Novexa Novels

Chapter 4

When he opened his eyes that morning, Eunsung felt as though he had awakened from a long, deep slumber.

‘I only slept for two hours, though.’

He had been trapped in the underground practice room until three in the morning to receive feedback on his end-of-month evaluation. By all rights, getting so little sleep should have left him completely drained, but strangely, his mind was crystal clear and a surge of restless excitement buoyed his spirits.

Checking the clock, he saw there were still seventeen minutes left before his alarm was set to go off. Normally, he would have pulled the covers over his head and rolled over to wring out every last second of sleep. Yet today, an odd impulse urged him to get to school as fast as possible.

He wanted to go check something.

Check what?

He had no idea.

“Yeah.”

“Breakfast?”

“I’m good. Want me to set the table for you?”

“I already ate.”

Even while he washed up, dried his hair, and put on the uniform he had hung up the night before, his heart thumped with a strange cadence. An inexplicably fluttering anticipation filled his chest.

“Oppa, are you leaving already?”

“Yeah.”

In the end, Eunsung left the house twenty minutes earlier than usual.

[This stop is in front of Gogogo High School. The next stop is Jungjungjung Middle School…]

The route to school, which had grown familiar over the past three days, was utterly ordinary: familiar street trees, familiar apartment complexes, familiar convenience stores, PC cafes, and math academies.

Just as the brief burst of morning excitement was beginning to fade back into his usual routine—

“Ah.”

He realized he had rushed out so quickly that he hadn’t drunk his morning milk.

A certain senior idol—five years into his career—who made a habit of dropping by the underground practice room whenever he had free time to gather the male trainees and dish out unprompted advice, had once declared:

‘Don’t regret it later—take action early! Set a strict routine: stretch three times a day, crush two liters of milk daily, and get to sleep early!’

…He was talking about height.

It was the only piece of advice from that senior that was actually worth taking to heart. Eunsung, who was already six centimeters taller than the guy, couldn’t bring himself to sympathize with the senior’s desperation, but he did agree that he needed to grow a good deal taller. Because of that, he kept white milk well-stocked at home and drank it constantly. Even if he skipped breakfast, chugging a 500ml carton was a non-negotiable part of his morning routine. Today, however, he had completely forgotten in his rush.

“…”

Currently, Eunsung stood at 179.7 centimeters. He only needed 0.3 centimeters to break into the 180 range, but that final fraction of a centimeter proved stubbornly elusive. Secretly self-conscious about his ambiguous height, he glanced at his watch and slipped into the school snack shop.

“What can I get you, handsome?”

“Milk, please.”

“Milk? Chocolate milk?”

“We only have the small ones for plain white milk…”

“Give me five, please.”

The shopkeeper watched in sheer amazement as Eunsung lined up the milk cartons like tiny yogurt bottles and chugged them down one after another.

“Your hands are huge, kid. The cartons look like toys in your grip.”

“Thanks.”

He flattened the five emptied cartons, tossed them into the recycling bin, and turned to leave. Just as he reached the exit, a voice caught his ear.

“Ah, but seriously, Seo Jaegyeom is so handsome.”

“Right? He’s easily the handsomest guy in our school.”

“What are you talking about? He’s the handsomest guy I know, period.”

…Is there really someone in this school handsomer than me?

His feet came to a natural stop.

Glancing back, he spotted four girls sitting at a long table in the cafeteria connected to the snack shop. Among them, a girl with long, straight hair draped over her shoulders immediately drew his eye.

Where have I seen her before?

Eunsung narrowed his eyes. As he quietly observed her—she was sitting apart from the rest, absorbed in a phone call—the remaining three girls, oblivious to Eunsung’s presence, carried on with their gossip.

“You know Kang Dahye likes Seo Jaegyeom, right?”

“What?! Really?!”

“Did you seriously not know? It’s painfully obvious.”

Girl 1 smirked, mocking the other for being so out of the loop.

“Wow… but didn’t Seo Jaegyeom like Jisu?”

Girl 2 sat with her mouth agape while Girl 3 chimed in, sounding thoroughly confused.

“Wait, who’s Kang Dahye? Am I the only one out of the loop here?”

“That pale, skinny girl in Class 2. The rank-one student in our whole grade.”

“She’s the top student?”

“Our homeroom teacher brought it up last time… She only missed a single question across all subjects during the entire year last year.”

“Must’ve missed that.”

“It really shows how little you pay attention, huh?”

“Wanna die?”

“Wait, so she likes Seo Jaegyeom?”

“Those two don’t match at all.”

“Well, it’s not like there’s a law saying she can’t like him~.”

Despite her airy tone, Girl 1’s face dripped with contempt, clearly relishing the chance to mock Kang Dahye’s crush.

“But Seo Jaegyeom likes Jisu. Isn’t Kang Dahye close friends with Jisu?”

“Yep. That’s exactly why Seo Jaegyeom can’t stand her.”

“Did Seo Jaegyeom say that himself? That he hates Kang Dahye?”

“Well, not in so many words, but anyone with eyes can tell.”

Girl 1 stated it as absolute fact. Girl 3 shook her head.

