4

Seong.

That's the name of the boy who died eight month ago. Klein remembers walking and suddenly, a loud thud can be heard behind him. He witnessed it. He was terrified that he couldn't even scream. What's worse is that the boy was his best friend.

The one who's closer to him than anyone else. His funeral was quiet. It's only Seong's mother and Klein. Seong's mother gave him a letter left by Seong for him. It's obvious that the letter contains probably his reasoning to die or his last words for Klein.

'I like you.'

Klein stares at the three words in the papers. That's it. That's his last word for Klein. The boy was so shocked that he locked himself in his room. Seong didn't kill himself because of Klein, right? He wanders all night and eventually, ends up not sleeping.

When he went to school, everyone was staring at him. Every school board had an article about Seong. He reads it with a dark expression. Everyone was whispering near him which made him run out from the school. He bumps into Mr Ryan but ignores the man completely. The teacher looks at the boy before checking out the article.

'Rejected by his crush, one of our school's elite students killed himself.'

That was a shitty article. Klein slammed his room door and sat down on his bed. He knew the person who wrote the article was the person who knew about Seong's crush on him. For them to write that kind of article, Klein felt more responsible for Seong's death. But he didn't reject him! This article is false! Did he even show any kind of rejection towards Seong?!

He started to lock himself because of the rumor. Now, he just doesn't feel like going back to study because Seong is no longer there for him to look forward to. He slowly even lost interest in studying to become a teacher. But for his teacher to beg him to study with some info about Seong, he will have to go back to school.

Yes, sadly, Klein knows nothing about Seong. When Mr Ryan told him Seong's dream job, he decided to achieve it for his best friend. You heard it right. Klein wears his school uniform and walks out with his mother. He decided to go back to school.

When he steps into the school ground, eyes on him. Everyone stares at him but he was saved by a text from his annoying assistant.

Han.Min: Boss! I had a pancake for breakfast! <(￣︶￣)>

He didn't realize his assistant was walking behind him. When he stopped walking, the small boy bumped into him.

"Ouch- ah sorry! I didn't see…you..stopping? Oh wow! Hikikomori boy!"

Klein understood the words' meanings and glared at Han. Han slowly hides behind a tall figure. It's Ryan who gave Klein a small smile while hiding Han behind him. He walks first with Klein and Han following him from both sides.

"You two had fights early in the morning?"

"But, I just call him hiki-"

"Han."

Klein listens to the conversation between the teacher and Han. Seems like they're close to each other. It was a weird friendship but it's not something rare. He'd see even a few guys going out with their PE teacher. Mr Ryan points at class E which Klein enters silently.

Everyone stopped their action and their eyes followed the guy until he sat down. It's no doubt that it's Klein, the elite student who hasn't been to school for eight month. He looks different though. He doesn't look at people, is a bit skinny and somehow had serious eye bag issues.

"That's him right?"

"He looks…different."

'No. Your beauty standards are just too high. I refuse to follow them now.'

Klein stares at his phone and writes some notes about his classmates' reaction. Well, inspiration is something rare to get. A notification pops up with Han's username on it.

Han.Min: Boss! A hikikomori is attending my school! Would you make a character like him? It would be interesting to have a friend like him!

…

The chance of him willing to murder this child is 90% but the chance he would throw away his laziness to kill him is 0%. He ignores the text and pulls out his laptop. Everyone was shocked when he even pulled out his headphones. This is also the reason why he agreed to go to school.

~Flashback~

The teacher walks out from his room and explains the situation to Klein's mother. She thanked the teacher multiple times but also wondered about her son. "Are you okay if others start talking with you?" She knew very well how much her son hates communicating in real life.

The first few months he locks himself up, she asks him to order food delivery for himself but when the rider arrives at their house, he refuses to meet the rider and pays for the food. He doesn't even want to make eye contact with him. Mr Ryan smiles and pat both of Klein's shoulders.

"As a future teacher, he will need to brave himself up."

Klein wonders if his teacher's existence is to annoys him.

"I want permission to bring my laptop. And headphones."

"...no. Communicating is good for you."

"It's that or I refuse to go to school."

~Flashback ends~

Ryan stares at the boy and sighs. He didn't expect his student to act like this. Refusing to communicate with kids his age? He left and went back to the faculty room. The other teacher congratulates him for bringing back their best student but what they don't know is that…

'Ah, I forgot everything I had learned. How much do I need to catch up?'

Klein reads his notes and his books are empty. The song in his headphones blast through his ears while he looks for more notes from his books. He really didn't do any notes all those eight months. He stared at his classmates and saw them talk among themselves.

'Yeah no. There's a reason why they are in class E.'