.

At that moment, I heard another whisper.

“Those dudes who are enthusiastic about everything and larger than life sucks!”

“Exactly, they could just cut corners but want us to beat our brains out. So annoying.”

This time, those words came out from the group of girls who reacted so fervently toward our teacher, Noh Min Chan.

What the heck was going on with our class atmosphere? Feeling dumbfounded, I turned my head to look aside. Kim Hye Hill also looked preposterous about the situation.

Kim Hye Woo, who was sitting beside Yoon Jung In’s vacant seat, whispered to us, “Hey, this year seems to be no joke, huh?”

I nodded heavily.

* * *

Regardless of the class atmosphere, distributing textbooks and taking classes went on smoothly. Class participation also seemed fine although it wasn’t as excellent as before; especially, the news about the Kim twins that they were super smart seemed to have spread even to the upper grade, which made the sophomore teachers keep urging only the twins to do the presentation and solve questions. And because of that, the average level of our class looked very high.

‘Hmm, they shouldn’t get us wrong that all the students would be the same as the Kim twins,’ I thought. As a person who would reduce the average score, I was quite concerned about that.

Another thing that I worried about was none other than the existence of Ban Hwee Hyul. Well, it would be an idiot to fool around with that big boy, but from the sight I saw in the alley before, this world definitely had some idiots.

Not only during the class time but I also glanced at the seat all the way back where Ban Hwee Hyul was sitting on every break with concern. Whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, there wasn’t anything particular going on. Since today was the first day of the new semester, I should, of course, not relax attention though.

The only thing that bugged me was Ban Hwee Hyul now showing up at the cafeteria at lunchtime. However, I decided to consider that we were at the wrong timing or he would have grabbed something at the snack bar.

Amid those concerns, I finally reached the day-end assembly.

“Thank you!!”

Although our class wasn’t united at all today for the whole time, all our voices were loud, at least, at the end of all classes. Just in time, I also heard a sonorous, ‘Thank you,’ from Class 2-7 right beside our class.

Carrying the bag that I packed in advance, I quickly bid farewell.

“Bye, adios, farewell, everyone!!”

“Is that an extended service to your fans?” mocked Yoon Jung In.

I flipped off to him and quickly turned around then pulled Ruda’s shoulder strap of his backpack.

“Ruda, let’s go!”

“Ah, yeah,” replied Ruda meekly.

I heard Yoon Jung In shouting, ‘Hey, why are you two leaving together?’ behind Ruda walking after me. Instead of a response, I left the classroom immediately then bumped into the Four Heavenly Kings who just stepped out of their front door.

Looking at me staying together with Ruda, Yoo Chun Young perked his brows upwards. He flung a question in a low voice.

“Why are you two together…?”

I replied, “Both our families are having dinner today!”

“Oh…”

Yoo Chun Young was soon at a loss of words. Ban Yeo Ryung jumped out from behind him while swinging her long black hair.

“Donnie, let’s go!” she said.

“Yeah.”

Ban Yeo Ryung and I linked our arms then began to walk ahead.

In the case of Ruda, he only knew the Four Heavenly Kings but wasn’t close to them, so I still grabbed his shoulder strap to make him stay beside me. However, he soon began to have a conversation with them before I even knew. It was even Ruda who started talking.

Looking back at the Four Heavenly Kings, Ruda asked, “Hey, do you guys know what we’re having today?”

“Dude, that’s none of our business. Do you think it’s only you who had dinner with her family?” replied Eun Jiho in a touchy mood.

Jooin, beside him, also uttered, “True. We also had beef with mama’s family, but you’re cute, so if you want to keep looking proud, do what you please, hyeong.”

Speaking that way, Jooin showed a swiveling smile. For some reason, he looked like a puppy acting cute instead of talking to a friend.

As if Ruda also felt the same, his eyes on Jooin quickly turned sharp.

‘You guys aren’t fighting, are you?’ I thought while throwing a glance in that direction nervously. At that moment, Eun Hyung suddenly lowered his upper body toward us.

With a grin, he whispered, “Yeo Ryung, Donnie, would you like to also have dinner with my father if he gets discharged from the hospital?”

Looking at each other shortly, Yeo Ryung and I nodded in a hurry to say, ‘Of course!’ Eun Hyung smiled satisfyingly upon our unanimous response and patted our heads one after another. He then went back to his place.

