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Chapter 10
After wringing out my soaking wet hair, I started moving again, only for Klein to urgently grab my hand.
“Hey, hey! Where do you think you’re going?!”
“If someone did something wrong, they should get scolded for it. Just like I did.”
“That’s not what I mean…”
Klein hesitated.
It seemed his hatred toward me had softened a little after I saved him from the dog.
Though Klein would never admit it.
“I’m okay.”
Klein immediately snapped back.
“That’s not what I was asking!”
“If that’s the case… I put the outdoor slippers you lent me back in your shoe locker.”
“That’s not it either!”
“Then what is it?”
I genuinely had no idea.
I tried slipping my arm free from his grip, but he held on stubbornly.
“Excuse me, but I need to go tattle now.”
Klein’s lips twitched uncertainly before he abruptly shoved my hand away and scoffed coldly.
“So you forget all the stuff you did before, but you’re reporting them? Wow, petty.”
“This isn’t the same as being petty. If I did something wrong to those kids, then I’d apologize. But this is different. If they keep bullying people like this, do you think they’ll grow into decent adults? What if this kind of bullying doesn’t stop with just me?”
Children needed to learn early that tormenting others was wrong.
At my smooth rebuttal, Klein lost his words and stumbled awkwardly.
Just then, Medina—who had quietly watched the whole exchange—pulled out a handkerchief and gently wiped my face.
“Lopez, are you okay?”
“Thank you. But it’s just water, so you don’t have to do this.”
I subtly stepped away from Medina.
“It’s only water…”
“Still. Anyway, if nobody has anything else to say, I’ll get going.”
“Lo-Lopez, Klein was…”
Just like in the novel, the heroine always spoke on behalf of the male leads.
‘She’s exactly the kind of person who would save someone without regretting it even if she died herself.’
Feeling strangely sympathetic, I glanced at Klein and Chester.
Then I smiled faintly, as if telling Medina not to worry.
“I know. He was worried about a friend, right?”
“Mhm…”
“But this is still wrong.”
“I agree with Lopez too. Make sure you catch them.”
Medina even cheered me on.
As expected, just looking at characters who matched my taste made me happy.
Klein stared blankly at Lopez’s retreating figure as water dripped from her clothes.
“I didn’t know she could talk like that…”
He muttered bitterly under his breath.
Seeing him like that, Medina let out a deep sigh.
“Klein, stop being mean to Lopez already!”
Klein flinched at her sharp scolding.
With an angry face, Medina continued,
“Even after losing her memories, she still apologized to me instead of pretending not to know anything. I told you before—I forgave her! The person who got hurt said it’s okay. Then nobody else has the right to say anything!”
“……”
Only then did Klein quietly nod.
Medina had intentionally spoken harshly, but when she saw Klein looking completely deflated, her heart softened.
Eventually, she grabbed his hand and comforted him gently.
“I really like you, Klein. So I don’t want you to keep treating Lopez badly.”
Medina was too kind.
Not just to Klein, but to everyone.
Still, the warmth of her hand spread through his whole body, instantly improving his mood.
“Okay, got it. I always listen to what Medina says!”
He nodded brightly with a wide smile, but even so, Lopez continued bothering him for some reason.
The soaked ground.
Her lowered head after being drenched with water.
Even her hunched shoulders.
‘She’s acting pitiful for no reason.’
Klein frowned slightly.
“Lisa.”
“Lopez!”
Lisa, my fellow veteran of the punishment room, hurried over the moment she saw me.
My eyes met Sally’s too, and when I waved, she snorted with a haughty “hmph!” but still followed behind Lisa.
“What’s with you? Why are you here?”
Sally asked grumpily.
Even though Lisa tried signaling for her to stop, Sally ignored it.
“I got drenched.”
At that single sentence, Sally finally looked at me properly.
Her mouth dropped open in shock.
Maybe because we’d spent three extra days locked up together after pulling each other’s hair out, the two of them seemed to consider me a pretty close friend.
“You idiot! Did you go swimming in a lake?!”
Lisa and Sally hurriedly pulled out handkerchiefs and started drying me off.
On the outside, Sally looked prickly like a hedgehog, but inside she was unbelievably soft-hearted.
While we’d been locked up together, I’d learned that Sally and Lisa were inseparable best friends.
