pulling on cosmic strings ꩜ pi hanwool, study group

8. good friend to lean on

"That's alright," Ms. Lee reassured, "It's great to hear that he has a good friend like you to lean on."

Confused at her concern for Hanwool's wellbeing, Minju simply scrunched her eyebrows, a silent response.

Ms. Lee decided to change the topic, "I saw your student record. Top student of your cohort, excellent grades. You must put in a lot of hard work."

Minju faced downwards and shifted her weight between her feet, "I do. My grades are really important to me."

"Then you're perfect for our study group, we're so glad to have you," she beamed.

Reeling back to something Gamin had mentioned earlier, Minju stated, "I heard that we needed five people to join the study group for it to be considered as an official club at school."

"Principal's orders. I hope you guys could manage without me."

"Don't worry Ms. Lee," Minju smiled. "We'll find two more members soon."

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"To Incheon Central Police Station, please," Minju told her driver once she stepped into the car.

She had kept Ms. Lee company until Gamin returned, making sure she had everything she needed. After bidding farewell, Minju decided to head for the next biggest problem at hand, Hanwool.

As they reached the front of the station, Minju opened the car door and walked towards it. At the same time, the door opened to reveal Hanwool leaving.

The moment Hanwool noticed her, their eyes locked.

"Checking up on me?" he raised an eyebrow.

Relieved to see him safe and sound, she replied, "You wish. Just thought you might need saving."

"Me? I don't need saving."

How ironic, seeing as she went back in time for that exact reason.

Minju walked beside him and pointed to her car, "Your ride today, sir."

"Why thank you," he played along.

Hanwool opened the door to the backseat and gestured for her to enter first, and when she did, he followed suit. Once they were inside, the drive to Hanwool's house started.

"What did they call you in for?" Minju broke the silence.

"Just about the incident at Ms. Lee's apartment."

She turned to look at him sitting beside her, "And what did you say?"

"Nothing substantial." Hanwool turned to face her with a smirk forming, "Why? Worried about me?"

"How can I not be when you're getting yourself in trouble?"

"That's cute."

Ignoring the pronounced beating in her chest, Minju steered the conversation in another direction. "Ms. Lee getting stabbed by Hyunwoo, was that you too?"

Hanwool averted her gaze and faced forward once more, "Hyunwoo stabbing was on me, but I didn't want him to stab her."

"Then who did you want him to stab?"

"Gyujin, but Ms. Lee ended up getting in the way."

"You forced him?" she asked.

"Hyunwoo did it at his own will, I just handed him a knife and gave him a little push."

"Was it because of his sister?" Minju thought back to the rumors of Gyujin scamming Hyunwoo and recording a video of him beating people up, using that to blackmail Jiwoo to do whatever he wanted.

Hanwool pondered a bit before answering, "Yeah, something like that."

He continued, "What happened to Ms. Lee?"

"She's fine, thankfully. She'll have to stay in the hospital for quite a few days though, to recover."

Hanwool hummed in acknowledgment.

Minju sighed, "Hanwool, if you won't stop meddling in other people's lives for the sake of them, do it for yourself. You can't keep doing this, it'll ruin you."

"Nothing to ruin if I already am," he joked with a bitter laugh.

"I'm serious."

"I'm serious too."

"Are you planning anything else?"

Hanwool narrowed his eyes at her, "I can't conspire with the enemy."

"Since when was I the enemy?" Minju scoffed.

"Since you joined your little study group. I warned you not to join, it's dangerous."

"And I'm warning you not to do stupid shit, but here we are. Having fun?" she asked sarcastically.

"I didn't say it was fun."

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Author's Note

Thank you guys for 800 reads!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always, please let me know your thoughts! I feel like there were many points so far which hinted at some foreshadowing... Any predictions?