Then I'll Confess—Turns Out I Had Feelings
I had only been enrolled at Cheongdaram Elementary School for a little over a month.
“Harang-ah~!!!”
“Just a sec~! My sister’s not ready yet.”
I carried Seol-hee noona’s bag because she was still drowsily slumped over, then held her hand and walked her toward the front door.
Up until now, the only times I’d met Seol-hee noona had been when she came looking for my room.
Since she was already on break and just wanted to get up, that was why I hadn’t realized how hard it was for her to get ready for school every morning.
“Thanks to you, Dad’s morning routine got so much easier.”
“Ah. Dad! Help me! Sister!”
I lost my balance and barely caught the collapsing Seol-hee noona, then called out for help.
Dad skillfully slid his arm under her armpit and lifted her up, then quickly finished buttoning her uniform, which I had been struggling with.
Cheongdaram Elementary was a school that required uniforms.
Men’s and women’s versions existed, but it wasn’t mandatory to follow them.
That was why I was wearing the women’s uniform.
“Come on! Sister, hurry! Se-ah’s waiting!”
“Mmm…”
“I’ll be back soon!”
I held Seol-hee noona’s unsteady hand and stepped out the front door.
Dad was still smiling warmly at us, waving his hand.
Outside, the bright sunlight made Seol-hee noona blink and snap back to full awareness; her earlier staggering vanished.
Se-ah had come out to meet us and ran straight over to Seol-hee noona and me.
“Harang-ah! Hello to you too, Seol-hee noona!”
Life at elementary school wasn’t bad at all.
Having so many questions about the original world I’d returned to, this school was already proving to be an excellent place to satisfy them.
Of course, we were still only learning the basics, but since it was first grade—more playtime and nap time than actual study—I could visit the teachers during those breaks and ask all sorts of questions.
When we arrived at school, Seol-hee noona hugged me once before heading off to her own classroom.
To be honest, I worried every time whether she’d manage to find her way while stumbling like that.
I and Se-ah both entered our classroom.
Se-ah and I were in Class 3, the same room.
When we first learned we’d be in the same class, Se-ah had hugged me and run around inside, getting scolded by the homeroom teacher.
“Hi~!!”
“Huh? Se-ah! Harang!”
Se-ah cheerfully pushed the door open and walked in, and the kids who spotted us gathered around.
Se-ah was always the center of attention.
Almost every girl in the class was her friend.
Se-ah approached each one familiarly, saying hello, and even the quieter girls got a gentle “hi” from her.
Three boys huddled in the corner glanced our way, then turned and walked toward the blackboard.
“Aaaah!! Harang, look at this!!”
Se-ah, who had been looking at the posters on the wall, let out a despairing cry, then rushed over, grabbed my wrist, and dragged me in front of the board.
Written there was the schedule from today, Monday, through Friday.
Basic subjects like Korean and math, plus naps and recess, were all listed.
Every single day had the exact same class times.
Physical education was scheduled for fourth period every single day this week.
Normally physical education was only held three times a week at most, but for some reason this week it was every day.
“You’re going to miss out on Harang every single day! That’s so mean~!!”
“Nothing we can do about it…”
I wasn’t attending PE.
Publicly, it was because my body was still weak since leaving the hospital.
The real reason was that my parents had decided to keep my gender a secret so I wouldn’t be treated differently.
If parents at Cheongdaram Elementary didn’t want to reveal their son’s gender, the school had a special system where boys were excused from changing clothes with the girls during PE.
Normally, just being known as a boy gave plenty of benefits, so most parents didn’t choose the system.
But my parents had chosen it to prevent any unexpected accidents.
That meant the three boys in the corner and every girl in the class didn’t know I was actually a boy.
Honestly, I thought they’d notice my voice or appearance, but maybe because I was still young, it was hard to tell from looks alone.
“Harang, do you have lunch with me? Okay?”
“Sure, since it’s fourth period I’ll go warm up before eating.”
“Yes!!”
Se-ah sat at her desk with a big smile, and the girls around us all moved back to cluster with her.
I felt the surrounding noise settle and walked over to my own seat.
Another peaceful day.
--- --- --- --- ---
It had been three months since I started elementary school, and today we arrived at school with Seol-hee noona and Se-ah as usual.
I was still wondering what I should ask the teachers when the commotion started.
“Aaaah!!!”
