“Kwon Yunsu.”
When the game stopped, the guys on the playground rushed toward Kwon Yunsu. That face crying in pain momentarily became invisible. Lee Euishin walked. Walking, he gradually ran. When he pushed through various guys and went inside, Kwon Yunsu, who had been curled up crying, raised his head.
“Euishin-ah…”
My pitiful and unlucky country bumpkin.
Lee Euishin bent down toward Kwon Yunsu.
Going to the hospital together was something that couldn’t be done. First of all, it was during class, and Lee Euishin was Kwon Yunsu’s unauthorized coach, not a guardian. According to the health teacher’s judgment that he needed to go to the hospital immediately, only the homeroom teacher could move.
“Yunsu-ya, let’s call your mother. Is she working now?”
“*Sniff*… M-mom’s not here…. *Sob*……”
“……”
Following those words, Kwon Yunsu wailed loudly. Lee Euishin was shocked at himself for thinking his heart was breaking.
“D-dad, you can call dad….”
Whether it hurt, or his heart weakened from the pain, Kwon Yunsu kept crying while speaking. In the short distance walking to where the homeroom teacher’s car was parked, the front of his gym clothes became damp. Don’t cry, Kwon Yunsu. If you cry, I won’t buy you anything. He felt very confused.
“Euishin-ah, the teacher from the class next door will do the closing meeting, so please guide the cleaning.”
“Yes. Which hospital are you going to?”
“There’s the biggest orthopedic clinic in this area on the main road at that intersection.”
It was a place he’d been to a few times when Kwon Yunsu begged him to go eat cup tteokbokki.
Lee Euishin helped Kwon Yunsu into the seat. The homeroom teacher’s car carrying the sobbing Kwon Yunsu quickly got farther away. Suddenly he heard a cheer from the direction of the playground, and when he turned around, Baek Seunghyun had scored a goal splendidly and was doing a flashy performance. Kwon Yunsu must have dreamed of a scene like that many times.
That day, Lee Euishin distributed phones and finished the closing meeting in 10 seconds even before the homeroom teacher from the next class came.
“You do the cleaning guidance. You’ve never done this kind of thing even once.”
And he roughly intimidated the innocent Kim Wonwoo and immediately left the classroom.
The back view going to find the country bumpkin was very resolute.
The homeroom teacher, who was talking with Kwon Yunsu’s dad in the hallway, gave Lee Euishin a simple eye greeting then pointed toward the examination room. Lee Euishin opened the door and entered without delay.
“……”
Kwon Yunsu was asleep with a swollen face. Gym clothes covered in dust, sneakers under the bed, and the left leg firmly casted from knee to ankle. It wasn’t serious enough to be hospitalized or have surgery, but soccer had definitely gone down the drain. Lee Euishin sighed. He expected it from when he was clutching his leg and crying loudly… but thinking of the effort Kwon Yunsu had put in, it left a really bitter taste.
Should I have called him over and said something to him? Should I have suggested some stretching exercises, saying his body seemed tense so let’s try loosening it up this way and that? Should I have bought him some Woohwangcheongsimhwan. Why did he have to work so hard… getting so worked up over a stupid ball game and charging in like that, ending up like this. He’s not even an idiot. Why did he even fall…
“…Ma……”
“……”
At the sound that suddenly reached his ears, Lee Euishin held his breath. He hurriedly examined the sleeping face to find Kwon Yunsu’s face, laden with exhaustion and sorrow, slightly contorted. His slightly parted lips moved again,
“Mom……”
Kwon Yunsu sleep-talked like that and turned his body toward the wall.
And the phone that had been hidden by Kwon Yunsu’s upper body came into Lee Euishin’s view. The screen was lit up, perhaps from touching some part of his body.
「Mom, I’m hurt」
“……”
A message saved as a draft, unable to be sent.
Lee Euishin slowly patted the sleeping Kwon Yunsu’s back until his father and homeroom teacher came in.
***
The day of the Sports Festival dawned.
The weather was annoyingly clear and the excited middle schoolers were busy chattering noisily. Wearing all kinds of childish things like Pikachu, Disney, and even dinosaur pajamas, their faces painted in all colors like goblins. Weird. Noisy. Fucking annoying. Kwon Yunsu, who wanted to give off dark vibes somehow but couldn’t control his bouncing shoulders, was wearing a perfectly matching Shin-chan t-shirt.
