Chapter 158: Chapter 158
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When the bell rang to announce the break after the 4th cla.s.s, Lee Mina came toward us and perched on the chair. Before I could say something, Kim Hye Hill opened her mouth.
“Hey, when she pa.s.sed the senior stairway, some sunbaes cursed at her in the morning.”
“Gosh, what did they say?” asked Lee Mina, frowning her eyes.
Kim Hye Woo, who was sitting behind us, tilted his head toward this side like he could listen to our conversation.
Kim Hye Hill asked, “Yeah, why did they say?”
“Um, they asked me why I haven’t killed myself yet.”
Lee Mina then replied immediately with a grimace.
“Oh, s.h.i.+take mushrooms! What a son of a buffalo chip!”
“Hold on, what did you say?”
It was Yoon Jung In who reacted to her words while walking past by us. Refusing his steps, he flung that question to Lee Mina with a blank face. Lee Mina then replied to him with a shrug.
“Some seniors asked Donnie why she isn’t committing suicide yet!”
“Oh, really? What the… but you said something afterward.”
“You mean, s.h.i.+take mushrooms! What a son of a buffalo chip?!”
“Geez, so clever. Are you a genius?”
After his remark, Yoon Jung In suddenly collapsed into a fit of giggles. Lee Mina’s voice was so loud that other kids around us also burst into laughter while looking at us. Burying their faces onto their desks, some were at a loss of words.
A moment after, Yoon Jung In, who barely suppressed his laughter, twitched his lips and tapped my shoulder. ‘What the heck is this,’ I thought. Frowning, I looked up at him.
Yoon Jung was still smiling against the backdrop of the bright cla.s.sroom in the summer sun. He continued while holding my shoulder.
“Hey, don’t mind that rumor.”
His unusually stern voice made me show a sad face. How hard did I try to not think about it?
People usually believed what they heard, and among them, there would be people who would pa.s.s Choi Yuri’s words carelessly.
Being aware of those facts, I tried to ignore it and move on; however, I couldn’t help but feel stuffy and awful. Like swallowing pills without water, these emotions were stuck in my throat, refusing to descend. One would never know how much I tried to get over it…
My face darkened helplessly. As if he read my feelings from the way I looked, Yoon Jung In held my shoulder in perplexity.
He said, “Hey, no. I wasn’t trying to say that those things were nothing. I’m not telling you to resist it too. Come on, what did you do wrong? The rumors don’t have any proof. They are all just false and subjective. Choi Yuri is the one who should be blamed for talking about those untruthful things. I wasn’t trying to persuade you to just ignore them and move on.”
“…”
When I just looked up at Yoon Jung In speechlessly with my eyes round opened, his grip on my shoulder tightened. He then released me while frowning his dark brows and tilted his face a bit toward me with his usual smile.
While the kids in our cla.s.s all focused on us, he kept on his words.
“You went to school today with Ban Yeo Ryung, right? That means you both spoke well anyway. What did she say?”
I replied with a shrug, “She doesn’t believe it at all.”
“What about others? Like the kids from your middle school who know about this or so?”
Yoon Jung In seemed to be referring to the Four Heavenly Kings as subtly as he could. Most of the kids in our cla.s.s didn’t know that the Four Heavenly Kings and I were close. Rolling my eyes, I replied to his question.
“They just asked me if I were okay. They also told me not to mind the rumors.”
‘Although Eun Jiho and Woo Jooin didn’t reach out to me yet,’ I thought. I had no idea why they kept their silence for this long.
Yoon Jung In showed a broad smile to show that my response was good enough. He then spoke to me while lifting his body.
“Look.”
“What?”
“Did any of the guys you know well trust that rumor or talked about you and this rumor?”
“No, but…”
‘Strangers were the ones who had a lot to say…’ instead of adding those words, I just bit my lips.
Yoon Jung In’s remark relieved me, at last, from those that bothered me until now, the negative feelings I had from others’ who were redefining who I was.
When I closed my mouth amid my words, Yoon Jung In showed a confident smile on his face before speaking to me.
“Do you think I had never gone through hearing other people spreading rumors about me too? A lot of people know what it feels like to be in your position.”
“…”
“I learned something based on what we have observed so far. Those who trust the rumors and curse you have no idea who you are. Think about it. They have no proof, and some wouldn’t have listened to it anyway. Most of the people who cursed you are just following the biggest trend.”
“Then, what should I do? Should I explain that I’m innocent? What else can I do?”
I wanted to ask him what I could do to stop others from talking about me. Yoon Jung In, however, shook his head with a shrug.
“No matter how much you tried to explain, it’s useless. A sheep will always follow the words of the shepherd anyway. Did you explain everything to all of your friends like Ban Yeo Ryung and the other boys? Did they say that they couldn’t trust you?”
I shook my head.
No. When Ban Yeo Ryung saw me, she hung drops of tears in her jet-black eyes. Before I could explain something, she had already expressed her unconditional trust toward me. Her voice sounded so desperate like she was articulating the feeling that she pulled from her toe to her head. It showed her utmost sincerity. Thus, I didn’t have to explain my side of the story. I tried to form countless explanations within my head, but they would all end up being shapeless in the end.
Yeah, I didn’t plead Ban Yeo Ryung to give me her trust once more or something like that. We didn’t need to express such things. What about Kwon Eun Young or Yoo Chun Young then?
I shook my head.
Yoon Jung In then said, “Yeah, that’s how it goes. The reason why they trust you no matter what is because they know you aren’t a person who would do such things. You proved yourself through your actions over the time you spent with them. Stop thinking about what strangers are saying. Those aren’t your people. If you want to please every single person in the world, then you wouldn’t feel anything but pain in your heart.”
“…”
“There’s only one benefit you would get after suffering through such an event. You’ll get to know who your real people are. That’s it.”
The wind blew through the opened window and made my hair dance. In the middle, there stood Yoon Jung In who was crossing his arms while looking faded and vivid at the same time. Feeling a little far away, I narrowed my eyes.
Yoon Jung In usually joked around or talked jokingly in a light tone. His voice and words, however, froze the heated air and stilled the fuss around our cla.s.sroom. Like a cold water drop, his last words lingered around us before permeating into the air.
Someone then said, “Yoon Jung In… dude, so cool.”
At the same time, another boy spoke in a husky voice.
“Holy cow, my heart was about to pound. This is too dangerous, isn’t it?”
He then grabbed his chest, which made Yoon Jung In jump up with fear in the usual, exaggerated look on his face.
“Huh, what did you say? Oh, shoot, don’t come close to me.”
“Yoon Jung In, hold on! Once I hug you, I can finally understand what this feeling is.”
“What the h.e.l.l!”
Yoon Jung In spoke while laughing to death; he then jumped over two chairs and ran out of the backdoor. Following him, the boy who grabbed his pounding chest and a few other kids who gathered up to fulfill their love dashed out of the cla.s.sroom. Only a frosted silence remained around us.
The wind blew through the opened window, shook the gray rollup blinds again, and scattered around us. It flipped the pages of my textbook on my desk. Kim Hye Hill, then burst out laughing.
“How come Yoon Jung In would never act cool till the end?”
Lee Mina, who was beside us, laughed out loud. Most of the boys went out after Yoon Jung In, so there were only girls in the cla.s.sroom.