SMW 81

Told not to cause trouble, I deliberately picked fights with the school bullies on the day of the entrance ceremony to foster a hostile atmosphere. I would kick my chair back and walk out in the middle of class, and there were many days I didn’t show up at all.

「That’s why I’m telling you to stop causing trouble on purpose. I heard you were a total model student before. A person can’t escape who they’ve always been. Even if a guy like you pretends to be a delinquent with a face like that, you’ll just end up more popular because people will say you’re handsome and good at fighting. Just live the way you used to. Isn’t a life of being admired much better than being ostracized?」

It seemed that man had entrusted that guy with the role of my nanny. I had never “pretended” to be a delinquent. I had absolutely no desire to become part of some trashy group that picks on the weak just to act rebellious. Simply screwing over that man was enough for me.

I wouldn’t have done this if it had reached my grandmother’s ears. Since this wouldn’t cause that man any damage beyond a momentary headache, I really didn’t want to do anything that would actually be detrimental to my own life.

My son, this is how you blackmail someone.

I didn’t want to admit it, but that man was right. I was nothing more than a child who could do nothing but rebel.

「Get lost if you’re just going to be noisy.」

Whether he had been given a special mission or not, Baek Hee-won’s nagging showed no sign of ending today. If [unauthorized copy]there was one thing I was grateful to that man for, visit our siteit was not putting this guy in my class. Wanting to shift my Read on Read BL Novelsgaze elsewhere, I finally stood up. I gave another shooing gesture to the guy still standing beside me and leaned my upper body toward the railing. Looking down, a soccer match was in full swing on the playground during lunch break.

「Oh, I think your class is playing against mine today. Let’s see who’s winning… Oh! Hey, did you see that? Your class scored. Agh, those bastards, how could they not block that?」

As I quietly watched the crowd of students cheering on the field, a few faces of people whose names I knew caught my eye. They weren’t friends, but rather kids like the class president or vice president whose names I’d memorized out of necessity.

There was one exception, though.

「Anyway, they’re really living the youth dream. I wonder why they want to run under the scorching sun in this heat. Ah, it’s hot. So hot. The weather these days is crazy. It’s spring, but it already feels like summer. At this rate, will we really be left with only summer and winter?」

「Why are you asking me that?」

「I felt like you’d know. Because you’re winter.」

「…….」

「The ‘Seol’ in Choi Seol means snow that falls in winter, right?」

I was momentarily conflicted over [visit our site]whether to laugh or get angry unauthorized copybecause it was so absurd, but before I could decide, he changed the subject.

「Come to think of it, there’s someone in your class with a name that fits perfectly with yours. Han Yeo-reum. I think he came out to play soccer today too. Ah, there he is.」

「Do you know him?」

At my unintentional question, Baek Hee-won answered quickly, wondering why I was suddenly interested.

「Not that I know him well, but I’ve spent so much time drifting in and out of your class that I memorized his name because it’s so unique. Anyway, it’s surprising that you’re showing interest. Are you interested in him?」

There was no need to even ponder this. I let out a hollow laugh with a look of disbelief.

「And if I am? Are you going to report that to that man?」

「Hey, I just wondered if there was someone you’d become close with in class…」

「I only remembered him because of his name. I’ve never even spoken to him.」

Yeo-reum. It was certainly a unique name. Since his surname was Han, I had been briefly curious if his parents had named him that on purpose. Above [visit our site]all, the reason he remained in my memory was that I thought his face suited his name stolen contentvery well. Perhaps that was why my eyes occasionally drifted toward him.

「Then why not take this chance to get close? Your names match well. Summer and Winter. If one of you were a girl, people would have been teasing you about it already. Though it seems Han Yeo-reum is already getting teased plenty.」

「…….」

「Why are you looking at me so scary? Do you hate being linked by names? Hey, I was just joking…」

「You’re remarkably well-informed about the affairs of another class.」

「Huh? Well…」

「I suppose you’d have to be this well-versed to report every detail of my school life. So go ahead and report this too. Tell him that thanks to the name he gave me, I’m likely to be teased in class soon. I’m curious to see how that man reacts.」

The name Seol was something I suggested to your mother.

Whether that was true or not didn’t matter. Just because that man said so didn’t suddenly make my name more terrible. Winter was a season I didn’t even like anyway. It was ridiculous to try and attach meaning to it now.

I didn’t care what happened to my name. It was just that the owner of Read on Read BL Novelsthe name Baek Hee-won had been linking Read on Read BL Novelsme with for a while was slightly bothering me.

「I was just joking, why are you attacking me so fiercely? Fine, forget it. What kind of gutsy bastard would actually break down your name and tease you. I just mentioned it because Han Yeo-reum came up…」

「Stop talking nonsense and get lost if you have nothing more funny to say. I think the bell is about to ring.」

Getting tired of responding, I pointed to my wristwatch, prompting a disappointed groan.

「Is it already that time? Time really flies. But aren’t you going?」

「I can’t get any rest because of someone.」

The guy, who perfectly understood that I intended to skip, let out a sigh. Looking at him, he truly looked like a friend genuinely worried about another.

