AU PART 1 :

Innocent Little Interaction

⁕⁕⁕ 1 ⁕⁕⁕

Ae seol just transferred to Sungjin High School at the time and was struggling to create bonds with her schoolmates.As for Yeong-Hoon, he was still relishing his youth with Kim Chi, frequenting arcades. However, that very behavior of Yeong Hoon took a turn near the end of their last semester when his parents were on the brink of separation. Fearing for her own future, Yeong Hoon’s mother began to pressure him to prioritize his studies. His father noticed a shift in his mother's approach to parenting but was too unbothered to interfere. Basically, that’s about how Yeong Hoon’s youth was destroyed.
Afterwards, he barely interacted with anyone in the class anymore and detached himself from Kimchi over time.Now shifting the focus to Il-ha, the central character of this alternate universe. Imprudent as always and not much character difference from how he acted in the early parts of DAS. He picked fights, smoked cigarettes and slacked off in class but was at least kind enough to help his mother at the shop. The difference was— Il-ha didn't really pay much attention to those nerds around him. He was busy savoring his carefree life that messing with them doesn’t seem worth it.So what could've triggered Il-Ha's drastic transformation?

⁕⁕⁕ 2 ⁕⁕⁕

A month has passed and the preparation for final examination has just begun. Yeong Hoon's mother held extremely high standards for him and expected nothing less than a minimum score of 90% in all his examinations. She wanted to make sure that he is capable of getting admission in a prestigious university.
Ever since the “divorce” was confirmed, his mother went all crazy over his plans for the future— all for the sake of financial support she hoped for. Failure was by no means tolerable. Yeong Hoon had no choice but to put in maximum effort and studied relentlessly, sometimes even forego meals.Il-ha on the other hand, is notorious for causing problems, just as we are all aware. During the time allocated for self-study, Il-ha would always engage in rough play with Hee Rak. One time, Il-ha was pushed by Hee Rak and accidentally caused him to crash into Yeong Hoon's table, making a slight displacement of the square-shaped wooden furniture. Il-ha quickly acknowledged his careless behaviour and gestured a small expression of remorse towards Yeong Hoon."Sorry" He gave a nod and raised his hand to the level of the head, before he went back to hit Hee Rak with his neck pillow. Yeong Hoon was extremely angry, as indicated by his eye-rolling, but he knew better than to squander any of his valuable study time. After pulling back his desk to its original place, he continued his revision."Il-ha ya, i feel dizzy. I think I'm not feeling so well.""That's because you played in the rain last night, you dummy. So what now? Wanna go to nurse's office?""I just went there yesterday. If the principal catch me sleeping in the nurse's office again today, he's going to write a note to my mother.""Well, you do deserve it.""No no, I'm serious. I feel like puking. Can we ditch class today and go home?""Okay, fine. I'll help you out. Let's go."The two students gathered their belongings and went out of the classroom, eventually emerging out from the shrubbery at the rear of their school.⁕⁕⁕The school bell rang to end its recess period. Classroom 2-3 homeroom teacher, Mr. Kim entered the classroom and began distributing a stack of pilling papers to the class president and vice-president— instructing them to pass them around the class. Ae seol swiftly skimmed through its contents as soon as she received a set. "Oh! They’re study materials”, she murmured."Attention, everyone. As you all know, our school is going to change the format of the final examinations. The school understand how short of a notice this is, therefore we have helped to gather some valuable materials for your revision. Please pass the papers around and bring back any extra sets to me. Banjang, you can advise those who are absent today to come meet me directly to collect their papers.”The head of the class simply gave a gesture of agreement. The teacher continued after glancing at the two boys’ empty desks, “However, I do not accept any truancy so please tell your friends to provide a valid reason for their absence today. Or else, I’ll consider them already failing at my subject."Ae seol couldn’t help but to direct her gaze towards the spots where Il-ha and Hee Rak were seated.Yeong Hoon’s face twisted into an unexpected smirk upon hearing that.⁕⁕⁕Ae Seol felt bad— she overheard the conversation between the two earlier and understood why they would skip class. It just didn't sit right to her letting them fail while knowing what had happened.She decided to do the right thing and approached her teacher just in time before he entered the teacher’s room."Excuse me Mr. Kim, may I keep the papers for Il-ha and Hee Rak please? They are in fact in attendance.” Ae seol cleverly fibbed, stating that the boys needed to clean themselves up as they inadvertently spilled beverages on their shirts and bags when they were teasing with each other."Is that so? Alright then, I believe you. Please take these. Thank you for letting me know.” The teacher handed her the remaining papers.
The little girl’s face looked more relaxed. She hurriedly walked away after making a quick head bow to her teacher."Ae seol." She stopped at her teacher’s call. This petite girl with a mushroom cut was feeling her heart racing as she made a slow turn to face her teacher.'Oh no... did he sense something wrong?' she thought."That’s very thoughtful of you, you know. You were always so quiet, I thought you had trouble making friends. I’m just glad to see you’re looking out for your classmates… although it just had to be our very famous troublemakers.”, the teacher chuckled. “Let me know if you have there’s anything wrong alright.." He smiled widely at her and then proceeded to enter the teacher's room.Those words touched her teacher. Ae seol smiled as she scurried like a small feline back to her classroom with a sense of relief. Narrowly made it in time for upcoming class lesson.

