A Direct Hit
……Is this about average for the neighborhood?
It was too early to be sure. I gave the child looking up at me a light pat on the head, then turned and made my way slowly back toward the gym. I could still feel that gaze clinging to my back, but there was nothing left for me to do. The decision belonged to Go Yewon.
Hm.
A run outside, and then the treadmill on top of it. I had driven myself hard, and still had stamina to spare. The jump rope felt awkward in my hands after so long, but the moment I settled into a slow rhythm, Chang-soo—who had been watching me over a drink of water—came over.
“Not like that. Keep the steps small, and move with the rhythm. That’s better.”
“I tried it back in school. It was hard.”
“Like this.”
I copied the footwork he showed me, then took the rope back and tried the steps for real.
“……Huh?”
“What. You’re good at it.”
“……This actually works?”
“Way easier, right? That’s because you’re not wasting strength. Your efficiency goes up.”
“Guess you’re a decent teacher, huh.”
“I am, a little. I didn’t spend four years playing instructor for nothing.”
A little praise and Chang-soo puffed right up. It seemed to have passed without question, so I let out a small breath and kept the rope turning. I could feel myself getting used to it—and the speed of it was absurd. This was a wretched body that used to botch even a handful of double-unders, and now I was ticking through light, easy steps and spinning the rope as cleanly as if I had done nothing but jump rope for years.
……I really need to be careful.
There was no avoiding the conclusion. The body that had begun to change was reaching into my coordination, too. The instant the image flashed—myself strapped down in a stark white laboratory—the rope snagged my ankle by mistake. Chang-soo only treated it as inevitable, stepping through the form again while he explained it to me.
……Good thing I figured it out ahead of time.
“Then, hyung. I’ll wash up and head out.”
“Yeah. I’m counting on you.”
“Don’t worry. This is for my paradise.”
“……Right.”
Eyes shining, fist clenched, staring up at the ceiling—I nearly sighed at the sight of him. I saw the quietly bowing Chang-soo off anyway, and went back to the rope.
“Holding up all right?”
“Yes, Instructor……. Where’d they go? Don’t tell me they didn’t sign up.”
I answered Rahi by calling her Instructor on reflex, then tilted my head when I realized she was alone.
“No. They registered. They’re starting tomorrow.”
“More importantly. How much did you get?”
No one was likely to overhear, but I covered my mouth and whispered anyway, and Rahi laughed and leaned in to match me.
“For now, three hours of watching until six, three hundred thousand won a month. They go to another academy, so I added thirty thousand for transport, thirty thousand for snacks, and fifty thousand for the uniform. Gloves later. It comes to four hundred ten thousand, and I knocked off ten thousand.”
I nearly whooped. The extras would go out at cost anyway; what mattered was the tuition. At three hundred thousand, just thirty-three kids would come to nearly ten million. Hope was starting to show its face. But the way they paid mattered—not the sort of phrase you used around here, but still.
“The payment? Right away, or did they hesitate?”
“The second the kid said they liked it here, the card came out. I don’t think I even needed to give a discount.”
“That kind of thing, you knock it off cool and call it a favor. You did well. And friends? They said they aren’t coming?”
“Oh, they said they’d bring friends too. But when I told them we’d take the kid all the way home, they insisted they’d come pick them up themselves.”
Rahi tilted her head as if it were strange, and before I knew it I had clenched a fist and given it a shake. At that she smiled softly and took my hand.
“You thought that far ahead?”
“Of course. Kids have a taste for moving in packs.”
Of course, if one of them lost interest the rest could drain away like a tide, but there was no need to mention the downside now. Rahi needed the courage.
“……Thank you.”
“Thank me for what. It’s your work.”
“……I can’t even imagine it without you anymore, Shinwoo…….”
“That’s not going to happen, so don’t imagine it. Oh, and.”
“Yes?”
