“Crazy bastard.” I immediately shot back at Go Yohan’s words. Though, honestly, it was less of a rebuttal and more of a desperate denial.
“It’s not a lie. And even if it were, I’d never get caught.”
“Oh yeah? Then good luck with that.”
His gloomy face twisted into a mocking smile. His tone dripped with the leisure of someone who had already been caught, someone watching from a safe distance to see how long I could hold out.
Like hell I was going to get caught. Like hell I was going to live a life like that.
I glared at him.
“That would make me end up like Han Junwoo.”
“Hmm.”
Go Yohan tilted his head back and gazed at the sky. He stood there quietly for a moment, lost in thought, before stepping toward me.
Something felt off.
In the middle of the bustling crowd, it was as if only the two of us existed in complete silence.
His low voice reached my ears.
I took a step back.
Unfortunately, I hit a wall.
I could only clutch at the empty space behind me.
The back of his hand, smeared with chocolate, brushed against my chest.
“For you, I’ll make an exception.”
A streak of chocolate dripped onto my tie.
Go Yohan wiped the chocolate off on my uniform tie.
It had already dried a little, leaving nothing but a smudged brown stain on his large hand.
“......”
After wiping away the last traces of chocolate, he slowly—very slowly—pulled at the ends of my tie.
The tightening knot made it hard to breathe.
I coughed lightly, and Go Yohan, watching me struggle, finally let go.
He patted my chest lightly, as if brushing off dust.
“I’ll treat you differently.”
A smirk bloomed at the corners of his lips.
A truly sinister smile.
“So, with that in mind, mind lending me your gym clothes? My shirt’s ruined since you wouldn’t wipe it off.”
Not Can I borrow them? but Give them to me.
He had no intention of returning them.
I shoved his hand away and snapped,
“You have your own.”
“What do I need mine for?”
Go Yohan stuck out his tongue and licked the back of his hand. His raised eyes never let go of me.
It was suffocating.
So suffocating.
My chest felt tight.
The tie strangling my neck made it hard to breathe.
Blood rushed to my head, and my fingertips felt cold.
“Hey! What the hell are you guys doing?”
Kim Seokmin suddenly appeared, holding a steaming hamburger.
In that instant, the strange tension between Go Yohan and me snapped like a thread.
I quickly loosened my tie, pretending to be annoyed.
“God, this is so annoying. Go Yohan wiped chocolate on my tie.”
“Whoa. He really did. Yohan, you bastard, that’s messed up. His tie’s ruined.”
Kim Seokmin snickered as he said that. He wasn’t the type to dwell on discomfort—he had probably already brushed off whatever weird vibe he’d sensed.
“Jun, look at me. My clothes are covered in chocolate because of you. And when I asked for your gym clothes, you said no? Do you even have a conscience?”
“How is that my fault? You were the one who messed up.”
“Hey, hey! Stop fighting! Don’t fight!”
Kim Seokmin waved his hands dramatically between us.
He clearly hadn’t caught on that this was just a fake argument.
While he wasn’t looking, Go Yohan winked at me.
The lighthearted bickering continued until Lee Seokhyeon arrived with a frozen yogurt.
Ironically, Go Yohan casually made another promise to meet up with Kim Seokmin and Lee Seokhyeon for another snack shop gathering.
To me, it was nothing but a false hope—an empty promise he had no intention of keeping.
But Kim Seokmin didn’t seem to think that way.
“Hmmm—”
I glanced at Go Yohan, who was humming as we climbed the stairs.
I was laughing because his intentions were so obvious.
I take back what I said about him never acting like a leader.
He had the school wrapped around his fingers in the pettiest, most insidious way.
Unlike me, his way of tainting things was slow but thorough.
“You’re a real piece of shit.”
Go Yohan glanced back and smirked at me.
“Can’t be helped. It’s more fun to be the one messing with people than the one getting messed with.”
He wasn’t wrong.
I understood him.
And because I understood him, I didn’t argue.
Seeing my expression, Go Yohan chuckled all the way up the stairs.
In the end, he stole my gym clothes.
I tried to stop him, but he was relentless.
He forced himself into them.
The sleeves were way too short, leaving his wrists completely exposed.
He looked absolutely ridiculous.
I burst out laughing.
Laughter overtook my body until I was practically collapsed on the floor, gasping for breath.
“You—you look so fucking stupid.”