⁕⁕⁕ 3 ⁕⁕⁕

On the following day.
Il-ha and Hee Rak arrived with only a few moments to spare before the class began.The sound of the back door opening startled Ae seol and made her turned swiftly. To her surprise, she saw Il-ha was covered in cuts and bruises. Her classmates saw it too but were not surprised... rather disappointed. Il-ha getting into trouble was already like a habit.⁕⁕⁕Classes ended for the day and students were packing up their belongings to leave. As Hee Rak was about to nudge his sleeping friend, he was interrupted by the class president approach. Il-ha was also awakened by it."Ya, Kwon Il-Ha... Woo Hee Rak.. did you guys fight again today?" she asked, pointing to the wounds of the lofty-looking boy."We didn't-" Hee Rak got interrupted again."And why did you guys cut class again yesterday? Mr. Kim is going to fail those who were absent yesterday, you know. So whatever your excuse is, you can go and talk to Mr. Kim yourself. I'm not going to be involved in your problems anymore.""Woah, why are you getting all so worked up Banjang" said surprised Il ha.The class president ignored them and left the classroom.Hee Rak turned his face to his sole friend. "Yaa, Il-ha. What do we do? Mr Kim for sure, won’t let us slide. He knew we skipped school. Mann, I don’t want to fail and repeat the year."Il-ha somehow felt guilty as he observed the concerned expression on his friend’s face. Their absence weren't particularly intentional yesterday and since Il-ha was known for loafing a lot, he lost their teachers' trust.He was trying to think for a solution to save their asses from confronting Mr. Kim, and that's when his eyes landed on Yeong Hoon who was packing his bag. Il-ha slowly approached him."Excuse me... Yeong Hoon... do you have Mr. Kim's papers with you now?"Yeong Hoon gave him a brief look before continued packing and said, "Yes.""Ohh that's great... Is it okay if we borrow it for a while? I’m just going to print it really quick and-”"Yeah, you wish." Yeong Hoon cut Il-ha. "How about you just stay in your lane and stop bothering others who have future to pursue?""What did you just say?" Il-ha took a step closer to this now infuriating-looking boy. It was only the three of them in class."You're not going to read them anyways right. So why bother? I don’t want to risk having my papers lost by people like you.” said Yeong Hoon. This outspoken boy was already moving to the door, yet he was impeded by Il-ha who had taken hold of his arm."People like you-?? Yaaahhh, aren't you acting a little bit conceited lately? You’re just like us not too long ago."Yeong Hoon snatched his hand back, "Well I have grown mature now... I realized I don't want to end up as morons like you guys." He smirked.In a swift motion, Il-ha seized hold of Yeong Hoon's collar. Hee Rak at the back, was already looking troubled.“Il-ha, let go of him. It’s not worth it. You’re only going to get us in more trouble.” His best friend commented.Il-ha was going to throw a punch but thwarted when he saw Ae Seol walk into the room— who had just gotten back from the restroom.Ae seol’s expression turned completely still as she observed the situation unfolding before her. Her reaction caused Il-ha to release Yeong Hoon and pushed him back real hard."You know what, you can keep your stupid paper and your stupid dream to yourself! I don't want to end like a pathetic boring loser like you either. Scram!" Il-ha’s shout didn’t faze Yeong Hoon at all. He left feeling satisfied that he put Il-ha in his place.A moment of silence occurred between Ae seol and Il-ha as they exchanged a gaze. Several seconds passed, Ae seol finally walked to her desk, while Il-ha sat down heavily on a chair beside Yeong Hoon's desk. His brows furrowed— jaws tensed. Getting those study materials wasn’t really an issue to him. This is probably not the first time he acted irresponsibly in his studies. He was aware that the teachers will pass them anyways— because they couldn’t really stand teaching him again. Instead, he felt humiliated, and a gush of hatred just appeared out of nowhere for a particular clique of intellectuals, simple nicknamed as bookworms, whom now he stereotyped as the type to act haughty and superior to others.

