IYBML 07

Chapter 07

The 10 Conditions for Becoming the Male Lead (1)

As Semin was carrying her lunch tray, her vision began spinning as if she had ridden a dozen amusement park rides in a row. By the time she came to her senses, Semin was lying flat on her back in the middle of the cafeteria.

The students stopped eating and leaned back to look at Semin, while Haein, sitting diagonally across from her, covered her mouth and tried to hide her smile.

Semin’s hands were empty. The food on the tray she had been holding had spilled all over the clothes of the boy standing across from her and was running down them.

“What the hell?”

Semin swallowed unconsciously.

Eunho, who had a habit of getting into conflicts with everyone he bumped into at school, was looking at her with a twitching eyebrow.

For a moment, the entire cafeteria fell silent.

<Welcome! Summer Film>

Eunho and Semin’s first meeting actually wasn’t very pleasant.

Semin had accidentally spilled her lunch all over Eunho’s clothes.

Just from the sentence saying that the cafeteria had fallen silent, you could tell how terrible their first impressions of each other were.

[‘Why do you keep….’

‘Are you asking because you don’t know? You need to pay for the laundry. You ruined my uniform because of you.’]

After that, whenever Eunho saw Semin, he would glare at her and relentlessly demand the cost of cleaning his clothes while following her around.

It was only much later that the readers realized that it was love.

But how terrifying must that have been for the female protagonist, Semin?

Seriously, he wasn’t some loan shark….

[Comment: Eunho has way too little appeal as a male lead. Is a male lead who scares the female protagonist in the beginning really a male lead? He’s just going to be the second male lead forever.]

The world had changed.

For a character like Eunho to become the male lead, he needed to follow the proper progression.

Of course, the most important thing was Semin’s feelings.

After all, Semin chose the kind-hearted Dogyeom in Season 1…

Which meant Eunho needed to become a little kinder from this point onward.

So, what was Eunho like right now?

There was nothing more to say.

“Did you hear Bae Eunho skipped class again today?”

“He says he lives on the rooftop.”

“Is he the one who smokes on the rooftop?”

“I mean Bae Eunho. I heard he got into another fight yesterday.”

“He’s really scary. How does he even come to school?”

Ever since Eunho quit sports, the rumors surrounding him had grown like a snowball rolling downhill.

I ignored the students’ gossip and sat in the classroom as usual, preparing for self-study.

Actually, I had wandered around Eunho’s classroom as soon as I arrived at school, but it seemed he hadn’t come to school yet.

I was planning to bring him some pain-relief patches and the medicine needed to disinfect his wound, so I waited for break time.

Thinking about how noisy the classroom had been all through class because everyone was talking about Bae Eunho, I unconsciously glanced at Semin, who was sitting in a corner.

I was worried that Semin might be influenced by those rumors.

“Um….”

I had only been thinking about Semin in my head when I suddenly heard her voice.

Break time had already arrived.

When I looked up, Semin was tapping me on the shoulder and waiting for my reaction.

She was so cute that I immediately asked what was wrong.

Semin glanced around at the people nearby before speaking.

“Do you want to go to the snack bar with me?”

I couldn’t pretend not to notice Semin looking at me like a little rabbit.

I decided I would go see Eunho during the next break.

He came to school late anyway, so what difference did it make?

*

Semin put a chocolate bun and chocolate milk into my hands.

That was way too much chocolate and sugar combined.

As I thought about it, I reminded myself that I was a high school student.

Semin was holding the exact same combination and gave me an awkward smile.

“It might be a little sudden, but I wanted to thank you for talking to me back then.”

“It’s nothing. I just wanted to become friends with you.”

“Really? Actually, I… wanted to become friends with you from the moment I first saw you.”

My second-favorite character wanted to become friends with me.

Oh, Moon Yerim, you’ve hit the jackpot.

I sat with Semin in an empty seat and ate the bread and milk while chatting about all sorts of things.

How long it took to get from home to school.

Whether she had a favorite side dish at school.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, I cautiously brought up one question I wanted to ask Semin.

“By any chance, do you still draw pictures on the rooftop these days?”

“Hm? Ah… yeah. It’s quiet up there.”

“Then… have you ever seen a boy on the rooftop who has big, intense eyes, is handsome, looks like he has a terrible personality, but is actually kind of cute once you get to know him?”