“Ah, shit... This thing’s tiny.”
“You’re just built like a damn ogre. I told you to borrow someone else’s clothes.”
Go Yohan didn’t even think about taking them off.
He just grinned playfully and tugged at the tight fabric.
Then he pulled the collar up and sniffed it.
I smacked him hard on the back of the hand.
Stop that.
Thankfully, our classmates—who were all too busy drowning in their studies—paid us no attention.
Then, across the hallway, I locked eyes with Han Taesan.
The moment he saw my face, he immediately turned and disappeared down the corridor.
That night, Han Taesan finally called me.
****
"I'm sorry for calling so suddenly..."
That was how Han Taesan started, and it quickly turned into unnecessary concern.
"Actually, I... I had something I wanted to say to you. So, I called."
"To me?"
"Y-Yeah."
What could he possibly have to say to me?
This was just turning into a hassle.
Answering a call from a restricted number was my mistake.
Now the situation was too awkward to just hang up, so I kept looking for a chance to cut the conversation short.
"Taesan, are you okay?"
"...Yeah. I-I'm fine."
I meant if he was okay with talking on the phone. I was going to tell him to hang up if he was struggling.
But instead, he just pressed on.
Suppressing my discomfort, I stayed silent and listened.
He hesitated for a long time.
Just as my patience was about to run out, Han Taesan finally spoke.
"Um, d-do you remember when... there were bugs in your locker?"
"Oh, that?"
Of course, I remembered.
The memory alone was enough to make my face scrunch up in irritation.
But something was strange.
How the hell did Han Taesan know about that?
"...Why do you ask?"
"You might not believe me when I say this, b-but... it's better to know than not. Yeah... I thought you should at least know..."
Ah.
So Han Taesan knew something.
A smile tugged at my lips.
Nothing was ever a complete waste of effort.
"Taesan."
"...Yeah?"
"Do you know something?"
He didn’t answer.
But I could tell from his tiny, uneven breaths that he did.
I tapped my fingers lightly against the blanket.
This was an unexpected but welcome turn of events.
"Don’t worry, I’ll believe you. I know you’re not the kind of person who lies. You're probably the most honest person I know."
Too honest for your own good.
That honesty made your life more miserable than it needed to be.
"You can tell me everything, Taesan."
So just give me the answer I want, Taesan.
I quietly urged him.
Through the receiver, I heard him swallow hard.
A brief silence stretched between us before he finally spoke.
"It... it was Go Yohan."
"...Wait."
For a moment, my mind went blank.
Go Yohan?
"What do you mean, Go Yohan?"
I asked again, purely because I couldn't believe it.
But somewhere in the back of my mind, the word 'Juni' resurfaced.
My chest tightened with an overwhelming sense of unease.
My eyelids trembled.
There was a brief moment when I had suspected it might have been Go Yohan.
The source of this c𝓸ntent is frёeweɓηovel.coɱ.
But I never actually believed it.
I didn't want to believe it.
Completely oblivious to my shock, Han Taesan continued stabbing my ears with his words.
"I... I actually wrote you a letter back then... I wanted to congratulate you on something."
"...Oh, I see."
That explanation eased half of my doubts.
If Han Taesan had written a letter, it could have gotten mixed up in the process.
I still didn’t believe Go Yohan put those bugs in my locker.
There was no way.
No way.
Go Yohan liked me.
My arrogant confidence outright rejected Han Taesan’s claim.
Instead, what unsettled me more was the fact that Han Taesan had written me a letter just to congratulate me.
"But Go Yohan saw me. I... I was trying to put the letter in early in the morning, but Go Yohan was standing at the back of the classroom..."
"And then?"
"When we made eye contact, he didn’t say anything. H-he didn’t even talk to me. He just stared. And I... I just thought I had to get out of there. So I left. But then... Go Yohan said something. He said I was disgusting... That I was gross like a cockroach... And then he laughed."
"...Ah."
"I-I didn’t actually see him put the bugs in your locker. But Go Yohan... I’m sure it was him. Jun, I know. I-I’ve been through this before, I can tell. Go Yohan is... Go Yohan is..."
So he didn’t actually see anything.
It was just a suspicion?
I let out a small, relieved sigh.
"Taesan."
My voice was warm and filled with concern.
It was the kind of voice Han Junwoo had probably wanted to hear so badly.
