Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Unexpected Tutoring Offer
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"Do Ha-jun, why did you send me a KakaoTalk?"
You and I have nothing to say to each other, and even if you did have something to say to me...
What gives you the nerve?
The shamelessness of acting like none of it ever happened was infuriating.
"Don't you remember you're prohibited from contacting me?"
I asked in disbelief, but Do Ha-jun looked even more incredulous. He widened his eyes as if he were the wronged one and opened his mouth.
"It's because you...!"
"What?"
"Da-hye, what's going on?"
"What happened?"
Right on cue, some girls from another class passing by stopped when they saw me with Do Ha-jun.
They seemed to assume the classroom BJ-watching sexual harasser was bothering me again and swarmed over, surrounding me.
"What did this pervert say to you?"
They looked ready to beat him up again on the spot if I said yes.
Do Ha-jun, who was short and scrawny, completely shrank back under their fierce glares.
"What are you guys doing there?"
"Oh, it's Do Ha-jun."
"What did this jerk do now?"
The girls' gathering drew the boys passing by as well. Some were already cracking their knuckles with gleaming eyes.
'He's practically the official sandbag.'
I felt like I should tell them to stop, but I didn't want to.
I sighed and said,
"It's nothing. He just had something he wanted to ask me, but I guess he felt awkward doing it in the classroom."
"What did he want to ask?"
"Exactly. What gives him the nerve."
"Tell him to handle it himself."
"Yeah. Anyway, it's settled, so let's go."
Thanks for the help. I linked arms with the friend standing next to me and started walking. As I headed for the stairs, I glanced back.
Do Ha-jun, left alone, was glaring at me with an unpleasant roll of his eyes.
'Why's he making that face?'
I gave him one last warning.
"Do Ha-jun. Don't send me any more KakaoTalks. If you do it one more time, I'll report you for violating the no-contact order."
With an uneasy feeling, I returned to the classroom.
"Kang Da!"
"Da-hye!"
"Goot mwoh-ning."
I greeted my friends and sat in the now-familiar seat next to Lee Seo-jun. He was already there, greeting me with an embarrassed look.
"Hi."
"Yeah, hi. Were you studying?"
"Yeah..."
"Me too."
Another happy day of studying begins!
What should I start with? Humming a tune, I picked out a workbook when Lee Seo-jun quietly asked from beside me.
"Did you see the sports day photos that went up?"
"No? Where?"
"The school homepage."
"You go there...?"
I asked in surprise, and his face turned red.
"A lot of kids do..."
"Really...?"
I guess I was the only one who didn't know.
"Is there a photo of me?"
"Yeah, a few. Want to see?"
"Sure."
I leaned over the phone he'd placed on the desk. Lee Seo-jun, now red up to his neck, logged into the school homepage.
He kept fumbling because I was watching, so I deliberately looked away.
"Here. Take a look."
"Thanks."
I took the phone from him.
The first one that caught my eye was Seo Jae-kyeom leaning against a flag planted in the ground.
The next was Seo Jae-kyeom coming in with a slightly pissed-off expression after the palm-pushing game.
The next was Jeong Eun-seong spilling water while drinking from the stands before his relay race.
Not even an important photo, so why take it? And it looked zoomed in a lot.
There was a download count under each photo.
Since they were on the school homepage, you needed to log in to view or download them, but the download numbers exceeded the student body count. How?
"Seo Jae-kyeom's photos are like that too... Whoa, the one where he lifted his shirt has thousands of downloads."
At this rate, every student in our school probably has at least one photo of Jeong Eun-seong or Seo Jae-kyeom in their gallery.
'They were popular to begin with, but now...'
I could confidently say that Jeong Eun-seong, the idol trainee, acting like a blunt PE major, and the studious Seo Jae-kyeom acting like an idol had skyrocketed their popularity.
"Who downloaded my photo of me gaping next to abs-revealing Seo Jae-kyeom 67 times? I look like an idiot."
"Our class student teacher... has over 100 downloads too."
He's not a student teacher anymore. How long are people going to call him that?
Of course, he has a name.
Do I really need to learn the name of someone who's already finished their practicum and gone back to college now?
