Chapter 18:

  Summer Film’s New Face (4)

“Semin, is your knee okay?”

Semin, who had been in the nurse’s office, struggled to get to her feet. The problem was that she had hit her knee hard against the marble floor when she fell. Seeing the deep bluish-purple bruise on her knee made my heart ache.

I took her arm to help support her.

“Thanks. I’m okay. They said the muscles just got strained.”

“You should go to the hospital. It’ll probably turn even bluer tomorrow.”

“But, Yerim…”

“Hmm?”

Semin’s face gradually turned redder and redder. I wondered if she was so embarrassed about what had happened with Eunho that she was about to cry. As I leaned closer to get a better look, she let out a whimper and covered her face with her hands.

“I’m so embarrassed…”

Well, of course. It had been quite a scene…

I patted Semin on the back and reassured her that everything was okay.

After spending a long time feeling embarrassed, Semin finally lifted her head and asked me,

“Is Bae Eunho okay?”

“Oh, well… I think he’s fine.”

“I think he’s really kind. If I were him, I would’ve gotten angry…”

“No, you would’ve let it go, too. You didn’t do it on purpose.”

Semin was the kind of friend who became very affectionate once she opened up to someone.

Perhaps my words had comforted her, because she let out another little whimper and threw herself into my arms.

\*

Even while I sat through class, that uncomfortable feeling refused to go away.

The image of Eunho, his face wet with water, smiling brightly at me… No, even before that, all the things he had done that had kept bothering me.

‘Why do you make it so hard for me to stop thinking about you?!’

‘You said that if I wanted to become a great male lead, I should overlook little mistakes. Those were your words, weren’t they?’

Putting all these pieces together, it was obvious.

Eunho… liked me, not Semin.

“Ha… No, that can’t be. That absolutely cannot happen.”

“Exactly! Then what do you think the correct answer is?”

“Pardon?”

At the sudden sound of the teacher’s voice, I jumped up in surprise.

I had been muttering to myself so loudly that the teacher had actually heard me.

The math teacher handed me a piece of chalk and gestured for me to come to the front.

“Yerim has understood the problem perfectly. As expected of our class president! All right, then. Why don’t you show everyone the correct solution?”

My mind was already a mess, and now I had to solve a problem on top of everything else. I couldn’t help sighing.

With heavy steps, I walked to the blackboard and looked at the equation.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a particularly difficult problem, so I picked up the chalk and changed the numbers in the equation.

“Why is this solution correct?”

“Because the numbers were different, the answer was incorrect…”

I started answering the teacher, then stopped and looked at the numbers again.

Right. Of course the answer would change if the numbers changed.

What I wanted to change was the storyline between Eunho and Semin.

I wanted to make Eunho the male lead, and then have the male lead I had created—Eunho—fall in love with the heroine, Semin!

Now that Eunho’s reputation had improved, wasn’t it possible that he simply didn’t want the other students to see him in a bad light anymore?

Maybe he wasn’t acting this way because he liked me. Maybe he was just changing because of what I’d told him.

“That’s right! The numbers were different, so the answer changed. If you put the original numbers back in, you’ll get the correct answer!”

“R-Right. You can go back to your seat now. Everyone, give her a round of applause.”

Amid the students’ applause, I returned to my seat.

I hurriedly opened my notebook.

Think positively.

The storyline between Semin and Dogyeom had remained the same, but Eunho was changing.

Now, my project to turn him into a wonderful man—or rather, a wonderful male lead—was over.

If Eunho wasn’t going to act according to my plans, perhaps that was actually a good thing.

It meant Eunho could change, didn’t it?

Then the next step was to make Eunho into the kind of man Semin would fall in love with.

And, of course, the kind of man who would fall in love with Semin.

I picked up my pen and began drawing up a new plan.

The name of the project was…

The Eunho and Semin Friendship Project!

\*

“Semin, let’s go together!”

The moment class ended, I followed Semin as she prepared to leave.

Actually, I had spotted Dogyeom approaching her first, which was why I’d called out.

For my plan to work, Dogyeom needed to stay completely out of the picture for the time being.

Semin was still limping, apparently because her knee continued to hurt.

“Do you want me to carry your bag? Your leg looks painful.”

“No, but… what should I do? I can’t go with you today.”

“Why not?”

“I have to return some books to the library before I go home.”

“Let’s go together. Wait, isn’t there a hill on the way there?”

