Seo Jae-gyeom was the type of person who only liked what he was fixated on.

No matter how good something was, if it didn’t meet his standards, he wouldn’t even give it a second glance. His discrimination between what he was drawn to and what he wasn’t was severe.

And in Seo Jae-gyeom’s eyes, Kang Da-hye was.

‘Boring.’

He knew she was pretty, but that was it. She was so boring that her prettiness wasn’t even very noticeable.

More than anything, it was too obvious that she liked him.

Always being self-conscious, always tense.

Pretending not to notice her awkward attempts to get his attention could only go so far.

And besides all that.

He just wasn’t interested.

To Jae-gyeom, Kang Da-hye was simply ‘Han Jisoo’s friend.’

Despite having known Da-hye longer than Jisoo.

‘Hey, isn’t Kang Da-hye pretty?’

‘Uh-huh.’

‘Ah, Seo Jae-gyeom. Why is your answer so half-hearted?’

‘Because I’m not interested.’

‘She’s super smart too. Should I ask her which academy she goes to?’

‘Kang Da-hye doesn’t go to an academy.’

‘Then does she have a tutor?’

‘No.’

‘Then what does she do?’

‘She studies by herself at the youth reading room in front of Heights Ville.’

‘What, you said you weren’t interested, so how do you know so much?’

The girls Jae-gyeom was friends with would transform into different people with idol-worthy makeup and outfits the moment they stepped out of the school gates. But Kang Da-hye was almost always in her school uniform, even when he ran into her outside.

‘Where are you going, Kang Da-hye?’

‘Ah. The library.’

The answer to his perfunctory question was almost always the library, or the reading room.

Does she only read books because she has no money? Books are free at the library, after all.

Even though he himself read books from time to time, that’s what Jae-gyeom thought.

But there was a fact that Jae-gyeom didn’t know.

The minds of kids who are always reading something are usually the loudest and most chaotic.

The cafeteria.

Today, too, the entire table around Woo Do-yeon—front, back, and sides—was empty.

A few girls glared at Woo Do-yeon, who was eating calmly on an island that was clearly intentionally created, and whispered that she was ‘acting pretty.’

‘They wouldn’t be able to say a word if they were standing in front of Woo Do-yeon. They’re just adding their two cents because the atmosphere is on their side.’

Seo Jae-gyeom knew that the girls’ bullying of Woo Do-yeon stemmed from a sense of inferiority.

And that all the rumors surrounding her were ridiculous.

But he had no intention of stepping up and defending her.

‘Do you have no intelligence? To believe such nonsense.’

He remembered how Woo Do-yeon had been criticized even more after he had made a light comment at the beginning of the incident.

He also remembered how he, the one who had made the comment about a lack of intelligence, had gotten off scot-free while only Woo Do-yeon had been blamed.

So, with a sigh, he sat down at a distant table.

“Ugh, why is the school lunch so bad today!”

The pathetic atmosphere worsened when Song Yeo-reum’s group, who had skipped all of their morning classes and only just arrived at school for lunch, entered the cafeteria without even lining up.

“Look at her, eating all pretty.”

Song Yeo-reum, who had naturally taken a seat that someone had vacated for her, began to openly insult Woo Do-yeon.

“Ugh, there they go again.”

“Yeah. So annoying.”

“Jae-gyeom, wanna play basketball?”

“Sure.”

I should just eat quickly and get out of here. If I get hungry later, I can just go to the school store.

With that thought, Jae-gyeom was shoveling food into his mouth when.

Kang Da-hye quietly walked over and sat down across from Woo Do-yeon.

The empty eight-person table where only Woo Do-yeon had been sitting.

That alone changed the atmosphere.

Song Yeo-reum, who had been sitting at the next table, her body completely turned to bully Woo Do-yeon, let out a hollow laugh.

“Kang Da-hye, what do you think you’re doing?”

Her tone suggested that Kang Da-hye’s actions were not even amusing.

Yeah.

Kang Da-hye, what are you doing?

As far as Jae-gyeom knew, Kang Da-hye was also afraid of Song Yeo-reum.

In middle school, Jae-gyeom had often seen the already-poor Kang Da-hye getting what little money she had extorted from her by Song Yeo-reum, a thousand won, two thousand won at a time.

He had helped her out when he felt like it, but there were also many times he had pretended not to see because it was a hassle.

‘Did she lose her mind after I rejected her? Or is she doing this on purpose to get my attention?’

She had been bickering with the transfer student all day during class as if to show me, and now she’s confronting Song Yeo-reum.

Isn’t she going to get dragged away and beaten up for this?

With that thought, Jae-gyeom kept a close eye on Da-hye, Do-yeon, and Yeo-reum’s side. Ready to step in if needed.

However, Jae-gyeom’s prediction was wrong.

