Chapter 72 – Jeong Eun-Ji Falls Apart

As the sports day approached, the overall atmosphere at Jinsugyo became very heated.

Of course, the boys’ main interest was soccer, but there was talk of many other sports, the biggest of which was the borrowing race.

“How many couples will show up this time?”

“I wish you could tell me this time what the content of the note was.”

“You’re never going to tell me? You always said that.”

“If I apply to join the student council now, will I be able to referee it during the sports day?”

“You idiot, are you acting like a slave in the student council just to see that?”

Race to borrow items.

In the grand scheme of things, it’s just a normal lap around the playground track, but this time they mixed it with obstacle running to increase the amount of things to see.

There is also a course where you have to reach for a donut hanging from a structure and put it in your mouth just by jumping without using your hands, and the highlight of it all is, as the name suggests, ‘borrowing things.

In order to pass the finish line, you have to borrow ‘something’ from someone and hand it to the judge, and there are all kinds of things there.

And, as a long-standing tradition in Jinsugyo, it is said that there is a note written in this note that says ‘the person you like’.

The problem is that if you reveal the contents of the note, you will be disqualified, and the referee will never tell you about it, so no one other than the referee who confirmed it with the person involved will know what content was selected.

Because of this, when a woman borrows something from a man or vice versa, everyone thinks that she has chosen ‘the person she likes’, and regardless of what she actually chose, many cases of this lead to them developing into a couple.

Seeing that the borrowing race was naturally included in this sports day, everyone was interested in who would be the couple this time.

Most people, regardless of gender, who voluntarily want to participate in this sport have a desire to connect with someone.

As everyone was talking about the upcoming sports day and the excitement was growing, the teacher who entered the classroom broke down.

“Hey guys. The sports day is great, but you have to worry about the exam before that, huh?”

“Sir, we have a sports day soon. Can’t we just practice outside?”

“The exam is in two days, and these guys are just thinking about having fun. Quickly open the book.”

“Aye~”

“What kind of eeeee is that?”

As the teacher said, the May sports day is just around the corner, but what is even closer than that is the May exam.

Although everything else was the same as the April exam except for the progress, it was also a period with some special meaning for Jeong Eun-ji and me.

Jeong Eun-ji, who almost lost her life after taking matters to a level that no one could handle, seems to have learned a lesson from that incident and has made a new challenge, saying that this time we will not do anything and let it be our own game.

Of course, her penalty… Especially if Jeong Eun-ji loses again, the penalty she will receive is enormous.

After hearing that we were competing again, Yuri sighed and gave up mediation, saying, ‘I don’t know anymore, do whatever you want.’ And so we entered the second round.

Instead, this time, without the help of Yuri or Choi Soo-yeon, they did it on their own.

And in the exam…

…

“Ha… Do you really have to go to the end like this? You didn’t even tell me what you were betting on this time…”

Yuri sighed and looked back and forth between me and Jeong Eun-ji before checking her tag.

From her perspective, it was hard to understand the two of us acting like idiots.

“I can’t live like this after being humiliated like that last time! This time, I will definitely win and get revenge!”

“No, what if I lose again…”

Yuri had her reasonable concerns, but Jeong Eun-ji, who is considered to be in this risk group for gambling addiction, was just pounding her heart.

“I’m Eunji, Jeong Eunji! I do it when I have to! I studied really hard, right? Furthermore, I’m confident this time!”

“Seongjin, you should just stop like this. Are you going to fight about test scores all year like this?”

“I stayed still. He came and attacked me. And it looks like he has no intention of backing down?”

“I understand! So, Yuri, you check. Now, here’s my tag.”

“Ha… Next time, I won’t even check this. You guys should compare it among yourselves. Give it to me.”

Yuri received her tag from me and Jeong Eun-ji and unfolded her tag with a sigh.

“Eunji’s average score was 69 points.”

“Look, I’ve climbed a lot! That’s how hard I worked!”

“And Seongjin… Uh…”

Yuri unfolded my tag and looked at Jeong Eunji with a helpless expression.

“Seongjin… Average score 70 points.”

“!!!”

“Nice! Right! Did you see that? You said no to me!”

Eunji Jeong’s eyes widened, she snatched the tag from Yuri’s hand and quickly scanned it with her eyes.

And those eyes and expression quickly became stained with despair.

2nd consecutive loss.

Since she lost twice in a row to Han Seong-jin, the bastard of bastards and an old-timer, it was inevitable that even what little pride Eun-ji had left would be shattered.

“Hey, do you remember the bet you made to go first? Do you even remember what I bet? Don’t think about falling out?”

“…”

I patted the head of Jeong Eun-ji, who was half unconscious, and did some tea-bagging, but Jeong Eun-ji couldn’t even think of shaking it off.

All he did was mutter the same words over and over like a lost person.

“It’s ridiculous… It’s a 1 point difference… It’s only a 1 point difference… Furthermore, it’s ridiculous…”

“But the front seats are different. You are in the 60s, and I am in the 70s. Please take care of me from now on?”

“Ugh… Ugh… Ugh…”

As Jeong Eun-ji’s body began to tremble, Yuri quickly took me with her and walked away.

Unable to overcome her anger, Jeong Eun-ji remained alone in the classroom after everyone else had gone home and burst into tears.

