“I’m saying, if you’re going to get along with someone, wouldn’t it be good for you to make friends who are actually helpful? That Ugyeong girl may be good at studying, but she doesn’t seem to get along well with other kids, and there are a lot of rumors going around about her. I’d prefer if you didn’t get close to her.”
“I’ll handle it myself. I may be just another student in a school uniform in your eyes, but I’m an adult now. I’ll decide who I do or don’t hang out with, and what I do or don’t do.”
Standing in an at-ease posture, Taeheon maintained courtesy and did his utmost to keep emotion from creeping into his voice. But inside, curses like *fuck, this is bullshit* poured out a hundred, a thousand times.
“But, teacher, no matter what the kids say, isn’t it your job to protect that child? If a child is on the outskirts, isn’t your role to ask what’s difficult and help them adjust? You seem clueless, sitting in the teachers’ office just listening to whatever the kids tell you. Ugyeong is a good kid. A hundred times, a thousand times kinder than the ones who spread rumors and badmouth others.”
By the time he said those words, emotion had crept into his voice unwittingly. He found the man pathetic—trying to teach him when he didn’t know shit—and couldn’t help but talk back.
His reaction—fumbling, unable to get a single proper word out—was quite a sight. His convictions as a teacher and his personal pride had been ground into the dirt, and he must have been fairly upset, yet he couldn’t do anything because his opponent was the grandson of a conglomerate chairman.
* * *
The final scene ended and the ending credits rolled.
The movie, rumored to be good, lived up to its reputation. The plot moved quickly without the frustrating drag of conflict sections, making it easy to get immersed, and the ending was interesting as well. There were even some fairly moving scenes. Perhaps because of that, while some people gathered their things to leave, a few remained in their seats, savoring the long aftertaste.
“Shall we go?”
Taeheon spoke around the time the theater staff came in to clean up. Ugyeong, roused from her long reverie, nodded with a smiling face.
She exited the screening room at a brisk pace, but the moment she spotted the parking sign, she looked at Taeheon as if she’d just remembered something.
“You’re going straight to the parking lot, right? Then goodbye.”
When she turned to leave without a second thought, he reached out and grabbed her, stopping her in her tracks. Ugyeong looked at her caught arm in surprise, and Taeheon immediately withdrew his hand.
“You’re leaving?”
“Since we’ve finished the movie.”
“Ha.”
An instinctive sigh escaped him. She had kept her word exactly—she’d said she would show him a movie and buy him popcorn. They had gone out for that purpose, and having achieved it, she wore an expression that said it was only natural to go back.
“I’m me, and you’re you.”
“Huh? What do you mean...”
He meant that he was just as awkward—fumbling over his first gift to someone of the opposite sex—as she was, insisting she’d show him a movie and then truly intending to leave after doing nothing but watch it. Ugyeong still didn’t understand his meaning, merely blinking.
“Let’s eat lunch before you go.”
“No, it’s fine. You’re busy.”
“I’m not busy. I have time to buy you meat.”
“...Meat?”
Her expression, which had been refusing while even waving her hands, turned sulky. She reflexively looked at her flat stomach and swallowed.
Taeheon ducked his head and laughed shortly, then spoke calmly as if he hadn’t seen a thing.
“I noticed you seemed to like meat when you ate the school lunch.”
“Ah. That’s right, I like meat. It’s not something I get to eat often, so I guess I ate it especially well.”
“Good. Let’s go eat meat.”
“Then... okay.”
After seeming to think it over for a few seconds, she didn’t refuse and followed him out. Dodging this way and that to avoid bumping into passersby, she diligently chased after his steps.
Taeheon, who had been casually looking around, noticed her busy movements reflected in a shop window and let out a sigh. It wasn’t that fast a pace, but he supposed it must be quite taxing for her.
“You’re you, and I’m me.”
He stopped his steps, mocking himself once more.
“You can hold on.”
“Huh?”
She had spotted him standing still from afar and found it strange; when she saw his elbow jutting out toward her, she was startled.
“Oh, no. I’m fine.”
“I’m fine too, so hold it. If you don’t mind.”
“...”
Ugyeong stared blankly at his arm. For her, holding hands or linking arms was skinship possible only between lovers.
“You don’t like it?”
When he asked her again, she was quite confused. Though they hadn’t spoken of dating, she didn’t know how to define this unusually close relationship. Anyway, since they weren’t dating, maybe it was okay as long as they didn’t hold hands or link arms.
Having reached her own conclusion, she brought her stiff hand over and lightly grasped the hem of his clothes. At her reaction—as if to say this much was acceptable—Taeheon burst into a short laugh.
“You smell nice, oppa.”
“Huh?”
This time, Taeheon was flustered and blinked blankly.
“Just... that’s all.”
“...”
Even though she said it was nothing, his heart pounded for quite a while. He had prepared as he would for any ordinary outing, but he wondered if he had overdone it. Worried that his attempt to look good had been too obvious.
He turned his body slightly and raised the arm he hadn’t offered her, sniffing the scent. Since she said it was nice, he had the foolish thought that he ought to buy the perfume in bulk before it was discontinued.
