Chapter 406: Chapter 406
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I spoke hesitantly, “Uh, are you gonna pick that up for ? Thanks...” I uttered.
Asking a seven-year-old boy to get my backpack for seed a little too much since it was quite heavy, but my knees were so painful that I could beco shaless at that mont.
The kid raised his head to look at ; however, he showed a swiveling grin then began to run toward the opposite side.
I shouted, “Hey, where are you going?”
From the staircase right around the corner, a voice then reflected on the wall and echoed faintly.
“Catch if you can!”
‘Oh, Lord!’ I touched my forehead while holding the grip. ‘Hey, kiddo, have so common sense. If you were in my situation, do you think you’d like to play tag with soone who just collapsed onto the floor? Even with my bag?’ I yelled in my thoughts. However, I couldn’t give up my bag at the sa ti.
“My knees hurt, so I can’t go there!” I shouted again.
“Not , I’m all fine!” he replied.
‘Oh, yeah. Lucky you...’ While I murmured composedly, the boy ca back to the hallway and stood at a close distance from .
Was he finally trying to return my bag? I looked in his direction with exhausted eyes.
A mont after, I shrieked, “What the heck are you doing?!”
He was stretching out my bag outside the balustrade. ‘What if soone gets hurt when that’s dropped onto the person’s head? There’s a lot of books inside...’ I beca anxious with those thoughts since the seven-year-old boy’s arm was too slim to bear the weight of my bag.
The kid, however, giggled in excitent at my shriek. He then mimicked the words that I just said to him.
“What the heck are you doing~?”
“Give that back to right now!” I shouted and took my step forward with difficulty. The boy then took a step back. As I bent another step toward him, he also did the sa thing but in the opposite direction. By his action and the look on his face, I noticed that he had no intention of returning the bag to at all.
Biting my lips, I soon realized that the front door of the house right beside was open. I knocked on the door as best as I could. That was when the kid looked like he was saying, ‘Oops!’ and quickly threw the bag to . On all occasions, it hit my knees, which the boy bumped into at a full speed with his electric scooter earlier, so I let out a short shriek and crouched down.
At that mont, a middle-aged lady ca outside the door.
“What’s going on?”
I lifted my head to look at her face which was half covered in the shadow of the door. It was exactly the sa as the person I saw two years ago.
While I remained spaced out for a second, the lady urged , “You’re the girl next door, huh? What’s wrong?”
“Ah, it’s...” I murmured, but once I pulled myself together, I pointed at the back and continued, “He’s Jimin, right? Jimin took my bag and...”
“It’s there,” she blurted out then pointed at the spot under my feet with her chin abruptly.
I kept on speaking as calmly as possible, “No, this is what he just did to . That kid bumped into my back while riding an electric scooter, and that was when I dropped my backpack, so...”
In this way, I might beco a stranger knocking on soone else’s door randomly, so I tried to explain the overall situation shortly. However, the lady intervened in my words, “Bumped into you? It doesn’t look that way though.”
“Ah, yes he did. I fell onto the floor and banged my knees...”
“You’re wearing long pants.”
“No, I’m not trying to say that I got hurt...” The mont I tried to speak composedly, the lady turned her head toward the hallway.
She shouted, “Hey, Jimin!”
I thought the kid already ran away since he was scared of getting scolded, but a small shadow crawled over from the stairs.
The lady asked, “Did you bump into this girl?”
The boy shook his head with his hands on his electric scooter.
‘Ha... oh my God...’ I was too dumbfounded that I heaved a small sigh.
He replied, “No.”
“He says no,” said the lady.
As I tried to respond, the lady diverted her gaze back onto the boy and flung another question.
“Did you steal her bag?”
“No,” he repeated the sa answer.
“See? He says no.”
Holy mother of pearl! They were living right next door, but how could they react so ridiculously? Taking a deep breath, I detached my lips.
“I an, if you ask him that way, of course, the kid will...”
“WHAT?? Are you telling that my kid is lying?!” she struck a retort.
I uttered shortly, “Yes,” while being too exhausted to even quarrel with her. The lady’s face darkened with a grimace. She tossed a question.
“What did you just say?”
“I said he lied. That’s the truth. What he just said was all lie,” I replied without any hesitation.
The lady asked with a look of bewildernt, “Hey, young lady, you’re not supposed to act like that without any evidence. As a next-door neighbor, you must be more respectful.”
“What about you, ma’am? Will you be able to prove that he didn’t lie?” I responded.
The lady beca at a loss of words. anwhile, I turned around and quickly entered the keypad on my front door. I sensed a pair of piercing gazes at my nape.
‘Ha, how dare you! So ridiculous!’ I also heard that kind of grumblings coming from behind . The lady said she would talk to the adults. Leaving aside those words, I shut the door imdiately once I stepped into the house.
There was no one inside. I never felt so welcod in the dark and empty living room. Blinking swiftly for quite a while, I stood still then threw my backpack to the shoe rack. Covering my ears, I slowly squatted down on the floor.
“Ahhhh...”
I gasped slowly. Sothing that welled up from my chest clogged my throat and made hard to breathe. Like a person sunk to the bottom of the water, I crouched down and fought for breath.
After a while, I was able to speak again, at last.
“Why are they doing this to ? Why does everyone...”
Why were they offering a favor and complints but venting their anger once I refused them? They kicked a can, pushed down to the floor, snatched my thing, lied, and scolded .
“Why on earth are they doing this?” I murmured and shoved my face deeply onto my knees.
In fact, this thing would have always happened in this ordinary world.
Perhaps, the little boy wasn’t the first ti to tease and harass this way. It also might have not been the first ti for Chun Dong Ho to hit on . However, in my point of view, those things––both kindness and hostility––took place for the first ti in my life in this world. Shaking my head, I stuffed my hands into my disheveled hair.
The sights I had seen when I was young suddenly popped into my head such as a group of kids sitting on the ground and squashing so bugs or throwing pebbles to a stray dog.
I crouched down again while thinking, ‘I wish I can rather beco invisible so that no one can see .’
Going through this world for a week, I was fed up with everything. I couldn’t understand how every people in this universe could sustain their lives. Maybe I should be living in this world for the rest of my life. It was unbelievable... I an, I didn’t want to even believe that possibility.
As I raised my head out of the blue, my face turned wet. My cheeks were full of teardrops at so point. Rubbing my face, I picked up my backpack that I just threw away and returned to my room. My parents were gonna co ho from work soon, so I didn’t want to get caught behaving this way.
After turning the lights on in my room, I checked the ti instinctively but soon shook my head.
It was already the fifth day since I ca into this world. Now it seed to be the ti to fold up my intangible hopes. Only I would beco painful while looking forward to those vain thoughts. Thus, I just lied down on my bed.
I utterly screwed up the mock exam; only two days were left until the new sester, but I had no will to finish my assignnts. It felt like even the bare minimum of energy required for working on my daily tasks was all gone. In other words, the battery inside went dead.
Lying on the bed for a mont, I murmured to myself.
‘But do I have to study? The reason why I pushed myself to get better scores was to attend the sa or, at least, a similar level of college with them. Since the motivation is gone now, is there any reason left for to keep moving forward?’
Rambling those thoughts in mind, I quickly shook my head. ‘No, the more I think this way, the deeper I’ll fall toward the endless abyss.’
“Wouldn’t it be the state of mind––feeling depressed––that makes gloomy things keep happening?” I murmured and lifted myself. Although it wasn’t true, I had to stop myself from letting my spirit sag. If I continued to stay depressed, I wouldn’t be able to adjust to my sophomore year in high school.
I murmured again, “Let’s just go on a strike today.”
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