Chapter 86
Chapter 86
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: The Substitute Runner
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"…!"
This was a silent scream...
"Does it hurt?"
"It hurts."
Even a breeze rustling the leaves was agony right now.
Did everyone put their lives on the line for the sports festival? The nurse's office was overflowing with injured students. In the end, I just grabbed some antiseptic and ointment and headed to the drama club room.
"Sit down."
Jeong Eun-seong sat me on an empty desk and knelt on one knee in front of me. He dabbed the wound with gauze and applied antiseptic.
Ugh. Every time my hand trembled, a furrow formed between his brows. As he spread the antiseptic on his knee, Jeong Eun-seong scolded me.
"Why'd you roll up your pants?"
"They were flapping too much."
To reduce wind resistance.
"Your pants are big?"
"Yeah."
He nodded and gently wrapped his hand around my ankle.
"It's skinny."
"Your hands are just big."
Thankfully, our first-year relay team won, closing the score gap quite a bit. Worth the scraped knee, I suppose.
As I said that and giggled, Jeong Eun-seong shot me a glare.
"Funny, huh?"
"Yeah. Kids get a little banged up as they grow, right?"
"You're not a kid."
"What are you talking about? I'm totally a kid."
"Let's not talk anymore."
Shaking his head, Jeong Eun-seong applied ointment to my knee and placed fresh gauze on it.
Sunlight poured through the drama club room window with its curtains pulled back, illuminating Jeong Eun-seong's bowed head and cheeks. His ears still had that soft fuzz, his hair looked plush, and in contrast, his large hands.
'His hair is so thick. Can't even see his part.'
If I ran my fingers through it, my hand would sink right in?
How does he even wear a hat? With that much hair, it'd bounce right off.
I was lost imagining a baseball cap springing off Jeong Eun-seong's head, so I was a beat late responding to what he actually said.
"Your friend's mom knows our company's head of headquarters."
"My friend?"
"Han Ji-su."
"Oh. Han. Ji-su."
"Whatever."
"Ji-su's mom has wide connections anyway."
"What's her job?"
"City councilor."
"A city councilor who shows up at school this much? Doesn't she have work?"
"Well..."
Maybe city councilors skip meetings and play around all day like some national assembly members...
"I heard she's making the rounds to run in the next national assembly election."
"She'll get votes with no name recognition?"
"Dunno... Proportional representation?"
"People don't directly vote for those?"
"Excuse me. Don't you know what proportional representation is?"
It was on the midterm! I widened my eyes.
Found it.
The reason our class couldn't get first in politics, making our homeroom teacher wail.
Caught off guard, Jeong Eun-seong slyly averted his eyes.
"We said we'd study hard."
"Ri.ght. Yeah."
"You study normally... right?"
"Of. Cour.se."
"What's gerrymandering?"
"Gerry-what?"
"We learned it last week."
"Last week... haven't reviewed that yet."
"Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau. What's the difference?"
"Huh?"
"Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau."
"That was on the test too?"
"Hey! We learned that the first class! March!"
It was on the midterm! Number one!
I stomped my foot in frustration. Jeong Eun-seong, sitting in front of me, hung his head and chuckled.
"Ah, got caught not studying."
"Don't laugh at my foot."
Unbelievable.
"Jeez."
"Don't glare."
Jeong Eun-seong smirked, grabbing my foot and gently rocking it back and forth. Hmph. Did he think acting cute like that would calm my anger and make me laugh?
"Jeong Eun-seong. What's high school studying for?"
"Common sense."
"If you don't know this?"
"Later in society, people call you ignorant."
"Right."
I don't want to hear later that you, as a regular person, got scammed by a manager or acquaintance because you lacked basic common sense.
"Get it together. Later, when you're in college and a senior celebrates passing the Bank of Korea exam by sharing cake."
"Sounds tasty."
"It is, super tasty, but when your classmate cuts it weirdly to hog all the strawberries, and someone says, 'Gerrymandering?' you wanna be the only one standing there blankly?"
"I won't go to college..."
"Oh."
Right. His agency told him to quit regular high school now.
"It's fine. I'll probably go to cyber university later to delay military service."
