c5 (1/2)
Track No. 03 – On the Melody (1)
The end of term exams pa.s.sed by safely. My marks weren’t bad. Except for the fact that I had unexpectedly gotten a lot incorrect in English, which I was confident in.
The second day after the beginning of winter holidays, I hurriedly got out of the study s.p.a.ce when my phone rang while I was solving some questions in my workbook. To my surprise, the person who called me was my homeroom teacher.
“h.e.l.lo?”
「Jun. This is your homeroom teacher; can you talk now?」
“Ah, how are you? Of course I can.”
「I’m sorry if you were studying. It’s just that…I was wondering if you had received any calls or something like that from Ahyoung.」
The homeroom teacher’s voice sounded somewhat nervous.
“Kim Ahyoung?”
「Yes. Kim Ahyoung. Did you receive a call or hear anything from her?」
“I didn’t get anything. Is something going on?”
「No, that’s fine, then. It’s nothing. Anyway, I noticed that your english marks had gone down in the finals……」
Afterwards, the homeroom teacher dragged the call on and on with talk about my marks. Just about when irritation started to boil, the call ended with his request to call him right away if I had reached Kim Ahyoung.
Did something happen to Kim Ahyoung?
The day after the threatening incident, Kim Ahyoung came to school like nothing had ever happened.
Once in a while, she would throw a glance towards me without anybody noticing, but her general att.i.tude towards me also did not change. That would be evidence that I had acted with care. In the end, I could say that the whole thing had gone smoothly, considering the fact that I was threatened by an international star. At the very least, I would not have to be nervous during the holidays.
When I gave myself to the 200 won’s worth of warmth that was dispensed from the vending machine, my phone rang once again.
(TL: 200 won is ~20 cents.)
“h.e.l.lo?”
「Yo, Yu Jun. You got a call from Homeroom, right?」
It was Kyungho.
“How do you know that?”
「I also got it just now. I told him to try calling you, since you were close to Ahyoung.」
How about I just report this b.a.s.t.a.r.d to the police for dissemination of false information?
「So, you don’t know anything? Really?」
“Why are you asking me? I’ve never been close to her.”
「What the h.e.l.l are you talking about? It’s not just a few times that I’ve spotted you and Ahyoung talk. I think during the exam period, from my memories. Didja lure her into studying with you, after pretending that you weren’t interested? Didn’t she also ask you questions often?」
“Kim Ahyoung just asked everyone who studied quite a bit. She went to you often, too.”
To confess, the frequency of conversation between me and Kim Ahyoung did rise after the day she threatened me. Kim Ahyoung was the one who approached me, perhaps to continuously pressure and observe me, but it might’ve looked different in the eyes of other people who did not know this inside story.
「I’m first place in this school and you’re not, though.」
…… This rotten b.a.s.t.a.r.d was annoying me.
「So I even spread a rumour that you had probably clasped her weakness.」
“So it wasn’t spread, but you spread it?
「Is that the important thing right now?」
It is really important to me, y’know?!
However, I could not bring myself to interrupt him after hearing the serious words that followed.
「What’s important now is that something’s happened to Ahyoung. Otherwise, there’s no way that Homeroom would be so secretive and call everyone individually. Is there really nothing that you’ve heard or anything?」
“No. I also told Homeroom that there isn’t. Rather, didn’t you get along with her better than I did?”
It seemed like his voice had diminished a little when I answered gruffly. Despite how he seemed, that Kyungho b.a.s.t.a.r.d excelled academically and had good social skills, so he was definitely closer to Kim Ahyoung than I was.
「That’s true.」
“There’s no way that you called to tell me your personality. So in the end, you don’t know either, do you?”
「That’s why I called, man. Who knows, maybe you’re really her hidden boyfriend, though you pretend not to be at school.」
“Then. I will be hanging up.”
Ignoring Kyungho’s desperate cry to not hanging up, I closed my cell phone. c.u.n.t, saying useless stuff when he doesn’t even have information. I took out the battery, as the vibration sounded before long.
I was kind of worried that he might spread even this as a weird rumour, but it seemed like there wouldn’t be a huge problem, seeing how the person whom the rumour concerned did not notice the rumour going around the school.
Did something really happen to Kim Ahyoung? Like Kyungho had said, it made no sense for me to receive a call when there was nothing happening.
I chugged down the lukewarm coffee in one go.
“Here, here!”
There was a hand held high up in the air. Unsatisfied by that, it was being spun around. The fancy accessories that hung from her wrist sparkled. Although it was probably an action done because of her acknowledgement of her own shortness, it was also an action that drew the eyes of the pa.s.sersby.
I approached Sangah-noona with a dissatisfied expression. On the contrary, she jumped into my arms, smiling brightly. The guitar slung over my back lightly hit the back of my head, unable to withstand the rebound. Since I could feel how happy she was to see me, I loosened my scowl and lightly scolded her.
“Stop doing that embarra.s.sing stuff when you’re always at the usual meeting place.”
When I subtly imitated Sangah-noona’s gesture, she frowned and stuck out her tongue. Her eyes became fierce when I flicked her forehead while she was off guard like that. The error was the fact that she wasn’t scary at all.
However, Sangah-noona quickly loosened her frown and rejoiced at the guitar that hung from my back.
“You brought it? What’s up with our Scaredy-Jun?”
“You told me to bring it with me.”
Noona narrowed her eyes once again at my gruff reply.