Today, perhaps because of the fluorescent lights, Do Yi-hyun, the silver-haired male lead who seemed to shine even brighter, spotted us and paused.
He seemed surprised to see us as well, having come out to meet Baek Ji-woo.
“Did you come out to hang out with friends?”
The Four Heavenly Kings, who had already seen Do Yi-hyun approach me first during the school trip, weren’t particularly surprised, but Baek Ji-woo was.
He must have known Onsaemiro tried to recruit me, so to see him react like that, it must have been quite a shock.
Baek Ji-woo even rubbed his eyes, looking between us.
“Wasn’t Hae-geum hyung in charge of recruitment at Onsaemiro? Wow, it’s the first time I’ve seen him act like that.”
It seemed that Hae-geum had always been the one to recruit guild members for Onsaemiro until now.
I had no way of knowing such inside details, but it would certainly be strange to see Do Yi-hyun doing a job that Hae-geum was solely in charge of.
This was especially true because he was reluctant to step forward in front of people, didn’t enjoy being in the spotlight, and rarely spoke to anyone except Hae-geum and Kang Ye-dam.
“But why did the two of you decide to meet? When did you two get close without us knowing?”
Han Ji-bin kindly closed Baek Ji-woo’s still-gaping mouth and asked.
This was something I had been curious about ever since I heard Baek Ji-woo was meeting Do Yi-hyun.
Baek Ji-woo and Do Yi-hyun were too different in their personalities, and they didn’t live in the same neighborhood, so there wasn’t really any point of contact.
Of course, the Hunter Association periodically held meetings for guild masters, but when I went last time, there was no conversation whatsoever between Do Yi-hyun and Baek Ji-woo.
“Ah, we decided to team up with Iljin Technical High and crush the Gwanak-gu East Alliance.
We decided to meet at the PC bang to talk about that and play some games.”
“Ah…”
I let out a sigh without realizing it.
I thought a meeting between two guild masters meant it was related to gates or guilds, but to hear about a school gang fight…
It was unexpected.
I thought Do Yi-hyun wasn’t particularly interested in fighting other schools or power struggles.
It wasn’t just a fight between local schools either; they were teaming up with an alliance from another district to crush another alliance.
“That’s really surprising. I thought you didn’t do those kinds of fights.”
“You don’t like it? Then I won’t do it.”
I honestly stated my thoughts about Do Yi-hyun.
But when Do Yi-hyun heard my words, he immediately said something that made me doubt my own ears.
“Gasp!”
“What did I just hear?”
“Who’s that girl? Someone you know?”
At Do Yi-hyun’s single remark, the male and female students in the PC bang began to murmur.
Starting with the students who were peeking at us nearby, the entire PC bang became noisy.
Regardless of whether the students were making wild conjectures about our relationship, Do Yi-hyun only gazed at me with deep eyes.
Seeing that made my head ache.
Before, I had a tough time because Baek Ji-woo made comments in a cafe that made us look almost like a couple.
This time, because Do Yi-hyun said something like that in the PC bang, the rumors were bound to snowball rather than quiet down.
“No, I’m not really interested in that, so just handle it yourselves.”
My head throbbed, and I pressed a hand to my forehead as I spoke, and Do Yi-hyun slowly nodded.
I vaguely sensed disappointment in his eyes, but I didn’t pay it any mind.
Do Yi-hyun went and sat next to Baek Ji-woo, then began to seriously discuss how to crush the East Alliance.
I had transmigrated into a novel world, but I never expected to be playing a game while listening to a conversation planning a gang fight.
And to think the two people I had refused to recruit, saying I wouldn’t join a guild, were sitting opposite me having such a conversation…
Perhaps because I had said I wasn’t interested, the glances felt less frequent than before, but I still started to feel uncomfortable sitting there.
I finally poked Han Ji-bin’s arm, who seemed engrossed in the game next to me, intending to ask if we could leave a little early.
“I’m getting hungry. Let’s go get dinner.”
Ban Eun-hyeol, I didn’t know when he’d ended his game, got up from his chair and put on his padded jacket that he’d hung on the back of the chair.
“We just got here…?”
Han Ji-bin busily wiggled his fingers, replying in a flustered voice.
Ji Gang-han, who seemed to be playing intensely, silently quit the game after seeing Ban Eun-hyeol get up.
Han Ji-bin, unexpectedly left to play alone, had to reluctantly quit the game and get up.
‘Thank goodness.’
It was fortunate that Ban Eun-hyeol got hungry at just the right time.
We decided to go eat dinner and then head home.
