A Side Character's Mission ↠ Solo Leveling

Chapter 14: Safety First

In the morning, Seung-Eun went back to school as usual and was greeted by many students. Some asked the reason for his absence while those that already knew inquired about his fast-speed recovery.

The day went well until he noticed that his seatmate was ignoring him. Hae-Seong either ignored or gave him cold reply to his greetings, pestering and any other attempts to gain his attention. Seung-Eun gave Jin-Ah and Song-I a questioning look and only earned shrugs.

At lunch, Hae-Seong flirted with one if the popular girl in the school, Un Yu-Ri. Touching her long, wavy hair, whispering near her ear and sitting together like a couple in the cafeteria. Their intimate gestures earned onlookers and supporters, even teases from his other friends.

Suddenly, he was replaced by that girl.

Ah, is this what we call hoes before bros? That Yu-Ri had been chasing Hae-Seong for a while, and it seemed like the later had finally opened his heart. It left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Min-Su, the bullied junior the other day, blocked his sight of the two flirty people. "They are coming back to school today."

Seung-Eun remembered the people that he and his friend beat up and their duration of suspension. "Them? We beat those people pretty bad, so they won't pick on others anymore."

"That's not how it works, sunbae. They won't try to bother you but since I'm weak, they'll throw their frustrations and get revenge on me. What if they attack me outside school? They're resentful and I doubt they'll let it go, especially that pig- I mean, Tae-Won, if he went overboard, I might really die..." His eyelashes fluttered and he looked at him with glittering, watery eyes. "Can we walk home together?"

Seung-Eun pondered for a bit, it would be nice to have another close friend since the other one was busy with his new girlfriend. "Okay, but you have to treat me to a dessert once in a while."

"Sure! I can treat you everyday." Min-Su hugged his senior's arm and pressed his cheek happily, oblivious to the murderous look aimed towards him from across their table.

When they separated and went back to their classes, Hae-Seong's mood was bad and unapproachable as he sat on his seat with arms crossed on his chest. It was the first time that Seung-Eun see this side of him. "Did something happened between the two of you?"

Hae-Seong gave him a cold glance. "Why do you care?"

"Because... you are my friend? I understand that now you are in a relationship, but how can you just completely ignore me like this? I'm very hurt, you know. We spend more time with each other than you and her." Seung-Eun pressed his left chest dramatically, earning a glare from him.

'He ignored me but not the others. As far as I know, in this kind of relationship, the partner usually told the other to stay away from people that gave them bad influence or people that threatened their relationship. But in this case, I don't think that I've been bad to the others... ah, wait... is she worried that their time spent together since Hae-Seong is usually with me? Seriously, what am I? A boyfriend's stealer?'

After three days of failure in persuading him to talk with him, he gave up entirely and no longer batted an eyelash when his friend spent all of his time with someone other than him.

They no longer walk to school together, eat lunch together or joke around as usual.

Since Hae-Seong didn't want to communicate with him, then, so be it. Seung-Eun never let anyone entered his heart easily and played it, only to leave it broken, shattered and bleeding. In the end, like he always anticipated, people always leave him.

The tense silence between the two of them continued and during these days, he received a call from Jin-Ho, the rich Hunter that joined Hwang Dong-Suk's private raid, and asked to join another 19 private raids together with Jin-Woo. The payment for each raid was three million won, which was pretty good.