My Childhood Friend’s Stock Will Never Fail Chapter 50

[Constellation, ‘Lonely 2D Artisan,’ tilts his head in confusion.]

 

The drawing was rather crude, so Yoohee also tilted her head in confusion, but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything to the desperate Jinhee.

 

Come to think of it, she really did leave. She didn’t even eat breakfast. She must be hungry by now.

 

-If you have seen a chick that looks like this, please contact us.
(Rough drawing of a pink chick)

 

At the print shop, Jinhee had several copies of the flyers she made printed out and posted them on the walls of the academy buildings. Every student who saw them burst out laughing.

 

“Look at that. It says it’s a pink chick.”

 

“Did someone dye it? Or did it use magic to change its color?”

 

“A pet chick in the dormitory? I’ll admit, that’s pretty novel.”

 

Amid the snickering students, Jinhee looked crestfallen and clung to Yoohee’s arm.

 

“People are seriously so mean. Someone’s pet went missing, and they’re laughing about it.”

 

Yoohee imagined what would have happened if someone else had put up a flyer like this. If she dared to guess, wouldn’t Jinhee laugh 99% of the time?

 

“But how on earth did it get out? I closed all the windows before going to sleep…… Or did it maybe leave during the day? It doesn’t like being disturbed when you’re not around, so I thought it was probably in its own little house and left it alone.”

 

Yoohee pretended to ponder the matter together with her and quietly sank into thought.

 

Ppiyak had left in the morning.

 

Apparently, it could freely come and go from dreams with some mysterious power, so a tightly closed window was hardly an obstacle.

 

“Let’s go to class for now. We’ve put up all these flyers, so I’m sure someone will contact us soon.”

 

For now, there was nothing they could do but wait. Yoohee headed to the classroom with Jinhee.

 

When she entered the classroom, she saw Joohoon already there. She had assumed he would still be getting treated in the infirmary by now.

 

“What about the infirmary?”

 

“I went. They said there shouldn’t be any problems as long as I’m careful not to use my shoulder for a while and apply the medicine on time.”

 

Apparently, Joohoon’s healing ability was better than she had expected. Relieved, Yoohee set her bag down beside him, but Joohoon studied her face closely before asking,

 

“But did something happen?”

 

“Oh, well, actually……”

 

When Yoohee confessed that the chick she had been raising had disappeared, Joohoon sympathized as though it were his own pet.

 

“You’ll find it soon. Not just the students, but there are also the women who manage the academy.”

 

But first period passed, then second period. Even when lunchtime arrived, her phone remained completely silent.

 

It rang exactly once, and Yoohee rushed over only to find a clueless yellow chick chirping away in a flower bed.

 

“Isn’t that your chick?”

 

“That’s not our girl.”

 

Leaving the other person’s chick behind, Yoohee and Joohoon searched every corner of the campus, but they couldn’t find even a trace of Ppiyak.

 

“……It’s hot.”

 

The midday sun was quite hot in the middle of the lush green campus. A few students were already wearing their summer uniforms. It suddenly occurred to Yoohee that summer really was on its way.

 

Seeing the small beads of sweat forming on Yoohee’s forehead after walking around nonstop, Joohoon said,

 

“I’ll go get us something to drink.”

 

“No, I can—”

 

Yoohee waved her hand, but Joohoon simply smiled and guided her down onto a bench.

 

“Sit and catch your breath. I’ll be right back.”

 

Then he headed toward the convenience store at a brisk pace. Watching his retreating back, Yoohee let out a sigh mixed with a laugh.

 

‘Honestly, he really is impossible.’

 

When she looked up, she saw the branches of a cherry tree covered in green leaves instead of cherry blossoms. A gentle breeze blew, taking the edge off the heat, when a low voice reached her ears.

 

“Found you.”

 

The voice was lower and rougher than Joohoon’s.

 

Yoohee turned her head and saw Seohyunho standing behind her, looking down at her from an angle.

 

“Ah, Senior.”

 

She was about to greet him when Seohyunho lightly tapped the bead of sweat on Yoohee’s forehead with his finger.

 

“Looks like you’ve been running around quite a bit. Where have you been wandering off to? I haven’t been able to see you at all.”

 

“Oh, well, you see……”

 

Yoohee pulled herself away from the backrest and rummaged through her skirt pocket. As she unfolded the crumpled flyer, Seohyunho burst out laughing as if he had already seen it.

 

“I’ve seen this flyer. The new students these days are pretty inventive. A pet chick? We couldn’t have imagined something like that back in our day. What kind of crazy person would raise a chick in the dormitory—”

 

“I’m the one raising it.”

 

For a moment, the smile disappeared from Seohyunho’s face.

 

“……It was you?”

 

He blinked several times in surprise, then awkwardly cleared his throat before answering.

 

“I’ll contact you if I see it.”

 

“I’d really appreciate that.”

 

“So you’ve been running around like this looking for the chick?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“You really are something.”

 

He clicked his tongue and left the rest unsaid. Was the implication something like, You’re really foolish?

 

“Did you at least eat properly?”

