Chapter 56 (2/2)

The problem was the door’s lock. Jagyeom was right. It wasn’t going to fix itself. Jino had treated Myo Cheong’s ankle with Yuja’s first aid kit, but of course none of them had a tool kit.

They sat around, not even daring to turn on the light. They looked at each other.

What should we do? I don’t know. What do we do? I said I don’t know. You broke it, you should take responsibility. Shut up before I break you.

“First, those who don’t belong in this room, go back.”

Yuja let out a heavy sigh and stood up. All the other boys stared at him, confused.

“We can’t tell the teachers someone who doesn’t belong in this room broke it.”

“But…”

“I’m the class president. I don’t want to get scolded for not keeping you in line, so go, now.”

Even after that, no one got up. He had no choice but to sigh and put the knob back in its hole.

“We can say it was a bit broken and came out when we tried to open it early in the morning.”

“Yuja, you are so smart!”

“But I’m going to say you did it.”

“Why me?”

“Because among the four of us, you are the only one who would do such a thing.”

Jagyeom stood up slowly. Yuja was right. The others glanced at each other, and then they stood up when Myohan told them to go. Before they left, Miho whispered to Jagyeom that Yuja was really different from their class president.

“So quiet.”

After they all went out, the room suddenly felt so spacious. It almost felt like a dream that they had stayed there together all night.

Yuja said they had to get at least an hour of sleep and turned off the bathroom light. Sinsul, who was responsible for all this, was already snoring in a corner. But then Yuja sat down near Myohan’s head.

“You see, I think you would never bother to do something that requires so much time and energy.”

O Shin, who was lying next to Myohan, glanced at him. Yuja asked, “Is it for the princess?”

Myohan narrowed his eyes and looked up. Yuja shrugged.

“There’s no way you would think of doing something that requires that much work like finding the twelve zodiac animals, so I think he’s the leader and you’re his accomplice.”

He was surprisingly right. No one had pointed out that before. Yuja took the silence as acknowledgement and went under a duvet, taking off his glasses. O Shin took Myohan’s hand.

“So even O Myohan gets into a relationship.”

Myohan didn’t get surprised easily, but that was enough to make him flinch. He opened his mouth to deny it, but then he shut it again to feel the warmth on his hand.

“Really, he must be something.”

O Shin held his hand even tighter. It made Myohan feel ticklish.

‘A relationship?’

Now, if he thought about it, that was true. O Shin kissed him, and he showed his affection as well.

“…Yeah.”

They were in a relationship — it was just that he hadn’t realized it till now.

“He is something,” Myohan whispered. O Shin took his hand and kissed it. Myohan felt it and closed his eyes. Now he knew he’d been tamed. He had thought it was only a spray, but now he was wet with that rain. He went to sleep, holding O Shin’s hand.

Well, what else he could do? The trip had come to its end, and the love that had bloomed wasn’t going to wither. The sun was coming up.

A cold breeze blew in through the open window. Myohan, who was working on his workbook while fiddling with a pen, rubbed his cold nose. Now the heat had vanquished. The sky was clear and high, and it didn’t have a single cloud. The breeze now smelled of autumn. The leaves were soon going to change color. Myohan marked down his answer and closed the window.

If the cherry blossoms came with midterm exams, autumn leaves also fell with midterm exams.

They felt like they had done a test only a few days ago, but the summer vacation was long gone, and the school trip had ended a week ago.

Now, what was waiting for them was the exams that were only a few weeks away.

“Hey, I’m sorry to interrupt your break time, but may I get your attention?”

The moment the bell rang, Yuja went to the front. Chookjae shook the sleeping Sinsul to wake him up. He must have thrown away his obligations as a student a long time ago, as he had been sleeping soundly.