Doyoung raised a slender hand to his forehead.
How dare they. How dare they. How dare they. Rolling that short phrase over in his mind, he was left with an indescribably bitter taste in his mouth. Cha Doyoung, who had been born sensitive and timid, was simply scared and fearful of people who used kindness and affection as an excuse to recklessly cross his boundaries. He had once described the rude hands reaching for him from all directions as making him feel just like a monkey in a zoo.
'If they say they like me and that I'm pretty, do I have to put up with all of it even if I'm scared and I hate it?'
It was a question he couldn't even bring himself to say aloud, yet people began to change their expressions and criticize Cha Doyoung, as if they had heard him shout it. He had heard so much chatter about his personality that it was almost laughable.
I approached you saying you were pretty, so how 'dare you' not be happy about it?
Cha Dohee likes it, so why don't you?
No one acknowledged Cha Doyoung's fear. No, on the contrary, they might have known all too well, instinctively. That must be why, unlike Cha Dohee, whom they looked upon with envy, they worked so hard to push Cha Doyoung—who looked just like her—down, to keep him beneath them, and even further below.
By comparing him to Cha Dohee.
Comparing him endlessly, from one to ten.
The previous Cha Doyoung had only felt terribly sad and tormented by it, but the current Cha Doyoung felt an uncontrollable anger rising up alongside those feelings. It was absurd. If that was really the only reason Cha Doyoung had to become like that, he was so furious he wanted to walk around the school right now and bust the nose of every guy he ran into.
And yet, a part of his mind was growing cold. It was because he felt he now understood, just a little, the reason for the 'ambiguous' malice he had just faced.
At least for now, it seemed guys like Ji Dongkwon and Cheon Youngho were satisfied with just playing the part of mediocre bullies. Strictly speaking, it was because Cha Doyoung hadn't done anything to directly harm them. It was just that the incredibly weak Cha Doyoung was right in front of them, and they were having fun amongst themselves by prodding him. Of course, that in itself was wrong enough to deserve a scolding that would bring them to tears.
To put it simply, it was like this: Cha Doyoung was just the easiest and weakest guy they had laid their eyes on; there was no reason why it 'specifically' or 'absolutely' had to be him. If they got bored or found a new diversion, they could move on to someone else at any time.
However, among these guys, there was one who was clearly different. A distinct and vivid malice 'that had to be for Doyoung,' 'directed at Doyoung.'
Doyoung's cold gaze turned to Ha Sangwoo, who was right in front of him. He could feel something like anger directed at Cha Doyoung coming from the guy. If there was a single cause that had worsened the situation to the point of making Doyoung decide to die, it seemed it would be this guy.
Ha Sangwoo didn't answer Doyoung's question about what he had done wrong. It wasn't that he was avoiding the answer despite there being a reason.
How dare you? A punk like you? To me?
He hadn't said it in words, but that was what he was asking.
Then why? Why could it be?
It wasn't Cha Doyoung's fault, but it was directed at Cha Doyoung.
'Why are you so angry?'
For a moment, Doyoung's eyes gleamed.
'This is purely my intuition as an avid reader of romance comics.'
Just maybe...
"Did you confess to Dohee and get rejected?"
He had only meant to think it, but it impulsively slipped out of his mouth before he knew it. The truth was, he had wanted to ask, 'So are you bullying Cha Doyoung instead?'
As soon as Doyoung finished speaking, a sharp "Huk" was heard as Dongkwon and Youngho sucked in their breath. Seeing Sangwoo's face turn icy cold at the same time, no other answer was needed.
A dumbfounded "Huh" escaped Doyoung's lips.
Really? It's true?
"Are you really going to be this cliché?"
Cliché.
Of course, Doyoung was talking about the 'story development.' But the moment that word left Doyoung's lips, crimson sparks flew from Sangwoo's eyes. Just as Doyoung met that gaze and thought danger, those sparks transferred to him with a loud 'Thwack!'
With the sensation of a flash popping before his eyes, a large, rough fist slammed into Doyoung's face. In the blink of an eye, Doyoung was sprawled pitifully on the ground.
It was true he had been prepared to get hit if it came to that, but perhaps because he'd let his guard down, Doyoung couldn't hide his shocked expression. His long eyelashes trembled every time he blinked slowly. Doyoung seemed to be registering the fact that he had been hit a beat too late.
Sangwoo, agitated, even raised his foot toward Doyoung, and Dongkwon, who was next to him, was in the middle of holding him back.
