.

Sticking out his chopsticks forward, Yi Ruda uttered, “Yeah, the reason why those boys behaving that way would probably to block kids forming a faction!”

“A faction?” I wondered.

“There would be factions divided into those who got close to the Four Heavenly bastards and those who couldn’t. You know like a Caste system,” replied Ruda.

Ban Yeo Ryung squinted her eyes and said, “Come on, that’s going too far, isn’t it?”

I also thought the same. Even though this was a world inside a web novel and they were the Four Heavenly Kings, would the situation go that further?

Chewing the food inside his mouth, Yi Ruda continued speaking, “Well, it’s absurd to say this or that about things that didn’t happen yet. It’s also meaningless.” Lowering his voice out of the blue, he added, “In my perspective, we don’t have to look further. Something seems to happen in our class too within a month.”

“What?” I asked while swinging his arm with my eyes wide open.

“What are you talking about? In our class too?”

Yi Ruda replied with a dumbfounded look, “Come on, you aren’t thinking that the faction or composition of power inside the classroom are formed just because there are the Four Heavenly Kings, are you? The pursuit of power is a human instinct. If there isn’t anyone special, there’s a battle among the ordinary people you know.”

I just frowned at what Yi Ruda added in a low voice. Maybe this might sound carefree, but I never had felt anyone trying to reach the top of the power or something like that while living in this world.

Just like what Yi Ruda said, it was true that dividing teams or forming a faction was close to human instinct. Baek Yeo Min, who wanted to put me in her group during our freshman year in middle school, could be a good example of it.

However, even though Ban Yeo Ryung would be split from me, she wouldn’t become alone. She had the Four Heavenly Kings beside her, and the girls who approached her to get close to those boys. Thus, her position in class was well maintained as always.

Rubbing my chin, I suddenly put my hand down slowly. Ah, but…

Yi Ruda thew a question again, “Haven’t you ever felt that the kids inside the class are divided into those who can laugh out loud and those who aren’t able to?

“Uh… yes, I have,” I replied.

When I was assigned to a different class from Ban Yeo Ryung and the Four Heavenly Kings, and the time when Ban Yeo Ryung’s hater club thing occurred within the first semester, I had experienced that once.

In middle school, I sometimes felt that a few kids I had seen for the first time in my life were reading my countenance.

I knew the reason. It was because I was close to Ban Yeo Ryung and the Four Heavenly Kings. However, once I pretended to be a stranger to my famous friends, no one in high school indeed gave me that feeling.

At first, it seemed good. My ordinary high school life seemed to have begun eventually. However, I had no idea how fierce and sharp hostility could be when it wasn’t hidden behind cautiousness.

Now I had come to think of it, the fact that the Four Heavenly Kings and Ban Yeo Ryung were my friends could be a kind of faction too.

When I was in their group, no one could dare to target me as an object of an attack, but it was different in high school. Whispers poured into me in the hallway and cafeteria. Even though I knew what they were talking about, I wasn’t able to respond or refute.

The most thing that I got enraged was that there was no one who could stop them. I was so used to someone coming forward to speak on behalf of me.

It was the same in the classroom. Amid the noisy atmosphere the boys had made, the girls were divided into two groups. Including Kim Hye Hill and Lee Mina, we shared conversations quietly; those who hated me laughed particularly loud.

When I heard something like, ‘Isn’t she insane?’ and turned my head toward that side in astonishment, someone always said, ‘Argh, I had eye contact with her!’

Kim Hye Hill, who was finally unable to stand those things, dropped a remark.

‘Won’t you guys stop?!’

However, the girls still replied with a smile.

‘What do you mean? We’re just talking and having fun with each other. Why? Who do you think we were talking about?’

‘Maybe you’re feeling something guilty, haha.’ As the girl sneered that way with a swiveling smile, Kim Hye Hill just bit her lips firmly instead of a response. The girls then turned their heads away from us and burst into another big laughter.

