat ear headbands on their heads, four bulky boys were on the stage with their hands on their waists. The song that came out then was ‘Shy Boy.’

The moment when the soft and wavy moves came out alongside the ‘dubab dubab’ lyrics, kids burst into laughter. When I looked around, everyone was about to puke from laughing so hard. Yoon Jung In, who crouched on the corner of the stage, was now shedding tears after he died laughing.

The climax was when they stopped the deadly cute moves and began to sing along the chorus.

“Shy, shy, shy boy! Oh oh oh, my boy!”

“Not that handsome but a warmhearted guy!”

“Ahhhhhh!!!!!”

They threw the entire audience into convulsions. While everyone split their sides, the stage was over.

The bright light went on again and Yoon Jung In, who had tears dried around his eyes, quickly ran into the stage with a mic then stood in front of the boys. They were already taking off the headbands. Their faces all looked miserable. Yoon Jung In asked on the mic.

“Why are you guys taking off the headbands?”

“Can’t you see?”

The one who answered like that was the boy all the way on the left. The whole auditorium became uproarious again.

The next stage was a play that had Power Rangers as its motif. When the Power Rangers left the girl alone and ran away from the too strong monsters, the audience sent up rousing cheers and applause.

On the third stage, two girls came out and sang a ballad song. Then followed a dance performance and a remake of a trending TV comedy show on air. As time went by smoothly, it was Class 1-1’s turn at last.

I exhaled out of nervousness. When I looked around, I found it wasn’t only me who felt the tension. The kids turned stiff or gazed at the stage with high expectations.