"Ji-woo," both U-jin and Eun-woo exclaimed in alarm as they rushed to her aid. U-jin gingerly cradled her head on his legs while Eun-woo attempted to fan her with his hands. Hyun-ki, meanwhile, chose to remain a mere spectator, standing idly by as the dramatic scene unfolds before him.
"Ji-woo, I appreciate your newfound bravery, but this isn't the appropriate place to exhibit it," quipped Hyun-ki, attempting to add some levity to the situation. U-jin, however, glared at him menacingly.
"What? She couldn't think of something else to do, she had to run a marathon" he defends as he starts drinking his bottled water.
U-jin looks back at Eun-kyung, "Ji-woo, please talk to me, are you alright" he shakes her head, Eun-kyung stares as she mumbles "Wa....t..er".
"What on earth is she trying to say?" Eun-woo queried.
But before anyone could piece together the meaning of her words, however, Ji-woo sprang to her feet and snatched Hyun-ki's bottled water, dousing him with a cascade of water before guzzling it down with relish.
Stunned by her sudden outburst, their eyes were fixed upon her. Yet, Eun-kyung just beams at them and thanks Hyun-ki for the refreshment before she resumes her journey.
"Did you witness that?" Eun-woo asked incredulously, gesturing towards the direction that Eun-kyung had hastily departed.
"Yes, she drank my damn water and ran away" Hyun-ki grumbled.
U-jin, now regaining his composure, inquired as to the marathon's finish line.
"At the stadium," replied the other students.
"Eun-woo, let's go. I know the most direct route," said U-jin, tugging Eun-woo along with him. Hyun-ki trailed behind them, determined to witness the inevitable embarrassment that awaited Eun-kyung. As they advanced, a drone whizzed past them, piquing their interest.
---------------------------------------
As Eun-kyung trudged forward, she felt a profound sense of relief at finally encountering Hyun-ki on the way. Her heart racing from exertion, she pushed herself to run another kilometre before meeting up with her two opponents from both Seo-ah and Sung-min's team. But upon overtaking Seo-ah's teammate, the latter fell to the ground in a heap.
Startled, Eun-kyung and the other runner stopped in their tracks, pondering their next course of action. The other runner eventually resumed his run, leaving Eun-kyung in a state of dilemma. She vacillated between continuing her own race or lending a helping hand to the fallen athlete. Deep down, she knew what she had to do. She looked back at the guy that was running then back at the collapsed guy and decided to help him. She helped him up and managed to put him on a bench nearby.
She taps his cheek repeatedly until he wakes up.
"Are you alright, what can I do to help" she asked him.
"Why are you here, don't you know that if you take second place you will be on Sung-min's team" He held his head on his hand, "I didn't even have my breakfast today" further worsening the situation.
"Then why didn't you decline to run the marathon"
"I couldn't, I just wanted to....forget it" he tries to push her away and stand back up but he collapse back on the bench.
"What's your name, young man" she stood up and held him down on his shoulder.
"Young-chul, why?"
"Young-chul, if you continue the race it might probably be your last, if you want to run again please take some rest" she told him but he kept on looking at her.
She sighs and searches around for a vending machine, as she found it she took out the penny from her pocket that she took from the locker, Young-chul looked at her and asked her what she's going to do with it, she ignores him and quickly made a beeline to the vending machine and purchased a cold beverage, she ran back to Young-chul and gave it to him.
"Here, at least it could sustain you throughout the race" she said but Young-chul gazed at her, awestruck as she bestowed the cold beverage to him.
He looks at the beverage and smiles, "I yield, you deserve to be part of us, Seo-ah taught me that a true athlete is one that selflessly prioritise others over themselves. Go ahead and run your race; I'll close the gap soon enough."
"But you need help" Eun-kyung fretted.
"Don't underestimate me. I may not have had my breakfast, but I am no weakling," Young-chul declared, shooing her away with a wave of his hand. Eun-kyung resumed running, with Young-chul's encouraging smile imprinted in her mind.
Back at the stadium, U-jin and Eun-woo had finally arrived along with Hyun-ki, they noticed that everyone's gaze was fixed upon the colossal Jumbo screen, a technological marvel typically slated for activation two months later. Even concessionaires had sold and served refreshments, with the masses avidly glued to the incomprehensible display on the screen.
