Episode 119
Before entering the unfamiliar classroom for the first time as a seventeen-year-old, Tae-u took a brief deep breath in front of the main entrance.
He was attending high school for the very first time in his life.
A new semester at a new school.
Hardly anyone would not feel nervous.
If a close friend from middle school had been assigned to the same class and school, the pressure would be somewhat less, but Tae-u had been assigned to a school far from home.
Even if he didn’t know the school, the chances were high that there would be no one he knew in his class.
When he walked inside, the seats were nearly all taken. This was only to be expected.
‘Guess I’m a bit late.’
Even though he had made a few trips before the start of school to learn the route, and used the map embedded in his smartphone—that blessed gift of civilization—Tae-u had gotten lost multiple times on his way today, and as a result, had arrived late.
Thankfully, he hadn’t stayed up late broadcasting the night before, so leaving a little leeway in the morning saved him.
‘If not, I’d have been late on day one.’
No matter how many times you tread it, there’s no such thing as a path that’s forever familiar and easy! Therefore, you must leave early! Yet it’s still a close call!
That was Tae-u.
Morning assembly at the school begins at 7:40, and first period starts at 8:10.
The current time: 7:38.
Maybe that was why only three seats remained.
He didn’t know how many more would arrive, but the choices left to Tae-u right now were two.
‘Sit next to that guy, or sit alone like that guy.’
The one person sitting alone was, at a glance, exceedingly handsome.
Moreover, unlike the other students in the room who were meticulously probing one another, he was reading a book with a perfectly upright posture and tranquil demeanor.
He gave off an aura that made him hard to approach.
There had to be a reason he had been left alone.
But the man Kim Tae-u was a homebody who liked games and found solitude comfortable, yet he also had the contradictory trait of not being able to actually bear being alone.
So he took the seat next to the remaining solitary figure.
“Hey?”
Tae-u’s voice trembled slightly as he greeted someone for the first time, and the good-looking guy nodded his head and answered leisurely.
“Hey.”
* * *
What in the world was he looking at?
‘A wuxia novel?’
No matter that there were no classes on the first day, everyone would still pay attention when the teacher spoke from the front.
Even if one were a delinquent, on the first day at least, they would act like a model student.
But this guy sitting next to Tae-u was different.
‘Was his name Jin Seo-jun?’
Somehow, even his name sounded handsome. This is why a face matters. Damn.
Anyway.
This guy was something else.
Even during class, he had a book on his lap and was reading it, and even viewed from right next to him, there was nothing awkward about where his gaze seemed to be directed.
‘What kind of skill is he pulling?’
Tae-u thought Seo-jun’s internal energy for secretly goofing off was nothing to scoff at.
‘This bastard was one of my kind?’
It was a gut feeling.
A signal sent by the unconscious mind of someone who handles vast amounts of data, akin to big data itself.
That gut feeling was now signaling to Tae-u that Seo-jun might become a pretty well-matched friend.
‘No. Could he be worse at studying than me?’
* * *
At 2 o’clock, they headed to the auditorium for the entrance ceremony.
Dull, sleep-inducing formalities took place, and the moment came for the freshman representative’s pledge.
And as the freshman representative came up to the auditorium for the pledge, Tae-u’s eyes, which had been yawning, grew wide.
It was Seo-jun.
No matter how little interest he had in studying, Tae-u knew that usually the student who had done the best academically stood in that position.
‘What the. How annoying.’
The sentiment was meant purely as admiration.
With a little jealousy over Seo-jun’s face mixed in.
* * *
Three days had passed since the start of school.
Busy adapting to the new environment, it was also the time when things slowly started to settle.
The teachers who were now meeting them for the second time began their lessons.
And.
For three days, from the moment he arrived at school in the morning until he left for the day, Seo-jun did not rise from his chair even once, only reading his book.
Sometimes he would close his eyes and become lost in thought, but the fact that he did not get up from his seat remained unchanged!
‘Is he truly a model student?!’
His ability to sit still was remarkable.
During that time, no one had approached Seo-jun first, nor did Seo-jun approach anyone else.
He didn’t even eat lunch.
Even if it wasn’t studying, still.
Even if it was just a wuxia novel and not a humanities book, still.
Even if he kept reading during class, still.
‘Since he’s the freshman representative, he must have some know-how for studying.’
Maybe it’s training to build concentration?
Tae-u thought it was impressive, and so every time he stopped by the school store, he would buy a drink to give to Seo-jun.
A direct bribe is always the best policy, after all.
“Here, friend, take it.”
“Thanks.”
Seo-jun spoke plainly as he accepted his fifth drink.
Then during the next class, as if he had finished reading it, Seo-jun closed his book and slipped it into his bag for the first time.
Afterwards, stretching, Seo-jun said quietly.
“What’s for lunch today?”
That very question students utter most often! Today’s cafeteria menu!
This was the first time Tae-u felt that Seo-jun was like any other student, and he excitedly told him the menu and suggested they eat together.
Seo-jun nodded in agreement. Tae-u told the friends he usually ate with that he’d eat separately today, and when lunchtime came, he went down to the cafeteria with Seo-jun.
Today’s lunch featured chicken legs, which are hard to mess up, and after receiving his meal in a good mood, Tae-u headed for an empty spot.
After sitting face to face with Seo-jun, and while eating and chatting amicably, someone who had been heading to throw away their leftovers suddenly stopped in front of their table and bowed ninety degrees.
“Hello, sir!”
What’s this?
And.
‘Who is it?’
