.

Meanwhile, Yoo Chun Young was having a little chitchat with Lee Nara. Everyone in the filming set knew that their families were close, so the two talking to each other didn’t attract that much attention.

Only a few staff, who weren’t used to the situation yet, were looking at them in admiration. The two, just standing beside each other, surely captivated people’s eyes that it seemed worth enough to even pay for viewing them together.

“You’ve improved so much.”

“Really?” Yoo Chun Young’s response sounded too unruffled to a veteran actress’s compliment, which even looked somewhat rude. However, Lee Nara laughed cheerfully.

While other people whispered something like, ‘They seemed to be really close,’ the stunning actress tapped Yoo Chun Young’s shoulder a few times.

“Taking acting classes, right? Good job.”

“Thank you.”

“I mean you weren’t that bad either, but you’re outstandingly improving. Hmm, you better take this career more seriously. You deserve that.”

Soon, the director of photography also intervened in the conversation and began to drop a few compliments.

“You know what? All I can say is that you’re very photogenic. It seems like the camera is your biggest fan, Mr. Yoo Chun Young.”

Watching the sight that looked so warm and peaceful like springtime, Ha Woon smirked and turned his head away from them. He didn’t want to care about their conversations. However, since he knew that both Lee Nara and the director of photography didn’t pay lip service, Ha Woon couldn’t stand the situation.

Even in his view, Yoo Chun Young’s performance wasn’t that bad. Regarding his recent acting debut, Yoo Chun Young seemed to have considerable talent in this field. That was what pushed Ha Woon’s buttons the most.

Obviously, Yoo Chun Young wasn’t desperate at all; however, his acting abilities were improving every day. He was the person who was ‘overflowing with talent’ or had a ‘God-given gift.’

And those types of people frustrated those working hard at the bottom. People like Yoo Chun Young were jumping a few steps up so nonchalantly at once while others were struggling to climb steps one by one.

Ha Woon bit his lips tightly. “Sh*t…” then at the moment, he found a van coming toward this direction.

The door opened; it was Yerin of the girl group, Darlings, who jumped off from the vehicle. As soon as she hopped off, she opened her eyes round upon Ha Woon who came into her view.

“Ha Woon oppa, what are you doing here alone?” she asked.

Both Ha Woon and Yerin made their debuts around the same time, but since Ha Woon’s boy group didn’t go well whereas Yerin’s group made a huge success, they didn’t have a chance to get along. It was quite recent that they started to recognize each other as they started their acting careers and ran across at the filming sites.

Before Ha Woon tried to respond to her, Yerin turned her head toward Yoo Chun Young and emitted a whoop. Her loud and honest reaction looked quite lovely; however, Ha Woon furrowed his brows as if it dissatisfied him.

Regardless of his reaction, Yerin covered her mouth with her palm and chattered joyfully like a sparrow. “Awesome… how can he talk so smoothly like that to Nara sunbaenim? You know so many guys say that their hearts are about to explode even if looking at her from a far distance…”

‘Jesus…’

Even though Ha Woon blurted out that way, Yerin ignored him and continued, “Although they have been knowing each other for a long time, how can that be possible? Maybe his gorgeous appearance blinded him and made him become insensitive to beauty, right? Pfft, that makes sense, haha.”

“Ah, no, that’s wrong. He can behave that way because he’s madly in love with his girlfriend!” shouted Ha Woon as he finally flew into a rage.

Being surprised, he looked around to scan other people. Although Yoo Chun Young was a new face in this industry, his background was from the nation’s biggest conglomerate family. Thus, Ha Woon had to be cautious when articulating things into words.

On the other hand, Yerin diverted her wide-open eyes back onto Ha Woon. She asked whisperingly, “WHAT? A girlfriend? Are you sure?”

‘What should I do…?’ Ha Woon fell into thought upon her innocent reaction. A moment after, he believed that Yerin was too simple and naïve to use this information for something wicked. Above all, he came up with the idea that this could be an opportunity to get close with Yerin, which would be an advantage for him.

