Lee Hyeonseok said just one phrase, “You won’t need it,” and left. Before he completely left, I desperately clung to him trying to hear something, but he coldly left, asking why he should do that. No, then why say anything at all. I don’t understand his intent in calling someone out just to confuse them and then leave.
With an anxious heart, I couldn’t think properly. Lee Hyeonseok could make me this scared with just one phrase without a proper explanation. What could it be? What kind of situation would make him say studying for the College Scholastic Ability Test wasn’t necessary?
It might be related to the manifestation he mentioned. Recently, news about a new gender had started to surface little by little in society. There hadn’t been a proper announcement, but words like alpha, omega, and beta that Lee Hyeonseok mentioned could be heard. All sorts of speculation ran rampant among people.
A promiscuous society, blaming others
Could it be that some big incident would happen on the day of the College Scholastic Ability Test, causing a situation where we couldn’t take it? That seemed plausible. Rather, there was nothing else I could guess other than that.
“Where did you go… What, what’s wrong?”
“Huh?”
When I finally arrived at the classroom with a troubled heart, I ran into Dongsu, who was about to leave the classroom. Dongsu reflexively asked a question, then looked at my face and asked in confusion. It seemed my agitation showed clearly on my face.
“Your face looks like complete shit.”
“…So does yours.”
Anyway, there wasn’t a single person around who spoke nicely. It was probably something he said out of concern. My anxiety was so severe that I wanted to confess everything to Kim Dongsu. I hesitated for a moment, but I shot back pretending to be pissed off. Even though Dongsu was the one who said I looked like shit first, he tried to get genuinely angry after hearing what I said.
“Kim Dongsu.”
“?”
Before Kim Dongsu could jump around and curse first, I called him first. Perhaps because the brakes were applied before stepping on the accelerator, he waited obediently for what I had to say, though confused and curious.
“How do you think you’d feel if you were suddenly told a few days before the College Scholastic Ability Test that you didn’t need to study?”
“I think I’d be fucking pissed.”
“Pissed?”
“Pi-pissed!”
I deliberately asked in a joking manner so he wouldn’t notice anything strange. Kim Dongsu answered immediately without a moment’s hesitation. He was so quick I was suspicious it might be an answer he’d prepared in advance. Meanwhile, I even tilted my head at the answer I hadn’t expected and repeated Dongsu’s words. Kim Dongsu even flushed his face as he expressed his opinion.
“You wouldn’t be pissed? I mean, they make you study your ass off for over ten years saying it’s for the College Scholastic Ability Test, nagging you, and then suddenly say you don’t have to—this isn’t some dog training. What is this, a fucking hilarious prank?”
Only after hearing Dongsu’s words did I understand. Certainly, if you’re a student in the Republic of Korea, you’ve all been studying for the College Scholastic Ability Test, so if someone said ‘you don’t need to study’ right before the test, it could only mean they wanted to fight.
I was also frustrated about taking the College Scholastic Ability Test again, but I’d only studied intensely for about four months. Since I wasn’t someone who was bad at studying during my school days, even if I couldn’t play around in the entire school, I was at least in the upper-middle range. Even if a good university was too much, I had grades to at least get into the Seoul area. Since I wasn’t aiming for a successful life, I was far less desperate or hardworking than the high school seniors here.
“Really? I think it’d be fucking awesome though.”
Another guy who had been listening to our conversation offered the opposite opinion. He was a guy who lived with his phone instead of textbooks. He probably gave up on studying a long time ago.
“There’s no one to nag you for not taking it either.”
“Fuck, I can totally see what your life will be like.”
“The state of your character?”
To the topic of not needing to study right before the College Scholastic Ability Test for the classmates who were ruined by it, everyone without exception offered their opinions.
They would cry. They would storm the Blue House. They would set the school on fire. Their blood pressure would rise and they’d die.
It was the normal thinking of College Scholastic Ability Test students with one week left.
I didn’t know my topic would blow up like this. When all the classmates rushed in at once, I conversely calmed down. I couldn’t get a sense of whether I should give a warning to these College Scholastic Ability Test lunatics or not. No matter what I did, I could only see a future of being treated like a crazy bastard. At best, I’d probably be treated like a funny bastard. Leaving their debate behind, I sat down at my seat for now and opened my workbook. Unlike my calmed mind, I couldn’t read a single letter. That day, I couldn’t properly attend class all day long.
The next day, unable to bear it any longer, I went to the classroom to hear an answer whether it killed me or fed me, and what I saw was Lee Hyeonseok studying half-heartedly. Seeing Lee Hyeonseok like that, I felt both disappointed and relieved. If studying wasn’t necessary, Lee Hyeonseok wouldn’t have been studying either. But Lee Hyeonseok was solving problems even while yawning. If it looked strange to not do anything and he needed to pretend to study, just having the workbook open would be enough.
