Close Yet Distant (8)

Both Yujin and I have pretty good perception. It's partly innate, but mostly because Yujin absolutely loves role-playing scenarios, which forced my instincts into overdrive. Take this, for example.

"…What are you doing?" Yujin's eyes went wide as she burst out laughing, staring straight at me.

Normally I'd try to match her energy no matter what, but right now Yujin didn't look like she had the breath or the will for that. So here I was, forced to go solo with my inner monologue.

"Come with me… I'll help you out."

"…Hm?"

I leaned in close to Yujin's ear and whispered as softly as I could. Even so, she stared at me like she couldn't fathom what I was talking about. But—

"Let's start by confirming the English first?"

…Nod.

A very tiny nod from Yujin's head. Yeah, that was enough.

"Well, English is something you're good at anyway, and the content we drilled hardest on is sitting pretty solidly in your head too, so…"

I always prepped the next subject after exams ended. That's why I was seeing Yujin's test papers and scores for the first time today.

"79 points. You improved a lot."

Last year she was hanging around the low 70s, sometimes dipping into the high 60s. Considering the difficulty level of the questions ramped up with the grade, that was genuinely impressive.

"…If I'd done the short-answer questions the way you told me to, it would've come out better…"

"I was a little worried about the short-answer section because there was nothing you could do except memorize, but this is great."

"…Yeah."

I smiled faintly and checked the answer Yujin had written on the last question. Her handwriting had gotten smaller since elementary school, but it was still round and soft, just like always.

"Ah."

"…Ah."

"Ms. Yujin? Why is this one wrong…?"

The red X that stood out after I'd been admiring everything. A simple question—read the passage, pick the matching answer—and getting it right would've pushed her into the 80s.

"Why did you pick number 3?"

"Because it said she came to promote herself…"

"You mean the underlined part?"

"…Yeah. But unfortunately, that's not Ellie—it's Tom."

"…So I messed up."

Yujin buried her face in her hands with a dejected expression. It was the kind of question she never used to get wrong, so the disappointment was inevitable.

Yeah. The one thing I was most disappointed about here was my childhood friend.

"Nice try. We drilled that grammar the most, and you only got one wrong."

I leaned my shoulder against hers and smiled. "I told you, right? You're good at reading comprehension and context—so even if you don't know a word, you can kind of guess what the passage means if the teacher changes it. How'd it go?"

"…There wasn't a single passage I couldn't understand."

"Damn. High five."

I held out my hand sideways since our shoulders were pressed together. "…Huh?"

Yujin was fidgeting and hesitating, so—

"Let's do well next time too."

Bang. I moved in first and slapped her hand.

"……Huh?"

Her ears. Three consecutive huffs. "…Hu. Am. I. Right."

"Aunt Seon-a! Look at this! Yujin actually got this right!"

The second I let go, I spun around and held up the test paper to Aunt Seon-a in the hallway by the front door.

"Y-You dummy…! Stop that!"

"Wait, what…? Why is this one wrong? No, you got the 3-point question right—why did you miss the 2-point one?"

"Ugh…! Don't even look at that!"

"Aunt Seon-a! Isn't this too much? I put in so much effort to teach her…!"

I dodged Yujin's flailing hands and moved toward Aunt Seon-a. But there was no way to make a scene this late at night.

Whoosh—

"Sky's place!"

And just like that, I snatched the English test paper back. Yujin's face was as red as an in-season tomato. If Aunt Seon-a and Uncle Jae-han hadn't been here, I would've gone straight for a takedown, mounted her, and grounded her out.

—Yeah. I'm doing all this with the resolve to die today.

"Yujin, this?"

While Yujin was folding up the test paper, I pulled out my phone and stepped up to Aunt Seon-a.

"This is a video of the two of us studying together. Right here—right here it said this question would definitely come up, so…!"

I showed her the video the way any carefree middle schooler would. If I had to describe the content in short: StudyWithMe. It's natural to film yourself studying, after all…

Anyway, I pulled every kind of prank imaginable while filming. What I was showing Aunt Seon-a now was an edited compilation of my best blooper moments.

"Uwaaah…?!"

"Oops. That was on purpose."

Of course I did it on purpose. There's nothing better than this for breaking the tension.

"Give that back!!"

Whoosh—! I spun my body around before Yujin could grab me and slipped away.

I kept walking forward and swiped through the video…

"Would you like to watch it too, Uncle Jae-han?"

"…Huh?"

Just as planned, I stopped right in front of Uncle Jae-han.

"The video's pretty long, so I sped up and skipped parts here and there, but it shouldn't be too bad."

Neither Yujin nor Uncle Jae-han moved. They both had the look of people who wanted to say something but couldn't. But—

"I'll play it."

I hit play without waiting for anyone's answer. The room went quiet.

. . .

Not a single day was wasted. I led at first, but as the days went on, it flipped—now I was the one telling Yujin to stop. In reality, the more material piled up, the longer the study sessions got, so the video's playback speed got faster and faster toward the end. The total runtime was 30 minutes, though…

"……"

Uncle Jae-han didn't look away from the screen once for the entire ten-plus minutes.

"Isn't it sparkling so beautifully? Seeing Yujin work so hard."

