There Are Four Top Idol Uncles - Chapter 222

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Part 2, Episode 48
* * *
One ordinary afternoon in the Staff Room.
“Why don’t we have some coffee while we work, Seo?”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
Seo Gyeong-woo, Yewon’s homeroom teacher, accepted the coffee from the Grade Director with a hint of wariness.
This department head only gave out gifts when he wanted something or was curious about something.
“No, it’s nothing big, really~ I’m just curious about something.”
As expected.
Seo Gyeong-woo gave a vague nod.
He already disliked where this was heading before even hearing the question, but that was just how workplace relations worked.
“That girl, Yewon—what’s she like? It’s been ages since anyone that famous enrolled here. There are rumors she’s the granddaughter of Haion, aren’t there? Or is it not a rumor anymore but a fact? Ha ha.”
“Well, I don’t watch the news, so I’m not really up on those things.”
Seo Gyeong-woo decided it was better to play the ignorant type than to leak a student’s private information.
“How boring, Seo! Don’t the kids say you’re boring?”
“They say that all the time.”
“No, it’s just—when I went into that class, it seemed like the kids were a bit intimidated by her? I got that impression. Is she being ostracized? It’s almost the end of March already, so check in on the students’ relationships in your class, will you? She’s got a powerful background—if a complaint comes in, what then?~”
…….
That was a concerning thing to hear. Not because of the threat of complaints, but because if a student still hadn’t adapted to the class by the end of March, it was definitely something her homeroom teacher should be looking into.
She seemed to get along well in the Film Production Club, and from what he’d seen in class, her personality was good. Could there be a problem he didn’t know about?
Seo Gyeong-woo’s brow furrowed.
“Yes, I understand. I’ll look into it.”
“Good. Thanks for your effort.”
As Seo Gyeong-woo agreed, the Grade Director withdrew with a satisfied smile.
Seo Gyeong-woo got up quietly and headed toward the Film Production class on the first-year floor.
Lunch period was just ending, so he’d be able to observe the students.
* * *
In front of the window on the staircase leading to the first-year floor.
“…?”
Seo Gyeong-woo witnessed something unusual.
Yoo Eun-o and Mun Hyeok, two notable figures at school, were giving off an atmosphere where they seemed to be either staring each other down or locked in intense concentration.
Last year, the two of them had been in the same class, and since Seo Gyeong-woo had taught them both, he knew their relationship was peculiar.
It was hard to tell if they were close or if they’d had a falling out.
For a man like Seo Gyeong-woo, who thought the best thing for boys was to just throw a punch or two and then reconcile coolly, it was an emotional dynamic he couldn’t understand. But since they were arts students, he’d figured they might be a bit different from ordinary middle-school boys….
But this—wasn’t this really strange?
“What are you two doing over there?”
In the end, Seo Gyeong-woo couldn’t hold himself back and asked.
At his question, the two boys spun around to face him at once.
What is this, seriously? They’re the same height as me but their faces look like they’re a different species.
Seo Gyeong-woo muttered to himself.
“What are you doing there, you two? I told you guys not to linger around on the first-year floor, didn’t I? You’ve both been well-behaved—so why are you suddenly acting up?”
At Seo Gyeong-woo’s words, Eun-o and Hyuk gave each other one more look, then bowed their heads respectfully to him.
“…I apologize.”
“I’m heading down now.”
Eun-o apologized first, while Hyuk quickly said he was heading down.
Heading down? Not heading up?
The fact that he said “down” was odd enough, but what was even stranger was Yoo Eun-o’s reaction.
“You should go up. Class is about to start.”
“There’s still a little time. It won’t take long to go up.”
The two of them said this and then stared each other down once more.
“……???”
Seo Gyeong-woo was dumbfounded.
Had these kids lost their minds? What’s going on with them?
“Hey, class is starting—why are you heading down?”
“Ah… well….”
Mun Hyeok hesitated and didn’t answer right away.
That only deepened Seo Gyeong-woo’s suspicion.
Were they trying to skip? Who got these well-behaved kids to act out like this?
Then his eye caught on the window behind them.
Wait—the window?
“Hey, come on out.”
“!”
Seo Gyeong-woo waved his hand dismissively, ushering the two boys out.
So that was it.
“…Look at you two.”
Through the window, he could see a girl surrounded by children on the playground.
It was Yewon—who had shed that tense wariness from early March and now laughed comfortably with her friends.
Ah. He’d been wondering who was rubbing off on these rascals….
“You two were just lurking here watching your junior, weren’t you?”
“…….”
“No, no, sir! It’s really not like that.”
Mun Hyeok protested desperately while Yoo Eun-o sighed and looked away.
