Transmigrated as the Side Top used as an Emotional Trash Can - Chapter 81.1
“I was studying for exams and my head got all tangled up, so I went for a bike ride to get myself fired up.”
“You seriously are some kind of crazy bastard….”
Kim Jihwan clicked his tongue as he haphazardly packed his bag. Was he already getting ready to go home? Come to think of it, where did Cha Gwonhyeok go?
“Jihwan-ah, where did Gwonhyeok go?”
“He said he had something urgent to take care of and left.”
Just how urgent was it that he left without even saying goodbye?
I packed my bag too, following Kim Jihwan’s lead. Then I got up and asked.
“Jihwan-ah, are you going straight to the academy?”
“I was going to….”
Kim Jihwan seemed to think for a moment, then instead asked me.
“What do you do during exam periods like this?”
“Hm? Me?”
“Yeah.”
He stared intently at me as though it were a fairly serious question. Was he planning to copy me? Did Kim Jihwan copy Baek Hanrim in the original novel too?
“I usually take you home, then go home and study the next subject on my own. At night, I run or do weights for about an hour.”
“You don’t take any separate lectures and just study on your own? Mostly based on what we cover at school?”
“Yeah, I tend to focus on the exams right in front of me.”
“Does working out help?”
Kim Jihwan genuinely looked ready to start exercising. It would be good if he did, but wouldn’t that ruin his characterization? I meant that characterization from the original novel, where he said lying around was the happiest thing in the world.
“Why? Pointlessly…. Hup.”
The question I’d meant to keep to myself slipped out of my mouth. I hurriedly covered it, but Kim Jihwan’s face had already stiffened. Then the corners of his eyes twisted sharply.
“Why are you asking? I can ask a question if I want.”
“No, I didn’t say it to piss you off.”
“Ha, fuck, I’m not pissed off, okay?”
Hmm, Jihwan-ah, anyone looking at you right now would think you’re pissed off. You look like an angry Maltese. I feel like you could bite me at any second.
I could only sweat internally as I gave him a bright smile. I did it because I didn’t want to get on his bad side.
“Fuck, did I say something I wasn’t allowed to say?”
But maybe my smile had the opposite effect, because Kim Jihwan snapped irritably and strode out of the café. I hurried after him to try and calm him down.
“Ah.”
Kim Jihwan was walking down the café stairs when he seemed to remember something and turned around to look up at me. His eyes were still sharply raised with irritation.
“Cha Gwonhyeok said he has something to tell you.”
When I made a puzzled face, Kim Jihwan turned back around and continued down the stairs as he tossed out the rest.
“He already told me, and he says he wants to tell you himself.”
I followed Kim Jihwan and asked what he meant. But Kim Jihwan wouldn’t answer me. What in the world was Cha Gwonhyeok trying to tell me?
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Cha Gwonhyeok didn’t say anything even after all the final exams were over.
I just left him alone. He’d tell me when he wanted to.
“Aaaagh! Guys! I’m! Really! Really! Really! Nervous! Already! Tomorrow! Is! My event’s preliminaries!”
One of the first-years in the Swimming Club shouted, wound up with nerves. He was the only one from our school participating in the competition.
“You seriously have no fear.”
“With your skill, you actually want to compete there?”
The Swimming Club kids mocked the guy for challenging himself. But they were only saying that. Everyone had already booked train tickets to go cheer him on at the swimming competition in Chuncheon.
“You’ll do fine. You worked hard preparing for it.”
“Bbaaek… Hyuuung….”
The guy clung to me and pointed accusingly at the others as he scolded them.
“You pieces of shit with garbage personalities. Learn something from him.”
“And he thinks his own personality is fucking nice?”
“What’s this? You wanna die? Hey, dunk him.”
The others approached to dunk the guy hanging off me like a sloth.
“Eek?!”
“Ah, why me too…!”
Splash-!
Then they picked up both him and me and threw us into the water. When he tried to get out, someone shoved his head back down. And while they were at it, they shoved me down too.
No, seriously, why me.
“Kill them, kill them all!”
And just like that, the swimming pool once again turned into a water playground for high schoolers. We were completely absorbed in messing with each other and splashing around, enough for swimming caps to come off and goggles to go flying.
“Pfft, haha, ah, I swallowed water…!”
“You okay?”
After laughing and playing for quite a while, I braced myself against the tiles beside the starting block and caught my breath when I heard a voice.
“Hm? Gwonhyeok-ah.”
Cha Gwonhyeok had rolled up the legs of his school uniform pants and was crouching down as he spoke to me.
“What brings you here? You’re not going to the academy today?”
“Yeah, finals are over.”
Kim Jihwan still went, though. Did Cha Gwonhyeok have a different strategy for college entrance exams?
I folded my wet arms over the pool deck, rested my chin on them, and looked up at him.
“These finals were kind of hard.”
“They were. The teacher mixed in a lot of outside passages instead of only using the textbook.”
Cha Gwonhyeok’s face looked the same as usual. The conversation itself couldn’t have been more ordinary and casual. Even so, he seemed hesitant about something as he awkwardly scratched his face.
“Did Jihwan tell you anything?”
I answered Cha Gwonhyeok honestly.
“He only said you had something to tell me and that I should hear it from you directly.”
“I see.”
“Are you ready to tell me now?”
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