But one must not be mistaken. If he hadn’t come here to act as a watchdog, he was the type of person who would have followed a perfect elite course through elementary, middle, and high school. Despite acting friendly and lighthearted, in Baek Hee-won’s eyes, both I and the children gathered on that field were nothing more than pathetic commoners.

「Alright. I’m going, I’m going. But I’m going home with you, so don’t go anywhere and wait for me.」

The school I was originally assigned to had a bus stop right in Read on Read BL Novelsfront, making it a five-minute drive. However, now it visit our sitetook thirty minutes to walk from home to school, and even by bus, it took about [unauthorized copy]fifteen minutes because of a clumsy detour, making it a hassle either way.

Whether out of a prick of conscience or just for appearances, the day before I entered high school, he had suddenly offered to send a car through his secretary. I had made a fuss, telling him not to even think about it, and it seemed that had prompted him to move this guy instead. Thanks to that, going home had become even more annoying.

Wondering how to shake him off today, I looked back at the field, and just then, it seemed the game had ended as the students began heading back to their classrooms one by one. Among them was Han Yeo-reum, whom Baek Hee-won had been talking about so noisily.

Summer and Winter. Actually, rather than matching well, aren’t they polar opposites?

Humid, hot summer and dry, cold winter were seasons that anyone could see had no common ground. If I had to choose, I thought summer was better. Because it was a season with a much more human temperature than the silent winter where everything freezes.

Come to think of it, it was already May. Seeing the cozy sunlight gradually turn into scorching heat, summer would arrive in the blink of an eye.

「Han Yeo-reum, huh.」

Perhaps that was why I felt like I would be hearing that name often for the time being.

「I hate summer.」

「…….」

When the homeroom teacher said we could sit wherever we wanted, the first place that came to mind was the back seat by the window. However, since that spot was popular and likely to be noisy, I chose the back seat of the center row, which made it easier to move. Because of that, whenever I tried to look out the window, Han Yeo-reum was there.

That was how his face became the first among my classmates that I recognized. I remembered his name not so much because of the attendance check, but largely thanks to a noisy guy who flocked to his side every break.

「Unbelievable! To think that Han Yeo-reum himself hates his own season! What kind of omen of disaster is this?」

「Shut up. Stop talking nonsense and be quiet.」

It was fine that he was silencing someone as noisy as Baek Hee-won, but why did he glance over here at the same time? I suspected it was for the same reason the noise cut off the moment I opened the classroom door. The reaction—acting as if something terrible would happen the moment our eyes met—was the same.

Do you want your surroundings to be this tense for all three years?

If I had to say, I neither liked nor disliked it. In truth, I hadn’t been tyrannical to my classmates; I had simply beaten up a few guys who picked fights, and the rumors had been inflated, making them terrified in advance. I didn’t feel any particular responsibility for that.

If it were the people who knew me until middle school, they would have been shocked, but since I hadn’t particularly wanted to socialize back then either, this situation wasn’t bad. In fact, it was quite comfortable since no one approached me annoyingly. Still, I couldn’t be the only one comfortable, so I felt I should take some measure to let the others breathe.

I took out my earphones, plugged them in, and closed my eyes. This should visit our sitegive the others in the same space some breathing room. It would have been much more convenient for everyone [Read on Read BL Novels]if I had just gone up to the roof and lain down stolen contentcomfortably, but I didn’t feel like moving right now.

Above all, I became curious about why he hated summer. As expected, perhaps because I gave him room to relax, the sound of conversation drifted through the earphones, which were playing nothing.

「Hah, calling me noisy. To say such cruel words to me, a worshiper of summer.」

「What’s so good about summer? It’s humid, hot, sticky, and full of bugs.」

「If it’s humid and hot, you just turn on the air conditioner, and aren’t the bugs just mosquitoes or gnats at most? Those are around in autumn too.」

「Try living in the countryside. When summer comes, you can see every single bug listed in an insect encyclopedia.」

「Right, you said your maternal grandmother’s house is in the countryside. Can I visit this summer? I want to experience the commoner life of my ancestors for once… Ack!」

「Who are you calling a commoner? My maternal side is a family of distinguished nobility. It’s a traditional hanok.」

Honestly, since he said “countryside,” I had been imagining something like a thatched-roof house in a folk village, so I was inwardly surprised by those words.

A hanok. Come to think of it, the place I was forcibly [visit our site]dragged to by the people that man sent was also an old hanok. That place looked more like a reproduction of a palace [unauthorized copy][unauthorized copy]than a nobleman’s house, and the scenery had only brought me discomfort.

It wasn’t that I hated hanoks. It was that the people living inside them were nauseating.

「That’s why I’m telling you to let me see that fancy nobleman’s house during the break.」

If so, I suddenly wondered what kind of feeling the hanok Han Yeo-reum belonged to would have.

「I hate summer. Even in a hanok, there’s a forest behind it, so there are so many bugs. And… it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to go because my parents are busy, so it would be awkward even if I went now.」

My gaze instinctively followed the voice, which had momentarily turned gloomy.