The Beret
In the end, it was decided that I would have lunch with Eunju. I knew I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t just leave her flirting privately with that bastard Lee Jubin from Saturday morning on, could I?
So I was getting ready to head out first thing in the morning. At least I didn’t have to fuss over my appearance the way I did when I met Sehee—that was one small upside.
Creeeak…
Harin must have woken up. The moment she stepped into the living room and saw me already dressed to go out, she tilted her head.
“Who are you meeting?”
“Huh? Oh, just… a high school friend.”
Of course, the fact that the high school in question was Cheonji High and not Maritime High was a secret. Strictly speaking, he wasn’t even my friend—he was Harin’s.
“A girl?”
“What kind of… It’s a guy! Park Eunjun. We used to hang out a lot.”
I didn’t want to lie to my daughter first thing on a Saturday morning. But Harin, for all her pretending otherwise, fretted constantly that I might bring home a new mom. I didn’t have much choice.
“I see… Have fun, then.”
“What about you? It’s the weekend—no plans?”
“Nothing special today.”
“…”
Now I felt terrible. It was a perfect day for an amusement park, but after Eom Chaewon declared that sort of outing equaled water torture, I never even bought the tickets.
The weather was fine, the flowers were blooming, and my only daughter was stuck at home scrolling on her phone. As a dad, it was hard to watch. But if she said she was going to meet a boyfriend, my head would start spinning all over again. Talk about a contradiction.
“Need anything? If you want something to eat, Dad can order delivery before I leave.”
“I’m fine. I just wanted to rest today. Go on, then.”
With that, Harin headed for the kitchen. Watching her pull out a glass of water, I figured she was about to make iced tea.
Gulp, gulp…
But she didn’t so much as glance at the tea bags—just poured the water straight and drank. Come to think of it, the tea bags hadn’t dwindled at all, had they?
Guess it really wasn’t the brand she wanted.
I stepped outside. It was still much earlier than the time I’d arranged to meet Eunju. Not that I was especially eager for the meeting itself.
Think about why she’d insisted on meeting near the academy, so far from her house. This girl had already confessed that she spent every weekend “consulting” or whatever with Lee Jubin, shooting the breeze.
In other words, today was one of those consulting days. So instead of the meeting spot, I headed straight for the academy—and sure enough…
Eunju and Lee Jubin were chatting right in front of the entrance.
“Congratulations again on winning vice president. You’re not going to get so busy you can’t even come for consulting anymore, are you?”
“School work and personal matters are different, you know? Today was really helpful again.”
“I’m just glad my persuasion worked. I was a little disappointed you seemed ready to give up so easily.”
“Ah… I guess so?”
What was this now? Hadn’t Eunju decided to run again because of my unnecessary lecturing?
From the sound of it, Lee Jubin had tried the exact same persuasion. Which meant her reason for re-entering the race might not have been me at all.
“Anyway, you’re just leaving like this? I was hoping we could grab lunch together.”
“I already have plans with a senior I know. She helped a lot with the election, so I promised to treat her to a meal.”
“It’s not a guy, is it?”
“Of course not. She’s an unnie I’ve been close with for a long time.”
Eunju lied without so much as batting an eye. Every time she pulled something like this, I genuinely couldn’t tell which side of her was the real one.
“Speaking of which, the flowers seem to be blooming. What are you doing after your lunch plans?”
“Why? Planning to take me flower-viewing? You’re busy all day today, Teacher.”
“I can spare a little time for my favorite student. You’re all grown up now—shouldn’t you try chicken and a can of beer by the Han River at least once?”
“Eunju!”
I couldn’t listen to another second of it and cut in immediately. This lunatic was trying to lure her with chicken and beer—did he even know how old she was?
“S-Senior?”
Eunju’s eyes went wide the moment I appeared in front of the academy. Lee Jubin looked just as startled.
“Weren’t you just saying you had plans with some unnie?”
“Well… we actually arranged to meet as a group of three. That unnie and this senior are really close, so…”
“Yuna can’t make it today. Looks like it’ll just be the two of us.”
“…”
I cut off every attempt Eunju made to shield the situation. Naturally, Lee Jubin’s face twisted like he’d just bitten into something foul.
“Haa… I guess so.”
Eunju answered him with an awkward smile. He put on a show of being fine with it and suddenly stepped right up to me.
“So you’re Senior Eunju? Come to think of it, didn’t you say you were getting counseling at the academy?”
“I’m not going anymore. The instructors seem a bit subpar.”
“Really? Our instructors don’t lose to anyone, anywhere. So which academy are you switching to?”
“I’ll figure it out myself. You don’t need to worry about it.”
