.

‘Hold on, is he then…?’ That was when the hypothesis that I had forgotten until now flashed through my head. ‘Right, why can Ban Hwee Hyul not be the nationwide Number one fighter? That isn’t just nonsense. Above all, having that appearance and red eyes isn’t common for that name, is it?’ I wondered.

With that thought in mind, I rolled my eyes to quickly scan Ban Hwee Hyul up and down. Just by stretching his bent shoulders and back, Ban Hwee Hyul was emitting a threatening vibe.

When his surprisingly robust physique, which includes 190 centimeters-tall height, broad shoulders, and firm body, revealed its strong presence, the big man and woman looked as if they were scared for the first time.

‘Come on… Is he really…’ With anxious eyes, the two looked back and forth between Ban Hwee Hyul and me. One of them attempted to retort courageously, “What the heck? Are you gonna… try to fight with us right now? Huh?!”

However, the person’s voice was trembling while blurting out the end of the sentence, which, instead, showed the fact that they were actually frightened.

On the other hand, I was also trembling as much as them. My shoulders shuddered upon Ban Hwee Hyul’s glaring red eyes. Was he really the nationwide Number one fighter?

At the very moment, all the acts of brutality and intrusion I committed to Ban Hwee Hyul crossed my head, but anyway, if I could just go through this situation smoothly, that doesn’t seem to matter that much.

My heart began to pound so roughly. The moment my heartbeat sounded noisy like a drum and the tension around us seemed to explode, at last, Ban Hwee Hyul dropped to his knees, all of a sudden, while putting his arms on the ground.

“…”

Only a moment of silence prevailed in the alley for a while.

I, even the two big man and woman, looked as if we couldn’t figure out what to do about the overall situation. ‘Why did he act so manly then?’ ‘No idea.’ While they whispered such conversations to each other, I looked down at Ban Hwee Hyul with a look of betrayal on my face. Dude…

I grabbed his shoulders, who didn’t seem to get up from the ground at all, and whispered, “What are you doing?”

A heroic voice returned, “Hit me.”

“What?”

While I became bewildered, unfortunately, the man and woman also seemed to have heard his response. As if something they anticipated took place, the two asked Ban Hwee Hyul in excitement.

“Haha! Holy crap! You watched too many TV dramas. If you ask us to hit you instead, do you think we’ll agree and send your friend home? Do you think the world revolves as you please?”

“You’re gonna get beaten too! Don’t regret it. We indeed gave you a chance, right?”

As they spoke that way while clenching their fists, I quickly blocked their way. With an urgent expression, I shouted, “Um, since you’ve met such a kind person, so hard to find these days, wouldn’t you take it well and just let him go? Don’t you think this can be nirvana, the utmost evolution mankind can reach?”

However, the two gave no attention to my words. They responded immediately while looking dumbfounded, “What the fuk? Why do you keep bullshtting about evolution from earlier? You ain’t a mad scientist. Get off here!”

“That’s because your boss…”

Before I got to conclude those words, the big guy punched Ban Hwee Hyul on his stomach.

“AHHH!” I cried, Even though it wasn’t me who got attacked, my body recoiled reflectively. I also felt the upcoming pain in my bones.

Closing my eyes tightly, I murmured, ‘Ban Hwee Hyul, sorry. I’m so sorry although I’ve tried my best as possible…’ Making an excuse in my thoughts, I saw Ban Hwee Hyul rolling around the ground while being attached.

Watching that sight, I shouted again, “W…hy are you doing that to a person who has nothing to do with me? Hit ME instead!”

Speaking that way, I tore my hair out. Since this wasn’t a movie, I had never thought about a situation of someone saying, ‘Hit me instead!’ This was all because of Ban Hwee Hyul being too righteous, and I behaving relatively like trash…

At that moment, one of the guys turned around and looked at me with a sneer. He uttered, “We aren’t hitting him instead of you, so stay right there. If you call the cops or so, you know what’s gonna happen, right?”

