EAR Ch 17

Seungpyo let out a short sigh and stuck his hand into his pocket. Then, he whipped out and threw the item he pulled out.

Jaemin reflexively caught it and then checked the item in his hand. It was his internet-exclusive cell phone that he hadn’t seen in a long while.

“There, happy? I’m giving it to you first. You bring mine tomorrow too.”

Even up until they were eating lunch, he hadn’t stopped sneering, but suddenly it was a shift in stance. What trick is he trying to pull again? Jaemin looked at Seungpyo with a wary glare.

“I told you this isn’t my phone.”

“Let’s cut it out. It’s not even fun anymore. Neither you nor I have any use for keeping someone else’s item anyway.”

I wasn’t having fun from the start. Jaemin complained inwardly and put the cell phone into his pocket. Looking closely, Oh Seungpyo was wearing an expression that said he was really bored with this situation now. Jaemin hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth.

“…By the way, you said you had them. The screenshots.”

“I can just delete them. Not like you’d believe me even if I said I deleted them anyway. And since you have the file you recorded earlier too, it’s the same thing. You said we hold a weakness on each other, right.”

Outside the hallway window, the grass-covered playground was visible. Kids were kicking a ball and playing. Seungpyo cast his scowling gaze far away and quietly instructed as if making at least one step of concession.

“Let’s not increase each other’s weaknesses further and settle it appropriately. I only did that because I just wanted to tease you a bit, so I won’t bring up this story anymore either. You return my phone too, and let’s not drag it out any longer.”

“…You really do as you please.”

“Why? You don’t want to settle it?”

Setting aside whether he liked it or hated it, Jaemin was finding Oh Seungpyo even more annoying than in the resource room.

It was his own fault for taking obscene pictures and sharing them on the internet while being a high school student. However, that Oh Seungpyo—who was neither his parent, teacher, nor police, but merely a classmate from the same school—treated Jaemin like a criminal and even threatened him, ordering him to do this and that, was absurd.

If he had pushed him hard out of worry or a sense of justice as a student from the same school, at least he would have pretended to reflect on himself. But just like when he commented and played around on the posts of his SNS visitors, it was plain to see that he was eager to take this opportunity to vent the quiet rage that had built up from losing in exam scores every time, simply because teasing him was fun…. There was no way in hell he wanted to bow down as he pleased toward that.

And then, stepping back like this only because he felt he would get into trouble himself, acting like he was making a concession now of all times. Even if he were to die, he knew well that Seungpyo was a guy who felt at ease only when he got the better of his opponent and occupied the upper hand, but still.

‘What kind of bastard is this?’

Disillusionment welled up inside, but anyway, following Oh Seungpyo’s words was the most rational decision. No matter how much he recorded Oh Seungpyo’s threat, the situation was still more disadvantageous to Jaemin.

If it was a desire to finish this quickly and bury it as if it never happened, Jaemin had no choice but to be more desperate than Seungpyo. Although he would never reveal such inner thoughts, that is. Jaemin answered bluntly.

“Alright.”

“Then you bring the phone tomorrow.”

“Yeah.”

When Jaemin nodded his head, Seungpyo let out a short sigh, and stood there without leaving the spot right away even then. Is there some word left to say? Jaemin also didn’t move and waited for the remaining words, and Seungpyo, who was staring at him, opened his mouth as if whispering with a curious expression.

“By the way, why did you do that kind of thing?”

“…What?”

“No, really, was it because of something like exhibitionism, or was there another reason….”

“You said to end that talk. You just said it with your own mouth.”

Jaemin, who had maintained an expressionless face, also couldn’t endure it anymore and knitted the space between his brows. Seungpyo let out a short, small exclamation, “Ah,” and then nodded his head.

“Alright, alright. I’ll forget about it now.”

Then, drawing a finger over his lips, he pretended to pull a zipper shut. How untrustworthy. Really annoying, too. Talk about bad luck, to get caught by a guy like this of all people….

