Chapter 10: A Single Text Message

An unexpected KakaoTalk message had arrived.

[Hey, you alive? LOLLLLL]

The profile picture showed a girl with brightly dyed yellow hair.

“Huh?”

It was Yoo Suyeong.

Kang In was surprised, but at the same time, he was happy to hear from her.

But how had she gotten his number?

Kang In asked the friends gathered around him to excuse him for a moment and left the classroom.

His fingers moved quickly across the screen.

It had been a long time since he had chatted with someone through KakaoTalk like this.

[Yeah LOLLLLL But how did you get my number?]

[Taehun already had your number.]

Ah, so the two of them were together?

[You met Taehun?]

[No, we just contacted each other LOL I was really curious about what happened to you.]

[Well, I’m alive for now LOL]

[LLLLLLLL]

[Still, Taehun has helped me out a lot today LOL]

[Why?]

[Nothing, just LOL]

[By the way, what the hell did you do? LOLLLLL]

Kang In’s eyes widened.

What did I do?

[Huh? Why?]

[I heard Taehun asked for your number first?]

[Yeah, but why?]

[Whoa LOL That’s crazy. He NEVER asks other people for their number first.]

[Oh, really?]

[Did he like you or something? Why is he acting like that?]

[Who knows? I don’t really know either.]

Kang In thought about it carefully.

He hadn’t really done anything special for Kang Taehun today.

In fact, he hadn’t even known that Taehun was an idol.

If anything, Kang In had probably been rude without realizing it.

[Anyway, I’m glad you’re okay.]

Kang In suddenly felt strangely proud.

She seemed like a much better person than he had expected.

[Yeah, I think I survived because of you LOL]

[I’ll treat you next time.]

Treat me?

Thump, thump.

Only then did Kang In’s heart begin beating faster.

Does that mean we’ll meet again?

“Phew.”

Calm down.

At times like this, just keep it casual.

[Sure. Let’s meet sometime when you’re free LOL]

[Okay. We can probably meet with Taehun too.]

He was slightly disappointed, but even that made him incredibly happy.

It felt like he had suddenly made some really cool friends.

His mood became strangely dizzy with excitement.

It was a feeling he had never experienced before.

His heart felt full.

Ding-dong-dang-dong.

Regardless of Kang In’s feelings, the bell announcing the start of class rang mercilessly.

Kang In looked down at his phone.

Ah, I want to keep chatting with Suyeong a little longer.

[Okay, I have class now. Let’s talk again later.]

[Yeah.]

Kang In returned to his seat.

Class began.

But Kang In couldn’t control his excitement.

His heart was pounding, and his body kept moving slightly in his seat.

He never realized that having to sit still for fifty minutes could feel this much like hell.

Right now, Kang In was incredibly excited, like a child happily running around on a playground.

He thought about the KakaoTalk conversation he had just had with Yoo Suyeong.

Their promise to meet someday had no definite date, which was a little disappointing, but the fact that Suyeong had gotten his number first was already a huge deal.

“Wow, a girl actually contacted me.”

“What? What did you say, you punk?”

The male Korean language teacher who had been teaching stared directly at Kang In.

“Ah.”

Oops.

He had accidentally said his thoughts out loud.

Every student in the classroom turned toward him.

The room instantly became silent.

Only the occasional sound of construction could be heard somewhere in the distance.

“Ah, I…”

“You, you… Who are you again? Wait a second…”

The Korean language teacher looked down at the seating chart attached to his desk.

“Kang In, you? You’re a boy?”

“Wahahahahaha!”

The classroom instantly erupted in laughter.

“You got yourself a girlfriend or something?”

“Ah, no, sir. That’s not it.”

The Korean teacher joined in and began teasing Kang In as well.

“Teacher! Kang Taehun came here earlier!”

One of the girls excitedly shouted.

“Kang… Taehun? Isn’t that the idol?”

Kang In was surprised once again.

Apparently, Taehun was famous enough that even a fairly old teacher knew him.