What I need to memorize now are names like Choi Ik-hyeon, Kim Won-bong, Nam Ja-hyeon from modern Korean history, not some student teacher's name.
Speaking of which, time to review modern history.
"Looks good."
"Y-yeah!"
I handed the phone back to Lee Seo-jun and opened a blank notebook.
I'll write down everything that happened from the 1800s to 1945 in order. If I miss even one, I'll give my raspberry macaron from today's lunch menu to Gyeong Se-in, who's over there eating a triangle kimbap.
With resolve, I gripped my mechanical pencil.
When I'd gotten up to 1919...
"Kang Da-hye."
"Eek."
I glared sharply at the interrupter.
Seo Jae-kyeom, who must have come straight to my seat after arriving at school, hadn't even taken off his bag yet. He flinched at my gaze as he looked down at me.
"Were you concentrating? Sorry."
"It's fine. What is it?"
"What are you doing over break?"
"Studying."
"Alone?"
"Yeah."
"Not going anywhere?"
"Nope."
Our house isn't like yours, where you hop on a plane every break. Mom works year-round without vacation, and I don't leave the neighborhood over break either.
Don't rub the wealth gap in my face. Scram.
"Then, you know..."
What was he beating around the bush for? I looked up curiously.
Seo Jae-kyeom, twisting his body awkwardly, suddenly blurted it out.
"Want to do private tutoring with me over break?"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Yesterday evening, at Jae-kyeom's house.
"Son, Ji-su asked if you wanted to do tutoring with her over break."
Jae-kyeom scowled as he was picking at his fish with chopsticks.
He'd already turned down Han Ji-su's tutoring offer a few days ago. She'd even come to his class to pull him aside and talk, but he'd flatly said no.
And now she went to his mom about it?
"Why'd she tell Mom that?"
"Probably worried you'd say no."
"Exactly. If she thought I'd refuse, she shouldn't have said it out loud. Why tell Mom?"
And he'd already refused, to boot.
His mom's eyes widened at Jae-kyeom's prickly reaction as she ate across from him.
"Why are you so sensitive lately?"
"I said I'm not doing it."
"Why? You used to seem to like Ji-su."
"That was then."
She and I both have enough with cram school and tutoring already. What more tutoring? Jae-kyeom grumbled. His mom teased with a laugh.
"Yeah. You already do plenty of tutoring and cram school. So why aren't your grades going up?"
"......"
'You'll never get into Korea University. You bombed music.'
It hit a sore spot.
As Jae-kyeom suddenly went quiet, his mom continued.
"Da-hye was first place again, right? She's lucky to be born in this era. If she'd been born 30 years earlier, with their family situation, she wouldn't have made it to college or even graduated high school on time—she'd have gone straight to a factory."
"Why say stuff like that?"
Jae-kyeom scowled and slammed his chopsticks down.
"What?"
"If she did well, just acknowledge it. Why drag in that belittling crap?"
What we should be talking about her isn't her family situation.
How hard she works, how much she cares for her friends, how pretty she looks when she smiles. That's what matters.
"Doing that well without all the tutoring and cram school I get? That's impressive. Just say she's impressive and move on. Why bring up 30 years ago?"
"Good grief. Did I say anything untrue? Their family is poor—that's a fact. No matter how talented she is, what can her mom do for her? She has to figure everything out on her own from one to ten. That's why I'm saying it."
"Drop it."
She even thanked your mom for the help.
I doubt Kang Da-hye would feel that gratitude if she heard this.
She even noticed how his mom talked about her.
Thinking that soured his appetite.
Scrape.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"Not hungry."
As Jae-kyeom headed upstairs, his mom muttered in exasperation behind him.
"He's been so weird lately."
Back in his room, door closed, Jae-kyeom flopped onto his bed. He covered his eyes with the back of his hand and thought.
"Seo Jae-kyeom, listen! You're acting weird!"
Didn't itch. He heard that a lot lately.
"Haaaaah..."
Letting out a long sigh, Jae-kyeom bolted upright.
"Seo Jae-kyeom, where are you going?"
"PC bang."