This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 70

It was a complete accident that I happened to witness a group of what you might call the so-called ‘in-crowd’ huddled together, having what seemed to be a serious chat about something.

By the time the third period was wrapping up, my throat started to feel a bit dry, and I found myself debating whether to grab some water or hit up the convenience store. Eventually, I chose the store, and when I came back, they were still at it.

The problem was that they weren’t the only ones talking.

“What’s going on? Did something happen?”

I decided to ask someone who might actually know. If only the in-crowd was buzzing, I wouldn’t have bothered, but all the commotion made me think I should find out.

But lo and behold, the one I nicknamed Jinho Mk.2, who was always overflowing with energy, was now sulking! Just before I left for the store, he was the one shouting with joy during break time!

‘Did someone, like, steal his mobile phone or something?’

That was the first weird thought that popped into my head when I saw him like that.

“Ah… you’re back?”

“Yeah, but what’s the deal?”

“There’s something. Something… sigh…”

Did he really think I’d just accept that?

“Anyway, what about my juice…?”

“Am I your errand boy now? Just because you whip out cash doesn’t mean I’ll buy everything for you!”

“What did you even take my thousand won for, then?”

“That’s obviously a lie.”

“What?”

“I mean saying it was a lie is a lie.”

Making a big show of it, he dug into his back pocket and threw me my money, leaving Giko utterly bewildered as he caught it.

Is that expression even more of a Jinho thing or what?

“Hey, do you happen to have a cousin named Jinho?”

“What are you on about all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know, just felt like you might.”

Was I wrong?

Whatever, moving on.

“So really, what’s up? Did kids have a fight or something? Or maybe someone lost their wallet?”

That’s all I could come up with on the spot, but judging by their reactions, turns out neither one was quite right.

So what’s the deal then?


What on earth has happened that’s got everyone so riled up?

“What is it…?”

“What is it?”

“It’s about…”

“Could you stop with the vague ‘it’s about’ stuff and just say it?”

If Yoonseo were here instead of me, she would probably be making sounds like ‘uuuuh’ instead of ‘it’s about…’

She seriously hates pointless rambling.

Anyway, I had yelled just a little at the end, and maybe it worked, since Giko, who had squeezed his eyes shut as if he couldn’t believe he had to say this, finally started squeezing out words.

“Well, it’s about the Chairman…”

The Senior?

“She has a boyfriend.”

“What?”

“Her boyfriend! A boyfriend! In English, that’s called a boyfriend! Don’t you know?”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah… That’s what I heard…”

“I mean, is the whole vibe of the class like this because of just that?”

“Just that? Is your wording a little odd?”

“No, you see, I thought the class was chaotic because they all had a fight or something while I was gone. But this is just…”

“This is just what? The Chairman! Has! A boyfriend!”

“Well, I mean, she’s human too, so it’s possible.”

“That’s… true, but…”

He seemed to have lost all his steam on that topic, shriveling up at his desk like a deflated balloon, which made me click my tongue in my head.

‘Well, turns out…’


So the Senior has a boyfriend.


‘I didn’t know…’

I didn’t feel anything particularly special about it, like disappointment or anything.


More like surprise.


It was only natural since I could never have picked up on that from our chats.

That meant she must’ve really been hiding it all along… How on earth did that news even reach our class all the way over here?

While I was trying to theorize that, Giko’s lamentations continued.

“I heard she’s in the same first year as us… Whoever it is, I envy them so much…”

‘Huh…?’

“Must be nice to walk to school with the Chairman every morning… I always feel like trash when I go, but that guy must be so happy…”

‘Hmmm…?’

That’s when the voice in my head started ringing, and not just any voice—it was the nagging ‘no way…’ voice.

“Rumor has it they’re about the same height as the Chairman. What’s this guy’s face look like that’s so charming…?”

Hearing Giko say that only made that voice in my head even louder.

‘No way…’

But there were just too many details that seemed to fit.


Especially the idea that this potential boyfriend of the Senior could very well be someone from my own year!

It was too specific to just be coincidence.


That meant whoever started that rumor must have definitely seen something concrete to spread it.

Yet the overlap of details made me wonder if maybe someone saw me and the Senior together in the morning and started this whole rumor swirl.

Of course, this very suspicion could also just be a figment of my imagination, and who knows—there could very well be a real boyfriend.

Before taking any action, I decided to gather some confirmed intel.

“Isn’t it just a silly rumor?”

“Well, someone said they saw them together in the morning.”

At that moment, I nearly blurted out, ‘Who is this someone?!’ but swallowed it back down.

Right now, that didn’t matter.

‘They said it was in the morning…’


It’s not like they saw them while they were out in town after school or something, but in the morning!

Something about hearing more info about this rumored boyfriend felt like a tightening noose for me, but as I said, I wasn’t about to jump to conclusions just yet.

What if all this was just a misunderstanding and the Senior was just off to a student council meeting right after her morning training?

But what if I ended up assuming a bunch of things only to find out I was entirely wrong?

If that were the case, I’d be practically doomed for eternity as the world’s lamest human.


Honestly, anything worse than that would mean ruining my very first high school experience.

If everything turned out that way, I’d be labeled as an oddball for sure.

Being human somehow leads us to always imagine the worst-case scenarios instead of the best, so I hung back to piece together those scattered bits of information.

“Hey, wait a minute…”

“Uh… What?”

“Come to think of it, don’t you usually get to school pretty early?”

After he had been sighing deeply like the world was ending, suddenly Giko hit me with a surprisingly sharp question.

“That’s… well…?”

To be honest, I was a bit tense as I replied hazily.


It wouldn’t be like Jinho Mk.2 to act like a detective and throw it out there, “Guys! This is him!” But if he made some wild leap, I’d be in quite the predicament.

“It wouldn’t be like that! Just look at our class, no one gets to school earlier than you!”

“No, well, that’s… I live further away…”

“Forget that! Anyway!”

“Anyway?”

“Have you… you know, seen anything?”

Seriously? How did I know this was coming?


“Seen anything?”

“Like, I don’t know… something where the Chairman is walking with some dude?”

“Nope.”

“Really?”

“Well, if it was a lie, it wouldn’t mean anything. Plus, YOU know I’m always face down sleeping when I get to school!”

“Oh, right. That did happen.”

You’d think I’d snagged something useful, but turns out that was a complete swing and a miss.


Giko, who was initially all bright-eyed, flopped back over to his desk.

“Sigh…”

Seeing him let out deep breaths again made me feel a bit relieved that there wasn’t any suspicion about me.

“Hold on.”

“What now?”

“You… you weren’t sleeping at all today, were you?”

That unexpected voice pierced deeply into my ear.

“Wha—No way am I… no, I’m not! Am I? But your face looks so…”

“…”

“Seriously, what is up with that face? Huh?”

Of course, I knew the rumors about what had happened that morning had already spread like wildfire to the other side of the school.