Date Course Field Research (2)
The back courtyard of Eunbong Industrial High Education Academy—commonly known as Eunbong Tech—was filled with the usual miserable groans.
This notorious delinquent den, infamous across the country, had long since escaped any teacher control. The students had built their own brutal hierarchy, receiving a thorough education in becoming full-fledged gangsters from a young age. It was less a school and more a training ground for future organized crime.
Almost every student sported flashy tattoos. Finding a non-smoker was harder than finding a needle in a haystack. Even the underage first- and second-years treated drinking, smoking, motorcycles, and gang fights as basic daily activities. For the boys, chasing women was a given; for the girls, selling their bodies was just another fact of life in this dead-end crew.
Six first-year boys from Eunbong Tech, their faces still covered in fresh bruises, were once again kneeling in the courtyard with their hands behind their backs and their foreheads pressed to the pavement blocks, whimpering in pain. These were the same punks who had tried to rob a convenience store the day before and suffered a catastrophic beatdown instead.
“So let me get this straight.”
A man flicked ash from his cigarette and spat on the ground, his voice low and menacing. His hair was slicked back in a perfect all-back style. His forearms bulged with muscle, and a massive dragon tattoo snaked from both wrists all the way up to his shoulders. He looked far more like a thug than a student.
This was Kang Baek-san, the third-year boss of Eunbong Tech, known as the Eunbong Boss.
“You’re telling me you went outside with the Eunbong name on your back and got your asses handed to you?”
“S-sorry, boss!”
“Bat.”
One of his lackeys immediately produced a steel pipe from who-knows-where. Kang Baek-san rolled up his sleeves, making the dragon tattoo even more prominent, and walked toward the six first-years.
“First, you’ll take your punishment for tarnishing the Eunbong name. Then we’ll talk. Any bastard who makes a sound gets this pipe straight to the skull.”
“……!!!”
Thwack! Thwack! Whack!
Kang Baek-san’s merciless beating rained down on the boys’ rear ends. By the time he finished, four of the six had passed out from the pain, collapsing sideways onto the ground.
“Wake up. And who’s your leader?”
“I-it’s me, hyung-nim.”
The shaved-head first-year whose front teeth had been knocked out by Han Seong-jin the day before answered while trembling. Blood was already seeping through the seat of his uniform pants.
“Who the hell beat you up?”
“W-well… I don’t know his name, but it was some convenience store part-timer…”
“Hah. A convenience store part-timer? Since when did our Eunbong boys become such pathetic little shits that we get our asses kicked by some fucking convenience store clerk?”
“W-we have no excuse!”
“Where’s that store?”
“It’s an Eleven-Seven in the back alley of xx-dong… B-but boss! That part-timer seemed to know who you were! When he heard your name, he told me to pass on a message…”
“A message for me?” Kang Baek-san let out a disbelieving laugh. “Damn, I’ve lived long enough to hear some truly ridiculous shit. Fine. What did that bastard say?”
The shaved-head boy continued despite the terror, tears streaming down his face. The fear from yesterday was still burned deep into his bones.
“H-he said… if anyone from Eunbong comes to his store to steal cigarettes again… a friend from Jinsu High would come looking for you… Th-that’s what he said.”
“What?!”
At that moment, Kang Baek-san released the boy’s collar. His subordinates also froze, exchanging shocked glances as they understood the implication.
“A friend from Jinsu High…? That bastard really said those exact words?”
“Y-yes…”
“Describe what he looked like.”
The shaved-head boy frantically described the part-timer’s appearance. As he listened, Kang Baek-san’s face turned red, then purple. He hurled the steel pipe to the ground and roared a string of curses.
“That fucking son of a bitch!!!!!”
There was no doubt about it.
Han Seong-jin.
The one bastard who had given him his first defeat—the man who had completely dominated the entire area. Just thinking about that humiliation was enough to make him bolt upright in bed at night.
But… the thought of fighting him again didn’t bring any confidence of victory.
“You lot. Get the hell out of here before I count to three.”
