n

n

n.

nI turned back to look at Yi Ruda since she popped up in my mind; fortunately, she was having some conversation with other guys in the class. I watched her bursting bubbly laughter with them but dropped my head as soon as my phone rang in my pocket. The caller was, needless to say, Ban Yeo Ryung.

nAfter a moment of hesitation, I opened my flip phone. The Kim twins were watching me with excited faces. The distance between us was close enough for them to hear my phone call.

nWhy is she calling me? As soon as I took the call, Yeo Ryung’s voice roared out of the phone.

n“Donnie! Who’s that yellow-haired boy?”

n“Huh?”

n“Why are you not texting me back!? Donnie, listen. If he asks you out, deny it! Because, um… it’s because… there’s a logical reason. I mean, I saw that…”

nA whipping noise then suddenly came through the call. It seemed like someone snatched her phone. The one who continued speaking to me on the phone with a blasé tone was Eun Jiho.

n“Dude, Ban Yeo Ryung can’t speak the human language properly right now. You heard her stammering, right? What did you do? I wanna see his face too.”

n“What?”

nBefore I could process what they were saying, the voice over the phone changed again. This time, it was Woo Jooin. He yelled, cutting the words I wished to say.

n“Mom! I really don’t need a dad. You don’t have to consider having a new dad for the sake of our family’s stability!”

n“Um, uh… okay.”

nWhat came through the phone lastly was Eun Hyung’s voice.

n“Donnie.”

n“Yeah?”

nHis voice was gentle as usual which eased my mind soon like a flash.

nAs I firmly grabbed the phone with a soft grin, the voice that came out from him sounded more like a sword from hell that pierced into my soul. I could feel him smiling as I heard him speak with a gentle tone.

n“See you after school.”

n“Huh? Oh, of course.”

n“Yeah. Don’t go anywhere, okay?”

n“O… kay.”

nAs I answered with a trembling voice, he whispered ‘good,’ which was too frightening for me to consider as a compliment. The one he wanted to see after school would probably be Yi Ruda and not me, right? I had nothing to worry about, right? Why was I being so nervous?

nI stood still speechless, holding my phone for a while then raised my head when the call disconnected with a beep.

nThe first thing that came into my sight was Kim Hye Hill and Kim Hye Woo, who looked both pale-faced as if they had encountered a ghost.

nKim Hye Hill soon shook her head like a person who just got awaken from an endless nightmare. Then she said to me in surprise.

n“Um… so they are the Four Heavenly Kings, right? You guys are close, like… a lot.”

n“Yeah.”

n“But it’s kind of scary.”

nInstead of responding, I just let a grin. At that moment, I wanted to retract my previous words as to how close the Four Heavenly Kings and I were.

n* * *

nThe girls in the classroom glimpsed at Yi Ruda with a blush. Shin Suh Hyun was having his nose in the black-covered book even though he just received a spoiler earlier.

nThe way he rested his chin on his hand looked truly discontented, making me realize that he really didn’t want to continue reading through the book anymore. Maybe it was the only book he brought; however, compared to Eun Jiho or Woo Jooin, who might be absorbed in their phones or game consoles right now, I felt proud of Shin Suh Hyun.

nAfter looking at Shin Suh Hyun’s brownish hair under the sunlight, I turned my head back to look at the twins who were still chit-chatting about something. Everything crawled into my sight as I slowly moved my head around, but the voice I heard behind me soon brought shivers down my spine.

n“Everyone sit down. We’re going to end the class.”

nBefore we all knew it, our teacher came into the classroom, standing right behind us with an aloof expression. Those who stood around while talking to others went back to their seats like they were running away from hellfire. Yi Ruda and I also quickened our pace to return to our chairs.

nAs I returned to my seat, I had my ears open for what the teacher might say, but I had my eyes rooted on the phone hidden behind the bag on my desk.

nWhen I opened my phone, I saw five new messages in my inbox. Two was from my mom while the other three were from Ban Yeo Ryung and the Four Heavenly Kings. I began to check each of them.

nSent by: Mom♡

nYou just became a high school freshman, so we should have something for dinner

nSent by: Mom♡

nHow about a full-course dinner in a Chinese restaurant? Be home by 6 pm

nWhoa, a full-course dinner. I gaped at the pleasure that will soon come around dinner time. Then I pressed the button to check the next text messages. When my eyes were about to browse the new messages, there began a fuss in front of the classroom.

nI took my eyes off the phone and lifted my head in surprise. Then my jaw dropped as soon as the folks in the hallway came into my sight through the opened window.

nAs if shooting a school uniform editorial, the people before us all looked mad attractive with lightly padded coats or jackets on top of their uniforms. Yes, it was the Four Heavenly Kings.

nThe one who snooped around this side with her rosy cheeks was none other than Ban Yeo Ryung.

nAs the group of drop-dead gorgeous people appeared in our classroom, my classmates started running out to the hallway after class stopped their pace. It would be better to describe it as a bunch of people being possessed by a nine-tailed fox, making them stand still with awe. The boys were at a loss of words as they stared at Ban Yeo Ryung while the girls were holding each other’s hand, whispering among one another.

n“Are they the Four Heavenly Kings from Ji Jon Middle School…?”

n“Is that silver-haired guy Eun Jiho?”

nEvery time I went through this, it felt like I’m about to vomit my blood.

nHowever, the so-called Four Heavenly Kings and Ban Yeo Ryung did not mind all the attention directed towards them as always. Only Yoo Chun Young, who hated having other people’s eyes on him, pulled up a mask over his nose.

nThey even did not care about what others called them. In fact, if they knew the context behind this story, they would have died due to stress before they could play their roles as the main characters of the story.

nIt is only me who cared about all these and, that was what stressed me out the most. With that thought in mind, I looked at them while avoiding the teacher’s eyes, but when Ban Yeo Ryung and I made eye contact, she began to relay a message to me by moving her mouth.

n“Next to you.”

nNext to me? I looked beside me. There sat Yi Ruda with an innocent-looking face that perfectly matched her character as an attractive female cross-dresser, unaware of what will happen soon.

nYes, Yi Ruda was beside me. The female protagonist 1 pointed at the female protagonist 2. What’s next?

nI asked silently at her by moving my mouth, “What?”

nBan Yeo Ryung replied shortly, “He’s dead.”

n“…”

nHe’s… dead…? I nodded a bit later after seeing her response. Shouldn’t somebody stop her? I did not want to see that awe-aspiring Ban Yeo Ryung be in jail for committing murder.

nWhen reading web novels, male protagonists would steal cars and drive them with no IDs, but why wasn’t anyone arresting? Would Ban Yeo Ryung escape possible prison-time because of this unspoken rule?

nI looked at Yi Ruda’s bright face again and said to myself, ‘How can the author squeeze two female protagonists into this little world? I have no idea what’s happening in this school anymore… Really have no idea.’

nThe clock was ticking to the tragic end. Kids were crowding around both doors of our classroom, watching the Four Heavenly Kings and Ban Yeo Ryung. The teacher also looked dumbfounded as he did not know how to deal with this outrageous situation.

nHe seemed to be wondering why all these people were streaming in. He then finally spoke after a long pause.

n“Then, see you all tomorrow.”

nAs a response, all the kids said, ‘Thank you!’ and packed their bags to stand up. As they moved out of the classroom, the ground seemed to shake like hundreds of elephants passing by. At the same time, I could see the fire bursting from within Ban Yeo Ryung’s.

n