But I cut it off before it could mean anything.
"I’m fine."
"...Huh?"
"And you know how Go Yohan is—he's always pulling crazy pranks."
Yeah.
There was no way Go Yohan would do something like that.
I rolled my eyes and buried my doubts, defending him instead.
"Jun... Kang Jun..."
"I think little jokes like that are normal between friends. We're all under a lot of stress because of exams, you know? I'm not saying I don’t believe you, Taesan. You know that, right? I trust you. But I also understand Go Yohan. He was probably just overwhelmed with stress."
"That’s not... That’s not what I meant, Kang Jun. That’s not—"
"If it’s not that, then what?"
Han Taesan hesitated for a moment.
Then, as if he had finally made up his mind, his voice turned firm.
"I... I think Go Yohan is obsessed with you. I mean, in that way..."
"In that way?"
"...Yeah."
"Taesan. What do you mean? What are you trying to say?"
"He... he..."
"He what?"
"Go Yohan doesn’t see you the same way he sees everyone else... I just... I just wanted to warn you..."
He didn’t finish his sentence, but I knew exactly what he meant.
I stopped questioning him.
And I shut my mouth.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected him to go this far.
More accurately, I hadn’t expected Han Taesan to notice.
How could he pick up on something even I hadn’t been sure of?
It was surprising.
Then again, maybe this was just experience.
Han Taesan had felt the weight of that kind of attention before.
He had been looked at like that.
He had been touched like that.
Meanwhile, I had only ever been beaten by Han Junwoo.
We had lived our lives seeing things from different perspectives.
"Taesan."
"Y-yeah?"
"I think you’re overreacting."
And just like that, Han Taesan and I, having lived different lives, made different decisions.
He clearly hadn’t expected me to respond this way.
His flustered voice echoed through the speaker.
“H-huh?”
“This kind of thing happens between friends sometimes.”
“K-Kang Jun...”
“Do you have any particular reason for thinking that? Any proof?”
I asked with genuine innocence—no malice at all.
Could you tell me, just in case?
I heard Han Taesan’s breath hitch in hesitation.
“H-his eyes...”
“His eyes? That’s a stretch.”
He couldn’t see my face, but I was smiling.
A bright, almost cheerful smile.
His eyes?
That was it?
That was all he had?
No real proof, just a feeling?
I was immediately convinced—this was just Han Taesan’s paranoia.
He had always been a little unhinged, after all.
I remembered the way Han Taesan used to look at me.
My bright smile twisted.
Of course, Han Taesan would hate Go Yohan.
Of course, he would.
“No. No, Kang Jun, I know. That guy... he’s weird. He’s not normal.”
“Taesan.”
I cut him off firmly.
Who the hell was he to call Go Yohan weird?
Honestly, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t angry.
I just didn’t let it show.
“I know you’ve been through a lot.”
“...”
“But I don’t think this is the same.”
“No, really...”
“I appreciate that you’re looking out for me. I really do.”
And who the hell was he to spread rumors about Go Yohan?
What if this got to the wrong people?
What if he ended up like Han Junwoo?
Han Taesan was always so righteous—but he was reckless, too.
I let my dissatisfaction fester quietly.
It was a warning: Stop interfering in my life.
“Taesan, let’s do this instead. Since we’re in our final year now, why don’t we just focus on our studies?”
“...Huh?”
“Consider it a favor for me. This is our last chance, right? A lot of bad things happened during our second year... You were supposed to be in our class, but because of that, you couldn’t. Now’s the time to get serious and concentrate on studying. For both of us. Don’t you think? You should get into a good university, make your grandmother happy.”
“...Kang Jun.”
“What?”
His shallow, wheezing breaths scraped against the receiver.
That reaction told me everything I needed to know.
Ah.
Those bastards were still playing the same old game.
One obsessing and lashing out.
The other running and hiding.
I shook my head at their pathetic cycle.
That was enough.
I didn’t care about their story.
After thinking for a moment, I spoke up.
“Taesan, my parents just came in. I have to hang up.”
“Huh?”
“They get mad when I’m on the phone for too long. Sorry I couldn’t hear you out completely. I’ll talk to you another time, okay?”
“...O-okay. S-sorry.”
“It’s fine, don’t apologize. Goodnight.”
I hung up without waiting for a response.
And I made a decision.
From now on, I wasn’t answering any more restricted calls.