If Semin had already run into Eunho on the rooftop, my entire plan would have been ruined.

Semin stared quietly at her chocolate bun, took a bite, and shook her head.

I unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

“I haven’t seen anyone like that… but I sometimes see a transfer student.”

“Oh, a transfer student~ Huh?! Han Dogyeom?”

At my sudden shout, Semin choked on her milk.

I quickly grabbed some tissues and helped her.

Semin waved her hand to show that she was okay, then nodded.

“Yeah. But he doesn’t talk to me. He just gets some fresh air and goes back down.”

“Ah… aha. Is that so? If he ever talks to you… um, could you tell me?”

“Huh? Why?”

“Th-That’s because he’s your friend. I-I was just curious.”

What a ridiculous excuse.

I’m older than her, and that was the best excuse I could come up with?

Semin seemed to like even my nonsensical excuse and smiled as she said okay.

Ah, what am I going to do with this adorable little bunny?

A brief silence followed.

Break time was almost over.

Semin fiddled with the wrapper of her finished bread and glanced at me.

That kind of behavior clearly meant she had something she wanted to say.

As I expected, Semin slowly opened her mouth.

“By the way, is your father….”

“Yerim!!!”

Just then, a boy in the distance called out my name and came running toward me.

I stretched my neck out to get a better look.

As the boy came closer, I recognized the familiar glasses.

That guy was….

‘Eunho helped me!’

It was the Class 8 president from yesterday!

The moment I recognized him as the Class 8 president, he sank to the ground, apparently out of breath, and began gasping heavily.

He raised his hand as if he wanted to say something, but I couldn’t understand him.

I leaned down to hear him better.

“What? Did something happen?”

“Huff, r-right now, in the t-teachers’ office….”

The moment I heard what the Class 8 president said, I immediately ran toward the teachers’ office.

As soon as I opened the door, several parents dressed in expensive coats were gathered around one student, firing harsh words at him.

And the student silently enduring their angry accusations was…

Eunho.

“Those boys reported that they were unfairly arrested by the police yesterday… so their parents came here. They’re demanding that Eunho’s parents be called too. They’re saying he needs to be punished immediately.”

“Even though you told them what happened? You said he was helping you.”

“They won’t listen…. They’re saying what he did was still violence, and that some of the boys’ noses were broken.”

What a load of crap!

Despite the teacher trying to stop me, I stared angrily at the parents who continued shouting.

And judging by the situation, the only teacher actually trying to stop them was the discipline teacher.

The others simply shook their heads and continued doing their own work as if Eunho were naturally that kind of kid.

“You used to be a famous judo athlete, so now you think you can do whatever you want? How dare you throw your fists around like some brute! Is that how your parents raised you?”

“I absolutely will not let this go. I’ll spend every last penny I have to get you forcibly transferred. Do you understand?!”

“Pathetic…. His own life is ruined, so now he wants to ruin someone else’s life too.”

No.

This wasn’t right.

The more I listened, the harsher the parents’ insults became, and I couldn’t just stand there and watch anymore.

Despite all the verbal abuse being thrown at him, Eunho stubbornly kept his head held high and looked at each of them one by one.

Eventually, the man in the suit who had been raging furiously raised his hand toward Eunho.

“You little—what are you staring at? What have you done so well that you can look me straight in the eye?!”

“Stop it!”

At my shout, all the teachers in the office, a student who had come on an errand, the noisy parents, and even Eunho turned to look at me simultaneously.

“They both did something wrong, so why are you only going after our kid?”

“What are you, anyway? Why are you butting in? Are you his girlfriend or something?”

“You don’t know who I am?”

“Who are you?”

One of the parents folded his arms and stepped closer to me.

I folded my arms in the same way, raised the corners of my lips, and refused to be intimidated by him.

Then I naturally pushed Eunho behind me.

I couldn’t stand by any longer while my favorite character was being insulted.

The discipline teacher looked completely dumbfounded and gestured for me to come over.

I firmly shook my head and opened my mouth.

“I’m the victim who almost got hit with a wooden club by your son. I guess he didn’t tell you that part, did he?”

“W-What?”

“Fine. Report him and have him disciplined. But then I want to do the same thing. Teacher.”

I confidently spoke toward the discipline teacher.

This was…

“Please report it to the police right now.”

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

That was the way to fight back.