Hakju patted him on the shoulder and told him to keep his eyes open and catch slackers — all while yawning his mouth wide open himself, which made the words land with absolutely zero impact.
Thanks to Yeon Juwoo, he was now doing discipline committee work that was never part of his life plan, and frankly, he didn’t have much of a feel for it. There was supposed to be a dress and hair check, but he had no idea which part of all those colorful heads of hair he was supposed to flag — so laughably, the only skill he’d developed was passing the work off to other members.
After one long, dull hour of that, the part he could actually do something in finally arrived: catching latecomers.
He stopped every student who passed through the school gate after the designated time, recorded their class and name, and sent them on their way. The students at this school apparently didn’t sleep in much, because there were hardly any latecomers. A normal discipline committee member would be glad about that — but by his standards, fewer people to deal with just meant more boredom, and he felt oddly let down.
“Oh, Juwoo! No tardiness today!”
“Well, look at that.”
Whether in reality or inside a game, people who ran late always ran late. And the repeat offender in question was none other than Yang Inho.
“What’s this, you of all people being on time.”
“That’s rich, coming from the repeat offender.”
“Excuse me, calling your friend a repeat offender. That hurts.”
“Give me a break. Do you know how many days in a row this makes? I’m writing your name down.”
“Ah, wait! Take this, friend.”
Yang Inho shoved something crinkly into his pocket — he pulled it out to find candy. Yang Inho had a sweet tooth and almost always brought snacks, and being the cunning person he was, he’d taken to slipping them in as bribes whenever he showed up late.
It wasn’t even a meal, just candy — naturally, he wasn’t going to fall for something this flimsy. He flashed Yang Inho a grin, and Yang Inho grinned back thinking the bribe had worked. Then he very pointedly wrote his name in the latecomer log.
“Second year, class 8, Yang Inho. You can go now.”
“Aw, come on! Our homeroom teacher isn’t around. Let me slide just this once, yeah? I’ve already got a mark on me for being late too much.”
“Then maybe don’t be late.”
“It’s not my fault. The problem is Hakju being our homeroom teacher!”
This reckless fool still hadn’t figured out that he was the problem and just kept blaming Hakju. Then again — he still hadn’t forgotten the cold sweat that had run down his spine the moment Hakju walked into the classroom. The other students had gone pale in the face from the shock, so he could only imagine how Yang Inho, who had been on Hakju’s radar since last year, must have felt.
Still, late was late, and he had no intention of letting it slide. When he tried to hand the candy back, Yang Inho dropped to his knees and begged — please take it, just let me off this once.
“Put that same dedication into getting to school as you did into coming to our class early to borrow books.”
“That was different, I didn’t have the books. Haa, please. If I’m late again this week, I’m dead.”
“Who said that?”
“Who else, our homeroom teacher!”
“And who’s the homeroom teacher right now?”
“Yikes, sir……!”
Hakju had only stepped away briefly to use the bathroom, and the first thing he came back to was Yang Inho on his knees begging to have his tardiness overlooked. Already irritated by the tardiness itself, and now furious at the attempted cover-up, Hakju declared that the demerit points were one thing — he’d be getting separate punishment on top of that — and grabbed Yang Inho by the ear.
He himself had experienced that particular brand of suffering not long ago, so the moment he heard Yang Inho’s shriek, the pain came back to him in full. He shuddered involuntarily.
Even after being put through the wringer enough to wring out both tears and snot, Yang Inho still hadn’t come to his senses. He clung to him and rattled off nonsense — that he’d only been standing there for a quick chat, that he absolutely had not been late. If he had been the one to bring it up first, Hakju might have let it slide — but since it came from Yang Inho, Hakju wasn’t buying a word of it.
“Juwoo wouldn’t do something like that. Now you, on the other hand, I could believe.”
“Sir, why don’t you believe me! He’s my best friend!”
“Why would he be your best friend?”
“Juwoo, do something. Hurry up and say I’m right!”
“Ah, yeah, well……. Yeah, we’re friends.”
“See! Our Juwoo loves me so much!”
