Chapter 30 (2/2)

And O Shin replied, “Talking to the doggy.”

Well, he wasn’t completely wrong.

Sinsul ran around excitedly. Myohan wondered how the two of them were supposed to play soccer, but there were boys from Class 2 in the schoolyard. They didn’t seem to care about the finals, which were only a few days away. Even Jino, who was a pro runner, wasn’t running the tracks to study inside, but to these boys, soccer was way more important than exams.

Sinsul forgot all about Myohan and ran around with Sin Seonhan, trying to take the ball from him. Myohan yawned, thinking there was no need for him to come out with him after all.

It was already July, and the weather was hot. And since it was noon, it felt even hotter. Myohan started to stretch a little. He wasn’t going to play soccer every day, of course, but he thought just one day would be fine. That was why he had taken Sinsu outl. Leaving him alone to be mad for too long wasn’t good, and he was starting to get tired of ignoring his puppy gaze. Well, now he was making Sinsul feel much better without even running around with him, so it couldn’t have been better.

“Hey! Sinsul, where are you kicking at?”

Myohan was wondering if he should sit down on the bleachers or go back to his classroom, as the sun was scorching. He thought he just wanted to take a nap next to O Shin, but then someone yelled. He frowned and stood up. The ball came flying, but not to him. It went to right next to him.

“Hey, be careful!”

But there was an innocent student standing there. He was in his gym suit, and he was surprised to see the ball coming to him. He couldn’t dodge, nor could he block it. He just froze on the spot with wide eyes. The ball was about to hit him right in his face, so Myohan put a hand in front of him.

The ball hit his hand and bounced off. The boy came back to his senses and looked at him.

“Myohan!”

He could see Sinsul coming to him. He watched the ball as it rolled away, and then he looked at the boy who had been almost hit.

“You’re…”

He recognized him. He had been picking up trash at the bleachers during the sports competition. He was still in a daze, his eyes still wide, but then he was startled and jumped to his feet. He was looking at Myohan’s right hand which had blocked the ball for him. Sinsul came and asked, panting, “Are you alright?”

“You shouldn’t kick the ball in this direction just because I won’t play soccer with you.”

“I’m sorry…”

His hand felt quite sore, but Myohan just shook it and nodded. It did hurt, but not that much. It was good that his wrist hadn’t snapped. Myohan pitied Sinsul’s sad puppy eyes and told him he was okay. He soon came back to his usual self and asked the boy behind Myohan, “What about you? Are you alright?”

“Huh?” he asked back in surprise. He was really pale and looked sick. Myohan wondered if the heat was making him feel ill and waved a hand in front of his face. He soon nodded and managed to murmur, “…Thank you.”

“You’re okay. That’s good.”

His kind eyes looked at Myohan. He looked like he wasn’t capable of saying something bad. Myohan got a strange feeling and looked at his nametag, but his name had none of the twelve zodiac animals’ letters. He sighed. He’d been thinking about the twelve so much, and now he was linking an ordinary student to the matter.

He said nothing more. Sinsul noticed Myohan’s hand and whimpered. It was now red and swollen. Myohan frowned, but he put a hand on Sinsul’s shoulder.

“I’m fine, just go back to the game.”

He really looked like he wanted to. He hesitated, but Myohan told him to go again, and he ran back to the yard. Myohan decided to use the injury as an excuse to go inside, but the student stopped him.

“I will!”

Sinsul was already running around and kicking the ball. Myohan looked back, and the student murmured, “I will repay you for your help later.”

Myohan hadn’t done it to get something in return. He just thought it would be better to block the ball with his hand than to let the boy get hit in the face, and he wasn’t cold-blooded enough to not help when he could help. His hand hadn’t been hurt badly, and he had received his thank-you.

It wasn’t like they were going to see each other again. He opened his mouth to say it was fine, but when their eyes met, he said something completely different.

“…Okay.”

The boy nodded and said, ‘See you later.’ Myohan looked down at his right hand, and then he started to walk again. He had this strong feeling that he was going to see that boy again.