Chapter 13

Chapter 13

‘It’s been resolved for the most part.’

He had anticipated resistance or unreasonableness, but once they were confined to the holding cell, the guys who had been wielding a bat and acting rough instantly turned into meek lambs.

Finally, as Kang Hyun was leaving the police station, he returned the lost book to Han Hyun-ho.

“Good work. Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No. It didn’t seem like those guys had ever hit anyone before.”

Han Hyun-ho shrugged as if it were nothing.

“By the way, wow! Kang Hyun, you really did everything from detective to lawyer, prosecutor, and judge, didn’t you? Aren’t you a genius?”

“What genius. It’s thanks to your help.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Thank you so much for finding my book!”

Han Hyun-ho said with an expression that showed he was completely smitten with Kang Hyun.

“Thanks to you, I had a really exciting experience! I found my book! Anyway, I’ll study harder with this book and pass the exam!”

“Yeah. I’ll be rooting for you.”

***

Sunday. The last day of the week.

With the big problem solved, the rest went smoothly.

There were more people gathered in the library than usual, and in the middle of the crowd, Kim Hyuk-soo and his group were bowing their heads and apologizing to the people.

They were holding signs that read ‘We apologize for the library theft incident’, and they were all chanting the same words repeatedly, unable to bring themselves to raise their heads.

“We’re sorry. We were young and greedy, which led us to such actions.”

“We will never touch other people’s belongings again.”

“We’re sorry.”

The victims, who had been contacted and came out, all had frustrated or angry expressions as they glared at the boys.

However, no one reported the boys, who were admitting their wrongdoing and reflecting on their actions, to the police, nor did anyone grab them by the collar and express their anger.

People who knew that they were thieves but had acted out of youthful foolishness were all understanding and forgiving of their remorse.

“Tsk tsk, it wasn’t the person that was bad, but their actions.”

“Never do that again.”

“I forgive you, so live a good life.”

Seeing this, Kang Hyun also couldn’t help but feel a mix of relief and complexity.

“Kang Hyun, you reformed those guys who were acting like thugs.”

Han Hyun-ho said with a pleased expression beside Kang Hyun.

“No. We have to watch them for a while longer. They might be reflecting now, but they might do it again later. I think the people in our country who are so readily forgiving are more amazing.”

In this Republic of Korea, full of such kind people, why do crimes and corruption occur? Why do scum exist who deceive good people and leave them in debt?

Amidst this flood of contradictions, he felt that finding a way and making things right wherever he could was what he had to do.

Now, he had the confidence that he could make even a small contribution with his abilities.

‘I’m doing the right thing…’

But in truth, Kang Hyun didn’t fully understand the source of his ability to overcome obstacles using his newfound power.

Honestly, he was a little afraid. What if one day he used this ability for bad things? And what if he couldn’t control those actions? There was no guarantee that he wouldn’t.

Kang Hyun’s expression hardened as his thoughts deepened.

“Are you alright? You don’t look well.”

Han Hyun-ho asked, nudging him, and Kang Hyun, snapping out of it, nodded.

“It’s nothing. Thanks to you, this matter has been resolved. I think I’ll go thank the staff member who contacted the owners of the stolen items and then go study.”

“Okay, let’s go! I’ve already pledged my loyalty to you, so what more is there to say? I’ll just follow you!”

“What?”

Kang Hyun laughed at Han Hyun-ho’s playful remark, finding it absurd.

“Look at the way people are looking at you. They’re leaving now because the situation is uncomfortable and inconvenient, but those grateful expressions are definitely not fake, so I won’t forget them.”

It seemed that the library staff member who had contacted the victims had roughly explained who had resolved the incident. Whenever the owners of the stolen items passed by Kang Hyun and Han Hyun-ho, they would give a slight nod or eye contact, or leave with a smile.

In the place of their anger and bewilderment, gratitude and forgiveness remained.

“Well, they probably weren’t even thinking about the lost items, assuming they were gone for good.”

“Yeah. You made their day lucky.”

“We solved it together.”

Kang Hyun and Han Hyun-ho looked at each other and grinned.

Their faces were filled with the satisfaction of having found a trustworthy friend.

When they entered the library and went to the desk to express their gratitude, the staff member in charge grabbed Kang Hyun’s hand and shook it, saying,

“Student Kang Hyun, thank you so much. I never thought you would resolve it like this without even calling the police… How did you do it?”

The case was perfectly resolved.

The police were called to the scene for the assault, not the library theft, and since he had omitted the contents of the settlement agreement they had written, it must have seemed like magic to the library staff.

“I’ve never seen delinquent kids suddenly become 180 degrees reformed like that since I started working here…”

The staff member, seemingly amazed, looked at Kang Hyun with wonder.
“I don’t know how you solved it, but thank you so much! Items worth millions of won were gradually disappearing over three to four months, and honestly, the higher-ups told me to cover it up because they wanted the library to remain quiet, but I was dying inside. I even developed insomnia recently!”

It seemed he had been caught in the middle and had a lot of worries.

Then suddenly, the staff member pushed his large glasses back up the bridge of his nose and looked up at Kang Hyun with a serious expression.

“So, student, by any chance…”

“Yes?”

“Would you like to work part-time at the library?”

“Part-time?”

“Yes! There’s a position available because a contract worker had to quit due to personal reasons, and I think you would be perfect for it! Of course, you wouldn’t be able to join as a contract worker, but I think we can change it to hiring a part-timer… Would you be interested?”

He continued speaking with an expression that seemed to say, what if Kang Hyun refuses?

“Rather than hiring another unproven contract worker, I think a smart and honest student like Kang Hyun would be a perfect fit for the library! Since you’re a student, it would be Saturdays and Sundays, from nine to six. Including weekly holiday allowance, the hourly wage will be much higher than the minimum!”

