When I Returned, a High School Romantic Comedy Began

4 – 4. You know I like you, you damn bast*rd.

“…”

“Say it, don’t just make that face.”

Her expression clearly showed she disliked it, but when asked directly, Park Chae-rin just bit down on her lips.

Usually chatting beside her, even her friend quietly watched the situation unfold.

In the classroom, only the wall clock with its ticking sound continued moving.

Then, Chae-rin’s red lips that seemed like they would never move again parted slightly.

“Let’s talk outside.”

With that, she walked out the back door.

Only then did the classroom friends open their mouths, as if they had been holding their breath.

“Wow…crazy guy.”

“So ballsy?”

“As expected, the only Korean I acknowledge…”

All kinds of profanity seemed to come from behind but that wasn’t important right now.

‘What if I don’t follow and she just leaves…?’

To catch up with her, I quickly left the classroom and followed her.

*

If you leave the school’s back gate, after a short walk an isolated alley appears.

Since there’s nothing there, people don’t pass through the deserted area.

‘It’s on teachers’ regular patrol routes because kids are always smoking here.’

In short, it was a haven for top tiers.

Since I was a local, I had been a few times but wasn’t very familiar with the way.

I just followed Chae-rin until suddenly, she stopped and spoke to me in a sharper tone than earlier.

“What were you thinking, calling me out there in front of everyone?”

“Huh?”

“Trying to show off and make me look stupid?”

I didn’t have that intention at all.

No, why would she look stupid just because I spoke to her?

‘Is my face enough to embarrass her if I speak to her?’

I thought I looked pretty young for 25 but…

Well, she probably has high standards, so I let it slide.

“Talking to you doesn’t have to be embarrassing.”

“…Yeah yeah, hurry up and say why you called me.”

“…”

Joo-woon fell silent as if spellbound, right before opening his mouth, when Chae-rin spoke first.

“Have you ever talked to me before?”

“No, right?”

“So why’d you suddenly call me out now?”

Why did I call out to her? To save her from getting run over, that’s why.

‘But now that I’ve called her out, I don’t really have anything to tell her.’

I wanted to talk about what happened at her funeral, but bringing that up here would just get me dismissed as crazy.

‘And it’d be weird to just tell her to look both ways when crossing…’

As I hesitated, unsure what to say, Chae-rin let out a sigh.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

She called me then bluntly spat out,

“I’m not planning to date anyone so give up your dream.”

“…What?”

What did I just hear?

Too stunned by her sudden rejection to grasp the situation properly, I gazed at her blankly, and she erased her serious expression, showing a sly smile instead.

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“What, you thought someone like you I’d accept?”

“…”

“Who confesses without even talking first? Nothing’s more disgusting than getting confessed to by a guy who’s never spoken to me.”

Her words finally started getting my brain working again to properly recognize the situation.

‘So…she thinks I called her out to confess?’

It was an understandable misunderstanding but I never imagined she would be so immersed in this delusion.

So before I knew it, blunt honesty burst out.

“Are you crazy or something?”

“…What?”

Chae-rin’s face instantly showed bewilderment.

‘Was that word already around?’

Unsure if she properly understood what I meant, I explained.

“Like, why do you think everyone else likes you?”

“…”

Unlike her composure earlier, Chae-rin stared at me dumbfounded, clearly not expecting these words.

But soon, seeming to find something funny, she resumed her sneer from before and said to me.

“So why did you call me out then?”

“…”

Right. Why did I call her out?

Without a solid plan, just thinking to somehow start a conversation, I called out to her, so I didn’t really have a reason.

‘Should I just say I liked her after all?’

But after her outright rejection, it would be awkward to backtrack.

Of course I could always just close my eyes and claim I was joking and actually do like her but…

“Why’d you call me? Could it be you got embarrassed being rejected so you lied you don’t like me?”

“…”

For some reason, my pride wouldn’t allow me to just let it go.

‘What should I do?’

As I racked my brains for a solution, something I’d never done in my life, I spotted a cigarette butt rolling on the ground. A lightbulb went off in my head and I got an idea.

The perfect excuse came to me.

*

“Why did you call me over? Don’t tell me you got rejected and now you’re sulking because I turned you down?”

Seeing Chae-rin’s awkward expression at her words, Joo-un frowned.

‘I guess that’s what happened.’

I was baffled when I first heard he had an axe to grind, but seeing him now, I roughly understood.

