Chapter 176 (1/2)

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When I came back home, there was no one in the house as usual. Before I closed the front door, I bid farewell to Ban Yeo Ryung and came into my room. As I sank back into the bed, across me, the calendar hung right above my desk came into my sight.

I realized that summer break was just around the corner. I rolled myself on the bed.

What did we do during our break throughout middle school? Eun Jiho and Yoo Chun Young, the heirs of the wealthy families, went abroad for about a week or two as always. When they came back and had their spare time, they would hang out with us.

We went to a vacation home that belonged to Chun Young’s brother. There, the six of us walked along the sunset shore while holding our sandals in our hands.

The horizon where the sea and the sun met was as bright red as a fire. The dark gray clouds and the gray smoke rising from the summer house near the beach… We spent so much time together, but the kids sometimes showed utterly different sides.

Today, Eun Hyung revealed his unexpected color, which looked like a mirrored image of Yoon Jung In. The naughty Eun Jiho’s unbelievable calm behavior also surprised me, and so did Yoo Chun Young. His sweetness that he would exhibit once in a while astonished me as well.

And there was also Jooin.

‘No matter how hard I think about it, I really hate ignoble people.’

I could clearly grasp how the kids might have reacted to him when he said that remark. Looking at the dusky ceiling, I slowly closed my eyes.

Jooin was famous after Eun Hyung for using graceful words without utilizing any adverse or bitter terms. The person whom he would willingly expose the sharpness inside him was limited to Eun Jiho, someone he has known for a long time, at the farthest.

Jooin could show others what he wanted them to see. He behaved like an unimpeachable little brother to people; many of them believed it was Jooin’s true nature.

That kid revealed the wickedness he had hidden for so long before them for the first time.

The pair of eyes gleaming under his dropped down brown lashes burned gold against the sunset.

‘What goes around, comes around. It’s obvious and inevitable; however, people get very desperate to avoid and reduce what comes around to them… They try to turn the arrow to someone else or justify their actions by adding idle or useless words.’

Laying one leg above the chair and lifting his head, he continued his words with a look of a petulant child.

“I hate that kind of people the most because they harm others. They make a frantic last-ditch effort to saddle their things upon those who endure silently to take responsibility for their actions. ‘Since you’re used to living a tough life, why can’t you share my burden as well?’ This is their logic, isn’t it funny…?’

The kids might have just seen the burst of his laughter scattering away under his chin.

Ditching his usual, friendly smile, he revealed a surprisingly horrifying face underneath as if it were made of wax. That face looked indifferent, severe, cold-blooded, and scarred.

After suffering through so many wounds already, perhaps he only had a vain look to showcase, but he covered it desperately with a smile. When I looked at Jooin’s face sometimes, I came across those things in mind.

He kept on his words in a monotonous tone.

‘I hate that kind of people the most. They hurt those remaining silent by all means and scar them eventually. They take advantage of others’ goodwill but disregard others’ pain, although they know how painful it is when it comes around to them. Just like what Choi Yuri did before.’

As Jooin began to tell that story out of the blue, Eun Hyung ended up speaking suddenly too. That was what Eun Hyung told me. Jooin then turned his body immediately and left the classroom before anyone could stop him.

Eun Hyung also said that during the few minutes when Woo Jooin went outside the classroom, deafening, catastrophic silence enveloped the entire class.