1 – 1.
It was around elementary school.
Suddenly, for reasons unknown, I had to transfer to Seoul due to my family circumstances.
“Wow! Kang Yoochan, going to Seoul?!”
“I envy you…! I also want to go to Seoul…”
“I’ve been there, and Seoul is nothing special.”
My friends were very jealous as they watched me leave for Seoul.
“Is it a good thing?”
But I couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
An unfamiliar neighborhood, an unfamiliar school, unfamiliar faces.
No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t find a reason why it would be better than now.
Above all, my mother’s hurried preparations for the move were decisive.
She seemed like someone fleeing in a hurry.
“Yoochan, can you get along well with your new friends?”
“Yeah.”
“…Okay… If anything happens, make sure to tell Mom, okay?”
At that time, my mother had a strangely anxious expression on her face.
Was it because my mother, who had been a housewife all her life, suddenly had to look for a job?
Or was it because the ‘man’ who occasionally visited our house had disappeared?
In any case, it was clear that my mother was also nervous about our new life in Seoul.
So, in order not to cause unnecessary worry, I made an effort to act confidently.
“Don’t worry, Mom!”
And then.
“Hey, that kid said he doesn’t have a dad.”
I started to be excluded at the new school.
“Really?”
“I saw it earlier in the teacher’s seat. They said it’s a single-parent family!”
“Wow, this is insane.”
“What does ‘peon family’ mean?”
“Being without a father, you idiot!”
“Ah… Oh my!”
Sigh. Sigh. I could hear voices gossiping about me.
In my heart, I wanted to immediately get up and give them a good smack, but my mother, who recently started working as a cashier, came to mind.
She already had enough to worry about, and I didn’t want to cause her any more distress.
“Don’t get into trouble. Kang Yoo-chan.”
Luckily, there wasn’t any physical torment, but no one approached me to talk.
And so, my fourth-grade life came to an uneventful end.
“Ah… We’re in the same class as that person.”
“Another kid without parents.”
“I feel bad.”
Even in fifth grade, the situation didn’t change much.
I ended up in the same class as the kids who disliked me for no reason.
And among them, there were those who were influential and dominant in the atmosphere.
Thanks to that, even in April, I still didn’t have a single friend.
“Well then, I might as well study.”
As someone who considered myself somewhat positive, I accepted this as an opportunity.
Honestly, it’s not bad to have some time alone to read a book, even though it’s nice to be active.
“Yoochan, how is school life? Is it okay?”
“It’s pretty fun.”
Sometimes, when my mother or homeroom teacher asked about my well-being, I deliberately answered brightly.
“Yoochan, the teacher is curious, but do you have any close friends in your class?”
I knew well that there was no benefit in giving a bad answer for no reason.
“Well, I’m equally close with everyone.”
“Oh… I see…”
“Yes.”
That’s how I continued my peaceful days, somehow.
“A new friend has transferred to our class.”
Suddenly, a transfer student came to our class.
“He used to live in this neighborhood and went to the U.S. for a while, so please treat him comfortably.”
“Yes!”
“Well then, should our friends introduce themselves?”
The transfer student, who was actually from the U.S., stepped forward without any hesitation and calmly spoke.
“My name is Mayeonseo. Nice to meet you all.”
Mayeonseo. Just like the name, she was a very pretty child.
“Wow… She’s really beautiful.”
“She’s tall too…”
“And her clothes look really expensive!”
When I transferred here, unlike before, both boys and girls had a very friendly reaction.
“It’s ridiculous.”
Secretly, I envied her.
“Yeonsoo… um, sit next to Yoochan.”
Ma Yeonsoo was assigned to the seat next to me, which happened to be empty.
Actually, no one wanted to sit next to me, so it was empty.
Unintentionally, I ended up becoming the partner of the popular transfer student.
“Where are you from?”
“Is it true that you lived in the United States?”
“Then, have you been to the Empire State Building?!”
“How tall are you?”
“Where do you live?”
As soon as break time came, the kids crowded around Ma Yeonsoo, bombarding her with various questions.
Watching her, who was clearly different from me back then, I was at a loss for words.
“It’s really ridiculous.”
And that’s when it happened.
“Ha.”
For some reason, Ma Yeonsoo, who hadn’t paid any attention to the kids, suddenly let out a deep sigh.
With a face that clearly showed annoyance, she glared at the kids and said,
“Just leave me alone.”
A classroom engulfed in silence for a moment.
“Uh…”
“W-what did you say…?”
“Did I hear it wrong?”
The children were quite startled by the unexpected reaction.
Mayeonseo, seemingly indifferent, took out her textbook and said,
“Don’t bother me, just leave.”
She wasn’t your average crazy girl.
*
“What is her true identity?”
Mayeonseo voluntarily wanted to be excluded.
This was the first time she had encountered a child with such antisocial tendencies.
The children quickly gave up approaching her due to her consistent arrogant attitude…
Perhaps because of that, the negative gaze towards me also began to fade slightly.
Of course, that doesn’t mean she made any friends.
“She also seems to like books.”
Mayeonseo, like me, always read books when it wasn’t class time.
Maybe it’s a characteristic of kids without friends.
That’s why we occasionally bumped into each other in the school library during lunchtime.
“….”
“……”
I didn’t talk much, so we treated each other as strangers every time.