But something came even before the pain.
[WARNING] [WARNING] [WARNING]
Tiring. Tiring. Tiring. The familiar warning windows began to pop up.
[An unknown error has occurred.]
Only then did Doyoung's face, watching this, turn paler than ever before.
'Oh, oh, no! Is it because I dropped a spoiler?'
I'm sorry! I said I'm sorry!
A forced shutdown really can't happen now!
'If I collapse again this time, I'll really be confined to the hospital!'
As he screamed internally, another message followed.
[Unsaved files will be deleted.]
A phrase he had never seen before appeared.
'Deleted? What does that mean?' While Doyoung was tilting his head in confusion, another sentence appeared.
[File will be restored.]
There was no more time to think. His vision suddenly swam, and in the instant he squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again...
"Ha. Why is this bastard acting up so much today, really?"
His view had suddenly changed. Startled, Doyoung's eyes widened. His body, which had fallen, was somehow standing again, and he was once more positioned between the wall and Ha Sangwoo.
More important than that was the one thing Ha Sangwoo had just said. And that expression on his face was the same, too. Sangwoo laughed as if in disbelief. He was laughing, but it must have been an ominous sign, as Dongkwon and Youngho, who were beside him, flinched and began to visibly watch Sangwoo warily.
Huh, this is definitely what happened... he thought, but immediately after, there was a 'Thwack!' sound and his vision flashed again.
Ah! This is also definitely what happened before!
Wait.
Wait, wait!
Deleted and then restored?
This means the middle part was cut out and I just got hit twice, right!
Doyoung's dreadful suspicion that he had been hit 'twice, but only one time would be acknowledged' was later confirmed, leading to certainty and despair after he checked the contents of the recorder he'd been carrying in his chest pocket. The part where he had been running his mouth was cleanly cut out, and the sound of him being hit also remained only once.
'My life….'
Unable to soothe the surging sense of betrayal and loss, Doyoung muttered a grim curse under his breath.
'So I'm not the only one who can do 'evil editing,' huh?'
It was unbelievable.
Doyoung's original plan had been this: It was fine if the situation wasn't yet serious enough to be made public. It felt like branding them with 'You will become a criminal in the near future,' but Doyoung had no choice if he wanted to live.
'Even if I have to turn a 1 into a 10,' I have to screw those bastards over.
But, as expected, do sad premonitions never miss? Just as he had feared, the 'System' bastard wouldn't just let it be, so it seemed he would have to completely revise his plan.
He had learned that 'editing' was, of all things, possible. As long as the other side held the initiative in the story's progression, he realized there was a very high risk that trying to fight them with fabrications and fraud, as originally planned, would end up being all for nothing, just like this time, with 'deletions' and 'restorations.'
He gritted his teeth.
"I'll never let that happen."
Fine. A compromise. He would give up on 'turning a 1 into a 10' and would, fair and square, 'turn a 3 into a 10.'
The side of his face that had been hit felt stiff. When he touched it lightly, it seemed to be swollen. His skin was so delicate that even the palm he had used to catch his fall was badly scraped. It was only because the bell signaling the end of cleaning time had rung, and because Ji Dongkwon had stopped him, asking why he was hitting someone's face, that it had ended at this... he could have easily drawn blood.
He had taken it lightly, but in this small body, even getting hit was quite the ordeal. Doyoung let out a pained "Ayaya," and cupped his aching cheek.
He retracted his earlier judgment that it was better to get hit more. The coward who couldn't even open his door out of fear when he first came here really, truly hated pain.
He would have to act out as much as he wanted from now on. He couldn't avoid getting hit entirely, but he resolved to get hit as little, as efficiently, as possible.
'And not a 'one time that's like two times' like just now….'
If he tried to say he was hit twice, he'd just be treated like a crazy person.
If he hadn't needlessly asked that question, would it have passed by reasonably? Doyoung, who was thinking how pathetic his own unrestrained mouth was, soon shook his head. There was something even more pathetic.
'That pathetic bastard, completely lost it.'
After the middle scene was deleted, he didn't seem to remember why he had thrown such a violent punch and looked inwardly flustered, but that bastard Ha Sangwoo was forever 'out' in Doyoung's mind. His brilliant Cha Dohee would never do such a thing, but in the one-in-a-million chance that Dohee liked him back, Doyoung vowed he would stop her at all costs. It wasn't just "over my dead body"—no matter what on earth happened, that guy was not an option.
He had already crossed a river of no return.
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