“When Chang-soo gets back today, look over the curriculum and set the schedule properly. And mind the quality of the snacks and the uniforms. I caught a glimpse earlier—every last one of them looked dressed in high-end brands. Hand them something cheap and they’ll be offended.”
“Okay. I’ll remember.”
“Oh, and.”
I paused, looked at Rahi, and grinned as I answered.
“I kissed Yewon.”
“……Ah.”
“She already told you everything, didn’t she? Hm? With this mouth right here?”
“Ow……. I-I’m sowwy…….”
I tugged her cheek, gentle and unhurried, and Rahi put on a wounded look and gazed up at me, sorry. I didn’t need the apology. I wasn’t actually upset. I only wanted the excuse.
“……Once your period’s over, you’d better look forward to it. I’m not letting you off.”
“……Ah……. Yes…….”
Rahi swallowed, and her eyes went hazy all over again. She was cute like that. I brushed a light kiss against her lips and answered.
“Well then. Shall I take a little coaching from Rahi?”
“……I’ll teach you properly.”
The resolve hardening on her face as she looked at me made me freeze for a second. That burning look was anything but ordinary. Wait. This was wrong.
“……We need to figure out the kids’ curriculum, so it has to be at their level.”
“Don’t worry. I can adjust down to that whenever I want.”
“No, I mean teach me the way you’d teach the kids. It’s been a while for you, too. You should… practice, right……?”
“No.”
“……Give me a refund.”
“Too late.”
“Ghk.”
Rahi caught me by the scruff and started dragging me off toward the corner. On the way my eyes met Go Yewon’s—she had just come out of the office to see a customer off. She was smiling softly, fluttering a little wave. I’d remember that.
“Customer! A customer’s here! Yewon!”
“You should be the one to greet them, Rahi.”
“Ah, welcome. Just a moment.”
“They’re going to keep coming anyway, so stay in the office.”
“No. Keep throwing one-one-twos until I get there. And watch your knees and your waist.”
“……My arms are gonna fall off.”
Rahi, who had been wiping sweat and grinning at my grumbling, went to guide the customer in. Fortunately she didn’t have much time to torment only me. The same went for Go Yewon. The two of them were spending less and less time coming out of the office. The reason was obvious.
“You have no idea what a relief this is.”
“I know. Good thing Attorney Park posted it in the residents’ chat.”
“Not at all, Professor. I only just found out today myself.”
“All I ever wanted was someone who’d watch them until seven. I had no idea a place like this existed.”
That was when Chang-soo came into the gym and locked eyes with the ladies standing there. He smiled, bright and easy, offered a greeting, then waved at me as he came over.
“……Sitters have gotten so expensive lately. I was really at a loss.”
“And you can have them exercise on top of it. Do the girls give the boys a hard time these days?”
“I’ve been worried, myself. My son’s put on far too much weight.”
“Exactly. Oh—Hyeongtae’s mom, your plastic surgery clinic must be slammed right now?”
“Don’t even start. I’ve been doing double eyelids all day long. What about Junseo’s mom? I heard the firm’s doing well these days.”
“Aigoo, don’t even start. There’s every kind of mess lately. With this, I’ll actually be able to focus on work.”
“Still, it bothers me a little that the gym doesn’t have a sign.”
“They said they’re still getting ready to open, and that we came early.”
“Does a sign even matter? I’m just so glad there’s a place I can trust the children to.”
“Right. And where would young men like that even get any money?”
“Besides, so many places these days set the price high and only advertise the discount rate. This doesn’t have that shoddy feel.”
“I looked into it, and the building belongs to the director here, apparently. I pulled the building register and the title copy—only a billion won in debt, and it’s clean.”
“Oh, really? Impressive, for someone so young.”
“Yes. I asked at the real estate office, too. The previous director died suddenly, so the daughter ended up taking it over. The business registration is old, so I think it’s true.”
“Aigoo, that poor thing. So her friends came to help……. Oh, how pitiful.”
“As expected of Attorney Park. Thorough, as always.”
“Young men of such good character—I think we can trust them.”
