Chapter 342: Chapter 342
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Then I heard Yeo Dan oppa and his friends talking to each other.
“My Yeo Dan, now you’re a grown man. I did make you go join the group hangout but never thought you’d bring someone here.”
“Awwww, Yeo Dan, my cute baby…”
“Stop it.”
Watching Yeo Dan oppa suffering from those who were hitting his b.u.t.t naughtily, I narrowed my eyes and thought, ‘Indeed, they are his one and only karma… It’s like G.o.d’s balance patch or the author’s conscience.’
Meanwhile, the conversation topic had moved on to me at some point.
“Wait a sec… but I think she looks familiar. Don’t you?”
“Oh, hold on, I seem to remember… Isn’t she your sister’s friend”
“Ah, right! Exactly, the girl next door!! But… why is she here?”
There was a moment of silence; the boys then emitted a whoop all of a sudden.
Smas.h.i.+ng Yeo Dan oppa in the back one after another, they asked, “Now I get it! I thought it was suspicious that you took that thing in your bag regularly even if it always turned into a mess. I knew this would happen one day!”
“That’s right. I also thought she would be the only one. Geez, all cleared! Got away from the stalker and met your true love.”
Listening to those words, I put down the juice I was drinking nonchalantly and reddened my ears. That was because the conversation I had with Yeo Dan oppa earlier in the alley had flashed through my head. ‘Yeah, that’s what he said.’ Having that thought, I recalled his remark.
‘But I like you so much that I keep bringing that stuff for you.’
The moment I reminisced the words I heard from him in the quiet alley, the boisterous, market-like alley seemed to be put on mute. Stretching out my hand, I somehow rubbed the hand of the teddy bear sitting beside me.
I murmured, ‘Thank goodness it’s dark inside here, or else I might have caught blus.h.i.+ng.’ However, at that moment, I heard, “No, it’s not what you think.”
I blinked swiftly at Yeo Dan oppa’s determined words. His voice even sounded unusually angry. Although he expressed how irritated he was to his friends, he seldom lost his temper.
As if it wasn’t only me who noticed the sudden change of his tone, the entire room turned silent out of the blue. Yeo Dan oppa’s friends then apologized with a bewildered look on their faces one after another.
“Oh, yeah? Sorry, bro.”
“For real? Though you say no here, the rumors must have spread out already.”
“I can handle that.”
Talking severely that way, Yeo Dan oppa continued with a slight grimace, “I don’t want to cause her any trouble.”
That was when I heard some noise from beside me. While I looked in the direction and just rubbed the empty juice bottle, the girl, sitting right beside me, suddenly s.n.a.t.c.hed the bottle loudly from my hand. Checking the label on the surface, she turned pale.
“Oh, lord. We screwed up.”
“Why? Uh, wait, is that…?”
“That has alcohol inside! It’s the leftover that we brought from the retreat last time…”
Once I heard those words, my face also turned pale. Gosh, what on earth were they drinking in the karaoke?
Although I was startled at the word ‘alcohol,’ which slipped from a student’s mouth so nonchalantly, another ego inside me that I didn’t even recognize until now, spoke, ‘Well, that could happen.’ Following that thought, I murmured possessedly, ‘Yeah, that could happen.’
The girls then flung a question in bewilderment while surrounding me, “Are you okay? Can you tell me how many these are?”
“Two.”
“Eh? She seems fine… You can hold your drink!”
That was when they responded in delight. Stretching my hand out of the blue, I pounded the table right in front of me with a loud thud. The wooden bowls in the middle of the table shook, and the snacks fell onto the floor.
Not only the girls but also Yeo Dan oppa and his friends turned to look at me with their eyes wide open. Meanwhile, I opened my lips.
“No, I am not fine!”
“I… I’m sorry, kiddo.”
The girl, who was in a dither, soon tried to bow down on the couch. I shook my head determinedly and raised my finger to point at somewhere.