Yang Inho pulled him into a hug and pressed their cheeks together, rubbing against him — but his lukewarm response had Hakju eyeing them both with suspicion, as if he didn’t even believe the word “friends.” More than that, doing something this embarrassing in front of other students was getting on his nerves, so he peeled Yang Inho off without ceremony.
“Can’t you just take your demerit points quietly and go in? You’re starting to embarrass me.”
“Babe, how could you do this to me? I’m hurt.”
“Say that again and I’m cutting you off. Go, Inho.”
“Hmph.”
The guy was huge, and yet there he was, drooping his shoulders and pouting like a wounded puppy — it was obnoxious, but also, somehow, a little cute, and he couldn’t help but burst out laughing. He heard a muffled snicker from behind him too, so at least he wasn’t the only one who found it funny.
He finally got Yang Inho on his way and checked the time — it was almost time to wrap up and head inside. How much time did that guy eat up? In the middle of all that, Yang Inho sent him a message: [This year is actually hell lmao] — which set him off laughing again.
He glanced out past the school gate to see if there were any stragglers, and as if on cue, a boy came sprinting toward him, face flushed red.
“Well, well, nice of you to join us. A new student already getting this lax — is that really okay?”
“Hah, hah, I’m so sorry……!”
The one who burst through the school gate just before it closed, completely out of breath, was Na Giyeon. Thanks to his bold declaration at the entrance ceremony, he had become so notorious that there wasn’t a person in school who didn’t know his face. Hakju didn’t know his name, but he clocked him as a new student right away.
“Class and name.”
“Sir, I’ll take him with me.”
“You? Do you know him?”
“Yes, is that alright?”
“If you say so. But write his name down.”
“Of course.”
The goodwill Yeon Juwoo had built up over the past year meant Hakju trusted him enough to send them both off without actually watching him record the name. Thanks to that, Na Giyeon narrowly avoided getting a demerit mark right at the start of the semester.
He slung an arm around Na Giyeon’s shoulder to look friendly, but since they’d never crossed paths before, Na Giyeon couldn’t hide his flustered expression and kept stealing sideways glances at him.
“I’m in the same class as Lee Yura.”
“Lee Yura……”
“The pretty noona you like.”
“For real? Hyung, you’re in the same class as noona?”
He nodded, and Na Giyeon suddenly threw his arms around him in thanks — catching him a little off guard. Must be used to being more physically affectionate from living abroad, he thought, and gave it a pass. He gently nudged Na Giyeon off and brought up the entrance ceremony, asking how things stood between him and Lee Yura — and Na Giyeon’s expression fell.
“……Noona’s been leaving all my messages on read, hyung……. What do I do?”
No wonder Na Giyeon’s quest wasn’t opening — he and Lee Yura weren’t even in contact.
“You came on too strong that day.”
“I just couldn’t put the brakes on because I was so happy to see her. What do I do now? I don’t even know what class noona’s in.”
Lee Yura wasn’t the type to be like this — Na Giyeon must have really rubbed her the wrong way. Since seeing Na Giyeon’s ending was one of his goals, he figured he might as well help him out, and leaned in to whisper the class in Na Giyeon’s ear.
Na Giyeon’s eyes went wide at the unexpected information. He looked so much like a rabbit that he nearly reached out and ruffled his hair without thinking.
“Good luck.”
“Hyung…….”
Na Giyeon launched himself at him with a look of pure gratitude, so he patted him on the back. Since they were about the same height, being hugged didn’t really feel like being hugged, which was nice — but what Na Giyeon said next was not.
“Can I give you a kiss?”
“You want a curse put on you?”
Cute as Na Giyeon was, a kiss from another guy was something he firmly declined, and he held out a hand to make that clear.
“Thank you, hyung! I’ll treat you to something at the school store next time!”
Even after failing to get his kiss, Na Giyeon was in high spirits, drawing a giant heart above his head as he bounded off to his classroom. He was so endearing that he almost felt like raising him. This must be exactly how Lee Yura feels about choosing Na Giyeon.
