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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Are You Han Cho-hee?
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A couple more rides later, it was already time to head home.
Jun-woo and A-jin, Jong-min and Min-young were waiting for the bus back to Seoul.
“I don’t wanna go home.”
Jong-min back-hugged Min-young from behind and rubbed his chin against her shoulder.
A long line stretched out behind them.
An elderly person among them clicked their tongue at the sight of the two clinging so closely and scolded them.
“These young kids, acting like that already in public. They don’t care who’s watching, and who knows what they get up to in private. Tsk tsk.”
The elder’s booming voice drew everyone’s attention to Jong-min and Min-young.
Embarrassed, Min-young pried his arms from around her waist.
“Oppa, back off.”
But instead, Jong-min hugged her even tighter and planted a kiss on her cheek.
“Why? Don’t mind them. As long as we’re happy, that’s all that matters.”
“Still, people are looking at us weird.”
“Who cares about their stares? I’m never letting go of my cutie pie.”
Jong-min tickled the nape of Min-young’s neck with his chin.
Min-young giggled and squirmed like a little kid, saying it tickled.
The elder who had scolded them grimaced in disapproval and turned away completely.
“Jong-min really likes Min-young a lot, huh.”
A-jin watched his behavior in fascination.
No male lead in any romance drama could be as affectionate as Jong-min.
Jun-woo frowned at A-jin’s comment.
Jong-min was his friend, but he sided more with the elder.
“Doing that in front of everyone really mean he likes her that much?”
“If he didn’t, he wouldn’t act like that.”
Jun-woo thought she must be jealous.
That’s why she couldn’t look away.
For a moment, Jun-woo hesitated.
Not a back hug, but maybe resting a hand lightly on her shoulder would be okay. Or even standing a bit closer...
He raised his hand.
“But aren’t you hot like that? Holding on so long? We’ve been sweating a ton. You might smell bad.”
But at A-jin’s words as she sniffed the air, he quickly lowered his hand.
He didn’t want to risk her shoving him away for smelling and then having to take the bus alone in embarrassment.
Just then, a loud roar pierced through the bus stop.
A motorcycle with high handlebars sped through the gap in the line where they stood.
Frightened, A-jin squeezed her eyes shut and hunched down.
The deafening noise passed right by her.
The wind whipped her hair.
“Kyaa!”
At that moment, someone pulled her in.
She crashed into something soft.
A-jin slowly opened her eyes.
Something black and solid enveloped her protectively.
It was Jun-woo holding her.
He had sensed the danger and pulled her to safety.
As A-jin looked up, he asked worriedly.
“You okay? That crazy bastard. What the hell does he think he’s doing speeding like that here?”
He yelled curses at the motorcyclist in anger.
He looked so commanding.
Her cheeks flushed redder than the fireworks from earlier.
Just as A-jin felt her heart flutter at how he’d protected her, a disappointed voice came from ahead.
“Whoa, oppa... You dodged on your own?”
Min-young stared at Jong-min in shock.
When the motorcycle appeared, Jong-min had reflexively jumped aside.
He hadn’t meant to save himself and leave her, but his body reacted that way.
“You said you’d never let go... But you saved yourself...”
Min-young looked like she was losing her mind from the shock.
She couldn’t accept Jong-min’s actions.
Jong-min waved his open palms frantically, insisting it wasn’t like that.
“No, that’s not it. Min-young-ah, oppa didn’t do it on purpose. My hand slipped.”
“Save it. Your lame excuses.”
“It’s true. How could I dodge and leave you behind? My foot slipped. I twisted it. See?”
Jong-min whined about his sore ankle.
But Min-young didn’t buy it.
Worried for them, A-jin asked Jun-woo.
“What do we do? Min-young looks really upset. Are they fighting?”
“Fight? Nah, he’s just getting an earful.”
Choi Jong-min, alright.
All that showboating, and look how it turned out.
Jun-woo had been annoyed by them all day, sick of their PDA.
Now it felt good.
The knot in his stomach finally unraveled.
Jun-woo smiled smugly to himself.
* * *
The door flew open with a bang, slamming against the wall like it might shatter.
Startled students turned toward the door, and then a sharp voice boomed through the classroom.
“Where’s Han Cho-hee?”
A woman with a razor-sharp bob and oversized earrings stormed in, fuming as she searched for Cho-hee.
Ji-yeon trailed behind her.
“Mom, that’s her.”
Ji-yeon peeked out, pointed at Cho-hee, then hid behind her mom again.
Ji-yeon’s mom stomped across the classroom floor like she’d break it and planted herself in front of Cho-hee.
Her bob swung back and forth.
“Are you Han Cho-hee?”
Ji-yeon’s mom glared down at her.
Cho-hee wasn’t scared.
As if she’d anticipated this, she stood straight and lifted only her eyes.
“Yeah, so?”
“Look at this brat’s eyes. Who do you think you’re talking to like that?”
Ji-yeon’s mom swung her hand from below, slapping Cho-hee’s cheek.
Cho-hee’s head snapped sideways.
She’d considered getting hit, but not that it would hurt this much.
Tears welled up in Cho-hee’s eyes.
The shocked classmates cried out instead, while amid the chaos, Ji-yeon claimed she’d been hit twice.
Ji-yeon’s mom raised her hand for another slap but lowered it, trying to act like the adult.
Then she asked.
“Why’d you hit my kid?”
Cho-hee let out a scoff.
She glanced at Ji-yeon, who was peeking gleefully from behind her mom, savoring the sight.
Tilting her head slightly, Cho-hee watched as Ji-yeon avoided her gaze and huddled deeper behind her mom.
She’d probably twisted the story in her favor.
Defiantly, Cho-hee rolled her eyes.