⁕⁕⁕ 4 ⁕⁕⁕

Ae seol observed the displeased expression on Il-ha's face. She reached into her bag and pulled out something that potentially saved the boys’ future."Il-ha...”He looked up and saw this cute petite girl was already standing in front of him."Here, I kept them for you."Il-ha’s scowl look turned confused in an instance. Slowly, he took the papers offered to him. Ae seol didn't forget about Hee Rak too. She walked to Hee Rak and handed him his papers."Ae seol-ah. You shouldn’t have… but thank you!" exclaimed Hee Rak.
Il-ha, on the other hand, was still staring at the girl in disbelief.Ae seol caught sight of Il-ha’s unrelenting stare and immediately handed him a small cute white bag."What's this?" he asked."It's like a medical kit. My grandmother always packs it for me in case I need it. I tend to be clumsy sometimes. But I don't need it today so you can have it. Your cut seems quite serious. Did you fall?" Ae seol tried a little bit too hard to hide her frowns.Once again, Il-ha was left without words. Well, this is new."Ae seol.. you're unexpectedly… very caring. Mann, I wish the rest of our classmates are like you. And you’re so right for that. We didn’t fight. Il-ha actually fell off a bike today. Our benevolent Mr. Il-ha had this sudden outburst of hero-moment and rescued a puppy from a bunch of stupid kids. And you know what we got? We got chased by its mother instead. That’s when I lose control and accidentally threw Il-ha out of his seat." explained Hee Rak.“Oh, that sounds bad. I hope your wounds heal soon, Il-ha. You can keep the bag. I have another spare one at home. You seem like a careless person too.” She smiled innocently, looking at Il-ha— who naturally deemed as a danger to others. But not to her."Thank you Ae seol. I appreciate it.", was all Il-ha could respond."No problem. I was just trying to look out for my classmates. See you guys tomorrow." Ae seol made her way out of the classroom.Hee Rak joyously bid her farewell. As soon as she was out of sight, he looked at Il-ha and noticed that his sole companion was looking all perplexed. He assumed it was because of the incident with Yeong Hoon."Yaa... you don't need to worry about him. We already got our papers thanks to Ae seol. Let it go already."Il ha was in fact, more intrigued by Ae seol’s behavior. He was immensely taken aback by the fact that someone as reserved, compliant and diligent as her would go through such trouble for them. She was also the first to be genuinely concerned of his injuries. Honestly, Il ha was still deeply unsettled by Yeong Hoon and it somewhat had changed his view on the nerds but.. not for Ae seol... yep, Ae seol is an exception.

