“Sit there.”
Before Seo Juhan could even finish speaking, Go Un settled into his seat familiarly. It was the black stool that students who came for treatment usually used. The chair, which looked excessively modest compared to his build, creaked.
Seo Juhan sat in the school nurse’s seat.
A white plastic basket contained simple treatment supplies. His hand hesitated over it.
What should I do for him?
His hand passed the bandages and gauze and lifted the stainless steel lid. Inside were alcohol swabs.
“You were completely flying out there.”
Feeling like too much time was being wasted, Seo Juhan spoke up for no reason.
“Me?”
“Yeah. It looked like a herd of water buffalo charging.”
Go Un chuckled.
“Did you practice together with the kids or something?”
Seo Juhan quickly read the explanation on the back of the ointment and put it back in its place.
“No. Not really.”
Go Un waited silently. Though he flapped the front of his t-shirt, perhaps because it was hot. His gaze was fixed on the clear face concentrating intently.
“I’ll give you the prize money, so ask the kids what they want to eat and use it however you want.”
“Okay.”
“What sport did you used to do?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Seeing you today was no joke. I wondered if you learned something separately before. Like, maybe you were actually a soccer prodigy or something?”
As soon as he said it, the image of a soccer prodigy floated up fluffily. Despite tremendous talent, he’d had no choice but to give up his dream due to financial burden and knee injury.
“Other than going to hapkido when I was young, I haven’t really learned anything professionally…”
Go Un laughed blandly as if hearing all sorts of nonsense. Still, judging by his raised mouth corners, the praise seemed to be pleasant to hear.
“Ah, I did learn boxing for a bit.”
“Ooh!”
At the unexpected word, Seo Juhan’s eyes brightened. His hand was still wandering over various medicines and treatment tools.
“Why? Did you want to get strong or something?”
Go Un chuckled.
“No, not that, just as a hobby. What about you, Teacher?”
“Me?”
“Yes. Do you do any sports, Teacher?”
“I do exercise too, but…”
Is this it?
Seo Juhan picked up a disposable povidone stick swab and continued.
“I do it to survive. If I don’t exercise, I run out of stamina now.”
He dragged the chair wheels toward the patient while holding the disinfectant in one hand.
“……?”
Puzzlement filled Seo Juhan’s pale face.
Go Un seemed to be holding back laughter somehow.
“Why?”
Seo Juhan raised one eyebrow and asked gruffly.
Go Un chewed his lips before answering.
“No, it’s just… you talk like a really old person…”
It was an impudent expression that didn’t match his polite tone.
Seo Juhan also laughed and frankly admitted it.
“Compared to you, I am an old person.”
In truth, Seo Juhan only heard “Teacher” within the school, but was merely a bright young person treated as a greenhorn wherever he went. However, seeing only those younger than himself every day made him feel relatively like an old fogey. Even though there were only a few years’ difference.
Go Un swept the inside of his cheek with his tongue and carefully asked.
“Teacher… how old are you?”
Why won’t this come off either?
“Me?”
This time Seo Juhan was wrestling with the foil packaging.
“I’m…”
It was a bit uncomfortable that the focus of conversation had shifted to him. Maybe he thinks I’m too young and is looking down on me.
“Thirty-six.”
Seo Juhan blurted out whatever came to mind.
“…Thirty-six?”
Go Un furrowed his brow as if genuinely surprised.
Does he actually believe this? His mood soured for a moment, so Seo Juhan confessed the truth.
“No, I’m twenty-six.”
Then he immediately regretted it.
“Ah, but don’t tell the other kids.”
Ah shit. I should have said around thirty. It was so hot his brain seemed to have melted. His reason seemed paralyzed.
“Really don’t tell anyone. Got it?”
Seo Juhan urged anxiously out of worry.
“Okay.”
Go Un nodded as if to say not to worry. He curved his eyes into half-moon shapes and sent a signal to be reassured. His mouth corners were also raised.
That warm smile somehow annoyed Seo Juhan.
So he gritted his teeth and put strength into his hands. He put all his effort into treating him quickly and sending him off.
The foil packaging ripped open. Finally, a large cotton swab soaked in red disinfectant came out.
Seo Juhan, who was finally about to start treatment, hesitated.
“Hey, go wash it with water first.”
Looking now, the scraped wound on his knee still had sand on it. Mixed with the blood that had seeped out, it was caked like mud.
Go Un silently looked at the brown crown of a head bowed before him.
“What are you doing?”
Seo Juhan tapped his knee as if urging him. It was the uninjured side.
“Go to the bathroom and wash it with water?”