“Because she deserved it.”
“What? Deserved it? You’ve got some nerve.”
“She must not have told you why.”
“Even if she did something wrong, violence isn’t the answer.”
“Oh? Then why do I deserve this?”
“Because you did something to deserve...”
Ji-yeon’s mom couldn’t keep up with Cho-hee’s sharp retorts and grew furious.
“No wonder you got divorced. Raising a brat like this.”
After that, Cho-hee blacked out.
She didn’t remember flipping her eyes back, hurling a desk, lunging at Ji-yeon’s mom, grabbing her hair, and roaring like a beast.
* * *
In the principal’s office, Cho-hee bowed her head, enduring the adults’ stares.
Jin Mi sat beside her, while Ji-yeon and her mom sat opposite.
The principal sat in the middle, with the student affairs teacher standing next to him.
Everyone’s eyes bored into the top of Cho-hee’s head.
Ji-yeon’s mom thrust out her phone and shouted.
“Give me her number. Kid, put your mom’s number in.”
“...”
Cho-hee didn’t respond.
“Ma’am, please calm down first.”
At Jin Mi’s mediation, Ji-yeon’s mom yanked at her own hair in frustration.
“Calm down? That little punk grabbed my hair, and I’m supposed to calm down? Could you?”
Jin Mi nodded in sympathy but subtly showed her annoyance.
Not pity for her own student’s plight, but irritation at being dragged into this mess.
“Is your mom home?”
Jin Mi asked Cho-hee, her eyelids drooping heavily.
“...”
Cho-hee kept silent.
“Ma’am, we heard Ji-yeon was spreading rumors about Cho-hee to her friends.”
The student affairs teacher, who’d been quietly observing, spoke to Ji-yeon’s mom.
“Rumors? It’s facts. And she didn’t tell just anyone—it’s just between friends, isn’t that okay?”
Just that, she said.
Cho-hee lifted her bowed head and glared murderously at Ji-yeon’s mom.
Ji-yeon’s mom pointed accusingly, outraged.
“Look at her staring. I can’t accept my daughter being around such a scary kid. Open a school violence case and expel her.”
“Ma’am, even so, school violence proceedings...”
The principal stepped in at the mention of “school violence.”
Just uttering the term damaged the school’s image, so he had to intervene.
“How could she slap a girl twice?”
“Well, ma’am, you see...”
As the affairs teacher tried to speak, the principal smacked his thigh to silence him.
“Ma’am, we’re truly sorry for failing to prevent this. Entrust this to us, and we’ll resolve it without inconvenience to you or Ji-yeon. I’ll contact Cho-hee’s mom myself.”
“No.”
Cho-hee finally spoke up against the principal’s words.
She couldn’t let her mom know.
She couldn’t burden her mom, who’d stopped eating and living after the divorce stamp.
Cho-hee shook her head desperately at the principal.
Ji-yeon’s mom smirked triumphantly at Cho-hee’s wavering, planning to corner her more using her “mom” weakness.
“If that student’s mom just apologizes, I won’t push for school violence or forced transfer.”
“Really? Just that?”
The principal asked Ji-yeon’s mom, relieved.
But Cho-hee shook her head—no, not that.
Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.
Yet no one there met her pleading gaze.
In the end, Cho-hee dropped to her knees.
“I’m sorry. I was wrong. Really, I was wrong.”
She bowed her head repeatedly in apology.
It was the best she could do.
* * *
Word of the incident between Cho-hee and Ji-yeon’s mom spread to the whole school in mere hours.
“Teacher, here.”
A-jin had come to the staff room at Jung-hwa’s request—the math club president—to submit an assignment for her.
“Yeah. Thanks.”
The math teacher muttered half-heartedly without looking up from his monitor.
A-jin bowed politely even though he didn’t acknowledge her and left the staff room.
Just then, people poured out from the principal’s office nearby.
“Thank you for understanding. We’ll ensure nothing like this happens again.”
The principal bowed repeatedly to the bob-haired woman.
Beside her, Cho-hee walked with her head down, dejected.
“Please. I’ll let Ji-yeon go home early today.”
The bob-haired woman said.
“So that’s Ji-yeon’s mom.”
A-jin hadn’t forgiven Cho-hee yet, but hearing she’d been hit made her worry.
Especially since she’d never liked Ji-yeon’s mom.
A-jin couldn’t go back to class and watched them instead.
“Watch yourself from now on.”
Ji-yeon and her mom glared at Cho-hee with dissatisfaction and headed out down the opposite hallway.
The principal returned to his office, Jin Mi sighed irritably and entered the other staff room door.
Only the affairs teacher comforted Cho-hee, patting her shoulder wordlessly before following Jin Mi.
Cho-hee was left alone in the hallway.
After everyone left, Cho-hee looked up at the window.
Her face was full of resentment.
She bit her lip to hold back tears, straining her neck.
Veins bulged on her neck, her shoulders trembled.
She huffed, chest heaving.
It looked like sobbing, but no tears fell.
Serves you right.
After tormenting me like that.
I thought it’d feel great.
I thought I’d feel relieved and happy seeing her suffer.
But...
It didn’t feel good.
It should, but it didn’t.
Pathetic. Stupid.
Over nothing.
Instead, she was angry.
Just then, Cho-hee turned her head, and their eyes met.
Cho-hee’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.
But only for a moment—then her eyes narrowed sharply, as if saying don’t pity me.
A-jin must have been looking at her pitifully.
Acting tough only to her.
Annoying.
A-jin forced a smug, satisfied expression.
She wasn’t sure what it looked like, but she mimicked one she’d seen somewhere.
She rolled her eyes and turned away.
The two, back to back, headed down the hallway to different doors.