AU PART 2 :

Unexpected Turn to A Friendship

⁕⁕⁕ 1 ⁕⁕⁕

A week flew by. Il-ha was now sitting at the focus zone, where Jang Soo would continually peruse the map and strategize for their upcoming assignment. It was also the place where Jang Soo and Ae Seol had communicated and exchanged a fist bump for the first time.Il-ha was trying to adjust the pitch of his guitar.
'God, I wish I can use YouTube right now. I have no idea what I’m doing.' He thought as he wrestles with his guitar to produce a harmonious sound.That's when Ae Seol joined him, though she was too absorbed in her writing that she didn’t notice him there."Oh, hi!" He greeted her with a big smile.Ae Seol lifted her gaze. "Hm? Oh, hi... uh, Il-ha?" She appeared confused as she sat down in front of him."Are you... expecting someone?" Il-ha asked cautiously. He noticed Ae Seol didn't seem too happy about seeing him."No- not really. I just thought I'd find Jang Soo here tonight.""Ohh, he was here just now. I guess he went stock taking.”“Oh okay, cool.” She nodded and proceeded to look at her book. Il-ha picked up his guitar again and plucked some strings to test it before beginning to strum. After a few notes, his hand stopped. He went quiet for a while, staring into space. In his mind, he was contemplating to ask Ae Seol something."Soo.., do you meet Jang Soo often here?" He finally asked. Eyes retraced their path to his right side, looking intently at the girl sitting there."Well, it depends. When I'm in the mood of writing, I'll always come here to meet him for help. Most of the time, he’d be here, busy preparing for our next mission.""So, you’re close with him?""I wouldn’t dare to say ‘close’, but the war definitely helped us bond. I'm now just using my free time to get his thoughts on my written work and in return, I'll help him with anything I could for tomorrow's mission."He unconsciously flashed a sly expression in her direction. "Hmm~ Now, don’t you sound like someone who has a crush. Do you like him or something?" He arched his eyebrow.There was a pause. "That's... not it." She gave him a subtle look. "I'm just glad I made a good new friend."'Right. Why did I even say that? I just made myself look dumb.' He thought."Oh.. right. I was only joking.", he chuckled nervously. He was met with a blank gaze from Ae Seol that made him feel embarrassed— to which he tried to hide by clearing his throat. "Soo…, you said you are writing something. What is it about?""Nothing important.” The girl redirected her attention to her book. “It’s just some drafts I do to kill time."He refrained from speaking for a while, allowing his eyes sweeping over her. Observed her delicate fingers tracing over the pages in the book while thinking what a shame would it be to get off on the wrong foot with the kindest person on the planet."Ae Seol, do I...” He mustered up the courage to ask the one thing that was bothering him this whole time: “make you uncomfortable?”The clueless girl looked up, taken aback by his question. "Mwo…? Oh, no no. I’m quite comfortable now. Why"The inner corners of his eyebrows angled up faintly. "No I mean.. all this while.. do I bother you? I get this weird feeling that you’re avoiding me for some reason. I find how easy it was for some to talk to you.. but when I tried to, I couldn’t help but think that my action gets to you. Like that one time on the rooftop, when you were meeting Bo Ra and Ha Na. I greeted you but you looked very much annoyed by it.”Ae Seol peered intently at the movement of his lips, cuing Il-ha to continue,
“Thought I pissed you off or something…”“Ohh…” Her expression slacked as she touched the base of her neck. Took a moment to find her voice. "Well... about the rooftop thing. I did have an impression that you were mocking me. And yes…, I might have kept my distance from you in class before… and that’s because you’re close with Bo Ra. I feared crossing path with you guys would piss her any further, so that’s why I avoided you.”Il-ha averted and lowered his gaze. His face clouded with mixture of disappointment and regret. He didn’t know that’s how she felt.“But you are never a bother, Il-ha. Although sometimes you can be a bit… or a lot… aggressive…, but I knew you weren’t the kind to pick on people for fun. Sorry ll-ha if I gave you such impression.”"Hey, don't be. It’s my fault, I should’ve acted better. I’m glad I cleared things up with you tonight. Thanks for letting me know." His lips gently curled to a soft smile, satisfied with the clarification he received. "You know... all this while, I have been dying to talk to you. Do you think we can try becoming friends?"“I thought we are friends.” She uttered deadpan —but deep down she was very much awestruck by his question.Her response, on the other hand tickled Il-ha— caused him to bust up laughing —soon followed with a chuckle by the innocent girl."Yes, we are friends."