With only the two of them at the table, the greeting was clearly directed at Seo-jun.
But the color of the name tags on the bowing people was different from theirs.
Different name tag colors for these first-years meant that these people were their seniors.
Were they close and just messing around?
But the atmosphere was not playful at all.
As Seo-jun acknowledged the greeting while eating his chicken leg, they disappeared.
But that was only the beginning.
The spot where they sat was at the back, near where leftovers were disposed of. The seniors who had been eating at the front were now finished and starting to get up to return their trays.
So many people passed by that spot, and seniors greeting Seo-jun kept popping up at a rate of about one in every ten.
“Boss! Hello, sir!”
With fierce faces,
“Did you... end up coming here?”
And large builds.
Their common traits were that every one of them had a threatening appearance and bowed to Seo-jun with a crisp ninety-degree angle.
Each time, Tae-u’s expression grew increasingly sour.
‘I’m screwed.’
A junior whom seniors greet like gangsters?
First, one should doubt whether he is even a junior at all.
‘Did he cause an accident and get held back?’
That was the most likely scenario.
Then it made sense why he had been so composed and relaxed until now.
This guy wasn’t experiencing high school for the first time.
Also, seeing how notoriously famous he was, the chances were high that he had caused a huge incident.
From that moment, Tae-u’s words drastically decreased.
After they finished eating, Seo-jun spoke to Tae-u.
“Hey, friend. Wanna go to the store?”
Seo-jun was trying to repay him.
But Tae-u interpreted it differently.
‘I messed up. I’m done for.’
Remembering how he had been playing up the friendship while bringing Seo-jun drinks over the past three days, he interpreted Seo-jun’s words as:
‘So he’s saying, if I want to remain even somewhat friends, I should buy him something at the store.’
The fact that he’d been marked was already done. In that case, how could he spend the rest of his school life relatively smoothly?
Tae-u used his quick wits and did the best thing he could manage at the time.
“Drinks won’t be enough, so how about bread for dessert?”
“Good. Then I’ll...”
“No way! You head up to the classroom first and wait! I’ll go right now and come back!”
From that day on, various popular breads from the school store were added to the types of food Tae-u would go and purchase.
* * *
[User 'ㅇㅇ' has donated 50,000 won!]
[How did you and Tae-u first become friends?]
Upon seeing the donation, Tae-u shed tears inwardly as he reminisced about the past.
‘I brought and offered up truly a lot of bread back then.’
There was that kind of memory.
The kind of memory where he had worried about how he’d spend the next three years of high school and hadn’t even been able to broadcast properly.
Would that bastard even remember that?
Tae-u glared at Seo-jun.
The middle school Seo-jun had attended was right next to the high school Tae-u went to, and so Tae-u had been able to easily listen in on things about Seo-jun.
He thankfully found out that it wasn’t for being held back or an incident, but the assessment of him wasn’t great all the same.
People who weren’t close to Seo-jun said it’d be best not to get close, because he hung around some rough kids.
And those rough kids who were dragged along by Seo-jun said things like:
‘Don’t get tangled up with him. Just don’t ask and don’t get tangled, man.’
‘Have you ever seen hell?’
‘I never knew I’d end up studying either.’
‘Us being Seo-jun’s friends? We’re not.’
‘Yeah. A real friend would never do that.’
Back then, Seo-jun had been listening to their conversation from behind, and that’s how Tae-u became his one and only friend.
The next day, those guys who were clearly Seo-jun’s friends—who, looking back now, had definitely been dragged off to that gym—came looking for him every break, having turned into desperate plea-makers, begging to be let off just once.
The guy who openly doesn’t study → The top-ranked student with insane focus → The delinquent who caused an accident and got held back → ???
Having gone through this spectrum of perception, Tae-u gave up trying to figure Seo-jun out and just diligently ran errands to the school store.
“Um. Tae-u here was real generous. He kept buying bread and sharing it, so I wondered, what’s with this weird guy? And then we just got friendly.”
-Buying favor with bread lol
-Is that a friendship fee? lol
-lol you really just brought it?
-Tae-u you bastard were you a natural-born bread shuttle? lol
-Being a bread shuttle could really be controversial
“Bread shuttle? No, I’m telling you, I said nothing. And I don’t particularly like bread.”
Tae-u, who couldn’t take it anymore, spoke up.
“Then why in the world didn’t you tell me to stop bringing bread?”
“I mean, someone you’ve known less than a month keeps buying stuff for you; it’s weird to just refuse for no reason.”
True.
“He’s right.”
He’s really right.
Hiding his tears, Tae-u looked up at the ceiling.
Why was this guy so abnormal in every other way, yet pointlessly thought about this kind of thing like a normal person?
He was genuinely curious.
“Oh? Did the chicken arrive? Good work, everyone.”
“I’ll go get it right away!”
The habits ingrained in Tae-u’s body responded instantly.
* * *
The next day.
While on his way to a lecture, Seo-jun happened to recall his high school days and smiled contentedly.
‘Diligent, sincere, quiet, kind, and ordinary, I was.’
He was also a student who exerted a positive influence.
To demonstrate exemplary conduct and guide the juniors was, after all, a senior’s natural duty.
There had been no violence or personal agenda. Truly.
He wasn’t saying that just because he felt defensive.
‘Anyway, why did Director Oh Ji-hye call me?’
Originally, they were scheduled to meet in a few days, but she had asked if he could come today.
Since it was near the university, it didn’t matter much whenever she called, really.
‘Is it because of Rios?’