Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!
Abnormal High Temperature (1)
I should have brought a hat.
Seo Juhan, who was receiving the blazing sun directly, created shade on his forehead with his hand.
The sports festival hadn’t even properly started yet, but sweat was already running down the back of his neck. The stairs designated as the class cheering section didn’t even have an awning to block the scorching sun.
On the platform, the principal’s admonition was in full swing. The distance was so far that even his facial features couldn’t be distinguished. That aged voice could be heard from the speakers installed in the schoolyard.
[The sports festival can be said to be the most brilliant school event at our Yangseong School. I would like to talk about the mindset we must remember in order to create an enjoyable sports festival where cooperation and order are alive.]
The blazing hot schoolyard was packed like sardines with colorful thugs. The bastards lined up like grubs and chattered among themselves in crooked postures.
Seo Juhan fanned himself with his hand and looked at them with a disgusted expression.
What they’d coordinated as sports festival class shirts were almost all uniforms from famous overseas soccer clubs. However, that appearance evoked adult early morning soccer clubs worn down by the ways of the world rather than fresh-faced students.
The radical fashion of fluorescent T-shirts and leopard-print pants was actually better. The drab blue prisoner uniform-style jerseys seemed to hint at their future at first glance.
[First is sportsmanship. Sportsmanship means the rules and attitudes that people who play sports must observe. It is a code of ethics that mentions the desirable ideal of sports. In other words, it is also called ‘the spirit of chivalry.’ The greatest enemy of sportsmanship is being obsessed with winning.]
Seo Juhan wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand while looking at the distant mountains. The white cotton clouds flowing quietly were peace itself.
Naturally, he’d thought the college prep class would be placed in a safe zone from various school events, but he’d been mistaken.
A sports festival for students facing the college entrance exam. How absurd.
Seo Juhan had detested not only sports festivals but all collective activities such as field experience learning, school trips, festivals, and so on from the beginning. That was nothing short of the hypocrisy of public education.
The message the school implicitly conveyed was clear.
If you don’t achieve a certain level of accomplishment here, you will be weeded out in society.
Test scores are determined solely by individual effort, so it is entirely the person’s responsibility.
Even if you fail to obtain a specified university degree and are abandoned on the battlefield called society, the school will not compensate you.
In that sense, the school’s various other events were nothing more than shells wrapped in pretty packaging under the pretext of whole-person education.
A school facing entrance exams is a bloody hell of uninterrupted suffering where a slaughter for grade 1 takes place. Talk of cultivating creative, convergent talent was just laughable.
[Next is amateurism. An amateur means someone who purely loves sports not by competing for profit but by enjoying it as a hobby. Finally, I would like to finish by honoring the Olympic spirit. Let’s all shout together loudly.]
The tiresome recitation passed through Seo Juhan’s ears and scattered as is.
[Participation over victory! Effort over success!]
It was a spirited shout belted out from the gut.
The students standing in the schoolyard cheered and applauded. Focus returned even to Seo Juhan’s hazy brown pupils.
Echoes like wild horses roaring resonated across the sandy ground.
Though there was also a mocking feeling of ‘Finally it’s over!’, the rare sight of students being of one mind stirred a strange emotion. He even thought that maybe the principal dragged out his admonitions longer for this taste.
The principal came down from the platform and a veteran PE teacher took over the standing microphone.
[The next order is warm-up exercises. Everyone, prepare.]
The PE teacher gestured toward the broadcasting club member below the platform.
The schoolyard speaker crackled and audio of terrible quality blared out loudly. The New Millennium Exercise began following vigorous commands.
The Yangseong School students moving their limbs precisely were all over the place, but they overflowed with unity and solidarity more than ever.
[Stop.]
The PE teacher cleared his throat with an ahem.
[Before we officially start the sports festival, I’ll convey some words of caution. First, do not leave your seat or go out without permission. If there is such a student in a class, points will be deducted from the cheering score.]
The PE teacher began announcing precautions in a hoarse voice. His tone was peculiar, mixed with an unidentifiable dialect.
