Chapter 57 (1/2)

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When my dad moved his lips, the gray smoke from his cigarette puffed from within his mouth and scattered around the night sky. He then turned his head to speak with Yi Ruda’s father, which made the gentleman laugh after making a short response in very fluent Korean. Ban Yeo Ryung’s father joined their laughter as well.

They looked very close even though it was obvious that our parents had just met this gentleman now. What a talent, I thought.

My dad and Ban Yeo Ryung’s father shared that skill after sharing a lifetime together as friends. This talent of theirs gave them the ability to befriend a stranger almost as if they had known them for a decade after speaking with them for only within 5 minutes. Some might ask how something like that could be possible. That was because of the difference in their personality.

My dad usually talked with a typical Jeollanam-do attitude, abrupt and outspoken, but at the same time, he had an amazing humor that delighted people. However, my dad’s vigor could overwhelm those who had weak energy.

Thus, what offsets my dad’s flaw was the generous attitude of Ban Yeo Ryung’s father. He listened to others and spoke softly with a warm voice, which made others feel much more comfortable.

In this aspect, when both of them cooperated with each other as a duo wherein my dad would voice what’s in his mind while Yeo Ryung’s father would have his ears open, the game was done. This time, they did the same thing with Yi Ruda’s father, which made the three of them seemed as if they were best friends after talking within 5 minutes.

My expression turned sour after seeing the three men laughing broadly within the crowd.

I stared at them with a tragic-looking face. How did all these happen? Right, it was my mom who planned for a family dinner in a Chinese restaurant to celebrate the night. That was how all these began.

* * *

Our family and Ban Yeo Ryung’s family went out for dinner together often, so I had expected this to happen. Ban Yeo Ryung also showed me her phone that had a text which instructed her to come home before 6 pm to dine in a Chinese restaurant. This was how good neighbors worked. I shrugged and said, ‘cool.’

Next, we headed to Ban Yeo Dan oppa’s school. Since he was now a high school sophomore, instead of having an entrance ceremony, he had classes until 6 pm instead.

Ban Yeo Ryung thought it was quite uncomfortable to see two girls waiting in front of a boys’ high school. She thought it would be too pompous for two girls to stand in front of a male-only school; however, when we arrived at his school, her concerns turned out to be groundless.

Once we got there, we could see the shades of a group of girls sitting in front of the school entrance around the sign with the words ‘300 meters to the school,’. As we got closer, we realized how extraordinary the energy of those girls was.

As if someone had gathered all the high school and middle school girls around the neighborhood, all the girls wore different school uniforms and were shouting with bloodshot eyes.

“Yeo Dan oppa! Congrats for being a sophomore! I baked a cake for you!”

“Oppa! There are now only 2 years left until you become officially an adult! Only a few days left for us to get married!”

“Oppa! Yeo Dan oppa!!!!!!!”

Ban Yeo Ryung’s face revealed a sign of confusion as she realized that the girls were here because of her brother. Then she looked at me and asked, “Um, is my brother… a playboy?”

Just by the way the girls were calling Ban Yeo Dan’s name, she concluded that all of them were her brother’s girlfriends. Her brain, which worked fast during exams but slowed down when these things happen, was surely impressive. I applauded inside my heart but soon shook my head.

“Come on, you know that Yeo Dan oppa is single.”

‘For about 18 years,’ I added a silent reply. It was true. Surprisingly, Ban Yeo Dan never dated a girl even though he’s obviously an extremely attractive man.

Ban Yeo Ryung tilted her head to each side in wonder then asked, “Then, why are they like… that?”

“Oh, that’s because Yeo Dan oppa is hot. They are not dating him yet, but they want to, so that’s why.”

Then, I came up with a very realistic hypothesis.

If I were not Ban Yeo Dan’s neighbor but an ordinary girl who went to a school near him, wouldn’t I be there with those other girls? I rolled my eyeballs and thought of how possible it was.

To be honest, Ban Yeo Dan was the type of guy who was gorgeous enough for one to do a 5-hour wait in front of boys’ high school just to see a glimpse of him.

While I was thinking of those certain possibilities, the surrounding yelling suddenly got louder. That was probably the cue that he had finally arrived.

Generally, in a web novel, a conversation like this would often occur: ‘Oh, you like Ban Yeo Dan? I like XXX next to him though.’ What I was trying to say was that the guys around the male protagonist were also popular among the girls; however, that did not seem to exist in this novel.

As soon as Ban Yeo Dan came out of the school with his friends, all the surrounding girls were crying out only Ban Yeo Dan’s name.

He, however, had his hand shoved inside his pocket while his other hand was holding his phone. From his attitude, I could tell that things like this were something common to him based on his indifference to it. The ones who reacted to this situation instead were his friends.

Ban Yeo Dan’s friends tapped his shoulder or stomach to persuade Mr. Nonchalant to react at least a little. They all looked handsome and friendly with their bright hair colors. They were talking to him to say a unified point.