Chapter 230: Rehabilitation-3
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 230: Rehabilitation-3
As Yun Si-a gulped down the salty, spicy broth, she seemed to have momentarily forgotten her dignity as a private tutor.
During the three minutes she’d spent waiting for the hot water to cook the cup ramen, her large eyes had been fixed unblinkingly on the paper lid. At this point, there was no need to point that out.
Boy, she’s really going at it. You’d think she’d been starving for three days.
Watching her chopsticks move busily as she inhaled the noodles, I felt a pang of sympathy.
Strictly speaking, Yun Si-a was younger than me. Seeing her like this made me feel like I was looking at a younger sister who had returned home after being kicked around by the world.
Or perhaps she looked like a fresh recruit at a prestigious company who had just finished her first night of overtime and was huddling in a 24-hour snack shop to eat ramen.
Ah, the hunger of youth....
Moved by pity, I pulled some kimchi out of the refrigerator. It was the store-bought kind in a vacuum-sealed pack.
"Have some kimchi too."
When I tore open the pack and emptied it onto a plate, Yun Si-a, who had been eating with her face buried in the bowl, looked up with sparkling eyes.
"You... you’re actually a good kid, aren't you?" she muttered, sounding genuinely moved.
"Just what kind of person did you think I was?"
I asked grumpily, but Yun Si-a didn't even pretend to hear me as she crunched on a piece of cabbage kimchi.
"Don't you get paid for tutoring? Why are you starving yourself?" I asked, sitting back down across from her.
"You're a student, so you wouldn't know. It costs a lot of money to be a working adult."
"What do you mean 'working adult'... You're just a college student who plays and eats."
To think a college student was trying to lecture me on the hardships of social life....
At my rebuttal, Yun Si-a seemed to have finally sated her hunger. She put down her chopsticks and stared at me intently.
"In-ho, there is a world of difference between college and high school."
Don't try to look all serious now.
"......."
"W-What!"
When I stared back at her with an incredulous expression, she finally seemed to feel a bit of embarrassment.
"Nothing. If you're finished, let's start the lesson. Just leave the trash on the table; I'll take care of it."
Twenty minutes had already passed. While I wouldn't have minded letting the lesson time slip away, I needed to study if I wanted to maintain a proper school life.
And honestly, now that the crushing pressure of the College Scholastic Ability Test had been lifted, studying was actually becoming a bit fun.
"You just sighed, didn't you?"
Yun Si-a followed closely behind me as I headed up the stairs, sounding accusatory.
"No, I didn't~"
"Now you're even lying to me?"
"Let's just start the lesson, Teacher."
*
Despite her earlier lapse in composure, Yun Si-a returned to her professional self once the lesson began, teaching with great enthusiasm.
I thought she only taught math, but it turned out she was capable of handling Korean, Math, and English—the whole trifecta.
"Since you won't have time to read the entire passage, the most important thing in the reading comprehension section is grasping the main point. In cases like this, having more background knowledge gives you an advantage."
She seemed to be a talented teacher.
"But since you don't have any background knowledge..."
Her people skills, however, were severely lacking.
The lesson continued in that vein.
"Alright, we have a little time left. Do you have any questions? Have you been doing your math homework?"
In response to her question, I pulled a notebook from the bookshelf and handed it to her.
"Oh... you actually did it? Right, getting them all right isn't what matters. If you keep doing your homework consistently like this—"
She froze as she flipped through the notebook.
Then, she slowly began to examine the contents.
"Huh? They're all correct?"
She looked at me with a face full of disbelief, and I simply shrugged.
A student who turns over a new leaf in just two days and devotes himself to his studies... I felt quite proud, thinking I must look pretty impressive.
"You looked at the answer key, didn't you?"
Yun Si-a narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"......"
It seemed that original sin wasn't so easily washed away.
It took quite a long time to convince her that I had actually done the homework myself.
*
"You didn't really have to walk me down."
It was 10 PM. I was walking down the hilly road with Yun Si-a.
"It's a long walk. You might run into some delinquents... kids these days are scary, you know."
The streets of this wealthy neighborhood were well-lit with streetlamps, but since there were so few people around, I thought it might be a bit intimidating to walk down alone.
"...Are you really the one to say that?"
A chuckle escaped me at the sheer absurdity in Yun Si-a’s voice.
Ah, right. I was the delinquent.
Bracing against the chilly wind, Yun Si-a and I continued our long walk down the hill.
As we walked, we shared small talk.
It wasn't about math, Korean, or English; it was about her and me.
It seemed that she and I hadn't had a single real conversation since the tutoring started.
She asked things she was curious about, and I did the same.
By the time a convenience store came into view, Yun Si-a looked at me with a serious expression.
"In-ho."
"Yes?"
"I'm a bit stunned that you're suddenly being so cooperative. It feels like you became a different person overnight."
Well, that's because I did.
"Yeah... well..."
"It doesn't make sense to me, and there are a lot of things I'm suspicious of... but can I take it to mean that you've truly had a change of heart?"
Her steady gaze was fixed on me, devoid of any distortion.
I didn't treat that earnest look as a joke and slowly nodded my head.
"I see. Thank you."
Satisfied with my answer, Yun Si-a grinned and gave my shoulder a light pat.
"No need to thank me."
"No, I really mean it. For changing the tutoring schedule, for participating so hard in the lessons... for everything."
Yun Si-a clasped her hands behind her back and looked up at the moon in the sky.
Her face looked like that of someone carrying a heavy burden.
How did I know? Because I used to walk around with that exact same expression when I first started working at the Company.
"It's tough, isn't it?"
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
Yun Si-a stopped in her tracks.
"Huh?"
She pretended she hadn't heard.
"I said, it must be tough for you."
Since I'd already said it, I decided not to take it back.
"What's tough for me? I'm just a college student who plays and eats, and I make good money tutoring."
Yun Si-a waved her hand dismissively.
"You're tutoring, going to school, and... I don't know what else, but you're handling other responsibilities too. It's a heavy load for a college student."
"......."
Seeing Yun Si-a’s face turn solemn, I realized I might have brought up something too deep.
"Right! We're here. I'm going to grab a fish cake bar before I head back up."
I clapped my hands to change the atmosphere, and only then did Yun Si-a follow my lead.
"Right, the bus stop is just a little further for me, so—"
Just as I was about to head toward the convenience store and Yun Si-a toward the bus stop, I heard someone calling my name.
"In-ho."
I turned toward the voice and saw Shin Jeong-ah looking back and forth between me and Yun Si-a.
"Who's the unnie next to you?"
Shin Jeong-ah, carrying a heavy black plastic bag, asked as she approached us.