Chapter 6:
Why This Man Has to Be the Male Lead (3)
“What the…?”
The fight ended much more anticlimactically than I had expected. After just a few kicks from Eunho, three boys were sprawled flat on the ground.
Standing beside the Class 8 president, I watched the boys lying there with blood dripping from their noses.
“Wow, Bae Eunho. You’re amazing.”
“Did you think I was going to fight these guys to the death just to win? Who do they think they are?”
“That doesn’t mean you should be proud of it. Anyway, let’s hurry up and get out of here.”
“You said you called the police.”
“Exactly! That’s why we need to run!”
I hurriedly stepped over the fallen boys and grabbed Eunho’s hand. A moment later, the sound of a police patrol car approached.
If we got caught now, we’d be the ones who suffered. Holding Eunho’s hand in my right hand and the Class 8 president’s hand in my left, I ran in the opposite direction from the approaching sirens.
“Run!”
“Hey, you crazy—!”
That was when it happened. One of the boys, whom I’d thought was already unconscious, got back to his feet and picked up a broken piece of the wooden plank.
When the Class 8 president warned me to be careful, I quickly let go of his hand and assumed a defensive stance.
The boy changed the direction of his swing. I’d thought he was aiming for the class president, but the bastard had actually set his sights on me.
As the wooden plank came hurtling toward my field of vision, I squeezed my eyes shut.
I’m really going to get hit this time!
A dull thud rang out, followed by a warm sensation.
“E-Eunho!”
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was a firm, muscular chest. Eunho was shielding me with his body, raising his arm to block the wooden plank.
His brows were drawn together ever so slightly.
The police officers rushed toward the boy and forced him to the ground. He glared at Eunho and me, breathing heavily with rage.
“Are you okay, student?”
“What? Bae Eunho? You again?”
“Bae Eunho? He’d been quiet for a while.”
The officers clicked their tongues briefly, as though they already knew Eunho. Then they separated Eunho and me and checked only my condition.
But I wasn’t the one who’d been injured. Eunho was.
When I saw his injured arm, my heart sank. His navy-blue jersey was beginning to soak with blood. I immediately looked away, only to notice that the wooden plank the boy had swung was stained with blood, too.
“Bae Eunho, get in. Hurry.”
“No!”
“What?”
“Our guy… Look at his arm! He’s hurt. We need to take him to the hospital first.”
“Our guy?”
The police officer, the Class 8 president, and even Eunho all stared at me in surprise. But I couldn’t care less about their reactions.
“Look! He’s bleeding! He got hurt protecting me, so we’re going to the hospital first. I have every right to insist on that!”
“Fine, fine. Officer Kim, take Eunho and this student in your car.”
Surprisingly, Eunho calmly allowed the police officer to support him as they left the alley.
At the entrance, students who had gathered there whispered among themselves, looking back and forth between the bloodied Eunho and the boys lying on the ground.
“Wasn’t he the one who did that?”
“Wow, Bae Eunho really has turned into a delinquent.”
In the end, I’d become someone who couldn’t even improve my favorite character’s reputation and had only managed to get him injured.
\*
“It’s a scrape from the wood, so it’s not a serious wound. However, there’s a small crack in the bone, so he’ll need to wear a cast for a while.”
“Thank you, doctor.”
Eunho moved the cast wrapped around his arm this way and that, testing its range of motion.
When the emergency room doctor left to examine another patient, silence settled over the room once more.
Lying flat on the hospital bed, Eunho studied a familiar yet unfamiliar silhouette cast against the curtain. Apparently having figured out what was going on, he quickly swept the curtain aside with one foot.
“What are you doing?”
“Ah, well… Yerim told me to come and check on you for a moment.”
“Yerim? Oh, right. That was her name…”
Eunho sat up and looked toward Yerim, who was watching him from a distant corner of the room.
“But why is she just standing over there watching?”
“She says she’s too sorry to face you.”
“Ha. If she’s sorry, tell her to come here herself. At least let me hear her say thank you. She caused all this, and now she’s acting as if nothing happened.”
The Class 8 president agreed and went over to Yerim.
The two whispered to each other for a while before nodding.
Not long afterward, Yerim approached Eunho with hesitant steps. Her messy bun was coming undone, with strands of hair sticking out in every direction.
What should I say to her? That I’ve saved her life, so she’d better stop bothering me from now on?