“Uuuuu” “Zhuuuuu)” She’s angry… Uuuuu!

…

After some time has passed.

While Yuri went to the student council room again for final preparations for the sports day, I returned to the classroom.

Inside her, Eunji Jeong was still sitting with her head buried on her desk.

I walked up behind Eunji Jeong and massaged her shoulders with both of her hands, and Eunji Jeong, who felt that it was me just by her touch, still buried her head and muttered.

“Don’t touch me.”

“I’m the one giving the orders, it’s not your position to do so.”

Then, Eunji Jeong lifted her head and glared at me with her slightly swollen eyes from crying.

“Order? Yes, do it! Do whatever you want! Well, at least take off your clothes like last time!? Or should I dance naked here?!”

“Hmm, that’s a perfect idea. Shall we try it later?”

“Ugh…”

“Well, think about it later. Follow me.”

I called Eunji Jeong to her playground.

The sun was still shining, but there were not many people in the playground because it was after school dismissal time on Friday.

Jeong Eun-ji, who has bad memories of ‘doing something on the playground’, looked at me with a slightly frightened expression.

“What… Are you going to do?”

“It’s nothing special. Let’s just exercise together.”

“… What?”

“It’s sports day soon, and I’ll be playing soccer and all that, but I think I need to build up my stamina a little before that. So, let’s work out together. You’re on the track and field team, so you have good stamina and know the exercise routine well.”

“… Is that it?”

“Then why did you expect me to strip you naked here?”

At those words, Jeong Eun-ji took a step back, covering her chest with her arms.

“W-Who said that?! I thought it was strange because it was so ordinarier than I expected. Why!”

“I’ll order the unusual stuff later, so look forward to that separately.”

“Damn…”

“Instead, don’t whine and get irritated while exercising. Think of it as teaching Gong Young-bae and treat him gently. This is an order.”

“Hah? No matter what, you can’t be the same as Youngbae!”

“Actually, I have a much better body, manliness, and good-looking than him, right?”

Jeong Eun-ji looked even more disdainful at those words than before.

“Well, then, shall we get some close-up training from the cute but mean-spirited Eunji?”

“What are you talking about? Don’t say anything offensive!”

“I told you to treat me like Gong Yeong-bae, right?”

“Damn, damn, damn…”

After that, I started exercising after school with Eunji Jeong.

It’s Friday, so I don’t have to work part-time, I have a lot of time.

Eunji Jeong also looked suspicious at first, but she quickly regained her composure, perhaps because she was just adding another person to what she had been doing.

“Your posture is wrong. If you do that, it will put a strain on your back. You’re so big, so why is your posture while exercising so bad?”

“It’s because I was born with it and I haven’t really learned anything. Don’t just talk nonsense and just tell me. If possible, it would be better if I could tell you in a more intimate and intimate way.”

“I’m not telling you that! You’re the one who asked me to exercise with you, so I’ll just do as you say!”

“Huh? Then, if I had asked you to teach me about lewd exercises from the beginning, would you have done so?”

“Well, that can’t be possible! Even if I lose, there is a line!”

And the exercise continued for a while.

We finished exercising just as the sky started to turn red, and we sweated a lot on the warm but slightly cool spring evening.

“Phew, you worked hard, Jeong Eun-ji.”

“Whoa… I don’t have much experience teaching men exercise…”

I took out the handkerchief I had prepared in her pocket and approached Eunji Jeong.

Jeong Eun-ji, who was catching her breath with her hands on her knees, suddenly shrugged her shoulders in surprise when I approached her and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

“Aaaaah?! What, what?”

“It wipes away the sweat.”

“Why are you doing that? It’s okay, just get rid of it.”

“Stay still. This is an order.”

“Ugh…”

Jeong Eun-ji was so awkward about being treated kindly by me that she twisted her body and didn’t know what to do.

We weren’t that close to each other, but looking at this moment, we were very close… We might even look like a couple.

After wiping the sweat from Eunji Jeong’s forehead and the nape of her neck with her handkerchief, I withdrew her hand and asked.

“Hey, do you know why I left you alone like this?”

“How do I know that?”

Jeong Eun-ji answered in a complex and subtle voice mixed with feelings of embarrassment, shame, and basic hostility toward me, but not with the same force as before.

I brought up something that had bothered me ever since I heard it last time.

“Don’t be angry, but just listen. Your friend who I got pregnant and had an abortion in middle school… I’ve been thinking about it every single day since then, but nothing really comes to mind. At that time, I told myself to fuck off and say it was a long time ago, but no matter what, it’s not true. It seems like it is.

I don’t remember, but I feel like I should apologize. Do you think your friend would even want to meet me if I got down on my knees and begged? I’m not really trying to do anything weird when we meet, so just trust me.”

“Uh…”

Jeong Eun-ji must have been embarrassed by my words and just opened her mouth.

Knowing her middle school days, I thought, of course, from her perspective, I couldn’t imagine her complaining that I had done something wrong to someone.

The words that came out of her mouth were something I never imagined.

“… I said no.”

“What?”

“Well… I found out a while ago, but it wasn’t you who got my friend pregnant back then. It wasn’t you who told me to get rid of the baby…”

“… Huh?”