So Kwon Yunsu expressed his parents’ divorce as his mom leaving home. Somehow his heart sank.
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Something must have happened. …I wondered why they fought every day…”
What would a child’s feelings be when their parents raise their voices every day? Lee Euishin, an only child, had grown up seeing only a couple relationship so smooth it could make him want to become twisted. However,
“Do you have siblings?”
“An older sister. She’s a senior in high school.”
He thought having siblings would at least be some comfort in this case. Unless the mom had taken that older sister and left home.
“Ask her to cook for you.”
“…Mom said, women aren’t cooking machines. And Kwon Yunju is a studying machine so don’t touch her. Then she left.”
Kwon Yunsu’s mom was irresponsible but seemed very wise.
“So that’s why dinner was tight.”
“Dad said he’d hire a housekeeper, but Kwon Yunju absolutely hated having a stranger come to the house… So I said I’d buy lunch boxes and got allowance.”
“Can’t your father cook?”
Kwon Yunsu sighed.
“Dad is having a hard time right now… He always comes home late. I have to understand.”
“……”
“My sister is having an even harder time. My sister is really pitiful…”
Then what about you? Lee Euishin clamped his mouth shut.
“Kwon Yunsu.”
“Yeah.”
“If she left with a high school senior daughter and a son with middle school second-year syndrome, your mother probably won’t come back easily.”
“Yeah…”
She got divorced, so of course. The voice adding that was small.
“What are you going to do about meals?”
“I don’t know… What does food matter? Mom told me not to go on about food. I have school meals too…”
“……”
“Actually, I have allowance left over too.”
When he unconsciously turned his gaze away, Kwon Yunsu had an utterly embarrassed face.
“Dad suddenly gave me a lot of money so I got greedy… I want to buy soccer shoes so I saved half my allowance. Sorry for making you spend money alone.”
Seriously. Lee Euishin laughed incredulously and shoved both hands into his pockets. He’d almost put his hand on the guy’s back of the head.
“I’ll buy you something delicious next time.”
“I have expensive taste though.”
“I’ll buy it. …But I still can’t break into my savings. Choose with a conscience.”
He was talking about taking him to a convenience store again.
Suddenly Lee Euishin realized. He didn’t want to go home. The home atmosphere, so different from before summer, was unfamiliar and unpleasant. That’s why he diligently practiced for the sports festival, begged to go to the convenience store, wandered the alleys… But once the sports festival ended, there would be no justification from then on. The steep season from fall to winter—would Kwon Yunsu remain alone on the playground until sunset, playing with a ball?
“Hey, you.”
At the crosswalk where their paths diverged, waiting for the green light, Lee Euishin opened his mouth.
“What?”
Kwon Yunsu looked up.
“After the sports festival ends, at least go to academy.”
And he smirked.
“Yeah, right. Mom said she’d contact me before noona takes the college entrance exam, and if I’m not back at the academy by then, she’ll send me to hell.”
Indeed, she was a wise person.
The light turned green. Halfway across the crosswalk, Kwon Yunsu left his side and clumsily broke into a run.
“I’m going. See you tomorrow!”
The green gym clothes getting farther away. Kwon Yunsu’s house, pitch black without any sign of people.
Lee Euishin took out his phone from his pocket and checked the screen showing three missed calls. The face of his grandmother, who must be stamping her feet wondering where our grandson went, automatically came to mind.
His fingers holding the phone. His palm. …Did he want to punch that round back of the head hard, or did he want to stroke it? He grimaced at the question that unconsciously arose.
***
“That level of play is why they make hundreds of millions a week.”
“How would that feel? Hundreds of millions a week would be insane for real.”
“I’ll get paid later and tell you about it.”
“But then does money come in every week? What about taxes?”
“I’ll get paid later and let you know.”
“Kwon Yunsu, what soccer ball are you going to buy? Which brand?”
“What are you talking about? When did I say I was buying a soccer ball?”
“Didn’t you say you were saving your allowance to buy a soccer ball?”
