Eccentric Love Parade
Kwon Yunsu has been feeling dizzy lately.
It’s because the second semester class president is way too good-looking. Having to face that damn face every day—the one that makes his colt-like heart skip beats whenever their eyes meet—is truly exhausting. Why on earth does he look like that? Skin pale and flawless without a single blemish, coolly extended eye shape with black eyes, a sharp and prominent nose bridge, neatly closed red lips. Wow, what the hell is he…
“Yunsu-ya, your food’s getting cold.”
“Class President, you’re so lucky.”
“Hm?”
“Give me that face of yours.”
Baek Seunghyun, who had been listening, smacked Kwon Yunsu on the head.
“You embarrassing bastard, seriously… Just eat your damn food.”
Kwon Yunsu ate his food. Piling ‘spicy stir-fried chicken’ on top of ‘germinated brown rice’ (perfectly memorizing the menu is a basic requirement for modern middle school students), he shoved it into his mouth in one bite, and when he lifted his gaze, the class president, who had been laughing shortly as if dumbfounded, was returning to his usual expressionless face.
Suddenly, Kwon Yunsu finds the reality of eating lunch with the class president across a single desk remarkable. The class president, who always sat in his seat in the first row of the first section with his back ramrod straight eating alone, was now huddled together with the frivolous athletic director Baek Seunghyun, the ugly vice president Kim Wonwoo, and this soccer genius. Even though he seized the class president position just four days after transferring in, and then gained his first friend group just ten days after that, the class president showed no sign of excitement at all. That aspect of him was really cool. I’ll definitely use that when I transform my image in high school. As he picked up his spoon with firm determination, his chest swelled with pride at the thought of his own contribution in making today’s gathering possible.
Kwon Yunsu’s entanglement with the class president happened for no particular reason.
It would have been nice if the handsome Seoul young master had spotted the soccer genius’s exceptional qualities with eagle eyes among the rocks scattered in this corner of Gyeonggi Province, but nothing like that happened—it was just dumb luck.
Due to the surgery of a lifetime to lance a stye, Kwon Yunsu attended school the day after the start of the new semester following summer vacation, so he didn’t even know a transfer student had joined the class. The murmuring was a bit loud, but he thought it was the chorus of beagles reveling in the joy of the new semester, or sounds welcoming him. The stye surgery had been an unprecedented undertaking. He had cried so loudly that his mom left first without even staying until the end, saying it was embarrassing. It was all his own fault for rolling around in dirt pits all day and then rubbing his eyes with those same hands.
‘The doctor came right at me. I screamed “ahh” when they gave me the anesthetic injection. I don’t even remember what happened after. They, like, with that stick they…!’
‘Did you get tortured? Are you a patriot?’
‘Seriously, I’ve never seen such cruel treatment. Shit…’
‘Did your mom tell you not to play soccer? So are you going to the academy today?’
Discussing coherence and context in conversations between fifteen-year-old boys is a completely meaningless endeavor. Kwon Yunsu chattered endlessly with Baek Seunghyun, who wasn’t even his desk mate but sat two seats diagonally behind. There was no way the homeroom teacher conducting the first class meeting of the new semester wouldn’t notice that sight.
‘Why does Kwon Yunsu have so much to say?’
‘I don’t.’
Turning his body forward, Kwon Yunsu immediately put on an act of seriousness. It was an expression resembling a gorilla learning the Korean alphabet.
‘If you have so much to say, make a recommendation. Don’t we have anyone suitable for second semester class president?’
As if there could be such a guy. If there had been such an excellent vessel in this class, he would have noticed already, but there was no such thing. There can’t be a vessel as good as me. As Kwon Yunsu seriously entertained pointless thoughts, his gaze suddenly caught sight of a decent-looking back of the head sitting in the very front seat of the first section. Below the neatly cut hair at the back, a straight neckline and broad shoulders looked very unfamiliar. The head was ridiculously small too. There’s no way a guy like that could exist…
‘Who’s that?’
‘Lee Euishin. Transfer student.’
Of course. Having quickly finished the conversation, Kwon Yunsu energetically raised his hand.
‘I nominate the transfer student.’
If asked for a reason, he was going to say this: Because the back of his head is pretty.
