.

However, the first one who appeared through the open door had glamorous red hair. Everyone widened their eyes. Those who had ever been around this event would be definitely aware of who she was. Soon, voices came out from all directions.

“Is she Dae Lisa of the eleventh place?”

“I thought she fled away, losing all her friends, but there she is!”

Behind her back, someone showed up his appearance. Despite his punk outfit and good physique, he hesitated too much to be in this place as if he had come to the wrong place.

Those who took a closer look at his face for quite a while then blurted out in bewilderment.

“Hwang Siwoo? Why is he here?”

“Did he team up with Dae Lisa after we kicked him out?”

“Geez, he’s such a fair-weather dude.”

Another one then revealed himself behind Dae Lisa. Unlike Hwang Siwoo, the boy acted very confident, which made everyone stiffen their faces.

Amid the dark and gloomy atmosphere, his blond hair dazzled like a sunflower. Disheveling his hair with a refreshing grin, the boy didn’t seem to fit in this place.

The blond boy was well known for often having a chase with some men in black near the school. Due to his preternatural swiftness, he was even rumored to be a ghost.

The ranked fighters, who got him introduced by Hwang Siwoo when they were close, all grimaced.

“It’s so ridiculous to see Hwang Siwoo siding with Dae Lisa, but now he even accompanied that blond hair, huh?”

“No matter how athletic and fast he is, having a real fight is a different story.”

“Let me teach him a lesson.”

While those whispers went back and forth in the space, Dae Lisa browsed around with a cold glance then shouted at the stage.

“Dae Lisa, ranked 11th, is here!”

Hwang Siwoo also announced his participation hesitantly after her.

“Hwa… Hwang Siwoo… ranked 47th… is here!”

Everyone, who heard his remark, all showed a look of surprise on their faces. It was none other than the absent Park Ha Hyun who had been ranked 47th in the Ranking Battle.

… Then the reason why Park Ha Hyun vanished away was that he had hurt his pride from losing his ranking to a jerk like Hwang Siwoo? Considering the difference between their fighting abilities, it was sincerely unbelievable though.

“Didn’t he cheat or commit fouls?”

“No idea.”

On the other hand, a few boys from Jung Yohan’s side got up from their seats. Scowling at Hwang Siwoo, they clenched their lips.

“How dare you…”

The moment when Hwang Siwoo trembled his shoulders upon their piercing gazes, Yi Ruda, raising his hand, spoke in a ringing voice.

“Jung Haneul, ranked 34th… no, Yi Ruda is here.”

This time, they even took Jung Haneul’s ranking?

His position, the 34th place, wasn’t that low. The contestants became even more doubtful about Yi Ruda’s extremely imperturbable attitude.

They began to whisper, “But don’t newbies usually stay low or freak out immediately in this kind of atmosphere?”

“Who is he actually?”

“It was strange in the first place that he had a chase every day with those black suit guys.”

As they were gradually reaching the hidden truth, another person popped out from behind Dae Lisa and the other folks.

He moved so quietly like a ghost. However, those who didn’t care but just did some shadowboxing in the air or chitchatted to each other until then all turned around.

The guy who appeared just now had an overwhelming physique almost reaching 190 centimeters. His shoulders and limbs were so muscular that they looked like an overall weapon.

Even though he didn’t have any real weapons in his hand, how could he look that threatening? Having those thoughts in mind, they soon realized that it wasn’t their first time to feel such a thing while looking at someone bare-handed.

One of them murmured, “Come on… is he…?”

The guy came closer in front of them. His particularly dark brows, deep eyes, and terrifyingly red eyes came into their sights.

“No way…” said one of the boys. Then another dude blurted out in a trembling voice as if he was casting a forbidden spell.

“… He is Ban Hwee Hyul…?”

* * *

Taking a seat in the audience seating area in the gym, I kept looking around in surprise. I had never been to Sung Woon Science High School until now, but the buildings and even the interior of the gym all looked somewhat familiar. Was it because this school also had good facilities and a large campus like ours?

