Close Yet Distant (5)
Wednesday. Ten minutes before the third period ended. In other words, ten minutes before the last exam subject—social studies—was over.
"Alright, everyone stop. The person in the back, bring those OMR sheets forward."
The moment the bell rang, the homeroom teacher swept up the answer sheets with his usual deadpan voice. True to form for an efficiency-obsessed science-track guy, he promptly had the students sit down and began the dismissal ritual.
"You all worked hard. The classroom doesn't look too bad today, so I think we can skip cleaning…."
"If it's dirty, I'll scrub it down tomorrow, sir!!"
"Hey, you little—! What's that mess back there?!"
"Shut uppp!! The great teacher Sky is conducting dismissal!!"
The second-years, drunk on the freedom of the bell, surrendered their bodies to liberation. Madmen, every last one of them—but right now, I wasn't much different.
"Quiet. If even one person in here can boldly say they got a perfect hundred on the math exam, I'll let you all go."
"Seol Yujin, attention!!"
"Top of the entire school, rise!!"
Before my classmates could get any louder, I shot up from my seat. Then I pulled out the math exam paper from first period.
"Oh. I forgot—you were there too, Yujin."
"That's right, sir."
"Just sit down. Recite the final answer to the last essay question."
With that, twenty-seven pairs of eyes locked onto me instantly. I flipped the exam paper face-down and checked the last part of the solution.
"Thirty-one."
"Okay. Go."
"Freedom!! Freedom!!"
"SIUUUUUUUUUU!!"
The most energetic duo in the class unleashed their war cry as they bolted from their seats. They were the loudest, sure, but the rest of the kids were just as busy cheering.
"Grab your phones!!"
"Hell yeah, we're amazing! The canyon's been waiting for us!!"
"What canyon? It's Pallorent. One person short."
"I'm going!!"
The guys packed up as if they couldn't bear to spend even a single second longer in school.
"Let's go get tteokbokki!"
"Won't the new song encore be performed today? Think there's still seats?"
"We already made a reservation~."
The girls were slower to move, but they'd already gathered in groups, ready to head out.
"Yuseol! Are you going to grade and leave?"
"No, I'm leaving right away too. I'll take a photo of the answer key and post it on the class board."
"Got it."
I exchanged a brief word with the vice class president and gathered my things. All that was left was to print the answer key at the office and head home.
'Time to game.'
My dad was on a business trip to Singapore, and my mom had left for a gathering in Jeju. For the next two days, I was free. Add the exams being over, and this week was the ultimate free period.
"Heh heh heh~"
I let out a snort that didn't quite sound like me and headed for the office. Barely thirty seconds later, I had the answer key printed and was stepping out—when what do you know.
"Oh. The reserved spot for first in the entire school."
There was Ryu Haneul, the male lead from Roco, standing right in front of me.
"Yeah. Nice to meet you."
"Hey hey. What's got you in such a rush?"
I tried to push the door open to slip past, but the guy blocked it with his body. Great, tall guys are the problem.
"…This is the office."
"I know. I have something to say, so just wait a sec."
Why ruin a good day by making my face ugly? I gave an affirmative answer and waited in the corridor near the office. The guy came out soon enough—he must have been here to print the answer key too.
"So what's this 'something to say'?"
"Do you have time right now?"
"No. Sorry. Then—."
"Hey hey hey."
Thud. The moment I tried to slip away, his hand grabbed my shoulder. I furrowed my brow and glared at him, but the guy answered my glare with the brightest, most dewy smile imaginable.
"Just say what you need to say."
"How about the student council hanging out together?"
"All twenty-three members?"
"Twenty-four, including you. If you come, I'm going."
Thud—!
"No, wait! Hear me out!"
I tried to break free, but his outstretched arms caught my shoulders in an instant.
"Let go."
"…Six people including you. That's not exactly a lot, is it?"
I muttered that, and Ryu Haneul—who'd lowered himself to my eye level by bending his knees—paused. I glanced at the scene from a third-party perspective, and no matter how I looked at it, my short stature was doing me no favors.
"Spit it out."
"…It's because the senior members of the student council suggested maybe we should all get together once. I didn't really want to do it, but…."
"…That's what it was?"
A cool guy who doesn't grab your shoulder twice. So why was he being so persistent? There was a reason.
"If it was really about that, I would've rejected the seniors first."
"That's why you came to me. Senior Hee-na kept pestering me to bring some annoying junior along, telling me to do this and that…."
Senior Hee-na. The third-year student council president who'd taught me everything during the handover. Up to this point, you could call her a senior who's in love with her junior. But…
"Does that senior have a boyfriend?"
"She still says you're the one she likes."
"…Damn."
That's the problem. I have zero feelings, yet she keeps coming on to me. I drew a clear line, and she still keeps pushing. This isn't quite the same as having no self-respect—it's more like…
Seeing myself in love makes me look like a good person. A common delusion people have in their youth when they don't understand love. Senior Hee-na was exactly that type of case.
"What an annoying senior."
"Both of them are annoying to me."
Ryu Haneul sighed deeply and swept his bangs aside.
"Anyway, this time it's three from our side and three from the seniors, so six people total. I really worked hard to make it just 'me treating you to a meal,' you know?"
"You should've tried harder to find a timeline where I don't show up."
"All you had to do was make sure a timeline like that never reached me in the first place."
"Okay, okay."
I nodded and leaned against the wall. Arms crossed, feet tapping lightly a couple of times, I organized my thoughts.
"I think not going is the better option."
"…Are you serious?"
