- Kkotmoa
The classroom was noisy. I thought things might be different once we became third-years, but the majority of kids still hadn’t gotten their act together. I was the same, having no particular interest in school. It had already been two weeks since the new semester started in March, but I didn’t even know most of my classmates’ names properly. As long as I maintained grades good enough not to bring shame to the family, my family didn’t really say much, so my attitude was just to fill attendance days. I had no interest in building friendships that would quickly fade away with kids who’d be playing in different waters anyway as soon as we graduated. Nothing could be more pointless and ridiculous than that.
“Kkotmoa, hurry, hurry!”
Kang Junwoo shouted while looking at the back door in front of the mirror. Kang Junwoo was my only friend, but this was the first time we’d been in the same class. He said he was going to confess to Yeo Seowon from Class 8 today, so he came all dressed up, but it actually made him look even tackier. It was just a school uniform anyway, but I was embarrassed that he might say I was his friend somewhere.
“Huff, huff… Sorry, I overslept… Here, thirty thousand won.”
At Kang Junwoo’s shout, a guy came rushing in frantically and held out a beautifully wrapped bouquet of roses while extending his other hand as if asking for money. Kang Junwoo placed a fifty-thousand-won bill on the empty hand and quickly snatched the rose bouquet. I momentarily frowned and smacked my lips. The rose bouquet was nice to look at in contrast with the pale guy who’d brought it in, so I felt unconsciously disappointed that Kang Junwoo made it disappear so quickly.
“The change is Kkotmoa’s tip.”
That crazy bastard. Seeing how cheesily he spoke, it seemed like he was going to get rejected by Yeo Seowon anyway.
“I don’t accept tips.”
“Then delivery fee.”
“I don’t accept that either. I was coming to school anyway.”
The guy called Kkotmoa stubbornly took out two ten-thousand-won bills and pressed them into Kang Junwoo’s hand, money that other guys would’ve gladly accepted. Then he went to sit at his seat in the very front row as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile, Kang Junwoo went out the back door holding the rose bouquet.
The rumor that Kang Junwoo was going to confess to Yeo Seowon had been going around since last week. It was all stuff Kang Junwoo himself had been blabbing about. So naturally the person receiving the confession, Yeo Seowon, must have known about it too. According to Kang Junwoo, he needed to let it reach her ears in advance so she wouldn’t be surprised even when someone as perfect as him confessed, but it was such bullshit that I didn’t even bother responding.
Kkotmoa—or rather, Shin Moa—was a kid I’d seen for the first time after becoming a third-year. According to Kang Junwoo, who was the school’s information network, he’d been famous since first year, but honestly I had no interest in school so I had no idea. Then again, when I didn’t even know about rumors about myself, how would I know whether others were famous or not? But when I saw him come in earlier holding that rose bouquet, I realized I had seen him more than once or twice.
Shin Moa’s appearance was a blankly gentle and kind-looking face, so there wasn’t anything particularly special about it, but the reason he was in my memory was because I’d seen him holding flowers many times. On the rooftop, in the hallway, on the playground, on benches—I’d seen him coming to school holding flowers quite a few times. But his face had no distinctive features, so I couldn’t remember his face. He only caught my eye when he was holding flowers. If he hadn’t come in holding that rose bouquet today, I probably wouldn’t have remembered him.
Why does he carry flowers around so often? It seemed embarrassing for a male high school student to think he just liked flowers. No matter how much someone liked flowers, there wouldn’t be any crazy bastard who would bring them when coming to school—no, who would bring them to school “often.” But I understood when I saw Kang Junwoo giving him money. He’d been running errands for kids because he looked docile and became a target. You could tell just from the fact that they called him “Kkotmoa” instead of his proper name “Shin Moa.”
However, for someone being bullied by kids, the kid was excessively bright. Even now, after rushing over frantically to buy flowers at Kang Junwoo’s request, as soon as he sat down he was chatting cheerfully with his seatmate with a sunny smile. Just as I was thinking the kid might be lacking somewhere, Kang Junwoo appeared with an expression like he’d chewed on shit. The guy who came in savagely with the momentum to smash something right away shoved the rose bouquet straight into the trash can. The eyes of everyone in the classroom turned toward Kang Junwoo.
See? I told you he’d get rejected. He shouldn’t have spread rumors about confessing. How embarrassing, really.
“What are you looking at, fuck! Got something to stare at?”
