.

Yi Ruda listened to his story silently. Woo Jooin had no qualms about seizing his opponent’s tactics. With a nod, Yi Ruda spoke to him by insinuation.

“As you said, it was someone completely unanticipated, it sounds like you found someone shady.”

Woo Jooin nodded as a response to the remark.

“Uh-huh, but eventually, it’s almost clear that it’s the person whom I’ve felt suspicious. Why would a thirty-year-old bodyguard, for what reason, detest a high school girl to make a haters’ café on the web?”

“Does he have a daughter?”

Woo Jooin replied with a shrug, “He’s in his early thirties, so if he has a daughter, then she might be about three to five years old.”

“Then, you mean the bodyguard’s protectee…”

“We’re still not clear about that part, and that is why we need your help.”

“What kind of help?” Yi Ruda asked with a frown.

Smiling gently, Woo Jooin then replied, “I’d like you to access the database of Reed System and learn who the bodyguard is protecting.”

“Let’s say the person you’re suspecting turns out to be the protectee, but how would you know that the person made the bodyguard open a haters café? Even if we push him or her to confess, once the person eliminates all the data and backs out, there’s nothing we can do.”

“We’re gonna take the phone away.”

“The phone?”

“Once we take the phone, we can check who the person was surveilling or even what order was commanded from the messages and call list. If there’s something about the haters’ club then, game over, or else, we can find another approach.”

“…”

Yi Ruda had thought before that something kicked over the traces inside Woo Jooin’s head, or else, he could never talk nonchalantly about a plan that seems impossible.

Would it be easy to take away the phone of a bodyguard who’s in active service? However, Woo Jooin already committed a terrible hacking attack on the nation’s largest portal site. In this regard, he would go through the plan without difficulty. ‘Still…’ tilting his head to the side, Yi Ruda quietly giggled.

When Woo Jooin finished his remark, a cold silence hung in the classroom. His face looked tranquil like a still painting inside the pale darkness.

Yi Ruda asked, “And why should I help you?”

Woo Jooin became speechless in shock. He stared at Yi Ruda with widened eyes. His reaction satisfied Yi Ruda and made him quietly laugh.

“Donnie would recognize from this happening that such a thing took place because she was with you and Ban Yeo Ryung. Do you think the girl, Lee Soo Yeon, pushed Donnie just because she had a sense of justice after hearing the rumor? She appealed to Donnie tenaciously to obtain the information about the Four Heavenly Kings from the beginning of the semester. Overall, her jealousy might have provoked this. The girl couldn’t bear that Donnie was getting along with the Four Heavenly Kings as a friend of Ban Yeo Ryung, which she could hardly imagine for herself,” said Yi Ruda.

“Yeah, I had that in mind too.”

“We are aware of it, so why not Donnie, who received Lee Soo Yeon’s persistent questions for almost the whole semester? She would definitely know that.”

With that said, Yi Ruda perched slightly on the desk while putting himself back. He then took his hands down to lock his fingers together and stared at Woo Jooin. There was still no agitation in the eyes that came into Yi Ruda’s sight. They were, however, burning gold in silence.

Gazing at his eyes, Yi Ruda detached his lips.

“Donnie might try to distance herself from you guys because of this.”

During the whole time, Woo Jooin just listened to his words without any change in his facial expressions. If others saw him, they would consider that he did not understand Yi Ruda’s remark. Woo Jooin didn’t show any reaction that much. He just blinked twice then shoved his hands into his pocket. After a while, he finally flung a question.

“Don’t you have a crush on Donnie?”

It sounded a little cautious. Yi Ruda smiled aimlessly before asking Woo Jooin back.

“Regardless of my crush, is there a reason for me to let you guys and Donnie get along?”

“No, it’s not about us getting apart. What matters is that Donnie will get hurt because of Choi Yuri’s plan this time. It’s not just estranging Donnie and us, her plan might isolate Donnie from everyone.”

“That’s what I want.”

“What?” asked back, Woo Jooin frowned. Yi Ruda nodded with a smile.

“If you like Donnie, you can’t want something like that.”

“If she doesn’t choose me, what I can do is simply remove every path from her except mine, isn’t it?”

“Can you call it a choice when the road is all gone?”

“If she, at least, doesn’t know that the person who removed all the paths is me, then she’ll believe that it is her choice. That’s all that matters, right?”

Yi Ruda added with a grin. A pair of smiling blue eyes under the golden lashes were on Woo Jooin. ‘Remove every path from her?’ Woo Jooin murmured to himself what Yi Ruda just said.

‘I can’t help if he doesn’t understand,’ thought Yi Ruda. He didn’t try to get his message across him; besides, the approach he planned was what he once shuddered and detested so much. It was the way that his mother, Yi Jenny, took; however, now that he had what he truly wanted, Yi Ruda followed that same action. ‘Maybe selfishness runs in the blood?’ That was when Yi Ruda swept his hair back with a bitter smile.

Woo Jooin turned his mouth up slightly to resemble a hint of a smile. ‘Is he smiling?’ Yi Ruda thought. The air then suddenly loosened. The cold and anxious atmosphere hanging around the space earlier turned relaxed and chilled.

The gold eyes that were on Yi Ruda showed a sign of composure. Woo Jooin’s penetrating glance made Yi Ruda grimace. Woo Jooin then opened his mouth.

“I see. I knew it by the time I first saw you.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re people who are willing to do anything for their ends. Neither you nor I am concerned about the moral justification of the method. We both just want to have what we want, and that’s it. It doesn’t matter who gets hurt or suffers damage. We do it without guilt, don’t we?”

“…”

‘He said, ‘we,’ as if he was also the same,’ Yi Ruda bit his lips then soon loosened his face with a smile. He should have guessed based on the look on Woo Jooin’s face before. How could this bastard, in front, be cute and naïve boy?

Woo Jooin, who put a full smile while looking at him, kept on his words.

“Do you know the trolley problem?”

“No. What does that suppose to mean?”

“It’s a great example which shows that there isn’t much connection between one’s intelligence and one’s moral judgment,” said Woo Jooin with a cold smile.

Yi Ruda suddenly felt a shiver on his back.

“A trolley, a small runaway train hurtles down a railway. In front of you, there are two tracks and a lever to divert the runaway trolley onto the sidetrack.”

“So?”

“Five people are standing in front of the railway where the train is barreling down. Meanwhile, there was one person on the other side of the track. If you pull the lever, the trolley will divert to the track where only one person is standing, so you’re saving five people, and there would only be one casualty. However, if you don’t pull the lever, then the trolley will crash into all five of them, leading to their death. What would you do in that situation?”

“Well, maybe I’ll pull the lever since it’s the best way to keep the damage at a minimum.”

“Then, this time, let’s say you’re standing on a pedestrian overpass. There ain’t any lever.”

“What?”

Woo Jooin continued while showing a cold grin.

“There comes a train, and five people are standing on the railway. You’re on the pedestrian overpass looking at the barreling train. Besides you, there’s an obese guy.”

“Uh-huh.”

“When the train keeps steaming straight towards the five people, they’ll all die, but if you push the fat guy off to the pedestrian overpass, the train will stop. You can’t sacrifice yourself since you aren’t heavy enough. This is the only way to stop the train. If you do nothing, the train will lead to a fatal collision of the five.”

‘What the heck…?’ Yi Ruda stared at Woo Jooin as he felt the air in his body clogging in his chest. Still, Woo Jooin kept his bright yet cold smile.

“So, what are you gonna do now?” he asked.