.

Eun Hyung kept on speaking while sweeping his hair back as if he felt bewildered to bring out that story. I gaped at what he just said, yelling to myself, ‘Ban Hwee Hyul! So, you’re finally showing up in this world. The nationwide Number 1… What a name! It surely belongs to the nation’s top-ranked fighter!!’

Eun Hyung continued, “Not long after Ban Hwee Hyul became the nationwide Number 1, Ban Hwee Hyul’s brother got beaten by other rankers and fell into a state of suspended animation even though his brother was just a normal, model student.”

“Oh my god…”

Yeo Ryung, who had the closest relationship with her sibling among us, was the first to respond. Eun Hyung’s face also turned dark like hers.

‘Now I come to think of it, does Eun Hyung have a little sister too?’ With that question in mind, I looked up at his face. I wouldn’t have a wrong memory, but I couldn’t remember when he began to act like he forgot he had a little sister.

‘I can’t bring up this topic carelessly though…’ While I wondered how I should react, Eun Hyung kept on explaining.

“After the incident, I heard that he decided to experience how other weak and run-of-the-mill students, just like his brother, would feel, so he disappeared without a trace. Perhaps he’s hiding his identity and living a normal life… Many rankers are watching for Ban Hwee Hyul.”

“You mean he’s a walking time bomb.”

Eun Hyung nodded at what Eun Jiho just said. Lifting his eyes, Eun Hyung threw a glance at us one after another then continued to talk about the story.

“When you guys went to the club, the rankers were having a conference probably about Ban Hwee Hyul. Thus, what I want to say is that, as you guys have done so far, do not care about what they are doing NEVER EVER since we’re at a delicate moment.”

“Got it.”

Our conversation finally ended once we agreed upon Eun Hyung’s request. We then began to talk about some trivial things in our daily life, which we usually did. I, however, stared at the table with mixed feelings.

Eun Hyung didn’t push his standard or moral compass to others. That was how his mature side came into the light even more; however, he was behaving more severely than usual, so I did think that there might be some reason for his reactions.

However, I never even imagined this kind of story… Touching my forehead, I lowered my head. I was struck dumb to hear about the nationwide Number 1 from none other than Eun Hyung.

Now that all the stories were finished, my heart began to pound hard again.

It was my gut feeling of a new episode, a new turmoil to start.

Article 26. The Female Protagonist’s Brother and I (Part 1)

Without having enough time to feel that Yi Ruda returned to school, at last, we began our new semester and was leading a very busy life.

First of all, we had to get career counseling. Every one of us submitted our career path sheets and took a counseling session with our homeroom teacher individually.

As far as I knew, Ruda was the only person who didn’t write anything on the career path sheet but didn’t get scolded by the teacher for doing such a thing.

The following dialog was what Ruda told me about the conversation he had with our teacher.

‘Why didn’t you write anything?’

‘I haven’t thought about anything since I became to free myself from the successor position just now…’

Even if I were the teacher, I would have stopped myself from pressuring Ruda to choose his career path. Hesitating for quite a while, our teacher then flung a question to Ruda carefully.

‘Were you also an heir? Why does this school have so many heirs and heiresses?!’

‘I am of the same opinion, sir. I am very sorry to hear that you’re working at a school where you can hardly know how many successors are there in your class,’ I said to myself.

Anyway, Yi Ruda ended up receiving permission to submit his career path sheet at the end of our freshman year.

Still, the individual counseling proceeded with three people a day in the order of student numbers, which was sorted by name; therefore, I was almost the last on the list.

Since I pursued my career in arts out of the blue, our teacher seemed to feel a little perplexed, but he didn’t discourage me from making the attempt. Well, it was my career path, so what else could he say. However, he was wondering if I suddenly changed my career path because I was lacking confidence in my grades. Thus, he even gave me some positive advice that if I wish, I could go to any school I want.

Once the counseling session was over, I returned to the classroom alone and packed my bag. Since I was the last person to have the session in our class, there weren’t any people except me. ‘It’s been a while to go back home alone,’ I thought while carrying the bag over my shoulder.

Although Yeo Ryung said that she even brought a book to read while waiting for me, I forced her to leave. Honestly, even if I promised myself that I would throw away all the jealousy over her, I wasn’t sure whether or not I could keep that promise once I finished having the session and checked out my situation.

However, the counseling result didn’t turn out bad; neither did I feel upset. My footsteps, striding along the hallway, became lighter. Flaunting a grin, I quickly walked down the hall then threw a glance outside the window.

Before the counseling began, there were masses of dark clouds in the sky, but now I found the flashing sunset. Still, the rain was about to fall.

Feeling the cold and wet air surrounding me, I took a deep breath and quickened my pace. It was a delightful afternoon to take a slow walk back home; however, I had to hurry since I wasn’t sure when the rain would pour.

Wondering what to do at the crossroad close to our apartment, I soon turned my steps toward the alley that I didn’t usually walk around.

It was the shortest way to my house; once I climbed and descended a slope, I would get back home within five minutes. The path felt quite spooky, so I didn’t use it that much, but for today, taking this route seemed to be the only option to get back home before the rain.

Both sides of the alley were full of dark, public parking lots. Meanwhile, the sky was getting darker. I suddenly touched my arms and glanced around while shrugging my shoulders.

‘Am I getting it wrong? I think I’ve heard something… Uh, come on!’ Shaking my head, I quickly bent my steps again. ‘I would never ever walk down this alley along!’ I promised myself while keeping up a fast pace.

If I were with Yeo Ryung, strangers would start hassling us about five times more than just myself being alone, but at the same time, the probability of those people getting counterattacked would increase five times more too.

‘How dare I came up with walking alone in this alley without Yeo Ryung? Gosh, how reckless are you!’ Blaming myself, I finally reached the peak of the hill.

I breathed out harshly. The apartment complex came into view. All I needed to do now was just to run down the sloped road without a break.

At that moment, I heard a kicking noise, and someone groaning loudly. It made me freeze at the spot.

I rolled my eyes in silence. I did think that some bullies in this neighborhood would like to hang around this alley; however, I never thought I would actually encounter a scene of violence here. Grabbing my chest that was pounding hard, I stood still and wondered for a while, ‘Geez, what should I do?’

The best choice was, of course, just dashing to my apartment without looking back as if a ghost was chasing me from behind my back, but what if something happened to the person, who was being attacked?

Worrying for a long time, I turned back eventually since I wasn’t a person, who was shameless enough to avoid my responsibility.

I bent my steps stealthily toward the noise then finally paused. Once I looked around, I was in front of a parking lot on the first floor of a small apartment on top of the hill. Hiding behind the outside pillar, I carefully stuck out my head and looked inside the lot. Two shadows were swaying through the pillars inside the empty parking lot.

Someone was there on the bottom.

‘Eh?’ As soon as the person’s school uniform came into my sight, I emitted a small whoop.

‘That’s our school uniform! What would have happened if I ignored him and just walked away? If I hear kids talking about something has happened around my house tomorrow at school, how can I raise my head from feeling so guilty?’ Murmuring that way, I took out my phone in a hurry and pressed 112.

Should I send a text message for an emergency? Typing down words for help, I tried to glance at the student’s face and check who the person was. I wondered if it was someone I knew.