They fought and argued every day, yet always stuck together.
“How did this happen? You’ll catch a cold. Why didn’t you change clothes first before coming here?”
“Someone dumped water on me.”
Sally was incredibly quick-witted.
At that one sentence, she instantly realized why I came to Class 2.
“The culprit’s from Class 2!”
“Oh, wait… Shyle and Mana’s slippers were wet earlier.”
The seated Shyle and Mana flinched when Sally’s gaze landed on them.
“I remember your voices clearly.”
“Hey. Start talking.”
Sally growled at them like a thug.
Shyle smirked irritatingly and sneered at me.
“Got proof? If you accuse people again without evidence, you’ll end up back in counseling.”
“It’s them!”
Their voices are exactly the same!
As I pointed at them, Lisa grabbed my hand and marched into Class 2.
“There is proof. You’re the only ones with wet slippers!”
“That proves nothing. My slippers are wet because I just came back from the bathroom.”
Shyle shamelessly shot back while snickering with Mana.
Sally’s face turned red with fury.
I was about to calm Sally down and speak when—
“I saw them do it.”
Klein, who had apparently followed us, leaned casually against the doorway and spoke.
Only then did Shyle and Mana finally look flustered.
Klein turned toward the hallway and shouted,
“Teacher Megan! Over here!”
At once, Shyle and Mana shot to their feet.
Watching them panic, Sally scoffed.
“So it was you!”
“What did Lopez ever do to you to deserve getting water dumped on her?”
“Did you two become friendship buddies in the punishment room or something? Why are you defending some Class 1 kid who isn’t even in your class?!”
I stepped in front of Shyle as he tried to shove Lisa aside.
As a result, my shoulder got shoved hard instead.
“Hey! Did you just push Lopez?!”
Quiet Lisa actually had quite a fiery temper.
Especially if someone insulted her or her friends.
Just like now.
Before I knew it, Lisa—the hair-pulling menace—already had her hands in Shyle’s hair.
“Lisa, I’m okay!”
I quickly wrapped my arms around Lisa and shouted.
Fortunately, before any children lost chunks of hair, Megan hurried into the classroom.
“Stop this at once!”
The moment Megan appeared, everyone except me immediately fell silent.
After pulling Lisa and Sally farther away, I looked at Megan with my eyes saying, those two had nothing to do with it.
Megan usually smiled all the time, but when trouble broke out, her face became terrifying.
Naturally, smiling while scolding children wouldn’t have much effect.
“Lopez, Shyle, Mana. Come with me immediately.”
“T-teacher, I really didn’t do it…!”
Mana cried out unfairly, but Megan firmly cut the child off.
“That’s what we’ll determine in the counseling room. Bullying a friend is absolutely unacceptable. Come along.”
When I looked back, Lisa and Sally were watching worriedly.
To reassure them, I made a huge heart over my head.
“That idiot. Why is she grinning like that?”
Even while grumbling irritably, Sally made a heart over her own head together with Lisa in response.
Watching the three of us, Klein looked bewildered.
‘What? Since when did those idiots become friends?’
Megan called me, Mana, and Shyle in separately and carefully listened to each side of the story.
After the individual talks ended, she summoned Mana and Shyle together.
While they talked, I waited outside the counseling room on a nearby chair.
“It’s Lopez noona who caused trouble again!”
Persistent green-haired kid…
Bill sat down beside me with a bright smile.
The problem was that even while smiling like this, Bill often burst into tears out of nowhere, so I tensed immediately.
Every time I said anything, he started crying…
And especially here, in front of the counseling room.
If I accidentally made him cry, this situation might escalate further.
It didn’t seem like Bill would take my side either.
He acted like he liked me and disliked me at the same time…
‘Come to think of it, the original novel’s Bill really liked Medina too.’
That’s why he hated Lopez so much.
Though after everyone grew up, he barely appeared in the story, so I didn’t know much more.
Then again, once the heroine returned to her rightful place, all the orphanage kids except the male leads basically stopped being mentioned.
The original novel never said what happened to Lisa or Sally either.
“Noona, are you going to the punishment room again?”
“I didn’t do anything wrong.”
And besides, I’d heard the punishment room was abolished the moment Megan became the counseling teacher.
“Really?”
…Why did he sound disappointed?