“Wow, wooow…!”
This is so fun, what can he do. Even though his leg ended up like this and he can’t do notdari-bapgi, group jump rope, tug-of-war… soccer, nothing at all (and of course was excluded from being a referee’s assistant too), and even though he’s just blowing a cheering horn all day, fun is fun.
“Are you holding your crutches properly or not?”
It would have been even more fun without that nagging bastard.
Kwon Yunsu, who had been watching the third-year tug-of-war preliminaries, froze in place at the crooked voice coming from behind. He had just been about to wave his crutches around, his chest boiling over at the large-scale class battle.
“Go be a referee’s assistant. Why are you following me around picking fights?”
Lee Euishin retorted without hiding his mocking expression.
“You should speak properly. You’re the one who followed me.”
“……”
That was true. He had followed Lee Euishin, who had been recruited as a referee’s assistant because he got bored of just cheering.
“And I’m actually assisting the game right now. This is inside the playing field, so go over there.”
Kwon Yunsu stumbled backward, dodging the safety baton Lee Euishin was waving around. That bastard’s smile deepened crookedly. A handsome bastard smiling like that made for quite a picture too. Despite wearing a Shin-chan t-shirt. Next year I’ll be better looking than you. Kwon Yunsu vowed. While making that vow, his feet got tangled as he stepped backward.
“Uh….”
“Hey!”
The moment he let go of his crutches and was about to tumble over, Lee Euishin quickly extended his hand. He grabbed onto that hand and barely avoided an embarrassing fall.
“Are you going to come to your senses or not?”
“Class President, look at how good my reflexes are even in this situation.”
“I’m the one with good reflexes, you know?”
“No, I’m the one with good reflexes.”
“…Just let go.”
Come to think of it, he was hugging Lee Euishin’s waist.
“Hey, between us.”
When Kwon Yunsu playfully groped his waist, Lee Euishin avoided that touch, picked up the crutches that had fallen on the ground, and handed them over.
“Stop talking nonsense and go stand over there. Just one more game and we’re done, so let’s go watch the girls’ kickball.”
“Class President, it’s not girls’ kickball ‘or whatever,’ it’s an important game with our class’s fate on the line. We lost all our morning games.”
That was the reason Kwon Yunsu was wandering around like a vagrant. It was just past noon, but they had been eliminated in the preliminaries of all the major team events: notdari-bapgi, group jump rope, and even tug-of-war. The only remaining games were the small-scale participation events like badminton doubles, and the girls’ kickball and boys’ soccer.
Thanks to Baek Seunghyun’s great performance, soccer eventually made it to the finals. While thinking “what good would it do if I watch, I should just leave early,” Kwon Yunsu had cheered harder than anyone at the semifinals two days ago. Of course, it was Lee Euishin who closely monitored Kwon Yunsu, who was ready to run onto the field at any moment.
“I’ll just go ahead.”
He suddenly got curious about what the kids were doing. Kwon Yunsu took the crutches and turned around.
“Hey.”
Lee Euishin grabbed his arm.
“Why?”
It’s strange how Lee Euishin’s tone is overbearing but not really unpleasant. Is it because he knows that he’s originally a guy with a bad personality?
“Just stay here. Don’t go falling down by yourself.”
“Hey, what am I…”
And the words didn’t continue further. A week into using crutches, Kwon Yunsu had fallen and fallen again as if paying respects in all directions. Lee Euishin had clearly witnessed him rolling on the dirt ground twice today too.
“It’ll be over soon.”
Lee Euishin had an annoyed expression.
“Listen to me.”
And he shook Kwon Yunsu’s wrist a couple times before turning his back.
“Seriously…”
Somehow he felt embarrassed.
“Despite being someone who never listens to what I say…”
For the past week, no matter how much he tempted him, Lee Euishin never gave in to Kwon Yunsu’s snack temptations. Just like now, with a thoroughly annoyed and displeased face, he would walk Kwon Yunsu home and leave.
“…Now I can even buy him pizza.”
