Chapter 354 (1/2)

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I uttered, “No, it was almost my first time talking to him too. I came here to drop something, but the room was locked and I heard someone’s voice.”

Speaking that way, I swept the dirt off from the back of my skirt since it got dirty when I fell on my butt earlier. The head of PE in Class 1-7 watched me dusting off my clothes with a mixed glance and replied, “Really?”

“Even if he’s a stranger, I must help him get out of there, or else, what can I do?”

“Ah, you have no idea…”

Slurring the end of his sentence, he switched his gaze to Ban Hwee Hyul. According to his way of speaking, he also didn’t seem to know Ban Hwee Hyul; however, the look in his eyes was tinged with repulsion as if he was facing an infectious case.

I slowly grimaced at his obvious glance toward Ban Hwee Hyul, thinking, ‘What’s going on with him?’

Meanwhile, Ban Hwee Hyul walked sluggishly to the door and stepped out of the storage room, at last. He looked quite overwhelming when I saw him inside the dark space; however, his physique was entirely different under the bright sunlight. His broad shoulders and thick limbs made him look like a huge bear.

Moving slowly like a bear that just woke up from hibernation, Ban Hwee Hyul observed closely around him for some reason. It felt somehow sudden and unexpected since his behavior resembled the mythical story of a bear that became a human and was surprised to see the outside world after eating only cloves of garlic and a bundle of mugwort in the cave for a hundred days.

Watching the sight, I kind of grasped how he was able to hide his identity with that ridiculous camouflage. His threatening appearance, which I saw in the darkness, were all gone; there was only a student, who was big and slightly slow. His moves were so clumsy and sluggish that some agile kids could easily tease him and run away. In short, he looked like a pushover.

‘How can someone emit such different atmospheres at the same time?’ While I exclaimed at his utterly different sides, Ban Hwee Hyul walked toward us. Rather than aiming at me and the head of PE in Class 1-7, Ban Hwee Hyul seemed to walk past us since we were standing on his way back to the school building.

However, before his shoulders brushed against mine, he seemed to hesitate for a second. I tried to bid farewell but missed the timing, so I just blankly stared at him receding from us. The head of PE in Class 1-7 whispered, “Hey, don’t bother with him. You’re gonna get in trouble.”

“What?”

“He’s a marked man by the sophomores and seniors.”

I blinked swiftly at his words. Being an academically selective school, the student atmosphere seemed relatively moderate. ‘Unlike what I’ve thought, do we also have some strict relationship between lower and upper grades?’ I wondered.

Then I recalled the memories of Hwang Siwoo or the senior girls descending on our classroom. ‘Geez,’ I moaned, ‘I get it, but is Ban Hwee Hyul also under that situation?’

The boy from Class 1-7 continued, “That’s why he doesn’t have any friends in our freshmen year. Actually, he became a marked man by the upper grades since he’s so creepy.”

“Hey, come on.”

Pointing out his offensive remark, I thought, ‘Creepy? I didn’t have that feeling against him. Instead, he has such prominent facial features, which reminds me of a boy of mixed-race. Except for walking around with hunched shoulders, he doesn’t have anything that stands out, does he?’

As if those thoughts were obvious from my apathetic reaction, he roughly concluded, “Anyway, I made it clear for you.”

“Ah, yeah. Thanks for taking care of it.”

“No problem.”

Bending my steps after going our separate ways, I soon began to run in the direction where Ban Hwee Hyul was just heading to.

He was still walking very sluggishly like a bear that just came out of the cave, so I could easily find him. It happened to be a desolate hallway. “Ban Hwee Hyul!” I called his name.

He turned around to look at me. His red eyes, which came into my sight immediately, made me hesitate instinctively, but I uttered, “I want to say thank you!”

Staring at me for a moment as if he didn’t understand why, Ban Hwee Hyul asked, “For what?”

“You made me get out of the storage.”