Choosing a Club (1)
After the fitness assessments, as Ha Yeoncheong was living an ordinary life no different from anyone else's, a small change came her way. It was because a new image of her had taken root.
"You okay to move around?"
"Yeoncheong, don't go running around recklessly. You'll fall over again."
These were the words that popped up most often whenever Ha Yeoncheong's name came up lately — and the words Yeoncheong herself heard most often, too.
She'd taken a spectacular tumble early in the tedious stretch of the new semester, and that made her excellent teasing material. Of course, this was only possible because Yeoncheong had made a full recovery in the first place.
The transfer student with connections to the Chairwoman had become priority number one on the PE teacher and the school nurse's watch lists.
It was nice to shed the title of distant, unapproachable transfer student, but it wasn't exactly something she could laugh about, either.
They say teasing dies a natural death if you just ignore it. Yeoncheong had thought so too, at first. But she kept snapping at Hasol, who had an uncanny knack for walking the line and needling her just right.
With reactions that good, the other classmates joined in one by one, and for a while Yeoncheong served as the satisfyingly soft punching bag of Class 2-1.
Yeoncheong tried to block it all at first, but gave up quickly. This was an age when kids giggled at falling autumn leaves. There was no way those high schoolers were going to give up on something this fun.
The wave of a trend that had swept through the classroom was not something Yeoncheong could hold back alone.
During closing announcements, a word she'd been filtering out one ear and out the other suddenly cut through the noise.
"You all know club activities start back up tomorrow, right? You should all be pre-registered with whatever club you were in last year, so if anything's changed, tell me right away. Miss the deadline and you won't be able to switch until second semester."
When the classroom fell silent, Teacher Jisu scanned the room once.
"Answer me."
"Yes, ma'am."
When dismissal came, the students began getting ready to head home one by one.
Only Yeoncheong glanced around with a baffled expression. She'd prepared her transfer in a rush and didn't know much about the school. Her wandering gaze eventually landed on Seoha, the person sitting closest to her.
Seoha took Yeoncheong by the arm and led her up to the teacher's desk.
"Teacher."
"Yes, Seoha? What is it?"
Seoha's eyes shifted toward Yeoncheong beside her.
"Did you tell Yeoncheong about this too?"
"Huh...?"
The tail end of Teacher Jisu's sentence rose into a question. Silence followed. The homeroom teacher's face slowly darkened. After a split second that felt like an eternity, Jisu met her eyes.
"I'm so sorry!"
The teacher apologized in the now-emptying classroom. Startled by the sudden apology, Yeoncheong repeated over and over that it was really fine.
Transfer students were rare to begin with, and a first-time homeroom teacher had completely forgotten about Yeoncheong's situation.
Having finished her task, Seoha went back to her seat. Teacher Jisu went to the staff room and handed Yeoncheong a club application form she'd fished out from a stack of paperwork.
"This is the list of clubs currently running, and this is the application form."
Yeoncheong's eyes went wide at the club list crammed edge to edge with names. Her homeroom teacher pointed at the paper as she explained.
"Thanks to the Chairwoman, our school is a lot more proactive about club activities than most."
The club system had been built on Chairwoman Yurim's conviction that studying alone wasn't enough — school days were meant to be enjoyed.
At first there were plenty of worried voices asking whether it would hurt college admissions, but the result was that graduation rates held steady while student satisfaction soared.
That in turn naturally boosted the school's reputation, and today it was counted among Hwaryeong High School's proudest points.
Teacher Jisu spoke about her school with evident pride. Yeoncheong nodded along, offering polite sounds of agreement at appropriate intervals.
She'd gleaned the gist from her classmates' reactions, but it was almost hard to believe the Chairwoman was really the same person as the friend of her father she knew.
Is she just someone with the same name? How is this the same woman who used to needle my dad every single time they met...
Yeoncheong's thoughts didn't get to continue. Her homeroom teacher, having finished her explanation, called her name.
"Yeoncheong. Ha Yeoncheong?"
"Yes? Yes, ma'am."
"You just need to decide by the end of this week and hand in your application form. If there's a club you're curious about, go visit it yourself — I'll let them know ahead of time."
Yeoncheong hurried out of the staff room while waving off yet another apology from Teacher Jisu. Young as she was, the teacher brimmed with enthusiasm and kindness.
Back home, Yeoncheong got dinner and the chores out of the way, skimmed a little of the club list the teacher had given her, and went to bed.
Most of Hwaryeong High School's club activities made use of the after-school hours.
They weren't mandatory.
Self-directed study, which her previous high school had enforced, was also an option, and students attending private academies could head straight home as long as they submitted the necessary paperwork.
But there were even students who chose their high school based on its clubs. The student body was dead serious about savoring their youth.
The day after her club meeting with Teacher Jisu, after classes ended —
waiting before Yeoncheong were the two most energetic people in her class, Class 2-1.
"You're the ones showing me around?"
"What? Don't you like us?"
Hasol and Suyeon, both resting their hands on their hips in perfect mirror image, glared at Yeoncheong.
"No, that's not it. I only heard it was Suyeon."
Hasol spoke, caught under the stares of both of them.
"As class president, I can't pretend not to see a transfer student's struggles."
"Hasol, you're just doing this because it looks fun."
At Suyeon's sharp observation, Hasol feigned innocence with a guilty start. Then she pushed Yeoncheong by the back and hustled her out of the classroom like she was fleeing the scene.
"So, where should we go first? We'll tell you everything we know."
"There wasn't anything that really grabbed me..."
"Yeah, it's hard to pick from just names on a list."
Hasol and Suyeon nodded in understanding.