⁕⁕⁕ 2 ⁕⁕⁕

After their innocent little interaction, Il-ha went out of his way to bond with Ae Seol as much through casual conversations. Though they didn’t talk as often…, or at least Il-ha was struggling not to. He didn’t want to draw any undesired attention to the petite, trim figure because of the unexpected duo they have become.Il-ha sometimes would join her in focus zone for a brief chit chat. Or he would stay behind in group with Ae Seol, during their star-gazing routine. Fixed up seating arrangements next to hers during dinners— at most two times a week.His friendly endeavors continued— He was walking back to their base with the search platoon on a cold, breezy Monday evening. The team had explored a new area— a destroyed walking street, near the service area. They were searching for medical and food resources. Il-ha was in charge of safekeeping their weeks-worth supplies in the big dark green bag.“The bag looks especially heavy today. Guess we caught a big fish, huh?” Jang Soo looked at Il-ha cheerfully.“Mwo?” Jang Soo’s question broke into Il-ha’s reverie. “Oh.. yeah! Damn, my muscles are sure as hell going to sore later but at least we get to fill their stomachs for a couple more weeks.”Il-ha’s mind had been wondering off a lot since their departure. He felt heavy from the worry he was carrying at the bottom of the bag. He hid cups of instant topokki, a notebook, a fountain pen and cans of soda, neatly under a dark green board— successfully disguised itself as a base shaper.‘Couple of squawkers will definitely scream in my face later if they found out I brought back these snacks for myself’ Il-ha sighed.⁕⁕⁕Finally Platoon Two arrived at the base. As Il-ha was about to enter the building, he was pulled by Jang Soo to the side of the entrance.The unsettling gaze from his bulged eyes went rapidly from his arm and straight to Jang Soo’s eyes.“There are small crates at the back of this building.” Jang Soo said with a straight face, gazing intently at his shocked-looking friend. “I’m just saying… in case you want to keep anything temporarily safe and hidden.”“You… knew…?”“Well, you went in to a bookstore to “look around”. You tell me, who is dumb enough not to catch that you’re smuggling food in the bag.”“Ssshhh- not too loud, please.” Il-ha begged.Jang Soo giggled. “I know I know. You got the materials for her too right? Don’t worry, the kids won’t fuss about it as much as the instant topokki you’re hiding in there. You better eat them fast if you don’t want to get caught.” He continued before tapping Il-ha’s shoulder and went in with the others.Jang Soo was the one exceptional person who knew about his friendship with Ae Seol. That is only because that feral idiot kept setting foot in Jang Soo and Ae Seol hang-out. He never pried into Il-ha’s intention, but Il-ha voluntarily explained that it was to repay her kindness from a year ago. And partly, he saw this as a chance to repent and change into a better person.

