“Alright, let’s try a different pose this time. Did you decide on anything?”
At the photographer’s voice, focus returned to the hazy brown eyes.
From far in the back, chatter spread like waves: “Hey, what should we do? What should we do?”, “Do a V sign, a V.”, “What the fuck, a V is so tacky.”
Suggestions also came out like one person should lie down in front, they should all do sexy poses together, or they should give all the good looks to one person.
It wasn’t easy to gather opinions from this ragtag bunch. And since Seo Juhan didn’t want to put in any effort in this area, he let it go in one ear and out the other.
The photographer also seemed to wait for a moment.
They were just going to take some pictures and be done with it, so why the hell were they displaying such professionalism? Seo Juhan found the photographer’s attitude frustrating.
Well, in that person’s eyes, these fake students might actually look rather admirable.
Perhaps they were reminded of the fake thugs in media who look rough on the outside but are pure inside, trying to atone for their past delinquency and misconduct from their foolish days and make an effort to walk the right path.
Thanks to his earnest pleading that they absolutely must come wearing uniforms today, their outfits were uniform. But could that essence go anywhere?
In Seo Juhan’s eyes, they couldn’t hide their backward barbarism. No matter how much they wore white summer uniform shirts and stood against green foliage, it was clear they were empty-headed blockheads.
Despite their prematurely aged appearance, to outsiders it looked like they’d come out to have fun taking graduation photos, so they probably thought the tattoos were stickers, but Seo Juhan knew well they were real tattoos. There was even the smell of cigarettes wafting up from right next to him.
“If you haven’t decided on anything, shall we make a heart? Like this?”
The photographer couldn’t wait any longer and finally suggested an alternative. They even demonstrated by bending both hands to make a heart. It was tremendous enthusiasm to show a demonstration in person. The point seemed to be sticking the wrists together to make the bottom point of the heart.
Seo Juhan followed along with a bland face. He only smiled briefly just before the photo was taken.
The class students were making a three-row formation using benches with a long table in the middle.
The first row sat in a line on the bench, the next row sat on the table, and the last row stood on top of the bench.
Seo Juhan thought he was feigning a natural smile, but in fact his expression was very stiff.
Part of it was because he was tired from dragging these punks outside the school to take graduation photos, but in reality it was because all his nerves were focused right behind him.
“Next, finger heart. One, two.”
No, seriously, how long are they going to keep taking pictures? Seo Juhan poured out complaints internally but obediently did as told. He overlapped his right thumb and index finger to make a heart.
“A bit more artificial~”
Click.
His strength left him at the shutter sound and he loosened his posture. Then he flinched in surprise at the knee touching his back and pulled away.
Seo Juhan ground his teeth while conscious of Go Un sitting behind him. That bastard with a body like a mountain was being a nuisance by occupying the middle row of all places.
The photographer had told Go Un to go to the back row, but the guy pretended not to hear and shamelessly took the seat right behind him on his own.
“Last one, we’ll go with cheek heart~”
What the hell is a cheek heart?
Seo Juhan glanced sideways.
The guy sitting right next to him was Choi Ilmo, who had average height but far from average body fat. The guy was pinching his thick cheeks with four fingers and his thumb.
It looked exactly like he was threatening to rip his cheeks apart. There was no heart shape to be found anywhere. It seemed like an independent pose.
He craned his neck to see how the other guys did it, but Choi Ilmo was so bulky that he couldn’t see the person next to him.
That’s when he felt a hand tapping his shoulder. Seo Juhan was startled more than necessary and turned around.
“Teacher, you don’t know this?”
Go Un smiled loosely.
“Cheek heart. You do it like this.”
His left hand made half a heart and held it next to his cheek. His large hand with protruding knuckles formed a stark contrast with his small face.
“Ah, that’s a heart?”
Seo Juhan looked at him reluctantly. Since his eye level was higher than when just standing, he had to look up.
“I have no idea where the heart is.”
As a form of resistance, he sneered as hard as he could up to the line that could be accepted as a joke.
“But it is a heart.”
Go Un raised his hand as if to make it for him directly. At the hand suddenly coming closer, Seo Juhan flinched and his shoulders trembled. However, he couldn’t very well curse at a student in this public place.
“Teacher over there. Please look forward.”
At the photographer’s words, Seo Juhan quickly straightened his posture with an embarrassed expression. He’d suddenly become a teacher goofing off. With a stiff face, he made pincers with his hands and pinched his cheeks.
“Alright, I’m taking it now.”
The photographer brought their eye close to the camera and took position.
“Cutely~ Aw, how pretty.”
Seo Juhan let out a laugh between his teeth. It was an unheard-of word choice in front of these gangsters.