Tilting my head in wonder, I murmured, “Or else, I might have been here before…”

Yeo Ryung turned her head abruptly to me and said, “We came here during our middle school science quiz contest. Don’t you remember?”

“Oh, exactly! That’s when I came here.” Clapping my hands, I added, “While you and Eun Jiho fought like crazy, Jooin answered everything correctly and won the first place, right?”

“Donnie!” shouted Yeo Ryung. She lowered her voice and whispered, “Why are you remembering those things…?”

Other people sitting beside her giggled at her reaction. Shortly after feeling sorry for her, I saw Eun Hyung also showing a smile. Feeling relieved, I also giggled in a small voice.

Last night, I got a call from Eun Hyung. He usually got into bed and woke up as early as Yeo Ryung, so I picked up the phone in wonder as it was quite late at night.

“Donnie.”

His voice sounded heavy and low.

“Something keeps lingering in mind.”

I tilted my head and asked, “What is it?”

“About Ban Hwee Hyul… The reason why he didn’t throw a fist while getting bullied and harassed in school…”

“Uh-huh,” I replied.

“Is it because of his little brother’s incident? Did he promise himself he would never use his fist afterward?”

“…”

His insight surprised me for a second. Was it that obvious to smart and considerate kids like Eun Hyung? Even when Yoon Jung In and I saw Ban Hwee Hyul’s little brother in person, we babbled something like, ‘Is he a masochist?’

I wasn’t sure whether I should tell the truth or not since it was someone’s privacy. However, staying unresponsive could also look like admitting the fact.

In the end, I gave up, thinking, ‘Well, Eun Hyung won’t use this information somewhere bad. Above all, he combined little clues and found the truth by himself.”

I just whispered on the phone, “How did you get it?”

“Because wounds leave scars, traces.”

While I wondered what it meant, Eun Hyung added, “Just like Jooin refusing to reveal how clever he is to other people.”

That was when I realized what he indicated.

“I saw the trace from Ban Hwee Hyul as well.”

“…”

“I get why Jooin becomes loose at him.”

Leaving his last remark, the call ended.

Looking at the dark phone screen in the silence, I murmured, ‘I guess I still can’t see as much as they do. As long as we all went through different times and experiences, that is indeed natural though…’

Perhaps, that was why Eun Hyung didn’t look good. I quietly rubbed my chin. As a person who had his sister staying in the hospital and a friend to Jooin, Eun Hyung would understand Ban Hwee Hyul’s situation quite well.

After the call, it was my first time to see his smiling face. Maybe, Eun Hyung was feeling a little better today. Having such thoughts in mind, I glanced at Eun Hyung then quickly turned my head at a noise coming from the front.

In order to avoid attention and watch the Ranking Battle stealthily, we separated from Dae Lisa, Hwang Siwoo, Ban Hwee Hyul, and Yi Ruda, those who were participating at the actual tournament, before stepping into the gym. While taking a seat ahead of them inside the space, we thought they were running late, but as if they tried to reward our long wait, our team showed up while making a great appeal to the audience.

When Dae Lisa, Hwang Siwoo, and Yi Ruda appeared one after another, the crowd made a bigger fuss each time, but when Ban Hwee Hyul showed up, the noise reached the climax.

“Ban Hwee Hyul! It’s the real Ban Hwee Hyul!”

While the ranked fighters shouted insanely as if they couldn’t believe the sight, the audience around us also exclaimed at the unexpected situation.

“What? Ban Hwee Hyul, who took the first place as soon as he became seventeen but disappeared all of a sudden, really showed up in this year’s Ranking Battle?!”

“Are you sure? Where?!!!”

The lines that obviously belonged to the world of web novels struck my ears. Meanwhile, the audience surged into the balustrade and hung on the bars. Watching that sight, I became concerned that the balustrade would collapse.