|Weak Hero| Dara Na [Old Version]

Chapter 2

"Hey, wanna go to the snack bar with me?" Bryce asked the three nervously. "I'll buy,"

'He's such a try hard,' Dara thought. 'I don't like him,'

At the snack bar, Bryce brought over a tray of chips and drinks. "Just tell me if you want anything else,"

"Man, I think we have more than enough," Stephen said. "Haha,"

'I'm not going to ask anything from him,' Dara decided. 'I don't want to owe him. He's putting a continuous effort to hang out with us. He's only with us so he wouldn't be alone. This doesn't feel like a friendship to me,'

Eventually, the usual trio was now a usual quadrio. It frustrated Dara, but he forced himself to pretend to be nice to Bryce and not make it obvious that he hated him.

'The moment he slips up, I'll make sure he leaves us alone,'

XXX

Stephen had finished putting up some posters on the bulletin board. Dara was walking down the hallway and overheard two students near the window. "That dumbass over there with the tape, it's Stephen Ahn, right? Guys have been calling him Tapeman cause he's always putting up posters, acting like he's some kinda saint, hehe,"

"Maybe you're just jealous," Dara spoke up. "You're jealous that there's someone who actually is genuinely nice. You're jealous that he's happier than you. You're jealous that he doesn't have to hide his insecurities by acting all tough around people to impress others, especially girls,"

"Who do you think you are!?" One of them lunged at Dara.

Dara simply caught the fist with ease and glared at him. "I'm Dara Na, plain and simple. Just because I'm always with Fen Fox doesn't mean that I'm as nice as them," He let go and calmly left without anyone chasing after him.

When Dara returned to his friends, he noticed Bryce talking to Gray. "Gray, I saw you landed first place on the test again,"

"Yeah, that's just how it panned out," Gray responded.

"That's fucking amazing, man," Bryce commented. "That idiot Stephen scored first once. What a fluke. Took a nosedive from glory, didn't he? Hahaha. Turns out his real place is in the lower-middle range. Sometimes though, when I look at that fucker, I feel like he's so fucking fake. Does he think he's the students' guardian angel or something?"

"Maybe you're the fake one," Dara growled. "Fen Fox isn't fake. He's genuinely nice. Maybe you're the one pretending to be nice to us because we're the first people to ever want to hang out with you. The three of us are a package. If you don't like Stephen, then don't hang out with us,"

"You—"

"Phew, that's all of it," Stephen walked over to them after having finished up taping the posters.  "Takkan revenge match today?"

As if forgetting about the conversation between Bryce and Dara, Gray smiled at Stephen. "You think you can handle it?" 'Bryce Oh is saying all those things because of his long-time, deeply-rooted inferiority complex,'

A pair of girls were near the building entrance. "It's Stephen Ahn, Gray Yeon, and Dara Na from Class Four,"

"They're so perfect, OMG!"

XXX

"Come on man, why are you busting your balls buried in those books all the time?" Bryce, who hadn't worn his glasses and now had his hair gelled back, slung an arm over Gray's shoulder. "You should take it easy. You know, your frantic efforts to keep your grades up, are fucking sad and obnoxious. Keep that shit up and you won't grow, man. Hahaha,"

"Maybe if you studied more, Bryce, you'd actually place higher," Dara spoke up. "Since you insulted Stephen about his scores being in the lower-middle range, then what about your scores? You're not even in the top ten. How about instead of calling out other people, you focus on improving yourself first?"

'Dara Na, who the hell do you think you are?' Bryce gritted his teeth in anger. "At least my grades are better than Stephen's,"

"I bet he'll place first in the next test," Dara smirked. 

"Look at you, Bryce," Stephen greeted. "I see you lost the glasses. It's a good look for you,"

"Oh, yeah..." 'Stupid Tapeman,'

"Let's meet up after class,"

"Oh, my house is empty today,"

"Is that the plan then?"

XXX

"Hah, this is boring," Bryce whined after a few rounds of Takkan. 

"Then leave," Dara ordered. "Everyone else is enjoying it. If you find it boring, the door's right there. No one's forcing you to stay,"

'You fucker!' Bryce clenched a fist. 'I thought that Stephen Ahn was a pain, but Dara Na is even worse!'

"Bryce, do you really think this is boring?" Stephen asked, trying to get rid of the tension. 

"Don't you think we kind of hangout like losers?" Bryce pointed out. 

Stephen just smiled. "I'm the King of Losers, baby. Hahaha,"

Bryce broke out into a fit of laughter when he heard Stephen dub himself that. "Bwahahaha! Stephen Ahn, the King of Losers, you can say that again! For real though, you're such a loser! Hahaha!" He managed to calm down a bit. "I mean, real talk, you're the dumbest out of the three of us. I mean, Gray shouldn't count, since he just studies all day. But you're around the middle in terms of grades. Actually, weren't you a little lower than that? Heh,"

"Wow, Bryce is roasting the shit out of me!" Stephen laughed along. "Alright man, hahaha!" 

"You know what Dara said?" Bryce recalled. "He said that you'll place first in the next test,"

"Thanks for having faith in me, man," Stephen told Dara. "I'll study hard and achieve first place! You study hard too, Dara,"

Class Ranking
1. Stephen Ahn
2. Gray Yeon
3. George Kwan
4. Dara Na
...
13. Bryce Oh

"I finally place fourth instead of fifth!" Dara cheered. "Who's the dumbest of the group now, Bryce? I told you Stephen's gonna place first,"

'At least Gray Yeon was always on top, but Stephen Ahn, that damn fucker...and even Dara Na! He was always a bit higher than me, but never surpassed fifth place! This is fucking pissing me off!'

Dara, please beat the shit out of Bryce.