Chapter 17: Skipping a grade(4).

“Hah, hah!”

Chayeon, who had come down from the pull-up bar, placed his hands on his knees and panted.

“How is it, effective, right?”

“You f*cking… what the hell did you do?” Chayeon glared at Joo Jiho with all the strength he could muster.

There was already a large height difference, and trying to look up at him while bent over made him have to crane his neck so much that it hurt.

“What did I do, you ask?”

“What are you talking about?” While he was being lifted and swayed, he had naturally been about to take his hands off the pull-up bar, but for some reason, his palms were stuck firmly to the bar. Once his hands had stuck, he’d just been writhing and twisting his elbows and shoulders, but he hadn’t been able to do anything about it, so he’d ended up helplessly being at his mercy.

“You f*cking”

“Are you perhaps talking about this?”

Joo Jiho stretched out his palm, timing it to match when Chayeon stretched out his arm.

At the same time, Chayeon’s hand was drawn to Joo Jiho’s hand as if the N pole was being attracted to the S pole. Joo Jiho intertwined their fingers.

“Your hand is so soft.”

Due to the height difference, Chayeon was displaying his armpits with his arm raised high.

“Small, too.”

“Let go of this, you bast—”

“I’ll let you go, here.”

At the same time as Joo Jiho let go of his hand, Chayeon was pushed back by something.

His right foot, which had been about to kick a vital spot, was suspended in the air, and he lost his balance.

Thud.

He awkwardly landed on his butt.

Fortunately, there wasn’t much physical impact due to his light weight. But,

‘Sht… Sht… Sh*t…!’

The mental damage was immense. He was being toyed with at will by some strange power he didn’t even know.

His face flushed with humiliation.

“We’re colleagues, after all. Let’s learn about each other’s abilities. I’m taking the lead and telling you mine: my ability is attraction and repulsion. I can pull people and objects or push them away. Like this.”

The center of Joo Jiho’s black pupils glowed red.

At that moment, Chayeon’s body was automatically raised up, then pulled into Joo Jiho’s arms.

Thwack-

“Interesting, isn’t it?” He felt arms wrapping around his back as his face was buried in Joo Jiho’s chest.

“Y-you…bastard…, cut it out. Take your hands off me.”

“Isn’t it cozy?”

“Cozy, my ass. It’s disgusting and f*cking awful, so let go.”

He’d been trying his best to get away since earlier, but it was impossible to escape from his arms. An absurdly strong force was pulling Chayeon’s body.

Pak!

Chayeon’s body, which had been writhing, was pushed back again.

Chayeon’s body, which had lost its balance, struggled desperately, but was pulled into Joo Jiho’s arms again.

He was hugged again.

He was pushed back down again.

He was pulled in again.

The world spun. He felt dizzy.

“Oops, did I do it too much?”

Chayeon, who had been pushed far away by the invisible force, flew straight into Joo Jiho one more time.

Matching the view of the approaching Chayeon, Joo Jiho bent over.

Their heads were at the same height.

This bastard, no way!

No! Get away! Get away!

Fortunately, what Chayeon had been fearing didn’t happen.

Instead, Joo Jiho’s hand, holding Chayeon tightly in his arms, lifted Chayeon’s chin.

Breath could be felt from his face, which was pulled close, and eyes that were reminiscent of reptiles were staring at Chayeon head-on.

“I just love kids with a strong personality like you.”

“…….”

It was awful. Really awful.

He had somehow managed to capture that scary demon, but he felt pathetic that he was being toyed with by a guy like this.

He could feel the powerless woman’s body trembling slightly.

It wasn’t scary.

But what was this.

Why was he trembling?

Sh*t.

“Don’t be so scared. You’re making my heart weaken.”

Joo Jiho chuckled and then let Chayeon go.

Chayeon’s body, which had been stuck in place with the feeling of being grabbed by heavy equipment, wobbled as it was released.

“It seems like it’ll be hard to get any closer today. We have plenty of time, so let’s get to know each other step by step in the future. I’ll head in first.” Joo Jiho said, leaving Chayeon there, and then turned around and left the training ground in a leisurely manner, waving his hand without even looking back.

“Th-th…! Ack!”

For a long time, Chayeon was just kicking at the innocent pull-up bar.

The next day, Chayeon was holed up in his room.

He had planned to exercise outdoors like yesterday, but he replaced it with home training.

He didn’t want to run into that f*cking guy, even by any chance.

Another day passed, and a weekday approached.

Chayeon, who had gone up to the third floor where the third-graders lived and entered the assigned class, froze in that spot.

“Oh, you came.”

A tall man, who was talking to people on one side of the classroom, looked towards Chayeon and spoke.

It was, needless to say, Joo Jiho.

“Oho. Is that the new student you said advanced with you?”

“Yes, hyung. Her name is Jeon Chayeon.”

“She’s younger than I thought.” Three men, including Joo Jiho, who had been talking, approached Chayeon.