Even just recently, Eunho had been dealing with one exhausting incident after another because of Yerim.
If only she would disappear from his life, everything would probably be fine.
Eunho raised his head.
“I’m really sorry, Eunho…”
When he saw Yerim’s large eyes brimming with tears, his mouth fell slightly open.
What’s wrong with you?
Eunho’s question was like lighting a fuse.
Yerim covered her face with her hands and sank to the floor.
“It’s all my fault. I got carried away and caused this… I’m not even a real fan if I end up hurting my favorite character. I’m just trash.”
“Hey, you don’t have to go that far… The injury isn’t serious. They said it’s just a crack in the bone.”
“Does a cracked bone not hurt? People feel pain even when they’re only slightly injured, so why are you saying it doesn’t hurt?”
“……”
“Did they at least not have to stitch it up? Will insurance cover it? When did they say you should come back for the wound to be disinfected?”
Even while wiping away her tears, Yerim was worrying about insurance and wound care. Eunho found the whole thing ridiculous.
Pfft.
In the end, he burst out laughing.
Startled by his sudden laughter, the Class 8 president and Yerim, who had been watching him, exchanged puzzled looks.
“You really are crazy.”
“Huh?”
“Anyway, you owe me now. I saved your life.”
Eunho rolled his tongue around in his mouth, wondering what kind of deal he should make with her.
That was when Yerim, who had been acting as though the world was about to end just moments ago, suddenly burst into laughter.
Her eyes were red and swollen, tears still clinging to them, and the corners of her mouth had turned upward.
Eunho stared at her silently.
“That’s true. I owe you again, don’t I?”
Again?
Eunho looked at the name tag attached to the front of her chest.
“Moon Yerim.”
That was the moment Yerim’s name became firmly etched in Eunho’s memory, after he’d spent so much time trying to escape from her simply because he found her annoying.
\*
“How on earth did you end up at the hospital? And what was all that about the police?”
“I told you, didn’t I? They said it’s nothing serious.”
“Nothing serious? Do you have any idea how worried I was when I got a call from the police chief?”
It was a little past ten when I finally arrived home. My parents were waiting for me, looking deeply concerned.
Apparently, my father was quite close to the chief of the local police station, so he’d already been informed about everything that had happened.
“Moon Yerim, is something troubling you lately? You seemed fine this morning, but then suddenly…”
“It’s nothing like that. I’m sorry for making you worry.”
“…Well, if that’s the case, then all right. Dad trusts you. You know that, don’t you?”
I nodded vaguely at my father’s words.
Getting along with my parents was pretty simple: don’t do the things they told me not to do, and do the things they told me to do.
I hurriedly tried to end the conversation and head to my room, but my father stopped me just as I was about to leave.
“Oh, I heard Dogyeom transferred to your school.”
“Dad, you know Dogyeom?”
“Of course I do! He’s actor Lee Seol’s son. Actor Lee Seol is filming here this time, so Dogyeom came along with him.”
“Oh… right. But how do you know all that?”
“What are you talking about?”
Well, those details are supposed to be explained in the novel! Only the readers and the school’s extras are supposed to know about them. How does his father know?
Only then did I notice the dozens of trophies behind my father and his personal photograph hanging beneath the enormous family portrait.
Scene by Scene, CEO Moon Jungwon.
Scene by Scene was the largest and most famous film production company in this world.
So Yerim’s father, whom I’d assumed was just another extra, was actually the company’s CEO!
No wonder this family was so rich.
“This family is practically a cinephile dynasty…”
“What was that? Why are you suddenly saying that? Since we’re talking about it, you’d better win a prize at this summer film competition. Don’t let your father down.”
“Yes, yes. I’m going to my room.”
I closed my bedroom door and pouted in my father’s direction.
I knew all about it.
In this world, Moon Yerim was the president of Summer Film, a Korean high school’s film club.
But Summer Film wasn’t what mattered to me.
What good would it do if I worked hard in the club? It was the crucial place where Dogyeom and Semin would eventually get together.
The club wasn’t important.
Eunho was.
“I have to make things right after getting him hurt because of me.”
I took out a sheet of paper and began drawing up a proper plan to make Eunho the male lead.
“What else is there…? Ah!”
After listing the requirements for becoming the male lead, my wrist began to ache. I lifted my head and carefully reviewed the ten conditions I’d written down.
That’s right. If I just do all this…
“Making our Eunho the male lead will be a piece of cake.”
