ITDS 10

Chapter 10. Ten Conditions for Becoming the Male Lead (4)

“Did you hear? Apparently, Bae Eunho went to Mun Yerim and told her to pay his hospital bill.”

“Why her? Did something happen between them?”

“How would I know? There’s a rumor going around that he hit the class president of Class 8….”

“Anyway, I feel sorry for Mun Yerim. Of all people, she had to get involved with Bae Eunho….”

“Y-You, you… Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

Before the rumors could spread any further, I grabbed Eunho by the arm and dragged him out of the classroom.

This couldn’t happen.

Why was he saying the lines that were supposed to start his relationship with Semin to me?!

Eunho silently looked down at me before lifting his cast with an indifferent expression.

“Did you think I wasn’t going to make you pay? This hand is ultimately your fault, isn’t it? So you should take responsibility.”

“Ah, I didn’t realize that’s what you meant… I can transfer the hospital bill to your account….”

“Mm, not like that.”

Eunho shook his head, wagging his finger from side to side.

Another ominous feeling crawled up my spine.

This reaction….

[“I’ll pay for the dry cleaning all at once….”

“No, not like that.”

“…Huh?”

“Stay by my side.”

“…….”

“Because I’ve started to worry about you.”]

Surely he wasn’t going to say the lines meant for Semin to me.

I had looked pretty cool yesterday, though…!

I swallowed nervously and waited for Eunho’s next words.

His lips slowly parted.

“Pay me back with volunteer work.”

“Volunteer work?”

“I have a lot of demerits from being late. To get rid of them, I have to do volunteer work in the library. But as you can see, my hand is like this because of someone.”

“…….”

“It starts after lunch tomorrow.”

Having said everything he wanted to say, Eunho confidently brushed past me and left the gymnasium.

I stood there all alone, turning his words over and over in my head.

It was a huge relief that he hadn’t said the lines meant for Semin to me, but….

“Is he making me do his demerit volunteer work for him?”

Never in my life had I imagined that I’d end up taking care of my favorite character’s demerits.

*

Fortunately, the rumors died down after lunch.

Eunho hadn’t come to our class even once after leaving the classroom that morning.

After lunch, I asked a friend for directions and headed to the library.

The librarian was in the middle of organizing some things when she heard me approaching and looked up.

When I told her I’d come to do volunteer work, she glanced toward the back.

“Oh, there are some books stacked up in the back. Just organize them by number. I’ll go eat lunch, so keep an eye on the library for me.”

“Yes, ma’am. Enjoy your lunch.”

After receiving my instructions from the librarian, I walked toward the back and began checking the serial numbers on the books piled up on the cart one by one.

Looking around, it seemed like no one else had come to the library yet.

It would actually be easier to organize everything if it was quiet.

Muttering to myself, I pulled out a book.

“You’re here?”

“Ah! You scared me!”

A familiar voice came from between the bookshelves.

I looked ahead, and Eunho emerged from between the shadows.

Startled, I accidentally threw the book in my hand at him.

Eunho caught the book with ease and checked its number.

“Why are you here?”

“Why do you think? You said I had to do this to get rid of my demerits.”

“So I’m doing it.”

“What? Hey, Mun Yerim.”

Bae Eunho walked toward me little by little.

My heart was already pounding at the thought of being alone in the library with my favorite character. Seeing Eunho gradually approaching me made me instinctively curl my toes.

Eunho took a book from behind me, checked its number again, and placed it on the bookshelf.

“Do I look like the kind of person who dumps his demerit volunteer work on other people? I just thought we’d do it together since I didn’t think I could finish it alone.”

He wasn’t wrong, so I quietly picked up another book.

Eunho seemed accustomed to doing volunteer work. He found the right numbers and placed the books on the empty shelves.

I watched him for a moment before starting to organize the books even faster.

For every one book Eunho put away, I shelved three, so we quickly cut down the time it would take.

After putting away all the books in front of me, I reached out to help Eunho with his.

Eunho widened his eyes in surprise before handing me the book he was holding.

“How are you so good at this?”

“Of course I’m good at it. When I was in college—no, I was in the library club when I was in middle school.”

I had almost mentioned my time in nursing school without thinking.

Back when I was studying nursing, I’d worked in the library, so I could shelve books even with my eyes closed.

Thanks to my quick hands, all the books were neatly organized fifteen minutes before the end of lunch.

Eunho headed toward the circulation desk to record his volunteer hours.

While he was gone for a moment, I checked the books on the shelves one by one.

