Chapter 13 (1/2)

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“Ugh…”

I groaned in defeat as I lay my head on my hands. This was not what I expected! I would not involve myself with Ban Yeo Ryung and the Four Heavenly Kings. I had been thinking about it for the last 3 years! However, I just went on a senior trip with them! What is going on!?

As I buried my face into the pillow and moaned for a while, someone knocked on the door twice. Without my response, the door swung opened. It was Ban Yeo Ryung.

I blinked my eyes in a daze. Ban Yeo Ryung then plodded to my bed and sat next to me.

She asked, “What were you doing?”

“Just lying down and thinking.”

“Thinking about what?”

She asked with her sparkling black eyes on me. One could hardly smile if I confessed that I was thinking about breaking up with these guys for the last 3 years. I gently grinned instead of uttering my voice to form a response.

Normally, she would have added something more, but Yeo Ryung no longer asked me anything, just to show how exhausted she was. She turned around to switch off the light and lay down beside me. Before long, I could hear her breathing lightly.

I blinked my eyes silently and stared at the darkness all around. As I looked aside, Ban Yeo Ryung’s face appeared in the dim light filtered through the window.

Small high nose, slim face, and the doll-like long and rich lashes. Her face was stunning as always. Then a moment later, I softly closed my eyes and slept like the dead.

* * *

At the beginning of the semester as a freshman in middle school, I tried my best to escape the clutches of Ban Yeo Ryung.

The only thing that changed in my real life was Ban Yeo Ryung and Ban Yeo Dan, who lived next door. Therefore, if I could separate myself from them, wouldn’t my life get back on the track?

To be honest, I was quite captivated by Ban Yeo Dan at first. His bright white skin, purplish-black hair, and his obsidian-like eyes were a national treasure. What made him more attractive was his ascetic but sexy vibe.

He was only fifteen but that vibe was everywhere even on his fingertips, so it was obvious that he would become mad attractive as he grew up. Every time I saw Ban Yeo Dan, I could hardly handle myself dribbling.

No matter how stunning he was, Ban Yeo Dan’s interest was, however, only his sister Ban Yeo Ryung. Therefore, it was worthless for me to have a crush on him. Would I be winning his girlfriend position one day? No, never.

If he ever dated anyone, the poor girl would just leave the position of being his girlfriend in less than a week. It’s all because he does not give a sh** to any girls except Ban Yeo Ryung.

What I always noticed from Ban Yeo Dan’s eyes was that apathy. He sure was the brother of the female protagonist. I applauded him from within my mind whenever I saw him.

Anyway, Ban Yeo Ryung or Ban Yeo Dan was not that attractive characters to me. I mean, Ban Yeo Ryung was pretty, smart, and nice. That was hard to deny. But what is so special about that?

If we kept our friendship, I should pretend to know her; a person whose identity was foreign to me. I didn’t even remember our prior memories together! Why would I act friendly for her sake? It was such a tiresome thing to pull off every day.

With these thoughts in mind, I tried to ignore Ban Yeo Ryung and made a large circle with my class.

Well, to take a look at my class 1-4, there was a total of 34 students. 34 was not that big of a number for a class, but ridiculously, these 34 students were divided into a number of small groups. Relationships in the class were generally like that.

Let’s say, girls would find at least someone to befriend. As the girls extended their circle by following this process, there would be about 10 people in the group eventually.

Not only girls but also boys. Unlike girls, boys did not get personally close with others. They get along playing soccer or basketball a few times in the yard after class and after a while, they’re already friends.

However, girls undergo more complicated ways to fit in or become a part of a group. They did not appear to be that divided, but people could tell anyway. To be more precise, I could explain their friendship as ‘those who get along after school.’

The group Ban Yeo Ryung and I were in was more tenderhearted and had no interest in dressing up. I would call this group ‘the moderates’, from now on. Although, it did not mean anything special. There was this group led by an outstanding girl called Baek Yeo Min. This group liked to see magazines together and had a lot of interests in celebrities. I would call this group ‘the radicals’. Again, there was no special meaning behind it.

It took me about two months to figure out the power game in our class. No, I would say it took about two months for these two groups to form.