U-jin was angry that he wasn't consulted first before they switched it on, as he strode to where Ga-ram was stationed at the track, Eun-woo restrained him, rapt attention directed towards the screen. Their gazes followed Ji-woo's act of generosity handed out to her fellow competitor, fortifying him with a cold beverage paid for with her solitary penny, they exchanged some words before she continued her race.
U-jin glanced at Eun-woo who only shrugs.
"I was wondering why a drone was following them, it seems like everyone was waiting for Ji-woo to be humiliated again but this time on a Jumbo screen, this makes me pity her more" Hyun-ki fakes a concerned expression, Eun-woo frowns and proceeded towards Ga-ram but was stopped by U-jin.
"There's no need to stop it now" Eun-woo looks at him as if he has gone nuts but U-jin motions to the track and they saw Sung-min's teammate appearing on the track but to their surprise Eun-kyung follows next.
"After they run round and pass the finishing line, we will all know the winner" Sung-min announced via a loud speaker.
Everyone leapt to their feet, cheering for their respective teams, with Ga-ram screaming Ji-woo's name. U-jin and Eun-woo joined the raucous chorus, louder than the masses' frenzy.
Eun-kyung was now running side by side with her opponent, but as she attempted to pass him, he astutely shifted his position, causing her to collide with his back and fall to the ground. Regrettably, the thoughtless competitor neglected to extend a helping hand and instead proceeded towards the finish line. Amidst the deafening cheers of Ji-woo's supporters, Eun-kyung got up, clenched her fists, and recommenced running. Despite struggling to keep her balance, she gathered her strength and progressed vigorously towards the finish line. With her adversary on the verge of winning, the crowd roared even louder, and Eun-kyung closed her eyes. As she felt her legs tremble, the sensation of exhaustion overcame her. She peered at her opponent's back, mustering the last of her energy, she lunged her upper body over the finish line and collapsed.
Ga-ram rushed to her side, aided by U-jin and Eun-woo, and extended her arm to help her stand. Eun-kyung inhaled heavily with her gaze fixated on the drink within her line of vision. U-jin held the beverage, but she returned his kindly gesture with a hand wave and a smile.
Observing Eun-kyung's lethargic state, Ga-ram's vexation escalated. "Do you want to expire in my embrace?" she indignantly queried, Eun-kyung shook her head.
"Then grab the drink this instant," Ga-ram shouted, and Eun-kyung hastily retrieved it and imbibed its contents.
As the crowd began dispersing, Ga-ram instructed Eun-woo to hand her the loudspeaker. With a resounding voice, she addressed the crowd, reproving their dishonourable treatment of Ji-woo as the winner.
"Today, we found an authentic marathon athlete in Ji-woo, and yet, none of you could find it in your hearts to acknowledge her victory. You witnessed everything on the screen, watched Ji-woo forfeit the race to aid her rival, an act that demands awe and appreciation. Despite wasting precious time, she went on to win the race, proving her prowess. Don't you all feel compelled to laud her exceptional ability?" she implored as the audience echoed her sentiments, chanting Ji-woo's name consecutively.
"Ji-woo, Ji-woo, Ji-woo, Ji-woo, Ji-woo...." the crowd screamed
Just as Sung-min was leaving the scene, Ga-ram intercepted him.
"Hold up Sung-min, aren't you the one that said if Ji-woo wins, you promise to relinquish your team's leadership position" she smiles wickedly.
"I have, there's no need to be on the team again anyways" he tries to walk away.
"You're leaving for good" Ga-ram was shocked.
"Happy now"
"Of course, we don't need brats like you in this group" she snapped, he smiles and leaves.
"Where is Young-chul" Seo-ah asked Eun-kyung.
"He said he was going to catch up with me, ohh there he is" Eun-kyung pointed at him and Seo-ah runs to him checking if he substained any injuries and led him out of there but before that Young-chul smiles at Eun-kyung which she returns.
With the graceful assistance of Ga-ram, Eun-kyung was ushered towards one of the nearby benches, her irritable disposition hardly dampened by the display of concern.
"I'm fine, I have told you already" Eun-kyung was annoyed, she's not a baby.
"You're amazing me this days Ji-woo" remarked Hyun-ki, sauntering up before her with a bemused smile.
"Thank you," Eun-kyung replied with a note of uncertainty in her voice.
"We could go out some....."
"No" U-jin stood in front of her.
"Why, she's still single" Hyun-ki raise his one of his eyebrows.
"Because she's my future fiancée, so kindly back off" U-jin declares.
