The Law of Webnovels

Chapter 286: Chapter 286

‘Are you a mind-reading ghost?’ I hunched my shoulders for a second but soon replied as confidently as I could.

“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I said nothing.”

“The overall air just now felt noisy somehow.”

My mouth gaped upon hearing Eun Jiho’s response. It was truly unbelievable. Was it not enough for him to be a Korean boy with natural silver hair? Did he gain some mind-reading ability too? As if he noticed from the look on my face that I had some strange thoughts about him just now, Eun Jiho’s hand came closer to me so that he could pinch my cheek.

Eek! Quickly avoiding his hand, I found Eun Hyung smashing Eun Jiho’s nape just in time. ‘Ouch,’ shrieked Eun Jiho in a small voice. He then turned around to look behind him.

“Are you picking a fight with Donnie on the first day of school?” asked Eun Hyung.

“Gosh, why do you play favorites with Ham Donnie?”

“Act lovely, so I can love you.”

When Eun Hyung replied with a stern voice, Eun Jiho suddenly grinned and lowered his body. Placing his arm loosely on Eun Hyung’s shoulder, Eun Jiho whispered, “Oh, then do you want me to act lovely?”

“My bad. I said something stupid, so would you please get this thing off me?”

Watching Eun Hyung answering that way with a pale face, Ban Yeo Ryung and I, who was walking ahead of them, burst into laughter.

Soon, as if she also wanted to join that conversation, Ban Yeo Ryung spoke to Eun Jiho mockingly.

“Eun Jiho, show me something lovely too. Come on, do something cute!”

Eun Jiho, who never let Ban Yeo Ryung slide, flaunted a toothy smile.

“My aegyo has a death curse on everyone who sees it.”

Yoo Chun Young, who remained silent until then, replied to Eun Jiho’s remark.

“Watching that horrible sight will make everyone die, even without a curse.”

After a moment of silence, Ban Yeo Ryung and I began to laugh while hitting each other’s arms. Eun Jiho’s sulky question then intervened in our laughter.

“Hey, have you seen it? HAVE YOU??”

“You said that we’ll die if we see it. Why would I do such a thing, then?”

“Cool, then watch me.”

“Nope, I don’t want to.”

Behind the two quarreling boys, Jooin broke into laughter. He then stepped forward to join Ban Yeo Ryung and me as if it was a very natural thing to do. Jooin was a cheerful person, so he didn’t feel uncomfortable at all, even if it meant going to cafés with other girls.

Shaking his head sideways, Woo Jooin said, “What a silly conversation to have from the first day of school.”

“Yeah, so true.”

That was when I replied with a snicker while feeling dumbfounded. Jooin suddenly directed his brown eyes on me. He then opened his mouth as if something flashed through his head.

“Oh, now that I’m thinking about it, mama…”

“Uh-huh.”

Replying nonchalantly, I stiffened thereafter for a moment after his following question.

“I heard Ruda hyeong transferred to another school?”

I paused my step, but it was such a short while that I quickly took off my step before the people behind me could notice it.

“Um, uh… yeah…” I replied.

I wished my voice didn’t sound as sad as it was right now. This unanticipated farewell also brought a profound sadness within me.

Aside from that, I wondered why Jooin brought this up right now. Thinking about the reasons in my head, I soon turned around when I heard a sudden question coming from behind. As if he had been able to listen to the topic amid the quarrel, Eun Jiho asked me doubtfully, “Yi Ruda transferred to another school?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Without letting you know? I never thought he would do that to you… So, you had his phone, huh? He could have then reached out to you using another phone, couldn’t he?”

‘That’s what I was thinking too,’ nodding at Eun Jiho, I saw Yoo Chun Young flinging the same question while slightly squinting his eyes behind me.

“Yi Ruda?”

Looking at his wide-open blue eyes, I finally recalled something that I had forgotten for a while. Although tension was increasing every day between the two instead of romantic chemistry, Yoo Chun Young was most acquainted with Yi Ruda among the Four Heavenly Kings.

Although Yoo Chun Young didn’t look like he was missing Yi Ruda that much, he might be feeling a little strange when someone he knew had dropped out of school and transferred to somewhere else.

