Tsunami Advisory
Chapter 11
It was the first time she had ever been this close to a boy. Every sense in her body stood on end, and a surge of heat rushed straight to her face. She tried reflexively to pull away, but his firm grip on her arm left her unable to budge.
“Hey, let go…”
“What are you so startled for?”
“I mean, you did that all of a sudden…”
Unlike Danbi’s fluster, Hae-il was completely nonchalant. After scrutinizing her facial features as if conducting an eye exam, he released her arm as though satisfied.
“Whatever. Go find the medicine.”
“Me?”
“It’s already been five minutes and she’s not back. We need to get to our next class. The history teacher tests on what’s said during the lecture.”
“Ah, right. You’re right.”
The student ranked 21st in the entire school—who took grades just as seriously as the one ranked 1st—grew urgent. Rummaging through the first-aid kit, she returned with antiseptic, cotton swabs, and ointment.
“Can we just use these without asking, though?”
“It’s the nurse’s fault for leaving her post.”
As she stepped closer, Hae-il tilted his head slightly toward Danbi. His posture was an open invitation to apply it. Danbi swallowed dryly and carefully brought the tip of the cotton swab toward his wound. The flesh above his parched lips was swollen and red.
“Ah… Be gentle…”
He knitted his brows with a low groan. Danbi relaxed her hand as much as possible and dabbed on the ointment. At such close quarters, even her breathing felt cautious. Not knowing where to look, her gaze drifted across his face. Everything was strangely vivid—even the tiny mole on his cheek she had never noticed before.
It was a face she saw every day, yet it felt as unfamiliar as a stranger’s. At that dizzying sensation of novelty, her heart began to hammer wildly once again.
Once the treatment was done, he held his hand out to Danbi as if it were only natural. He was like a princess waiting for an escort. When she hesitantly extended her arm, he fumbled for a moment before grasping her wrist.
The walk down the hallway back to the classroom was short, but it felt strangely long. The gazes of passing students fell brazenly upon them. Bewilderment, curiosity, and from some, even jealousy. All those eyes pinned Danbi in place, but Hae-il didn’t seem to care in the slightest.
Just then, girls from another class passing through the corridor spotted Hae-il and greeted him brightly. An unmistakable affection and admiration shone on their faces. Hae-il turned his head toward the sound.
“Oh, hey.”
A faint, softer trace crossed his expression compared to before. Flushed by Hae-il’s greeting, the girls began to chatter excitedly.
“We heard you fought with Lee Suhyun! I knew it, seemed like he had an inferiority complex toward you…”
“They said your glasses broke, are you okay?”
Questions poured in, a blur of concern and curiosity, and Hae-il carried the conversation by giving brief answers or offering a faint smile. Danbi, who had unconsciously shrunk behind his back, ducked even lower. Right then, Hae-il casually raised Danbi’s wrist for them to see and spoke nonchalantly.
“Yeah, so she’s my temporary eyes right now.”
Danbi saw the girls’ expressions instantly freeze cold. But Hae-il didn’t pay it any mind; instead of waving his own hand, he lightly shook Danbi’s hand at them before turning away first.
The stares drilling into her back pricked like awls. One thing was certain: he didn’t care at all what kind of misunderstanding his behavior might spark.
From then on, Danbi acted as Hae-il’s eyes and performed various tasks. Phrased nicely, she was a helper; put bluntly, she was practically a servant. Wherever he went, they moved together, she took notes for him, and she even had to fetch his meals.
“Get an average amount of rice. Don’t bring kimchi. I’m hungry. Hurry back.”
That was how she found herself on her way to get food following the master’s haughty orders.
“Hey, Lee Danbi!”
Turning at the voice calling from behind, she saw several girls from her class—who usually wouldn’t spare her a second glance—beckoning to her. As she approached with a dazed look, the girls checked their surroundings and lowered their voices.
“Are you dating Hae-il?”
Danbi nearly choked on her own saliva. Horrified, she waved her hands frantically.
“No? Not a chance.”
“Then why is Han Hae-il sticking by you? Was the fight with Lee Suhyun during gym earlier because of you, too?”
The girls’ eyes sparkled with curiosity. Only then did Danbi grasp the situation. It seemed the fight between Hae-il and Suhyun had been distorted into a brawl over her. It struck her that from an outsider’s perspective, it could very well look that way.
“Well… Suhyun was being too noisy while with me, so Hae-il pulled him away. Said it was annoying. I don’t know for sure, but they don’t seem to get along.”
Danbi explained as close to the truth as possible, while taking care not to tarnish Hae-il’s image. The girls still looked unconvinced.
“And realistically, would someone scold the girl he’s dating and order her to fetch his food?”
As Danbi added that, the girls finally nodded.
“True.”
“That’s a good point. See? I told you it couldn’t be.”
Whispering among themselves, the girls soon let Danbi go with relieved expressions. Having barely cleared up the misunderstanding, Danbi let out a long sigh and filled the lunch tray before returning to Hae-il.
“Hey, what took you so long dawdling? I almost fell asleep.”
Hae-il was already thoroughly irritated. Breaking into a cold sweat, Danbi set the tray before him and even placed the spoon and chopsticks into his hands. It felt like waiting hand and foot on a finicky father-in-law.
As she sat opposite him and started eating, she felt stinging gazes on her.
Lifting her head, she saw that nearly every student in the cafeteria was glancing toward their table. Or rather, to be precise, they were staring at Hae-il. Was it because of the rumor that ‘he broke a classmate’s finger’? Or was it interest in his overwhelming good looks as usual?
