Before Becoming a Senior
March 1st arrived—Independence Movement Day.
The moment the holiday began, our family finished our annual flag-raising and sat down together for breakfast.
This breakfast also doubled as our family’s conversation time for the real start of the new year.
“First of all, Junwoo.”
“Yes, Dad.”
“You’re back in school now. How are you planning to spend your time?”
“I’m a junior this year, so I think I’ll try a little harder at campus life.”
Hyung was a third-year college student now—the toughest year of them all.
And next year he’d be a senior, the point when you start fretting about employment.
“Well, campus life is fine and all, but try dating a girlfriend for once. How long are you going to go without one?”
“…But Dad, I did have a girlfriend once after I entered college.”
“The first-year you who got so obsessed he tanked his GPA?”
“Ahem… That won’t happen again.”
For the record, hyung was hands-down the best-looking person in our family.
Looking at Dad’s and Mom’s younger selves, hyung felt like the perfect average of the two.
I, on the other hand, was a little more ambiguous.
“Jinwoo, you’re a high school senior now.”
“Yes, Dad.”
Dad already knew about the contract I’d made.
Maybe that was why.
“Now that your grades have gone up, keep studying. Nobody knows how life will turn out.”
“Yes, I will.”
He didn’t really say much about my grades or school life.
Mom and Dad were both pretty hands-off, if I was being honest.
As long as we didn’t completely go off the rails, they didn’t care what we did within those bounds.
If anything, if what we wanted to do was the right thing, they backed us without question.
Take hyung, for example. He’d originally wanted to go to a physical education college.
But then in his senior year of high school he suddenly said, “I want to try studying,” and Dad immediately packed him off to a boarding cram school for the vacation.
If he was going to study, he should do it properly—catch up on everything he’d neglected while preparing for the PE entrance exams.
Hyung must have meant it, because he studied like a man possessed.
The result was admission to a prestigious university—as a regular-admissions fighter, no less.
They say by summer break of senior year your grades are basically set, but hyung flipped that saying the bird and made it into college in style.
But… I can say this for certain.
If hyung had decided not to go to university and wanted to do something else instead, as long as it wasn’t illegal or completely without a future, Dad would have supported him all the way.
And in spectacular fashion, at that.
Just look at him now.
“Do you need anything for your computer when you’re editing? More RAM or something?”
He was trying to upgrade my computer for me.
“My current computer’s more than enough. It’s fine. And when the time comes to replace it, I’ll do it myself.”
I had the money to replace my computer. In the first place, my current one was the machine hyung had been upgrading piece by piece until he finally bought a whole new one and tossed this one to me.
Which meant that as of right before he enlisted two years ago, this computer was near high-end.
“Are you sure it’s enough? A better computer would make editing faster.”
“The one I have is really good. You don’t need to worry.”
When I said that, hyung spoke up in a slightly sulky voice.
“Dad, isn’t that a bit much? You’re only looking after Jinwoo.”
“Hey, you don’t bring home as much money as Jinwoo does.”
“Well, that’s true.”
We were a warm family that joked and bantered with each other.
Other people might be a little surprised if they saw us, but from my perspective it just looked like hyung throwing a tantrum and Dad batting it away as a joke.
“Then how about I get you a new computer instead, Junwoo?”
“I’m fine. If Jinwoo isn’t taking one, how can I?”
“Heh, what a man.”
See? In the end the joke just wrapped up like that.
It was heartwarming to the extreme.
After we finished eating, Dad took a fifty-thousand-won bill out of his wallet and handed it to me.
“After you eat, go buy some ice cream. Keep the change.”
“Can I really keep the leftover money?”
“Want me to take it back?”
“Aww, no~ I’ll put it straight on my card.”
A father who not only made things warm but even gave me allowance money. I love you, Dad.
After figuring out what ice cream Mom, Dad, and hyung wanted, I headed straight for the specialty ice cream shop.
I was going to buy three for them and one for myself that I wanted.
I was on my way to the ice cream shop when…
Tap tap.
Someone suddenly tapped my shoulder.
I turned that way, but no one was there.