“…”
Had I been too blatantly hostile? But it was all his fault.
After only a few days apart, he was still flirting with Eunju like nothing had changed. Did he really think I was just going to stand there and watch?
Sssk…
But Lee Jubin was a skilled actor. Even after being openly snubbed by someone three or four years younger, he calmly held out his hand.
“Since we’ve met like this, we might as well introduce ourselves. I’m Lee Jubin—I teach Eunju math.”
“Ban Chulgyu.”
I took the handshake he wanted. Instantly a greasy smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
“Somehow I feel like we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other. But isn’t this a bit much? Eunju seems uncomfortable, and you just show up at the academy without any warning—Gyaaaah!!!”
Lee Jubin writhed in pain, yanking his hand free and cradling it. Eunju, thoroughly flustered, asked him,
“T-Teacher? What’s wrong all of a sudden?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. I overdid it at tennis yesterday and my carpal tunnel just flared up. Anyway, enjoy your lunch.”
With that he hurried back into the academy. Eunju pieced together roughly what had happened and whipped her head toward me.
“What was that just now?”
“He said it himself, didn’t he? He overdid it at tennis.”
“That’s not what happened. Are you seriously resorting to violence against the teacher who tutors me now?”
“Who used violence? He came at me first, so I just gave him the same treatment.”
It was true. That bastard Lee Jubin had pretended to shake hands while crushing my fingers with everything he had. I get wanting a dominance contest, but pick your opponent carefully.
What did he take me for—someone who’d spent over a decade hauling nets at sea? I just gave him a little taste, and he threw that fit.
“Haa… Senior, why are you so hard to figure out? He’s not a kid. Why would he pick a fight with you?”
“He wanted to go for that chicken-and-beer thing with you, and I stole you away mid-conversation. Guess he got jealous.”
“You eavesdropped on our whole conversation? And why did you even come here when it wasn’t the meeting place?”
“Because I figured something exactly like this would happen. You weren’t actually going to go drink chicken and beer with Lee Jubin, right?”
“He was joking. There’s no way he seriously meant to drink with me. Let’s just go.”
Eunju said she didn’t want to embarrass herself any further here and started walking. But I’d just caught her red-handed.
I’d expected it since yesterday, but she’d better prepare herself for a full-day lecture today.
We stopped at a traffic light. Eunju still hadn’t cooled off; she huffed and refused to even glance my way.
“Do you normally go around dressed like that?”
Whether she was angry or not, I’d already decided today’s entire agenda was nonstop lecturing. I immediately took issue with her outfit.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“You’re seriously asking? Don’t you think that skirt is way too short?”
I’d wanted to say something since earlier. This girl had clearly come out with a plan today.
Under a round-neck tee that hung far past her frame, she’d put on a pleated skirt again. At least the gray knee-high socks reaching below her knees kept it from looking completely trashy.
And with the beret as a finishing touch, she somehow managed to look mature and pretty and cute all at once—every good quality piled on top of each other. Eunju, of course, refused to accept any of that.
“This is short? Our school uniform skirts are about the same length.”
“Honestly, I don’t like your uniform skirts either. Walking around with your knees completely bare—what are you going to protect yourself with if you fall?”
“You’re joking, right? Your little cousin Harin doesn’t dress much differently from me.”
“I was already planning to have a talk with Harin about that too. And that’s not the point. It’s not the clothes—it’s the ‘motive’ behind dressing up like that. Why don’t you get it?”
“What ‘motive’?”
“What else? That bastard from earlier. I clearly warned you to be careful around him, didn’t I? Good thing I showed up when I did—normally if he asked you to eat, you’d have gone along, right? And dressed up like a little princess for it?”
“A p-princess? It’s just ordinary casual clothes, Senior. And someone who keeps telling me to act like an ‘adult’ is casually calling a real adult names like that?”
Who’s the adult here? When that guy got tricked by his mom’s promise of jajangmyeon into getting circumcised, I was out in the Pacific catching actual whales!
Of course it was illegal, but out at sea almost nothing that happens is legal, so it was fine. Anyway, I needed to settle this properly before we ate.
“Is that so? So you’re saying you normally dress like this? You really didn’t put any thought into it at all?”
“Of course I put some thought into it. It’s not like I’m just running to the convenience store for snacks.”
“So I was right after all? You dressed up to look pretty for Lee Jubin—bare knees and all, plus that cute little beret? Eunju, you’re so humble you can’t even see yourself objectively. Your base looks are so good that even a little effort makes guys…”
“Aren’t you the one whose thinking is too short, Senior? Did it never occur to you that I had plans with someone other than just that teacher today?”