Ahem. While clearing his throat and composing his expression, the photo was taken.
“You can go now and the next class come over.”
The photographer’s tone was friendly, but they were clear about starting and ending.
Seo Juhan was the first to jump up and put as much distance as possible from the dangerous person.
Except during PE class and lunch time, the sluggish delinquents got up slowly.
“Guys, rest nearby and wait for a bit.”
Seo Juhan took refuge under the shade of a tree and shouted.
After the group photos, individual photos and group photos remained. However, it was questionable whether his words reached the guys gathered in groups of three or four chattering amongst themselves.
For peace of mind, he took his gaze off the swarming bunch of thugs and looked into the distance.
A lush green lawn spread out widely. People could be seen walking in threes and fives along the neatly landscaped walking paths. The tropical plant greenhouse and rose garden they’d passed on the way also sat in the distance.
At the bench where they’d taken the group photo earlier, another class’s shoot was in full swing. They were performing a farce where the rest were blown away by an energy wave shot by one person.
Seo Juhan raised his head while making shade with his hand above his forehead.
Pure white clouds floating in the bright blue sky caught his view. They were fluffy clouds that looked exactly like cotton balls bunched together.
That aesthetic abundance was exactly like a work that a craftsman had carefully applied with oil paint. It was understandable why ancient people looked at the sky and thought of Greek and Roman mythology.
Although slightly hot, it was incredibly clear weather.
However, Seo Juhan couldn’t fully immerse himself in nature’s beautiful scenery touched by human hands. He took out the arboretum guide booklet he’d crumpled into his pocket and fanned himself.
His status felt like a borrowed barley sack. However, even if they were adults, since they were still students, he had the obligation to safely escort and supervise them, so he had no choice but to kill time.
At least coming outside the school, the cigarette smell was less. Greenness thrived in the field. The sky of unknowable height was refreshing and blue. He tried to soothe his parched heart with nature’s healing ability.
“Teacher, you definitely look good in light colors.”
In the midst of that, a troublemaker suddenly intruded.
Of all people, it was the bastard most harmful to his heart.
Seo Juhan slowly raised his gaze. The way he neatly buttoned the front of his summer uniform shirt was irritating. From his sharp jawline and straight nose bridge to his sluggishly moving jet-black pupils, it was all an eyesore.
He felt like he should wear a suit, but he didn’t want to care about something like Yangseong School’s graduation album again. As a compromise, he’d only put on a thin summer suit jacket with a light bluish tint. The unwarranted attention wasn’t the least bit pleasing.
‘Get lost.’
Seo Juhan glared while mouthing the words.
‘Don’t wanna.’
Go Un also whispered soundlessly. His curved eyes were thick with a teasing air.
‘I said get lost right now.’
The more that happened, the more furious Seo Juhan became.
‘Try blowing on me, blow.’
Go Un pushed his shameless face forward and wheedled.
This fucking bastard…! Seo Juhan widened his eyes and ground his teeth. The desire to smack him on the back surged fiercely.
He thought he’d been subjected to every humiliation as a teacher—no, as a human being—but there was an even more childish pit.
After glaring at the glossy face receiving sunlight with indomitable will, he turned around abruptly with a surge of emotion. He walked with long strides while stepping on the lush lawn. He advanced wherever his feet took him without setting a destination.
“Just blow once.”
“…”
“Really just once.”
“…”
“Then I’ll leave.”
Go Un giggled and followed along. Moving away from the group, he revealed his cancerous true colors. Even though Seo Juhan maintained indifference, he kept talking like a complete lunatic.
Seo Juhan only moved his legs with a stiffly hardened expression. However, since he couldn’t escape the grass plaza even if he ran away, his feelings were complicated. The thought that to others it would look like ordinary people taking a walk in the sun made him even more frustrated.
“But why did you spray so much perfume again?”
“…”
“I told you to spray moderately and you came after spraying tons again.”
What’s it to you! Seo Juhan, who absolutely never did what he was told not to do, accumulated defiance bit by bit.
“It’s to the point where from far away people go ‘Oh, teacher’s coming.'”
So what. He would absolutely not listen to the guy’s words. He wanted to somehow get on his nerves.
“Do you originally like this kind of scent?”
It grew into stubbornness of wanting to pay back what he received. It grew into determination to spray enough to become notorious as a perfume nuisance.
“I like it too, but… why are you going around reeking of it?”
“…”
“Huh? Only people close by need to smell it. Even dogs far away will smell it and come.”
This much was enough distance from the school people.
“What bullshit have you been…!”
Seo Juhan, who’d been holding back and was about to say something, stopped right in his tracks. It was because of the bizarre sight passing before his eyes.