“I-I can’t!!!”
I looked toward the screaming and saw a girl who was a little less popular than Se-ah, but the one who led the girls in our class, slamming a desk and shouting.
The boy who seemed to be the owner was sitting on his chair crying and screaming “I don’t want to!”
The other girls around them were giggling and laughing at the boy.
The other boys just lowered their heads, avoiding eye contact, as if they knew nothing about it.
When I glanced at Se-ah, she looked disinterested and was staring somewhere else, but then she noticed me and waved with a bright smile.
She didn’t seem to care about stopping it.
I sighed and stood up, walking toward the noisy area.
“Why don’t you want to?! You said you’d show me!”
“I don’t want to!!! I don’t want to!!!!!!!!”
“Why? What happened?”
Once my voice was heard, the girl who had been shouting at the boy turned to look at me.
I wasn’t particularly noticeable in the class, but because Se-ah liked me, the other girls tended to be extra careful with me.
She answered hesitantly.
“N-no… she told me to take my pants off… and I said I didn’t want to…”
I turned my head to look at the boy.
He met my eyes, nodded, and gave me a pleading look, like he was asking for help.
Back to the girl, she muttered, “Well, you could just show it, right?”
“You said you don’t want to, and the teacher said boys are weak, so girls should protect them.”
“No, that means I’m protecting you, so I can tell you to take them off!”
“Hey.”
At my words, the girl shouted back and argued with me.
At that exact moment, a low and heavy voice rang out from Se-ah.
As Se-ah’s voice echoed through the classroom, the giggling girls all went quiet, including the one who had been shouting in front of me.
“Don’t get angry at Harang. Sit down and behave. Harang did nothing wrong.”
When Se-ah said that, the surrounding girls suddenly nodded and all sided with her in an instant.
“That’s right, that’s right…”
“Joo-hee, you were a little too much…”
“Exactly, I told you not to…”
The girl who had been shouting in front of me turned red and started sniffling, then left the classroom.
I looked at the boy and said he’d be fine, then walked over to Se-ah and ruffled her hair.
“Ouch! Crap…”
“Se-ah, I told you to speak nicely to the kids, remember?”
“No but! She started it!”
Slap!
“Ouch!!”
“If you’re going to do it, you should have helped the boy first.”
At my teasing, Se-ah turned her head and muttered that she didn’t like boys.
I wondered if Se-ah would dislike me if she knew I was actually a boy.
I sighed, ruffled Se-ah’s hair a few more times, and checked my watch.
There was still a little time before first period started.
I stepped outside the classroom and looked for the girl who had run out earlier.
Normally, when girls ran out, they went to the bathroom, so I entered the girls’ restroom and looked for crying sounds from inside a stall.
I stood in front of the door where the sobbing was coming from.
“Why did you do that?”
There was no answer. The sobbing only grew louder.
“If you like him, just say you like him instead of this.”
“No!!”
At my words, the girl inside shouted loudly.
I already knew that most girls in the class knew the boy she liked.
She often stared at him, grabbed his shoulders, or tried to hold his hand.
But like most kids, she was too embarrassed to admit it, so she had to express her feelings aggressively instead.
“Then I’ll confess—truth is, I’ve been interested.”
“No!!!“
Clang!
“No!!! If Harang does it, all the boys will accept it!!”
At my words, the girl who had been sobbing in the bathroom burst out and grabbed both my hands, shouting.
I continued talking as if nothing happened.
“Why? Whether I’m your first boyfriend or second, it doesn’t matter, right?”
“No!! No!!!! Harang, please!! Okay? Please!!!!”
In the original world, it wasn’t strange for men to have multiple girlfriends and wives.
But the first boyfriend or first girlfriend was an important memory for both men and women.
Especially kids, who loved romantic stories from fairy tales, were bound to get even more obsessed with being a first lover.
I sighed and said I’d give up.
“Okay, then I’ll confess later… You confess first and I’ll do it?”
“Yes!! Thank you!!!”
“Then go apologize first, you can’t confess right now.”
“Ah… okay…”
The girl I was hugging and thanking me nodded at my words and went back to the classroom with me.
Se-ah glared at me because I was holding hands with the girl.
I went back to my seat, and the girl who had come back holding my hand walked over to the boy from earlier, apologized hesitantly, and said sorry.
Kids really were like that—fought and made up, then became friends again.