Clearing the First Priority
I submitted the gender correction document along with the SCPRS diagnosis form and resident registration certificate. From the telecommunications provider to the financial institutions, every piece of information tied to the credit evaluation system updated in one go.
Now I could handle business at the bank using the changed resident registration number, and the same went for my carrier authentication.
After confirming that the mobile phone authentication app was running smoothly, I let out a sigh.
If I had had to submit individual correction applications and visit each place in person to make the changes, what would it have been like?
I probably would have given up halfway through.
But even though the information had updated, it wasn’t true that every website and service had changed its personal details for me.
General sites and services that weren’t linked to the credit evaluation system still required me to log in one by one and update them.
Still, it wasn’t that hard; I just had to authenticate once per site, and that was the extent of the trouble.
Good. First priority in my to-do list cleared.
The next task was to apply for classes.
I accessed the class registration page. As always, I had the time-limit countdown site open beside it and waited.
The lectures I wanted to hear were already pre-scheduled in the “Bookbag” preliminary reservation system. Since I was in my fourth year, there weren’t many left anyway.
I excluded Friday because it was my hospital’s regular check-up day and picked suitable ones from Monday to Thursday, aiming for courses with no group projects.
Marketing track students could almost always find such classes, and since I didn’t dislike group work that much, I figured I could handle it.
But now, with the possibility of my health or treatment being disrupted, I wanted to avoid courses where group projects would cause maximum trouble.
If nothing else was available, I’d have to take them, but I’d prefer to keep it simple.
Good. Now it was 9:58. Time to try logging in.
…
…
Seriously? Is this all a macro?
How are they all this fast?
I got wiped out. They cleared everything in my Bookbag.
Only two out of the five pre-scheduled lectures succeeded.
As expected, class registration for management department courses was competitive. Not just students from my major, but also double majors from other departments and minor students came to take them.
Still, it wasn’t usually this bad. They must have all been using macros or bots.
Sweat broke out on my forehead. If I couldn’t get the credits here, it would be a real problem.
I had planned to take only a few classes next semester and focus on studying.
But somehow I filled in the remaining lectures by hunting down review sites.
It was a shame I couldn’t take International Business, but there was nothing I could do about it.
Once I submitted, fortunately the reviews for the classes I’d hastily added weren’t terrible.
Yeah, just getting decent grades would be fine.
All right. Personal information updated, class registration done. Now what?
College students before the semester start didn’t have many big things to do.
But for those in their final year of college during winter break, the situation was a bit different.
A typical fourth-year college student’s break would be packed with extracurricular activities, certification exams, or preparation for the first-half employment test.
My case was a little different.
I was just a patient who had barely come to my senses after an incurable illness.
I didn’t have the energy for extracurriculars, certificates, or test prep right now.
Because SCPRS patients burn through a huge amount of energy and stamina during recovery, even if they were discharged once they could move around, they tended to lack physical strength compared to ordinary people.
It would take another half-year at least for my stamina to return to normal.
Since I had to start studying again after the semester began anyway, I decided to set that burden aside for now and focus on recovering my health.
I wasn’t doing it because I didn’t want to study at all.
Still, there was something I couldn’t avoid.
No matter what, I had to start earning money.
I had spent quite a bit of the savings I’d accumulated. Of course my hospital bills were fully covered by national support and hospital funds.
My grandmother’s hospital bills were also mostly covered by emergency welfare services, but not entirely. A certain amount was still being deducted directly from my account every month.
Not just hospital bills; rent and health insurance premiums had been withdrawn as if they were breathing, even while I was away.
Once I started receiving SCPRS patient support and the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Kim Eun-hee mentioned support for my grandmother’s hospital bills came through, the burden would decrease significantly.
But I couldn’t just sit around waiting for things to turn out perfectly, since the situation could change at any moment.
At least I needed to earn enough for living expenses right now.
I couldn’t rely solely on student loans or youth loans until graduation and employment.
So what kind of work could I do?
First, I had to exclude anything that would consume too much energy.
