About

There was a guy who had been the top student since middle school and throughout high school. He was smart, had a great personality, and was handsome, so he had plenty of friends of all genders. Rumor had it he was a genius who never even studied for exams, and that he was better at anything he tried for the first time than most experts... things like that. That was my impression of the top student until now. I wasn't particularly good at studying, nor did I care about being popular. We ended up in the same class often, but we never got close, so I only knew his face. While everyone else was busy praising him, saying things like 'He's a genius,' 'I'm so jealous,' or 'I wish I could swap brains with him,' I felt differently. I felt sorry for him. I thought he'd be under immense stress if he got even one question wrong, and I wondered how much people's gaze would change if he ever slipped to second place. In my eyes, being first or second was equally impressive. Thinking about this and that, we reached college age. According to rumors, the college I attend and the one he attends are very close to each other. I didn't pay much attention. I was too busy just trying to survive. Then came the end of the second semester of my sophomore year. I had always maintained average grades in middle and high school, and college was no different. I was satisfied in my own way. That night, I went out to the convenience store because I was hungry, and I heard someone sobbing from above. They were crying so sorrowfully that I couldn't help but look up. There, someone was standing precariously on the railing of a villa rooftop. Without thinking, my body started running. As soon as I reached the roof, I grabbed the person from behind, pulling them back tightly. Fearing they might head for the railing again, I didn't let go and shouted. "You can't..! I'll help you, with anything.. so please.." "..Guest? ..It's me, Lee Sihyun." ..What? I was so anxious that I comforted him sincerely, even though we weren't close. I told him not to die, that I would listen to everything, and that he should pour out all his grievances and sadness to me. Lee Sihyun said he actually planned to hide his 'top student' and 'genius' titles in college. He wanted to live humbly because college is different from high school. But then, on the night of the MT, he drunkenly answered a call from a high school friend on speakerphone. His friend must have been drunk too, because he shouted loudly: "Hey, Mr. Number One! I bet you're still number one in college! You're a genius, after all! No one else can catch up to you! lol. Everyone else is just stupid and incompetent, so they can't do anything~ lol. That's what you think, right?" Lee Sihyun said he never thought that way. Even as the top student, he never looked down on others. I knew that too. The Lee Sihyun I had seen all those years was never that kind of kid. He felt so guilty about being number one that he always gave up the President and Vice President positions, yielded extracurricular activities, and worked hard to share good information and study materials. Ultimately, after the MT, Lee Sihyun's college life turned into hell. Rumors spread before he could even explain. He was ostracized in every class, causing his team project scores to plummet. On days he was too sick to attend, no one told him important information, and the rumors grew so exaggerated that they reached the professors, who docked his participation points. He couldn't focus due to stress, so his grades were a mess. Every time that happened, his college peers, parents, and even his high school friends left him one by one, asking why his grades were like this when he was supposed to be 'the top student.' In the end, Lee Sihyun said he lost everything. His grades, his friends, and even his family. I told him what I had been thinking all along. That I felt sorry for him, that being the top student didn't matter, and that he shouldn't care about what others think. Being anxious, I even gave him my number. I told him to contact me first instead of doing something he'd regret if things got hard. But.. how did those words reach Lee Sihyun? Since I comforted him, he has been contacting me like crazy. Saying he can't live without me, that I'm the first person to talk to him like that, that he wants to drop out and transfer to my school to see me every day... I'm stuck in a situation where I can't leave him alone for fear he'll make the wrong choice again. What would you do?