Unrequited Love Thresher-Chapter 34: Where Are We Going

Choi Mujin stood crookedly, hands shoved in his pockets.

The stares that had been lingering on Ha Giyeon all shifted to the suddenly appearing Choi Mujin—but one by one, everyone averted their eyes.

“Ah, hello, Choi Mujin-sunbae...”

Even Nam Taekyung glanced away as he offered a greeting.

To them, all of Ha Dohoon’s friends were intimidating, but if there was one person they avoided more than the others—it was, as you could see, Choi Mujin.

While Ha Dohoon and Kwon Jongseok were the types people admired and wanted to befriend, Choi Mujin was someone people just wanted to know about from a distance.

Dohoon, Jongseok, and Mujin were all so well-known that there were countless rumors about them. In Dohoon’s case, people said he’d expel you or ruin your life if you got on his bad side. Jongseok was rumored to do volunteer work, or help others. Many of the rumors were exaggerated, but enough of them were true to keep the whispers going.

Among them, Choi Mujin—with his particularly unfriendly face—was the subject of the worst ones. That he beat someone half to death and put them in the hospital just because he didn’t like them. That when he got caught smoking, he burned a teacher with the cigarette. That if you pissed him off, he’d beat you to a pulp with a baseball bat.

The rumors were full of nasty behavior.

To them, Choi Mujin was practically a psychopath with anger management issues. Especially with the scar on his chin and the multiple piercings hanging from his ears, his already sharp features looked even more vicious.

“...”

The people who had been chatting freely with Ha Giyeon moments earlier all went silent, gauging Mujin’s mood. Even Nam Taekyung showed a brief moment of hesitation.

But unlike them, Ha Giyeon looked straight at Mujin, who had boldly appeared in front of the classroom.

“Hyung... why are you here...”

“If homeroom’s over, you should be getting out fast. What are you standing around here for?”

With trash like these.

Mujin swept his eyes up and down over Nam Taekyung and his friends. Even though he was clearly mocking them, no one said a word.

Of course not. What if he really did start swinging?

Mujin strode forward and grabbed Ha Giyeon’s arm.

“Come with me.”

“...?”

Giyeon was about to ask where they were going, but glanced at Nam Taekyung and shut his mouth. At the moment, it seemed better to go with Mujin than to stay here with Taekyung.

Giyeon let Mujin lead him toward the door without resistance—but then his other arm was yanked hard. He suppressed the instinct to cry out and turned to see Nam Taekyung holding onto him. Even while eyeing Mujin nervously, Taekyung’s gaze was full of obsession.

“Giyeon, so we’re doing that study group this week, right? It’s okay to do it at your place, isn’t it?”

The original question of whether they’d have a study group had smoothly shifted to whether they could do it at Giyeon’s house.

Why is he so desperate to come to my house?

He knew it was because of Ha Dohoon—but unlike before his regression, Taekyung’s desperation now bordered on obsession, and it honestly frightened him.

“What kind of bullshit study group.”

Mujin suddenly stepped between Giyeon and Taekyung. Startled by the sudden move, Taekyung let go of his arm, and Mujin placed Giyeon behind him. Because of their height difference, Taekyung naturally ended up looking up at him. With a crooked smirk, Mujin spoke.

“Why would Ha Giyeon need to study? Studying’s for people like you who don’t have shit.”

“...”

“He’s fine without it. He’s got everything. You’re the ones who need to worry, right?”

The look he gave from above was filled with derision, and Taekyung gritted his teeth and lowered his head.

“And who the fuck are you to say whether you can go to his house or not? You wanna get fucked up by Ha Dohoon?”

“Hyung...”

At the harsh tone, Giyeon tugged slightly on Mujin’s blazer like he was asking him to stop. Seeing his troubled expression, Mujin clicked his tongue, then turned and led Giyeon out of the classroom. Just before leaving, Giyeon murmured an apology.

Left behind, Taekyung and his friends stayed silent until Mujin was completely gone—then finally began to speak.

“Fucking hell, did you hear how he talks? What a bastard.”

“Shit, you can tell what kind of trash he is just by how he talks. I’m telling you, those rumors are true. He put some kid in the hospital.”

“If he wasn’t an upperclassman, I’d punch him.”

“Yeah, and you’d get your ass beat.”

As Taekyung’s friends swore at Mujin and tried to act tough, Taekyung stared at the spot the two had disappeared through, eyes burning red.

He had to calm down the humiliation, the disgust, and the rage boiling inside him. He couldn’t let anyone see how angry he was. The moment he exposed his real emotions, they’d be used as weaknesses—so instead, he had to show the opposite.

“Taekyung, you okay?”

“Y-yeah... I was just a little shocked...”

