Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Even though she had braced herself, the sound of the door opening made Bom’s heart race. As soon as the door swung wide, she stood up and bowed.
“Hello.”
“...”
Despite her calm greeting, there was no response. Bom looked up at the man, her eyes widening in confusion.
Facing him head-on like this, his presence was overwhelming.
It was mostly due to his physique. He was toweringly tall, easily reaching 190 centimeters. His broad, solid chest was so well-defined that the contours were practically vivid. His choice of clothing only emphasized it further.
Another performance tee...
Bom averted her eyes from the man’s suggestive physique. Trying her best to look elsewhere, her gaze landed on a flowerpot.
Why did he bring that?
The pot, which stood well over a meter tall, was dangling from one of the man’s arms. On that arm, he was once again wearing those tattoo sleeves.
Last time, she had wondered if he wore them for intimidation, but seeing him now, it seemed he just wore them habitually without much thought.
“...”
For some reason, the man remained silent. Bom, standing there awkwardly as Han-gyeol’s uncle stared blankly at her, greeted him once more.
“Um, hello. You’re Han-gyeol’s uncle, right?”
“Ah, yes. Uh, that’s right.”
The man frowned deeply and stammered. His thick neck had turned a deep shade of red. His gaze remained fixed on Bom.
“I’m Yoon Bom, Seon Han-gyeol’s homeroom teacher.”
“Ah. Well, this is... Ha. I am, well, Seon Jae-gyu.”
What was with him? He was a far cry from the man who had barged in during the winter, shouting at the top of his lungs. Then again, he had been furious back then, whereas today he was here for a consultation, so there was no reason to yell. She felt a quiet sense of relief.
“Please, have a seat here.”
“Right.”
Bom guided him to the chair she had prepared in front of her desk.
Jae-gyu set the flowerpot down beside him with a thud, rubbed his palms against the stomach of his T-shirt, and then extended a hand for a handshake.
“It’s a pleasure. Really...”
Did teachers usually shake hands with parents? She didn’t think so, but her memory was fuzzy. Bom had no choice but to take Jae-gyu’s hand.
She could feel the thick, protruding bones on the back of his hand. It looked soft on the surface, but touching it revealed a rough texture. His hand was so massive that she could barely grasp his fingers. He seemed to be someone with a high body temperature, as his skin felt scorching hot.
This is a bit strange.
After giving his hand a couple of perfunctory shakes, Bom discreetly pulled away.
“Um, would you like to sit? It’s the largest chair in our classroom, but it might still be a bit small for you.”
“Is this a chair for elementary kids?”
He tried shifting around to find a comfortable position, but eventually gave up and sat with his legs spread wide. His pants, stretched tight over his thighs, boldly revealed a vivid silhouette.
Bom’s eyes accidentally drifted there, and she jerked her head down, burying her face in her teacher’s planner.
It’s too big. I must have seen it wrong, right?
Even without a mirror, she knew her face was flushed crimson. The bulging shape lingered in her mind like an afterimage. Bom tried desperately to shake the thought by focusing on something else.
“Is it Yoon?”
Jae-gyu suddenly blurted out something nonsensical. Bom asked back blankly.
“...Pardon?”
“I mean your name. Is Yoon the surname and Bom the given name?”
“That’s right.”
“Bom-ah.”
A soft, gentle voice echoed above her head. Bom lifted her lowered eyes and stared at Jae-gyu’s face.
The corners of Jae-gyu’s mouth were curved into a pleasant smile. What was he doing, calling someone else’s name so familiarly...?
“Um, excuse me.”
“That’s what your friends must call you. Bom-ah. Right? It’s pretty!”
“Wow,” Jae-gyu added in admiration, before rambling on with nonsense like, “Is your English name Spring, then?”
Letting his excited chatter go in one ear and out the other, Bom wondered about the man’s true identity. What kind of person was he to speak and act so boldly?
Jae-gyu seemed just as curious. He leaned in toward Bom, his eyes sparkling with interest.
“I heard you came from Seoul. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“I’m a Seoul mix myself.”
“...”
That was another strange thing he’d just made up. However, she could roughly guess what he meant. One of his parents must be from Seoul.
There was a reason why his accent was a mix of Seoul speech and regional dialect. According to him, he could use both Seoul and regional dialects freely. He seemed strangely proud of it, throwing around words like "multi" and "bilingual."
Regardless of that, as she listened, it didn't matter whether it was Seoul speech or a dialect.
