The School Trip Begins
Yeoncheong knew herself better than anyone.
She had long since concluded that no ordinary method would ever get her to school before dawn. Her luggage, carrier included, was stacked by the door, and—sorry to the neighbors who only saw her face now and then—she'd set her alarms at one-minute intervals. She had gone to bed a full three hours early to stake her claim on sleep.
Or she'd meant to...
Right up until the thought sank in that, for the next four days, she would be sharing a single room with girls her own age.
The morning of the school trip. Before dawn.
The buses lined up outside the school gates drove home, once again, what day it was. Roses and hydrangeas stood in the background, blooming as if in celebration—it was finally their turn. The teachers were busy loading luggage onto the buses.
One student approached Teacher Jisu, who was dressed far more athletically than usual.
"Miss..."
"Already here? Class 1 is the leftmost bus. You can go sit—"
Someone had come this early? When the teacher checked the face, her eyes went wide.
"Yeoncheong? Why are you here so early?"
Yeoncheong, who had slung her bag over her rolling carrier, gave a small bow. She was yawning into one hand, and the skin under her eyes was dark with exhaustion.
"Did you not sleep at all?"
"I couldn't."
Her blue hair swayed back and forth as her head lolled from side to side. Teacher Jisu steadied the swaying girl, slipped the bag off her shoulder to hand back to her, and took charge of the carrier herself.
"I'll load this onto the bus for you. Go sit down in the yard—Class 1 is the one on the far left."
Yeoncheong walked off with something close to a zombie's gait and sank down onto the ground as if collapsing. Only after confirming she'd made it there did Teacher Jisu haul the carrier away.
Another teacher nearby watched the whole scene and asked, "What's wrong with that student?"
"She says she couldn't sleep."
The older teacher smiled warmly. "Just like the kids who get too excited to sleep the night before a field trip, hmm?"
"Ah... yes, exactly. Hahaha."
Teacher Jisu laughed along awkwardly.
Having learned part of the situation from Chairwoman Yurim, the homeroom teacher thought privately:
However I look at it, she seems to have lost a whole night's sleep over sharing a room with the other girls...
For now, Teacher Jisu decided to wait and see how the day went.
While Yeoncheong dozed with her bag hugged to her chest, the students trickled in one by one.
Luggage was bustled onto the buses, and above the excited chatter of the students, buoyed with anticipation, Yeoncheong nodded along stoically.
She'd been told to sit in neat rows, but the athletic field was a huddle of chattering friend groups, the class boundaries little more than a faint suggestion. And among them, naturally, were Yeoncheong's friends.
Nayun, returning from loading her luggage, spotted Suyeon waving and headed her way.
"Nayun, you're the last one here."
"I'm the last one?"
Swiveling her duffel bag around to her front as she sat down, Nayun caught sight of Yeoncheong, still nodding away. "How long has she been like this?"
"Teacher says she was the first one in the whole school to arrive."
Nayun shook her head, her ponytail swaying with it, and Hasol added an explanation.
"I was the second of us to get here, and she was already like that then."
"Wow... Don't tell me she skipped sleep so she wouldn't be late?"
"Right? That's exactly what you're thinking too, isn't it?"
Suyeon jumped in at Nayun's guess, raising her voice—until Seoha, who had been quiet, pressed a finger to her lips.
"Guys, shh."
At the sudden noise, Yeoncheong's bobbing head froze mid-nod. Suyeon clapped both hands over her mouth. The others held their breath, and somehow, as if frozen in ice, they all stopped moving too.
Amid the noisy field, theirs was the only pocket of silence. When Yeoncheong's head began bobbing again, her friends finally relaxed.
Watching her friend doze, Nayun lowered her voice a notch. "Can't someone support her head? She's going to wreck her neck sleeping like that..."
Seoha shook her head helplessly. "I tried. She just tried to wake up, so I left her alone."
Even Teacher Jisu hadn't bothered waking her during roll call.
Surrounded by the kindness of her teacher and friends, Yeoncheong slept off her deficit—and didn't wake until the buses were ready to depart.
Half-asleep, she'd boarded the bus and promptly burrowed into her seat for more sleep. She'd managed to stay awake for the brief stretch at the airport, then conked out again the moment she was on the plane.
Yeoncheong, who had essentially pulled an all-nighter, was exhausted, and her friends quietly looked after her at every turn.
At the end of the short flight, the second-years of Hwaryeong High School landed on Jeju Island. For Yeoncheong, though, it felt as if they'd arrived in the blink of an eye.
The teachers, barely waiting for the checked luggage to be loaded back onto the buses, bustled around calling the students together. With a crowd of overheated teenagers to control, every one of their voices was sharp as a blade.
There was still time to kill before lunch, so the students piled onto the buses once more to see Yongduam Rock near the airport.
Yeoncheong took a window seat, and finding herself stiff, kept rolling her neck to check on her condition. Seoha slid into the seat beside her naturally. The rotating head came to a stop, aimed at Seoha.
"Hm?"
"What? You don't like me sitting next to you?"
"No, it's not that..."
Yeoncheong waved her hands in frantic denial, then lifted her head slightly to scan the bus. When she found Suyeon seated with Hasol—
"I figured Suyeon would be sitting here."
"Ah. We settled it."
"Settled it...?"
Yeoncheong's face demanded an explanation. Seoha just chuckled and settled into her seat.
Instead of explaining, Seoha leaned in and reached a hand toward Yeoncheong's side. It brushed past her waist.
Her fingers fumbled through the corner of the seat in search of the belt buckle nested there. Yeoncheong tried to help, but their hands kept overlapping and only getting in each other's way.