Seeing Lee Hyeonseok like that, I thought Lee Hyeonseok had been messing with me and returned to my class. I wasn’t even angry. If nothing was going to happen, that was a good thing.
Having wasted a day meaninglessly, I studied with a tighter schedule to make up for it in the remaining time. I had four more nosebleeds before the day before the College Scholastic Ability Test.
* * *
On the day of the College Scholastic Ability Test, a cold wave arrived. The day before, my parents said they’d take me, but Dad, who hurt his back while moving heavy luggage at dawn, ended up being taken to the emergency room. Thanks to that, I had to go to the test site on my own. Though it was disappointing, I, who couldn’t sleep properly due to worry, was too busy thinking about going to the test site early. After showering and putting on my school uniform, I checked my supplies again.
Test admission ticket and ID. Proper writing utensils and just-in-case digestive medicine or headache medicine, and I packed my workbook. I picked up the lunch box Mom had prepared in advance before going to the hospital. It was heavy, so it seemed she prepared it very thoroughly.
I wrapped a scarf around my neck and called a taxi through an app. Still, just in case, to prepare for any danger. It was a thirty-minute distance to the test site, and even after arriving at school, there was an hour left before the test started, but it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared.
When the display showed 1 minute until arrival, I put on my shoes and opened the door. And there were some strangers standing in front of the door.
“Hello, student?”
The men with fierce-looking faces who greeted me familiarly and were roughly dressed were enough to make me immediately close the door I’d opened. As soon as I recognized the men, I quickly closed the front door, but the man right in front of the door was faster. Just as the front door was closing, he fearlessly stuck his hand between the door gap and forcibly stopped the front door. I held the door handle tightly with both hands and held on, but the man’s strength was greater. Holding the door handle, I was dragged outside as the man flung it open.
“The student is quite diligent.”
Another man grabbed me as I was dragged out. The men all looked like thugs. They seemed just like gangsters. Before I could even think about what was happening to me, I screamed at the top of my lungs. I didn’t even ask the men who they were or what they were doing.
“There’s a fire! Here… Mmph!”
The men seemed not to have expected me to suddenly cry for help first, so they were flustered, but they quickly regained their composure and covered my mouth first. It was completely natural, flowing like water, as if it were a very familiar task. I struggled desperately, but true to their sturdy-looking physique, they didn’t budge.
“Wow. As expected, a kid who studied a lot is different.”
“His head sure spins fast.”
The men praised me, but no matter what, it only sounded like mockery. I tried to scream, but because of the thick palm firmly covering my mouth, I could only go “mmph mmph.” My stomach turned, but I had no choice but to gather a lot of saliva and stick out my tongue. Then I licked the man’s palm as disgustingly as possible while covering it with saliva. The man’s hand was very salty and unpleasant. It was even disgusting, but I succeeded in removing the man’s hand.
“Ugh! This bastard, what the hell are you doing, you dirty…!”
“There’s a fire in room 302… Ack!”
The man who had grabbed me cursed and unconsciously removed even his other hand that was holding me to wipe his hand. As soon as his hand left me, I tried to lie about a fire again and run away, but I was immediately caught by another man.
The new man who grabbed me covered my mouth and nose with a handkerchief without delay. The smell of chemicals stung my nose. I struggled with the last of my strength as if suckling for the last time, but my consciousness only blurred. Strength began to drain from my body step by step.
“He’s sharp. Well, when it’s about survival, what can’t you do.”
“Ugh, disgusting!”
“Idiot, can’t even properly catch one kid.”
Through my fading consciousness, I saw the man whose palm I’d licked getting angry and the other men giggling lowly. The man holding me neither got angry nor laughed, but waited for me to pass out, and on the other hand spoke as if looking at a pitiful guy.
“That’s why you shouldn’t mess with a rich young master’s mood.”
With those words as the end, I lost consciousness.
* * *
The floor was very hard and cold.
“…poor… isn’t he.”
“Those kids… College Scholastic Ability Test… they said….”
The surroundings were noisy, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Incompletely formed words kept echoing in my head. The consciousness that had risen once began to gradually surface. My eyebrows trembled and I unconsciously blinked my eyes.
“Ugh…?”
A weak groan flowed out without me knowing. I wriggled my body, but moving wasn’t easy at all. It was difficult to put strength into my sluggish body.
“Hm? Hey, looks like he’s waking up?”
Someone who noticed I was trying to regain consciousness approached me closely. I could finally understand words properly. In my barely opened eyes, I saw a familiar silhouette. Ah. It was one of the men I saw just before passing out.
“It’s 10 o’clock now, should we leave him?”
“We were told to hold him until it’s over, so knock him out one more time.”
“Yes.”
“10 o’clock?!”
At the sound of 10 o’clock, my mind snapped awake. However, before I could finish getting up, someone knocked me out again.
“Let’s sleep a little more. Got it?”
When I regained consciousness again, there was no one around.
