Closing the Distance
I wiped the sweat from my brow and glanced over at her. “Did you put water in the vase?”
“I did that first.”
“Wipe the windows?”
“You literally watched me do it.”
“Then I’ll handle the chalkboard eraser and the chalk box. You get the mop ready for the floor.”
“Ugh… this is such a pain. How the hell am I supposed to do this eight more times?”
“Well, maybe if someone hadn’t started a fight on the very first day of the semester and then scarfed down a convenience store lunch in the morning, we wouldn’t be here.”
Lee Yu-ri grumbled at me while erasing the chalkboard. Just yesterday, I never would have imagined she’d be talking to me this casually. I opened the window and called out to her from behind as she shook out the eraser.
“By the way, is it really okay for the student council president to be skipping her actual duties just to help some thug clean up his mess?”
“Tell me about it. Still, I already outlined the general agenda yesterday, so we can just take our time and go through the meetings one by one. If you’re really that worried, why don’t you shut up and finish cleaning instead of wasting time?”
We continued cleaning the classroom, occasionally bickering back and forth. Well, it was mostly Yu-ri doing all the complaining. Despite my intimidating looks, I actually had a surprising talent for simple household chores like cleaning. Yu-ri watched me efficiently tidy up the back of the classroom with practiced hands, occasionally making strange faces before her curiosity finally got the better of her.
“You… you’re surprisingly good at this kind of thing, aren’t you?”
“What, you thought I couldn’t handle it?”
“I mean, who wouldn’t think that?”
“Try living by yourself. You learn real quick if you don’t want to end up buried under a pile of trash.”
“Oh, I see. Living alone… huh?”
Yu-ri nodded as if she understood, then tilted her head when something clicked. “What do you mean by that? You live alone?”
“Yeah.”
“What about your parents?”
“Don’t have any. I told you, I live alone.”
“Your parents… aren’t around?”
Yu-ri’s face gradually drained of color as she realized she’d asked something she probably shouldn’t have.
“To be precise, they exist. But I have no idea where my mom is, and I cut ties with my dad.”
The hidden backstory of Han Seong-jin, the notorious delinquent bully. His mother had run off with another man when he was young, and his father, shattered by the betrayal, had become an alcoholic who took out his rage on his son with constant verbal and physical abuse. Growing up in that toxic environment instead of receiving the love every child deserved, it was no wonder Han Seong-jin had turned out the way he did. From a young age, he’d become completely twisted, solving every problem with violence. By the time he enrolled at Jinsu High Education Academy, he was already known throughout the area as the king of fists. He’d started drinking and smoking as a minor, rode motorcycles with his gang of fellow delinquents, and lived like a reckless biker thug. He’d long since severed ties with his father, renting a shabby old one-room apartment where he lived alone. He had his underlings shake down other students for money to pay the rent. To fill the emptiness inside, he slept with any girl who caught his eye, building an incredibly messy web of relationships with the delinquent girls from Jinsu and other nearby schools. In the original story, devouring and corrupting every heroine had been nothing more than routine behavior for him.
…Of course, that was the old Han Seong-jin’s life. Now that I was him, I had no intention of continuing that trash existence. Since there was no point in going into the ugly details, I kept my explanation vague and didn’t tell Yu-ri the full story.
But that seemed to be a mistake. Her eyes widened even more as she stepped closer, bombarding me with questions.
“Tell me the details. Is there a problem with your tuition or anything like that? As student council president, I need to know about these things. If a student has circumstances like that, I can submit it as an agenda for the faculty meeting to discuss tuition assistance. Are you struggling to get by? It’s not that bad, is it?”
“Hey, just like how you were feeling down earlier, this is just my personal business. Stop prying so much. There’s no problem with how I’m living.”
“But still…”
“Cleaning’s done! You said you weren’t busy today, right? Then let’s just head home together.”
“Huh? Why would I go home with y—wait, hey!”
I grabbed Yu-ri by the wrist, shoved her bag into her arms, and practically dragged her out of the classroom. She made confused little noises as she was pulled along by my hand. Only when we reached the school gate did she finally yank her arm free.
“Let… let go! I haven’t even gone to the student council room yet—”
“You said you weren’t busy today. Do you really need to go back there?”