“Welcome. Table for two?”
The two entered a relatively quiet meat restaurant. The staff member who greeted them kindly from the entrance didn’t lose her smile while guiding them to their seats. She spread the menu out neatly and left them with a remark about taking their time.
“This place seems a bit expensive.”
“That’s why there are no customers. I hate noise, so it’s perfect.”
Watching her scrutinize the menu with worried eyes, Taeheon laughed inwardly. That was exactly why he had chosen this place among so many restaurants. Because it was quiet and not crowded.
He hadn’t considered the food prices from the start. When she said it was expensive, it did seem so, but regardless, the staff service, interior, and atmosphere passed with flying colors.
“Aren’t you eating?”
“Eating.”
The meat was as excellent as the high price suggested. She ate so well that he felt it would have been a terrible waste if she had come without eating lunch. Because she ate so well, Taeheon, who was grilling the meat, was in high spirits. He even thought he wouldn’t mind coming here again if he had the chance.
“By the way, didn’t you like it?”
“Huh?”
It was around the end of the meal. Ugyeong, who had been sipping her after-meal tea, stared at him blankly, unable to understand his meaning. Taeheon glanced at her empty wrist, then looked away.
“Let’s go.”
Taeheon, having paid, came out carrying a bag of packed meat.
Ugyeong, who had taken out her cosmetics to check her face, hurriedly stuffed them into her bag and put on a formal smile. Taeheon glanced at her face, which had become more vivid than before, and held out what was in his hand to her.
“Eat this at home. Since you ate so well, I packed the same thing.”
“Oh, no. I’m really fine. You take it, oppa.”
“I have something tonight, and even if I take it home, there’s no one to eat it. You take it. You can eat it for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. The feeling won’t be the same as eating here, but meat tastes like meat wherever it is.”
He took her hand, which was too grateful and sorry to readily accept, and forcibly pressed the bag into it. To prevent her from refusing, he overlapped his hand with hers quite openly before letting go. It was a small, soft hand, one almost entirely covered by the back of his own hand.
“Next time, you don’t have to wear a skirt.”
“Huh?”
“How much more do you want to be noticed, pretty girl, that you’re even wearing a skirt? Just come out comfortably. Don’t put anything on your face either. Your skin must be suffocating, covering everything up even to your moles.”
“T-that’s not it. Really, it’s not.”
Her eyes shook frantically as she hurriedly protested. Whether she had thought he wouldn’t notice because he was dull, or whether she had never been called pretty before. The meaning was unclear, but she was definitely surprised.
“Really, it’s not...”
“Yes, let’s say it’s not.”
Taeheon smiled brightly and naturally tilted his head. Then he exhaled. The embarrassing words he had carelessly spilled from his own mouth struck the back of his head belatedly. The nape of his neck burned.
* * *
Chairman Jo Myeongseon’s mansion in Pyeongchang-dong was uncharacteristically bustling. It was a family dinner with everyone in attendance except for Choe Taebeom, the son of her eldest daughter U Hyeonseon, who had enlisted last year.
Jo Myeongseon had four sons and one daughter, and her children seemed to have made a promise to have sons in the exact same year—there were four grandsons born in the same year, including Taeheon.
At the time, her fourth son U Seongmun had caused an accident, and Jo Myeongseon had been in turmoil, but holding grandsons in her arms at intervals of a few months had made her worries vanish completely.
They were the same age and in the prime of their youth, so they probably growled and picked fights whenever they met, but to Jo Myeongseon, they were the apples of her eye.
Moreover, her eldest grandson Taejun, who was considerably older than them, had finished all his management training and was only waiting for his first day of work; she truly felt as if she could go without eating and still be full.
“Who will take Taejun?”
Jo Myeongseon looked around at the faces of her family and spoke in a bright voice.
Her children, who had likely been forming various assumptions from the moment she called them, were not greatly agitated. Except for U Seongmun, whose position was insecure.
“What do you mean, who will take him? Mom, what are you talking about?”
“What do you think? Taejun is saying he wants me to make a place for him. He’s studied enough, hasn’t he? Now he needs to join the company and learn the business.”
“With Taejun’s specs, any company would be grateful to have him. But as they say, the arm bends inward—why wouldn’t he want to go to his father’s company?”
U Hyeonseon looked fondly at Taejun and U Seonghwa, who sat side by side, as if asking isn’t that right. U Seonghwa, the representative director of Yunheon Construction and the first son, smiled a good-natured laugh as if his own opinion didn’t matter.
Having no intention of interfering in his children’s future, U Seonghwa had let Taejun and Taeheon do as they pleased from a young age. This educational approach of letting them experience and learn freely had clear pros and cons, but commendably, both had walked the right path. And as U Hyeonseon expected, Taejun wished to join his father’s company.
Jo Myeongseon looked at U Seonghwa with satisfied eyes, thinking she had raised a fine child, then stopped lifting her spoon and asked casually,
“Yun Jonggi—that man’s son’s name was Hajin, wasn’t it? I heard he goes to the same school as Taeheon?”