Watching Eun Hyung doing those things, I switched my gaze to Ruda again. ‘You won’t be keeping him in check or so, right? However, the timing was so close…’ I wondered.

As soon as I stepped outside the school entrance, there was full of crowds. I opened my eyes wide. It wasn’t just students leaving the school; many people seemed to be standing there. Was Yeo Dan oppa then leaning against the school entrance? Since most of the gathered people were all girls, there seemed to be that possibility.

Looking at each other for a second, Yeo Ryung and I walked through the crowds and approached the middle without hesitance. However, the person in the center of the crowd was someone utterly unexpected.

Wearing black chino pants and a dark gray t-shirt with a stiff white flannel shirt, Lucas looked like he was in a school uniform. He was leaning against our school entrance, but once he found us, he waved his hand toward this side. As if we weren’t in his sight, Lucas’ eyes curved into a smile toward Ruda.

“Hey, Ruda!”

However Ruda reacted very cold, “Why are you here?!”

‘Yi Ruda, you’re still talking down to Lucas,’ I thought to myself.

Lucas, however, replied nonchalantly in front of me, “Why am I here? Because now we’re brothers. What’s so wrong about hyeong picking up his little brother?”

“So why?”

“Since it’s our family dinner, of course, I should take part too,” replied Lucas.

Ruda closed his mouth at Lucas’ response. Well, what Lucas just said made sense since we were also bringing Yeo Dan oppa.

As if he became speechless for a second, Ruda huffed then bit his lips tightly. He shouted, “Still, why the hell are you here to pick me up! I… I hate attention!!!”

It was now my turn to have a strange look on my face.

I looked at Ruda with bleary eyes while thinking, ‘Hey, does a person, who hates attention, jumps off from the second floor around this time last year, and drag sunbae out of the classroom this year?’

Grasping my gaze toward him, Ruda soon blushed and rarely yelled, ‘Why? What? What’s wrong?!’

However, at that moment, Lucas found the Four Heavenly Kings, who were watching the whole situation from a step behind us. Widening his eyes, Lucas walked toward them. The person, whom he pointed his finger at, was none other than Yoo Chun Young.

“Eh? You!”

Yoo Chun Young opened his eyes wide at the sudden pick out. Ruda and I also turned our heads to look in that direction.

Lucas uttered, “Good to see you, huh? I heard your brother had harassed my Ruda.”

“… Excuse me?”

Watching Yoo Chun Young tossing the question vacantly, I got to recall the conversation scene of Yoo Gun and Yi Ruda in the past.

‘Yeah, that’s what happened! The two looked like they had known each other for a long time. Besides, they were like cats and dogs,’ I said to myself.

However, even that was true, Lucas didn’t have to behave that way toward Yoo Chun Young. So far as my observation went, Yoo Gun didn’t seem to tell Yoo Chun Young every detail about who he was harassing.

In fact, Yoo Chun Young also looked as if he had no clue about Lucas’ remark.

Holding Lucas’ arm, Ruda shouted in bewilderment, “Why are you picking a fight against him out of the blue? I mean, although I also don’t like him!”

“Let go, Ruda. Now you have a brother too. Don’t just cry that you got beaten by a next-door hyeong. If you let me know, I’ll deal with everything for you, my bro,” replied Lucas.

Ruda yelled, “Jesus, so what are you gonna deal with?!”

“In Korean TV dramas, if a little brother gets beaten by someone, his hyeong goes out for revenge; if a son does something wrong, his parents go ask for mercy you know,” added Lucas. Patting Ruda’s shoulders manly, he uttered, ‘Now hyeong will take care of everything.’

At that sight, Ruda exploded, at last.

“Both Jenny and you are so nuts about those crazy Korean dramas!! I’m gonna go home and unplug all the TV cords!” shouted Ruda.

Lucas replied with a look of wonder, “Come on, why would you unplug such an entertaining thing?”

“Argh!!!!”

Watching Ruda tearing his hair out, Ban Yeo Ryung and I smiled awkwardly. Last time, Yi Jenny also handed me a bag of money. Regarding those things, it seemed like Ruda’s family would need more time to get used to living in Korea.

After Yeo Ryung and I stopped Ruda from venting anger toward Lucas, we could hop into Lucas’ car and head toward the dinner party. The destination was the Korean-Chinese restaurant in front of City Hall station where we had bumped into each other a year ago.