.

‘Ham Donnie, let’s do better!’ I tapped my forehead with that thought in mind. Last time, I drove an innocent little boy to a female-to-male crossdresser; this time, I was doing such a witch hunt against a poor civilian as if he was the nationwide Number 1 fighter just because he had the same name and looked quite handsome.

Then at the moment, I quickly raised my head upon someone calling me.

“Hey, what are you doing?” asked Shin Suh Hyun. He was looking at me with some indescribable glance.

Haha… I laughed awkwardly then slowly returned to my seat like a ghost. Holding my mechanical pencil, I began to solve the question on my workbook, but soon after, I heard footsteps coming along with the sound of the door opening from behind me. Just by the noisy footsteps from the wet slipper, I could tell that it was Ban Hwee Hyul.

Touching my head with my hand with the mechanical pencil inside, I heaved a low sigh. Honestly, I couldn’t focus at all. Looking at Ban Hwee Hyul’s face, I was so ashamed since my mistakes in the past flashed through my mind. However, ignoring him didn’t work too as my guilty conscience of the days I’d got him wrong arbitrarily pressed down on my chest.

In the end, I groaned while holding the pencil. It seemed useless to come to school earlier than usual. Meanwhile, time quickly passed like a flow of water. Kids began to enter the school; at some point, it was already the morning assembly time before I even knew.

Hwang Siwoo came into the classroom right before the morning assembly. Changing into his gym clothes, Hwang Siwoo sent a sneering glance at Ban Hwee Hyul then went back to his seat.

Our homeroom teacher soon opened the door and walked into the classroom. As soon as he stepped inside, he said, “You’re all aware that we have our first mock exam tomorrow as a sophomore in high school, right?”

“YEEEEESSSSSS…”

As if the gorgeous appearance of Mr. Noh Min Chan, our teacher, didn’t work this time, the kids all sounded quite droopy responding to him.

Regardless of our reactions, the teacher kept speaking, “Based on the test scores this time, the school will gonna place you guys either in low-track or high-track classes for both Math and English, so do your best and avoid being unable to show your real abilities.”

Just like last year, regardless of the academic records, we would be divided into honor or general classes according to the mock exam results. I nodded my head. Since our school had a lot of monster brains taking Level 1 in each subject, achieving good GPAs or school records was almost impossible.

The teacher uttered, “Then, I’ll stop disturbing your self-studying sessions and just leave. Bye!”

“Hold on, teacher!”

A shrill-voiced girl called him who was just about to step outside the classroom. I was already putting my earphones in my ears since I finished hearing everything that I needed to know. However, the girl’s voice was so loud that it pierced through the music playing in my ears.

“What about…. class…”

“Of course…. our next-door class… doing the best…”

The teacher’s response also sounded disconnected.

‘Hmm…’ I tilted my head for a second. Though it bothered me a little, I couldn’t interpret those words when they were broken into pieces this much.

‘Let’s just ask later,’ thinking that way, I began to concentrate again on spending more time on my studies that I had wasted during the self-studying session.

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As soon as the lunchtime bell rang, I immediately turned my head to look at Ban Hwee Hyul’s seat. But whoa… He was already gone. My facial expression quickly changed.

‘I mean, how can he disappear so quickly as soon as I turned my head after the bell rang? Did he use some magic method of contracting space or what?’

Having those thoughts in my head, I wandered around for a moment. Kim Hye Woo and Lee Mina called me then.

“Donnie, what are you doing? Let’s go ASAP. Today’s meal is quite competitive to get.”

“Exactly. We’re having chicken skewers today.”

“Um… you know…” Slurring the end of the sentence, I glanced at Ban Hwee Hyul’s empty seat. Kim Hye Hill, who had been looking at me enigmatically, dropped a question.

“Are you trying to look for ‘that kid?’ Huh?” asked Kim Hye Hill.

I appreciated her considerate remark that paraphrased Ban Hwee Hyul as ‘that kid’ in front of a lot of people here.

Nodding immediately, I replied, “Uh-huh, it bothers me too much…”

As I came up with the possibility that Ban Hwee Hyul could really be an innocent student who had no fighting skills, I was unable to leave him alone.

Kim Hye Hill asked me again, “Do you need help? I told you I can spend some time looking around with you for a day.”

