Chapter 26 - Want to Hangout?

 No one knew where the information came from, yet it quickly turned into the topic of every conversation. And Jaeho… he looked so innocent, it had to be true.

“I don’t know who started talking about it, but don’t mind it. Don’t spread it around, okay? I’m the one who should be embarrassed about it, not Muyeol,” Jaeho had said.

Just like his appearance, his personality was so nice and innocent that Sunah fell in love with Jaeho in an instant. The day after he was beaten up by Muyeol, Sunah had visited Jaeho. When she saw his face purpled with bruises, it felt as if she was the one who was hurt. Sunah found Muyeol absolutely disgusting.

“Hey, are you okay?” Sunah had asked Jaeho that day.

Jaeho smiled and answered, “I’m fine. I know Muyeol can be a bit rough sometimes, but he’s a good kid.”

“You don’t have to defend him, I already know what kind of a guy he is.”

“Who would protect him if I don’t? I’m his older brother.”

“Ah, Muyeol really is…”

“It’s alright. But Sunah, do you, by any chance, know who Yiyoung is?”

“Yiyoung? You mean Yoon Yiyoung?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah, I know her. She’s a smart kid, but other than that, there’s nothing special about her.”

 “Yeah, I heard that she’s intelligent. All the freshmen know about how she takes money for doing performance assessments for others. Obviously, everyone’s keeping it a secret, though.” 

“Oh…” 

“But, you know, Muyeol was probably acting like that because Yiyoung was—”

Sunah’s thoughts got interrupted when Yiyoung approached her to give her the performance assessment she had done for Sunah.

“Thank you.” Sunah checked it carefully, noting how organized Yiyoung was. Her writing was neat, and it resembled Sunah’s handwriting perfectly so that they wouldn’t get caught for cheating. 

Sunah knew that she would easily get full marks on the assignment because Yiyoung was the one who worked on it. 

 Sunah narrowed her eyes and observed Yiyoung. The girl was extremely smart; all the teachers praised her intelligence. If only she had been from a good family, even an average family would have worked… then she would have easily become famous in the whole country for her grades. Her only value was her intelligence, and yet Yiyoung still didn’t understand that it was impossible for her to achieve what she was coveting.

After what Jaeho told her, Sunah had started keeping an eye on the girl, and it helped her find out more about her. Yoon Yiyoung was beneath them; she was two-faced and a traitor. Even thinking about her made Sunah’s skin crawl. There were many students, including the freshmen, who asked Yiyoung for her services. Sunah wondered what went on in that girl’s head, deeming all of her classmates to be dumber than her and asking them to pay her for doing the schoolwork.

And all of her assumptions turned out to be correct, when her friend told her, “Hey, apparently Yoon Yiyoung was talking about us behind our backs.”

“What did she say?” Sunah had asked.

“She said that we’re all a bunch of empty-headed idiots. All that stuff Jaeho said was true, too. You saw how she smiled at Muyeol, right? I heard that when Muyeol went to the nurse’s office, she followed him! I don’t understand what her problem is. Jaeho warned her what would happen if she got involved with Muyeol, what happened to him is the prime example of the consequence!” 

“Jaeho had to tell her all of that to convince her… I feel bad for him.”

“I do, too. How crazy is it that Jaeho had to relive all his awful experiences with Muyeol just to try and convince her? And this girl… she doesn’t even know her status. She dared to talk ill of him!”

 “What? No way! We can’t just sit still. I’m going to teach her a lesson,” Sunah yelled.

“We’ve let her be cheeky for far too long.”

“Let’s do it, guys.” They had all reached the same conclusion that day.

But Sunah’s attention turned to Yiyoung once again as the girl spoke, “How is it? Did I miss anything?”

‘How would I know if something’s missing? Why would I ask you to do my assignment if I knew it? Is she teasing me?’ Sunah’s face crumpled at the thought.

Sunah began to find Yiyoung hateful: her laughter, her confidence, everything about her. 

But she concealed her true feelings, and handed $20 to Yiyoung, just like she had promised. “Do you go straight to your part-time job after school?”

“No, I go there in the evening,” Yiyoung answered honestly. Her family situation wasn’t a secret; she felt no need to hide it. If she was embarrassed about it, then she wouldn’t have come to this school in the first place. She didn’t need any help, so she was self-confident. It might not have been comfortable, but she was satisfied.

“Really? Then, do you want to hang out with us after school?” asked Sunah.

“Hang out?” Yiyoung trailed off.

“Yeah!” Sunah continued, “Let’s go watch some movies! Don’t you need to relax and enjoy your life, too?”

Yiyoung hesitated. She always went straight home after school to study. After completing her studies, she would prepare for her part-time job. She cleaned the gym after receiving some training and kicking the punching bag a few times.

“I’m going to make you express all that anger and pride inside you,” her master had said.

He did exactly as he had claimed, and the chaotic emotions fueled her resolve. The training was exhausting, she always felt like dying, but she never failed to listen to the instructor’s words and diligently followed his moves. People had to pay him to learn all this, but Yiyoung had received the fantastic opportunity to do it for free, so there was no way she wouldn’t give her all.

But now that Sunah talked about enjoying life… Yiyoung didn’t even remember the last time she had watched a movie. After her mother fell ill, she did not even think about going to the theatre. 

Slowly, a burning desire welled up inside her.