Opening Day
After wrapping up my freshman year, during the spring break before sophomore year began, a thought suddenly struck me.
You only live once. Wouldn't it be better to live every moment with fun—and without regrets?
So I headed straight downstairs to where my parents were watching TV.
Thud. Thud.
"Mom, Dad. I have something to say."
At the solemn edge in my voice, Dad's face twisted into a scowl—the look of a man bracing for whatever nonsense I was about to spout. Mom, on the other hand, smiled like she was already entertained.
"Oppa’s about to say something weird again."
That came from my little sister Se-ah, the ten-years-younger cutie sitting beside Mom.
"What is it this time, son?"
"Oh my, did you get a girlfriend?"
"No, not that."
I cleared my throat once and delivered the line I had prepared.
"I’ve been thinking. You only get one life, right?"
"That’s true."
"So here’s the thing. You only get one shot at your school years, too. I figure a guy’s supposed to live out his youth."
Mom nodded along.
"That’s right, that’s right. Our son’s got the right idea."
Dad, however, shook his head hard.
"Haa. So what’s your point?"
His eyes were sharp. But this was no place to back down.
"What I’m saying is—I’m a youth standing at the final week of spring break in these golden school years of mine! Dragging me along on interior construction jobs every weekend with my own father… doesn’t that feel a little off?"
··············
A brief silence settled over the room.
Then came Dad’s reply.
"And why should this father care?"
"Come on, Dad! Look at your adorable son’s face and cut me some slack just this once!"
Dad let out a long sigh before he spoke again.
"This kid who lives a five-minute walk from school suddenly throws a tantrum about wanting to live on his own, so I go and get him a monthly rental studio."
"······Ugh."
"Then two weeks ago he crawls back home claiming he’s short on food money and cleans out our fridge."
"······Guh!"
"Last week he says he wants a new computer, so I buy him one of those, too."
"······Thank you."
"And now he doesn’t want to help his father with work? As I recall, you were the one who volunteered."
"························."
I had nothing. Not a single word of it was wrong.
…Listening to all that, am I actually a complete piece of garbage?
Dad’s pure fact-violence left me light-headed.
"Th-that’s all true, but… I worked really hard on the weekdays this week! So I was thinking, for just this last weekend of break, maybe you could look at your son’s face and give him a paid vacation…"
I turned on the most pitiful eyes I could manage and looked at Mom.
"Sorry, son~ Right now Dad’s about a hundred percent correct. We set all that up on the condition that you’d help him out diligently~"
"Khuh, even Mom…"
My most trusted ally had turned her back on me. Just like that, I was defeated.
For the record, our family was fairly well-off—Dad ran a pretty big interior design business. That was how all that support had been possible in the first place. Clearly I’d gotten too comfortable.
I quickly reworked my thinking. Honestly, I’d just been planning to stay up all night with the games I’d been saving for the weekend. A shame, but there would be other chances. Helping your father out—wasn’t that what a good son did?
"Haa, fine then! Living hard is what youth is all about, right?"
"Good. Enough nonsense. Wash your feet and go to bed. We’ve got an early job tomorrow."
"Yessir!"
Dad stood up like he was long used to my theatrics. Mom rose after him and tossed me a wink.
"Fighting, son~ Work hard, and if you just had a girlfriend, you’d be perfect~"
"··················."
Mom, did you really have to tack that on? Why drag a girlfriend into this?
The whole family started drifting off toward their rooms. Time for me to head upstairs too.
"Kngh, alright! My adorable Se-ah! How about sleeping with Oppa tonight!?"
As a last grab at some emotional comfort, I threw my arms wide toward my little sister.
But—
"No. I’m sleeping with Mom."
She spun on her heel without a second glance and scurried straight to Mom.
"··················."
My lowered arms hung uselessly in empty air.
"Ahh."
Life.
Spring break was over.
March. Forget the usual spring chill—it felt like the dead of winter.
"Freaking cold…"
On top of that, my legs were still numb from crouching all day yesterday sealing the floors. I shoved my hands deep into my pockets and headed for school.
Daon High School. An ordinary academic high school—or so I’d thought when I enrolled. There were a few strange people, sure, but still. If I was allowed a little bragging, the cutoff scores were pretty high.
The moment I stepped through the front gate, a noisy clamor hit me.
"Hey! What class are you in!?"
"I’m in Class 4! You?"
"Yes! Me too!!"
The classic first-day-of-term scene. The class assignment board in the first-floor lobby was swamped with students. I was just edging into the crowd, trying to get a look, when—
"Yo, Taekyeong!"
A familiar voice. My best buddy, Kim Jinhyeok—lively, nosy, and always in everyone’s business.
"Have a good break?"
"Oh, Jinhyeok. Long time."
"Right? We texted every day, but talking face-to-face just hits different."
We drifted naturally out of the crush of bodies and started catching up.
"So, what class are you in? You check yet?"
At my question, Jinhyeok slumped his shoulders in exaggerated despair.
"What am I gonna do. Looks like we’re not in the same class this year."
"For real?"