⁕⁕⁕ 3 ⁕⁕⁕

Day turned night. The beautiful silvery moon was dotted with dark blue night sky. Il-ha walked out to have a stretch and get some fresh air. He looked up above him and witnessed the naughty stars were running around as he took a deep breath. He loved that feeling. It was calming and very assuring.The touch of midnight breeze did not distract him from noticing the time. He looked at his watch. It’s about time everyone has fallen sound asleep, leaving those who were on the look out to safeguard their base. A perfect timing for his plan.He moved to a small wooden crate, hidden behind the stacking chairs and tables near the entrance door, and took out a big black plastic bag. Happily, he brought in the plastic bag filled with the things he “smuggled” earlier, looking like a boy who just went groceries shopping for his mom.As soon as he entered the focus zone, he spotted Jang Soo who was chatting lively with Ae Seol. He quickly cleared his throat to alert them of his presence. It startled them and forced the two to face him who was already walking towards the sitting area.“Oh! Il-ha ya. You’re here?” Jang Soo smirked. He knew what Il-ha was up to.“Oh.. Il-ha.. are you done guarding? Come and join us.” Ae Seol continued, unaware of the sly expression by Jang Soo that was faithfully thrown to Il-ha’s face. Il-ha gave a strained smile to brush off the tease of the guy.“Yeahh, Ae Seol’s right. You should take a seat.” Jang Soo finally stopped teasing. “Alright, I think it’s my turn now to guard the base.” He slapped his thigh. “I’ll get going alright, Ae Seol. Let’s talk again tomorrow.” Softly gave a pat on Ae Seol’s back and returned a smile to Il-ha before walking to the door. She waved at him and swiftly invited Il-ha to sit.“What do you have there?” She witnessed the plastic bag and a kettle in his hands.“Oh! Hold on.” He excitedly placed everything on the table, making sure the hot kettle was farther. “I hope you’re still hungry. I brought some extra snacks. You have to help me finish tonight before I get caught by the rest.” He put down a cup of instant topokki and a can of soda before her eyes.Ae Seol was stunned to see such ‘luxurious food’. She couldn’t remember the last time she ever had a drop of soda. But mostly, she was mostly amused by his eccentricity. “Where did you get all of these??”“I found a couple of them in the market we scouted today. I’ve been craving topokki for a while now and coincidentally found these two, so I thought it’d be nice to share with a friend.” He continued opening their cups, added in the ingredients and soon poured in the hot water.“That’s very thoughtful of you, Il-ha. Do you want me to call Jang Soo back in so that we can eat them together? This is quite a lot for a night snack.”“No! I mean- I have asked him earlier and he said he is on a diet.. he.. he..” He lied.“Ohh okay.. Well, that’s too bad we couldn’t share them with him.”“Yeahh… I feel sorry for him too. But you know what? Let’s enjoy the food on his behalf. Eat quickly before it gets soggy”“Okay, haha I guess we can do that. I’m digging in.”They enjoyed their food for the next 2 minutes in silence before Il-ha slipped open a can of soda for her. She bowed her head in response to his action.“Ae Seol… actually I found something you might like.” Il-ha took out the notebook and fountain pen from the bag. “It looks like you have written up all the pages in your book so you here, use these instead.” The thin line of Ae Seol’s brow jumped in surprise. She shot him with a dazed look. “Well, I- I didn’t technically search for them. Jang Soo found some on the floor and told me you’d want these.”Joy welled up inside of her. Touched, since it’s been a while she got her hands on one of these pretty-looking stationery. “Oh wow… honestly, I was thinking of getting a new book. I couldn’t practice writing with the pages I have left. Now I can properly do so, thanks to you Il-ha. I appreciate it.” She showed off her big grin at him which unknowingly made him turn slight pink.“Come to think of it…, I never know what you like. What do you usually do to kill time.. especially, before all of this war happened?” asked the short statured girl.“Hmm.. I don’t have any particular hobby. But as you know.., I was always and still obsessed with motorbikes.”“Ohh, I noticed. I heard you’re skillful at riding them now. I even saw your stunts when we’re out raiding the spheres. They're so cool!”Il-ha smiled proudly. “He he thanks.”“I envy you. You have a very cool skill and hobby I’d say.”“There’s no need to get jealous.” He chuckled. “You can learn it too. You’d be surprised by how easy it is.” Then suddenly, it struck him a very random idea. “Hey… speaking of which, why don’t you try riding it? It’s great to have a change of pace at times.”“Huh?! I- I’ve never even been on one. I don’t think it’s for me…”“Don’t worry! There’s nothing to be afraid of. You know what? We can do it right now! While everyone is still sleeping. I’ll take you for a ride slowly around the block. Let’s go!”