The walnut cake Da-hye threw landed squarely in Song Yeo-reum’s soup bowl. Song Yeo-reum, whose hoodie and the back of her hand were splattered with soup, screamed.

“Hey!”

Song Yeo-reum, who had immediately stood up, threw her tray at Kang Da-hye.

Clang!

A sharp sound rang out, and the side dishes on the tray scattered in all directions. The ladies who were finishing up the food service on one side looked over in surprise.

“What’s going on!”

The teachers who had been eating separately in the teachers’ area on the inside came running out at the commotion.

“Song Yeo-reum! What are you doing!”

A male teacher in his 50s with a potbelly shouted.

“Why are you standing there like that! Did you throw that on the floor? Huh?!”

“Ugh, I dropped it!”

Song Yeo-reum replied sullenly and swore under her breath. At a volume the teacher, standing far away, couldn’t hear.

“Be careful, will you?! Go get another one! And apologize to the people who have to clean this up!”

The teacher, apparently having nothing more to say since she claimed she had dropped it, just cleared his throat and went back inside.

As soon as the teacher left, Song Yeo-reum approached Kang Da-hye as if she were going to kill her.

Kang Da-hye also stood up, facing Song Yeo-reum who had come up to her.

Kang Da-hye’s posture was very straight, Seo Jae-gyeom thought in the midst of it all.

“Hey. Kang Da-hye, you come out here.”

“I don’t want to. Why should I?”

“Why? Just come out for a second. I won’t hit you.”

“No.”

“Why, you crazy bitch. Are you scared?”

“Yeah. I’m scared. I’m not going out because I’m scared. So what are you going to do about it?”

Are you going to wait for me at the school gate after school and take me to the playground? Like you did to my friend in middle school?

Kang Da-hye added.

Kang Da-hye didn’t give Song Yeo-reum any room to speak.

Kang Da-hye’s words continued, as if she had prepared her lines in advance.

“I remember. In the second year of middle school, you shoved my friend into the cleaning supply closet in the classroom and kicked her. The other kids were too scared of you to even tell the teacher. You knew that too, and you just laughed, saying, ‘Go ahead and report me if you want, but I’m a juvenile offender.’ But you’re not a juvenile offender anymore.”

“What…”

“You don’t get it? It means if you hit me, you won’t get away with it either. Whether you get expelled or go to juvenile detention. I’m not sure what will happen. I’ve never lived that kind of messed-up life.”

But Song Yeo-reum, you’re not capable of handling something like that, are you? Kang Da-hye smiled.

“You can’t even swear loudly for fear of the teacher hearing you.”

“Hey…”

“The only reason you can act like this now is because the other kids have been avoiding you because they don’t want to get involved with you. Not because they’re scared of you, but because you’re dirty. If you really go deep, you’ll back out too because you’re scared. Because you’re scared of ruining your own life too.”

“You crazy…”

“Since we’re on the subject, should I say more? The reason you hate Do-yeon is because your ex-boyfriend said she was pretty. We’ve decided to call that jealousy, you know?”

Kang Da-hye, who was spewing words, seemed like someone who had simulated this situation dozens of times.

Like someone who had replayed in their head dozens, hundreds of times, ‘I should have done this then, I should have done that.’

Song Yeo-reum, who had only ever thought of Kang Da-hye as a wimp, couldn’t fight back against the words being shot at her from point-blank range and could only swear.

The cafeteria was the quietest it had been since Jae-gyeom had enrolled.

Even the kids who had been trying to ignore Song Yeo-reum’s bullying of Woo Do-yeon were now all focused. Even the kids who were about to return their trays and leave were listening to Kang Da-hye’s words at the cafeteria entrance.

It made sense.

Hating Woo Do-yeon was an atmosphere created by a few kids, but hating Song Yeo-reum was the consensus of every single individual combined.

“Get away from me,” Kang Da-hye said, lightly pushing away Song Yeo-reum who was standing too close.

“You said your dream was to be a celebrity, right? Be careful. The world is going to change, so kids who bullied others in their school days can’t become celebrities.”

“What kind of bullshit is that…”

“Instead of doing this, you should go apologize to the kids you’ve bullied. While praying they don’t expose you after you debut.”

“…”

Is today the last day of Kang Da-hye’s life?

Is she drunk?

Or is she transferring today?

How is she going to survive in school after this?

Everyone was thinking the same thing.

Kang Da-hye, who clenched and unclenched a fist that was hidden by her chair, shifted her gaze behind Song Yeo-reum.

To the girl in the flashy hoodie who was always with Song Yeo-reum, Kang Da-hye delivered her final hook.

“And you. A guy who’s twenty-two and dating a high school student is not normal, so you should break up with him. Before you get pregnant before graduation and end up on ‘High School Moms.'”

“Ha!”

Jae-gyeom finally laughed.

Wow. This is fun.