“Yes.”

At her answer, I thought about the two books she was holding and the screenplay collection I had in my desk.

Her leg was already hurting. There was no way I was going to make her walk all the way to the library!

I took Semin’s bag and linked my arm through hers with my other hand.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Huh? Take care of what?”

As we walked down toward the school gate together, I spotted my driver waiting for me.

I waved at him, and he noticed us and came over.

“Oh, let me introduce you. This is our driver.”

“Hello.”

“Hello. But are you hurt? What’s wrong with your knee?”

“Sir, could you take Semin home for me? I need to return some books.”

“No, don’t do that. I’m fine.”

“She got hurt because of me, so please. I’d really appreciate it.”

“What’s so difficult about that? I’ll come back to the school afterward. Just contact me.”

Despite Semin’s protests that she was fine, I practically forced her into the back seat.

Then I carefully gathered the books she needed to return and made sure she had everything.

When I told her to hurry home, Semin thanked me and the car drove smoothly away from the school.

Since Eunho and Dogyeom had already cleaned up the spaghetti mess together in the cafeteria today, I needed to discourage any further encounters between them for the time being.

With a light step, I headed toward the library.

The path to the library was quiet.

As I walked up the hill, I ran my fingers over the screenplay collection.

Eunho’s behavior had definitely become gentler since he’d met me.

No, actually, it was just that his kind personality was finally beginning to show itself.

His true nature had always been revealed more clearly in the latter half of the web novel, after all.

Eunho had always been kind. I’d simply helped bring that side of him out a little earlier.

“Right, I’m getting ahead of myself. I should just feel proud of what I’ve done. Why would he like me?”

When I arrived at the library, the librarian welcomed me with a smile.

I returned the screenplay collection and Semin’s books, then headed toward the shelves to browse some other books.

My driver wouldn’t be back for a while, so I figured I’d spend some time there.

“Oh, so Yerim was the one who received this.”

At the librarian’s words, I stopped in my tracks.

The librarian held up the screenplay collection and smiled fondly.

“Eunho begged me to let him borrow this. He kept asking me to clear his penalty points as soon as possible. Normally, he would’ve had to wait another week, but he worked really hard doing volunteer service and even stayed behind to clean up afterward. So I lent it to him under my name.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. I wondered why a boy who usually only cares about sports would want to read a screenplay collection. So he wanted to lend it to you, huh? Were you two close before?”

“Ah… We’ve gotten a little closer recently.”

“I see. Please look after Eunho. I’m glad to see that he’s finally getting his act together.”

It was a relief to realize that not everyone viewed Eunho negatively.

I smiled and nodded, and the librarian looked toward the door with the same fond smile she’d worn a moment earlier.

“Speak of the devil! Is that Eunho?”

Gasp! Eunho!

I stiffened and glanced sideways at Eunho as he strode into the library.

He handed a folder to the librarian, then looked at me.

I’d already convinced myself that I was just getting ahead of myself, but the moment I saw Eunho, I started acting like a malfunctioning robot.

“H-Hi!”

At my awkward smile, Eunho nodded and left the library.

Thankfully, he didn’t stop me, so our conversation ended there.

After making sure he was gone, I finally left the library myself.

“Hey. Moon Yerim.”

I had no idea where he’d come from, but Eunho was leaning against a wall and stopped me.

I turned around as naturally as possible and waved at him.

“Oh, you’re still here?”

“Is that ‘kind male lead’ thing or whatever over now?”

“Huh?”

“You haven’t asked me to do it again, so I was wondering.”

Come to think of it, ever since our conversation about forgiveness, Eunho and I hadn’t continued the male-lead project at the library.

I lifted my head and looked at him.

Had he been waiting for me?

Part of me thought that was rather sweet…

But why were his ears turning red while he said that?

This was making me nervous. Seriously.

“Eunho, I know this is really weird of me, but…”

“I thought you didn’t realize it was weird, but apparently you do.”

“Yeah. Anyway, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think I’ll feel more at ease if I make sure rather than keep worrying about it.”

“…What is it?”

Right. The chances that I was wrong were much higher, weren’t they?

Still, I needed to know Eunho’s feelings for certain before I could decide what to do next.

Forget jumping to conclusions or getting ahead of myself. I had to confirm it with my own eyes and hear the answer with my own ears.

So I finally made up my mind.

“Do you… like me?”