My Childhood Friend’s Stock Will Never Fail Chapter 52

“Just for fun, I guess. Let’s go.”

 

Peeking at Seohyunho’s fortune, it read, “With only a white cloth and the wind, you can go anywhere.”

 

It sounded like a familiar line from some drama, but well, it was only for fun anyway.

 

[Congratulations! You have cleared the fifth main scenario!]

[As a reward, the affection of male lead candidate Seohyunho increases by 10.]

[Seohyunho (Affection 1 → 11)]

 

After accidentally increasing Seohyunho’s affection, Yoohee searched the flowerbed she had already looked through once more.

 

Since the fortune had said “It’s darkest beneath the lamp,” she thought there was a chance Ppyakki might unexpectedly be hiding somewhere around here. But she couldn’t find even a single pink feather.

 

Should I just go to class…?

 

Just then, she noticed something caught on a short tree.

 

What’s that?

 

As she approached, she found the same kind of fortune cookie she had seen at the café wedged between the branches.

 

“Why would someone leave a fortune cookie here…?”

 

Maybe a student who had visited the café had thrown it away?

 

It hadn’t even been cracked open yet. Curious, Yoohee broke it in half.

 

But the piece of paper inside contained a sentence she never could have expected.

 

[I miss you so much.]

 

There wasn’t even a sender. It was obviously just some random message someone had put inside, yet for some reason, her face grew hot.

 

It definitely didn’t mean anything.

 

“Whoa, there’s not much time left!”

 

“Ah, I don’t want to run.”

 

The sound of students running came from somewhere nearby.

 

Oh, right! Class…!

 

After checking the time, she hurriedly made her way there.

 

Fortunately, the building where her class was held was nearby, so she arrived without being late. When she entered the classroom, she saw Joohoon, who had already saved her a seat. 

 

Yoohee naturally sat down beside him, and Joohoon lifted his head, which had been bowed down.

 

“You’re here?”

 

“Yeah. Were you sleepy? You had your head down.”

 

“No, I was just…”

 

Just then, murmurs could be heard from around them.

 

“Look, he finally lifted his head.”

 

“Does he really not want to get close to anyone else? What a shame.”

 

Envious gazes were directed at Yoohee, who chatted so naturally with Joohoon.

 

It wasn’t difficult to figure out that Joohoon had been doing that because he didn’t want to attract the attention of the other students.

 

“How was the café?”

 

Joohoon naturally asked Yoohee about it.

 

Maybe it was because he hadn’t actually come face-to-face with Seohyunho. This time, rather than sounding jealous, he seemed to be asking out of simple curiosity.

 

Relieved inwardly, Yoohee began telling him about the desserts she had eaten at the café.

 

Joohoon listened attentively to her story, occasionally responding to her.

 

“Oh, right. Do you want a candy?”

 

She remembered that she had put one of the after-dessert candies in her pocket. When Joohoon nodded, Yoohee took the rattling candy tin out of her pocket.

 

But along with the candy tin, a small piece of paper came tumbling out.

 

Flutter.

 

The paper fell to the floor, and Joohoon bent down to pick it up for her.

 

Then, as he slowly straightened himself and looked at the paper, it happened.

 

“…What is this?”

 

Joohoon’s voice trembled slightly.

 

“What is this…? No. Let’s go outside and talk.”

 

He tightly clenched the paper in his hand and abruptly stood up. Somehow, the atmosphere emanating from Joohoon seemed ominous.

 

“Class is about to start soon…”

 

Joohoon turned his head and looked down at Yoohee.

 

The moment she met his sharp gaze, a chill ran down her spine, and she instinctively fell silent.

 

Her lowered gaze naturally landed on the paper clutched in Joohoon’s hand.

 

The piece of paper from the fortune cookie.

 

[I miss you so much.]

 

Wait, why does he have that?

 

As she followed Joohoon out of the classroom, Yoohee thought about it.

 

Ah. I must have stuffed it into my pocket without realizing it when I was rushing here.

 

There weren’t many students in the hallway since class was about to begin.

 

Even so, Joohoon walked steadily toward an empty emergency staircase.

 

Creak—

 

Once the thick iron door leading to the emergency stairs closed, an oppressive silence descended.

 

“…What is this?”

 

After the silence, Joohoon spoke.

 

Her heart jolted as though she were a suspect being interrogated.

 

All because of a fortune cookie?

 

“It’s the paper that was inside the fortune cookie. You know what a fortune cookie is, right? Those cookies with little fortunes or lucky messages inside.”

 

“But why does it say this?”

 

Joohoon asked with a puzzled expression.

 

If he was asking that…

 

Yoohee had no answer either.