Kang In wondered if he should start watching some idol videos himself.

He also felt a little embarrassed that he might be falling behind the times.

“Kang Taehun asked Kang In for his phone number earlier.”

“Why would he ask him?”

“Exactly!”

“Wahahaha!”

Kang In’s face turned bright red.

At the same time, he couldn’t help wondering about it.

Why had Kang Taehun taken his number?

He remembered what Yoo Suyeong had said earlier.

She had clearly said that Taehun never gave his number out first.

“Good grief. That kid really has something going on in his head. What, did becoming an idol make him start imagining himself dating girls?”

“Ah, no…”

Kang In felt as though his face was about to explode.

If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve just skipped class and kept chatting with Suyeong.

He was glad that he had suddenly become popular, but he didn’t particularly enjoy this kind of attention.

Meanwhile, in the middle of all the noise, there were two students who weren’t laughing.

Kim Hyunsu and Oh Mincheol.

The two of them quietly glared at Kang In, whose ears had turned bright red.

“Alright, quiet down. Let’s continue class.”

“Ah~ Ah~ Teacher~”

Tap, tap, tap.

The Korean language teacher tapped the teacher’s desk with his wooden stick.

“No, no. You little bastards. We have to get through at least page four today.”

The atmosphere gradually settled down.

As though nothing had happened, the class returned to normal.

Ding-dong-dang-dong.

Eventually, break time arrived.

There were fewer people around Kang In than before, but he had now gained quite a few friends.

While chatting with his classmates and enjoying attention he had never received before, Kang In casually looked toward the back seats.

Kim Hyunsu and Oh Mincheol had already disappeared.

Ah. So this was what Suyeong meant by protecting me?

By making it look as though a famous idol was his friend, she had created a shield of attention around him.

Wow. Yoo Suyeong was much smarter than I thought.

Was getting Taehun to take my number part of her plan too?

But judging by her reaction during their KakaoTalk conversation, it didn’t seem like it.

Either way, it was clear that Kang In was safer now.

Kang In suddenly became curious.

About Yoo Suyeong.

Who exactly was this girl who had a famous idol as a friend?

And what exactly was her relationship with Kang Taehun, who had come all the way here because she asked him to?

They must be dating, right?

Honestly, it would be stranger if they weren’t.

Even Kang In thought they seemed like a good match.

He nodded slightly to himself, convinced by his own reasoning.

I’ll ask Suyeong after school when I’m on my way home.

I’ll ask how she knows that famous idol, Kang Taehun.

Surely it’s okay to ask something like that.

It was a perfectly reasonable thing to be curious about.

And having an excuse to contact her made him feel extremely happy.

I wish school would end already.

Ding-dong-dang-dong.

A little later, the hellish school day finally came to an end.

Kang In couldn’t remember another day that had felt this difficult.

He walked lightly toward the bus stop.

The downhill road that had once seemed terrifying now felt strangely enjoyable.

It was a completely different experience.

Then—

“Oh.”

Just as he reached the bus stop, Kang In saw a familiar student.

“Oh.”

The student also looked at Kang In.

It was Jin Cheolmin.

“Oh, Cheolmin.”

Kang In awkwardly called his name.

“Oh, Kang In.”

Jin Cheolmin responded awkwardly as well.

“Going home?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you usually take this route?”

“Yeah.”

“…Oh, okay.”

An awkward silence followed.

Then Kang In remembered.

The two of them had actually seen each other at the bus stop from time to time.

They simply weren’t close, so they had always pretended not to notice each other.

“Oh, you were pretty amazing earlier.”

Jin Cheolmin spoke first.

“Huh? What was?”

“Kang Taehun…”

“Oh, that. I was pretty confused about it myself.”

“Did you know him already?”

“No, no. I think he’s… a friend of someone I know.”

Kang In could only give a vague answer.

He didn’t know the details himself.

“Oh, really? Anyway, that’s amazing…”

Jin Cheolmin lowered his head.