“Would that… be possible?”

Just when he was wondering where to look for a job, such a good offer came along!

Kang Hyun tried to hide his expression, but he couldn’t.

However, the staff member seemed to think he was about to refuse, and his words became even faster.

“And you can continue studying when there’s no work! Of course, if it interferes with your studies because you need to focus, then it can’t be helped… But there’s not that much work at the library, you just have to manage the general materials room and the card keys!”

The hourly wage was higher than manual labor, and it wasn’t a weekday evening job, but a weekend job twice a week. Moreover, it seemed like a job that wouldn’t interfere much with his studies, and as a high school student, with a wage higher than the minimum wage and including weekly holiday allowance, it would be close to 300,000 won.

It was enough to earn pocket money to buy food without relying on his family while studying.

What was there to hesitate about?

Kang Hyun nodded vigorously and replied,

“Yes, I’ll do it!”

“Oh!”

The staff member, delighted that Kang Hyun, who seemed like he might refuse, readily agreed, stood up and grabbed both of Kang Hyun’s hands.

“Thank you. It gives me strength to think that someone like you will be working at the library. Let’s have you start working next week.”

Kang Hyun bowed silently, and the staff member nodded with a satisfied expression.

Han Hyun-ho, who was standing a little distance away, approached Kang Hyun and whispered,

“I’ll be seeing the Subway Hero and the Library Hero every weekend.”

He grinned.

***

After this small commotion passed, Kang Hyun’s schedule until the midterm exams was a series of repetitions.

On weekdays, he arrived at school early and studied for both the CSAT and the midterm exams.

Although it was the same studying, the subjects and question trends of the two exams were quite different, so Kang Hyun didn’t change his mind about starting late and studying for both with a humble attitude and appropriate balance.

Fortunately, studying for both wasn’t too difficult for him, but his lack of study experience was his weakness, if anything.

‘I can get all the questions that come from the textbook right, but the real battle is after that.’

Therefore, he put more effort into strengthening and developing the points that needed to be applied, experience, crisis management skills, and the ability to distinguish questions to give up on.

Having experienced it himself, he realized that the saying that genius is 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration was not false.

Creak

Seven o’clock. Just as Kang Hyun sat in the back of the classroom and opened his book, Yoon Ha-neul entered without fail.

“Hello?”

Yoon Ha-neul greeted Kang Hyun, waving both hands gently beside her small face.

Then, she trotted over to him and spread open the book she was holding in her other hand in front of him.

“Did you have a good rest? I have something to ask!”

Whenever she had a question, Yoon Ha-neul would come straight to him as soon as she entered the classroom and abruptly open her workbook to ask him.

Kang Hyun couldn’t help but stare at her, finding her so cute with her serious expression and hair tucked behind her ears.

“Why is this number one?”

She asked, settling in front of Kang Hyun’s desk as usual.

Whenever she had a question for Kang Hyun, it was always about law.

“Ah, this… It’s a high-difficulty question about calculating the legal reserved portion of inheritance. You checked for the existence of a legal marriage and found the applicable parts according to the type of adoption, but you missed the part about determining whether it was factual or not, so you would have chosen number two.”

For some reason, Kang Hyun’s head was perfectly equipped with civil law, contract law, torts, marital relations, tax law, and even inheritance law theory.

In this situation, studying for the CSAT law subject was honestly too easy, and he could fluently answer her questions.

“Ah…”

She let out a small sigh as if the answer to her question had been resolved.

Amazingly, through her short morning study sessions with Kang Hyun, she had grasped both his strengths and weaknesses. She knew exactly what to gain from him and actively utilized it, and Kang Hyun was the same.

“This problem looks easy, but you have to draw a family tree. Got it?”

“Yes.”

“So now it’s my turn? Will you try solving this problem for me?”

“Sure.”

In the mornings, Yoon Ha-neul and Kang Hyun’s conversation always started this way and ended with a simple meal.

This routine continued without fail every single day since they made their unspoken agreement.

Initially, Kang Hyun felt a bit awkward and uncomfortable about the two of them meeting in the morning to do something together. However, now that it had become a daily routine, he realized that it was for his sake, rather than feeling burdened by Yoon Ha-neul or having any other strange feelings towards her.

“Want to eat some rice balls? I made them.”

“Yes, I’d like to.”

If there was any change in Kang Hyun’s behavior, it was that he started packing food to eat in the morning. He started cooking to take care of his mother’s meals as well, and although he wasn’t good at it, he found it quite enjoyable. Yoon Ha-neul’s blunt taste evaluations were also amusing.

“Delicious!”

“Really?”

She was the type to say it was not tasty if it wasn’t, and tasty if it was. But the funny thing was that she would eat it all even if she said it wasn’t tasty.

Her cheeks always puffed out as she munched, which was closer to ‘ASMR’ than ‘Mukbang’, because while Kang Hyun, who was always alert and never sleepy when studying, would feel drowsy watching her eat.

Munch munch

Since they were both the type to eat in silence, they would focus on eating for a while, and before they knew it, all the food would be gone.

Then, Yoon Ha-neul would quickly tidy up and raise her white hand to wave goodbye.

“I’ll go back to my seat. Good luck with your studies.”

“You too.”

This was the end of their morning routine.

Next, it was time to start studying.

But why?

Today, she said she was going back to her seat, but she kept lingering instead.

“Why?”

As if she had been waiting for Kang Hyun to ask her, Yoon Ha-neul, who had been looking back, turned around at the sound of his voice, her black hair fluttering.

—————

Please rate and review this novel on NU.