“Nah, it’s fine. There is somewhere that comes into my mind,” I replied.

“Okay, then.”

I had no idea what Kim Hye Hill said to the kids waiting for us, but they soon nodded and headed toward the cafeteria without me.

Raising his hand up in the air between the crowd, Kim Hye Woo said, “Is pizza burger enough?”

“Yeah, thanks!” I shouted while holding up my hands even like a trumpet. However, he already receded far away where my response wouldn’t reach.

Drawing in my breath, I locked up my heart and changed my steps. Just as I said to Kim Hye Hill, I already had somewhere to go. Giving no attention to the students quickly descending the stairs and looking in my direction in bewilderment, I walked past them hurriedly like a salmon swimming up the river and arrived at the iron door, at last.

The rooftop.

Before opening the door, I shortly took a deep breath.

Law of the Web Novel, Article 31. Anything Can Happen on the School Rooftop.

Literally, anything such as bullies stealing money, having a brawl or love quarrels, and even aliens kidnapping someone who was watching the stars… The school rooftop had numerous possibilities; most of them were those that I didn’t want. Thus, I tried to avoid going to the rooftop as much as possible.

The last time I came to the rooftop was when Choi Yuri called me out. Hmm, it wasn’t a good memory though. Being reminiscent for a moment, I soon pushed the door slowly.

With a sneaking noise of the rusty metal door, the green painted floor and the endless sky came into view. A person looking up at the sky while leaning against the balustrade turned to look in this direction.

I glanced around for a moment. Thankfully, there was only one person on the rooftop, the one I was looking for. That was when I greeted him with a relieved smile.

“Hi, Ban Hwee Hyul.”

Receiving my greetings, Ban Hwee Hyul looked like a bear that got invaded his cave, instead of returning a welcoming glance.

‘Geez, I’m using the bear metaphor too many times toward him… but what else I can come up with when that’s all I can think of?’ I thought to myself. Anyway, he was staring at me cautiously.

Then I suddenly found something red near his lips. I shouted in surprise, “Eh? Are you bleeding?”

“Uh, no… it’s not what you think…” he replied.

I asked again, “Did you get beaten just now? Is that why you’re like that?”

Regardless of his bewildered expression, I carefully observed his face. His gym clothes were, however, still clean, and the more I got closer to him, I smelled…

I looked down at something in his hand. As soon as I dropped my gaze onto the burger he was holding, Ban Hwee Hyul hid it behind his back in embarrassment.

‘So the red thing on his lips was ketchup… Many shameful things happen today,’ I thought while touching my forehead.

I detached my lips, “Are you… just having that every lunchtime?”

“Uh-huh,” he replied.

“Hey, our school includes a mandatory meal plan for our tuition. Why are you wasting that money?”

Showing some mixed feelings on his face, Ban Hwee Hyul soon replied, “There are too many people in the cafeteria…”

“Too many people? Does that make you nervous?”

“Not really, but sometimes someone sits beside me…”

“So?”

“I’m afraid that person is dragged because of me.”

“Oh, lord,” I uttered and touched my forehead again. Was that the reason why he had been skipping meals at the cafeteria and had a pizza burger instead? So it wasn’t something like he loved pizza burgers and could live only with it?!

How could he be so warmhearted and sweet this way? Burying my face onto my hands, I moaned, “How can I… to this kid…?”

How could I get him so wrong who was so innocent and fragile? I became speechless while feeling so shameful.

While I was at a loss of words that way, Ban Hwee Hyul seemed to become nervous as a cat. Since he was behaving that way with his huge-bear-like figure, I couldn’t miss it although I was covering my eyes.

‘I can look like crying right now…’ Heaving a sigh, I put down my hands then tossed him a question.

“How long have you been this way?”

“Huh?” asked Ban Hwee Hyul. He looked perplexed again since I threw a question in a flat voice while showing an apathetic expression out of the blue.

I nonchalantly repeated the question, “How long have you been skipping the cafeteria?”

“…”

“Is it from this semester or last year? Three months? Half a year ago? Since when?”

He uttered, “… Since a month…”

“Uh-huh.”

“… After freshman year…”

I quickly lifted my head and screamed, “Hey, you’re gonna suffer from malnutrition!”

“It’s ok…”

Cutting into his hesitating words, I insisted, “No way. You are going to the cafeteria with me right now.”