In the end, they became quiet once the truth was revealed. No, instead, ever since the truth came out, the girls weren’t able to laugh out loud in the classroom. They didn’t submit any of their opinions during the class discussion but just existed like air and left to the hallway every breaktime.

Recalling those times, I felt stuffy and pain in my chest. Yi Ruda’s words were understandable, at last.

Just like what Yi Ruda said, ‘the ranking in the classroom’ could occur without the existence of kids like the Four Heavenly Kings or Ban Yeo Ryung. It was generated very naturally, so those who already took settled positions weren’t able to perceive that well. They wouldn’t even clearly notice the benefits and losses of it since they already attained them so naturally.

Watching my facial expressions, Yi Ruda seemed to have grasped what I had been thinking about. He looked a little apologetic.

Lowering his voice again, he kept on speaking, “… Maybe it was Yoon Jung In who was standing on the top of the pyramid during Class 1-8.”

“Yoon Jung In?” asked Ban Yeo Ryung. She tilted her head in wonder beside me. I also felt quite unexpected to hear Yi Ruda talking about Yoon Jung In since Yoon Jung In usually took care of kids who remained silent.

“When Yoon Jung In got angry, everyone in class became quiet to read his countenance. Isn’t it?”

That was true. Being lost in thought again, Yi Ruda drove a wedge into me.

“Let’s say, Yoon Jung In kicked his desk, screamed, and left the classroom in anger. Who would say something bad to him, huh? Everyone would follow him to the hallway and try to comfort him.”

“Oh…”

“Right? But what if someone else did the same thing? He or she would get scolded like, ‘What’s wrong with you? Are you insane?’ That person isn’t free from getting dissed, right?” asked Yi Ruda.

I nodded and completely grasped, at last, what Yi Ruda tried to speak about.

While the table became quiet, Yi Ruda continued, “Including both the Four Heavenly Kings, Yoon Jung In, and a few others, the hearts of your classes that you’ve gone through so far are mostly those who didn’t want to put them forward but liked to take care of quiet kids. That’s why you weren’t able to feel that thoroughly, which was very lucky.”

“…”

“However, the kids who became our classmates this time are, so to speak, tyrants. They would first take the position of advantage then wield their powers to profit themselves.” Yi Ruda added nonchalantly, “You’ll see that there’s gonna be, at least, one thing happening in our class.”

“Ah…”

“And the victim would be someone who still remains alone even after a week,” said Yi Ruda.

His remark just now sounded like a prediction of an upcoming incident.

Like those who became captivated by both my father and Yeo Ryung’s father, Mr. and Mrs. Reed also couldn’t escape from the temptation of Round 2. The whole dinner party seemed to end, at least, at two in the morning. With that thought in our heads, we left the Korean-Chinese restaurant ahead to return home by subway.

I thought Ruda would be staying at the Reeds building near City Hall station; however, an unexpected response returned.

“Oh, we recently moved to Sindorim. Come to my place sometime!”

Tilting my head, I asked, “Sindorim?”

“Uh-huh, we moved into an apartment that connects directly to Sindorim station. Since we have a new family and so on, we thought it would be better to get a new house.”

“Oh! Now I come to think of it, Jooin also lives near Sindorim,” I shouted.

Yi Ruda pretended to puke at my remark immediately.

“Haha,” I smiled and said, “If you’re having a housewarming party, it’d be good to stop by also at Jooin’s house. That’d be exciting. Do you mind if I can ask Jooin when he’s home alone so that we can schedule the same day for a visit?”

“Nah, I don’t think so… Don’t you ever tell that bastard I’m living in Sindorim. NEVER EVER!”

Yi Ruda particularly emphasizing the words, ‘NEVER EVER,’ sounded so funny that I started to giggle. Beside me, Ban Yeo Ryung also burst into laughter.

She said, “I must tell it to Jooin at any cost~.”

Perhaps, Ban Yeo Ryung didn’t get rid of all her bad feelings toward Ruda and Lucas yet. Well, I wasn’t sure about Ruda, but in Lucas’ case, her reaction was sincerely understandable.