Pressing down the edges of the bandage he'd applied and blowing on it one last time, Jeong Eun-seong stood up.
His eye level shot up suddenly.
Gathering the used gauze and bandage wrappers neatly, he tossed them in the trash and asked.
"But do you only nag me like this?"
"No. I do it to everyone I see."
"Why?"
"Wouldn't it be great if everyone had tons of common sense?"
So study. I added as I pulled down my rolled-up pants.
"I quiz when you're off guard."
"Got it. I'll always be ready."
"But why does the headquarters head know Ji-su's mom?"
"Nothing big. We ran into each other at the cafeteria last time, and it came up."
"Hmm..."
Did Ji-su tell her? That there's a trainee in the same club.
I hadn't heard anything special from Ji-su.
"Does having a connection with the headquarters head get you better treatment at the company? Like, not telling you to quit school?"
"Not really."
"Aww."
Too bad. I brushed the dust off my pants and stretched.
"Ugh. My whole body aches."
"Gonna crash when I get home. What about studying today?"
"Oh. I did it all this morning."
Got up at 5 a.m. today. I held up five fingers, and Jeong Eun-seong hooked his pinky with mine, pulling me to my feet.
"Sports festival day, and you got up early to study?"
"Gotta study when others play to catch up."
"You're number one. Catch up to who...?"
"School's top student, not world's."
"Not even national? World?"
"Other countries have seniors too."
Dream big.
"Dream big, and even the shards are big when it shatters."
Quoting something I heard somewhere, I checked my phone, which kept vibrating. Seo Jae-kyeom.
When I was heading here, he said he'd come too, leaving a note: 'Who'll keep our class in line without you?'
Ignoring KakaoTalk, so now texts.
💬 KakaoTalk - On my way to the nurse's office? - Arrived? - Is the teacher there? What'd she say? - Kids are too rowdy without you ㅠㅠ - ㅠㅠ - ㅠ… Replied I'd go soon and pocketed my phone.
"Let's go."
As far as I knew, after the student teacher's talent show and dance club special performance, it was homeroom teacher and class president three-legged race.
Back to the gym for me.
"Can you run?"
"Of course."
Obviously!
Can't miss buying workbooks with school money.
I tapped my sneaker toes on the floor determinedly.
"I'm slower than you, but second fastest among the girls after Su-a. We'll take first unless something goes wrong."
"Da-hye, what do we do...?"
"Teacher..."
"I think I ate too much..."
My stomach hurts... The homeroom teacher teared up. Her face was pale.
Teachers usually don't discuss bodily functions with students unless it's dire.
Looking at the homeroom teacher in no shape to run, I asked.
"Did you eat something...?"
"I had a caramel latte at the school gate where Eun-seong was..."
"Ah..."
In this heat where they couldn't even hold the sports festival outside and did it in the gym... A latte left out for hours with caramel syrup and milk...?
That's basically a laxative latte...?
'Leaving coffee there was their kind way of sabotaging us?!'
⚙ SCOREBOARD ⚙ Yeon: 355 Go: 290 I stared blankly at the scoreboard, where Seo Jae-kyeom must've shredded his abs one more time, up by 5 points.
Just need to catch 65 more.
Seo Jae-kyeom scratched his eyebrow beside me and said.
"Our vice homeroom teacher is..."
"......"
"......"
We looked at the vice homeroom teacher sweating bullets in the shade over there, licking an ice cream shot by Yi Mong-ryong teacher—one we didn't really want to mention.
She's still in her late 20s, but with all that double chin, she can't even climb to the fourth floor by stairs...
Glancing at the homeroom teacher writhing, desperate for the bathroom, then at the vice.
"We forfeit...?"
"I'd feel too bad..."
"No. Your dignity as a teacher is more important. Let the other class win."
Even though the homeroom teachers of classes 4, 6, 8, and 10 look like they haven't run on their own legs in over 10 years!
"Waaaaah!"
I smacked my lips regretfully as the Yeon team snatched another 5 points on the scoreboard.
Farewell, gift certificates that are no longer mine.
That was when.
"How about me?"
The student teacher, who'd been grinning beside us, stepped forward.