"Yeah. I’m Class 3, and you’re Class 1."
"No bullshit?"
"I’m serious."
I craned my neck back into the crowd one more time to check the board.
Sophomore Class 1. Ryu Taekyeong.
Sophomore Class 3. Kim Jinhyeok.
Different classes, just like he said.
"Heh heh. Feeling lonely without this hyung around?"
"Not lonely. Just a little disappointed. Anyway, it’s too loud here—I’m heading in first. Go make some friends."
"Okay. See you at lunch!"
"Yeah."
I waved casually and started walking. Between guys, a new-semester greeting only needed to go about that far.
I’d taken maybe three steps when—
"Ah! Yo, Taekyeong! Wait up!"
"Hm?"
Jinhyeok spun back and snagged me by the collar.
"Come to think of it, I heard your class has a bunch of pretty girls. I’m jealous."
"Pretty girls? Who?"
"I only heard the rumor. Don’t know the details."
"What, you get my hopes up for that? Anyway, things going okay with your girlfriend?"
"Of course, of course. Me and my cute Ji-eun noona are doing great."
"Lucky bastard."
This guy was more capable than he looked—he was actually dating a college girl.
"Bell’s about to ring. Get inside already."
"Heh. Yeah, I’m going."
"Alright. See you at lunch."
I took my time heading toward the Class 1 classroom. New semester. Things were going to be noisy.
Rattle.
I slid open the back door of the classroom. As expected, the place was already a marketplace.
"Hey! Where’s that café you posted on Byulstar over break? It looked so pretty!"
"Oh, that place? It’s a new spot right nearby, and the desserts are insane! Wanna go this weekend?"
"Deal! Ugh, I need to do my makeup extra hard for the photos."
At the center of a cluster of girls, one student stood out—black hair swaying as she laughed brightly.
Seo Nari. Pretty well-known around our school. The campus angel with maxed-out social skills, friendly with everyone regardless of age or gender. She had the kind of looks that drew the eye, plus a presence that lit up everyone around her.
So that’s who Jinhyeok was talking about.
I gave the noisy scene a quick glance and headed for the blackboard.
"Let’s see…"
I checked the seating chart taped to the board. Boys and girls were paired in alternating seats.
Where was I…
Oh, the very front by the window?
Nice. You barely made eye contact with the teacher, and a simple turn of the head gave you the view outside. Aside from having to pass worksheets back, it was basically a premium seat.
Satisfied, I started walking—then something at the very back by the window caught my eye.
A girl with gray hair tied in a ponytail. Kang Seoyul. Arms crossed, staring out the window. Not a single soul near her—not even an ant. You’d have thought Moses had parted the Red Sea around her desk.
I’d heard the rumors about her too. Nothing major—just the usual talk about her being a delinquent or whatever. Like anyone still ran protection rackets these days.
I sat down in my seat without much thought.
Sssss—
Suddenly the classroom went dead quiet, then stirred back up in a different, restless way. Wondering what that was about, I turned my head.
Someone set a bag down and sat in the seat next to mine.
Light brown wavy hair. Objectively speaking, she was pretty.
"Whoa, Han Yeoreum’s in our class too?"
"Damn. If we ranked this class by looks, she’d take first."
"Not after you tank the average."
"You wanna die?"
Ah. So this was Han Yeoreum. I’d heard of her, too. Pretty or handsome kids always ended up with a reputation one way or another. Was this what popular-kid life looked like?
Except the girl herself—
Whip! Whip!
—was glancing around like a hyper-alert squirrel, hugging her bag tight to her chest.
…This was nothing like what I’d imagined.
Then—
"Yeoreum~!!"
From across the room, Seo Nari spotted her and came flying over in a single rush.
Crash!
Nari threw her arms around Yeoreum’s neck and nuzzled her cheek.
"Have a good break?"
"N-Nari!?"
"Yeah, same class again. Thank goodness."
"Nari, I missed you so much!!"
"There, there. Good girl. We saw each other last week, remember?"
Yeoreum burrowed into Nari’s arms and kept nuzzling. Watching them, half the class made approving little sounds—yeah, this is how it should be. The two of them must have been close since freshman year; everyone was nodding like that tracked perfectly.
As her desk partner, I’d been thinking of at least saying hello—but with that much aggro drawn, better leave it for later. I propped my chin in my hand and looked out the window.
Ding-dong-dang-dong~
The preliminary bell rang, the homeroom teacher walked in, and the first real class of the year got underway. Being day one, it was mostly orientation and handouts.
Thud.
Roll… roll…
A white eraser rolled under my feet. I glanced sideways—it was Yeoreum’s. Pick it up or leave it? It had come all the way to the side of my chair. Ignoring it would just look cold.
I bent down and scooped it up.
"Here."
Flinch!
The moment she saw the eraser held out toward her, Yeoreum’s shoulders jerked. Seriously, a squirrel with trust issues.
And then—
"T-take it!"
She said that and whipped her head the other way.
Uh. Hmm.
Getting friendly with my desk partner was probably going to take a while.