“Why didn’t you come yesterday? I was waiting.” Joo Jiho grinned unpleasantly.

“Why in the world am I in the same class as you,” Chayeon tried to say, but his words were drowned out by the man who approached and offered a handshake.

“Nice to meet you. You said your name was Jeon Chayeon, right? I heard you’re incredibly skilled even though you’re a first-year. Ah, you’re a third-year now. I’m called Exst.”

Next to him, a man with a somewhat similar atmosphere to the man who had spoken earlier continued, “I’m called Stra.”

They had strange names.

Chayeon, who didn’t take the outstretched hand and was standing there blankly, made the man awkwardly withdraw his hand.

“Haha, she’s a bit shy.”

“Chayeon is very shy. She gets a rough tongue when she’s shy. Please understand,” Joo Jiho interjected, as if cutting between the two men and Chayeon.

“She’s still young, so she can be like that. We were too eager,” Exst said, having agreed to his own terms

While they’re all haphazardly comprehending all that’s going on, then front door of the classroom opens and a person Chayeon knows all too well comes in.

It was Seohee.

“Umm? Why isn’t everyone seated yet?”

At her words, people who had been scattered in different places and making a fuss began to sit down one by one.

As Joo Jiho and the two men walked away, Chayeon also found an empty seat nearby and sat down.

“I’m sure you’ve heard in advance, but there are two students who have come up to the third grade as of today. Please take care of them as your seniors.” As Seohee finished speaking, he could feel all eyes focusing on them.

Chayeon didn’t avoid the gazes looking at him, and checked each of their faces one by one.

The clear difference from the first-grade class was the age range.

Unlike the first-year students, most of whom hadn’t shed their childishness, there were people of various ages here.

In the case of Exst and Stra, who had greeted him earlier, they looked to be in their late twenties, just from their faces alone.

“I’ll pass out the instructions, so please take them.”

At Seohee’s gesture, over twenty sheets of paper that had been placed on the podium scattered and flew to the students.

Chayeon reached out and grabbed the paper that was flying towards him.

It was written ‘Ranking Battle Application’.

“I’m sure you all know that the Ranking Battle will be starting in two weeks? The two students who came today will have also received the related instructions in advance. Participation is voluntary, but your rank will be recorded as the lowest if you don’t participate. The other rules are explained briefly, so please read them.”

As she said, the instructions briefly explained the Ranking Battle.

“Then please indicate whether you will participate below. I’ll be collecting them all in 1 minute.”

As soon as Seohee finished speaking, people picked up their pens.

Chayeon also took out a pen without hesitating and checked the ‘Non-participation’ section.

“I’ll be collecting them now.” As soon as 1 minute had passed, the papers that had been placed on the desks floated up and gathered in Seohee’s hand.

“There’s one non-participant and everyone else is participating,” Seohee said, and threw the paper into the air with a swoosh.

The pile of papers that had been thrown into the air disappeared from sight as if by magic.

It seemed that she’d moved them somewhere.

“I’m sure you all know that it’ll be composed of just theory classes until the Ranking Battle? Let’s all enjoy this time to the fullest.”

At Seohee’s words, no trace of her could be seen in that place as if she had never been there.

Soon another teacher entered, and the first class began.

As Chayeon felt it, there hadn’t been any drastic changes from becoming a third-year.

Rather, the portion of various general education classes that he couldn’t understand why he was learning decreased, and interesting, practically-oriented theory classes were held.

Everything was fine.

The problem was still Joo Jiho’s presence.

The fact that he, who had reached the highest level of dislike in Chayeon’s mind, was in the same space as him was enough to grate on Chayeon’s nerves.

It would have been fine if he just didn’t like him.

The real big problem was that he, himself, froze up like prey before a predator whenever Joo Jiho passed by.

It was as if his body, which had become a woman, was sending a warning to his head.

That guy is dangerous.

Fortunately, Joo Jiho hadn’t shown any signs of trying to approach Chayeon since the first day.

Other people besides Joo Jiho often showed interest in Chayeon and approached him, but every time, Chayeon would return them with appropriate responses.

Exst and Stra, the two men, also spoke to him often.

He later found out that the two of them were brothers.

‘Hey, Heukgu.’

Heukgu had been silent ever since that day he’d said he’d take a nap.

Had he gone into hibernation because it was autumn? He didn’t even know if he was dead or alive.

He didn’t really care.

The weekdays passed by as if he was sitting on pins and needles, and the weekend came again.

‘I can’t run away just because I’m scared of poop, but I can’t keep running away like this.’

Chayeon, wearing sportswear, took out his wooden sword.

It was something he’d stopped by and bought on the way back yesterday, in preparation for running into Joo Jiho.

His body was just a young girl when barehanded, but the story would change if he held a sword.

“I’ll smash his head.”

If he did something stupid like before, he was planning on cracking his skull on the spot.

As he was putting on his shoes, his smartphone vibrated.

[Chayeon, are you free now?]

It was a KakaoTalk from Seohee.

[Arena woke up.]