Just then, Baek Ji-woo and Do Yi-hyun also got up from their seats, as if their conversation was over.
I thought they were leaving too, even though they hadn’t been there long, but it seemed their discussion had only just concluded.
Baek Ji-woo and Do Yi-hyun took off their padded jackets and hung them on their chairs, then focused on their games, staring intently at the monitors.
“We’ll head out first. See you again sometime.”
Since they were guys I’d inevitably see again someday, I said goodbye and headed outside.
Do Yi-hyun was about to say something but then closed his mouth, waving his hand along with Baek Ji-woo, saying goodbye.
“You’re really bad at games. Work harder, shorty.”
Just as I opened the PC bang door and stepped outside, a large hand landed on my head, and Ban Eun-hyeol bent down to look at me, speaking playfully.
He then clenched his fist, as if trying to annoy me.
‘This guy, really.’
Ever since he called me ‘shorty’ earlier, he kept calling me that, and I couldn’t keep a straight face.
“I’m not a sh-shorty.”
I gnashed my teeth in annoyance as I spoke, so my pronunciation wasn’t clear.
The nickname ‘shorty’ continued throughout dinner.
“I’m not a shooooorty!”
I finally couldn’t take it anymore and shouted at the dinner table, and only then did Ban Eun-hyeol stop calling me shorty.
My mind was still dizzy, but my stomach was full as I parted ways with my friends and walked home alone.
As I walked down the street lit by streetlights, I spotted an unusual-looking couple.
‘What in the world are they doing?’
The man and woman, huddled close under the streetlight, suddenly initiated a passionate kiss.
No matter how I looked at them, they both seemed young, surely students, yet they were doing such a thing on a public street.
Although I was the only person passing by at the moment, this wasn’t an obscure alley, and their bold public display of affection startled me.
I simply thought of them as just another student couple.
So, I quickened my pace to leave the spot quickly.
However, their display of affection, which I expected to last long, ended much faster than I thought.
For some reason, the female student left the male student alone under the streetlight and walked away quickly.
Seeing her walk almost running, covering her face as if embarrassed, made me wonder if she was running away because of me.
But my guess was completely wrong.
“Hey, if you came to find me, what are you doing just standing there? Come over here.”
“Me?”
The male student, who had been watching her leave with disinterest, suddenly called out to me.
He looked quite delinquent, calling me with one hand inserted into his pocket, just waving the other hand.
His school pants, tailored so tight they almost clung to his legs, his hand in his pocket, the piercing glittering in the streetlight from his left earlobe, his dyed light brown hair.
His appearance was utterly that of a hooligan, but his finely structured, elegant face significantly neutralized the delinquent vibe.
He called me informally out of nowhere, so I responded informally too, and the male student raised one corner of his mouth with an amused expression.
“What are you staring at? I need to go home, so let’s finish this quickly.”
Saying incomprehensible things, the male student moved his long legs and walked towards me.
“Finish what?”
I truly couldn’t understand what he was talking about, so I asked, and the male student furrowed his brow, then bent down to examine my expression.
I just blinked at him with a bewildered expression, not understanding anything.
Then, with a disappointed look, he straightened up and muttered regretfully,
“Aw, what. I thought I could earn a bit more before leaving.”
He had been cutting off the beginning and end of his sentences since earlier, so I had no idea what he was talking about.
He seemed like a strange guy, so I chose to silently move away.
I was even prepared to resort to violence if necessary.
I clenched my fists and moved one step away from him at a time.
The male student didn’t bother to stop me.
Perhaps his words about going home were true, as he, who had been standing still, also started to move.
The problem was that this strange guy and I were heading in the same direction.
I tensed up, wondering if he was following me, but the male student entered an apartment complex first, moving away from me.
‘I’m seeing all sorts of strange people.’
I shook my head, heading home.
All I hoped was that I would never encounter this guy again, whoever he was.
As I was walking home, a male lead’s setting I had seen in an online novel suddenly came to mind.
‘Wait a minute, was that just…?’
Come to think of it, I seemed to have caught a glimpse of the female student handing the male student a green bill.
‘He wouldn’t be the type of guy who kisses for 10,000 won, would he? No way.’
What kind of era is this that someone would do such a thing?
I thought there was no way and shook my head. But this was a dimension set in an online novel.
‘…Damn it.’
It seemed my guess was right.
Only then did the male student’s incomprehensible words make sense.
I really didn’t want to get involved with a guy like that.
I thought that day would be the last I saw that male student.
But before long, I encountered that strange guy again.
It was inside the Blood Scent Guild building.