“Hey, Oh Seungpyo! There’s not much time left, where did you go!”

While Jaemin was lamenting inside and glaring at the son of a bitch in front of his eyes, a voice looking for that son of a bitch was heard from the far end of the hallway. “I’m coming!” Seungpyo shouted back in response as well. And then, without even a word of goodbye to Jaemin that he was going, he whipped his body around and ran toward the side where the voice was heard.

Jaemin watched that back for a moment with a dissatisfied face, and likewise turned his body around to head toward the library.

As many model students do, Jaemin also liked books. Naturally, he frequented the library, and easily became close with the librarian teacher who was in charge of the library.

Jaemin has had his name listed in the reading club continuously since middle school. Coming up to high school, he became busy with entrance exam preparation, so the actual time he spent doing club activities wasn’t very long, but visiting the library during lunchtime to borrow books he wanted to read and reading them in his spare time was one of Jaemin’s few precious hobbies.

However, openly spreading out a book that wasn’t a workbook or textbook in the classroom felt somewhat embarrassing for some reason. The middle school principal was a person with a strong drive to create a reading school, so there were times he had to read books even if he didn’t like it. But after coming to high school, it was really hard to meet kids who read things like books.

Even without that, because the kids often exaggeratedly praised his personality or grades, there were many times he had to awkwardly laugh it off because it was ambiguous whether they were sincere or teasing, so if he even read books during break time, he would be treated as even more of an oddball. So Jaemin made an excuse every time to come to the library.

“Jaemin-ah. By any chance, if you have time, could you deliver this on your way?”

“What is it?”

Just as he checked out books and was about to leave, the librarian teacher handed over a shopping bag containing books.

“If you go down to the 1st floor, the delivery driver will be standing in front of the main gate. He’s wearing a vest, so you’ll know when you see him. You just have to give it to him.”

“I’ll do that.”

“Thank you. Teacher will buy a snack later.”

“I’ll do free volunteer service for something like this.”

Jaemin bowed his head with a smiling face, gave a greeting, and left the library. Walking quickly down the stairs and approaching the main gate, a middle-aged man wearing a vest with the delivery company’s logo printed on it was indeed waiting.

Looking into his cell phone, he turned his head as if sensing that the reservation customer had arrived, and Jaemin slightly tilted his head to give a greeting.

“Hello….”

However, even before he could finish the greeting, the man opened his eyes wide. Jaemin wasn’t able to take any action and was merely facing the disaster crashing down upon him.

Because an average person lacks superhuman reflexes, most fail to avoid disasters or accidents approaching at an unexpected moment. Jaemin likewise couldn’t avoid it despite seeing plain as day the soccer ball kicked from far away abruptly drawing near like a comet.

Smack! Along with the sound, his sight went dark in an instant.

“Gasp…!”

“Ryu Jaemin, are you okay?!”

The quietness while figuring out the situation was only for a moment. From the far playground, the kids who had been kicking the ball hard were running to the main gate with startled faces. Jaemin, who had collided head-on with the ball, wrapped his face in his palms, sat down, and then raised his head.

Among the approaching kids, he saw the annoying Oh Seungpyo running over with a considerably flustered expression. Ah, fuck. Usually Jaemin didn’t use rough words, but before he knew it, he muttered a curse inside his mouth. Seungpyo, who approached right up to his nose, bent his knees to sit and peered into his face.

“Hey… were you hurt?”

Jaemin glared at Seungpyo as if to kill him, but whether Oh Seungpyo failed to notice Jaemin’s anger or wasn’t interested, he only checked the condition of his face. The kids each expressed concern and avoided responsibility, offering a word to Jaemin.

“It was kicked over from that side, but it flew all the way here.”

“Oh Seungpyo! You should have kicked a bit gently.”

“Does that go according to my will?”

Amidst the noisy situation, Jaemin calmly raised his body and turned away the kids surrounding him. And he handed the shopping bag to the delivery driver who was observing the situation with surprised eyes.

“Mister, here you go.”

“Ah, right….”