"Wow, that's so unexpected, I'm gonna leave now" Hyun-ki said as he walks away feeling uncomfortable by the whole situation. Eun-kyung struggled to comprehend the implications of U-jin's claim. Wasn't his betrothal arrangement supposed to be with Ha-rin?
She stood up, "And who gave you that idea?" she demanded with growing frustration.
U-jin turned to face her, his expression stoic as he explained, "We were meant to be engaged after high school."
Eun-kyung countered, "But isn't Ha-rin supposed to be your fiancée after college?" The young man paused before regarding her intently, prompting even Eun-woo and Ga-ram to exchange concerned glances.
"She told me to stay away from her U-jin" she reveals.
"When did she say that?" asked a bewildered U-jin.
"Yesterday, why" she asked but he showed no attempt to answer her question.
Sensing that there was more to the situation, Eun-kyung went on to surmise, "Do you think that Ji-woo feels the same way for you as you do for her?"
"What?" U-jin sputtered, struggling to process the sudden shift in conversation.
"Don't play games with me, U-jin. Since I woke up, I have been closely observing your behaviour, and only one conclusion comes to mind, that you like Ji-woo," retorted U-jin.
"That's so absurd" he rebuked. Eun-kyung felt she was missing something, she widens her eyes.
"It is Ji-woo who likes you, then why do you want to get engaged to her since you don't like her back" she asked confused.
"Because of my parents promise to your late father"
"Does that call for that type of excuse when you could just reject the engagement promise or no promise. Besides you're incapable of true love in fact you're a heartless being so why would you go through so much stress to marry someone that you don't have strong feelings for," she challenged with rising annoyance.
Sensing a need to intervene, Ga-ram interjected, "Ji-woo, please refrain from saying such things."
Eun-kyung, however, was not one to be deterred. "I think you all have forgotten that I'm not Ji-woo; I am Eun-kyung. I don't have feelings for you, in fact, I dislike everything about you," she declared adamantly. "Furthermore, I am going to talk to your parents to postpone the engagement for the next two years. This will give Ji-woo more time to contemplate whether she really wants to spend the rest of her days with someone like you or to chase a new love when she comes back."
She then stood very close to him enough to say that their face is one inch away from each other, "But if I was Ji-woo I will likely marry someone else even your brother could be a better option" With that said she limps away from there with Ga-ram trying to support her.
Eun-woo looks at U-jin "Heh, don't think too much of what she said, she's Eun-kyung not Ji-woo" he tries to comfort him.
"But she's right, I'm a heartless being" he said as he walks away with a dejected expression.
At the infirmary, Ga-ram brought food for both her and Eun-kyung to eat.
She sets the food on the table and Eun-kyung started devouring it immediately.
"You shouldn't have said that" Ga-ram said whilst ingesting a French fry.
"Wa..t ar..yor...tal..kin abot" Eun-kyung inquired unintelligibly with her mouth full, which elicited a reproachful click of Ga-ram's tongue.
"I know you are seeking what's best for Ji-woo" Ga-ram continued more sincerely, "But we must consider the realities of the engagement and how challenging it may be to dissolve if it is carried out."
"What are you talking about?" Eun-kyung stops eating now showing a serious expression.
"Well.... it's nothing" At this point, Ga-ram hesitated, contemplating whether to disclose her highly delicate thoughts
"Tell me now" Eun-kyung held Ga-ram's right hand preventing her from eating.
Finally, Ga-ram exhaled deeply and explained her conjecture. "In all candor, if one of you were to experience a catastrophe, that will be the only way that the engagement might become relinquishable."
This realization stirred disquietude within Eun-kyung's consciousness. "Did Ji-woo make an effort to commit suicide to extricate U-jin from the engagement rather than because of bullying?"
"I am unsure," Ga-ram parried. "The explanation for U-jin's behaviour is that he is struggling with guilt over the past," she elucidated. Eun-kyung recollected her hostile confrontation with U-jin and proceeded to obscure her visage with her hands, her diagnosis of the situation dimming her spirits.
"You now recognise what actions need to be taken," Ga-ram pointed out.
Eun-kyung shuddered internally, fearful of what Ga-ram was proposing. "What must I do?"
"Apologize"
"Impossible! Eun-kyung never apologizes, never has!" she protested.
"You will today, I don't care how you do it but you must" Ga-ram resolutely instructed her. Eun-kyung groaned in despair whilst Ga-ram pushed her to finish her meal and hasten back to classroom attendance.