The problem was Jae-gyu’s manner of speaking itself. He seemed polite yet was so full of playfulness that she couldn't tell where the jokes ended.
“Um, let’s start the consultation.”
Bom decided to ignore his antics for now. Since he was here for a parent-teacher consultation, discussing grades was the priority. As she spread out the student record and grade analysis she had printed in advance, Jae-gyu finally fell silent.
With their heads close together over the papers, Bom began her explanation.
“When I consulted with Han-gyeol last week, he said he has no intention of going to college.”
Despite her short career, it was the first time she had heard an academic high school student say they wouldn't go to college. Han-gyeol had been quite serious, but Bom had brushed it off.
In Bom’s world, not going to college was incomprehensible. Of course, there were seniors who went straight into the workforce. But that was for students at vocational or technical high schools.
So, Bom had assumed it was a decision made because of his school grades.
Now that his guardian was here, if she laid out a good entrance exam strategy, he would go home and persuade the boy, and Han-gyeol would end up going to college like everyone else after his senior year.
“Han-gyeol’s school grades are quite lacking, but...”
There was a reason Bom thought this way. Although his school rank was at the bottom, his mock exam scores were in the mid-range. Though she hadn't known him long, he actually seemed quite bright.
He probably just filled in straight lines on his OMR sheets for his school exams. She didn't know why, though.
Since the first semester of his second year had just begun, she felt that with a good strategy, he could get into a decent university. So, Bom explained this point in detail.
“He’s still in his second year, so I’ve just mapped out a general direction for now. Han-gyeol’s career path might change again when he becomes a senior.”
Lost in her explanation, Bom suddenly wondered if Jae-gyu was listening.
She looked up from the paper she had been marking with a highlighter, only to find Jae-gyu staring intently at her from just a few inches away.
The combination of his half-dazed eyes and irregular breathing made Bom uneasy.
Bom studied Jae-gyu’s face with a tense expression and asked.
“If there’s anything you don’t understand so far, please feel free to ask...”
Jae-gyu slowly opened his lips.
“He’ll figure that stuff out on his own.”
“Pardon?”
“He said he’s not interested in college. He just needs to graduate high school.”
“But still...”
“Does he get along with his friends at school? Is he respectful to the teachers?”
After you caused such a scene in the faculty office? Bom barely swallowed the words rising to her throat.
What was Han-gyeol’s school life like? After a moment of thought, Bom spoke carefully.
“Of course. Han-gyeol is very popular. He’s a gentle and well-mannered boy. He doesn't bully anyone, nor is he bullied. At least so far.”
“That’s great. That’s all that matters, then.”
Feeling awkward, Bom closed the entrance exam planning notebook. At that, Jae-gyu dragged his chair closer with a screech, pressing himself even nearer.
The shadow of the large man completely enveloped Bom.
“How old are you?”
Because he was so close, the man’s breathing sounded ticklish in her ear. It was a low, heavy sound.
Whether it was her imagination or not, his hot breath seemed to reach the nape of her neck, making her instinctively shrink back.
When no answer came, Jae-gyu pressed again.
“I asked how old you are.”
Bom kept her mouth shut and used her left hand to signal two numbers in succession. She didn't really want to tell him, but it was better to get it over with than to be interrogated.
“Ha, I knew it.”
“...?”
The man’s eyes narrowed as he learned her age, followed by a low murmur.
“I won’t even need to check our compatibility.”
“What does that...?”
“Nothing.”
I heard everything, what do you mean 'nothing'? Her mouth hung open in disbelief.
Jae-gyu moved on to the next question as he pleased.
“You’re going home after this, right?”
“Sigh... Yes.”
“I’ll give you a ride. Let’s go together in my car.”
Click. The highlighter she was holding dropped onto the paper.
Absolutely not.
“No, I’m fine.”
“You’ll regret it.”
Jae-gyu pulled his face back. He reached out and dragged the large flowerpot he had set down earlier toward him.
“Then how are you going to carry this?”
“We’ll take good care of the plant in our classroom. Thank you.”
“Why would you grow it in a place with no sunlight? Do you even know what this is?”
Is it something rare? Bom looked down and seriously inspected every inch of the plant.
She had no way of knowing the name of this ridiculously large tree in its white terrazzo pot.
It looked like something she might have seen somewhere, but it seemed expensive. Since she had no interest in plants to begin with, it was already starting to give her a headache.
“I don’t know much about plants. Is it very rare?”
“This right here is a Money Tree.”
“...”