[Next, observe the game rules and maintain order. Excessive foul play will result in ejection and disqualification. It’s also naturally disqualification when an ineligible player participates. Rebelling against or cursing at referees will also naturally result in disqualification.]
Seo Juhan, who had to serve as referee, already had a headache. He could already picture them refusing to comply and arguing fiercely.
[Finally, the most important matter. Above all else, safety is the top priority. Don’t engage in excessive physical contact and demonstrate ‘sportsmanship’ as you heard earlier. Injured students can use the medical booth set up at the west stairs.]
The medical booth had a blue awning stretched over it. Seo Juhan, receiving the blazing sun directly, looked at it with envious eyes for a moment.
[The infirmary will not operate today, so don’t make excuses and go inside the building. That concludes the announcement. Now line up and move to the cheering section in order.]
Before the PE teacher even finished speaking, pandemonium unfolded.
The revelers welcoming the festival moved roughly, pushing and jostling. The word ‘order’ seemed not to have existed since the beginning of time.
Seo Juhan looked with disgusted eyes at his class students swarming en masse. The sports festival outfit they’d chosen among themselves was a soccer uniform with sky blue and white vertical stripes. It looked more like work clothes than sportswear.
The bastards gathered in groups of three or four and settled down sitting on the stair ledges. Sand dust swirled around them and it became noisy with their clamorous chatter.
The guys sitting in front wore large numbers and unidentifiable nicknames on their backs. From <Let’s Be #1>, <What Are You Looking At?>, <Ang! Holy School Principal> to <I Got Out of Prison>. It was almost admirable, the creativity displayed only at times like these.
Next, focus gathered on a particularly broad back.
Written above the number <1> was <Adult>.
Really now. Seo Juhan chuckled. As befitting the class representative, his rigid honesty could be felt from the class shirt slogan.
[Attention. Classes participating in the basketball and futsal semifinals, please move to the respective playing fields.]
At that moment, an announcement rang out loudly from overhead.
Go Un was sitting facing the schoolyard, chatting with the guy sitting next to him.
Seo Juhan stood up from his seat and dusted off the sand on his butt. He went down one step and tapped the broad shoulder.
“…So then he…”
Go Un stopped talking and turned his head.
The jet-black pupils that had been alert softened loosely as soon as they faced Seo Juhan. His pupils were so large and black they were like cow’s eyes.
“I have to go referee now, so if there are any kids running away, let me know.”
Seo Juhan said while bending his upper body toward Go Un. The whistle around his neck swung like a pendulum.
Go Un’s gaze naturally went there. Only around the solar plexus was the color slightly darker where sweat had soaked in. He stole a glance at it and then raised his eyes.
“Okay.”
Go Un nodded while meeting his eyes reliably. There was something about his low voice that inspired trust.
“Then good luck.”
Seo Juhan patted Go Un’s shoulder and turned his back. Then he walked toward the basketball hoop at the far end of the schoolyard.
Players participating in the semifinals had already gathered. Both teams were lifting their chins and talking back and forth rudely before even starting.
Seo Juhan squeezed between them, shouted at them to prepare, and roughly sorted out the situation.
“Everyone ready? We’re starting.”
Wheeet!
Seo Juhan blew the whistle hanging around his neck.
“Hey! Block him!”
“Here! Here!”
Their passion for recapturing the opposing team’s basketball hoop was no less than that of national representatives.
“Wooooo.”
The surrounding spectators bellowed at the top of their lungs. It was unclear whether it was cheering or jeering.
I’m dying from the heat.
Seo Juhan, following the ball’s trajectory with clouded eyes, quietly slipped away when his presence faded as the game heated up. He slowly backed away and stood in the shade of a tree standing alone in the schoolyard.
Only then, as if his breathing opened up, he grabbed the front of his sweat-soaked T-shirt and flapped it. The crown of his head that had received direct sunlight was still hot as if burning.
“Hello.”
Someone came up to Seo Juhan, who was exhausted from the heat, and spoke to him.
“Ah, hello.”
Seo Juhan turned his gaze to him and bowed his head.
