The Law of Webnovels - Chapter 193

Chapter 193: Chapter 193

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Among the people I knew, he was the second most or even much more self-possessed person than Yoo Chun Young; however, the Jooin I knew was behaving so disconcertingly that I smiled somewhat sheepishly to him for now. He then showed an awkward grin on his face.

‘Okay, so he isn’t as nonplussed as expected…’ I thought. As I got up, Jooin also gently lifted himself up. Shaking the dust off his pants, he dropped a remark.

“I thought about something.”

“What do you mean?”

His face was too pale and stiff for him to conduct something rational while putting on his thinking cap. Thus, what he just said surprised me. Regardless of my response, he glanced around the classroom as well as the hallway with a cold gaze.

He then continued, “So, to think of it in a commonsensical way, we couldn’t open the lights in this classroom. Earlier, you pressed the switch after stepping backward since you were surprised by the spider. We also found out that the lights went off since the school has been out of electricity for years.

“So…”

“I know that it doesn’t make sense, but if we assume that we’re now in a different universe, I’ve thought the electricity can be a totem to distinguish between the two parallel dimensions.”

Jooin made a conclusion so casually that he struck me dumb once more. ‘So, um…’ I murmured to myself in perplexity.

Since I was used to shifting dimensions, I tried to understand how confused he might be right now and comfort him to get through the current situation. While I rambled those useless thoughts in mind, Jooin was already analyzing the phenomenon inside his head.

While I faced him after seeing a gaze, I noticed that Jooin was there staring at me in wonder. I shook my head.

“Nothing… continue.”

“Um, yeah… so, why don’t we go inside each classroom and turn on the lights?”

“What?”

His astonishing suggestion made my eyes open round. Still, Jooin continued his words in a calm voice.

“Of course, it should be attempted when all the methods we try, such as escaping through the entrance or getting in touch with the kids, fail.”

“…”

“Staying with you can make things like this happen. Wow, a different universe!”

With that said, Jooin showed something like a naughty smile on his face for the first time. That was when I realized that we were walking through the hallway while we were grabbing each other’s arms tightly in awkward silence just a few minutes ago. We were that much uncomfortable until now… How could this happen?

I held out my hand again to Jooin hesitantly. With a smile, he grabbed my arm and put it beside his arm as if it was a ubiquitous thing to do. He then firmly grasped my hand and put it down.

‘Weird,’ I murmured while looking down at my hand that was tightly linked to his palm.

Unlike the one in my room, the pouring white fluorescent light felt like a sharp tip of an arrow. Outside the entrance door, the swings were still swinging back and forth against each other as if people were riding them while the black branches were hitting the window…

However, thinking about how long it has been since I had last spoken with Jooin so naturally like this, everything made me somewhat thankful.

* * *

Instead of wandering around this dark hallway, we thought it would be better to just look around from start to finish. We, therefore, walked across from Class 1-8 to Class 1-7, 1-6, and 1-5 and opened the lights in each classroom one after another. Holding my hand, Jooin stretched out the other side of his hand to the shadowed room. I stared at his pale ear in silence.

The light that was pouring through the window of the class next door drew an illuminated square over the hallway. I could see the dust piled up between the wooden boards from here.

Looking out of those sceneries, I gave careful attention to the call over the phone. It looked like no one was about to answer this time as well.

While checking four classrooms, I called four people in order from Ban Yeo Ryung to Eun Hyung, Yoon Jung In, and Kim Hye Hill; however, no one took the call.

Only the low beeping sound continued over the phone. I hung up eventually, and at the same time, the space above our heads turned bright with a clicking sound.

I turned to look back. Jooin, who had his hand on the switch, was stumped while facing up at the ceiling.

“All the lights are working so far.”

“Hmm…”

“Was there some error in the theory? If the time and space in this school were unstable, then we could have fallen into that crack, and there would be other places where a similar thing would happen. A place where it doesn’t light up could exist, which might be the passage connecting this universe with the original world.”

What came out through Jooin’s mouth so smoothly were closer to a murmur instead of a conversation directed at me; therefore, it was less explicative. From that aspect, I realized how cordially he always clarified things to me. What came across my mind after listening to his explanation was something utterly different from the cracks in this space-time thing.

I spoke in a low mumble involuntarily.

“How’s the courage test going…”

“Huh?”

Jooin, who bent his steps while holding my hand, switched his gaze to me. His pure gold eyes that were directed at me somewhat looked unfamiliar against the messily scattered desks behind him. I suddenly smiled.

“Although I brought it up, it’s really hilarious. A courage test… we did that during the retreats in elementary school, but now, we’re high school students…”

With that thought in mind, I giggled. My thoughts then suddenly reached the fact that there were four more classes left for us to check if their lights were opening. We also weren’t sure if the entrance door was open or locked too.

I tried to stretch out my hand and pull Jooin’s arm, but his eyes looked a little strange. He seemed to be lost in thought while fastening his gaze at the floor.

I called him, “Jooin?”

“Huh? Oh…”

“What are you thinking about?”

‘Did you come up with another new theory?’ I almost asked that, but when I lifted my eyes to look at his face, I realized that the things running in his mind weren’t about the law of this universe or something. ‘I don’t know…’ It was just that when I looked at him in the eyes, his thought seemed to be reaching somewhere more distant and frigid. Jooin’s lips then detached simultaneously at a slow pace.

“Mama, the things that happened between you and Class 1-1,” he said.

“Uh-huh.”

“Aren’t you angry?”

‘Oh, I thought it was something serious…’ with that thought, I shrugged my shoulders and replied while turning my head.

“Honestly, I didn’t really think about it much because it just went on while I was flummoxed. Come on, let bygones be bygones.”

With that said, I tried to walk forward, but at the same time, I noticed that there wasn’t any sign of movement from behind me. As I turned back, I saw that Jooin was standing there still with the same look that he had when he was asking me if I weren’t angry about the happening.

That was when I tilted my head in wonder. Jooin took a step toward me. His eyes slightly contorted.

“Mama, aren’t you outraged?”

“Um… huh?

I became perplexed for a second since I had never heard him talking this way.

Jooin always gave morally correct answers in a sweet tone or with a cheerful grin. If it was inevitable for him to respond in that manner, he would move on to a completely different topic. He was, however, having an uncharacteristic look on his face with an equally odd way of speaking. I raised my eyes instinctively to look at his face.

Jooin wasn’t joking. He wasn’t playing games either. In his solemn eyes, there reflected my awestruck expression.

I stepped back in befuddlement before suddenly pausing my step while biting my lips tightly. I raised my eyes again to face Jooin’s eyes. Now could be the right moment for me to learn about his true nature in the first place; therefore, I shouldn’t retreat away from him.

At least, I should confront him face-to-face. With that thought, I stared at his eyes, and at the same time, he continued his words.

“No wonder they were bad. Those people spread out groundless, fake rumors thoughtlessly, disrespected and blamed you just to stand by their friend. Now that the rumor turned out to be false, they wouldn’t even apologize but acted as if nothing had happened. When you remained silent since you were unwilling to cause more dispute, they made a fuss about it and how things were actually true.”

“…”

“You didn’t receive any sincere apology yet, but how can you say that you want to turn a blind eye to them? Why? For what?”