“Of course. Don’t they look wonderful?”
Every time we moved, the ladies’ eyes tracked along with us. There was something meerkat-like about it that was honestly funny. The little ones who had tagged along with their mothers or grandmothers stared at Chang-soo and me as if we were a marvel.
“I know. They’re just brimming with health.”
“……And those smiles are far too nice to look at.”
“We get help, and so do they. Good for both sides, wouldn’t you say?”
“One could even call this a kind of social contribution, Professor.”
“To think such fine young men still exist.”
“And isn’t the idea good? You can feel that it’s a business made with mothers in mind, even in the middle of hardship. Starting at only two hundred thousand a month.”
“I paid two million just to ask a sitter for three hours.”
“Me too. Honestly, that amount was a bit much for me.”
“And they don’t even do anything. They just leave the child sitting there. Then they ask extra for education fees. It’s too much.”
“I know. Wait any longer and every spot will be full. Attorney Park, thank you for telling us.”
“Ah, not at all, Professor. I heard it from President Choi around lunch myself. I brought my child just in case, and the terms were too good.”
“President Choi? Even so, I’ll be sure to repay this debt later.”
“Aigoo, don’t say that to your own student.”
“Anyway, there are still spots left, aren’t there?”
“There should be……. I’m worried.”
“I’m so glad I found out over the weekend.”
“I know.”
Even as they said it, I could feel the glances sliding over Chang-soo and me. I felt a little like a monkey in a zoo, but I wanted them to look all they liked. If they would only register, I was prepared to become a wobbling tube man at the entrance. I’d make Chang-soo do it, of course.
They put on dignity, but their eyes are honest.
The looks they stole at us, careful of the children, were sticky. They seemed to think the conversation wouldn’t carry, but every word of it reached my ears. They were misunderstanding a few things, and yet it seemed to be working in our favor. And if you thought about it, they weren’t entirely wrong. I had come to help Rahi—and now Go Yewon as well.
“Pretend you don’t know.”
“Don’t worry. You do something about that twitching eyebrow, hyung.”
“……It’s just a strange feeling.”
“It’s a little better if you think of it as work.”
Chang-soo and I went on talking with our lips barely moving, a clumsy imitation of ventriloquism. I was about due to finish, but he was only just getting started, and since he had worked hard today I meant to keep him company for a while.
“Thirteen million won, all in?”
“Yeah. But the budget was what it was, so I had no choice but to bring back a van with high mileage. It’s cheap, and the interior’s a bit upscale, so it looked right for hauling kids in this neighborhood. I paid for the van in full. For the sign, I only got a quote.”
“As if you’d have done it poorly. How long for the repairs and the wrap?”
“All together, about three days, they said. I asked them to hurry as much as they could.”
“Two days or so is the problem. Nothing for it but to ask them to understand.”
“If it’s urgent, we can rent for now.”
“That’d be fine too, but a few days should be all right.”
We had already planted the excuse that we were still preparing to open, so I trusted they would give us a few days. If complaints came, we would have no choice but to discount next month’s tuition—but from the way they kept calling it cheap, I didn’t think it would come to that.
“The sign came in higher than I expected. That’s just the quote, and they said they’d come by tonight, take a look, and go.”
“Good. You did well. The flyers?”
“Eh, those don’t cost much. It’s the part-timer wages that are expensive.”
“Then we can do that ourselves. How many banners did you order?”
“Five for now. I told them we might order more.”
“That should be plenty. Good work. I’ll scout locations while I run tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Oh, hyung—the SUV takes at least two months, so I just left.”
“Can’t be helped.”
“Just sign the contract. Two months goes by fast.”
I said it as I finished my cooldown and stretched. Somewhere along the way, quite a few of the swarming ladies had vanished. They sent regretful looks back as they left the gym, but—maybe thanks to the brake known as their children—they went home without incident. So there was that effect, too. Anyway, I figured the modeling could end here. For a first day, it had gone pretty well.