Chapter 531: Chapter 531

.

Would he be okay without me in the group? Once Ban Hwee Hyul’s identity was revealed, there were some awkward moments. However, it didn’t last long since the kids knew that he wasn’t a person who would behave differently depending on his position. So recently, the class vibe returned to normal or got even better.

As soon as I had those thoughts in my head, Ban Hwee Hyul came toward us. Pointing at the place behind him, he asked a question in a calm voice.

“Um, I’m trying to have lunch with other kids today.”

“Huh?”

Looking in the direction he was pointing at, I found a few kids, who had been friendly to Ban Hwee Hyul, gathering around the desk. My eyes widened, but I soon nodded without hesitation. He didn’t have to ask us–he could always follow his own heart.

Showing a timid smile, Ban Hwee Hyul nodded and blended into his new friends. He left a dazzling grin, but for some reason, he still looked like a giant grizzly bear to me. ‘Are my eyes tricking my mind?’ I wondered. Rubbing my eyes, I soon turned around and spoke to the kids around me.

“Then let me go to the class next door too.”

“Alrighty~”

When I stepped outside the classroom, the Four Heavenly Kings and Ban Yeo Ryung were already there waiting for me. Though it was was an everyday view, the atmosphere felt utterly different depending on Ban Yeo Ryung having her memories or not.

During the entire lunchtime, she seldom talked or smiled. It felt so awkward since usually, Jooin and Ban Yeo Ryung led the conversation when we were all together. Eun Jiho tried to turn up the vibe, but he wasn’t that talkative in school though.

To think of it, I forgot that it had been only two or three years that he began to become talkative to us.

While keep attempting to refresh the atmosphere, Eun Jiho struggled to make it work. In the end, he found me as the one to take his position afterward.

“Hey, try to say something. Why are you being so quiet since a while ago?” he uttered.

With a spoon in my mouth, I complained, “Hold on, I’m thinking.” Just as he said, I wasn’t talking at lunchtime today. It was me who asked them first to have lunch together so that we could walk down memory lane. However, I sat quietly on the seat, which didn’t make sense at all.

‘But nothing came to my mind… What should I do?’ I heaved a sigh.

Ban Yeo Ryung and I spent most of the time together with the Four Heavenly Kings, and I wasn’t able to reach the level of Jooin’s accuracy when it came to memories or describing the situations. If I tried to explain the things between us in the past…

I sighed again deeply since I had no idea what happened between us before we turned thirteen. To sum up, it was like two people with amnestic syndrome sitting face to face and struggling to bring back each other’s memories.

At that moment, Ban Yeo Ryung’s clear black eyes were directed to me. My heart thumped. Before she lost her memories, her attention on me seemed so natural like the sunlight or moonlight, but ever since she began to suffer amnesia, her eyes felt like a lie detector. I felt like a monster in a horror story that wore human skin after killing people.

If I drop a wrong word or try to create a false story of the past, the time before we were thirteen, Ban Yeo Ryung seemed to notice it immediately. For instance, she could be like, ‘No, that isn’t true. Who are you?’ What should I do then?

I avoided her stare and held my hands tightly.

What should I do…?

In the end, I couldn’t say anything special till the end of lunchtime. That was when the Four Heavenly Kings also realized that something was going wrong. On our way back to the classroom, Eun Hyung asked me a question carefully.

“Donnie, are you not feeling well?”

“No…”

“You look pale.”

Showing a smile, I pushed them back to their classroom and came back to mine. The goal of having lunch together with them was to talk rather than to eat. But now it was almost the end of lunchtime, and most of the kids returned to their seats.

A few of them asked me, ‘What’s wrong? You don’t look good.’ That was when I realized that I was seriously not feeling well.

‘Am I really having an upset stomach?’ Frowning, I tapped my stuffy chest. Then I heard some noise outside the classroom. Turning my head in the direction, I asked, “What’s going on?”

“Aren’t they those who came to confess their crush on Ban Yeo Ryung?”

“I don’t think so. It sounds quite different.”

It was as loud as the fuss that occurred when the Four Heavenly Kings walk past by. Seriously, what’s going on?

Widening my eyes, we looked at each other then quickly ran toward the window to the hallway.

The extras were explaining the situation again this time too as if it was natural.

“It’s the movie club!”

“There’s also the play club!”

We found about ten kids walking across the hallway with confident strides. Both girls and boys had outstanding appearances; Even they had long and slim bodies like those of a model.

The girl walking in the front swept back her hair like a queen bee. Her long black hair spread to both sides like a hand fan and dazzled gorgeously.

Blinking swiftly, I wondered, ‘Am I having an illusion?’

A girl’s voice came from somewhere.

“Soobin sunbae, you’re shining today as usual…”

So, the halo kind of thing that I just saw wasn’t an illusion, huh? With a serious look on my face, I stared at the girl, flickering my eyes, then turned my head.

“Did we have a movie club in our school?” I asked the kids standing side by side, watching the runway in the hallway.

We did have some clubs like other schools, but participation wasn’t mandatory; besides, if we joined the clubs, we got to lose our time for a self-studying session, so most of the students including me, who were just regular students and didn’t get admitted to this school through special admission, didn’t participate in any clubs. And maybe that’s why I wasn’t able to hear about club activities unless it was during a school festival.

“We have a movie club. Then who do you think it was to make the short film we watched at the festival last year?”

“Ah, that’s right!”

“I also heard that the play club in our school is quite famous.”

Then I paid attention to the ongoing conversation.

‘But why are those clubs here then?’

‘Hey, put your brain to work! Of course, they are here to cast Ban Yeo Ryung. You know, she refused to join those clubs, but right now, she lost her memories. So, who knows if she’ll accept this time?’

Listening to their conversation, even my facial expressions turned severe. Hmm, I sighed quietly. We didn’t have much time to talk even now, so we tried to use lunchtime to recover Yeo Ryung’s memories, but club activities…?

What if Ban Yeo Ryung made other best friends in those clubs? Our friendship wouldn’t get any better then, would it? Shaking my head from side to side, I couldn’t help myself feeling nervous, so I went out to the hallway, eventually.

However, it wasn’t easy to make my way through them. Since the two big clubs were also joining the queue to get closer with Ban Yeo Ryung, the hallway in front of Class 2-7 was crowded with twice many people as those in the morning. In the end, I could only take a few steps forward, so I returned to my classroom, heaving a sigh.

However, within a few minutes, both the movie club and play club stepped outside the class next door with depressed expressions on their faces. And that way when I could sigh in relief.

“Thank goodness!”

Well, ever since she lost her memories, Ban Yeo Ryung became firmer and determined somehow. She didn’t step back at all. Thus, I realized that the fears I had until now were just groundless.

Once the rows of love confessions subsided, they were followed by all kinds of clubs in our school. During every break, clubs like flower club, environment club, debate club, and so on came to see Ban Yeo Ryung. Though she was excelling in every field, too many people in different areas wanted her so badly.