.

The bizarre and gloomy ambiance continued even inside the bus on our way back to the school. Resting his chin on his palm, Yoon Jung In just looked outside the window wordlessly. I rubbed my phone meaninglessly that I received for taking a friend to the hospital. Then at the moment, something else entered my head.

All the kids in school wouldn’t be able to use their phones except for just one person.

The TV drama that he was playing a role in was replacing another show; thus, he was recently in a fluster preparing for the shoot pushed three months forward from its original schedule. These days, he was usually at the studio, not in school, so he would be also busy filming now, right? After a moment of hesitation, I pressed the call button firmly.

Listening to the beeping sound, I calmed down my chest. ‘Why am I being so nervous?’ I thought. Since he was now starring in a TV drama, I might have realized that he had now become a celebrity somehow.

Looking outside the window anxiously, I waited for him to pick up the phone. That was when his voice reached my ears, at last.

“What’s up?” Yoo Chun Young asked abruptly as soon as he answered the phone.

My eyes widened at his unusual reaction. ‘Is he busy right now?’ I wondered. Now I had come to think of it, he kind of sounded a little out of breath. Feeling bewildered, I replied, “Nothing special. I was just thinking of you.”

The moment I tried to ask him carefully, ‘Are you busy? Should I hang up?’ his cold response returned immediately, which made me shut my mouth.

“Why do you have your phone at school? How can you even call me when it’s the class time right now?” he asked.

“Oh…” I murmured. I tried to add that it was really nothing, but something flashed through my head. I closed my mouth again.

Hwang Siwoo made quite a fuss in the school gym today, and therefore, the entire school would know what had happened earlier. Yoo Chun Young would, of course, hear the news later from someone else.

I thought for a moment if I should explain every detail of that incident to him, but I quickly quit doing so. Come on, he’s too busy to hear such things.

Pretending to be delightful, I uttered, “Um, well, it’s nothing you should mind, actor Yoo! Haha, you’re busy.”

His frosty voice returned right after. “Where are you heading from?”

“The h… ospital…”

“Why did you go there?”

Surrendering in my thoughts eventually, I sighed and began to talk about what had happened. What a relief that the people directly involved in the incident were Ban Hwee Hyul and Yoon Jung In, not me, or else, I would be distracting Yoo Chun Young too much.

As I intentionally omitted the part that I took some part in, Yoo Chun Young didn’t say anything special. Instead, he asked me something else.

“Why did you follow them to the hospital when you aren’t injured at all?”

“Ah, it’s because… I… I felt uncomfortable staying together with Hwang Siwoo and his boys. I made an excuse and escaped from the class.”

“How can you speak out like that when you don’t have the balls?”

I responded with a giggle, “Exactly, maybe I was out of my mind for a sec.”

At that moment, Yoon Jung In, looking outside the window, turned his head toward me out of the blue. Watching me talking over the phone, he pointed at his ear with his finger and mouthed, ‘Who is it?’

“Oh, Yoo Chun Young,” I replied.

“Gosh, that’s insane! Yoo Chun Young? Isn’t he shooting a drama right now?”

“Ah, yeah…”

Putting his hands together like a prayer, Yoon Jung In tossed a question with the eyes of a puppy in the rain.

“Dude, please, please tell him to get an autograph from Lee Nara for me. He’s saving a person’s life…!”

“Huh? Uh, hold on. Let me ask him right now.” Quickly turning my head, I whispered to Yoo Chun Young. Just in time, he seemed to have heard Yoon Jung In’s voice.

Yoo Chun Young asked, “Who’s that next to you?”

“Um, Yoon Jung In. Hey, he says he wants an autograph from Lee Nara.”

There was a silence over the phone. Shortly after, I heard Yoo Chun Young murmuring, ‘Why does it have to be her…’

Haha, I smiled clumsily. The only thing that I was aware of was that Lee Nara in person, whom Eun Jiho and Yoo Chun Young actually knew, was very different from her character on the screen.

Soon after, I nodded at Yoo Chun Young’s simple response then turned my head to look at Yoon Jung In.

Still putting his hands together, he asked me desperately, “What… did he say?”

