Became a Dark Merchant in the Academy - Chapter 242



241 – Backboard_4

Trying to find someone who has been missing for a week based on a single photo of their face on a flyer, with not even a clue that the place they disappeared to was inside Laplace Academy, is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Since Cheon Yoo-seong was aware of this fact, the first thing he did when he decided to help search for the missing person was to ask someone for help.

“…is the reason. Can you help me?”

“…”

Isiah, who was sitting across from me, crumpled her expression.

Judging from her well-dressed appearance, she probably wanted to go out and play.

They called me in saying it was urgent and asked me to help them find someone.

In some ways, it could be said to be a natural reaction.

Cheon Yoo-seong lowered his head as if he had nothing to say.

After staring at that sight for a while, Isiah let out a small sigh and shook her head as if the steam had escaped.

“Ha… I guess so… There’s no way you would do that.”

“What did you say?”

“It’s nothing, so don’t worry about it. More specifically, what can I do to help you? You didn’t call me here to ask me to hand out flyers together, did you?”

“Of course not. What do you see me as?”

“Idiot. Dumb. Pervert. A jerk?”

“what?”

Cheon Yu-seong looked puzzled at Isiah’s answer.

“What, you look so embarrassed. It’s all true.”

“No, it’s not that bad, is it?”

“No, that’s correct.”

However, Isiah shook her head as if it was not worth the effort.

“Even though the police and heroes are searching for you, and you’re not related to anyone other than being fellow academy cadets, and the academy and student council aren’t even involved, you’re coming forward because you’re attracted to the face on the flyer.”

“No, I don’t know about anything else, but I was charmed by the face. I was purely…”

“It’s not a bad thing to help someone who’s in trouble. But if you start a business by saying you’ll help them with something, and then try to solve it on your own, what’s the big deal? You don’t have a clue and you don’t think you can do it on your own, so you trick them with strange words and call a busy person to help you. Isn’t that right?”

“That’s… but…”

“But aren’t you still an idiot, a moron, a pervert, and a nerd?”

“The color bone is…”

“huh?”

“…”

Cheon Yoo-seong bowed his head deeply.

It’s not that there were no mistakes, but other than that, there was nothing wrong.

There was silence for a moment.

And it was Isia who broke the silence.

“So what method have you come up with?”

“Oh, that’s…”

Cheon Yoo-seong confessed about the method he had thought of.

Indeed, that method seemed likely to be effective.

Of course, it’s not like there were no problems or loopholes at all.

It seemed like it could be reinforced from this side.

Isiah nodded.

**

‘I see, I thought there would be something mysterious about Laplace Academy.’

The words from that time were still vivid.

If I had called Lee Yoon-ah then, wouldn’t this have happened?

‘We’re friends.’

If that were the case…

The reason Han Sang-ik and Lee Yoon-ah became childhood friends was nothing special.

By coincidence, my parents were coworkers.

Coincidentally, I had a child of the same age.

It was also because we coincidentally had something in common: the same neighborhood, the same elementary school, and the same class.

Of course, even so, unless they are of the same gender, it may be difficult to become more than just acquaintances.

Since she was little, Yoon-ah Lee had no friends because she did strange things and said strange things that did not match her age.

‘Can you help Yuna?’

Knowing this, Yoon-ah’s parents, who were worried, asked the precocious Han Sang-ik if he could help Yoon-ah.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

Han Sang-ik nodded.

That’s how the relationship started.

It was really nothing special.

‘School ghost story?’

‘Yeah, school ghost story. There are seven wonders at school… oh, moths.’

‘That’s a restricted area. Don’t go… Ah…’

‘It’s a butterfly!’

‘ha…’

However, that doesn’t mean the two of them could suddenly become close and affectionate.

As a precocious Han Sang-ik, I always thought that Lee Yoon-ah’s usual nonsense and absurd remarks were stupid.

‘It’s time to go.’

‘Can’t we play a little longer?’

‘no.’

‘Eek…’

I didn’t think of them on the same level, and since it was a request from my parents’ colleague, I only took care of them to the extent that it seemed like there were no problems.

‘Where are you going?’

‘Don’t follow me.’

‘why?’

‘If I tell you not to follow me, then don’t follow me.’

To begin with, unlike Lee Yoon-ah, Han Sang-ik did not have any friends of the same age.

I spent more time hanging out with my classmates than with Yoon-ah.

‘I’m annoyed. What’s so great about you?’

‘what?’

Most precocity is nothing more than an imitation.

A child who wanted to be an adult imitates an adult.

And there is nothing more alien than a child imitating an adult.

Moreover, it is a young relationship where children in the upper grades of elementary school clash with all their might to build up their emotions.

Adults are not rational either, and no matter how right or rational the words may be, when their emotions run high, they fight or get angry.

However, adults try to maintain a minimum level of good with the experiences and knowledge they have accumulated throughout their lives.

A situation where those adults have no insight or anything.

Children are naturally hostile to anything foreign or different from themselves.

Hostility was the law of rift.

‘Don’t tell me to eat dog food.’

