Taeon’s grades were already clearly at a position where he could comfortably enter mid-tier Seoul universities with an academic scholarship. He could also manage to get into unpopular departments at Yeonhui University and Goguryeo University if he matched his scores well, though it would be slightly tight, but since scholarships were a priority for him, he didn’t consider them as options.
If he worked a bit harder and went to Hanguk University, since it was a national university, the scholarship burden would be less and he could receive various low-income benefits……
How should he put it, the thought that this much would be fine had long dominated Taeon’s mind.
In fact, Taeon was proud of himself.
Himself, who had passed the time when he tried to protect his own life and existence with just his body alone and somehow started studying again to go to college. Himself, who decided to make a new start without being too late.
Moreover, even if he studied moderately while living like this, others had to repeat a year or two to reach their desired goal, but he had practically already reached it, so he was even more arrogant.
“Yoon Taeon, looking at what you’re doing, you’ll absolutely never get into Hanguk University.”
“……What?”
At Sunjeong’s firm words, Taeon answered with a lump in his throat.
“Don’t you see that your grades are slowing down from their peak and gradually declining?”
“……”
“Well, yeah. University reputation isn’t everything. You’d do well wherever you go.”
“……”
“But if you’re going to be satisfied with just that much, then why on earth didn’t you go to university right after graduating high school? I thought you had bigger dreams when you started studying.”
“……”
Even trying to swallow his dry saliva in front of Sunjeong’s harsh reprimand, he couldn’t even properly make that gesture.
At the piercing words, Taeon had to stay up all night that day.
And he recalled one by one the things that had happened to him during a time that was short if short and long if long. What Taeon wanted was to become like Sunjeong.
Becoming like Sunjeong, none other.
He wanted to become a person who knew exactly what he wanted to do and made it his goal to sprint at full speed. Sunjeong like that looked much cooler than the other good Sunjeongs that Taeon knew.
But after starting to live with Sunjeong, and even starting to receive tutoring from Sunjeong, Taeon’s heart had become softer than ever before.
Above all, examining the confusion toward Sunjeong that had grown larger than before in Taeon’s heart was painful but also sweet enough to become more addictive.
How much had Taeon been slacking before Sunjeong said this.
Only now could Taeon look at Sunjeong’s eyes again.
Even though fluttering feelings and heart-pounding sensations still filled his heart to the brim, in front of Sunjeong’s eyes urging Taeon for something more, Taeon felt he gained the courage to become a bit bolder.
He didn’t pointlessly increase his study time.
Instead, Taeon tried to utilize his given time to the maximum. Like studying English listening by changing his running to light jogging, he saved even spare moments and concentrated with all his might during his given study time.
At Sunjeong’s suggestion, he no longer even did simple cooking. He ate balanced meals prepared by a housekeeper who increased her working days.
In front of that healthy, delicious, and plain dining table, there were times when Taeon’s mood would sink.
Knowing one’s ‘place.’ Until now, this had been no different from Taeon’s only life value.
Not serving at a restaurant, but eating meals prepared by a housekeeper.
When thinking like this, Taeon would recall one truth. Some people always grow up eating meals prepared by their loving families.
He had never had major complaints in front of the dining table at the small facility in the outskirts neighborhood that tried to contain maximum nutrition with the given budget, but still, there were times when Taeon had wished that each meal was a ‘meal’ rather than ‘institutional food.’
So this degree of stepping out of his place……
Might be the luck given to Taeon right now. Taeon would firmly swallow down this truth he had finally come to understand along with his rice.
One month before the Suneung, even though Taeon hadn’t opened his mouth, Juseong was the first to say he could shorten his working hours.
He said it would be okay to work only half a day for about two weeks, and to take the two weeks before completely off. He said he wouldn’t deduct from his monthly pay during that period. Cafe Sentence-style scholarship, apparently.
But Taeon declined Juseong’s proposal.
It was the Suneung, not a school exam, and he thought there would be no big problem if he kept doing as he had been.
Instead, he didn’t forget to express his gratitude for Juseong’s consideration.
‘Thank you.’
At the always curt greeting, Juseong chuckled and said.
‘Not because you’re pretty, but because you’re the goose that lays golden eggs.’
‘……It would be the goose that lays golden eggs.’
