"He's unbelievable. Why was he being so nice to you until now if he was going to be horrible?"
Bada doesn't answer the question but Taehyeon wasn't expecting a response. He's content to keep up a monologue all by himself with Bada forlornly shuffling beside him.
"Thinking about it, calling him nice is an insult to actually nice and kind people. He was just being weird. Do you think this is classed as bullying? He's doing it because he kissed you before, right? We should tell a teacher."
"You want me to tell a teacher that a boy I kissed is being mean to me?"
Taehyeon stumbles to a stop. It sounds ridiculous when Bada says it in such a baleful voice. Taehyeon rubs his arm reassuringly. "No," he says, "it won't be like that. If we say that you kissed him as a dare, it won't sound gay or anything. And we can still get him in trouble. Does that sound good?"
"Not really."
Taehyeon doesn't have any more ideas for how to exact revenge against an evil popular boy. The fact that Bada is so quietly upset about matters weighs heavily in Taehyeon's gut. Walking slowly alongside Bada, Taehyeon tries to shake some brain cells loose. They end up in the second year corridor and Taehyeon does his best to avoid making eye contact with anybody who is probably fun and popular enough to have already sorted out their room assignments.
Bada winces at the flapping sounds of sheets of paper. This is awful. And Taehyeon can't ignore the feeling that this is somehow all his fault. Like Dongmin said earlier, Bada wouldn't write him on his list unless Taehyeon did first. Unfortunately, Taehyeon really can't fix this. There is only one solution he can think of.
"You should call your brother and see what he says."
"My brother," Bada repeats. The hesitation in his voice isn't encouraging but Taehyeon knows better than to bow to the indecision of his friend.
Proactive problem-solver Taehyeon drags Bada into his classroom and pushes him into Taeri's empty seat. He notices Minjeong napping at her desk but elects not to say anything. He is barely confident that he can solve Bada's problem, let alone Minjeong's unpopularity.
"Are you sleeping, Minjeong?" Bada asks. She sits up and rubs her eyes before turning around. Bada either doesn't notice her gloomy glare or he doesn't care. He smiles at her like this is what she always looks like. "I'm going to call my brother and I didn't want to disturb you if you were sleeping."
Minjeong shrugs and drops her head into her stacked arms on her desk.
"Should we ask if your brother can speak to Minjeong too?" Taehyeon whispers. "Maybe that will cheer her up too."
Bada hesitates, smiling awkwardly as he very obviously tries to think of an excuse. Unluckily for him, Minjeong has excellent hearing.
"Why would I want to speak to your brother?"
"Bada's older brother is very glamorous and sophisticated. He's very handsome too. Nobody else at school knows about him."
Minjeong's eyes are red and Taehyeon does his hardest to pretend he simply doesn't notice as she turns around in her seat to face them properly.
"Are you talking about the brother who accused me of being a spy?"
"He wasn't accusing you, he was just worried about me," Bada reasons.
An insignificant observer to this disagreement, Taehyeon realises that Minjeong must have met Bada's brother at his house. He isn't jealous about it but he can't claim to be happy. Feeling left out over something like this is stupid. It sounds like Bada's brother dislikes Minjeong as much as he dislikes Taehyeon so they're equal. Minjeong is the one being left out by her friends at possibly the most crucial time of all. At least Taehyeon and Bada are being made fun of together.
"I'll just call my brother and see," Bada says whilst putting his phone on the desk after switching to speakerphone. "He might not even answer."
No sooner than Bada has spoken, the call is answered. For all Taehyeon's useless thoughts until now, the most stupid thing of all would be jealous of the way Bada's brother says, "I've been hoping to hear from you for all this time and you've finally called me for no reason. Why have you decided to make my day so special, Badabada Kim Bada?"
"I really did call for no reason. I was just testing to see if you'd answer."
"I must have passed your test if that's the case."
All this brotherly love is all well and good but Taehyeon doesn't want to be stuck thinking about how his sister would teleport to wherever he was so she could physically attack him for daring to call her.
"Someone is being mean to Bada," Taehyeon announces bravely. "You need to fix it. Or make him feel better or something."
There is no need for Bada to look so betrayed. This is the reason for the call in the first place.
"Someone is being mean to you, Bada? Who do they think they are? What have they done so far?"
"Taehyeon's exaggerating," Bada hedges. His brother apparently doesn't want to hear anything like that.
"You have to tell me."
"I can tell you," Taehyeon volunteers. "We're supposed to be picking groups for the winter glamping trip and a popular boy promised he'd be in a group with Bada but he lied and just said that so he could humiliate Bada when he ends up in a room full of rejects."
As though this isn't what he wanted at all, Bada pinches Taehyeon.
"I'll be right there," Bada's brother promises before hanging up the call. Bada is apparently speechless and it stuck gawping at Taehyeon.
"I thought he'd want to talk to you for longer than that," Taehyeon says like the reasonable man he definitely is.
"Why didn't you mention that you were going to be a reject too?" Minjeong asks.
This isn't really the time to point out that she is also well on her way to being a reject. He has the answer she wants to hear anyway. "Bada's brother doesn't care about me so it wouldn't make any sense to say I'm a reject too."
"My brother does care about you," Bada protests. His voice is awfully quiet and his face is getting terribly red. Taehyeon actually can't tell whether Bada is lying or just completely ignorant of the facts. It is better to pity him regardless.
"You don't need to try to make me feel better about this," Taehyeon grumbles. "There's someone else who needs cheering up. Does your brother care about Minjeong?"
"Probably not," Bada admits. Minjeong puffs out air through her nose and turns in her seat to face the front of the room.
Taehyeon sends Bada a significant look but he doesn't seem to have any good ideas to share. They're all losers here but it is a shame that there isn't a solution that can fix things for all of them.
"Do you have an older brother who can cheer you up?" Taehyeon asks. It takes a moment for Minjeong to realise the question is for her but she shakes her head and goes back to pretending to nap.
What is obvious to Taehyeon is the fact that nobody's problems have been resolved. He and Bada are still at risk of having a miserable time on the school glamping trip and Minkyung is almost certainly destined to that fate. Feeling glum about this isn't going to change anything but silver linings are hard to come by when Taehyeon is doing his best to look at things realistically.
"I'm just going to the toilet," Taehyeon says as he slides his chair backwards. Bada nods and stares reproachfully at Minjeong's hunched shoulders.
On his way out of the classroom, Taehyeon wonders if he could just ask Jeongwon to write Minjeong on her list and try to make up by pretending they never fell out in the first place. It probably wouldn't work. Taehyeon doesn't know whether Minjeong is more like himself or Bada but Taehyeon wouldn't be satisfied with a resolution like that.