Relationship (2)
When a person is struck by a profound shock, time can feel as if it has briefly frozen in place.
For instance, when someone you got along well with until just a few days ago suddenly starts avoiding all contact.
Are my eyes playing tricks on me?
Clutching my phone, I blinked blankly and re-read the message on the screen.
No matter how many times I went over it, nothing changed.
She’s quitting…? The lessons?
I waited a long while, half-hoping it might have been sent by mistake….
But after declaring she was quitting, she sent nothing more.
She truly meant to stop.
“Huh….”
Not knowing what else to do, I glanced around aimlessly, then ran a hand through my hair and let out a deep sigh.
The situation was so abrupt that questions came flooding in.
Why?
Why would she suddenly say she was quitting the tutoring?
Had I done something to upset her?
No. There hadn’t been anything to be upset about, had there?
We’d parted on good terms, and it had only been two days…….
“Ah.”
Something suddenly clicked, and I carefully lifted my phone again.
Then, with trembling fingertips, I opened the messenger and scrolled back through my past conversations with Cheon Seo-hui.
I went further back through today’s exchange, all the way to the last time we had actually spoken.
Saturday….
Just as I expected.
Our final messages were stuck around Saturday lunchtime.
Around the time I’d met Bae Eun-gyeong, Cheon Seo-hui had sent over her lunch menu—and that was the end of it.
After that, she hadn’t sent a single word.
And I had only just realized that fact a moment ago.
Could it be… because of this?
I pressed a hand to my forehead and swallowed a sigh.
I would have to dig deeper to know the exact reason, but something had clearly shifted in her heart after Saturday lunch.
“Ha…. Why did I….”
There had clearly been warning signs. Why hadn’t I noticed them at all?
Of course, back then I’d been too occupied with Nakyeong and Choi Yeonjeong to spare a thought for anything else.
Even after coming home, I’d barely touched my phone while trying to soothe Nakyeong’s mood.
“This is driving me crazy….”
In a situation where I couldn’t even blame anyone, I just chewed on my lip, then let out a heavy sigh, hurried my steps, and sent a message to Cheon Seo-hui.
That was how I arrived at Cheon Seo-hui’s house after cutting through the dark roads.
I lingered in front of the entrance, confirmed the light was on through the frosted window, and scattered a faint thread of mana to check for a presence inside.
She’s here.
She was definitely inside the house.
“Sss… haah….”
I steadied my breathing, composed my voice, stepped up to the door, and carefully knocked.
Knock knock.
“Seo-hui. It’s me. You’re inside, right?”
It was too late in the evening to raise my voice, but I was certain the words would reach her.
Knock knock knock.
“Let’s talk for a moment. Please.”
After calling out once, I simply stood there and waited for the door to open.
But no matter how long I waited, there was no sign of it budging.
“…….”
I had come all this way. I couldn’t just turn back now.
Knock knock knock.
“Seo-hui!”
I raised my voice a little more, pouring earnestness into it.
“You don’t have to open the door. Just pick up the phone at lea—”
Right then.
“Who’s there?”
“!”
Cutting through the darkness, a middle-aged woman called out from the front of the building.
“Who are you, knocking on the door like that over and over?”
Her voice was thick with wariness.
Crap.
Momentarily flustered, I peeked out, smiled as harmlessly as I could, and answered.
“Hello. I’m the teacher who tutors the student living here. She hasn’t been answering her phone, so….”
“…A teacher? Her homeroom teacher?”
“Uh…. Not the homeroom teacher. More like a private tutor… something like that….”
“A private tutor who shows up at the house?”
The woman took a half-step back, still looking thoroughly suspicious.
“W-well, she suddenly stopped answering her calls….”
“So you come all the way to her house at this hour just because she won’t pick up…? Are you some kind of stalker?”
“N-no! Absolutely not.”
To make matters worse, the conversation was dragging on, and I could feel eyes gathering one by one from the neighboring houses.
“This looks shady….”
At this rate, it wouldn’t have been strange at all if the police showed up.
“I-I’ll try calling again later. Haha…. Th-thank you for your hard work!”
In the end, I had no choice but to leave empty-handed.
The next day.
After a sleepless night, I somehow managed to drag myself to work.
