.

Hmm, she looked quite different somehow. That was when her murmur reached my ears again.

“Still, it’s fine because we have Woo San. If he makes up his mind, he will definitely show his abilities more than Suh Doh Gyum, but… now that Ban Hwee Hyul is gone and even Suh Doh Gyum has been ambushed, there’s no guarantee that he’ll be also safe…”

“Whoa, whoa, hold on for a sec. I just heard something that isn’t ignorable…” Yoon Jung In intervened, waving his arm in the air.

I turned my head toward him in surprise, shouting to myself, ‘Hey, Yoon Jung In! Do you know how dangerous this girl is?!’

However, he continued, keeping his calm, “I did hear that Suh Doh Gyum got attacked all of a sudden, but based on what you just said, you seem to think that there’s some connection between Suh Doh Gyum being ambushed and Ban Hwee Hyul missing. Why do you think that way?” He then added in confusion, “Isn’t there any possibility of Suh Doh Gyum just being unexpectedly attacked while having a personal enmity with someone?

Dae Lisa scowled at Yoon Jung In with a cold glance as if she heard something ridiculous. The moment I became bewildered at her furious glare, Dae Lisa opened her mouth.

“What the heck? The reason why we tried to have Suh Doh Gyum as the nationwide Number one after Ban Hwee Hyul was that he would never get involved with other students. Meanwhile, it doesn’t make sense at the first place that someone would have a grudge against him.”

With a determined tone, she continued speaking, “That’s because his only interest is Kim Pyung Bum! Besides, he’s so afraid of losing Kim Pyung Bum’s trust that he won’t dare to bully or harass other kids. Plus, Suh Doh Gyum won’t even steal or snatch others’ stuff since he has a very wealthy background. The only time he’s spending money is when he’s giving presents to Kim Pyung Bum!”

Dae Lisa flew into a rage, adding, “That’s why we felt relieved and tried to select him as our leader, but how could he suddenly get attacked? Who the fu*k did it to him?”

Listening to her words, we could say nothing. Yoon Jung In, beside me, poked my arm and whispered, “Hey, for some reason, this sounds quite similar to the novel that my little sister was reading the other night.”

“Shoosh, I’m also confused right now,” I replied, pretending to be as calm as possible. I guess Suh Doh Gyum and Kim Pyung Bum were definitely living in a genre different from ours.

Keeping us staying beside her, Dae Lisa continued to express her anger for quite a while then suddenly calmed down, and with big strides, she left the spot. I was very perplexed at her becoming composed out of the blue, which looked like she had emptied everything from her mind.

Before she left, Dae Lisa advised, “Anyway, I’m sure that some folks are aiming at the Number one ranker or kids close to him. There’s no guarantee that it’d not cause any trouble to other students, so you guys should also be careful for a while. Get it?”

Disheveling my hair, she uttered, “Go back home before the sun sets. Try to listen to your parents and stay kind and nice.”

While I showed an obvious look of bewilderment, Yoon Jung In murmured from beside me, “You sound so unpersuasive to say that…”

As soon as he dropped that remark, Dae Lisa took her hands off my head and, instead, knuckled Yoon Jung In on the head.

“Ouch…!!” Yoon Jung In groaned, wrapping his head with his hands.

Leaving that Yoon Jung In and I at the spot, Dae Lisa turned around without hesitation. Watching her receding from us, I turned my head back to Yoon Jung In as he dropped another remark.

“Anyway, that person is also just assuming things, which means she also doesn’t know exactly what has happened. What on earth is going on with Ban Hwee Hyul for god’s sake! Did he get ambushed or is he just hiding from us?”

“Yeah…”

“Let’s just tell our teacher honestly that we weren’t able to find him. For now, all we can do is just let other kids or the police to give us some clues…”

“I agree…”

Although we were busy today walking around here and there, we grasped nothing except for the story we heard from Dae Lisa after bumping into her. Heaving a sigh, I quickly bent my steps after Yoon Jung In.

* * *

Even after it was mid-April, the school was still kind of chaotic.