Anyway. It was around the time when I got used to living in the haze.
“Oh, a new book.”
As usual, I went to the library and found a new book.
[The Path of the Tower]
It was a book related to the “Tower”.
The Tower refers to a strange structure that appeared worldwide decades ago.
A giant cylindrical shape that emerged from the ground overnight.
Humanity called it the “Tower”.
The Tower, consisting of dozens of floors, was connected to different dimensions on each floor, and various dangerous creatures roamed within….
At the same time, humans with supernatural abilities started to emerge.
Humans who wielded the mysterious power called “Mana” and displayed tremendous supernatural abilities.
They were called “Awakened” after awakening their supernatural abilities.
Using their supernatural abilities, they exterminated the monsters that flowed out of the Tower.
Later on, they began to systematically conquer the Tower.
The book [The Path of the Tower] contained the story of a certain expedition team that was the first to conquer the Tower.
“It should be interesting.”
Now, decades later, the Awakened individuals have gained popularity similar to celebrities based on their ranks.
Like many other children, I had an interest in the Awakened, so I felt intrigued by the short introduction written on the back of the book.
“I have to read this today.”
With an excited heart, I turned around.
“Oh, my goodness! You scared me!”
I bumped into a girl who was standing still.
Her black hair, casually tied up, and her fair and pretty face.
She was a troublemaker in our class, Mayeonseo.
“What’s up?”
For some reason, she was staring at the book in my hand.
It seemed like she was also looking for this book…
“Do you know it?”
It wasn’t my concern.
“I’ll just pass by.”
I avoided her and headed straight to the counter.
I’ll finish reading it in a day, and then she can read it on her own.
“hehehe. It’s going to be interesting.”
Returning to the classroom early, I sat down and started reading the borrowed book.
“…It’s so thrilling.”
All the books I borrowed this time were successful.
Especially the Path of the Tower that Mayeonseo cleverly borrowed, it had such a captivating immersion that I wanted to read it secretly during class.
“It was a good decision not to compromise.”
After turning all afternoon classes into self-study sessions,
it was a moment before the closing ceremony.
“…Is it because of my mood?”
Ma Yeon-seo, who usually never paid attention to me, started glancing at my seat.
“……”
More precisely, at the book placed on one side of the desk.
“Does she really want to read it that badly?”
Scratching my head, I hesitated for a moment, then gathered my courage and spoke to her.
“Hey.”
“……”
“Ma Yeon-seo.”
Swoosh. As I called her name, her gaze met mine reluctantly.
There was a subtle contempt in her eyes.
This guy. She definitely wasn’t an ordinary troublemaker.
“You were trying to borrow this, right?”
I showed her the half-read book, “The Path of the Tower.” Then her gaze quickly shifted to the book.
“……”
Her eyes were much softer than when we made eye contact.
“I’ve almost finished reading this. If you want, I can lend it to you, so read it and bring it back.”
As I discreetly handed her the book, she looked down at it.
As Ma-yeonseo stared at the book for a while, lost in thought…
“I’ll give it to you tomorrow.”
She willingly accepted the book and quietly tucked it into her bag.
It seemed like she had no intention of saying thank you.
“Well, that’s just like her.”
I quickly started packing my things to go home.
“Oh, right.”
I belatedly mentioned something I had forgotten.
“If there’s a page that I folded, leave it as it is. It’s where I was reading.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Ugh, what a pain.”
She really had a face that was worth the trouble.
*
The next day.
“I’m going now.”
“Yeah! Work hard today too!”
“Mom, stay strong too.”
“Let’s meet for dinner later!”
As usual, I left the house early to catch the usual time for my mother to go to work.
“I’ll probably be first again today.”
Thanks to that, I was usually the first one to arrive among the half of the students…
“Hello, teacher.”
“Yeah. So today, Yoochan came in second place?”
For once, there was a child who arrived before me.
From Noble mtl dot com
“Huh.”
It was Mayeonseo.
“What’s this? You always arrive right on time.”
She usually came at the usual time for school.
But today, for some reason, she arrived as the first place and was reading a book.
“You came early?”
“….”
I casually asked out of pure curiosity, and without thinking much about the obvious disregard, I sat down in my seat.
And at that moment.
Swish. Mayeonseo quietly placed something on my seat.
[The Path of the Tower]
It was the book I lent her yesterday.
“Did you finish reading it?”
“You said you’d give it to me today.”
“You’re fast.”
Just as I was about to read the book until the attendance check, I roughly opened it and glanced at the marked parts.
But.
Thud. Something thin jutted out between the pages of the book.
“Huh?”
It was none other than a bookmark.
Made of thin metal with fancy decorations, it didn’t look like a cheap product at first glance.
“What’s in here, Mayeonseo?”
When I took out the bookmark and asked her, she didn’t even look at me and calmly replied.
“Don’t fold the book, just use that.”
“Um… should I take it?”
“If you don’t want it, give it back.”
She extended her hand and our fleeting gazes met.
Momentarily taken aback by her strangely fierce gaze, I tightly clenched the bookmark and said.
“Well, I’ll use it well.”
Deep down, I thought that maybe this guy wasn’t so bad after all.
“Oh… I forgot how far I’ve read.”
“Page 223.”
“Oh. Thank you.”
From then on, we sat side by side every morning and read books together.