MWFL 19

Chapter 19

Pretty Girl

Shinwoo’s sharply pointed eyes twisted upward.

“What?”

“Why are you so shocked? I asked because, looking at you, it seemed obvious you wouldn’t have one.”

“Hah.”

Shinwoo let out a hollow laugh, twisting the corners of his lips upward as well.

There was a distinctly twisted, sensitive edge in Cha Shinwoo’s gaze as he looked at her as though she were beneath him.

‘Harin. Shinwoo might act prickly and not do anything at all. If he does, don’t waste your energy trying to make him. Just study. The teacher will give him a good scolding the next day.’

Harin had already heard the additional explanation, so she wasn’t surprised or taken aback.

As the teacher had said, there was no need for her to go out of her way for the boy in front of her. But then she remembered the teacher’s expression, filled with genuine affection for Cha Shinwoo.

“When you come here from now on, do whatever you want. You can sleep, play games, listen to music, whatever.”

“……”

“But don’t skip the sessions or run away in the middle.”

Harin spoke in a firm voice that sounded as though it might snap if struck, her eyes gaining intensity.

“I don’t know what this time and place means to you, but for me, this is an opportunity I’ve desperately wanted.”

“So what?”

Cha Shinwoo asked irritably, frowning around the eyes as he rubbed his cheek as though she were a nuisance.

“I’m not simply telling you not to disturb me.”

Her voice remained excessively monotonous as she continued.

“You’re eighteen. You’re not a kid anymore.”

Shinwoo’s gaze, which had briefly dropped downward, shot back up.

The moment their eyes met perfectly, Harin spoke again.

“I don’t know what circumstances you’re dealing with, but think a little about how much the teacher wants this to become a precious opportunity for you, too. In short, don’t act childish and immature.”

Cha Shinwoo’s tightly pressed lips curved into a long arc.

His expression seemed to say:

Interesting.

“You seem to think everyone should understand your circumstances. But the world isn’t that easy.”

No matter what expression Cha Shinwoo made, Harin clearly conveyed what she thought.

“Do you think the teacher is paying attention to you because they have nothing better to do? Don’t trample someone’s goodwill under your feet.”

Cha Shinwoo, who had remained silent as if challenging her to say more, slowly opened his mouth.

“You talk way too damn much, and on top of that, you stick your nose into things that aren’t your business.”

“I’m not usually like that, but I tend to think someone like you needs to hear a few harsh words.”

“What? Someone like me?”

“Yeah. People who wallow in self-pity, become unnecessarily hostile, and pick fights for no reason.”

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Cha Shinwoo clenched his molars and glared fiercely.

“Is there even one thing I’ve said that’s wrong?”

“Hey. Joo Harin. Shut your mouth.”

His words came out like a growl, and Harin slowly swallowed.

She quietly stared at Cha Shinwoo, whose eyes were so vicious that it looked as though he might hit her.

Then, suddenly, she laid her head down on the desk.

“……!”

Shinwoo flinched and froze.

The girl who had buried her forehead in her crossed arms on the desk began to shake her shoulders.

“Hey, hey. You… you aren’t crying, are you?”

Since there was no manual for comforting a crying girl, his bewildered voice came out before he could stop it.

Just as he was chewing over his confusion with a mouth that felt completely dry, Joo Harin slowly raised her upper body.

Shinwoo’s eyes, which had widened in surprise, immediately twisted.

Far from crying, Joo Harin was wearing a faint smile.

“I don’t know if you know this, but I’m ranked first in the entire school.”

Shinwoo looked somewhat dumbfounded at her sudden self-praise.

“In other words, I’m smart.”

“So what? What do you want me to do about it?”

Shinwoo snapped back to his senses and challenged her. Harin continued without losing her smile.

“The teachers like me, and all my friends like me, too.”

“……”

“If I start crying here and run out of the classroom, who do you think will end up in trouble?”

……What kind of girl is this?

Unable to hide his disbelief, Shinwoo struggled to regain his composure.

“Are you threatening me right now?”

“This isn’t a threat. It’s called psychological warfare.”

“Hah. Psychological warfare, my ass. Are you messing with me?”

“I don’t have enough free time to mess around with you. I’m just saying we should make things easy for both of us.”

“Wow. You really don’t give an inch.”

“Did you act so prickly from the beginning because you wanted to beat me?”

Harin continued the entire conversation in a monotonous, almost robotic voice. Even the smile drawn across her face remained completely unchanged.