Kang Junwoo was generally easygoing and nice, but he sometimes acted crooked like this. He grew up too pampered as the youngest son of Kangsan Group. He’s twelve years younger than his oldest hyung and ten years younger than his second hyung, so as the late-born baby, I knew well from having seen it since childhood how much they doted on him and raised him to be spoiled.
“Did you get rejected?”
“Shut up.”
Kang Junwoo kicked the chair of the guy in front of him for no reason and sat down next to me. For one month, we could sit comfortably with whoever we wanted, and on the last day of March we’d reassign seats by drawing lots. So naturally my seatmate was Kang Junwoo. The kids I talked to in class were limited. Unless they were third-generation chaebols who’d be playing in the same waters in the future like Kang Junwoo, there was no need to hang out with them.
Father tried to send me to an elite private school like other third-generation chaebols, but I came to this regular high school because of my middle-class mother who married Father as his true love and opposed it. Kang Junwoo, who transferred in during second semester of first year saying he couldn’t stand the private school that gathered only third-generation chaebols because it was too stuck-up and that he’d attend the same school as me, was just crazy.
“Hey, Do Hyeondo. I’ve been thinking about it and I really don’t understand.”
“What?”
“Does it make sense to reject me saying she has to study because she’s a third-year?”
“Yeah. Makes perfect sense.”
“Ah, fuck.”
“If you’re a third-year, you should study.”
At my words emphasizing it once more, Kang Junwoo’s eyes widened.
“But since when did you care about stuff like that? Why didn’t you push harder?”
He was a guy who was persistent to the point of being excessive. A guy who didn’t stop women who came and didn’t chase women who left, but when he set his sights on someone first, he was like a leech who’d make them fall for him no matter what. But seeing him shove the rose bouquet in the trash, it seemed he was planning to give up obediently this time.
“She says her family’s fucking struggling so she has to get a scholarship to go to college. I almost got slapped when I said if she dated me I’d recommend her as a sponsored scholarship student for our group. She’s so fucking pretty but has a temper.”
Seeing him grumble while doing stuff that deserved getting hit, Kang Junwoo shouldn’t have ended at almost getting hit—he should have actually gotten hit once. What kind of person in the world would spout that kind of talk while confessing… I couldn’t continue my thought. Because the guy who’d been sitting in the very front seat walked over with gentle steps and took out the rose bouquet that had been shoved in the trash. Even though petals had already fallen off and the wrapping was crumpled unattractively, when he was holding it, I had the illusion that the world looked brighter.
“Hey, Kkotmoa. While I’m asking nicely, just throw that away.”
Kang Junwoo must have seen it too because he growled. However, Shin Moa blinked his clear eyes a few times and then replied in an innocent voice.
“You already threw it away, so it doesn’t matter if I pick it up.”
“Throw it away, fuck.”
So Kang Junwoo really isn’t a bad guy, but he acts rough like this sometimes. Honestly, ranking hierarchy was ridiculous too, but there was no one in our school who talked back to Kang Junwoo. He had money and connections, and the kid was even good at fighting, so no matter how easygoing he acted, you couldn’t take him lightly. Already when he’d just transferred in, some bad seniors tried to extort money from him but got the tables turned on them, causing rumors to spread, and from then on Kang Junwoo’s position became solid.
“You’re not gonna throw it away?”
Even though Kang Junwoo said this much, Shin Moa just blinked with an innocent face and then made a slightly tearful expression. Perhaps because he was holding flowers, just as I was having the impression that the expression suited him quite well, Shin Moa muttered while looking at the crushed flowers tenderly.
“…How can I throw them away, they’re flowers.”
“Ah, fuck. Just like someone called Kkotmoa wouldn’t be.”
Kang Junwoo must have given up because he spat out a few more curses and then turned his head away. Shin Moa’s attitude looked quite confident for someone being ostracized or bullied while running errands. No, it seemed almost brazen. However, what I was curious about was something else.
“Why is he called Kkotmoa?”
“What’s this, you’re interested in another guy?”
Seeing how he immediately started being cheeky, his feelings for Yeo Seowon must not have been that strong. Well, at just nineteen, how much could you know about love…? He was just annoyed because his pride was hurt.
“I asked why he’s called Kkotmoa.”
“His family runs a flower shop.”
“…Huh?”
“His family runs a flower shop, so he’s called Kkotmoa. You never saw? He comes to school with flowers a lot.”
Ah. So it wasn’t ostracism or bullying or anything like that. I really had no interest, so I really thought he was being bullied. Not that it has anything to do with me though.