“Y-yes!”
The first-years hurriedly dragged away the four unconscious boys and fled. Kang Baek-san sat down heavily on the edge of the flowerbed in the courtyard, shaking with rage.
“Boss, what do we do? That part-timer… it sounds exactly like Han Seong-jin.”
“How about we drag him out and smash him?”
“You think you idiots could win?”
No one answered Kang Baek-san’s snarled question.
Suppressing his boiling fury, his voice trembling, he gave his orders.
“Spread the word to everyone. Do not go near that convenience store and do not provoke that bastard. If you want cigarettes, go somewhere else.”
“But boss, we can’t just let that guy off—”
“Who said we’re letting him off? That son of a bitch is finished no matter what.”
“Should we ask the older hyungs for backup?”
“Are you fucking insane?! Calling the big brothers for help over a kids’ fight? How much of a pathetic loser would they think we are?! Just keep an eye on him from a distance. We wait until I find a way.”
When I first told Lee Yu-ri that it would be nice to eat lunch together, she had reluctantly agreed with the attitude of someone doing me a huge favor.
That was already more than a week ago.
At this point, she could have easily said something like, “I’ve done enough for you, right? I’m not eating with you anymore.” Yet here we were.
“…What are you looking at?”
Even today, on this Friday that was approaching the two-week mark, Yu-ri was still sitting across from me, eating her lunch. When she noticed me staring, she paused mid-bite and lowered her spoon.
“Nothing. Just thought it was interesting. I figured by now you’d be sick of my face and wouldn’t come near me. But you’re still eating lunch with me. Unexpected.”
“Ugh…! I-I’m just… monitoring you! If I leave you alone during lunch, who knows where you’ll wander off to!”
“Oh, is that so?”
I gave her a relaxed smirk and continued eating with her. Yu-ri glared at me as if my easygoing attitude annoyed her, then changed the subject.
“Um… I don’t have any student council work today.”
“Really? Congratulations.”
“That’s not what I meant…”
“Hmm? What is it? If you have something to say, just say it.”
I already knew what she wanted, but I deliberately smiled and teased her. She still needed a bit more taming.
“Today… w-want to… go home together… Argh, this is so annoying! Why do I have to be the one asking you for a favor?!”
Yu-ri’s embarrassment turned into irritation as she grumbled. I just smiled at her.
“I understand that our cute student council president wants to walk home together nicely with me, but unfortunately, that won’t be possible today.”
“Who said anything about nicely… Wait, it won’t be possible…?”
Yu-ri’s expression visibly drooped. I really wanted to show this face to Gong Yeong-bae.
“Yeah. I have plans.”
“O-oh… I-I see! Hmph! That’s great then! I was actually worried that people might get the wrong idea since we live in the same direction and walk home together every day!”
“Right? It really worked out perfectly. Oh, by the way, I have even better news for you. Want to hear it?”
I spoke while typing a message on my phone. Yu-ri tilted her head in confusion.
“Better news… for me?”
“Yep. Hey, Gong Yeong-bae!”
When I called out to him after sending the text, Gong Yeong-bae, who had been eating at the table right next to us, flinched and turned his head.
“M-me…?”
“Who else would I be calling Gong Yeong-bae? Come over here for a second.”
“Hey, Han Seong-jin! Why are you suddenly calling Yeong-bae over?!”
Yu-ri was startled by my sudden action and tried to stop me, but it was already too late. Gong Yeong-bae, unable to defy me, glanced around nervously before shuffling over with his empty tray in hand.
“Sit in the seat next to her.”
I pointed at the chair beside Yu-ri. She was glaring at me with fiery eyes that practically screamed: Are you crazy?! You know we fought! What the hell are you doing?!
Of course, I hadn’t called him over because I actually wanted Yu-ri and Gong Yeong-bae to reconcile and go back to being close friends—or whatever ambiguous almost-couple relationship they had before.
Considering the ridiculous things this bastard had said to me, and the way he had treated Yu-ri (even though I hadn’t seen it myself)…
“I think it’s about time you two made up.”