Sipping a cup of strong coffee, I stared at the class schedule I had set on the office monitor.
There, alongside the Tuesday morning slot, the letters “A-13” were written.
Coincidentally, today was Tuesday.
She won’t be able to dodge this one.
When A-13’s class period finally arrived, I headed to the training grounds earlier than usual, finished my preparations, and exchanged greetings with the students as they trickled in.
“Oh, Teacher! Hello!”
“You’re early today? Hello!”
“Yeah. Good to see you all.”
The kids greeted me with their usual energy….
What’s going on? Why isn’t she here?
I was still wondering about Cheon Seo-hui, who hadn’t shown up even right before class started, when—
“Oh crap, did it already start!?”
“Hey, run!”
Behind a few students who came sprinting in late, the face I had been so desperate to see finally appeared.
“…….”
It was Cheon Seo-hui.
She came.
She walked over with deliberate leisure, didn’t so much as glance in my direction, and simply joined the other students.
Huh. She’s not even pretending to notice me?
Still, I was just glad she hadn’t skipped. With a “we’ll see about that” attitude, I started the class.
“You all know midterms are coming up soon, right? Let’s train hard and try climbing to a higher class.”
““Yes!””
The lesson proceeded as usual—mostly sparring and feedback.
If there was one small difference…
More students were asking Cheon Seo-hui to spar.
“Cheon Seo-hui. If you don’t have a partner, want to go with me?”
“Hey, what? You were going to spar with Seo-hui too?”
Apparently, crushing Lee Sin-a—who had been the strongest in Class 13—had made an impression.
A good development.
I kept an eye on Cheon Seo-hui from time to time while giving sparring feedback, when suddenly—
“Haaah—!”
One girl began to draw my attention.
That kid….
It was Lee Sin-a, who had sparred with Cheon Seo-hui earlier.
Clang—! Clang—! Lee Sin-a was overwhelming the male student opposite her with a fierce tempo.
“Kh….”
The boy, who had been barely blocking and stuck on pure defense, suddenly found a sharp opening for a counter.
She’s done for.
The attack was clean enough that I fully expected Lee Sin-a to lose—
“Not a chance!”
Ssshk. Lee Sin-a moved in a strange, fluid way, slipped past the strike, and aimed straight for a vital point instead.
“!”
It was a completely unexpected, startling motion.
“You lose.”
“Damn…. How did you even dodge that?”
Mildly intrigued, I walked over and offered a few consoling words to the frustrated boy.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself. That was actually really good just now.”
“Huh?”
“Instead, when you attacked earlier….”
Then I glanced at Lee Sin-a, who had just shown such surprising growth.
She wore a smug expression, as if she already knew what I was about to say.
“That was excellent. Honestly, even I was a little surprised by that movement.”
“Heh. Thank you.”
Praise where praise was due.
I had my own principles as a teacher, so I offered a few more words of encouragement for her improvement….
“Keep working hard.”
“Yes, sir!”
Just as I finished the feedback and was about to move on, I suddenly felt someone’s stare boring into me.
“……?”
I turned my head toward the source of that gaze and caught Cheon Seo-hui, who flinched and hurriedly looked away the moment our eyes met.
That little….
I finished the rest of the class under her occasional strange glances.
“Good work, everyone. Go eat well.”
““Thank you for the class!””
As the students filed out of the training grounds, I slipped into the crowd and lightly caught Cheon Seo-hui’s arm.
“…Cheon Seo-hui.”
“!”
“Can we talk for a moment?”
“…….”
We moved to my private office.
Once I finally had Cheon Seo-hui sitting across from me, I simply looked at her in silence.
“…….”
She kept her gaze lowered and her lips tightly sealed, as if to declare she had no intention of talking.
It felt exactly like the first day we met.
“Seo-hui.”
I carefully opened my mouth, forcing my voice to stay calm.
“Why are you suddenly avoiding my messages?”
“…….”
She gave no answer.
“Can you at least tell me why you suddenly decided to quit?”
I tried a different question, but—
“…….”
—she still showed no sign of speaking.
She just sat there with her lips slightly pouted, staring at the desk.
Like someone who was thoroughly sulking.
This is driving me insane.