Having that thought in mind, Ha Woon slowly opened his mouth. “Yeah, he definitely has a girlfriend. As soon as he received a phone call, he dashed outside with the quickest steps that I’d ever seen. You should have watched him talking over the phone. The look on his face and his voice were so…”

“Wow!” Yerin marveled.

Ha Woon kept grumbling, “So I quietly listened to him talking over the phone then approached him and said that it wasn’t a good time to date someone. I advised him carefully that he should break up. He was then scowling at me with such glaring eyes… So stupid to ignore my thoughtful advice… He’ll be regretting later…”

That was when Yerin began to laugh cheerfully. Concluding his words, Ha Woon looked at her, feeling dumbfounded.

“You think it’s funny? Do you know how that bastard treated me? You should get mad at him for me.”

Yerin quickly waved her hands at Ha Woon’s complaint.

“Ah, that’s not what I meant. To be honest, his attitude toward Nara sunbaenim seemed like he couldn’t be straight you know, but he does like girls…” she replied.

Yerin turned her head and stared at Yoo Chun Young who was still chitchatting something with Lee Nara. Her lips then revealed a faint smile while fastening her gaze at him.

Article 39. Nationwide Number One’s Surreptitious Defiance

The day of the incident, I returned to school, eventually, without making any conclusion at all about Ban Hwee Hyul.

I told the Kim twins that Ban Hwee Hyul didn’t want us to care about him anymore; however, they reacted the same as I had expected.

“But didn’t he like us?”

“Yeah, I thought he grew quite fond of us.”

When it came to the Kim twins, even their boastful remarks sounded like they were objective results derived from analysis. It was actually true though.

Nodding, I replied, “Ban Hwee memorized all your names correctly in the end.”

“True. Now I returned to a human from a shoe.”

Indeed, Kim Hye Hill just got away from Kim High Heel a few days ago.

Scratching the back of his head, Kim Hye Woo also replied, “Well, if he really hates that, then do whatever pleases him, but we’re gonna talk to him tomorrow anyway.”

“If he’s afraid of us getting involved in a trouble, he must really be aware that Hwang Siwoo isn’t frightening at all,” replied Kim Hye Hill apathetically.

As she turned her head out of the blue, I also followed her gaze; however, Hwang Siwoo was nowhere in the classroom.

I tilted my head in wonder. Where did he go? Since Ruda officially stood by him, I thought he would be, again, acting crazy and wild with a triumphant air somewhere now.

However, Hwang Siwoo and his boys were nowhere as if they had turned into invisible men. Wondering about their existence, I turned my head in surprise when someone dropped a question.

Jung Sae Yeon was asking me cautiously, clasping her hands together, “Hey, um, is Ban Hwee Hyul doing okay?”

“Huh?”

“Since he isn’t back from the hospital, I guess he’s quite serious. Is he that bad?”

Blinking my eyes in astonishment, I looked at Jung Sae Yeon. To talk about her, she was the first one to notice Ban Hwee Hyul’s handsome appearance hidden behind his thick glasses. In other words, she would have been interested in him to some degree. However, I never thought that she would ask first about how he was doing right after the incident.

While I put my hand over my mouth, being deeply moved, something more surprising came after. The kids in class, who stayed neutral until now, began to ask us if things were okay one after another. Most of them were indignant about the harassment Yoon Jung In and I had gone through; rarely, some shared concerns about Ban Hwee Hyul.

The kids from the athletic clubs also exhibited their interests, “If Ban Hwee Hyul and Yi Ruda work together, wouldn’t we win Class 2-7 over the following Sports Day?”

The Four Heavenly Kings and Ban Yeo Ryung’s threatening abilities shown on Sports Day might be indeed lingering in their minds. Then when someone poked the kid in the ribs while warning, ‘Geez, you shouldn’t talk about Yi Ruda now,’ words of apology poured out immediately.