Tap tap.
Then someone tapped my other shoulder, and I turned that way too.
Again, no one…
“Pfft hehehe, hi Jinwoo.”
Lua appeared from the opposite side.
“You scared me!?”
“Huh, did that really startle you?”
Lua tilted her head as she looked at me, and I shook my head at her.
“Anyone would be surprised if you did it that way.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely.”
Try having someone tap your shoulder, turning around to find nobody there—you’d jump out of your skin.
“Where are you going?”
“To buy ice cream.”
“Ice cream?”
“It’s an errand.”
“Ahh~”
Lua nodded and naturally fell into step beside me.
“Then let’s go together.”
“Sure, I’ll buy you one too.”
“Nah~ If I’m eating, I should buy it myself~”
“Dad gave me allowance money to go buy some. Said to keep the change. So if you want to get technical, Dad’s treating.”
Lua thought for a second, then immediately countered.
“If he told you to keep the leftover money, then technically isn’t that your money?”
This was why I hated how sharp Lua Im’s mind was.
“Just freeload.”
“Tch~ Fine~”
Lua laughed lightly and nodded right away.
Walking side by side with Lua as if it were the most natural thing in the world, we started chatting.
“Jinwoo, school’s already starting.”
“Haa… Yeah.”
“Looking forward to spending the last year with you.”
“Yeah.”
Lua and I had chosen the same elective subjects.
Our school assigned classes based on electives, so us ending up in the same class was pretty much inevitable.
For the record, the subjects we picked were Japanese, Politics and Law, and Economics.
We’d chosen nothing but ridiculously hard ones.
The reason I picked them anyway was that they seemed like they’d be more useful in real life than the other options.
Japanese I just picked because it was easy.
“Jinwoo, you’re going to study hard this year too, right?”
Lua’s words were pretty absurd.
Lua Im herself didn’t need to study hard.
Even if her grades were good, she didn’t have much interest in going to college, and she already made way more money than most working adults.
With her asking me if I was going to study hard, the only thing I—who was far less capable than her—could say was this.
“Of course I have to study hard.”
At my answer, Lua smiled with her eyes in a way that said she liked hearing that, and nodded.
“Yeah, good.”
She reacted like she was happy I was studying hard, and only at times like this did Lua seem older than me.
Even though my birthday was actually a little earlier than hers.
“Come to think of it, Jinwoo. When’s your birthday again? March, right?”
“Whoa, you forgot? Seriously?”
Lua tilted her head, then her eyes went wide as it hit her.
“Ah… Ahhh…! Sorry…!”
The reason Lua was apologizing to me was…
“I’m only ten days older than you. Forgetting that is pretty bad.”
Our birthdays were exactly ten days apart.
Mine was March 12th, ten days earlier than Lua’s; hers was March 22nd, ten days later than mine.
So of course we remembered each other’s birthdays.
Even while apologizing, Lua suddenly seemed to get a mischievous glint, and started teasing me.
“But did our Jinwoo remember this noona’s birthday too?”
There was only one way I could respond to Lua’s sly question.
“Of course. Whose birthday is it?”
“Ah… Huh?”
Flustered, Lua started blinking, and I just shrugged at her.
“Besides, I’m not so dumb that I’d forget a friend’s birthday when we’re only ten days apart.”
At my answer, Lua’s face flushed a little red. She immediately chased after me and started hitting me with her tiny fists.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
“Ow, ow, ow, ow.”
When I made pained noises under Lua’s spicy punches, she got even more annoyed.
“Ugh… You’re so annoying.”
If I’m so annoying, what are you going to do about it?
That was what I thought, but then…
“Jinwoo, buy me this one.”
I never expected her to pick something massive from the ice cream options.
Seeing that giant ice cream, I decided she was joking and immediately counterattacked.
“You’ll get fat?”
Lua answered with actions.
Thud!
“Ow!”
Lua’s spicy punch. Now that was a definitive answer.
As a side note, Lua just bought her usual chocolate ice cream or whatever.
Yeah, eat that. If you eat too much you’ll get fat.