"Let's start with the athletic clubs outside, then."
"Sounds good. Yeoncheong seemed to like sports more than studying anyway."
"She'll just have to steer clear of anything involving jumping."
"You guys...?"
Hasol and Suyeon snickered as they steered Yeoncheong along. Yeoncheong vowed to herself that one day she would show them her real athletic ability.
The world outside, once Hasol and Suyeon had led her out of it, was a completely different scene from yesterday. It was bursting with energy.
"The main athletic clubs are futsal, volleyball, basketball, and tennis. Of those, the volleyball and tennis teams are famous enough to actually place in national tournaments."
"Of course, there are plenty of kids who just play casually, too."
Liking PE class and choosing an athletic club were two entirely different matters. Seeing the lukewarm look on Yeoncheong's face, Hasol tilted her head.
"What? Nothing catches your eye?"
"It's not that..."
"Good to hear. Let's get going, then."
Hasol grabbed Yeoncheong's hand and headed for the athletic field first. Startled by the unexpected contact, Yeoncheong was dragged along without even managing a word of protest.
She could manage simple conversation, but after years at all-boys schools, Yeoncheong's resistance to physical contact with girls her own age remained hopelessly nonexistent.
The three of them observed the futsal club. Hasol and Suyeon were busy holding back their laughter. Yeoncheong glared daggers at the pair of them.
"I told you I didn't want to play."
"Well... I honestly didn't think you'd be that bad."
"Right? You clearly kicked it forward, so how did the ball go sideways... pfft."
Hasol and Suyeon strolled right down memory lane — the exact lane Yeoncheong wanted to forget.
"You run so well, though. Guess running well doesn't mean you can use your feet."
"Definitely... remember when you fell over last time?"
"Hey!"
At Yeoncheong's bark, Hasol finally cracked and burst out laughing along with Suyeon, who hadn't held it in from the start. Yeoncheong trembled with fury at having her most closely guarded secret exposed.
Do you know how hard I worked to hide the fact that I was Lead Foot back in high school?
The futsal club had cheerfully welcomed her observation visit. Perhaps because it was a club built around actual movement, they'd encouraged her to kick the ball around after a brief introduction.
Yeoncheong had refused as firmly as she could, but with Hasol and Suyeon chiming in that she should try it, there was no getting out of it.
Suyeon finally caught her breath and spoke.
"Volleyball and basketball are in the gym, so let's check out tennis first."
"You're making me try again?"
The fitness assessment, the incident where her foot caught the net and she went down, and now futsal on top of it all. Yeoncheong needed time to rebuild her shattered confidence.
"Have you ever played?"
"No."
"Then this is your chance to start."
Defeated by Hasol's sunshine-bright smile, Yeoncheong let herself be dragged off once more.
"Wow."
Yeoncheong let out a small gasp at the sight of the court piled high with yellow tennis balls. Whether the tournament pedigree was real or not, the atmosphere was on another level entirely. It felt more structured, more serious.
"Coach!"
PE teacher Min Hayeong was running the tennis club. The group she was drilling looked like first-years, distinct from the members training on their own.
"Hasol and Suyeon? And the transfer student... Ha Yeoncheong. It's Yeoncheong, right?"
The teacher remembered Yeoncheong's name and face from a single class. Yeoncheong nodded behind the two who ran up cheerfully to greet her.
"Oh, right — Teacher Jisu said she could come observe, didn't she?"
Teacher Hayeong gave the three of them a once-over and zeroed in on exactly why they'd come.
"That's right. That's why we're here."
"Hmm..."
Teacher Hayeong deliberated. Given how badly Yeoncheong had wiped out before, her hesitation was only natural. Suyeon stepped in to persuade her.
"She's got to try it at least once. You'll be watching her the whole time anyway, right?"
"Fine. Go change, then."
"We're just here to observe, though?"
Just like with futsal. Yeoncheong began to wonder if she'd misunderstood the meaning of the word "observe."
"It's a club where you move your body — you think just watching is enough? Go put on your PE uniform and come back."
When it came to athletics, there was no compromising. She was a PE teacher born and bred. But Yeoncheong didn't want to do it. Athletics were all about momentum and rhythm, and she doubted she could manage anything decent in her current state.
Fortunately, Yeoncheong had gone home in her PE uniform last time — meaning she had nothing to change into now.
"That's a shame. I don't have my PE clothes with me right now. I'll come back another time."
With her face arranged into maximum disappointment — Yeoncheong poured tremendous effort into her expression management — she moved to leave.
At that moment, one of the members training on their own came over. She wasn't in a PE uniform but in gear with a surprisingly professional air about it.
"I've got a spare set I'm not wearing. Want to borrow it?"
A brake slammed down on Yeoncheong's smooth escape. Hasol turned back to double-check.
"President, is that okay?"
"Of course. It's not like clothes wear out just because someone else wears them."
"President?"
Suyeon caught Yeoncheong's murmured question and explained.
"She's Lee Seoyun, our current student council president. Normally people who do student council don't do clubs, but she's in the tennis club too."
Watching her chat so happily with Hasol, you could tell they were birds of a feather. Before Yeoncheong knew it, the president had finished her conversation and was looking straight at her.
"Alright, I'll lend you the clothes. Let's go get changed."
"You really don't have to go that far for me."
"It's nice to try out a club while you're here, isn't it? Even better if our club gains one more junior."
The ranks of people cut from her same cloth had just grown from two to three. They didn't look like they'd let her off easily, and a flicker of anxiety crossed her mind — that if she just walked away, they'd come find her themselves.
Yeoncheong reluctantly accepted the president's offer.