“Good grief.”
Seo Gyeong-woo shook his head and turned his gaze back toward Yewon.
Looking closer, it was mostly the Film Production Club first-years gathered around her, though….
‘The kids from our class are hovering nearby trying to talk to her… She doesn’t seem to be struggling with fitting in.’
In fact, Seo Gyeong-woo knew that most of the Class 1 students were curious about Yewon.
It was just that her particular atmosphere had made it hard for anyone to approach her easily.
‘The Film Production Club activities have been good for her.’
As she grew friendlier with the club members and her mood relaxed considerably, the other students in her class seemed to find it easier to get closer as well.
Well, at least the worries had come to nothing….
The problem was.
“If it’s not that, then what is it? Go ahead, make your excuse. I’m listening.”
These two reckless boys.
What kind of wolves were they, spying on our rabbit-like first-year?
“Well….”
“We were here… to keep the third-years from coming down.”
“!”
At Yoo Eun-o’s words, Seo Gyeong-woo’s eyes widened.
They’d been standing guard to keep the third-years from coming down?
Surely not….
Seo Gyeong-woo looked out the window again.
Now that he thought about it, the playground was almost empty of third-years who usually swarmed the place—mostly just first and second-years.
And.
‘….’
Seo Gyeong-woo shifted his position to look up the stairwell.
The third-year actors from the Film Production Club were on the floor above, glancing down at them nervously.
They seemed to want to come down but didn’t dare, wary of Seo Gyeong-woo and Yoo Eun-o.
So all of this—them standing guard here—was the reason for that?
“……?”
Seo Gyeong-woo looked over the two boys with a skeptical eye.
Certainly these two had been the poster children for teachers’ affection for three years—the kind that made parents say, “I wish our sons were even half like them”—but….
Why would they go to such trouble?
Then, a thought flickered through his mind.
“Ah, surely not?”
“!”
“…….”
“You two… surely not?”
Seo Gyeong-woo grinned, pointing once out the window with his finger, then once at the two boys.
It had been a very long time since such a smile had appeared in this barren school.
“Ah… how wonderful to be young. Youth itself—I’d forgotten what it looked like, you rascals….”
Seo Gyeong-woo shook his head.
Really, it was so absurd….
“I’ll cut your hard work in half for you.”
“Sir?”
Instead of answering Mun Hyeok’s question, Seo Gyeong-woo shouted upward.
“You lot up there! Stop loitering while the first-years are playing! Get up those stairs right now!”
At his command, the sound of hurried footsteps climbing the stairs echoed.
Seo Gyeong-woo smiled with satisfaction and looked back out the window.
There, perfectly preserved, was the smile those two clumsy boys had wanted so much to protect.
Good grief.
The folly of youth….
Seo Gyeong-woo exhaled silently.
“But tell me—why are you two standing over here instead of getting closer?”
…….
…….
The two boys had no answer to his question.
The reason was….
* * *
Which is to say, forty-five minutes earlier, when the lunch bell rang.
Mun Hyeok had stayed behind in the classroom, dawdling, while everyone else headed down to the cafeteria.
Hyunbong Art Middle School served lunch to third-year, second-year, and first-year students in that order, which meant he had to go down later if he wanted to see Yewon.
The problem was….
…….
That Yoo Eun-o, the bastard, wasn’t going to get lunch either—he was just lingering there!
“You… not eating?”
“Not hungry.”
….
You couldn’t exactly tell a guy who wasn’t hungry to go grab some food….
Mun Hyeok was irked by it, but he held his tongue and just stared at the back of Yoo Eun-o’s head.
Scritch-scratch.
In the silent classroom, all he could hear was the sound of Eun-o’s pencil revising the storyboard.
Hyuk recalled the image of Chae Seojin from the storyboard he’d seen before—a face that looked unmistakably like Yewon’s.
When had that bastard started keeping Yewon in mind?
More than that, there was no guarantee Yewon would even come to this school, yet why had he been drawing Yewon’s face into the storyboard since summer break?
None of it sat right with him.
In the end, Hyuk tore off a corner of his notebook, rolled it up into a ball.
And threw it at the back of Eun-o’s head.
“…?”
Hit by the ball, Eun-o immediately scowled and turned around.
“Hey.”
Instead of answering Hyuk’s call, Eun-o simply threw the paper ball back at him.
Normally he would’ve ignored a guy like that.
But clearly something was weighing on Eun-o too.
“Since when?”
“…What.”
“Yewon. When did she become your female lead?”
At Hyuk’s question, Eun-o looked him in the eye properly for the first time.
And Hyuk, who’d carried a sliver of guilt toward him,
didn’t look away this time.

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