“I wonder what the kids here read…. Huh? This book!”

The author really was a cultured pervert.

How did they think of putting Director Ahn’s screenplay collection here?

Every time I read the novel, I could tell that the author was someone who loved movies, but I never dreamed they’d actually put screenplay books in the library’s arts section.

It was out of print and difficult to find even in my original world, but here, I was holding a pristine copy of Director Ahn’s screenplay collection, completely clean and without a single scratch.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you leaving?”

“I was about to. But I’d like to borrow this… Is there any way I can?”

“What is it?”

I didn’t know how to check out books from this school.

Eunho took the screenplay collection from my hands and looked it over from various angles.

Then he glanced once at the librarian’s desk and once at me before scratching the back of his neck.

“You can do it if the librarian is here. Do you have your student ID?”

“Huh? No, I don’t have one….”

“I have too many demerits, so I can’t borrow books for a while. Just come back another time and read it.”

“That’s a shame.”

“Do you really like this book that much? It only has dialogue and stage directions, so it looks boring at first glance.”

“No, it isn’t. Look.”

I flipped through the screenplay collection and showed Eunho my favorite part.

“You think you’re living your life properly, don’t you? No. You’re living the way other people see you.”

That line was one of the movie’s most iconic scenes, and it was also my favorite line.

Eunho looked at me and the lines in the screenplay in turns, but his expression showed less than a third of the emotion I was feeling.

“Isn’t it so good? Actually, maybe we all live the way other people see us. Without knowing who we really are.”

“…Maybe.”

Eunho still looked like he didn’t quite understand.

At that moment, I remembered the rumors I’d heard about him—and even the rumors I hadn’t known about before.

“Eunho, did you… ever break the judo club’s door?”

At my question, Eunho’s large eyes filled with bewilderment.

A few seconds later, Eunho nodded.

My heart sank.

“Why?”

“An upperclassman… kept hitting the kids as a way of disciplining them. I tried to stop him, and I fell against the door.”

“Huh?”

“I got injured because of that, and that’s also why I quit judo.”

“What?!?!”

Thinking about it carefully, there was nowhere in the webnovel where I could find any information about the reason for Eunho’s injury.

Since Semin was the protagonist, what mattered more than the reason for Eunho’s injury was how he overcame it and what happened afterward, so it made sense that it had been omitted.

But I never imagined the reason would be something this absurd.

“You, you… Do you know the other students misunderstand you because of that?”

“Yeah. I know.”

“Then why don’t you correct them…? Just like yesterday… You were in an unfair situation.”

“Because I don’t care how they see me.”

“Why don’t you care?!”

Without realizing it, I raised my voice at Eunho in the library.

“Whoa, that’s loud! This is a library, you know?”

“Eunho, listen. I know it might be a little difficult, but… couldn’t you relax your eyes a little, lower your eyebrows, and be kinder to the people you meet as you go about your day…? Couldn’t you be more gentle?”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“I want you to be a little kinder and friendlier to other people. That way, they won’t misunderstand you when they see you, and you’ll be able to get along with them. Okay? I’ll help you.”

“Why do I have to do that?”

Unlike before, Eunho’s expression visibly darkened.

I knew it, too.

I knew that my words and meddling were probably annoying and exhausting him.

“I know.”

“…….”

“I know that you’re a warm and kind person. Even if you’re not good at expressing yourself, I know that you quietly do what you need to do behind the scenes. I know all of that. I just want other people to see the real Bae Eunho instead of the Bae Eunho they hear about in the rumors.”

“…Hey, Mun Yerim.”

“I know it’s annoying to go around correcting every rumor. But words are really frightening…. If everyone around you sees you a certain way and keeps saying that’s who you are, you can really become that kind of person. We felt that yesterday, didn’t we?”

“Did you hear? Nurse Oh….”

“Ah, I don’t even want to talk about Nurse Oh. She’s absolutely horrible.”

The hardest thing wasn’t any of the countless rumors.

It was the fact that Eunho had grown accustomed to them.

I wanted my favorite Eunho—the character I supported and cared about more than anyone—to make just a little more effort so that he could end up with Semin.

I truly did.

That’s what love was like.

As the brief silence continued, a cool breeze blew through the open window.

It was truly spring now.

“Then teach me.”

At Eunho’s words, I covered my mouth.

Was he really saying this…?

“Teach me how to look kind to other people.”

Yes!

As long as my favorite character was willing, I could do anything!

I grabbed Eunho’s hand—the one without the cast—and nodded vigorously.

“Eunho, just trust me!”