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The news of Yuri Lee leaving school early without notice quickly spread among the third-graders.
Early departure without permission was no trivial matter, but one might wonder if it was enough to cause such a stir. The problem, however, was that the person in question was Lee Yu-ri.
Since her freshman year, she had been the top student in her grade, consistently holding the number one spot in the school. She was a famous and bright student, rumored to be the student council's ace and an active member. To this day, she still held the title of first place and was now the student council president. She was the type of person who had to decide between medical school and law school because she lacked nothing in terms of college entrance exams or academic achievement. She was almost guaranteed admission to any university in Korea, including Seoul National University.
But last week, Lee Yu-ri had left school early without permission.
By morning, the story had spread from her class to other third-grade classes, and from the third-graders to some of the first and second-graders in the clubs. Once the younger students found out, the rumor spread throughout the entire school in an instant.
Normally, this kind of thing would be nothing more than gossip that wouldn't last a day, but this was a testament to how famous Lee Yu-ri was at Jinsu High School.
But the rumor didn't end there.
"Now that I think about it, doesn't the student council president hang out with Han Seong-jin quite often these days?"
"I think I saw them going home together after school the other day."
"Huh? Me too! I thought it was a mistake, but was it real?"
"Then you couldn't believe it… Were they fooling around together?"
"Well, there's no way the student council president would hang out with a guy like Han Seong-jin…"
"I think they've gone home together more than once or twice, haven't they? He used to always go home with the student council president, Gong Young-bae, but he doesn't do that these days, right?"
"Didn't you see him in the student cafeteria last week? The one where the two of them had a really fierce fight?"
"Did the student council president and he switch partners and fight because of that?"
"Wow… Is it because Yu-ri Lee looks like she doesn't know anything about that, so he's crossing his fingers?"
"The student council president cheated on him?"
"I heard she already slept with Han Seong-jin!"
The rumors began to spread, and before long, Yu-ri Lee was being labeled as a "slut" who had become attached to Han Seong-jin and abandoned Gong Yeong-bae, who was like a half-boyfriend to her.
Perhaps because of the rumors, Gong Young-bae tried to talk to Yu-ri Lee after the third period ended, but she very coldly slapped his hand away and walked off. Seeing his expression and demeanor, it seemed he was starting to feel stressed, even though he didn't show it.
I didn't mind if any number of bad rumors based on facts about me spread, but I decided to put a stop to these strange rumors about Lee Yu-ri. She pretends to be strong on the outside, but she is softer than people think, and her heart is easily swayed. She would pretend that nothing was wrong and let her wounds pile up.
"Hey, what are you guys doing?"
"Hey!"
When I intervened, the female students who had been loudly spreading rumors among themselves jumped up in fear. I pushed the most talkative one against the wall and growled with a threatening expression, deliberately showing her my forearms.
"Do you have a knack for turning people into 'sluts' behind their backs? The student council president and I have never even held hands, so when did we start dating and even have sex?"
In fact, we had held hands once. With our hands clasped like a couple who loved each other very much. However, Lee Yu-ri was drunk at the time, so she was not herself and couldn't remember it. She would never do that if she was sober, so I decided to give it a "no count."
"Oh, no… We heard that too…"
"What did you hear? From what scoundrel? Bring him here."
"Ugh, uhhh…"
"Hey, you like rumors so much, but didn't you really hear the rumors about me? The rumor that women are also fans of mine when I'm in a bad mood?"
Hehe!!"
Unfortunately, the rumor was true. When Han Seong-jin, not me, was in a bad mood, he would really act like a woman, and there were many times when he would hit someone in the face. The more I looked back on my memories, the more pathetic my life seemed.
"Han Seong-jin! What are you doing!"
Lee Yu-ri, who saw me threatening the girls, rushed over and shouted at me. I heard her voice, but I didn't let go of my threatening stance toward the girls. I still kept my gaze fixed on them. Unable to stand by, Yu-ri Lee forcibly pulled me away and hit me.
"What are you doing?! Do you really want to go to the disciplinary committee? Follow me to the student council room!"
"…Hey, if you really don't want to be searched on the street, watch your mouth."
"Han Seong-jin!!!"
Yuri Lee forcibly dragged me away. While going to the student council room, I could hear the sounds of extremely nervous girls crying from behind.
Yuri Lee opened the locked student council room door, leaving us alone in the empty room. She sighed and glared at me with resentful eyes.
"What's wrong with you? What were you doing to them?"
"They were turning people into 'sluts' by spreading rumors."
"You beat people up like that and then make threats? Even to girls? Are you this kind of person? To me… To me…"
"What about you? Tell me."
"I… Honestly, you were very gentle and kind to me! If you had behaved like that with other kids, you wouldn't have any weird rumors about you! If you don't like rumors so much, just put up with it once and treat other kids like you did with me—"
"You're wrong."
"…?"
Yuri Lee looked like she didn't know what was going on. He makes this expression a lot when he's with me, and it's such a cute face every time I see him.
"It's not my rumors I'm trying to stop, it's your rumors."
"My rumors…? No, I don't care, so you can just leave it alone!"
"I guess it doesn't matter?"
"…?"
"You can't even get angry because you're worried that your reputation will be tarnished, but because you are angry, you keep your mouth shut like a sulky child. You don't want to look like that anymore, but even Gong Young-bae said something to you earlier. You're so annoyed now, right? Even if you pretend on the outside that 'I'm fine,' are you completely indifferent right now? When I stay still, I get more worried. So, as soon as it's break time, I open a workbook that I've already solved and don't even move the sharpener. Even if you try to show on the outside that 'I'm fine~', I can clearly see what's going on inside you."