 

Perhaps she looked like some reckless fool running around without even eating, because Seohyunho asked with a somewhat sympathetic expression.

 

Yoohee was about to answer calmly to prove she was perfectly fine, but Seohyunho’s hand reached toward her once again.

 

“I bet you barely ate. You’ve been running around so distracted you’ve even got stuff stuck to you.”

 

This time, Seohyunho’s hand moved toward the side of her neck. He furrowed his brow as he fiddled with something in her hair, as though trying to pull it out.

 

Soon, he extracted a leaf about the length of a finger joint. It seemed a leaf had fallen onto her while she was looking around the flower beds.

 

“That…… I didn’t notice.”

 

Seohyunho gave a small chuckle at Yoohee’s absent-minded answer. Then he tidied the disheveled hair around her shoulder.

 

His movements were surprisingly meticulous for him, and this time Yoohee couldn’t help but smile.

 

“Look at you.”

 

Seohyunho shot Yoohee a sidelong glance before taking his hand away from her hair.

 

“Why don’t you go to a café with me or something?”

 

“A café?”

 

“Yeah. Go eat some more bread or dessert or whatever.”

 

Do I really look that pathetic?

 

Yoohee was about to say that she had eaten lunch perfectly well when, suddenly, her wrist was tugged forward, making her rise from her seat.

 

‘Huh……?’

 

The bag containing the drinks swung in the air.

 

Joohoon hid Yoohee behind him with a stiff expression.

 

“Seeing you again.”

 

Joohoon’s voice was ice-cold.

 

The atmosphere instantly turned frigid. For some reason, the two men were glaring at each other, leaving Yoohee feeling like she was sitting on a bed of thorns.

 

“Um……”

 

In the end, Yoohee spoke first in an attempt to break the frozen atmosphere.

 

“Well, I was sitting on the bench, and Senior happened to be passing by. It was a-a coincidence! I told you, this academy is really small, right?”

 

She deliberately raised her voice, desperately trying to change the mood. As she smiled at the coldly stiff Joohoon, Seohyunho’s voice came crashing through and ruined her efforts.

 

“I was looking for you.”

 

People say two hands have to clap to make a sound, but seriously.

 

“Ah…… You mean you were looking for me because of that, um, book you asked me to lend you before! Geez, it wasn’t that urgent.”

 

“Why were you looking for Yoohee?”

 

Joohoon immediately asked Seohyunho the reason, as if he knew perfectly well that Yoohee’s explanation was a ridiculous excuse.

 

Seohyunho responded to the question with a crooked retort.

 

“Is there some reason I have to explain it to you?”

 

Aah, the stress. Why did these two always seem so eager to tear each other apart whenever they met?

 

“Im Yoohee.”

 

Seohyunho called Yoohee by name.

 

It occurred to her that this might be the first time he had ever called her by her full name.

 

“Come on. I can’t send you off looking like that.”

 

Seohyunho looked down at Yoohee’s slender wrist as he spoke. Anyone listening would think she was practically skin and bones, but she certainly wasn’t that thin.

 

It’s okay, Yoohee was about to say, but Joohoon deliberately tightened his grip around Yoohee’s wrist right in front of Seohyunho.

 

Déjà vu.

 

Around the time they had returned after saving Seohyunho from Mapo Bridge, Yoohee had once found herself standing at a crossroads between Joohoon and Seohyunho.

 

And now she was suddenly about to play the role of an absurdly fortunate female protagonist.

 

In response, the constellations were already revving their engines, ready to throw in their coins.

 

[Constellation, ‘Mother of Failure,’ waves a Joohoon banner.]

 

[Constellation, ‘Dark Mage,’ wants you to choose Seohyunho.]

 

[Constellation, ‘Cider Addict,’ closes their eyes, saying they can’t choose.]

 

[Constellation, ‘Mala-Flavored Churu,’ wants a spicy development.]

 

…

 

Before long, things grew increasingly heated, and the constellations began causing a commotion among themselves.

 

[Joohoon-faction constellations urge you to kick Seohyunho out.]

 

[Seohyunho-faction constellations angrily tell them to shut their mouths.]

 

Do even the constellations have factions?

 

The constellations’ reactions were like a chaotic marketplace, making Yoohee’s head spin, when Joohoon’s low voice descended upon her.

 

“Yoohee, my shoulder hurts.”

 

That one sentence made her look up at Joohoon in alarm.

 

Joohoon was holding a bottle of juice in his left hand and Yoohee’s wrist in his right.

 

“Ah, g-give that to me……!”

 

She snatched the plastic bag away as if stealing it from him and immediately checked his left shoulder.

 

“Are you okay? I told you not to overdo it.”

 

As she asked Joohoon worriedly, she suddenly felt Seohyunho’s piercing gaze.

 

When she cautiously turned around, he was radiating an ominous aura from head to toe, like some max-level villain.

 

Yoohee squeezed her eyes shut and delivered her refusal.

 

“Senior, I-I’m grateful that you’re worried about me, but…… I really do eat properly. I had way too much lunch today, actually. So, let’s go to the café another time.”

 

“…….”

 

“……I’m sorry.”

 

She added one final apology at the end.