The Non-Everday Called Remedial Class
Outside, the sunset had begun to deepen, and the house, returned to later than usual, sat dark and still.
Yeoncheong hesitated a moment, then flipped on the lights and drew the curtains a little early. The bag slipping off her shoulder dropped to the floor with a thud.
Her blazer and uniform shirt followed.
Flump.
One flick of the wrist and her skirt spread across the floor.
Undressing was so convenient. That, Yeoncheong decided, was the one undeniable advantage of a skirt.
Shower first.
She headed straight for the bathroom.
The water hissed out in a steady stream. She tested it with her hand again and again until it hit just the right temperature, then stepped in.
Not too hot, not too cold. As the cascade melted away the day's fatigue, a sigh of relief slipped out of her almost on its own.
And with the tension loosened, everything that had happened with Seoha came flooding back.
Seoha...
The friend who was kinder to her than to anyone else. The careless word about preferences she'd let slip.
No way... right?
Her thoughts drifted there on their own, and her face flushed hot all over again. In a panic, she turned the water temperature down and shook her head from side to side.
Girls, together? No wait, but I was a guy until... well, all the way through. But Seoha doesn't know that. So still...
Man and woman. One thought hooked into the next, spiraling on and on.
Her brain just kept idling in place, going nowhere and everywhere. To cool her overheating head, Yeoncheong's hand found the showerhead once more.
"Ack—cold!"
Every hair on her body stood on end as the water turned to ice in an instant.
***
Meanwhile, in a house so vast it seemed like the lights should be on even at midday.
Seoha stepped inside with practiced footsteps. The brightly lit interior somehow felt cold—and desolate.
"Miss Seoha, you're later than usual today."
Seoha gave a small nod toward the housekeeper's warm greeting.
"What would you like to do about dinner?"
"Where are Father and Mother?"
Seoha swept her gaze around the expansive house. The housekeeper looked uncertain, choosing her words carefully.
"Ah... they said something urgent came up, and they've left on a business trip..."
No further explanation was needed.
"Bring it up to my room."
Without waiting for an answer, Seoha climbed the stairs to the second floor.
A south-facing room, wide open to the light—large enough to rival the living room of the small house Yeoncheong lived in. That was Seoha's room.
Setting down her bag, she went straight to her desk and sat. Then, checking her phone, she murmured to herself.
"She's learning faster than I expected..."
Seoha had planned to fill the gaps in her schedule—the ones carved out by student council work—with one-on-one tutoring. But maybe what she'd said to Suyeon hadn't been a lie after all. Yeoncheong really did learn fast.
Not that the influence of Seoha, the top student in the entire school, played no part in that.
Convinced that her available teaching time wouldn't last long, Seoha scanned her student council calendar. Shuffling a few of her looser commitments would free up roughly a day.
Seoha closed her eyes slowly.
The moment her eyelids fell, what rose up was the memory of that time alone with Yeoncheong.
Afraid that even a single finger might brush against her, Yeoncheong had huddled in on herself, her face burning red—that flush, set against her blue hair, had been like the sunset outside.
Hoping there would be another chance to be alone together, Seoha let a faint smile cross her lips.
***
A few days later. With grades confirmed and students filtering back into regular classes one by one, a few were still floundering in the swamp known as remedial class.
Yeoncheong was one of them.
When remedial sessions repeat enough times, seats settle into an unspoken order. Yeoncheong sat exactly where she had on the very first day—beside Seobin of the Library Club, whose weakness was literature.
Using the spare minutes, Yeoncheong was reviewing her pop quiz. At the groaning sound from beside her, Seobin's gaze turned to the right.
"What are you doing?"
They'd exchanged words enough times by now to have something like an actual rapport.
"The pop quiz I just took. I was going to look it over when I had time."
"Hmm... physics?"
Yeoncheong nodded without lifting her eyes from the paper. Seobin showed interest in it, stretching up—and as she did, her chest, half pressed against the desk, reclaimed its full shape.
Peering at the quiz, Seobin reached out and pointed at one of the problems.
"That one's wrong."
"It's not?"
Seobin explained, unhurried and methodical, exactly why. Perhaps from reading so many books—her explanation was precise, stripped of anything unnecessary.
"Got it?"
"Yeah..."
Yeoncheong lifted her head from the quiz and looked at Seobin.
"Seobin, you were a science-track student?"
Seobin glanced around the classroom once, then back at Yeoncheong.
"This whole class is science track. Don't tell me you thought I was humanities?"
"Well, the Library Club, so..."
Too late she realized her mistake—but the words were already out. Just like before, Seobin launched into a torrent.
"Assuming someone's humanities-track just because they like books is..."
"A stereotype. That's a stereotype. Sorry, that was a slip of the tongue."
Thankfully, Yeoncheong had learned from experience. Her swift apology kept it from stretching on like last time.
"You're good at science, then?"
"I'd say so? Unlike literature, where everything's open to interpretation, there's exactly one right answer."
And so Yeoncheong discovered a brand-new side of the remedial-class friend she'd first met by chance in the library.
Seobin went over several more problems for her after that. Thanks to her, Yeoncheong managed to rework a whole pile of questions in a short span of time.
The Literature Teacher walked in right on the hour, and the two of them turned their eyes back to the remedial lesson at hand.
***
After class, Yeoncheong walked Seobin out.
"Heading to the library?"
"Yeah. See you tomorrow."
The moment Seobin nodded and left, Seoha appeared abruptly from behind.
"Who was that?"
Seoha whispered right against her ear. Yeoncheong flinched and clapped a hand over it. Putting some distance between them and confirming it was Seoha, she lowered her guard.