Ever since he started coming to school again, Hwang Siwoo acted dismally like a ghost while keeping his mouth shut. His clique also stayed silent while shrinking with fear in school.

And because of that the classroom became, not just quiet, but felt somehow empty, having more than half of the kids being a few words. Sometimes, it even made me miss the boisterous vibe before. Although we did nothing wrong, we just went outside in the hallway when talking in loud voices.

And today, the Kim twins and I also stepped outside to the hallway as soon as the bell rang for a break.

Straightening his stiff back, Kim Hye Woo grumbled, “Uh, what’s wrong with the class atmosphere? Back then, Hwang Siwoo and his boys acted like they’d dominated the whole classroom, but since they aren’t saying a word now, even we’re coming outside as if we’re disturbing the silent air.”

Kim Hye Hill also agreed to her brother, “Even when we just have eye contact, they are in a fluster as if they have committed a sin. It feels like WE are bullying them, so I can’t even go speak to those kids.”

Nodding, I observed Hwang Siwoo and his boys through the open backdoor. As I turned my head toward them, the kids and I happened to have eye contact in which they quickly flinched and averted their eyes from me.

Geez, whenever something like this occurred, the time when they were so high-spirited seemed like moments in a dream. While I sighed, Kim Hye Woo standing beside me uttered again.

“Well, they are sinners when thinking about the things they’ve done to Ban Hwee Hyul…”

“That’s true but… if they still behave that way, we can’t ask them information we need,” said Kim Hye Hill.

I nodded again. In fact, Yoon Jung In regarded that those kids might have some clues referring to Ban Hwee Hyul’s missing. With that thought in mind, he tried to initiate a conversation with them a couple of times; however, every attempt failed. Even Yoon Jung In’s incredibly outgoing character turned out to be useless in front of those kids trembling in fear.

‘So, you guys should have not been like an ass in lion’s skin while staying right beside Hwang Siwoo when you all had no balls and confidence in taking responsibility!’ Muttering that way, I looked at Ban Hwee Hyul’s seat, which was vacant for over a week.

It’s also been a while that our teacher had filed a police report for a missing person. Thus, where on earth was Ban Hwee Hyul? What was he doing? Come on, he wouldn’t really be missing, would he?

While my mind was full of those concerns, there was a sudden noise in the hallway. A few kids ran toward the direction from the opposite side.

‘Maybe it’s just a usual fuss,’ I thought; however, my eyes widened when I found Eun Jiho and Jooin standing among them.

Those boys seldom joined or gathered along in a group; thus, what was going on? Besides, why were they looking so pale when they rarely lost their composures?

At that moment, Eun Jiho found me and grabbed my arm ahead of me. Leaning his upper body, he pulled me closer to him and whispered in a low voice, “Don’t wander around late at night for a while. Tell other kids to also do that if they can.”

“Is there something going on?” I asked.

“Someone attacked San hyeong out of the blue. You also know him, right, Woo Jooin’s cousin?’

“What? Is he okay?”

“We aren’t sure how much he’s injured right now. They’re heading to the hospital after the call, so make sure you don’t go home today only with Ban Yeo Ryung. Have Kwon Eun Hyung with you guys, okay? I also told him to do so.”

While Eun Jiho insisted that way, Jooin stood behind him wordlessly with blank eyes as if he was lost in concerns. He looked more serious than me, so I said yes and pushed Eun Jiho on his back to leave the spot.

“All right, so go there ASAP,” I urged.

Until the end, Eun Jiho uttered, “Again, make sure you do what I say,” then disappeared from my sight while descending the stairs with Jooin.

Vacantly watching the view of their backs, I finally blurted out, “What the heck is really going on…?”

When I heard that someone made a surprise attack on the ‘mad dog’ or whatever in the neighborhood school, I’m sorry to say this, but it didn’t seem to matter that much. He and I were strangers; besides, a brawl among the rankers was prevalent in this world.

However, the person who got ambushed this time was none other than Woo San. Since he was Jooin’s cousin, we were somehow quite related.