“Of course I do! Without me, the student council work—”
“Don’t you know your work efficiency drops when you’re in a bad mood?”
“…Huh?”
“I’m talking about you. You didn’t make eye contact with that bastard Gong Yeong-bae all day. You two fought, didn’t you? How are you supposed to get anything done like that? Just go home early today and rest.”
“Why are you the one deciding that?!”
“If I didn’t drag you out, you’d probably just pretend everything was fine and end up stressing yourself sick. Turns out I’m pretty good at reading people, huh?”
Of course, I wasn’t some master at reading people. This was all based on the information I’d gained from the original novel about Yu-ri’s personality. She looked like she wanted to argue, but since I wasn’t wrong, she eventually gave up and quietly slung her bag over her shoulder.
“Sigh… I have no idea why I’m letting you push me around like this. And why are you so strangely perceptive about useless things…”
“See? I was right, wasn’t I?”
“!!!”
“Alright then, shall we walk home together nicely and clear our heads, Miss Student Council President?”
“Nicely? As if.”
Despite her words, Yu-ri eventually started walking beside me. We hadn’t been walking together for even three minutes before we passed the convenience store in front of the school. I stopped for a moment.
“Ah, wait. Let’s stop by the convenience store real quick.”
“What are you buying?”
“Lunch boxes.”
I went inside with Yu-ri and picked out two decent-looking lunch boxes and a can of cola. They were exactly the same items I’d bought yesterday. After paying and putting the lunch boxes and cola into a plastic bag, Yu-ri, who had been quietly watching, asked,
“Now that I think about it, you said yesterday that convenience store lunch boxes were your dinner and breakfast too… Do you eat like this every day?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s terrible for your health!”
“I was born with a strong body, so it’s fine.”
“What kind of nonsense…”
Yu-ri looked like she wanted to scold me but shook her head and stopped. Instead, she spoke in a calmer voice and changed the subject.
“You’re really different from what I’d heard.”
“For example?”
“I thought you were crude, always sleeping in class, only interested in hanging out with your gang, didn’t care about anything else, only knew how to drink, smoke, and mess around with girls, and that you were just a rude thug.”
“Do you have poison on your tongue or something?”
“I’m saying I was wrong.”
Yu-ri seemed embarrassed and started twirling a strand of her hair around her finger.
“Really? Then I’d like to hear what my image is like now.”
“Crude, always sleeping in class.”
“It’s the same!”
“But surprisingly, you’re considerate, attentive to details, listen well to others, and have a more human side than I expected… The most surprising thing was how good you are at cleaning.”
“You’ve completely fallen for me, haven’t you?”
“N-no, I haven’t?! I was just saying what I felt!”
I grinned and teased her. Yu-ri jumped back with a bright red face. Then she noticed the convenience store bag in my hand again, cleared her throat, and continued in a more composed voice.
“I didn’t know you had those kinds of personal circumstances. If you need help with tuition or anything, just tell me. Like I said earlier, as student council president, I can at least propose an agenda for the faculty meeting.”
“It’s fine. I’m twenty years old. It’s about time I took care of myself.”
“…Isn’t that still a bit young?”
“Besides, we’ll be graduating next year anyway. What’s the point of relying on your help this year just to scrape by? I can hold out on my own for this year. Don’t look down on me so much.”
“Hey, I was worried about you. Why are you saying it like—”
“Instead.”
I looked at Yu-ri and made a different suggestion. This was to close the distance between us even more and make her mine.
“I’d really appreciate it if you ate lunch with me. How about it?”
“W-what? You want me to eat lunch with you?”
“Yeah. You don’t want to?”
“Of course I—”
Yu-ri started to answer but suddenly froze with her mouth open. Normally, she ate lunch with Gong Yeong-bae. It wasn’t that she didn’t have same-sex friends, but according to the original novel’s description, she was always with him during lunch. Since they’d fought and clearly hadn’t reconciled, it would be awkward to sit across from each other like usual tomorrow. I decided to take advantage of that opening and keep Yu-ri by my side.
And Yu-ri’s answer was…
“I don’t want to.”
Her face turned bright red again as she turned her head to the side, avoiding my gaze.
“But… if it’s just for a few days… then okay.”