"Huh? Oh, Seoha. Didn't you say you couldn't help today?"
"My student council schedule changed. That's why I'm here."
Seoha cast a glance after the departing Seobin, and Yeoncheong introduced them.
"That's Yoon Seobin. A friend I met in... remedial class."
"Different class, isn't she? Where'd you meet?"
"There was... a coincidence..."
Yeoncheong dodged the question. She would rather die than recount what had happened in the library.
Those moon-round eyes narrowed—then Seoha turned away.
"Let's go to the club room."
"You were waiting for me?"
Seoha glanced back over her shoulder and smiled.
"Of course. If you said you had to study again, you might run away."
"Come on... no matter what, I wouldn't run when a friend's offering to help."
Seoha waited for Yeoncheong to draw closer, then reached out and stole away the freedom of her undefended left hand.
"You never know."
Hands firmly interlaced, Seoha led her along.
Yeoncheong knew the school grounds well enough by now that the walk to the annex felt quick.
But the path beside Seoha, hand in hand, stretched out at least twice as long as usual.
There was Suyeon. Hasol. Seoha and Nayun, too.
She'd been dragged along arm-in-arm plenty of times, practically marched like a prisoner. Which meant, ironically, that actual hand-holding was surprisingly rare.
With linked arms, there was the arm itself to contend with—and the press of a chest beyond it. But hands? Hands had no barrier at all. That was the problem.
Bare palm against bare palm. Skin to skin.
Unfiltered softness met unfiltered softness, and now that she'd started noticing it, she couldn't stop.
Are my hands clean? They're not sweaty, are they?
Things she'd never once thought about flooded her mind.
Lost in her own whirlwind of thoughts, her steps slowed, and the annex seemed farther away than ever.
She never even noticed the faint smile on Seoha, walking half a step ahead.
Worth every minute of the effort.
Seoha felt quietly rewarded for having come to meet Yeoncheong at the remedial classroom.
The club room they arrived at held nothing but three lonely bags. Seoha sat down beside Yeoncheong's assigned seat and said,
"Hasol and Suyeon went to run an errand—Teacher Jisu asked them for a favor."
"Oh, yeah?"
Yeoncheong shuffled into her seat. With the bags there, she'd half hoped otherwise—but once again, it was just the two of them.
"Shall we start with physics again today?"
"Ah, sure."
Confidently, Yeoncheong pulled out the pop quiz she'd gotten today. Seoha skimmed it and asked,
"You went through it on your own already?"
"Yeah. Whenever I had a spare moment. Seobin helped me out earlier, too."
"Mm."
With a light little hum, Seoha pressed in close beside her.
"Just to be safe, let's go over it one more time."
Seoha was not the type to hold a quiz up at arm's length. Rising slightly from her seat, she leaned in.
Half-leaning against Yeoncheong's body, Seoha studied the paper with careful deliberation.
Silk-black hair spilled over Seoha's shoulder and slid down along Yeoncheong's.
Shampoo...
A trace of floral scent traveled along the intruding strands and tickled the tip of Yeoncheong's nose.
It was almost the exact same situation as before—and just as Yeoncheong sat frozen, unable to move a single finger, the back door of the club room opened.
It was Hasol and Suyeon, back from running Teacher Jisu's errand.
At the sight of the two of them pressed together well past the point of plausible deniability, Hasol covered her mouth and Suyeon's eyes went wide.
Even Seoha hadn't expected them back this early.
Seoha hastily straightened up, and the still-frozen Yeoncheong scrambled to explain.
"The quiz! We were looking at the quiz! Checking whether I got the problems right!"
But the content of the answer didn't matter. What mattered was the flustered face delivering it.
The two of them exchanged knowing smirks at Yeoncheong's crimson embarrassment.
"We haven't said a single word yet, you know?"
"True."
"We were just going to quietly grab our bags and head out."
Having seen everything, they both played innocent.
Suyeon tossed over the key. The two gathered only their bags and headed back out through the rear door. Following Hasol out, Suyeon paused to say,
"Yeoncheong, Seoha—so this kind of skinship is okay now, right? Noted."
With that—as if until now some line had been scrupulously observed—the door swung shut behind them.
Their footsteps faded down the hall. They seemed to be saying something to each other, but it was too faint to catch.
And even long after the sound of them had vanished entirely, Seoha and Yeoncheong stayed frozen exactly where they were.
***
The day after Hasol and Suyeon had departed leaving those meaningful smiles behind.
Heading toward Class 2-1, Teacher Jisu cocked her head.
"Yeoncheong? What are you doing out here instead of going in?"
Yeoncheong had been peeking around at the second-year hallway from the stairwell. She scratched her head and laughed it off.
"Get inside, quick. If you're later than me, I'm marking you tardy."
"Yes, ma'am."
Only then did Yeoncheong file into the classroom at almost exactly the same moment as her homeroom teacher.
Homeroom usually ended with nothing more than attendance. Today was different. Teacher Jisu handed a few sheets of paper to Hasol.
"We finished meetings yesterday, and the sports festival events are finally locked in. I just gave the list to your class president, so look it over and pick what you want to enter. Just so you know—everyone has to enter at least one event."
Suyeon raised her hand. Compared to how she'd been raising it just a month ago, the growth was unrecognizable.
"Go ahead, Suyeon. What is it?"
"Have they decided the first-place prize yet?"
"They have, but... I don't know either. It's a secret, apparently."
The students wore expressions that said, what kind of nonsense is that? Teacher Jisu added an explanation.
"The Board Chairman wouldn't even tell us teachers. But she did say we're allowed to look forward to it."
At those words, Suyeon's eyes began to sparkle.