I scratched my head uselessly, then decided to try everything I could and started with an apology.
“…Seo-hui.”
“…….”
“I’m… sorry I couldn’t look after you over the weekend.”
“…….”
“It might sound like an excuse, but I had a lot going on and my head was a complete mess.”
At that, Cheon Seo-hui finally parted her lips a little.
“I’m sure you did.”
The tone was clearly sarcastic, but at least the direction felt right.
“If this disappointed you that badly, I’ll apologize again. I’m sorry.”
“…….”
“It won’t happen again. So…. Let’s try starting over one more time.”
Cheon Seo-hui sat in silence for a long while without answering.
Then—
Ssk. She lifted her head, met my eyes straight on, and spoke in a low voice.
“I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“…What?”
For a second I doubted my ears.
“You only ever wanted to stop me from dropping out anyway, Teacher.”
“N-no! Don’t you remember the message I sent on the first day of class? Back then I wanted to talk about your swordsmanship style….”
“You already changed that too.”
“What?”
“So isn’t it over, then?”
The blunt question left me completely speechless. I just blinked blankly for a moment before snapping back to my senses and bringing up the final goal we still hadn’t reached.
“We…. We still haven’t gotten first place.”
“…!”
That finally got a small reaction out of her.
“We have to take first and win the scholarship…!”
The truth was, the only reason she had reversed her decision to drop out, the only reason she had swallowed her pride and changed her sword style, was to win that scholarship.
We had barely even reached the starting line.
“…….”
Cheon Seo-hui looked like she had something to say, but she pressed her lips shut again.
Faced with that, I poured every ounce of sincerity into one more attempt at persuasion.
“…All right. If you need some time to think, I’ll wait as long as you want. Let’s take a break from the private lessons for a while.”
“…….”
“But in return, I hope you won’t avoid my messages or ignore me one-sidedly like yesterday. Do you have any idea how worried I was when you suddenly stopped answering?”
“…!”
Whether the words landed or not, she flinched and slowly turned her gaze back toward me.
I let out a short sigh of frustration and pressed for a clear answer.
“Can I… wait a little?”
She worked her mouth for a moment as if she had something to say….
“…Do whatever you want.”
Leaving only that unreadable reply behind, she walked out.
Lunchtime.
After finishing her talk with Dohyeon, Seo-hui stepped into the cafeteria later than usual.
She hadn’t had much of an appetite and had planned to skip the meal entirely today.
But—
—Make sure you eat something.
—because of the last thing Dohyeon had said before she left the office, she found herself walking into the cafeteria as if under a spell.
Seo-hui let out a short sigh, feeling pathetic for following him so unconsciously.
…I’ll just eat a little and leave.
She took her tray, sat in her usual seat, and was about to start eating when—
“Oh. You’re eating now?”
A voice full of aegyo stabbed straight into her ear.
Han Nakyeong had appeared.
Why is she eating now of all times?
Already in a foul mood, Seo-hui scowled and looked at Nakyeong.
“I thought I’d be eating alone today. Heheh.”
But the other girl paid her expression no mind at all and plopped herself down across the table without asking.
…Tsk.
Seo-hui clicked her tongue inwardly, averted her eyes, and tried to ignore her so she could just eat in peace.
However—
“Did you see that, by any chance?”
The completely tone-deaf Nakyeong casually struck up a conversation.
“You know, Choi Yeonjeong’s YouTube?”
Ignoring her was useless.
“The male friend who appeared with Choi Yeonjeong is supposedly a swordsmanship department teacher…. Do you know him?”
Already in a foul mood because of that very subject, Seo-hui snapped back in a sharp tone.
“…I don’t know.”
“Don’t they look like they’re dating no matter how you look at it?”
“I said I don’t know.”
“Ah…. You don’t? That’s a shame.”
Seo-hui shot a sidelong glare at Nakyeong, who was smacking her lips without a shred of shame, and thought to herself.
She has the same Han surname as Teacher…. Are they just strangers?
Then she decided it wasn’t even worth thinking about and quietly picked up her chopsticks.
“By the way, you’re a first-year too, right?”
“…….”
“I’m a first-year as well. I’ll just speak casually, okay?”
…Somehow, eating quietly seemed completely out of the question.