“Huh?! Wai-”He didn’t let her think. Hands pulled, they went straight for his bike that was nicely parked outside the building. Leaving their unfinished instant food behind, risking themselves getting caught.“You have got to slow down. I just had a handful of simmered rice cake back there, I could have puked.” Ae Seol panted as they reached the motorbike.“He..he sorry. Here, wear this.” Il-ha helped her put on a helmet. He then hopped on the bike and signaled her to do the same. Hesitantly, she followed.“Okay, get ready!”“Wait! Ready? I thought you said you’d go slow-”Il-ha sped and brought them to a wide space field, located a few yards away from the service area. They could feel the wind crashing against their skin. Ae Seol was frantic at first. She was gripping on Il-ha’s jacket like she was clinging on to dear life. That fear soon disappeared when she lifted her head and gazed upwards to the beautiful sky— that looked more beautiful now since they were in motion. It is as if the stars were dancing over them. Slowly she let go one hand in the air and soon another, letting herself to go with the wind. Il-ha looked at the side mirror and tittered watching her enjoying the ride.⁕⁕⁕“That was THE best thing I have ever experienced in a long while! Thanks Il-ha!” Ae Seol was ecstatically happy— that she had been skipping with unbridled exuberance all the way to the focus room.Il-ha too couldn’t stop giggling, looking at the limited statured girl's behavior.
“I told you, you’re gonna like it. I knew you regretted bringing it up at first. You should’ve seen your pale face when I put on the helmet. Haha”“Yes yes I did.. Okay, stop teasing me… Oh! Our food!”
They had completely forgotten about their food.“Ah! You’re right. Let’s finish and throw them right away.”They sat down and immediately started eating the soggy rice cakes and chugged down every last drop of their drinks.“Who the hell is it?! Wait till I lay my hands on them!”
There was a voice outside. It sounded like Jun Hee.Il-ha instinctively seized the little girl and took her behind another worn out couch at the back of the room.“Let’s stay here for a while. I feel like someone is coming.”
He held on to her arms to keep balance of their crouch position.“Hello? Is anybody here? There’s no use of hiding you know, I already know your dirty little secret.”Silence.“Hmm… I thought I heard someone here.. Oh! Jang Soo-ya!”
Jun Hee went out when she caught Jang Soo— that had just finished patrolling.Il-ha peeked from behind the couch and made sure she was completely out of sight.“Okay, we’re good now. Shit! I totally forgot about the food… I should’ve let us finish them before dragging you outside. Sorry Ae Seol..”“Hey.. it’s okay… It was partly my fault too.” She tried to assure him that it was not a big deal. After all, their little squawking friend just wanted to play a little blame game and she will soon forget about this.“Il-ha, you have something on your face.”“What is it? Is it dirt? I might have put my face too close on the couch. This thing is dusty.”She pulled out a handkerchief and moved closer to him. He hunched over to let her have a better look.“Look! Look! This is all you right? You think I won’t tattle on you just because you’re the deputy leader?”The noise came back in and it made them jump— causing them to fall lying on the ground. Il-ha fell on his back while Ae Seol was on top of him.“Jun Hee-ya, calm down… Firstly, it’s not me and second, why are you getting so worked up on an instant food.?”“Don’t tell me to calm down. You won’t even let us have another can of tuna during dinner, yet you’re gobbling up these good food by yourself behind us.”Il-ha groaned in pain. They had no choice but to stay like that until the two went out again. Several seconds passed, Ae Seol moved closer to Il-ha’s face.“Wh-what-” He froze looking at her lips being just a few inches from his. ‘What is she doing?’ He clutched the hem of his trousers as her fingers touched his face.“There’s a smudge of paste on your lips.. You’re going to rat yourself out at this point, let me help.” Ae Seol carefully caressed her thumb against the corner of his lips. Il-ha's body grew tense and stiffened by her unrelenting little touches. His eyes glanced around, trying not focus on her.‘Jang Soo! Be honest already!’‘Guys, I swear it’s not me!’The voices moved further away from them.“Oh! I think they are gone now. Let’s sneak out before they come back.” Ae Seol suggested. She stood right up and quickly ran to to the table to take her belongings.Il-ha on the other hand, was lying still on the floor, bewildered by what had just happened. His heart couldn’t stop thumping.“Il-ha! What are you doing? Hurry up!” She shouted in a whisper.“Yes! Yes! I’m coming” He finally came back to his senses.⁕⁕⁕In the end, Jang Soo fell victim to the accusation and had no choice but to take the blame for his two “precious” friends. However, everything’s good when Il-ha offered to do his chores for the whole week as a compensation.
Jang Soo definitely made benefit of his sacrifice.