.

Yoon Jung In suddenly turned around to look at us and opened his mouth.

“Hey, I found a pack of candies. Who wants to have some?”

A moment of silence swept the space. Those who turned stiff then blurted one after another.

“Yoon Jung In, if you hate us, just talk!”

“No, it isn’t! I just wanted to share. You know sharing is caring!”

Yoon Jung In shouted those words as if he was complaining of an injustice. The kids then let out giggles; soon someone standing beside Yoon Jung In began to make a bet about whether they will die or not while having the candies.

Watching the sight, I couldn’t help but put an enigmatic look on my face. Yoon Jung In was betting his life on trivial things once a day since yesterday. Would he be okay? Anyway, it was fortunate that things had been settled in such a ridiculous way.

No, wouldn’t this also be called as Yoon Jung In’s curse? Laughing out of his absurdness, I found Lee Mina and the Kim twins also looking dumbfounded, which made me feel relieved.

The strained atmosphere was then loosened up in the next class. It was the first time to have this relaxed vibe since Yi Ruda’s dropout. We were having a class with our homeroom teacher, so he tilted his head in wonder and asked us, “Did something happen?”

The kids then began to tell the teacher that Yoon Jung In had cultured a toxic substance in his drawer. While another burst of laughter took place, I put my hand inside the pocket habitually to rub Yi Ruda’s phone.

At some point, I thought that I couldn’t do anything for Yi Ruda’s situation, so I finally just gave up. Since she already went back to her home country, there was nothing I could do. It was inevitable that I couldn’t express my thanks to her. We were, therefore, done here.

But what if she didn’t leave Korea yet? What if she just couldn’t keep in touch because she was under her mother’s tight surveillance?

I recalled Eun Hyung’s nonchalant but surprisingly insightful remark.

‘That kid looked like he was interested in this school.’

That would be correct. Yi Ruda liked her classmates as much as they liked her; therefore, wouldn’t it be too unfair for her that she hadn’t been able to let them know the truth?

Biting my lips firmly, I hid my phone under the desk and typed a message.

“Did you call me, mama?” asked Jooin while stepping into the classroom. He looked at me and Yeo Ryung, who was already sitting beside me. When I nodded, Jooin groped for the light switch before coming toward us.

The blurry purple classroom, which was mingled with darkness and schoolyard lights after the sunset, suddenly brightened. Stepping closer, Jooin then perched on the desk across us.

“Why did you call me?”

He asked me like that but didn’t look curious at all. I thought maybe Jooin already knew everything about my business. Last time, he pretended that he had no idea what had happened to Yi Ruda when he already grasped the overall situation beforehand.

Yes, it would be definitely true. However, it was hilarious to ask him for getting aware of everything when I was the one who needed his help but didn’t tell him what I was looking for. Heaving a sigh at a slow pace, I brought up the subject with difficulty.

“Um, it’s about Yi Ruda, who dropped out and moved to another school.”

“Yi Ruda?”

Jooin looked apathetic, whereas Ban Yeo Ryung displayed a look of anger contrastively. Hunching my shoulders, I flung a question, “What’s wrong?”

Her response, however, made me fetch a sigh of relief.

“Can’t you find his number or any other contact? If he just leaves like this, it’s too leery.”

‘Phew, at least, she wasn’t mad,’ I thought. Grabbing the hemline of her skirt, Ban Yeo Ryung continued to speak with downcast eyes.

“If he leaves like this, I can’t return him anything.”

Ban Yeo Ryung was indeed a character who didn’t like owing anyone anything.

She usually didn’t have much interest in her surroundings because of such things that happened to her in the past; therefore, she didn’t care about the people around her unless they were in her league. For example, the new student with sky-blue hair, who spoke lightly about Ice Princess or Queen Elsa, wasn’t in Ban Yeo Ryung’s best interest. She was careless of his identity.

With that being said, there was no reason for Ban Yeo Ryung to show concern about Yi Ruda. Even when we were on the helicopter that Yi Ruda was driving, which was part of Ruda’s successful rescue plan, Ban Yeo Ryung quarreled with her. They led a cat-and-dog life––That would be the best term to describe the two female protagonists’ relationship in this web novel.

Despite their deep-rooted hostility, as I mentioned earlier, Ban Yeo Ryung couldn’t stand owing anybody anything; therefore, she might have expected to see Yi Ruda as much as I did after the break. She wouldn’t feel satisfied unless she extended her thanks to Yi Ruda in a proper situation. I could guess what she meant through the lines that she said to Yi Ruda before.

‘Hey… tell me if something also happens to you! I can lend you my hand, at least, once next time!’

Even though she wasn’t an alchemist, Ban Yeo Ryung abided by the law of equivalent exchange thoroughly.

However, when she came back to school after the break, Yi Ruda had already transferred to somewhere else, which was even suspicious of her sudden dropout. Besides, there was no way to contact Yi Ruda, so Ban Yeo Ryung would feel heavy with concerns.

And so did I. Letting out a sigh at a slow pace, I detached my lips carefully.

“Yeo Ryung.”

“Huh?”

“What if there’s a way to return something?”

I then began to disclose everything that I knew to Jooin and Yeo Ryung, who opened her eyes round.

What I first confessed was the conversation between Yoo Gun and Yi Ruda that I overheard. When I revealed that Yoo Gun and Yi Ruda had known each other for a long time, Yeo Ryung looked startled. Jooin, who didn’t change his facial expressions that much, just slightly frowned and murmured, ‘The two won’t be that close…’

Jooin might have estimated Yoo Gun’s personality through the rumors although he didn’t have a direct relationship with him. Nodding my head, I disclosed everything that went between the two guys. Yeo Ryung and Jooin then showed a weird look on their faces.

After a while, Yeo Ryung responded, “Hmm, so that was why Eun Hyung warned me excessively…”

“Eun Hyung?”

“Actually, I never thought that he would be such a frightening person since he was Yoo Chun Young’s brother. Oh, but that doesn’t mean Yoo Gun is bad…”

I also nodded to the feeble response that Yeo Ryung just made with a shrug. There was something quite formidable about Yoo Gun upon sharing the same gene with Yoo Chun Young.

I continued, “Anyway, these words escaped from Yoo Gun’s mouth. ‘Why did you come here? How many bodyguards and securities do you think are out of your mother, Yi Jenny’s reach…?’ He said something like this.”

“Eh? Hold on! That means…”

Looking at Ban Yeo Ryung’s face suddenly stiffening, I nodded and closed my mouth. Considering her reasoning power, I thought no further explanation was needed.

It was just what I anticipated. With a pale face, Yeo Ryung folded her fingers one after another and murmured, “When it’s about bodyguards, the guy who was beside Choi Yuri at the warehouse didn’t come back once he stepped out. Yi Ruda then drove a helicopter to save us right after, and Yi Ruda’s mother… Oh, hold on… does that mean…?”

“It may be what you’re thinking,” I replied in a slightly upset voice.

Even though I had all those conversations and clues in my grip, it took a few days for me to deeply think about how things connected and to barely get some hints from that process; however, Yeo Ryung inferred those hints within a few seconds. Gosh, I knew she was so bright and intelligent, but I didn’t feel comfortable.

It would have been better if Yeo Ryung or other kids had heard the conversations between Yoo Gun and Yi Ruda instead of me. If so, I could have said something to Yi Ruda before she had left for abroad or when she got off the helicopter and met Yi Jenny.

However, things already had happened, and that was it. All I could do was to change the upcoming things a little bit.