“He says yes.”

“Wow, awesome! I was losing all my items in the game yesterday, but that was the price I had to pay for this luck!”

Speaking that way, he lifted up his hands into another prayer then suddenly switched his gaze to me. He asked, “Hey, can I ask him one more favor?”

“Huh? Yeah, he says it’s not a big deal.”

“Then, please get me an autograph from Yerin of Darlings too.”

The unfamiliar name that suddenly escaped from his mouth made me tilt my head. I asked, “Yerin?”

“Don’t you know Darlings?” Feelings of surprise spread out on Yoon Jung In’s face.

I also shook my head in perplexity, thinking, ‘Come on, why would I not know Darlings?’ The phenomenally successful girl group topped the K-pop chart with their debut song, ‘Darling,’ and had been releasing so many catchy songs within only two years of being around.

Although I wasn’t such a big fan of idol groups, kids my age were interested in them; turning on the TV on weekend evenings, it was natural to memorize a few names of the most popular idol groups.

Having that information in mind, I threw a question in wonder. “But what’s with Yerin?”

With his arms crossed, Yoon Jung In responded as if it was obvious, “Hey, that’s because Yerin is casted in the same TV drama with Yoo Chun Young.”

“WHAT?”

“How come you didn’t browse the casts of the show when your best friend is playing a role there?”

That was when I became to slightly calm down my bewildered feelings on my face. I replied, “Uh, as you know Yoo Chun Young and I’ve been friends since middle school, so if I browse such things, I was afraid that a feeling of distance could take place between us. That’s why I didn’t attempt that on purpose.”

“Oh, well, that makes sense. Since I didn’t know him from a long time ago, I wasn’t able to think that way.” Yoon Jung In quickly understood my situation and nodded.

Leaving him aside, I put my phone back to my ear.

“Hello? Yoo Chun Young, are you still there?” I asked.

Yoo Chun Young replied composedly, “Uh-huh, I heard everything you guys said.” He then responded willingly that Yerin was shooting in a different site; therefore, it would take a little time to get her autograph, but he would give it to Yoon Jung In next week when he came to school.

While Yoon Jung In emitted a whoop, clenching his fist, I somewhat spoke cautiously, “Uh, okay, yeah… thanks. Hope you’re well during the shoot.”

“What’s wrong with your voice all of a sudden?” asked Yoo Chun Young.

“Um, nothing.” I shook my head stoutly then changed the topic out of the blue. “You know…”

“Uh-huh.”

Speaking as carefully as possible, I tossed a question like a whisper. “I’m asking this just in case… you aren’t voluntarily letting people harass you or intentionally tolerating bad things happening to you in order to explore the weak people’s minds, right?”

“What the heck are you talking about?” responded Yoo Chun Young as if he felt dumbfounded.

That was when I could finally show a smile. Loosening up the tense feelings around me, I sat straight and leaned myself on the seat.

“No, nothing. Keep in touch when you’re coming to school,” I replied.

“Okay, see you then.”

Listening to his refreshing farewell, I pressed the end button.

After looking down at the black screen that had Yoo Chun Young’s name on for quite a while, I put my phone on my knees then slapped my face with both hands.

Blinking swiftly, Yoon Jung In, sitting beside me, asked, “What are you doing?”

“I was just too surprised. Yerin… wow, never thought about her…”

“Yeah, if you didn’t know that she was also casted in that drama, it could strike you dumb.” Yoon Jung In then added, “Don’t you think this drama will be really successful? Wouldn’t Yoo Chun Young be wooed by Hollywood agencies eager to sign him up?”

Letting Yoon Jung In’s crap go in at one ear and out at the other, I kept looking at the phone screen.

I did think that the Four Heavenly Kings or Ban Yeo Ryung could fly away from me someday while suddenly spreading out their hidden wings and become people in a different world. However, I thought it wouldn’t happen, at least, in high school years when everyone could stay without distinction.

But before I even knew it, the time was there just around the corner.

Sitting quietly for quite some time, I finally closed my flip phone and put it in my pocket then heaved a faint sigh.

“You’re really getting far away.”

I felt something’s missing in my heart.