SOS! I’m Being Forced to Be a Villain - Chapter 44

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 44

When they split up to find their respective books at the bookstore entrance, Seo Jung-hoo actually didn’t move very far. He pretended to disappear around a corner, then quickly returned to hide behind a bookshelf and watch Yu Baek-hwa.

He had given Yu Baek-hwa some space to be alone so he wouldn’t feel stressed, but separately, he couldn’t completely shake off his anxiety. If Yu Baek-hwa tried to leave this place while Seo Jung-hoo and Kwon Tae-min were away, if he stubbornly ran away and returned home, he was ready to catch him somehow.

Fortunately, instead of rushing out of the bookstore as soon as he was left alone, Yu Baek-hwa looked around the interior and carefully began to move.

Though he wasn’t entirely pleased about being dragged to the bookstore, curiosity seemed to be stirring in him, as Yu Baek-hwa wandered around with his characteristic light steps, never stopping his head from turning as he surveyed all directions.

Looking at his seemingly fragile, slender figure from behind, it almost seemed like a non-existent black furry tail was swaying. That must be why Kwon Tae-min often mentioned cats when talking about Yu Baek-hwa.

But Seo Jung-hoo’s thoughts were a little different.

‘Rather than a cat… isn’t he more like a hedgehog that first bristles up its spines when frightened?’

He didn’t know much about hedgehogs. However, Seo Jung-hoo had experienced seeing hedgehogs more often and up close than most people.

In his childhood, he saw his cousin’s pet hedgehog whenever he visited. The palm-sized creature would often roam around the house, and perhaps because it was used to people, it didn’t show much wariness even when seeing Seo Jung-hoo, a stranger.

Though it had sharp, hard spines as commonly known, at least for the hedgehog there, the spines weren’t weapons for threat and defense. It was possible to pet the hedgehog’s back over its loosely hanging spines, and even to examine its tiny hands and feet.

It was an endlessly cute and lovable creature. Though Seo Jung-hoo had no particular interest in pets, it was such a small and precious being that he ended up looking up videos about hedgehogs.

When he heard years later that the hedgehog had passed away, he felt strangely melancholy. He didn’t cry since he hadn’t raised it himself or spent long periods with it, and he didn’t suffer for days like his cousin did. However, he couldn’t shake the memory of that small creature bustling around energetically.

Then he met Yu Baek-hwa.

Like the hedgehog he still couldn’t forget, Seo Jung-hoo vividly remembered the day he first discovered Yu Baek-hwa.

The first day of becoming a high school student. That day was bustling with new school, new grade, new class and atmosphere. Unfortunately, the lunch break filled with students’ chatter wasn’t filled only with positive emotions like anticipation or excitement.

Seo Jung-hoo, who was passing through the hallway, stopped abruptly. In the hallway in front of a first-year classroom, not only fresh students who had just become high schoolers were gathered, but also those who appeared to be second and third-years were huddled together.

Seo Jung-hoo’s eyes narrowed as he surveyed the crowd. Then a male student standing nearby, the one who had annoyingly tried to talk to him since the first class, muttered quietly.

“Looks like there’s a fight?”

At those words, Seo Jung-hoo carefully examined the place again.

Now he could see that beyond the murmuring students, angry curses and dull noises seemed to be leaking from inside the classroom.

Seo Jung-hoo left the male student behind and took a step forward. He squeezed through the students who were chattering among themselves about needing to bring a teacher, about who was fighting with whom, and reached the open classroom door.

And there, Seo Jung-hoo encountered a male student with jet-black hair and hollow black eyes, possessing excessively pretty features.

The inside of the classroom was chaos. As if a battle had already taken place, desks that should have been arranged orderly were scattered without pattern, and a couple of chairs were overturned on the floor. Around them, textbooks, pencil cases, and writing materials were strewn about pitifully.

But such a scene couldn’t capture Seo Jung-hoo’s interest. From the moment Seo Jung-hoo stood at the classroom threshold until now, his gaze had been fixed solely on the black-haired male student.

The black-haired male student was gripping a desk, standing at an angle, breathing heavily with a flushed face. As if he had been throwing textbooks at the other male student during the recent commotion, the black-haired student still held a math textbook pitifully in his hand that he hadn’t managed to throw yet.