 

“It was something they gave us at the café I went to with senior Seohyunho for the end-of-semester celebration. But all the messages were kind of strange. Senior Seohyunho said, ‘With only a white cloth and the wind, you can go anywhere,’ or something like that. Anyway, they were a little weird.”

 

“…Really?”

 

Joohoon’s attitude softened a little.

 

She didn’t know why he had suddenly become so intimidating earlier.

 

“It really is nothing. Ah, class is about to start now. Let’s go back in.”

 

Yoohee gave a light smile and tried to open the emergency stairwell door. She barely managed to push the heavy iron door open with all her strength, but Joohoon reached out and casually closed the door she had just opened.

 

“Huh?”

 

“I changed my mind.”

 

“What?”

 

“You told me to let you know if I needed guiding.”

 

With both arms braced against the door, Joohoon effectively enclosed Yoohee between them. He lowered his upper body a little further and leaned closer to her ear.

 

“I’d like you to do it.”

 

“R-right now?”

 

But we don’t have time right now…

 

“Can’t you? I’m in pain right now.”

 

Joohoon spoke in a slightly hurt voice.

 

But I just saw him forcefully close the door with his left hand.

 

Still, Yoohee couldn’t bring herself to ignore Joohoon’s sparkling eyes.

 

“Then… just a little.”

 

When she nodded, deciding to humor him, the corners of Joohoon’s mouth lifted pleasantly.

 

“Thank you. There’s really no one but you, Yoohee.”

 

She began guiding him through their now-familiar embrace. But there was one thing that was different.

 

Was he always this good at hugging me?

 

She remembered him holding her somewhat gently before, but today, his embrace felt a little tighter. As if to prove it wasn’t merely her imagination, thick veins stood out on Joohoon’s arm beneath his summer uniform.

 

His large hand gently pressed down on Yoohee’s head. Feeling his body heat through her cheek and the thin fabric of their summer uniforms, her face grew hot.

 

I-I need to move away a little…

 

But Joohoon continued to hold her tightly with his whole body, making it difficult for her to say anything.

 

She felt as though the sound of her pounding heart might reach Joohoon.

 

Her mind began to go completely blank, to the point where she wasn’t even sure what she was thinking about as she guided him.

 

“J-Joohoon…”

 

Her voice trembled thinly from nervousness.

 

Suddenly, Joohoon pushed away the body he had been holding tightly.

 

“Sorry. That’s enough now.”

 

As the neatly aligned flow of Joohoon’s magic suddenly disappeared, Yoohee looked up at him with wide, rabbit-like eyes.

 

“If we go in now, we’ll make it just in time.”

 

He was smiling brightly, as though he intended to make her forget everything that had just happened.

 

***

 

“Huhu-huu, sniff… Nothing bad happened to Ppyakki, right? What am I supposed to do? I can’t live without Ppyakki. Sniff…”

 

It had been three days since they failed to find Ppyakki.

 

In the end, Jinhee burst into tears.

 

She was crying so miserably that anyone watching might have thought Jinhee was Ppyakki’s owner.

 

“If something had happened to Ppyakki, we probably would’ve found something by now. We still haven’t heard any news. She must be hiding somewhere really well.”

 

Yoohee patted Jinhee’s shoulder as she spoke.

 

She didn’t even want to imagine it, but even if Ppyakki had been bitten to death by a snake, she should at least have left some feathers behind.

 

Yet ever since Ppyakki disappeared, aside from the mistaken reports they had received, no one had even claimed to have seen a single feather belonging to her.

 

Reassured by Yoohee’s words, Jinhee sniffled and wiped her nose.

 

“That would be a relief…”

 

Just then, Yoohee’s phone rang.

 

It was extremely unusual for her phone to ring at eight in the morning.

 

“Hello?”

 

As she answered the call, a voice came through the phone that immediately made Jinhee stop crying.

 

—You’re looking for a chick, right?

 

Since they had morning classes, they couldn’t rush over immediately. After their first class ended, Yoohee, Jinhee, and Joohoon headed to the place where the call had come from.

 

“Here, here. I’m telling you, I definitely saw pink feathers around here.”

 

The person who had reported it was the cleaning lady responsible for maintaining the academy buildings.

 

She said that a pink creature had quickly dashed past inside the small break room for the cleaning staff, which had been built just outside the academy building.

 

“I was right here when this pink blob suddenly went whoosh past me. Then I remembered seeing all those notices plastered on the walls looking for a pink chick. Hahaha! It was so unusual that there was no way I could forget it.”

 

The kindly-looking woman laughed heartily.

 

It seemed the flyers had actually worked.