At Taeon’s correction, Juseong burst into a chuckle. Juseong made this kind of wordplay whenever he wanted to lighten the mood, and Taeon was the only part-timer who had never once laughed at that joke.
Sunjeong also said that commuting to Sentence until he took the Suneung was a routine anyway, so it would probably be fine.
Instead, Sunjeong added a new routine to Taeon’s daily life before the Suneung.
He said they should eat the same menu for lunch every day for a month before the Suneung.
Considering the foods Taeon had eaten with Sunjeong during the month before Sunjeong took the Suneung, it was a somewhat excessive proposal, but Taeon now felt good that Sunjeong was being this excessive about his exam.
Somehow Sunjeong’s attention felt exactly like attention and affection toward Taeon. Probably that was right.
Thanks to that, Taeon ate lunch with a lunchbox prepared directly by Sunjeong every day instead of asking the housekeeper.
It was a healthy menu that Taeon liked. Brown rice and grilled tofu, seaweed side dish, lightly seasoned marinated ribs, spinach, and cherry tomatoes for dessert.
The plain and neat food that suited his taste perfectly was nice too, but Taeon looked forward to lunchtime with the lunchbox for a different reason.
Sunjeong always left a small note inside the lunchbox he gave to Taeon.
The content was nothing special.
[Yoon Taeon, stay strong.]
[Yoon Taeon, fighting today too.]
These short messages of this kind were written on post-its decorated with cute illustrations that Sunjeong would like.
Taeon would look at those notes for quite a while before eating very slowly.
He kept the notes he collected one by one in a small tea box he got from the cafe. Thanks to it being a rose-scented black tea box, whenever Taeon occasionally took out the notes to look at them, a fragrant smell gently spread to the tip of his nose.
The much-anticipated day before the Suneung.
Even Taeon, whose emotional fluctuations were rarely large, became a little nervous.
Following Sunjeong’s directive to be the same as usual, he spent his day as usual, came home, did his last studying, and lay down in bed, but as expected, sleep didn’t come.
Since he had spent the whole day seamlessly without gaps, usually he would fall asleep just by lying quietly in bed, so this was a big problem. But since Taeon had something prepared for this moment, he got up from where he’d been lying in bed.
The tumbler placed on the bedside table contained hot rather than warm milk that Sunjeong had prepared. It was milk boiled for a long time with plenty of honey added.
He said to drink it because I might not be able to sleep due to nervousness today.
That was fine for Taeon, but he’d thought Sunjeong would show signs of being nervous or excited, yet today’s Sunjeong also looked the same as usual. And yet he held out the tumbler when Taeon, who had come home, was finishing up his studying.
‘Don’t drink a lot, drink it little by little. And you absolutely can’t look at your phone just because you can’t sleep.’
Recalling the voice of Sunjeong who had left after warning him in a firm voice, Taeon drank the hot milk little by little.
As warmth circulated through his body, he seemed to feel somewhat drowsy.
Taeon, lying still, already yawned a little sleepily.
Soon drowsiness of slightly weaker intensity than usual came over him. Taeon fell into a deep sleep with a feeling of relief.
Taeon in his dream was excessively clearly aware of the fact that he was a test-taker who would take the Suneung in a few hours, the fact that he was currently living together in Sunjeong’s apartment.
But the Sunjeong before his eyes, Sunjeong whose eyes had turned slightly red and whose nose tip had become like a strawberry from crying so much, kept seeming so real that his heart ached.
‘I won’t go to university either!’
‘Don’t talk such nonsense. Hurry and go in.’
Some people move forward thanks to possibility, but some people can become weak if there’s possibility.
Taeon was completely the latter.
Since he had usual ability anyway, he knew himself who would do well on something like the Suneung. Honestly, he also knew himself who wanted to study and have university life.
So Taeon had ultimately refused the persuasion of his homeroom teacher and various people around him and didn’t even register for the Suneung application.
However, Taeon hid his final choice from Sunjeong.
Throughout high school life, he told Sunjeong he wouldn’t go to university, but Sunjeong was half-believing and didn’t believe him. Sometimes he would persuade him like crazy, but mostly he looked at Taeon with eyes that said, still, surely he won’t not go to university.
For Taeon, he had no choice but to make Taeon’s choice, but since he didn’t want to upset or make the test-taker Sunjeong worry, he tried to roughly pretend to take the Suneung.
