Chapter 7. Ten Conditions for Becoming the Male Lead (1)

As Semin was carrying her lunch, her vision suddenly began spinning as though she had ridden a roller coaster dozens of times.

When she came to her senses, she was lying flat on her back in the middle of the cafeteria.

The students stopped eating and leaned away to stare at Semin, while Hae-in, sitting diagonally across from her, covered her mouth to hide a smile.

Semin’s hands felt strangely light. The lunch tray she had been holding had spilled its entire contents onto the man’s clothes across from her and was dripping down them.

“What the hell? Who are you?”

Semin swallowed unconsciously.

Bae Eunho, who seemed to get into conflicts with everyone he bumped into at school, was looking at her with a twitching eyebrow.

The cafeteria instantly fell silent.

From <Welcome! Summer Film>

Eunho and Semin’s first meeting wasn’t particularly pleasant.

Semin had accidentally spilled her lunch all over Eunho’s clothes.

You could tell just from the sentence about the cafeteria going silent how terrible their first impression of each other was.

[“Why do you keep bothering me…?”

“You asking because you don’t know? You need to pay for the dry cleaning. You ruined my uniform.”]

After that, whenever Eunho saw Semin, he would glare at her and demand compensation for the dry-cleaning bill, persistently following her around.

Only later did the readers realize that it was love.

But how terrifying must that have been for the female protagonist, Semin?

This wasn’t some loan shark chasing her around….

[Comment: Eunho has absolutely no appeal as a male lead. Is a male lead really supposed to scare the female protagonist in the beginning? He’s just destined to be the second male lead forever.]

The world had changed.

If a character like Eunho was going to become the male lead, things needed to proceed accordingly.

Of course, the most important thing was Semin’s feelings.

After all, in Season 1, Semin chose the kindhearted Dokyeom….

Which meant Eunho needed to become a little kinder from this point onward.

So, what was Eunho like right now?

Do I even need to say?

“Did you hear Bae Eunho skipped class again today?”

“He’s always hanging out on the rooftop.”

“Is he the one who smokes up there?”

“You mean Bae Eunho? I heard he got into a fight yesterday, too.”

“He’s really scary. How does he even stay in school?”

Ever since Eunho had quit sports, the rumors surrounding him had grown like a snowball rolling downhill.

Ignoring the students’ gossip, I sat in the classroom as usual and prepared for self-study.

Actually, I’d gone loitering around Eunho’s classroom as soon as I arrived at school, but it seemed he hadn’t come in yet.

I was planning to give him some pain-relief patches and disinfectant supplies, so I decided to wait until break time.

As I recalled how noisy the classroom had been all throughout class because everyone was talking about Bae Eunho, I unconsciously glanced at Semin sitting in a corner.

I was worried that Semin might be affected by those rumors.

“Um….”

I’d only been thinking about Semin in my head when I suddenly heard her voice.

Break time had already arrived.

When I looked up, Semin was tapping me on the shoulder and waiting for a response.

She was so cute that I immediately asked what was wrong.

Semin glanced around before speaking.

“Do you want to go to the school store with me?”

I couldn’t possibly ignore Semin looking at me like a rabbit.

I decided I’d go see Eunho during the next break.

He always came to school late anyway, so what difference would it make?

*

Semin put a chocolate bread and chocolate milk into my hands.

That was an overwhelmingly sugary combination.

As I thought about it, I reminded myself that I was a high school student again.

Semin was holding the exact same combination as me and gave me an awkward smile.

“It might be a little sudden, but I wanted to thank you for talking to me that time.”

“No, it’s fine. I did it because I wanted to become friends with you.”

“Really? Actually, I wanted to become friends with you too… the moment I first saw you.”

My second-favorite character had just told me she wanted to become friends with me.

Oh Young—no, Mun Yerim—had hit the jackpot.

I sat down with Semin at an empty table, eating bread and drinking milk while chatting about this and that.

How long it took to get from home to school.

Whether there were any school-lunch dishes she particularly liked.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, I carefully brought up one question I’d been wanting to ask Semin.

“By any chance, do you still draw on the rooftop these days?”

“Hm? Ah… yeah. It’s quiet up there.”

“Then… have you ever seen a boy on the rooftop who has sharp-looking eyes, is handsome, looks like he has a terrible personality, but is actually kind of cute once you get to know him?”

If Semin had already encountered Eunho on the rooftop, my entire plan would have fallen apart.