With his glasses off, his clean, handsome face was exposed without anything to obstruct it. The faces of the girls who had shyly greeted Hae-il in the hallway suddenly came to mind.
“Um… The other kids, about you and Suhyun fighting…”
“Lee. Su. Hyun. I told you to say it properly.”
Hae-il cut Danbi off with a furrowed brow.
“Ah, about you fighting with Lee Suhyun, they misunderstood and thought it was because of me, so I explained it well. Don’t worry.”
“Explain what? Strictly speaking, it is because of you.”
“Huh?”
Danbi wore a bewildered expression.
“Anyone could see Lee Suhyun was hitting on you because he was interested. From his perspective, he might think I took you away.”
“…Took me away?”
“Look, we’re stuck together like this, even eating lunch together. It’s only natural for people to misunderstand.”
It was certainly a delicate age for a boy and a girl to hang out so casually. What surprised Danbi, however, was that he was well aware of it.
“So that’s why my glasses getting broken is your fault. He was pissed because you didn’t throw the ball to me. If you’d thrown it, none of this would’ve happened.”
Was that it? Suhyun’s expression indeed hadn’t looked good when she turned the ball elsewhere. For whatever reason, she had definitely gotten on Suhyun’s nerves.
“Ah… Anyway, if the kids ask again, I’ll make sure to tell them clearly that there’s nothing between us. Though I don’t know if they’ll listen. Or couldn’t you tell them yourself that it’s not true?”
“Forget it. Why bother going around explaining every little thing? What a hassle.”
“Um… But what if the girls who like you get heartbroken over a misunderstanding?”
“You worry about the strangest things. Even if I had a girlfriend, I’d still be popular, so save your useless worries.”
At his brimming confidence, Danbi actually felt relieved and burst into a laugh.
“Wow, in all my life, I’ve never seen anyone as full of confidence as you.”
“Because I have no reason not to be.”
At those words, Danbi nodded. Looks, family background, grades. He truly lacked nothing. She wondered what someone like him would become in the future.
“Are you… studying hard so you can inherit your dad’s company?”
“Me? No. Dad is Dad, and I’m me.”
“Huh? Then you’re not going to inherit the company?”
“I have no intention of being some second-generation heir. I’m going to start a company far more successful than Dad’s. Like Company B or Company G.”
Names of famous IT companies rolled off his tongue. It was a scale of ambition Danbi couldn’t even dare to dream of, yet strangely, coming from Hae-il, it felt genuinely possible. Somehow, he looked impressive.
“That’s cool. A tech company founder.”
“I haven’t even become one yet, it’s just a future ambition. Does that count as cool too?”
“Yeah. Having such a big dream is cool in itself. So are you going to the United States?”
“Yeah. I’m going, soon.”
Indeed, many kids in this neighborhood went to study abroad. It was perhaps only natural for children from wealthy families to move on to a bigger stage. Just as Danbi’s parents had felt, parents always wanted their children to do better than themselves.
“What about you, then?”
“Huh?”
“What are you planning to do? From what I’ve seen, you study pretty hard.”
It was an unexpected question in return. In truth, Danbi had only come to this school because her parents pushed her, and she was merely studying relentlessly so as not to disappoint them. She had no clear dream.
“Um… Me? Just… getting into a major corporation?”
“That’s your dream?”
At his retort, Danbi narrowed her eyes and looked at Hae-il. Not everyone in the world had a corporate CEO for a father. For an ordinary student like Danbi, entering a major corporation was a perfectly respectable goal.
Just as she was about to feel a bit offended, wondering if he looked down on her, Hae-il seemed to catch the meaning of her silence and asked in more detail.
“No, I mean, there are lots of major corporations. Like a department you want to join, or something you actually want to do. I’m asking what that is.”
“Um… Not really anything in particular…”
“You don’t have anything you want to do?”
“Yeah. Just… I do want to make a lot of money, but I don’t have the capacity to run a business on such a massive scale like you. And I’m… someone who can’t afford to fail.”
“Why can’t you fail?”
“Because if I fail, my family will be shaken to its core? The opportunities given to me were bought with practically everything my parents owned, so I can’t fail.”
Danbi explained her current circumstances calmly.
“And it’s not like I’m particularly good at anything besides studying. Just going to a good college, preparing hard for job applications like everyone else, getting into a decently well-known conglomerate… If Mom and Dad are happy with that, that’s enough for me.”
“Still, isn’t it better to have a rough idea? That way you can at least decide on a major later.”
“Hmm… Hearing you talk about it, an IT company sounds pretty good too. Feels forward-looking, somehow…”
“Wow, you really are easily swayed.”
Hae-il teased her, grabbing and wiggling his own ear. Danbi gave a soft chuckle and answered.
“I’ve always been kind of like that. I tend to listen well to others. I work hard when told to do something. Even I can tell I’m built to be an office worker.”
“I see that. Seems like second nature to you. Want to join my company later? I need employees who listen well.”
At his words, Danbi chewed on a sausage and let out a thoughtful ‘Mmm…’ as if pondering it.
“If you set up the company in Korea.”
“I’m going to the United States, though.”
“Ah… I don’t have the money to go to the US.”
“As for money, well, if your skills are usable, I could fund you.”
“Tch, conditional even for an acquaintance…”
“Of course it’s conditional. It’s business. Work hard on building your skills.”
“Mmm… I’ll try.”
“You should put your life on the line, what’s with this ‘I’ll try’… Honestly, kids these days have no venom in them.”
He spoke as if he were already Danbi’s employer. At his words, Danbi imagined—for just a brief, somewhat unrealistic moment—working at a company Hae-il had founded, and smiled softly. Even if fleeting, it felt as though she had dared to dream.
