By Zephyria 
Although the library had been quiet despite its many users, it now felt like a crowd was murmuring, and tragically, it wasn’t a mistake. Significantly more people than before were loitering around.
‘It wasn’t this bad when I came alone….’
Even if I came with Do Yun-hyeok, I didn’t expect to draw this much attention. I lamented, running my hands through my hair, but Do Yun-hyeok himself wasn’t paying any attention to his surroundings.
I thought he was unusually engrossed in a book he’d picked up randomly, but that wasn’t it either. Do Yun-hyeok, who met my eyes the moment I looked at him, tilted his head and asked if something was wrong.
As expected, he’s useless.
At this rate, I might have to leave the library to avoid disturbing other patrons, let alone continue my studies.
But I had nowhere else to go if I left. I couldn’t wander the streets with my heavy backpack, and going to a cafe would be an even worse move than settling in the library in the first place. In a cafe, I might even be kicked out along with the crowd.
I sharpened my senses and scanned my surroundings, and my eyes met those of a group of female students watching me from an angle.
They were whispering so obviously, yet seemed unwilling to be caught, usually averting their eyes when I looked their way. But only one girl in the group stared back at me, as if mesmerized.
I decided I needed to quiet them down. Like a teacher supervising study hall, I put on a stern expression and quietly raised my index finger to my lips. It meant to stop it.
The girl, whose eyes widened in surprise, slowly covered her mouth with both hands. Then, she nodded vigorously, her braided hair swaying.
‘Isn’t she liking it a bit too much?’
She reacted like that to a simple gesture. Feeling awkward, I turned back to my workbook.
Reflecting on my actions just now, they seemed ordinary, but suddenly I felt a cringe and became embarrassed. It seemed my behavior was becoming like that of a character in a teen romance novel, having spent time with the Four Heavenly Kings. I resolved never to do such a thing again.
Still, as if my gesture had worked, the library thankfully quieted down again. It seemed I wouldn’t be kicked out. Relieved, I focused on my workbook again.
I was engrossed in solving math problems for a long time. When several pages of the workbook had been completed, I glanced at Do Yun-hyeok as I stretched to relieve my concentration and my stiff body.
‘You.’
The guy who had been lying face down was now fast asleep, breathing softly. His dark, lowered eyelashes were still. Every student passing by would steal a glance at him.
‘Why are you even in the library if you’re going to sleep like that?’ I thought, but from Do Yun-hyeok’s perspective, he was dragged here, so it made sense. Sleeping was better than causing trouble.
I watched him sleep for a moment.
I’d thought it before, but his face alone was so stunning it could be believed he was the male lead. He had the kind of looks that would be popular anywhere. Was his personality like that because he was too handsome? Suddenly, his perfectly handsome face felt irritating.
‘I hope you drool all over yourself while you sleep.’
I secretly cursed him in my mind. If he drooled on a library book, it would be a huge nuisance to the next user, so I wished he’d drool wetly enough to be unpleasant on his own clothes.
But as soon as I finished my curse, Do Yun-hyeok’s eyelids snapped open.
“Hah.”
I gasped involuntarily, then regained my composure and shamelessly turned back to my workbook. My ears burned as if on fire, aware of my embarrassing act.
However, Do Yun-hyeok showed no particular reaction. I expected him to start an argument, asking why I was looking at him. I kept my guard up, pecking at my problems, and cautiously checked again. He was asleep again. I breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Just startled me for nothing. Why did you suddenly open your eyes?’
After confirming Do Yun-hyeok, who was sleeping soundly like a child with his arms crossed, I comfortably focused on my problems. This time, I didn’t even glance in his direction until I had finished several pages.
When I finished the planned section of my workbook and was checking it off on my study planner, I heard a rustling sound next to me as he stirred.
“Mmm….”
Thinking he had woken up, I looked beside me, and our eyes met as he blinked sleepily. Even without opening his eyes properly, he immediately gave me a charming smile the moment he spotted me, which was absurd. I turned my head like a broken machine.
Wait. But I think I saw a drool mark just now. I looked at Do Yun-hyeok’s face again.
However, my eyes had deceived me. His face was as clear and neat as if he hadn’t just woken up from sleep.
‘Why? Am I handsome?’
To Do Yun-hyeok’s lip-read question, I responded with a stern, serious expression. I stared intently at my planner, finishing my check marks. I couldn’t admit that I couldn’t deny what he was asking.
But as they say, if you’re told not to think of an elephant, you can only think of an elephant. My eyes were clearly on the planner, but Do Yun-hyeok’s face sat beside me, floating in my mind. Suddenly, my perked ears sharply caught the whispers around me.
‘That red hair is seriously amazing.’
‘If the guy next to him was in my class, I’d really study hard.’
