By Zephyria 
“Huh? I’ve never heard that name before, why? Did she bully you?”
“No, no, no! Absolutely not, please don’t misunderstand.”
I waved my hands frantically at Seong Hae-min, whose face hardened at my words. Ignoring my rapidly escalating despair, I vehemently denied it. Bully me? She’s the friend who will liberate me. But you don’t know her!
“Mmm… Si-hu has never heard of her either?”
“Who’s that?”
“Hmm… the name sounds vaguely familiar…”
Yeon Su-hwan was the only one in this group who said the name Ban Pyo-ran sounded familiar.
They don’t even know Ban Pyo-ran yet, truly…
‘This is hopeless!’
I quickly raised my hands.
But there was no time to wallow in despair. The goal I had initially set—’avoid forming any connections from the start’—was clearly ruined.
If a plan fails, one must revise it as quickly as possible and establish a new, feasible plan with new objectives.
I busily worked my brain, which was about to sink into despair.
‘How can I escape this situation?’
The only key that came to mind was, as expected, the female protagonist, Ban Pyo-ran.
If I found the female protagonist, Ban Pyo-ran, the attention of the novel’s main characters, the Four Heavenly Kings, would naturally shift to her. The amount of affection a person can give is limited, so they couldn’t be interested in multiple people at once.
During that time, when the attention on me decreased, I could distance myself!
“Are you looking for Hae-jun? Should Si-hu send out his people to find her?”
“No! Let’s just eat. Huh? I’m hungry.”
Min Si-hu blabbered nonsense again. Send out people for what? Are you gangsters? You’re still 17! While my chest filled with indignation, I steered the conversation towards a more ordinary topic.
“Yeah, Hae-jun must be hungry. He’s been collapsing all this time. Let’s eat something.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Hae-jun, what do you want to eat? Is there anything you want?”
“Anything is fine for me.”
“You don’t need to be considerate, think about what you want first.”
When Seong Hae-min asked, I was about to say anything was fine, but Lee Beom’s eyebrows wriggled like worms as he blabbered something that was either a command or advice, saying I didn’t need to be considerate. A vein seemed to pop on my forehead.
I don’t know why they’ve misunderstood me so profoundly, but I wasn’t being considerate in the first place. And logically, shouldn’t I be grateful if they were being considerate? Beyond bewildered, I was flabbergasted. To suppress my anger, I gave a bewildered laugh.
“Ah. Haha. Ha.”
“That’s right, Hae-jun, let’s eat what you want.”
What I really want is for you guys to get out of this house right now.
“Uh… then let’s order Jjajangmyeon.”
I forced my stiffening face into a smile and chose the most common menu item, and Seong Hae-min, smiling brightly like a spring flower, called the Chinese restaurant.
Thus, my small wish to be excluded from this friendship was ruthlessly crushed, leaving not a single blade of grass.
I will help your relationships.
I had become Seong Hae-jun, the fragile twin brother protected by the Four Heavenly Kings. Yes. My plan to avoid forming any relationships with the Four Heavenly Kings had been utterly destroyed!
Of course, in the original novel, I wasn’t completely unfamiliar with the Four Heavenly Kings, but I wasn’t such a central figure in their relationships. I don’t know where it all went wrong. To evaluate the situation as positively as possible, it’s better than failing the college entrance exams…
But a few days ago, I almost fainted when I heard that students nowadays were unofficially including me in the Four Heavenly Kings. It might even be worse than failing the college entrance exams…
The official Four Heavenly Kings were Lee Beom, Min Si-hu, Jeon Jae-hyung, and Seong Hae-min, and they were adding me, Seong Hae-min’s twin, unofficially. I almost lost consciousness. The sky turned yellow like urine. Of course, I knew that if I collapsed, Seong Hae-min would immediately rush over, carry me, and take me to the hospital faster than 911, so I had to do my best not to collapse.
“We have a meeting with Manhae High on Saturday, who’s going?!”
“I can’t.”
“Me neither, really.”
“Cool…”
“Waaah… you’re all too mean! Then we should ask Jjuni to go~!”
“That’s not happening. I’ll go instead.”
Since the day a group from Jeseong High School wearing their uniforms visited our school gate, evidence of my ruined life began to appear one by one. One of them was the Four Heavenly Kings visiting my classroom during every break.
The four guys around me were monopolizing the fervent gazes of the students in the class. Thanks to them, I was also receiving their sharp stares. My peaceful breaks were gone, replaced by a life like a shaman dancing on a tightrope, where I drew attention just by breathing.
Is this life, not even being able to rest during breaks?!