The next moment, the transfer student’s shoulders flinched. Kwon Yunsu waited with sparkling eyes as the guy slowly turned his body toward where the voice came from.
‘……’
And upon facing that cold and pretty face, his mouth fell wide open. He was a guy handsome enough to make you gasp.
‘…What kind of guy is that?’
At the muttering that burst out in surprise,
‘That’s what I’m saying.’
His desk mate responded while firmly closing Kwon Yunsu’s mouth.
And the transfer student became class president.
***
“I really don’t like the Champions League this year. The vibe of holding back is intense.”
“Idiot.”
“Why would they hold back when it’s not even the World Cup? Don’t push your shitty opinion.”
“It’s just not fun.”
“That’s because you’ve been watching baseball lately. Traitor.”
“This ko-darin-ji or whatever is really spicy.”
“Don’t watch baseball.”
Everyone was accustomed to this pleasant conversation method of just blurting out whatever they wanted to say. Though he rarely joined in, Lee Euishin was no exception in terms of adaptability.
“Class President, are you going to eat the seafood pancake?”
Lee Euishin dropped the pancake onto Kwon Yunsu’s rice with a thud and said,
“Do you have about an hour today?”
“No, I don’t. Why? Today’s a practice day.”
Kwon Yunsu replied, scrunching up his face as much as possible.
“There’s a meeting with the sports festival committee members and helpers. You come too. I put you in the helpers group.”
“I’m going to be the cheering squad leader though?”
“Cheering is a class matter, and the helpers group is separate. You assist the referees on the day of the festival, but it’s not all day and they give you volunteer hours.”
“Why did you put me in there?”
Looking down at Kwon Yunsu’s forehead as he wrestled with the pancake, Lee Euishin answered.
“Usually second and third-year class presidents and vice presidents are drafted, but Kim Wonwoo said he’s busy that day because of the broadcasting club. So I put in the guy most enthusiastic about the sports festival.”
“……”
“You need to know the rules well to help the class, don’t you? You said you wanted to win.”
To be precise, he had asked him to make them first place. Since winning the sports festival was the most important role of the second semester class president, please do your best to achieve it.
‘Especially we absolutely must! Absolutely must! win soccer.’
‘I can’t play soccer.’
At that cool answer, Kwon Yunsu said smugly,
‘I’m good at it. You just need to keep the kids after school and make them train. Keeping the kids after! That’s the most important thing. Training after school every day until the sports festival. First we practice team events like notdari, and the boys stay separately to play soccer.’
‘…I’ll discuss it with the athletic director.’
‘What? Baek Seunghyun is just a piece of shit!’
After that, Kwon Yunsu diligently pestered the class president. He got excited at the opportunity to talk to that otherworldly Ice Queen-like guy.
Lee Euishin, having become class president, made the kids bow at the start of each class period, passed around the class log, and was occasionally called by the homeroom teacher, but mostly he spent time quietly alone. Since he was tall and a handsome boy with eyes that seemed ready to pop out, many kids showed interest in him, but he was a somewhat difficult type. Should I say it seemed like he wasn’t unable to adapt but was refusing to adapt? He wasn’t particularly fond of this new rival, but it was quite refreshing. Besides, wasn’t he a class president made by his own hands? Seeing a guy who fit the title of class president like a picture made him feel quite proud. He would make a good partner for achieving his great undertaking.
That great undertaking was, of course, winning the sports festival—more precisely, first place in soccer. Unlike last year when he had just shed his elementary school label and didn’t know how thrilling the sports festival tournament could be, this year was different. This year he was determined to go at it seriously. The legend of Kwon Yunsu’s life dedicated to soccer was just beginning.
「Korea’s representative striker Kwon Yunsu developed his dream of becoming a soccer player through his brilliant performance at his second-year middle school sports festival.」
Kwon Yunsu hadn’t forgotten what he had written during the career class activity ‘Writing My Biography.’ It was because there were only a few times during his school life when he had moved his hands with such enthusiasm. National soccer team player—it was a much more realistic and constructive undertaking than Kim Wonwoo, who had written that he’d become a superhero and even went up front to present it. Next year he might end up writing something like ‘soccer industry worker’ in the career aspiration section, but he couldn’t give up yet.
“I need to practice more…”
“Come to the student council room after cleaning.”