Whether by accident or design, Seoha reached deeper and pressed firmly against Yeoncheong's lower belly.
Yeoncheong hunched forward and sank into her seat—and only then did Seoha find the belt.
"You should buckle up."
"Th-thanks."
As if nothing had happened, Yeoncheong turned her face to the window.
The window glass made a poor substitute for a mirror, but it was more than enough to confirm that her face had gone red.
Hasol, as class president, walked down the aisle checking that everyone was aboard, and soon Class 1's bus pulled out at the head of the convoy.
The students stood at a distance, gazing at the famous rock said to resemble a dragon's head.
As if anything beat being cooped up in a classroom, they clustered into little groups, snapping photos and gazing out at the sea.
Suyeon squinted as she brushed her windblown hair from her face. "Hmm... So where exactly are we supposed to be seeing the dragon?"
"You can see it better from over here?"
While Suyeon followed Hasol toward the cluster of milling students, Nayun sidled up to Yeoncheong.
"You all caught up on sleep now?"
"Still a little short, but... I think I'm good until tonight."
Yeoncheong took a deep breath of the crisp sea air and stretched luxuriously. She wasn't at a hundred percent, but she'd recovered plenty.
"Guys! Over here, over here!"
At Suyeon's beckoning call, Yeoncheong, Seoha, and Nayun came closer.
"What do you think? This spot has the best view."
Hasol and Suyeon stepped aside to offer their discovery to the latecomers, proudly declaring they'd found the prime viewing spot.
And sure enough, there was a reason the students had swarmed here. With just a bit of imagination layered on top, the plain old rock took on color, and the dragon's head emerged from it.
Suyeon excitedly pulled out her phone.
"Let's take a picture. A picture."
Then she looked up at Yeoncheong and froze. "Oh. Are you okay with photos?"
"Right. I remember you not really liking them."
Hasol, catching up a beat later, gave Yeoncheong a careful once-over too.
"Why? Is there a problem?"
Nayun, the only one who hadn't been at the midterm after-party, tilted her head.
Yeoncheong, who'd only been worrying about her sleep, paused at something she'd never even considered. In the end, she reasoned, the memories of any trip would fade with time, and photos would be the only thing to bring them back. She couldn't make her friends tiptoe around her even here.
Just as the group started to notice the waiting students glancing their way, Yeoncheong gave a small nod.
"As long as you don't post it anywhere..."
Suyeon, apparently more anxious than she'd let on, let out a sigh of relief—then quickly broke into a grin and pulled Yeoncheong to the center.
"Let's hurry and take it! Everyone's waiting."
"So, from now on, Suyeon takes the photos and sends them to us?"
Nayun, who had swiftly claimed a corner spot at the top, chimed in, "Hey, Kim Nayun. Where do you get off?"
Seoha, who had subtly claimed the spot beside Yeoncheong, added her vote. "I second that."
"Me too."
With Hasol and Yeoncheong in the frame agreeing, it was unanimous.
"Ugh... fine. If you're all going to be like that, pay up. I'm charging a shooting fee."
Suyeon bent her knees slightly one last time.
Click.
It was the first photo of the school trip.
Having been told not to wander too far, Yeoncheong and her friends strolled along the walking path built around the site.
Suyeon, humming a tune at the front of the group, spun around sharply. Her skirt, just past her knees, fluttered, and a sleeveless top peeked out from under her thin cardigan.
"Yeoncheong. Did you wear that on purpose because we picked it out for you?"
"I just wore whatever my hand landed on."
The outfit Chairwoman Yurim had bought her was packed away in her carrier, and apparently none of her usual clothes were decent enough to wear—at least, according to Chairwoman Yurim. So in the end, Yeoncheong had shown up to the midterm after-party in the top and skirt Suyeon and Hasol had picked out for her, and she'd simply kept them on.
Suyeon, listening with about half an ear, smirked. "Well, I'm glad you're getting good use out of it. Now I'm really looking forward to our shopping trip later."
"Ugh... you're still remembering that..."
"What's that? You're not allowed to have inside jokes without me."
Nayun, absent from the after-party, pressed her lips into a pout and latched onto the conversation. "What is it? Tell me."
"It's nothing. Just a little something between us. Don't worry about it."
Suyeon waved her off.
But Nayun—who had heard the terms of Suyeon and Yeoncheong's promise from Hasol—had eyes that were beginning to sparkle. "Ooh, sounds fun."
"It's fun for you two. Not for me."
"That's what makes it fun."
There was no getting through to her. Yeoncheong irritably peeled her friend off.
Suyeon tossed out a teasing joke. "If we buy you more, will you wear those too?"
"...I'd wear them, I guess. Can't exactly just throw them away."
Not realizing it was a joke, Yeoncheong answered in all seriousness.
Hasol, trailing at the back while slowly taking in the sea, leaned forward into the conversation. "Oh? Then next time, I'll dress you up in a style I like."
"And after that, is it my turn?"
Seoha, who had been listening quietly, cut in from the side, a new light glinting in her red eyes.
In an instant, a full-blown debate erupted over what would look good on Yeoncheong. Perhaps because the goal was dressing up someone else rather than themselves, the talk drifted into some surprisingly daring fashion territory.
Unable to simply listen any longer, Yeoncheong cut in. "If you want to play dress-up, do it with a doll. Not with me."
Suyeon grabbed Yeoncheong's cheek and grinned. "But here's one right here. A doll that says yes when you ask nicely."
"Keep that up and you'll die."
Yeoncheong's warning, of course, was swept away on the sea breeze, and no one paid it the slightest mind.