‘What are entertainment agencies doing not casting them? Shouldn’t we report them to an agency?’
I felt embarrassed and shook my ears like I was chasing away flies. Things I couldn’t hear clearly before were suddenly audible!
Still, the fact that I wasn’t the only one fixated on Do Yun-hyeok’s looks brought me some relief.
It was strange that Do Yun-hyeok, who wasn’t the male lead but a villain, could be this handsome. The grammar of novels dictated that protagonists were handsome and villains were ugly! Defending convention, I diligently tarnished Do Yun-hyeok’s reputation in my mind.
And so, we stayed in the library until closing time and went home separately.
Of course, we caused a commotion when we stopped by a nearby restaurant for dinner, and there was a minor incident while taking a short walk after the meal, but having lived with the Four Heavenly Kings, I had somehow adapted to such things, and they didn’t seem particularly noteworthy. I was satisfied just having spent time quietly in the library without major issues.
As always, Do Yun-hyeok walked me home. I refused, of course, but he was completely unfazed.
“So, are you satisfied with going to the library? Was it fun?”
“Uh-huh~.”
On the way home, I gave perfunctory answers to Do Yun-hyeok’s questions. On a day when summer was rapidly approaching, mayflies buzzed around the orange streetlights. The humid air filled my lungs.
“Aren’t you going to ask how I felt?”
Do Yun-hyeok issued a threat in the form of a question. Did he want me to say I didn’t like the library? But… it was none of my business! I looked into the distance where darkness was settling and asked casually.
“How about you?”
“I enjoyed seeing you.”
“…….”
I was speechless. His light reply, which I could have dismissed as nonsense, felt strangely heavy. My fingertips began to tingle, so I naturally slipped my hands, which had been swinging back and forth in time with my steps, into my pockets. I felt my mobile phone.
As I fiddled with the smooth, colored surface of the flip phone, I felt the bead charm attached to it jingle. I rolled the beads with my thumb.
Come to think of it, looking back, Do Yun-hyeok stayed seated for the whole day, albeit looking incredibly bored. I thought he deserved some credit. Even Seong Hae-min couldn’t sit still in the library for that long. (Of course, Seong Hae-min was always called away by his seniors.)
‘Come to think of it, I didn’t think about Seong Hae-min at all today.’
With a sudden realization, I felt sorry towards Seong Hae-min, and for some reason, I felt awkward and wronged, as if Do Yun-hyeok had thoroughly tricked me. It felt like I was losing for some unknown reason, like a math problem I kept getting wrong no matter how many times I solved it. I deliberately ignored Do Yun-hyeok, who walked quietly beside me.
We soon arrived near my house, and I sent Do Yun-hyeok away, fearing I might run into Seong Hae-min. He waved goodbye, looking disappointed, as if he had spent the whole day with me.
“Good work.”
I waved back at Do Yun-hyeok. After all, it was polite to say goodbye.
I turned and went home decisively, leaving Do Yun-hyeok lingering behind. Without looking back even once.
I never wanted things to change like this
“This is the photo.”
“Ah… that’s fine now. You don’t need to look closely.”
I quickly closed the image file window that filled the monitor. The photo, showing mottled bruises, was hard to look at.
We decided to gather evidence to report the Yeonmyeong High’s Top Dog… what was his name again, anyway. Through Ban Seo-yi, we were able to get introduced to students. And this was the data we received via email, photos of the damage those students had suffered from Yeonmyeong High’s Top Dog.
I was amazed at how Ban Seo-yi managed to find these students. The student in question, despite preparing this much material, couldn’t report to the school for fear of retaliation and had transferred. They likely lacked confidence that they would receive substantial help from the school. They had repeatedly emphasized that we should do our best to keep their identity as a whistleblower hidden.
It was understandable. In fact, during my own school days, school violence only gained traction and efforts to eradicate it began when it became a hot topic in society. In the past, it seemed unlikely that victims would receive proper support. Moreover, since it was set in a teen romance novel, the atmosphere where everyone bowed down to delinquents was evident even to me, so it was natural to fear retaliation.
In such a situation, it was commendable just to think of collecting data. Fortunately, collecting the data wasn’t in vain. After preparing to report to Yeonmyeong High School with the data, I contacted Ban Seo-yi, and the reply came: please submit the report within this week.
‘The die is cast!’
After submitting the report to Yeonmyeong High, all that was left was to trust Ban Seo-yi and wait for the resolution.
For a while, I put aside my thoughts about Yeonmyeong High and focused on my studies. In the meantime, rumors of a disciplinary committee being held at Yeonmyeong High School gradually surfaced. However, with final exams less than a month away, I didn’t have much time to dwell on it.
Of course, that didn’t mean I abandoned the issues of the third-year seniors.