After the final bell rang, signaling the end of the day's classes, Eun-kyung lowered her head onto her desk, preoccupied with thoughts of issues to address when apologizing to U-jin.
Diego, taking notice of her strained expression, "Are you alright?" Diego asked her.
"I'm okay, where have you been all day" she raises her head and looks at him.
"That's a secret" he chuckles.
"Whatever, any idea of which club that you're going to join" she carries her bag and proceeded to leave the classroom with Diego following.
"Anywhere you go, I shall follow" he chuckles again.
"Why are you in a good mood?" she couldn't help but ask.
"Do you really want to know"
"Forget it" she rolls her eyes.
"Ok alright I will tell you, I just found out that my brother suspended Yong-rae from school for two weeks and not only that he's going to help the elderly in the nursing home for the whole two weeks, I guess that my brother did only that to not draw much attention unless he would have given him a whole month to do that. I would have loved to see the look on Yong-rae's face when he is changing their bed or cleaning their asses" he laughs out loud at Yong-rae's predicament.
"Very funny"
"You aren't too happy about it" Diego said perplexed at Eun-kyung's sudden sullenness.
"I am, what you just said only helped in increasing my guilt on what I said" she said in frustration.
"I don't understand, what are you talking about?" he asked confused.
"Never mind" she says as she walks out of the school building from the back entrance.
She sees a lot of student congregating around a stage, "What's happening?"
"They are auditioning for the music club" he answered but before she could talk any further her phone starts to ring.
She answers it without checking the ID "Hello"
"Where the heck are you" Ga-ram asked over the phone.
"At the back of the school"
"Okay" Ga-ram hastily terminated the call. Eun-kyung gazed in disbelief at her phone in response to Ga-ram's suddenness but then turns to Diego, "We should try it out" she drags him towards where they were filling forms.
"What?"
"You said it yourself, wherever I go you follow or are you going back on your words because you're scared" she smiles mischievously.
"No" he smiles nervously. Then they went on to fill the forms, so they were now waiting for their turn to go up the stage. Eun-kyung saw Diego's face and couldn't help but say, "You could walk away now before your turn, after that guy on stage it is me then you"
"Never"
"Suit yourself"
"Ji-woo, what are you doing here" Ga-ram shouts as she walks towards them with U-jin and Eun-woo following from behind.
Upon spotting U-jin, Eun-kyung felt crestfallen and initially averted her gaze.
"Ji-woo I brought U-jin with me, you said you had something to say to him" Ga-ram taps her making her to face them, she could only think of letting the ground eat up Ga-ram at that moment.
"What do you want to say to me, Eun-kyung" U-jin asked and Eun-kyung looks at him surprised that he called her by her name.
"I...em... I wanted to..." but she was cut off by the MC who called her up to the stage to sing.
She excuses herself and went up the stage.
"Hi everyone, I'm Ji-woo and I..." she trails off as she looks down at U-jin who was smiling at her, he also mouthed 'You can do this'.
She looked back at the crowd and smiles as she got an idea. She could just use her vocal and musical prowess as a means to apologize.
"First of all, I want to apologize for being a jerk to my soon to be good friend and I also hope that he accepts it" she looks back at U-jin who was stunned and the crowd screams in encouragement.
"I'm really sorry" she says sincerely then she went to pick up a guitar.
She looks back at U-jin, "Just so you know this is the song that I would sing if I were her" she looks back at the crowd, "My song is titled Thank you" she starts playing the guitar, she's actually playing Thank you by ATEEZ, she just hopes that they won't mind her playing it in this world.
When she started singing, the audience praised Eun-kyung's performance and were enamored with her singing ability. Eun-kyung has actually sang this song thousands of times so she was able to sing it well with the right note and her voice was also melodious enough to make people like it.
"Eun-kyung isn't that bad if she was a real person, I wouldn't mind dating her" Eun-woo says as he continues to cheer with the others.
"I bet she wouldn't date you, Ga-ram told me that she sees you as her brother" Diego smiles wickedly.
Eun-woo brooded at this, but curiosity about U-jin's opinion on the matter arose, leading him to pose the question to him ,"Heh U-jin, if she was a real person would you have dated her"
U-jin, lost in thought as he watched Eun-kyung's performance, he smiles, "Why date when you could just marry" he says without thinking, shocking Eun-woo, Ga-ram and Diego in the process.