“Wow, talk about having zero pride. If the guy I liked was into my friend, I’d take that secret to my grave.”

“It’s not a lack of pride; she just lacks basic social awareness.”

“Classics like her always lack tact. The types who do nothing but study.”

“True. Just looking at how she dresses, you can tell she has zero fashion sense.”

“Still, you’ve gotta hand it to her for being bold. She doesn’t even try to hide it.”

“She’s not doing it on purpose. She’s just too clueless to cover it up.”

“What if it is on purpose?”

“To keep Jisu from getting with Seo Jaegyeom?”

“Ah, playing the long game?”

“Goosebumps.”

They carried on their drama until the arrival of their bread temporarily silenced them. Naturally, it was Girl 1 who picked the topic right back up—and once again, Kang Dahye was the target.

“Did you guys see her backpack? I swear, it looks like something an elementary schooler would wear.”

“I think it actually is her bag from elementary school. A friend of mine went to both elementary and middle school with her, and she said Dahye’s been carrying that exact same backpack since sixth grade.”

“For real? How has it not fallen apart yet? She really needs to buy a new one.”

“That’s enough, all of you.”

The straight-haired girl suddenly ended her call and snapped, her expression instantly darkening. The remaining girls flinched at her icy tone.

“You’re taking this too far. What’s wrong with you guys? You know Dahye is my friend—why are you trash-talking her right in front of me?”

“No, wait, we were just…”

“Jisu, it looks like things are going well between you and Seo Jaegyeom, so she…”

“Why are you making assumptions on your own? I have zero interest in Seo Jaegyeom.”

Only then did the memory click for Eunsung.

That girl, Jisu, was the one who had come by his classroom during yesterday’s lunch break to wait for a friend.

And Kang Dahye… He recalled his homeroom teacher introducing her as the undisputed number one student in the school since admission, suggesting he reach out to her if he needed help catching up with the curriculum.

‘She seemed so sharp back then.’

Why was she letting herself get carved up behind her back like this?

Sighing, Eunsung tossed his empty milk cartons into the recycling bin. Though the girls finally noticed his presence and turned around in surprise, he was already striding out of the cafeteria.

Lacks tact. Lacks pride. Carries a elementary school backpack.

It really was terrifyingly easy to tear a person to pieces with words.

Frankly, whether Kang Dahye got ripped to shreds or not was none of Eunsung’s concern, but the harshness of their words lingered unpleasantly in his mind.

Absorbed in these thoughts, he made his way up to the fourth-floor hallway where the second-year classrooms were located—

“Agh!”

A phone came skittering across the floor, stopping right at his feet.

It was an outdated model, covered in scratches from years of use. He leaned down and picked it up.

…Unrequited Love Playlist?

It contained a total of ninety-eight songs.

Eunsung raised his eyes, his gaze landing on Kang Dahye. Her face was flushed bright crimson, her eyes brimming with tears.

A sharp pulse of annoyance surged through him. He didn’t even know why.

Why are you crying every single time I run into you?

‘Every single time?’

Before he could process why that thought had crossed his mind, Eunsung spoke up.

“Is that so? Dahye knows a lot of great songs? That’s unexpected.”

“No! I don’t! I really don’t!”

“That’s not true, Teacher. I saw it myself. She was throwing a full-blown music party all by herself.”

“Is that right? Dahye, don’t keep the good music to yourself—invite the rest of us next time.”

“What?!”

“Then we’ll leave it to Dahye to pick the songs before the performance assessment.”

Ignoring my desperate gestures of denial, the teacher turned back toward the piano keys.

I spun around and glared fiercely at Jeong Eunsung.

—Are you completely insane?

Ripping a sheet of paper from my notebook, I scribbled a note hastily and passed it to the classmate sitting behind me.

“Pass this to Jeong Eunsung.”

I tracked the note with burning eyes as it made its way back to him. Jeong Eunsung took the loosely folded slip, flipped it front to back once, and then—with effortless precision—flicked it straight into the trash can.

“…”

“Teacher. Kang Dahye is glaring at me.”

“Dahye, I’m right over here. No matter how handsome Eunsung is, you need to look at the front during class.”

“…”

In that moment, all my despair over forgetting everything I had learned in high school vanished. The sheer embarrassment of my cringe-worthy teenage playlist completely evaporated.

The only thing left in my mind was a fiery, consuming desire for revenge against Jeong Eunsung…!

I didn’t even care that Seo Jaegyeom—who had dumped me just a few hours prior—was watching the two of us from across the room with a look of deep disapproval.

Just you wait.

This meant war.

Next period.

“Who wants to come up to the board and solve this practice problem?”

“Teacher! Jeong Eunsung said he wants to solve it!”

The period after that.

“Alright, who wants to read the next paragraph out loud?”

“Teacher! Kang Dahye said she wants to read!”

“Is anyone willing to give up their break to help carry these up to the staff room?”

“Teacher! Jeong Eunsung raised his hand! I saw him!”

“Teacher, I think Kang Dahye is playing on her phone.”

“Teacher, Jeong Eunsung isn’t studying—he’s drawing doodles!”