The girl in front of him was beginning to scare him.

“Cha Shinwoo. I’ll tell you one more thing.”

“What? What now?!”

Shinwoo narrowed his eyes, openly wary.

“You and I are the only applicants for the study group in our grade. They said it can’t operate unless there are at least two people, so I’d like you to keep coming and not drop out.”

“Hey! What, do you think I’m someone who comes when you tell me to come and stays away when you tell me not to?”

“That’s why I’m asking you.”

How is this asking? This is a threat, isn’t it?

“Anyway, I need to study now, so you should do whatever you need to do, too.”

Harin neatly withdrew her gaze from the bewildered Shinwoo and lowered her eyes to the book spread open on her desk.

“……”

Seriously, what kind of person is she?

Shinwoo let out another incredulous laugh, his face utterly dumbfounded.

At that moment, Harin merely raised her eyes and looked at him.

“……!”

Shinwoo involuntarily flinched and quickly looked away.

His insides were boiling with anger, but for some reason, he had the distinct feeling that he shouldn’t provoke her anymore.

The next day.

Harin arrived in the classroom at exactly six o’clock.

Cha Shinwoo was nowhere to be seen again.

Yesterday, Cha Shinwoo hadn’t run out of the classroom, but he had sat in front of her the entire time with an extremely irritated expression.

Thinking that he might not come today, Harin sat down at her desk.

“If they decide to cancel the study group, should I ask to be assigned to another grade’s group?”

Just as she began thinking about how to protect the place she desperately needed, the classroom door slid open.

Cha Shinwoo walked in.

Harin slightly widened her eyes as she looked at him, then quickly composed her expression.

“You came.”

“So what if I did? I didn’t come because of you, you know.”

“Who said anything? I was just asking if you came.”

Cha Shinwoo approached with heavy footsteps, his eyes narrowed into slits, and plopped down in front of his desk.

“Did you get the printouts from the teacher?”

“Don’t worry about what I do, Miss First-in-the-Entire-School-That’s-So-Smart. Just study.”

“Okay. Got it.”

Harin answered in a crisp voice and opened her book on the desk.

Shinwoo sat there with his arms crossed over his chest for a long while before eventually laying his head down on the desk and falling asleep.

Fine. As long as he came.

Since she had already said what she needed to say, Harin didn’t interfere anymore and concentrated on studying.

After that, Cha Shinwoo attended the study group without missing a single day.

For three hours, he slept with his head down, listened to music, stared at his phone… In any case, he spent his time in every possible way except studying.

About ten days had passed.

That day, Harin had arrived in the classroom first again and was staring intently at her phone screen.

“At this rate, you’re going to crawl right inside your phone.”

Suddenly, Cha Shinwoo’s low voice sounded right beside her ear.

“Eek!”

Harin gasped in shock and her shoulders jerked. At the same time, she quickly flipped her phone over and placed it face-down on the desk.

Shinwoo slowly straightened his upper body, which had been bent down to the level of Harin’s shoulders as she sat in her chair.

“W-What are you doing?”

“What do you mean, what am I doing?”

“If you came, you should sit in your seat. Why are you standing next to me?”

“I was curious about what you were looking at so intently.”

Shinwoo dropped into his seat and stretched his smooth lips into a long smile.

For some reason, there was something meaningful about that smile, and Harin swallowed nervously.

He didn’t see it, did he?

Just as the uneasy thought crossed her mind, Shinwoo placed one arm on the desk and rested his chin on his hand.

“Hey. You like baseball, don’t you?”

At the question that followed, Harin became certain that Cha Shinwoo had seen her phone screen.

“Why are you peeking at someone else’s phone?”

Harin had been checking yesterday’s professional baseball results on her phone.

“I wasn’t trying to peek. I just happened to see it.”

“That’s the same thing!”

“Why are you getting so worked up? And I didn’t figure it out because I saw that on your phone. I’ve known for a while.”

He’d known for a while?

Unable to understand what he meant, Harin furrowed her brows.

“You came to watch our games a few times last year.”

The school had been famous for its baseball team for decades and even had its own baseball field.

Games against other high school teams were frequently held there every year.

Harin occasionally went to watch the school’s baseball team play.

“How do you know that?”

Still resting his chin casually on his hand, Shinwoo raised both eyebrows and let an even deeper smile spread across his lips.

“Because I have an incredible memory when it comes to pretty girls.”