Before I got sick with SCPRS, I used to go to construction sites during breaks. My body was tired, but it was quick, neat, and good for short-term work.
Traffic guiding was also doable if I didn’t mind the heat. It wasn’t physically exhausting.
But now, with this body, it was impossible. And the semester was about to start, so I didn’t even have the time anyway.
Tutoring? Tutoring definitely paid well.
It was one of the highest-paying part-time jobs university students could do.
No risk of injury, and because I was a Dongwha University student, tutoring jobs came in regularly.
But tutoring wasn’t just a simple job. It was teaching and guiding someone.
Especially when it involved high-school students, the stakes were higher. A child’s college entrance exam score could depend on how I taught.
So tutoring required a lot more preparation time outside the actual sessions. It wasn’t enough to just solve problems and provide feedback.
I had to figure out what they were weak in and what they lacked, how to build them up in a short time, what textbooks and printouts to use, and how the school curriculum was progressing.
And most importantly, the tutor’s own skill level.
If I didn’t have the skill, no matter how prestigious the school I graduated from, I couldn’t raise my students’ grades.
In my case, I didn’t think my skill was lacking. Both students I had tutored so far had gone to decent schools after improving their grades.
But I couldn’t take on someone’s full study curriculum right now.
Right now my own health wasn’t great, and if I suddenly got sick again and had to quit, what would happen?
Then what was left were the usual part-time jobs. The ordinary ones you could find on sites like Alba Juk or Alba Mob.
I scrolled down the laptop screen, searching for part-time job listings. Various restaurants, convenience stores, meat restaurants, office assistant jobs, pubs…
What? Is this even registered? I tilted my head at the suspiciously cocktail bar part-time job I saw.
It was just an ordinary cocktail bar; there was no way they paid 30,000 won per hour.
I scrolled further, and cafe part-time jobs started appearing one after another.
Right, this area around Gongdeok Station in Mapo had plenty of companies, schools, apartments, and cafes.
From small neighborhood cafes to giant three-story cafes lining the main road.
I had only done cafe part-time work once before, but it had been decent pay and fun while working.
It was definitely better than meat restaurant work. I wouldn’t do charcoal grilled meat restaurant part-time again.
“Eh?”
At that moment, a cafe part-time job posting caught my eye. It was a small private cafe located not far from our university’s main gate.
It was well-known enough that anyone getting off at Gongdeok Station and heading toward our school knew it.
Our house was a bit farther from the side gate, but I could walk there.
The schedule was also good. It was Monday through Thursday, closing time. From 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Friday was a hospital check-up day, so I would have to take the day off anyway, but this perfectly matched my weekdays.
“Um…”
The problem was that this place had a very high number of passersby. Students, office workers, everyone came.
It would definitely be busy. Although it was closing time, so it wouldn’t be as packed as opening time, but the location was a location.
Office workers who worked late, people who finished dinner with colleagues around here, and university students who came to study.
I had done cafe part-time work before. It was a small cafe, closing time like now. But it wasn’t as crowded as this place, so the work was easier.
Hmm, I’ll hold off on this one for now. It seemed okay, but let me think a bit more.
But the other listings weren’t great. Where the location was good, the timing was bad, and where the timing was good, the location was bad. There were cases where both were mediocre.
In the end, the private cafe posting I saw earlier matched my situation best. I should apply here first. Then I could look for a few more places.
I roughly wrote the application. Name. Age. Dongwha University student. And one experience as a cafe part-time worker.
I finished with the usual sentence about working hard and hit the submit button.
While I was scrolling down Alba Mob, my phone suddenly buzzed.
A phone number was listed beside it. What? Already? It had been less than five minutes since I applied.
The boss must have been looking at his phone. If they contacted me so quickly, I was lucky.
I had nothing special to do tomorrow afternoon.
I sent a reply with an appropriate message, and soon a response came.
I hadn’t expected to get hired so easily, but it was better than not getting any.
I’ll do well at tomorrow’s interview. If I work four days a week for a total of twenty hours, it should help a lot with my living expenses.