Kang In felt sorry for him, but he couldn’t casually talk about Kim Hyunsu and Oh Mincheol.

If I could help him, I really wanted to.

“Hey, Cheolmin.”

“…Yeah?”

Kang In held out his phone.

“Can I get your number?”

“…What?”

“Ah, no, I…”

Kang In was embarrassed.

Not because of Cheolmin’s reaction, but because he himself was surprised by his impulsive action.

Ah, did I go too far?

Kang In had acted without thinking because of what Kang Taehun had done earlier.

He had to admit that he might have been acting arrogantly, as though he were somebody important.

Jin Cheolmin quietly stared at Kang In’s phone.

“Ah… should I?”

Apparently, Cheolmin was also embarrassed.

Perhaps no one had ever approached him first and asked for his number.

Jin Cheolmin awkwardly took Kang In’s phone and entered his number.

“Here.”

“Thanks.”

Hiss.

The bus arrived.

It was even the same bus.

Jin Cheolmin and Kang In sat separately.

It was more comfortable that way.

“Phew.”

Still, it seemed like a decent choice.

It was fine to simply have his number.

He didn’t necessarily have to contact him.

Nothing would happen.

Kang In convinced himself that everything was fine.

That was, until a KakaoTalk message from Kim Hyunsu arrived.

“Ah…”

The moment he got home, Kang In’s expression changed completely.

Kim Hyunsu’s KakaoTalk chat window kept appearing on his phone.

And that wasn’t all.

Oh Mincheol was also in the group chat.

Kang In had been added to it.

A group chat for the school’s delinquents.

Kang In kept trying to leave the group chat, but it was useless.

They would simply invite him again.

Messages insulting and threatening Kang In continued to appear.

The problem was that none of their profiles were their real profiles.

Multiple profiles?

Is this what people call KakaoTalk bullying and cyberbullying?

Experiencing it firsthand was incredibly stressful, and Kang In could feel his mental state slowly deteriorating.

KakaoTalk. KakaoTalk. KakaoTalk. KakaoTalk.

He put his phone on silent and turned off all KakaoTalk notifications, but the number on the KakaoTalk icon kept increasing.

Kang In continued taking screenshots of the messages.

But they never stopped.

I can’t keep doing this all night.

“Those fucking bastards.”

Do they really have nothing better to do?

Anger boiled inside him.

These petty bastards.

There was a way to solve this right now.

Delete KakaoTalk.

“Damn it…!!”

But he didn’t want to.

For some reason, he didn’t want to lose his conversation with Yoo Suyeong.

Even in a situation like this, he was thinking about something like that.

Kang In suddenly felt strange, as though he were looking at a completely unfamiliar version of himself.

“By the way, what should I do about this?”

He kept taking screenshots of the messages, but he wasn’t sure whether he should report them.

A school bullying committee report would probably be filed.

But there wasn’t enough evidence.

Even if he showed them the profiles, the people behind them could simply deny that they were theirs.

For now, Kang In tried to ignore it.

He figured that if he stopped paying attention and did something else, they would eventually get bored and stop.

But then—

The screen on his phone changed.

“Ah…”

The name Jin Cheolmin was displayed.

“This is definitely…”

Could it be Kim Hyunsu?

It had to be either Kim Hyunsu or Oh Mincheol.

He could simply not answer.

The call ended.

Then, instead of another KakaoTalk message, a regular text message arrived.

Since his phone’s notification preview was still enabled, the contents of the message appeared directly in the notification bar.

[Answer the fucking phone, bastard.]

Seeing the profanity written beneath Jin Cheolmin’s name sent a chill through Kang In.

Jin Cheolmin had gotten off the bus first, while Kang In had stayed on for another twenty minutes before getting off.

What happened during those twenty minutes?

Were Kim Hyunsu and Oh Mincheol waiting near Cheolmin’s house?

“Cheolmin… Cheolmin… What the hell happened to you?”

Soon, a picture arrived by text message.

“Ah…!”

Inside the picture was—