Semin quietly stared at her chocolate bread before taking a bite and shaking her head.

I unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.

“I haven’t seen anyone like that… but I sometimes see the transfer student.”

“Oh, the transfer student~? Huh?! Han Dokyeom?”

At my sudden shout, Semin choked on her milk.

I quickly grabbed some tissues and took care of her.

After waving her hand to indicate that she was fine, Semin nodded.

“Yeah, but he doesn’t talk to me. He just gets some fresh air and then goes back down.”

“Ah… I-I see. That’s all, right? If he ever talks to you… um, could you tell me?”

“Hm? Why?”

“Th-That’s because he’s your friend. I-I was just curious.”

What a ridiculous excuse.

I’m older than her, and that was the best excuse I could come up with?

Semin seemed to like even my nonsensical excuse, though, and smiled as she said she’d let me know.

Oh, what am I going to do with this adorable little bunny?

A brief silence followed.

Break time was almost over.

Semin fiddled with the wrapper of her finished bread while watching me carefully.

People only behaved like that when they had something they wanted to say.

Sure enough, Semin slowly opened her mouth.

“You know, by any chance, is your father….”

“Yerim!!!”

Just then, a boy came running toward me from a distance, calling my name.

I stretched my neck to get a better look.

As the boy drew closer, I recognized his familiar glasses.

That guy was….

“Eunho was helping me!”

It was the Class 8 president from yesterday!

The moment I realized who he was, the Class 8 president dropped to the ground, apparently out of breath, and began gasping heavily.

He raised a hand as if trying to say something, but I couldn’t understand him.

I leaned closer to hear him properly.

“What? Did something happen?”

“Haah… r-right now… the t-teachers’ office….”

The moment I heard the Class 8 president’s words, I ran straight to the teachers’ office.

As soon as I opened the door, several parents dressed in expensive coats were gathered around one student, aggressively hurling angry words at him.

And the student silently enduring their complaints was….

Eunho.

“Those boys from yesterday reported that it was unfair they were taken away by the police… so their parents came here. They’re demanding that Eunho’s parents be called, too. They’re saying he needs to be disciplined immediately.”

“Even though you told them what happened? You said he got hurt while helping you.”

“They won’t listen…. They’re saying that what happened was no different from violence, and apparently all the kids’ noses were broken.”

You’ve got to be kidding me!

Despite the teacher trying to stop me, I glared at the furious parents.

And from the looks of it, the only teacher properly trying to intervene was the discipline teacher.

The others simply shook their heads and went about their business as though Eunho was naturally the kind of kid who would do something like this.

“You used to be a successful judo athlete, so now you think you’re above everyone else, huh? How dare you throw your fists around like some ignorant brute! Is that how your parents raised you?”

“I absolutely won’t let this go. I’ll spend every last penny I have if I have to and get you transferred to another school by force. Do you understand?!”

“Pathetic…. Your own life is ruined, so now you’re planning to ruin someone else’s life, too?”

No.

This wasn’t right.

The more I listened, the harsher the things these parents were saying became.

I couldn’t just stand there and watch.

Despite all the verbal abuse being thrown at him, Eunho stubbornly held his head high and looked at each of them one by one.

Eventually, the man in the suit who had been furiously shouting raised his hand toward Eunho.

“What are you staring at so defiantly when you’re the one in the wrong?!”

“That’s enough!”

At my shout, every teacher in the office, the student who had come to run an errand, the noisy parents, and even Eunho all turned to look at me.

“You’re both at fault, so why are you only going after our kid?”

“Who are you to interfere, student? Are you his girlfriend or something?”

“Don’t you know who I am?”

“Who are you?”

One of the parents crossed her arms and stepped closer to me.

I crossed my arms in the same way and raised the corners of my mouth, refusing to be intimidated by her.

Then I naturally pushed Eunho behind me.

I couldn’t stand there any longer while my favorite character was being subjected to insults.

The discipline teacher looked completely dumbfounded and motioned for me to come over.

I firmly shook my head and opened my mouth.

“I’m actually a victim who was almost hit by your son with a wooden club. I guess he didn’t tell you about that part, did he?”

“W-What?”

“Go ahead. Report him and have him disciplined. But then I’ll have to report him, too, Teacher.”

I spoke confidently to the discipline teacher.

This is….

“Please call the police right now.”

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

That was my strategy.