"……"

"I think people who put in effort are wonderful. The world cares more about results, but I truly believe the shining thing is hidden in the process that creates those results."

I consciously froze the head I'd been turning to leave. I didn't know what expression to make—I was stuck too—but—

"I was like that with Aunt Seon-a. I split my time and devoted myself to helping Yujin because I couldn't stop watching that shining effort."

I didn't want the kid to catch my expression either. Because right now my face was definitely a mess.

Thud. Crash—.

Heavy footsteps and a door slamming shut came from behind. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I didn't need to check who it was—I already knew.

I kept going with my work, steady as ever.

"I made a promise with her. That by the time she graduates middle school, she'll get at least a grade 1 in Korean, English, and math. But after just two weeks, she started getting greedy about the other subjects too. Honestly I think it's too much, but since she's putting in the effort, I can't bring myself to stop her."

"……"

"So would you be the one to tell her? If she keeps studying this hard, I'll be the one who needs help. Or maybe by then she won't need my help at all, so maybe I should just let her be."

I stepped back with a light smile and glanced at the phone. Uncle Jae-han's head lifted slightly to follow me.

"Sorry for the off-topic talk."

The moment our eyes met, I calmly bowed my head. "…Would you forgive her because she's such a cute kid?"

And then, out of nowhere, I stuck out my lower lip just a little.

"……"

Uncle Jae-han said nothing for a while. He just silently watched the rest of the video, adjusting his glasses—his only visible action.

—Click. The long video ended.

The living room, where the silence I'd been struggling to maintain had just vanished, was heavy enough to warp time itself. But I waited calmly. This moment would end too.

"Yujin."

Uncle Jae-han stood up from his seat. When he lifted his head and looked ahead, he gave me back the phone with a faint smile.

"Sorry for keeping you this late. You have school tomorrow."

"No, please don't worry about that—you have work in the morning too."

"I'm an adult, so it's fine."

"I'm young, so it's fine too. Besides, starting tomorrow there's no regular class because of the sports festival practice."

"That's a relief then."

Uncle Jae-han smiled and ruffled my hair. Rough but with the same warmth as Aunt Seon-a.

"I'll leave her in your good hands."

"I'll do my best to take good care of her."

"Don't worry. There's no way you could do better than your best."

"Then I can't really guarantee the future, can I? Yujin is such a free spirit, after all. Oh, I mean she's like an artist."

I shrugged sheepishly. If she'd heard that, she would've probably gone ballistic—but she wasn't here right now.

"Haha. I know, I know."

Thankfully, Uncle Jae-han seemed to enjoy my joke. How much he enjoyed it…

"…Yeah. Yujin is that kind of kid."

Uncle Jae-han repeated the words several times, chewing on them with a calm smile. Even I found myself smiling involuntarily.

"I'll head out then."

I had things to do. To get to sleep early, I hurried toward the front door.

"Alright, go on home."

Uncle Jae-han walked with me to the corridor to see me off.

I said my goodbye neatly and reached for the door—

"Ah, before that, I wanted to ask something…"

"What is it?"

"Does our daughter… like her?"

What a random question. Aunt Seon-a might not ask something like this, but I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠never expected Uncle Jae-han to either. Of course, the fact that the asker was different didn't change the answer—

"She does. If she didn't, do you think she'd act like this?"

I shrugged and smiled lightly.

Uncle Jae-han made a startled expression looking at me. There was a complexity in his eyes that one word couldn't fully capture, but—

"…Right. Liking someone doesn't have to be that kind of thing."

He let out a deep sigh and laughed easily. "Just remember this, Yujin. Our daughter is very pretty."

"Uncle Jae-han, you're a serious daughter-lover."

"I didn't say anything wrong."

"That's exactly the problem."

I smiled faintly, bowed my head again, and closed the door.

* * *

The next morning.

"…Die. Just die."

Yup. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Exactly as I'd expected, the moment we met she hit me with a full-blown colorful scream. Honestly, I was ready to give her one arm today.

Thanks to the resolve I'd built up, I was prepared to absorb any Gi BJJ ground-and-pound attack at any time—

Thwack.

"…You're really the meanest."

What came back wasn't even a real punch—just a weak jab. It barely pushed my shoulder. If anything, I was the one who flinched.

"…Not gonna hit you?"

"…I want to, but I'm holding back, so shut up."

"…Got it."

I closed my mouth immediately. Yujin sighed deeply, looked at me, and walked off first.

I hurried after her with quick steps.

"You know, right? There's a prelim next Wednesday?"

"I know."

"Starting today we're going to practice hard, so remember. I'm going to push you really hard."

"…Push me how?"

"I'll tell you later. First, buy me a banana milk on the way. And get a bread from Paris Baguette too."

"…Got it."

"…Ugh."

"Hyaa?!"

Yujin couldn't hold it in and jabbed my side hard. Weak to tickles, I was instantly in a grapple.

"You really are…!"

Yujin stormed off running before she could even finish the sentence.

I unfolded my crouched body and looked at her. Her face was bright red, eyes shimmering with a fierce glare.

"I'm gonna beat you…! I'm gonna win…!"

"…S-sure."

"Just you wait…!!"

Even after five years, my childhood friend is still such a handful.