His threatening words made me flinch. I hid my phone behind my back. ‘Shoot! How did he know that I was pressing 911?’ As soon as I thought that way, he strode toward me and snatched my phone from my hands.

Before I was about to scream in surprise, he threw my phone onto the ground and broke it in half. With a loud noise, the pieces of the device scattered away on the cold asphalt.

Watching that happening, I could only heave a sigh of despair.

“Argh…”

Forget the cops, I didn’t even reach out to Yeo Dan oppa that I’d be waiting for him in front of his school…

While I was dazed, the guy even stepped on my broken phone, kicked it to the wall, and turned back to Ban Hwee Hyul.

“Just watch.”

That was when I realized that it wasn’t the time to worry about my broken phone. Although the world had changed, it was always the person, not the object, that we should be concerned about. ‘Geez, what’s wrong with me from earlier? Did Ban Hwee Hyul inspire me or what?’ I wondered.

Touching my forehead with a grimace, I shouted again, “Hold on!”

“Urgh, what, AGAIN?!”

The two turned around to look in this direction in annoyance, but I took a deep breath and delivered a fatal blow.

“Hey, if you attack someone with glasses on, that’s an attempted murder!”

The moment I tried to ask triumphantly, ‘You didn’t know that, huh?’ my brows met in the middle upon their following action. Stretching their hands out to Ban Hwee Hyul, they immediately took off his glasses on his nose ridge.

Ban Hwee Hyul, who never made any noise until now, moaned for the first time.

“Ah, hold on…” he uttered.

The two, however, grabbed Ban Hwee Hyul’s eyeglass temples and broke them into half without hesitance. Just like the way they did to my phone, they dropped the glasses onto the ground and stepped on them brutally with a giggle.

“It’s thick enough to step on it. Feels good.”

“Wow, I never saw such a thick glass like this. How bad is his sight?”

Listening to their remarks, I realized that it wasn’t really the time to grieve about the death of my phone and his glasses.

Taking a step closer to Ban Hwee Hyul courageously, I grabbed his shoulders and dropped a question in concern.

“Ban Hwee Hyul, are you okay? Gosh, you can’t see anything, right?”

Most of the people wouldn’t know due to the development of glasses, but nearsightedness was a severe problem than our thoughts. Back then, when my friend, who was dreadfully near-sighted, broke her glasses by accident, we had to descend the stairs while helping her from both sides. Not being able to see anything was such an uncomfortable and anxious matter.

Ban Hwee Hyul’s situation right now was indeed serious.

He, who had been yelling with great force that he would get beaten instead of me, was, unusually, just looking down at the ground with a stiffened look. There was frosty wind in his downcast eyes.

‘But… Ban Hwee Hyul, aren’t your eyes on focus right now…?’ I wondered. However, I decided to just regard it as my illusion. He had been wearing such thick glasses, so how could his eyes focus on something without it?

I shook his shoulders urgently, saying, “Ban Hwee Hyul, hold yourself together. Ban Hwee Hyul…”

“…”

At that moment, his lips pouted for the first time ever since his glasses were broken. I brought my ears close to his lips to better hear his words.

“What?”

His cold voice then pierced through my ears, which made me flinch. I doubted in my thoughts, ‘Did I hear it correctly??’

“Get away from me.”

Just until now, Ban Hwee Hyul had shown me such a tearful friendship to none other than me, but how could he say something like that out of the blue…?

However, when I glanced around, only the two man and woman, Ban Hwee Hyul, and I were in this alley.

Then, was he saying that to a ghost? While I touched my forehead and began to escape from reality, a big hand suddenly came toward me. It pushed me to the side, made me collapse on the ground, and fall on my buttocks.

“OUCH!”

With a small shriek, I lifted my head and opened my mouth. ‘Ban Hwee Hyul, what’s wrong with you out of the blue?’ However, before I dropped those words out of my mouth, our eyes met, which made me keep my mouth shut.