"You… You…"
Lee Yu-ri said with an expression of, "How do you know all that?"
Since I already knew everything about Yu-ri Lee's personality and tendencies, I had a rough idea of what she was feeling right now, and most of my guesses were correct.
"There have been a lot of rumors about me for a long time. Do you think I would care about them now? But you don't, right? Wouldn't it be better to be the student council president who is top of the school and pretty, like before, rather than being rumored to be a 'slut' who hangs around with Iljin? So I got angry on your behalf."
I said that and stroked Yuri's head. I thought that this level of affection would be accepted now. As expected, Yuri Lee just felt my touch without saying anything while my rough hand was gently stroking the top of her head.
And when I took my hand away, she looked at me with mixed emotions.
"I… I really hate you…"
"That's too much. I gave you the best comfort I could give you."
"That's the problem! Why are you… Why are you doing this to me? Why are you being so kind to the other kids as before? Why are you so kind to me? Why do you treat me so gently? Why do you keep acting so strange toward me? If you keep doing this, I really…"
"I really think I'll like you."
Those words couldn't come out of Yu-ri Lee's mouth.
"Okay. You told me not to do that, so I won't do anything like before. But the fact that the two of us hung out together is a really ridiculous rumor, so just tell me not to do that too, okay?"
"Okay…"
I moved to my seat right next to Lee Yu-ri. Yuri was only looking at me with her lips tightly closed, as if she was holding back her tears.
"And if you're upset, don't hoard it and let it out. It's going to make you sick, that's what I'm saying. Tell the kids clearly not to spread strange rumors. Do you think they'll be upset when the student council president, the top student in the whole school, speaks to them? I'm scared, so I'm going to hold back even if it hurts. If you do that, the kids will listen to you kindly."
"Okay…"
"Tsk, anyway, you take a lot of effort like a child."
"I'm sorry…"
"Well, since we're here, why don't we just stay here for a while during the break? I'll freshen up."
"…"
Yuri stared at me for a moment and then adjusted her chair to face me diagonally. And silently, she leaned her head on my shoulder.
"You must have been very stressed."
"…I'll stay like this for a moment."
When Yu-ri's head touched, my shoulders felt slightly moist and warm. I wanted to hug her, but I held back. Because there is an order in everything.
We stayed quietly in her student council room, with Yuri leaning her head against me and me embracing her.
Part 2
"Senior! Is the rumor true? That you and Yuri-senpai held hands and danced around together?"
At lunchtime, Soo-yeon Choi heard the rumor that was spreading among the second-graders and ran over to ask.
"Don't you remember who I was with that day?"
"Ah."
"But why did you come all the way here to check that?"
Hehe. No, no! From what I heard, you go home together with Yuri-senpai, and it seems like you get along well in many ways, right?"
"So?"
"I had no clue at all, but I would like to congratulate you on becoming such a relationship with Yuri-senpai! And I also came here to brag a little!"
"Bragging?"
Hehe… Yum!"
Sooyeon Choi smiled brightly and thrust her cell phone in front of me. A chat message with Gong Young-bae appeared on the screen. Surprisingly, the first message came from Gong Young-bae. The content started with, "How are you doing these days?" and continued with, "It's been a long time since we dated together, but you're bored," and other light, flirting comments, like asking if she had time on weekdays or weekends.
The time it was sent…
'It's break time for the third period, right?'
I was certain that he had sent a text message to Choi Soo-yeon after he had tried to talk to Lee Yu-ri and she had completely ignored him.
'That bastard… I'm dying of jealousy because of the rumors between Yuri and me, but since Yuri ignored me, did he change his course this way? What on earth does he think of Sooyeon?'
This was a classic ploy to make Yu-ri Lee jealous by showing her he was flirting with Soo-yeon Choi, hoping she would look back at him. If he asked to meet Choi Soo-yeon, it was obvious that she would say yes. So he was going to take advantage of her like this?
I smiled at Choi Su-yeon, barely holding back my anger.
"What, are you doing well too?"
Suyeon Choi spread her fingers in a V shape, her face turning slightly red.
Hehe, it just so happened to be like that. I had almost given up on it until yesterday. Isn't it amazing that we both thought we were failures, but surprisingly, we were successful? So! Thank you for everything going well with Senior Yuri… Or even congratulations! I also came because I wanted to show off! Youngbae and I will get along much better, so I will often give you dating advice from now on!"
As for Sooyeon Choi, her relationship with me was not that deep yet. She had spent some time hanging out with me, but that was it. Unlike Yu-ri Lee, we weren't in the same class all the time, and because our houses were in different directions, we had significantly less time to see each other. Crucially, there was a lack of a big opportunity for our relationship to develop rapidly, unlike with Yu-ri Lee. That's why she had liked Gong Young-bae from the beginning, and when he tried to approach her, she quickly became happy.
But…
'Will Gong Young-bae, who approached you with such dirty intentions, treat you properly?'
I felt sorry for Choi Su-yeon. She could have gotten over being hurt once, but she would inevitably be hurt a second time. I can't stop her from getting hurt a second time. No, even if I could prevent it, it would not be prevented. In fact, the timing would be brought forward. Just like Lee Yu-ri, Choi Su-yeon needed to see the worst side of Gong Young-bae at least once.
'Gong Young-bae, thanks to your greed to keep all three of them in the fishing grounds while not responding to the wishes of the others, you will soon lose your second girl as well.'
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