Eun Jiho then uttered, “It’s weird.”

“Yeah, it is.”

‘Weird? Which part?’ That was when I tried to ask the question. Eun Hyung, who was rubbing his chin while listening to us, put his hand down and dropped a remark, which created a quiet stir among us.

“That kid looked like he was interested in this school.”

The excellent insight embodied in his words made me feel cold in the chest somehow.

Technically, Eun Hyung was the one who had the least encounter with Yi Ruda among the Four Heavenly Kings. Perhaps they bumped into each other only once at the cafeteria. Even so, Eun Hyung was busy trying to fix the mess that Ban Yeo Ryung made due to her slip of the tongue. Therefore, the words that Eun Hyung just dropped were deeply insightful when Eun Hyung didn’t have met Ruda that many times.

What he said was true. Yi Ruda was literally so fascinated at this school. Although she felt like everything was too cumbersome at first, Yi Ruda later fell in love with it all, including her classmates in Class 1-8 and Yoon Jung In, whom she had hated for being too noisy at first.

I remembered the words she said to me while sitting in the hallway of the party hall with her skirt rolled up.

‘People are bound to live as they learned. I used that as an excuse to camouflage myself with lies in the classroom or at a party. That was when I saw you guys… who were just the same as usual anytime, anywhere.’

Speaking like that, Yi Ruda revealed an indescribable affection through her eyes. I clearly saw that feeling she had, which she could hardly hide at that time. That was why I wanted to confess the time I spent with Yi Ruda when I met her at the party hall and the words she said to me around that time.

‘Once they see her eyes and hear her words, no one can deny that Yi Ruda has loved our class,’ I thought; however, it was frustrating that I couldn’t tell the truth about her for the sake of Yi Ruda’s secrecy.

I, who saw how my classmates misunderstood Yi Ruda somehow, was, once again, amazed by Eun Hyung’s insight.

I was at a loss of words for a second but barely recovered composure and replied with downcast eyes.

“Yeah… it’s weird.”

That was when I found a pair of glowing blue eyes directing this side from a dark place under the stairs leading to the main entrance. I switched my gaze from Eun Hyung to that direction in surprise.

“Mama, what’s wrong?” asked Jooin, who was standing beside me.

“Uh… nothing…”

When I took a closer look, I saw that there was no one under those stairs.

‘Maybe it was a hallucination,’ I tried to think that way but couldn’t help but feel bleak. Pressing both arms into my body, I murmured, ‘Now that the season is over, we’re not gonna start something like an old-fashioned horror special, are we?’ We were, however, getting a weird vibe today, including the new, suspicious student this morning.

I then bent my steps with Ban Yeo Ryung and the Four Heavenly Kings.

We would usually go to a restaurant then hang out in a café, karaoke, and a bowling alley, respectively. However, we didn’t have much to talk about today, which was unusual. That was because we had met consistently in the library during the break in terms of ‘group studying.’ I also had phone calls with Eun Jiho regularly.

Therefore, we just sat side by side in the PC bang for the first time in a long time and played video games between the kids who would dash here once the opening ceremony was over.

One thing struck me dumb; Ban Yeo Ryung was very good at video games. She usually enjoyed working out, reading, and watching movies instead of playing video games. Even her brother, Yeo Dan oppa, didn’t play video games at all, so I was aware that she never attempted any online battles. However, once she got familiar with the game, I saw that Ban Yeo Ryung, surprisingly, was on a winning streak against Eun Jiho.

I was, of course, joining them too, but when it came to playing video games, I utterly sucked. Even the keys for going forward and going backward confused me that I kept bumping into the walls or died from falling off the end of the map.

On the chat window, Eun Jiho began to escape from reality.

Dope Silver Hair:

Hey, you ain’t Ban Yeo Ryung, ain’tcha?

Half-crazy Ban:

Yes, I am.

Dope Silver Hair:

Come on, tell me who’s controlling it for you. Is it Woo Jooin?

Half-crazy Ban:

Jiho, what should a man do?

Half-crazy Ban:

Face reality~

Dope Silver Hair: