Ban Eunhyeol had been staring at his phone, which had been vibrating continuously for a while.
It was a call from Dana, but he didn’t want to answer it right now.
He could understand, at least in his head, why Dana had acted the way she did.
After all, he was aware of Do Ihyeon’s trauma too.
Dana was probably worried about him because an incident had occurred that could have triggered Do Ihyeon’s trauma.
‘Yeah, I can understand it.’
But understanding something with your head and accepting it with your heart were two completely different matters.
The moment he saw Dana running straight to Do Ihyeon, leaving him behind even though he was hurt, it felt as if his heart had plummeted.
It was like someone had poured cold water over his body and mind, still heated from the fight.
Dana’s worried face as she ran to Do Ihyeon kept lingering before his eyes.
His expression immediately twisted in displeasure.
Even if he had to call her back and talk later, he didn’t want to answer the phone right now.
He just didn’t want to talk to Dana at all.
He was afraid of what she might say if they started talking.
‘If she says she’s disappointed… or, worse, if she says she’s going to go to that guy…’
Ban Eunhyeol absentmindedly bit his lip, then grimaced. He tasted blood from where Do Ihyeon had punched his lip.
He wiped his mouth with his sleeve, stared bitterly at the black screen of his phone, then shoved it back into his pocket.
Sticking his hands deep into his pockets, he began to walk with heavy steps.
He was about to pass the bus stop when he saw a bus heading towards Iljin Vocational High.
That just made him feel annoyed again.
‘Honestly, nothing good ever comes from getting involved with those Iljin Vocational High guys.’
He glared at the back of the innocent bus as if he could burn a hole through it, then abruptly turned his head away.
This whole incident had started with a text message from Haemalgeum.
Do Ihyeon had gotten a lot better after receiving a message from Dana, but Haemalgeum had texted to ask if Ban could help out just this once.
He was already annoyed by that, but still replied kindly, asking what he was supposed to help with.
But Haemalgeum’s reply was outrageous.
‘Let you borrow Dana for a day? There are things you can and can’t say, you know.’
Haemalgeum was always as bright as her name suggested and sometimes lacked tact, but there were boundaries even among close friends.
And yet, Haemalgeum, who wasn’t even that close to him, made such a request.
To lend his girlfriend for a day to a guy who had a crush on her?
No one in their right mind would agree to that. Asking for something like that was no different from declaring open hostility.
He was about to call Do Ihyeon to warn him right then, when, as if on cue, trouble broke out.
One of the Onsaemiro Guild members had picked a fight with a student from Gamsung High.
Waiting in an alley to mug a passing student—one of those classic thug tricks.
A Gamsung High student was the victim, and there was no way the boss could let it slide.
Using this incident as an excuse, a duel was proposed.
Adding a pretext of settling the pecking order, the atmosphere for a fight was set.
So, using revenge and pecking order as an excuse, he let out all the feelings he’d bottled up towards Do Ihyeon.
He had never dreamed things would turn out like this as a result.
He walked along the street, tilting his head back to look at the sky.
Just by looking up at the sky, some of the deep anger inside him seemed to settle.
As his heart calmed, his chaotic thoughts grew clearer.
In that empty space, Dana pushed her way in as if she’d been waiting.
He had been deliberately trying not to think of Dana as he walked.
A bitter smile twisted up one corner of his lips.
He shook his head to shake off thoughts of Dana and started walking again.
‘…What the?’
As he passed in front of Jangnam High, a shiver ran down his spine.
He hadn’t felt this sensation since before the Gate disappeared.
After the Gate vanished, he shouldn’t have been able to sense any magic or energy from it.
But this chilling feeling was definitely similar to what he used to feel when a Gate appeared.
His usually subdued eyes flickered up to the rooftop of Jangnam High.
Frowning, he looked up at the roof, then quickly changed direction and quickened his pace.
‘What is this? Why am I feeling this sensation? The Gate is gone, isn’t it?’
In the middle of his emotional turmoil over Dana and Do Ihyeon, now a new problem was appearing.
Ban Eunhyeol pressed his throbbing head with his fingers as he climbed the steps of Jangnam High.
Bang—!
The rooftop door burst open roughly.
He stepped over the threshold with his long legs and whipped his head around, searching for the source of this strange energy.
He quickly circled the rooftop, scanning the area, then stared intently at the closed rooftop door.
‘Could it be… there?’
The shivers he’d felt earlier had already faded.
So he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where that creepy energy had come from.
But for some reason, the rooftop door kept drawing his gaze.
Without hesitation, he strode over and yanked the door open.
“Eh? Aren’t you a Gamsung High student…!”
And then he quickly slammed the door shut again.
Standing across from him was the Jangnam High student supervisor he’d seen the last time he’d come up here.
There was a loud banging as the teacher pounded on the door, but Ban Eunhyeol had no intention of unlocking it.
He looked around, searching for a way to escape.
After a sigh, he opened the rooftop door again.
With his powers gone, there really wasn’t any safe way for him to get out of this situation.
“You, I knew it was you! Come with me, now!”
The student supervisor shouted as soon as the door opened, leading the way.
This was turning into a hassle.
Ban Eunhyeol let out a long sigh and followed behind him.
‘I’ll tell Dana… later.’
Normally, he would have shared something like this right away, but he didn’t really want to contact her now.
Putting off the chance to talk, he entered the Jangnam High faculty office.
It was quite a while before he managed to get out.
***
Ban Eunhyeol won’t answer.
It’s already been a week since he started ignoring all my attempts to contact him.
He doesn’t pick up the phone, and when I send him messages, he only reads them and never replies.
And since we’re desk partners and have to sit together in class every day, he never crosses the line between our desks and goes out of his way to avoid me.
Whenever I try to talk to him, he immediately puts his head down and pretends to sleep, making it impossible to say anything.
‘I think he’s really upset.’
I trudged to school, my bag feeling heavier than usual.
Even though I knew I shouldn’t let it get to me just because I’d grown distant from Ban Eunhyeol, I had gotten a bit closer to Do Ihyeon lately.
He was pretty badly injured from the fight, but as soon as he realized I was okay, his face lit up.
When someone is suffering so much, how could I just ignore him?
Especially when, back in the days as an outsider from another dimension, he was the one who helped me the most.
Thinking of it as repaying that debt, I started contacting and meeting him bit by bit, and he got much better than before.
I kept telling myself I would stop seeing him once he was completely back to normal, but things dragged on and we kept in touch.
Meanwhile, Ban Eunhyeol wouldn’t even try to listen to me, so I had no chance to clear up the misunderstanding.
“Ugh…”
I let out a sigh and dropped my bag on the desk.
Ban Eunhyeol, who had arrived before me and was already sitting in his seat, flinched slightly.
‘Did he react to my sigh?’
Maybe it’s because I’ve been so completely ignored, but even little gestures like that seemed to mean something now.
Still, the fact that he was reacting at all was a good sign, maybe it meant he was starting to get over his anger.
Seeing his shoulders twitch lifted my mood just a little.
But as soon as I felt that, a wave of irritation hit me.
‘Why do I have to let Ban Eunhyeol’s every move affect me like this?’
The more I thought about it, the more unfair it seemed.
I had tried many times to talk things out. Each time, Ban Eunhyeol had refused and completely ignored me.
At first, I figured he was just upset and tried my best to make up.
‘Now that I think about it, it’s annoying.’
If he’s going to get this worked up over a sigh, why did he ignore every hand I reached out to him?
Suddenly, all my past efforts flashed before my eyes like a panorama, and I felt even worse.
‘I’ve done all I can. It’s your turn now.’
Thinking this was something Ban Eunhyeol needed to work out on his own, I no longer felt like trying any harder.
Once he sorts things out, he can reach out if he wants.
Until then, I resolved not to try anymore, and started taking out my textbooks and workbooks.
“Dana! Did you finish the homework?”
The mood between us in the middle row was so awkward that even Yeon Hayeon, who had gone quiet as a result, was the first to talk to me.
I handed her one of the workbooks from my desk.
Ban Eunhyeol usually helped me study, but with things as they were, I’d been spending a lot more time studying with Yeon Hayeon.
She flipped through the workbook to check my answers, then beamed.
“Good job. By the way, how’s Do Ihyeon these days?”
“Uh? Hmm…”
She was definitely asking on purpose.
Ban Eunhyeol kept ignoring me, and Yeon Hayeon was getting annoyed on my behalf.
Seeing her glance at the back of Ban Eunhyeol’s head as she spoke, I could tell she was saying it loudly enough for him to hear.
I hesitated about whether I should talk about Do Ihyeon in front of him, but answered anyway.
“He’s a lot better now.”
At that moment, there was a sharp cracking sound next to me.
I turned to look and saw that the pencil in Ban Eunhyeol’s hand had snapped in two.
‘If you care this much, why not just talk to me?’
It was so frustrating that he cared enough to break a pencil but still wouldn’t talk to me.
How much longer did I put up with this?
Finally, the day came to remove my arm cast.