"Even if I go, they'll just seat me next to her and ramble on about nonsense. There's no point."
"But six people are gathering because of you alone. Can you handle the public pressure?"
How is that my problem… I almost said it, but it wasn't exactly wrong. Everyone in the school knew Senior Hee-na liked me. Everyone attending this gathering knew I was the target.
"…How about we just meet up casually? That senior's actually a decent person, you know."
I was putting on a casual expression when the guy casually added:
"Let me be frank—what's that senior lacking? Good grades, good connections, and above all, she's pretty."
"If I go just to 'meet casually,' that's using her."
"I gave an example because you kept saying you were bothered. And who knows? You might start liking her too if you dated her."
He shrugged his shoulders and shot me a wink. Annoyingly cute, which put me in a weird mood, but…
It was an undeniable truth. A person's heart is like water—no one knows when or how it'll flow. What you thought was a firm resolve was just hard ice that made you feel that way; it could melt into water and steam at any moment, carrying you somewhere you never expected.
…The real reason I don't get into relationships is simple. Being alone is comfortable, and I'm not particularly lonely. Of course, the biggest reason is my mental age. My body might be a middle schooler, but mentally I'm a full adult, so no matter how pretty a girl is, she only looks like a kid to me. I probably wouldn't even consider dating until my twenties.
'How exactly am I supposed to politely reject someone here?'
That's why Senior Hee-na was a kid to me. And I'm a normal adult who doesn't see kids as dating material. "Meeting casually" itself was an ethically gray area.
'I guess I'll just have to go.'
No immediate alternatives came to mind. I was about to tell Ryu Haneul I'd go when—
"Target spotted."
That was the exact moment. Vroom vroom vroom!! From the other end of the corridor, Chae Yujin appeared out of nowhere. The stampede was so fierce it made bullfighting look gentle—I instinctively sidestepped.
"Bbasse!"
"Gyah—?!"
An F1 driver would've been impressed by that drift. The effect was incredible.
"Aren't you out of your mind?!"
"Exams are over!!"
Despite my glare and a fake cough, the brat showed zero signs of backing off. Instead, she grabbed both my hands and shook them up and down.
"Sky!! Exams are over!!"
"I know. You studied really hard, so good job."
"Yep! You worked hard too!"
"…Stop shaking my arms."
"Oh, right!"
Only after I told her to stop did Yujin finally cease her arm-shaking. But her hands were still holding mine…
"Yuseol! How could you forget?!"
Way too many plot developments today. I furrowed my brow and tilted my head, unable to follow.
"Forget what?"
"You dummy! Two weeks ago we promised—we'd go on a family trip right after exams!"
"Did I make that promise?"
My parents don't come back until the weekend. Aunt Seon-a just got back from her hometown and isn't in any position to go anywhere. In other words, it's a memory that doesn't exist.
"We did! We did!!"
And yet Yujin was insisting with wide eyes. The reason was simple.
'Is this really my childhood friend…!'
She was pulling me out to bring to the gathering.
"Aaargh…! Watch where you put your brain…!"
"What are you talking about?! Where the hell do you keep your brain?!"
"What's this 'Two Yujins'? Did you make that promise?"
"Uh… yeah… I was so busy I completely forgot…?"
I answered Ryu Haneul's question as naturally as I could. The acting was a little stiff, but a cool guy like him wouldn't ask twice.
"It's nothing. I'll tell them you can't make it."
Ryu Haneul pulled out his phone without further comment.
"Wait. I'll tell the senior myself."
"You?"
"I can't leave this to you. Well, we can grab coffee sometime if we meet up later, right?"
While talking with Ryu Haneul, I sent a quick message to Senior Hee-na. Instantly, a flood of messages poured in, but I'd already set the condition—meet up on the weekend—and it was wrapped up in no time.
"Go suffer a little."
"I don't want to suffer on the day exams ended. I'll give the senior one of your secrets as a consolation."
"Hey. What are you trying to say—"
"We both worked hard. See you tomorrow."
Ryu Haneul tapped my shoulder with his fist and laughed. I'd love to grill him on what he was talking about, but it felt petty to pile on the guy who'd taken all that heat from the senior because of me.
"…At least tone it down a bit?"
"Good work~. See you tomorrow~."
He waved and headed for the second floor. The moment I watched him disappear past the second-floor railing, I turned to face my childhood friend.
"You coming?"
"Obviously. We've got a ton to do today!"
Thud—. Yujin lightly pressed her shoulder against mine and slipped out through the central corridor first. The girl who took one step into the lobby, exited the building, and stepped into the blinding sunlight was waving at me.
"……."
Yeah, that sight was blinding enough to make you squint. Maybe it was because exams were over, but the weather felt unusually bright. The flowers had already wilted, but the leaves that had taken their place were just beginning to soak in their green.
The blue that only appears at the tail end of spring. Since nature had taken it in, summer would be here soon enough.
"Ugh! It's hot—hurry up!"
"If it's hot, walk instead of running."
"…Okay. Let's die once today."
"Don't cling to me!! You're so sticky…!"
"The Queen doesn't sweat!"
"You're the one whose bangs are already sticking to your forehead, and you say that?!"
Since it had taken us too, youth was beginning.
* * *
Youth is a damn joke.
"Oh."
I went to the kitchen to fill my thermos with water, and what do I run into.
The daughter of the Seol household, looking as relaxed as anything, was taking off her shoes at the entrance.
"I'm so hot! Give me that water!"
…If I'd run into the homeowner's son, I should at least pretend to be surprised.