This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 72

When I heard that Baeksulhwa had a boyfriend, the sensation I thought I’d never feel again slowly came back to me, and it was truly horrific.

It was so bad that it was several times worse than the first time I tasted powdered medicine as a child.

The moment the rumor that Baeksulhwa’s boyfriend was a new student flowed into my ears, I was startled and dropped to the ground with a thud. My heart continued to pound so loudly on top of that.

Of course… I knew better.

Even in a situation where I had no solid information about who among the new students it could be, nor any vague clue about their appearance, it was too much of a leap to connect that new student to Dogun.

Despite knowing that fact, I couldn’t shake off the ominous feeling. Why was that?

Was it because they were in the same school?

Or was it because Dogun had mentioned that girl Baeksulhwa just a few days ago?

Even if that were the case, it still didn’t make sense.

Looking back, Dogun’s comment was just, “As it turns out, that person is our school’s Student Council President.”

So what the heck was this?!

Why was I feeling this way… so anxious?

I thought about it carefully.

‘…Ah.’

Then I realized it.

I finally understood where this anxiety was coming from.

I hadn’t noticed it at the time, but looking back now, Dogun had been acting strangely lately.

It wasn’t that he seemed worn out or that he looked like he had something troubling him.

If that had been the case, I would have noticed right away and asked him what was wrong back then.

Instead, it was about his newfound knowledge.

Recently, Dogun seemed to know… a lot.

In itself, that wasn’t strange.

His habit of poring over odd reports or academic papers had long since become a routine.

He looked at those things whenever he had a spare moment, so of course he’d end up knowing a lot.

So, the real problem wasn’t that he was knowledgeable but rather the ‘type’ of knowledge that flowed from his mouth.

When I first heard him mention those things, I thought, “Oh, he’s worrying about me and thinking of me…” and was touched. But now, thinking back, it made no sense at all.

It was because among the things he said I should reference, there were too many things one could only know if they had experienced them.

Of course, he might have obtained that knowledge through searches or something, but dismissing that possibility seemed unreasonable considering how vividly the information had come from Dogun.

“It’s almost as if…”

He had experienced those things himself.

Needless to say, that was impossible.

Because he was a guy, and he was the same age as I was.

So how could he know things that only a candidate for heroes in high school would know?

That meant he must have heard those things from someone who had actually experienced them, but… who could that be?

No matter how I thought about it, there was only one plausible candidate.

So… that’s why I felt this way.

That’s why I felt… anxious.

‘But…’

How?

How did they, of all people, become close?

More than anything, that was what I couldn’t understand.

Well, if there was some kind of connection between them, I would have been annoyed but understood it, but there was none.

The closest thing I could think of was that Dogun might have briefly run into her at a school uniform shop before he enrolled, but could that really be a catalyst?

Or maybe… was there something between them that I didn’t know?

For a moment, that thought made my heart race, but honestly, I didn’t think so.

If that were the case, I, who had stuck by Dogun’s side since we were seven, wouldn’t be oblivious to it.

‘Then what the heck…’

What was it?

Even after mulling over it, nothing concrete came to mind.

After all, the gap between them was pretty massive.

First of all, there was a two-year difference in our grades.

That meant we were likely in different classrooms on different floors, and it was unlikely for us to cross paths very often…

Yoonseo, lost in thoughts that Dogun might actually be dating the Student Council President from the neighboring school, didn’t realize that the friends with whom she had been chatting were looking at her with strange expressions.

‘What’s up with her?’


‘How would I know?’

After observing Yoonseo, who had suddenly grown serious and started groaning, her friends quietly murmured among themselves for a moment. But since Yoonseo’s frown showed no signs of relaxing over time, they probably thought they couldn’t just stay quiet any longer.

“Um… Yoonseo?”

The hesitant call gradually grew louder, enough to pull Yoonseo back from her reverie.

“…Huh? Yeah?”

“Is something wrong?”

“Uh…?”

“No, you just suddenly looked serious…”

“Ah…”

What should I do?

Looking at her classmates, who were frantically waving their hands as if saying it was okay not to divulge any burdensome secrets, Yoonseo pondered.

After some deliberation—

“Um, Yeongyeong.”

“Yeah?”

“Earlier, there was a friend who told you about the rumors. Do you know someone in that area?”

“Ah, um… kinda?”

“Then could you ask if there are any more rumors going around?”

I carefully sought her help. After all, I wanted it to be… as certain as possible.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Whatever it was, seeing Yoonseo’s seriously concerned face led her kind friend to readily comply with the request, allowing Yoonseo to receive almost direct information about the rumors circulating at Yeonggang High.

Starting from speculative info about who the new student was and in which class, to all sorts of trivial information.

“Thank you. I’ll send you and your friends a gifticon later.”

“No, don’t mention it. It was fun for both of us.”

Then, combining all the details relayed back to her, the most convincing points were—

– The Student Council President has a boyfriend. And judging by the fact that he was wearing a tie, he is likely one of the new students who just entered.

– Furthermore, they seemed to be of similar height.

Those were the points.

‘A tie…’

This wasn’t all that significant of information.

If I remembered what Dogun had complained about, those entering that school were required to wear ties, so if there was a new student at that school, they’d all be going around wearing ties.

That means even if someone wore a tie, it didn’t guarantee they were a new student.

I mean, a second or third-year student might have disguised themselves to look like a newbie.

Of course, if they were in the second or third year, they might have recognized who spread that rumor at first, but honestly, just because we went to the same school didn’t mean we all knew each other’s faces.

That only happened in a school where there were only ten students.

Anyway, what really mattered was… the similarity in height between Baeksulhwa and the guy suspected to be her boyfriend.

So, I thought about it carefully.

I didn’t want to recall it, but… the height of that girl from when we stood face-to-face at the training center.

What I found out was annoyingly that she was a bit taller than me.

And… that was the same for Dogun.

No, to be precise, it wasn’t just that he was slightly taller but that there was about a hand span difference… but considering that girl was taller than me, I couldn’t exactly dismiss the possibility that it was Dogun.

‘And finally…’

To be honest, there was one more thing I learned besides the two I just mentioned.

The problem was… that just the thought of it made me feel teary.

I had run away from class under the pretext of training before school even ended and dashed straight to the front of the school Dogun attended for that reason.

If it was anything else, I could wait, but regarding this matter, I wanted to hear a direct answer from Dogun’s mouth as fast as possible.

So I even sacrificed the pocket money I had saved to use when I was hanging out with Dogun and took a taxi to his school…

“Hmm…?”

“…Huh?”

Who would expect it?

Of all places, to bump into that frustrating girl at the front gate.

“Who are you…?”