‘He got rejected before he could even confess, and now he’s trying to save face.’

If he had just admitted it and apologized, I would’ve felt bad but let it go.

But seeing him act so shamelessly irritated me to the point where he seemed disgusting.

Obviously, all of it was…

“Cigarettes.”

“…What?”

What Chae-rin imagined was just a figment of her own speculation, but he still had that shameless grin from before.

“Let me bum a cigarette.”

Cigarettes.

It allowed him to satisfy his cravings while also creating a connection with her.

‘My nicotine levels must be dangerously low. How convenient.’

This way, he could refuel his nicotine and keep an eye on Chae-rin.

Killing two birds with one stone.

Chae-rin still didn’t seem convinced, glaring at me suspiciously.

“What bullsh*t. You don’t even smoke.”

“That’s what everyone thinks.”

And it was true that he didn’t smoke before, but the Joo-un from his past life was a veteran smoker who juggled Ahhs and cigarettes in both hands at his part-time jobs.

Of course, Chae-rin had no way of knowing that. She looked at me with distrustful eyes at my slick response.

“Just admit it. I can’t stand how pathetic you’re being.”

“If you don’t want to give me one, just say so.”

“…Ugh.”

Not backing down from the verbal sparring match, she said,

“I don’t smoke.”

“…Huh?”

Chae-rin wasn’t a smoker.

None of the people around her, including herself, were smokers, though she occasionally ditched class, giving her a somewhat delinquent image that led to misunderstandings.

But in reality, Chae-rin hated cigarettes to the point of grimacing at the thought of being called a smoker.

‘This annoying jerk…’

She was already irritated enough at those misunderstandings, and now being singled out and asked for a cigarette just aggravated her more.

“You really don’t smoke?”

“I told you I don’t! Can’t you listen?”

Seeing her get irritable from the repeated question, Joo-un’s expression noticeably darkened.

Watching him, Chae-rin’s anger faded, replaced by disbelief.

‘He really called me out just for that?’

She naturally assumed he would confess or say something sleazy, but cigarettes?

Still not believing it, she asked for confirmation.

“You really called me out just to bum a cigarette?”

“Yeah.”

His response was firm.

She could already tell from his tone and behavior, so different from the boy who confessed to her, but she still seemed to have a hard time believing it, or just didn’t like it, as she grilled Joo-un.

“Why me? You could’ve asked someone else.”

She had a point.

There was no need to ask her, someone he barely talked to.

“Well, almost everyone here is from the same middle school, and I’ve somehow built an image as a model student…”

Calling himself a model student was a bit of a stretch considering his usual antics, but…

Anyway, it wasn’t a lie.

Asking one of the punk kids for a cigarette would just associate him with their crowd, something he very much wanted to avoid.

“I just want a cigarette, I don’t want to get involved with weirdos.”

“…So you asked me in secret?”

Nodding at Chae-rin’s question, she looked at him incredulously.

And then she recalled what her friend said during break.

[But he’s never been interested in girls before… Now he’s fixated on your face.]

If Joo-un really had zero interest in girls like he used to, then maybe she was mistaken after all.

Seeing the genuinely disappointed look on his face as he watched her, she became certain this was the truth.

‘So he really has no interest in me? But I thought…’

[I’m not planning to date anyone so don’t get your hopes up.]

[Why? You thought I’d accept you?]

She wanted to die.

Chae-rin was so embarrassed she couldn’t even look Joo-un in the eye, her face flushing red to her ears.

It was a side of her that seemed unimaginable for someone usually so sharp and cold.

“Axe to grind…”

Hearing her muttering to herself, I barely held back my laughter welling up inside.

Her bright red face began turning cold and frosty again.

“No.”

With a tone icy cold to the point of being brittle, Joo-un flinched in that moment.

‘…What’s with her?’

Sensing the dangerous change in atmosphere, he took a step back. Then she said,

“Cut the bullsh*t, you asshole.”

“Huh?”

Self-defense.

Chae-rin couldn’t accept this first experience of being rejected.

So she decided his words must be lies.

Despite all the clues and his expression now being clearly different from the boy who liked her,

‘Does he think he can fool me by pretending not to care?’

To erase her humiliation, Chae-rin started believing in a version of reality that suited her.

In her eyes now, everything seemed false.

With her cheeks slightly more pink than usual, she glared at him like a alley cat.

“You like me, damn it.”