I spoke in the solemn tone of a professor, clasping my hands together and covering my mouth.
“…Make up?”
“Dude, I heard everything from our student council president. You two fought, right?”
‘Our’ student council president…?
Gong Yeong-bae’s eyes twitched for a split second.
“I don’t know what you fought about, but you’ve known each other for over ten years. How can you go two whole weeks without speaking? Thanks to that, while our president was feeling lonely, a guy like me started eating lunch with her and walking her home. She must be so annoyed right now.”
‘Lonely…? Walking home together…?’
“This might be sudden, but I can’t keep getting in the way of our student council president forever. You two probably need some time to talk, right? I’ll step aside as the third wheel, so take your time, chat, and make up. I have someone to meet, so I’ll head out first.”
……And just like that, Han Seong-jin stood up with his phone in hand and actually left the table.
Because they hadn’t spoken a single word to each other for two weeks and hadn’t even walked to school together, an incredibly awkward silence settled between Lee Yu-ri and Gong Yeong-bae.
‘What the hell? Why is Han Seong-jin doing something so unnecessary all of a sudden?! This is so awkward I could die…’
Gong Yeong-bae had always been the one she talked to about everything and studied with. After two weeks of complete silence, the atmosphere between them was beyond strange.
Still, Yu-ri decided to swallow her pride since things had already come to this.
‘Come to think of it, Yeong-bae did say some unnecessary things back then… but from his perspective, I might have been too sensitive. I don’t know why, but since Han Seong-jin set this up… let’s reconcile.’
Yu-ri took a light breath and turned to Gong Yeong-bae.
“Yeong-bae, do you have anything you want to say to me? Because I do.”
“Ah, yeah. I do too.”
“Okay, good. Since it might be awkward if one of us speaks first… how about we both say it at the same time after I count to three?”
“Alright.”
“Then I’ll count. Three, two, one…”
After counting, Yu-ri and Gong Yeong-bae opened their mouths at the same time.
“I’m sorry for getting so angry last time.”
“Yuri, aren’t you even embarrassed?”
And then an utterly terrifying silence—far worse than before—descended between them.
“……What?”
> [Seong-jin Senior]: We’re doing field research for our date course today, so can you come to the third-year cafeteria for a bit? It’s on the 5th floor.
> [Me]: Huh? What for?
> [Seong-jin Senior]: We need to decide where we’re going and match up the timing. Typing it all out would take too long, so let’s just talk in person.
> [Me]: It’s a bit awkward for me to go to the third-year cafeteria though…
> [Seong-jin Senior]: Wouldn’t it be better than me going down to the second-year cafeteria? If the second-years see my face, they probably won’t be able to eat properly.
“Now that I think about it, he’s right.”
Since Han Seong-jin was famous throughout Jinsu High, if he showed up in the second-year cafeteria, many students might choke on their food from shock. Convinced by his perfect logic, Choi Su-yeon headed up to the third-year student cafeteria.
Receiving countless stares from the third-years, she met Han Seong-jin near the cafeteria entrance.
“Senior, I’m here.”
“Yeah. I can’t take up too much of your precious lunch time, so let’s decide where we’re going first. I don’t really know the places you mentioned. Where would be nice for a date in early spring?”
“It’s not cherry blossom season yet, so there aren’t many visually stunning spots, but if you like an antique vibe, Seochon Village is nice. If it’s for Yu-ri sunbae’s taste, maybe an art museum or the COEX library? And…”
Su-yeon listed several good locations she knew. Han Seong-jin diligently typed them all into his phone.
After a few minutes, he gave her a thumbs-up and grinned.
“As expected from our elite part-timer junior. Thanks, this is incredibly helpf—…”
His words suddenly trailed off as he turned his head to look deeper into the cafeteria. Curious, Su-yeon followed his gaze and had the exact same reaction.
There, Gong Yeong-bae—the senior she liked—and Student Council President Lee Yu-ri were having an incredibly passionate conversation.