“I mean, even if it’s like that, talking like that in front of everyone is way too much!”

“I didn’t think Giyeon would just walk off like that... That’s what shocked me.”

As Taekyung fidgeted and spoke with his eyes lowered, his friends offered him comfort.

Even though Giyeon had been dragged out, Mujin’s presence had already erased the memory of it.

“Giyeon’s just the same. He’s from that family.”

“Hey, at least he said sorry. It’s not his fault.”

“No, I’ve felt for a while now like Giyeon kind of looks down on us. It pisses me off.”

The same people who, just a few days ago, had been whispering behind Taekyung’s back about how he was clinging to Giyeon, were now badmouthing Giyeon—just because they felt attacked.

As always, Taekyung was stunned by how two-faced they were—and at the same time, he smirked.

Might as well make them start bullying Giyeon.

That way, Giyeon would reach out to him.

***

Practically dragged outside by the arm, Ha Giyeon finally dug in his heels as they neared the school gate, forcing Mujin to stop.

He hunched his shoulders instinctively, afraid he might run into Son Suhyeon.

“What are you stopping for?”

“Wait—where are we going?”

“I’ve got somewhere to go. Just come with me.”

Mujin tried to pull him along again, but Giyeon resisted. He could feel other students watching them leave the gate, but he couldn’t just let himself be dragged like this.

“I have plans. I have to go.”

Mujin looked at him irritably.

“What kind of plans? You don’t even have any real friends.”

“Anyway... it’s not a good time today.”

“Then when? Tomorrow? The day after?”

“That’s...”

“You’ve been too busy avoiding me to even think about meeting up.”

It was true. Giyeon would bolt the moment he spotted one of them in the hallway. It was obvious he’d been avoiding them—but he hadn’t expected they were keeping such close tabs on him.

The reason he avoided them wasn’t just because he was afraid of being noticed. More than that, it was because of Kwon Jongseok.

Ever since the supply room incident, Jongseok had been trying to contact him. Asking to meet and talk. Giyeon had rejected him firmly with excuses, and ignored all his follow-ups.

He figured if he did that, the older boys’ pride would be hurt and they’d lose interest.

But instead ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) of backing off, they only became more persistent.

“Just hurry up and follow me.”

Watching Mujin walk ahead of him, Giyeon debated seriously. Should he run—or follow?

If he tried to run, there was a good chance Mujin would catch him. Mujin was the weakest of the older boys physically, but still stronger than Giyeon. And even if he did get away—what would he do tomorrow?

Then all that was left was to follow him. But where was he even taking him?

Surely not to the villa. They had school tomorrow.

“Hey, are you coming or not?”

“...Haah.”

In the end, Giyeon decided to go with him.

Wherever they were going, he’d just do what they wanted quickly and be done with it. He pulled out his phone and messaged the café manager to say he’d be late. The reply gave him a three-hour grace period, and Giyeon, feeling a bit more at ease, followed after Mujin.

“Hey—hey, isn’t that Choi Mujin...”

“Don’t make eye contact. You’ll get the shit beat out of you.”

As they passed by, Giyeon overheard students whispering about Mujin and glanced at his back.

His loose, swaggering walk, the fierce expression, the flashy earrings.

He looked like the classic delinquent. There were all kinds of rumors—about him beating someone nearly to death, about smoking. Giyeon knew the truth better than anyone.

He’d heard the stories about Mujin putting someone in the hospital plenty of times. It was true Mujin trained in martial arts and had fought a lot since he was young.

But that didn’t mean he went around beating people for no reason. Mujin never started fights. He never hit people without provocation.

And smoking? That was the most ridiculous rumor Giyeon had ever heard. Sure, Mujin looked like the type who’d hold a cigarette—but that was all. He couldn’t actually smoke.

He had asthma as a kid and had always had weak lungs. He couldn’t even do intense physical activity back then. Even now, though he could exercise, smoking was out of the question.

Someone who took such meticulous care of himself—would he really do something that would wreck his body?

It was obvious he got caught up in rumors because of his appearance, but Mujin didn’t seem to care at all.

Which is why, unlike before his regression, Giyeon had no intention of correcting rumors about the older boys.

He had enough to worry about with the rumors about himself.

“Get in already. You’re so damn slow.”

Mujin opened the back door of a white sedan and gestured at him.

“We’re going by car?”

“What, you want to walk or something?”

Shoved by Mujin, Giyeon ended up sitting beside him in the back seat. As the car pulled away, anxiety started creeping in.

Are we really going to the villa?

Now that he thought about it, the older boys often skipped school—so missing a few days wouldn’t mean anything to them.

Should I jump out of the car when I get the chance? he thought—but the place they arrived at was totally unexpected.

“A... department store?”

A tall department store building loomed in front of them.