The thigh muscles exposed below the shorts tensed firmly.
“…Okay.”
Go Un looked down at where the hand had touched before slowly getting up.
When he stood, his bulk grew as large as a mountain.
“You’re not going to the bathroom, where are you going?”
Seo Juhan, who had been watching the direction the giant was heading, asked.
“I can wash it here too.”
As Go Un said, there was a sink on one side of the nurse’s office. A regular sink that came up to the waist and a lower sink were attached side by side.
The kid went to the high sink first and bent his waist.
When he turned the faucet, water poured out. Go Un, receiving the water flowing profusely in both hands, splashed it on his face. He rubbed vigorously from his forehead to his chin with his palms. It was a wild face-washing that sent water droplets flying in all directions, perhaps because it was indeed hot. He roughly scrubbed all the way to the back of his neck refreshingly.
“Phew.”
Go Un breathed as if refreshed while turning off the water. Then he raised his upper body, sweeping up his black bangs.
His wet face was revealed. His eyebrows, usually hidden by his black bangs, were particularly thick. His protruding brow bone and raised forehead completely changed the impression of his face.
Rather than ‘pretty,’ the modifier ‘handsome’ suited him better.
His cheeks and forehead were still redder than usual. A bright red color circulated as if his blood vessels had dilated.
Water flowed down along the lines of his brilliant face. Water droplets dripped from the end of his sharp jawline. Going down the contours of his neck, it wet even his sky-blue collar.
Go Un pulled the collar of his t-shirt to roughly wipe the moisture from his face. In the process, his abdomen was briefly exposed. Even though it was just a glimpse, it was no joke.
“Hey, you… you were born with a muscle spoon, huh?”
Seo Juhan blurted out his thoughts without realizing it.
“What?”
Go Un looked back with an embarrassed smile.
“Ah… never mind.”
Seo Juhan waved his hands dismissively and mumbled.
To be at that level even though he doesn’t exercise separately in his daily life. He’d never seen abs like that even at the gym.
At that level, shouldn’t he have set his path toward physical education? But it was already too late now. Somehow it even felt wasteful.
Go Un glanced at Seo Juhan discreetly before standing in front of the low sink. He bent his knee against it and pulled out a showerhead-like faucet. Then he gently washed the wound with the pouring stream of water.
That appearance was as skilled as if he were a regular at the nurse’s office.
So that exists too.
Seo Juhan looked at it curiously. It was a somewhat unfamiliar sight to him, who only occasionally stopped by the nurse’s office to take headache medicine.
“Do you like having a lot of muscle, Teacher?”
Go Un asked out of the blue.
“Hm?”
It was a question that didn’t need consideration. Seo Juhan immediately added.
“Of course more is better.”
They say muscle is something that drains away just from breathing as you age.
He’d told Lee Donghyuk that lean muscle was the trend, but in reality, lean muscle was just the maximum Seo Juhan could build.
“Hmm.”
Go Un nodded slowly while looking down at his knee.
The faucet turned. Gurgle. The water stream stopped with a loud noise.
Go Un, who had washed the dirt-covered wound himself and returned, sat on the stool.
His solidly built knee revealed bright red flesh. Fresh blood had already spread densely across it. The moisture he hadn’t wiped was abundant.
The water that had been transparent gradually turned red. The water flowed down little by little around the firm contours.
“I should wipe the water first.”
Seo Juhan clicked his tongue and dragged the chair wheels backward. Then he took out the white gauze he’d seen earlier from the plastic case and moved back in front of the patient while seated, as if one with the chair.
Seo Juhan, bending his upper body, patted Go Un’s knee with the plump and fluffy gauze. It was a careful touch.
When the moisture was wiped away, the wounded area was fully revealed. The red marks scraped by rough sand were vivid. The scraped area was shiny with body fluid.
“Ugh. Doesn’t it hurt?”
Seo Juhan narrowed his eyes and asked. Just looking at it made groans come out naturally from the stinging pain.
“Not really.”
His calm voice didn’t really feel like bravado. His nerves for feeling pain seemed dull.
Water that hadn’t been fully gathered drew a line as it went down along the prominent shin bone. The reddish water droplets wet just above the thick sports socks.
Seo Juhan bent his waist deeply and smoothly wiped all the way up the long, stretched calf. The shin, which looked as if dinosaur eggs were embedded in it, was as hard as iron just as it appeared.
Go Un leaned his upper body back slightly and stared down at Seo Juhan like that.
Seo Juhan was preoccupied with performing his duty. As the distance drew closer, he could feel the blazing heat. Tremendous heat was transmitted through the air from the body heated by the hot sun.