‘Are you done talking?’

‘I’m done. What are you going to do? What are you going to do? You want me to hit you? Hit me!!’

Some call it the growing pains of becoming an adult.

In other words, it was nothing more than a fight.

Han Sang-ik, who told his friend that he was at fault for fighting, soon became an outcast.

‘Look at that gym uniform. It’s dirty.’

‘You seem to be a big show-off. I guess you don’t have a washing machine at home.’

‘You don’t even have a textbook?’

And then the bullying began.

Even so, it wasn’t that bad.

It was nothing more than things like ruining gym clothes, hiding textbooks, finding fault with things for no reason, and not allowing them to participate in group activities.

‘are you okay?’

It was okay.

They were not up to the standard from the beginning.

So don’t look down on me.

‘Don’t worry.’

Han Sang-ik coldly rejected Lee Yoon-ah’s concerns.

‘There goes that idiot.’

‘Eww, I’m getting the rabies virus. Run away!’

‘Do you wash yourself? No? Then how about a milk shower?’

Rejection was one thing, harassment was another.

Han Sang-ik knew that his parents were proud of him as their son.

He used to brag to his younger brother about how great he was.

I knew that if I kept nagging about something like this, it would get worse.

There were also those who thought it was stupidly unmanly to ask for help.

That’s why he tried hard to ignore the bullying directed at him, saying it was just child’s play.

But because of this, the bullying by the instigators became darker and more severe.

‘I apologize.’

‘What? What do you want me to apologize for?’

Then one day it happened.

After school, when I returned to the classroom to find my missing textbook again, a loud voice rang out.

‘I’m sorry for what you’ve done to Sangik so far. It was your fault.’

‘Did that guy send you?’

‘I’m sorry!’

I went closer to check.

Lee Yoon-ah and the instigator of the bullying were arguing.

The reason was because of himself.

‘Don’t pinch me, I won’t even look at a woman.’

‘I’m sorry!’

‘Let go.’

‘Apologize!’

Lee Yoon-ah shouted at the bully and pinched him.

‘this!!’

The instigator swung his fist, apparently angry at the continued nagging despite his warning.

‘Whoa!’

Yoon Ah falls.

Han Sang-ik just glanced at it from outside the classroom door.

The instigator was a head taller than himself.

There was no reason to help Lee Yoon-ah, who had never asked for help in the first place and had acted on her own accord.

‘…’

No, that wasn’t all.

It was because one lowly thought passed through Han Sang-ik’s mind.

If we leave it like this, won’t the target of bullying change?

Such a lowly thought.

In fact, even for Han Sang-ik, the bullying wasn’t easy.

I wanted to cry, I wanted to talk to someone, I wanted to get away.

Because Lee Yoon-ah was a girl, and even though she took care of him, the kids in his class knew that they weren’t that close.

Even though I had contact with him, I was just floating in a class where no one touched me.

But in this situation…

I can’t get out…

‘Can you help Yuna?’

‘It’s a butterfly.’

‘are you okay?’

What the fuck.

‘Hey, you little brat! You’re so good at fighting!!’

Han Sang-ik opened the door and kicked it.

And lost.

No matter how much it was a fight between children, whether he was the first to strike or not, he couldn’t win because of the physical difference.

‘What are you guys doing here instead of going home from school…’

‘Fuck, I’ll show you hell starting tomorrow.’

While lying there, Han Sang-ik stared at the classroom ceiling and could only listen to the chilling threats of the ringleader who ran away from the teacher who came running to see what was going on in the commotion.

‘Sangik, are you okay?’

It’s okay.

It’s not okay.

My head hurt, my body hurt, and my legs hurt.

But it’s not okay.

It was okay.

‘Why did you…come out? I told you not to worry about it…’

‘We’re friends.’

Lee Yoon-ah said as if it was obvious.

Friends…

I never thought about it like that.

Nothing was done.

It was just a favor, sometimes I would talk to him a little, or we would walk home together.

But I secretly ignored it, secretly looked down on it, and secretly thought it was annoying.

‘Friends help each other.’

But we were friends.

‘Are you the one who hit our Yuna?’

The next day, Yoon-ah’s parents came to see her wounds and caused a commotion at school.

The long and drawn-out bullying incident ended in vain with the ringleader’s transfer to another school.

[…You’re looking for the backboard? Do you really want to know about the backboard?]

Han Sang-ik opened his eyes wide at the words appearing on the computer monitor.

I want to know.

Because there were no clues other than that.

[Once you find out, you can never go back to the way things were. Still?]

It doesn’t matter.

‘We’re friends.’

From noble mtl dot com

Because friends help each other.

**

[doesn’t care.]

The last chat felt like a strong feeling.

If so, then responding to that sentiment would be the least we can do as the person who initiated the action.

“I prepared something that I think you’ll like, senior.”

Different but similar situations.

Projected emotions.

The resulting two-pronged choice.

A tiny hole in the selection and dam.

The more you ignore it, the more contradictions arise.

“So what are you going to do this time?”

Yukina Ishihara smiled brightly.