“Jjuni, Jjuni, do you want to go to the meeting? Huh? Huh? Huh?”
“I said I’d go instead. Leave Hae-jun alone.”
Min Si-hu, who had suddenly proposed the meeting with Manhae High, was rejected by Seong Hae-min and Lee Beom in turn, and then rushed towards me. Seong Hae-min stepped in, but the leech-like Min Si-hu, clinging to my arm, was faster. My arm felt like it would fall off. Despite acting cute and harmless, why is he so strong?
“…Aren’t you guys going to your own classrooms?”
“No! Si-hu wants to be with Jjuni! Pout-.”
“……”
Please stop… Don’t you see the kids from other classes swarming into our classroom, sticking to the windows? I wanted to ask them, but nausea welled up. But as always, the best response was to ignore them! I tried to ignore Min Si-hu, who was clinging to me, and prepared for the next class. Seong Hae-min approached and took Min Si-hu, who was stuck to me like a barnacle.
“Don’t disturb Hae-jun’s studying.”
“Pooing! Mini is greedy! Greedy giant! You want Hae-jun all to yourself!!”
“Shut up, Si-hu.”
“Min Si-hu is acting up again.”
“Acting up!”
“……”
I was exhausted listening to Min Si-hu, Seong Hae-min, and Lee Beom’s conversation. They weren’t the only ones who came to see me. Even with all this noise, Jeon Jae-hyung was sleeping next to me, hugging a plush toy. I really had no idea what kind of person he was.
‘They’re all insane…’
If I were being honest, I would have cursed them to get lost. When it was in ‘.txt’ format, I cursed them a lot while reading. (Though finishing it was the biggest mistake of my life!) The problem was that looking at their smiling faces, I couldn’t bring myself to say it. It wasn’t because I couldn’t spit on a smiling face, but because they were delinquents. Real tough guys!
Last time, I saw Seong Hae-min beat up a Jeseong High School brute at the school gate, which only solidified my resolve. Yes, they are delinquent punks. I’ll just lie low.
The bigger problem stemming from that was that because I acted indifferently, these guys didn’t realize how much I disliked them. I thought that even if we became unavoidably acquainted, keeping my distance would be enough for me to be alone, but that was me trying to live life too easily.
How should I tackle this situation? I organized my thoughts by numbering the points.
Transfer schools? Rejected, because the persistent Seong Hae-min would follow me to the new school.
Curse them and tell them to get lost, that I don’t want to associate with them? Rejected, because while I can be a planner who formulates A to Z plans, I can’t be someone who leaves their guts outside their body.
Tell them I don’t want to be friends because they are delinquents? Rejected, because they would probably scold me, saying it’s because I don’t know much about delinquents.
Show them I’m focused on studying and create psychological distance? Rejected, because Min Si-hu, who doesn’t care about that at all, is right in front of me.
Tell them the truth and explain that’s why I can’t be friends with them? Rejected, because Seong Hae-min’s reaction would be unpredictable once he realized I wasn’t the younger brother he knew.
Then, how on earth?
Find Ban Pyo-ran as soon as possible and introduce them.
This was the only conclusion I could reach. Introduce them to their true destined partner, Ban Pyo-ran, and divert the Four Heavenly Kings’ attention to him!
“Does… does Si-hu dislike Jjuni? Huh? sniffle…”
Tears welled up in the corners of Min Si-hu’s eyes, his eyebrows drooping. The first time I saw him like this, I was fooled, but after realizing they were fake tears, I felt no emotion no matter how many times I saw it. That psychopath was a genius actor.
“Before the bell rings, everyone go back to your classrooms.”
“Si-hu, let’s just go to Jjuni’s class! Huh? Jjuni doesn’t want to part with Si-hu either, right? Right?!”
“……”
I gritted my teeth and avoided his gaze. I tried my best to smile to suppress the curses that were about to come out. It didn’t quite look like a smile, though.
After I finally managed to send the Four Heavenly Kings back to their respective classrooms, the subject teacher walked in. I quickly opened my textbook and listened to the lesson. However, for someone who had already taken the college entrance exam, a first-year high school class was hardly challenging, so my mind soon drifted. Planning my future life was more important.
The current time was late March of my first year of high school. I harbored a small hope that the Four Heavenly Kings would graduate from their delinquent ways by the time I graduated, but it still felt impossibly far away. When would graduation ever come? The grander my plans became, the stronger the desire to find Ban Pyo-ran grew.
But, setting aside ‘how,’ where would I even find Ban Pyo-ran? The new obstacle was that I couldn’t remember how Ban Pyo-ran and Lee Beom met in the novel.