“Hey, what plans did you have? If I hadn’t shown up, you definitely would’ve been having chicken and beer by the Han River with that bas—”
No. Come to think of it, Eunju did have plans.
Plans with me. Wait—then my whole theory that she’d set a dress code for Lee Jubin just sank completely?
Whirrr!
Fortunately the light changed right then. Eunju shook her head and walked ahead. I immediately followed.
“Uh… Eunju? I think I misunderstood a bit. I mean, I was just so worried about you that…”
“What exactly are you worried about? Why do you hate it so much that I’m friendly with that teacher? Give me a real reason—not some ‘all men are wolves’ excuse even a kid wouldn’t fall for.”
“That is the real reason… Anyway, you weren’t actually going to go for chicken and beer, right? Then fine.”
“Haa… Since it’s fine, drop it already. Have you thought about what you want to eat?”
“Me? I’ll eat anything, so you pick. I’ll genuinely go with whatever you say first.”
“At least you don’t have picky eating habits—that’s a huge relief.”
Try getting stranded in the middle of the open ocean with no supply ship in sight. After eating nothing but frozen rice and kimchi every single day, everything in the world starts tasting good.
Come to think of it, I knew someone who wouldn’t last a single day on that boat. The pickiest eater I knew—Kim Hyeonji.
Was she wandering around in that shiny jumper again today?
The place Eunju and I ended up at was a spot called Midnight in the busy district near the academy. The name was fancy, but it was basically an Italian restaurant.
“Are you sure this is okay? From the way you usually talk, Senior, I figured you were so conservative you’d only eat Korean food.”
“I love Italian food. At the port in Palermo on Sicily they sell these fried things called arancini—I once ate nothing but those all day long.”
“You’ve been to Italy…?”
“Uh… back when my parents were still alive.”
The second I relaxed even a little, the slip-ups started pouring out. The truth was I’d gone during my sailor days.
Whenever Mr. Shrimp and I filled our shrimp quota early in the North Sea, we’d head down to the warm Mediterranean to fish for swordfish. Eunju’s eyes lit up with pure curiosity.
“Really? What’s it like there?”
“A place where warm southern winds blow year-round. There’s this Church of Jesus with an incredibly high ceiling covered in paintings of Jesus and the twelve apostles. If you tilt your head all the way back to look at them, they say it cures your turtle neck automatically.”
“Pfft… What else?”
“There’s a catacomb built by Capuchin monks… Oh, and for reference, catacombs are the underground places persecuted Christians used to hide and practice their faith. Anyway, there are something like eight thousand mummified martyrs down there.”
“Mummies… you mean actual human corpses? Why would they display those?”
“Beats me. Anyway, people like me who were sailors—”
“Huh?”
“People like me who dreamed of becoming sailors all came out of there feeling solemn. The sea is basically a place you risk your life every time you go out, right?”
“You wanted to be a sailor? How come?”
“Well… guys are all like that. When I was little I watched One Piece and wanted to be Pirate King, but since I couldn’t actually become a pirate, I settled for sailor, I guess?”
“Then couldn’t you still do it now? Go to something like Maritime University… Ah, but you’d have to spend more than nine months a year at sea. If you hit a storm the ship can flip in the blink of an eye. You’d only eat frozen food every day, and sometimes you’d have to cling to ropes from morning till night.”
“Huh? How do you know all that?”
“That’s… I got career counseling.”
“…?”
Career counseling these days was pretty detailed, huh? Even so, they usually focused on merchant ships—they didn’t explain fishing boats in that much detail, did they?
Anyway, it was a shame. If I’d gotten counseling like that, I never would’ve boarded a fishing boat in the first place.
“Anyway, being a sailor isn’t great, so you should look into other paths.”
“I already gave up. I like dry land.”
“That’s a relief.”
“What is?”
“That you won’t be boarding a ship.”
“…”
Why would that be a relief for her? In the meantime the food we’d ordered arrived at the table.
Eunju had panne pasta swimming in cream. I had chili shrimp risotto.
“Thanks for the meal.”
“I was originally going to treat you, so don’t feel pressured.”
“This place looks pretty pricey—how am I supposed to not feel pressured? Treating me to tteokbokki once in front of school and getting this in return is way too much.”
Come to think of it, while we were eating that tteokbokki, Eunju had promised she’d definitely repay me. Back then I’d wondered if I’d ever eat with her again—I never dreamed a day like this would come.
“No. This has nothing to do with that.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Eunju paused her fork for a moment and lifted her head. With her gaze slightly averted, her chick-like lips moved as she spoke.
“I mean… I’m planning to repay that separately.”
“…?”
So I had to eat with her again?