“It’s soccer cleats, you idiot? I can buy a ball without saving my allowance!”
“Ridiculous. Acting like a rich guy.”
Even though the conversation started with one topic, coherence and context instantly disappear—a universal phenomenon of second-years in middle school.
While continuing ridiculously unproductive conversation, Kwon Yunsu and the others were diligently moving their spoons. Lee Euishin was newly amazed at Kwon Yunsu continuing his holy meal receiving his daily bread today as well. The squirrel-sized guy concentrating on his meal with sparkling eyes—should he call it heartwarming, or pitiful? The month had changed and the sports festival was now two weeks away, and Kwon Yunsu was still wandering outside his house concentrating on practice. And this fifteen-year-old soccer idiot sometimes looked unstable to Lee Euishin’s eyes. It was probably just his imagination.
“Anyone not eating the fish cutlet?”
A large figure that suddenly popped up behind Kwon Yunsu thrust chopsticks forward and spoke.
“Already ate it.”
“Absolutely not me.”
“Want mine?”
The person who said that while looking over his shoulder was Kwon Yunsu. The guy hadn’t touched the spicy dried pollack last time either. Without the fish cutlet, only white rice without a single grain of mixed grain, bean sprout soup with only green onions floating in it, cabbage kimchi, and a slice of melon remained on the tray.
“You want to build your body while being this picky?”
Right when the excited large figure was about to take Kwon Yunsu’s fish cutlet, Kwon Yunsu whipped his head around, and meeting those eyes directly, Lee Euishin didn’t hide his sarcastic tone as he added,
“Come on, Kwon Yunsu.”
Being fifteen years old and still picking at fish.
“……”
The next moment, Lee Euishin saw Kwon Yunsu’s expression slowly changing right before his eyes. Precisely, the transparent and simple defiance forming within it.
“Never mind! Don’t eat mine!”
Kwon Yunsu, who knocked away the large figure’s chopsticks in one stroke, stabbed his chopsticks into the fish cutlet. Firmly! Then, bursting with indignation, he shouted toward the others.
“See, what did I tell you! I said the class president’s personality isn’t that good!”
“He gave his student advice that will become flesh and blood.”
“You called him master before, Kwon Yunsu is repaying kindness with enmity.”
“What a rotten guy, really.”
Sweetly listening to the others’ rotten words, Lee Euishin propped his chin and looked down at Kwon Yunsu’s tray. Kwon Yunsu dismantled the fish cutlet with the finesse of a lifetime, confirmed there were no bones, then toughly scooped it up with his spoon and ate it.
After the month changed, there was definitely a change. Even Lee Euishin, who had no interest, was gradually feeling it was sports festival season.
Even without separate notices, the kids stayed after school on their own to continue practice, and the competition for the playground was getting more intense. Yesterday, Lee Euishin drew the tournament bracket as the class representative. The girls were gathering during breaks to make name tags and such. And Lee Euishin’s class was mentioned as the class that started practicing first in the entire school thanks to someone’s fuss, the class predicted to have the highest probability of winning. Whether a glorious ending awaited didn’t matter at all.
After school, he went with Kwon Yunsu, who became an event assistant in place of the vice president, to receive referee training. To ensure that helper staff don’t miss participating in games, second-years assist with third-year games, third-years with second-year games, and first-year games are assisted alternately. Kwon Yunsu was assigned to assist with the third-year girls’ foot baseball finals and first-year notdari stepping referee assistance. Lee Euishin was stuck with third-year tug-of-war preliminaries, third-year soccer tournament second round, and first-year group jump rope. First-year group jump rope was conducted with two classes at a time on the small playground, and coincidentally, the time overlapped with the second-year soccer finals. It was a result that reflected Lee Euishin’s own wishes.
“……”
Looking down at the schedule, Kwon Yunsu grimaced. He said not to even put his name as a substitute—Lee Euishin really had no intention of playing soccer. His physicals weren’t bad, so why be stubborn? He was displeased but didn’t say anything particular. It was because he’d been so indebted to the guy lately.