“Not you, unnie, but that person… because of that person…”
Everyone’s eyes were bent in one direction. At the end of where she was pointing her finger, there stood Yeo Dan oppa with a frown.
“Did someone made her drink something?” he asked. Intervening my words, he diverted his piercing gaze onto both sides of him; therefore, everyone switched their glance back to him. It made me upset.
‘Come on, I’m talking about something serious right now!’ When I thumped the desk with my fist again, all their eyes were back on me. Yeo Dan oppa then called my name with a slightly perplexed expression.
“Donnie.”
I scowled at his eyes without any hesitation. Taking that action for quite a while, I opened my mouth at last.
“Oppa… if you didn’t want to cause me any trouble, you should have not lived next-door!”
“What?”
He looked very shocked. If it was in animation, he would have had a LOUD THUD next to his face. I heard his friends whispering beside him, ‘Oh, my G.o.d. He’s in big trouble. They were going out from today, but he got dumped at the end of the day.’
Jesus, shoos.h.!.+ Pounding the desk again, I scowled at Yeo Dan oppa and continued, “Because of you, Yeo Dan oppa… I… I’m not tall, but my eyes… my standards are… as high as the stratosphere… Huh…?”
The room was enveloped by a blizzard-like silence again, but there was soon a burst of laughter as if a balloon went pop. Once it started, seizure-like laughter was here and there all over the s.p.a.ce.
Everyone except Yeo Dan oppa and I collapsed on the floor and couch while laughing to death; however, I banged my fist on the desk and kept on speaking severely.
“So, the point is… if a person wants to become big… he must be responsible! But that oppa put my eyes, my standards high up at the stratosphere and isn’t responsible at all…”
‘Oh, lord. I’m gonna die! She’s so funny lol!’ While everyone rolled around laughing at my remark, I slowly dropped my gaze onto the floor. Barely pulling my eyelids upwards that suddenly felt so heavy, I concluded, “Do you get it? Yeo Dan oppa… if you aren’t responsible for me, you can’t be a big person…”
Someone, who intervened into my scattering words, shouted excitedly, “Dude, you should be responsible for this situation.”
“Shut up,” blurting that way, Yeo Dan shoved his face onto his palms wordlessly. Soon, people began to pound the table with their fists and chanted, ‘Be responsible! Be responsible.’ Taking off his hands from his face, at last, Yeo Dan oppa blurted out shortly, “Ah, I said, shut up.’
Scowling around with that warning, he raised himself and came close to me. At that moment, I was dozing off while placing my hands on the table. Once he approached me, I quickly lifted my head. Through his brown hair flowing down his face, I found him staring at me worriedly.
Bending his waist forward, he seemed to observe me then soon asked carefully, “Are you able to walk?”
I rubbed my eyes and replied, “Uh-huh… but I keep feeling sleepy.”
He turned around without hesitance as soon as I spoke that way then went down on one knee.
“Ride on my back,” he uttered.
I slowly put my arms around his neck and leaned myself to his back as if I was dripping. Yeo Dan oppa never leaned a bit forward but stood straight up as if I was a Styrofoam, not a human.
Once he bent his steps, my head swayed after him, which made me frown. Through the faintly scattering noise, I heard voices that sounded like those in a dreamland.
“Hey, give me back that teddy bear on Monday at school.”
“What? Are you asking me to bring this to school?”
“Then were you guys trying to keep it?”
His response didn’t sound like the way he usually spoke. Wondering if I was riding on someone else’s back, I pulled his neck more tightly into my arms. He halted his words for a second but soon added, “If you steal that, you’re gonna pay for this.”
“Dude, who the h.e.l.l would steal this kind of thing?”
Leaving the jeering noise behind, Yeo Dan oppa slightly straightened his back to give me a better piggyback then bent his steps again. I put my cheek on his back and heaved a big sigh. As if someone was dragging me down, my consciousness began to subside.