Whether he hadn’t been hit by the previous objects, the other student seemed perfectly fine without a single injury, though he was fuming and showing anger. However, just because his body was unharmed didn’t mean the conflict situation would be smoothly resolved.

The other student’s voice gradually grew louder, and the level of curses and criticism became more severe. Though he didn’t know what had triggered the beginning or whose fault was greater, it seemed like this situation shouldn’t be left as it was.

Only then did Seo Jung-hoo, belatedly coming to his senses, step into the classroom. He passed by the students who were each frozen in place and approached the black-haired male student.

However, Seo Jung-hoo couldn’t approach any further and stopped at a distance of about ten steps from him.

The black-haired male student, who had been catching his breath, slowly turned his head. His eyes, which met Seo Jung-hoo’s by chance, were vacant and unfocused, seemed quite exhausted from causing the disturbance, and… looked somehow desperate.

He was definitely bristling with spines. He was displaying a murderous aura, showing his will that no one should approach, and was tensing his grip on the textbook in his hand as if he could throw it again at any moment.

But that was all.

Like a hedgehog that doesn’t know how to defend itself except by curling up and raising its spines.

The fight quickly came to an end. Less than a minute later, a teacher who had heard about the situation arrived, and the black-haired male student headed to the faculty office along with the other student.

Seo Jung-hoo watched the black-haired male student’s back until the very end, but he never once looked back. Whether he dismissed the brief eye contact with Seo Jung-hoo as meaningless, or whether he couldn’t even remember due to exhaustion, was unclear.

Nevertheless, that black-haired male student had long been imprinted in Seo Jung-hoo’s mind.

Until he learned that the male student’s name was Yu Baek-hwa, until he learned that he had a nasty personality and a mouth without any manners, until he learned that he had a considerably bad relationship with Kwon Tae-min. Seo Jung-hoo tirelessly approached Yu Baek-hwa.

Then at some point, Seo Jung-hoo came to be hated by Yu Baek-hwa. Enough to be openly known as ‘bitter enemies’ within Seolam High School.

‘Was the problem that I kept persistently seeking out a kid who cursed at me to leave him alone and stop showing interest…?’

Seo Jung-hoo leaned his head against the bookshelf and blinked his vacant eyes.

‘Every time I tried to talk to him, he would throw a tantrum asking what kind of trouble I was trying to cause this time.’

He found it amusing how Yu Baek-hwa would puff up his non-threatening body and bristle his spines, claiming he would protect himself, so he didn’t bother to correct Yu Baek-hwa’s misunderstanding. Since he didn’t think too seriously about the rumors that Seolam High School students spread as they pleased, he didn’t go around explaining everything.

That was enough. Though it was affection, it was still closer to curiosity, so Seo Jung-hoo felt sufficient satisfaction watching Yu Baek-hwa throw tantrums as if he were dying every time they occasionally encountered each other. It would be a lie to say he was never annoyed by Yu Baek-hwa’s excessively damn nasty personality, but it was fine since he could get by teasing him with a smile.

Until he learned that Yu Baek-hwa was actually suffering from much more painful and terrible things.

‘…With that small body.’

How much had he endured and persevered through?

While Seo Jung-hoo swallowed a sigh, Yu Baek-hwa, who had been hesitating, quietly moved toward the staircase. It seemed he was planning to go up to the second floor.

Seo Jung-hoo stared intently at Yu Baek-hwa disappearing up the staircase. He thought he’d wait a bit before following him up, since Yu Baek-hwa might notice if he chased after him immediately.

When he glanced around, he saw a familiar guy crouched behind the opposite bookshelf, not much different from himself, following Yu Baek-hwa’s disappearing figure with his eyes. It seemed Kwon Tae-min had also obediently retreated with the same plan as Seo Jung-hoo, pretending not to know while secretly watching over Yu Baek-hwa.

Seo Jung-hoo let out a small chuckle and crossed his arms. He relaxed his body that had been tense and ready to jump out at any moment in case Yu Baek-hwa tried to run away.

Only after counting to 100 in his mind did Seo Jung-hoo exchange glances with Kwon Tae-min and head upstairs first. It meant for him to follow leisurely so that Yu Baek-hwa wouldn’t feel any sense of unease.

Seo Jung-hoo never could have imagined that he would witness such a scene on the second floor he reached that way.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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