The pretense of composure lasted only a moment. As Juhan turned away, a sweet satisfaction like cotton candy spread through him.
Though it had been a trivial contact, like the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings, it became a turning point.
It was the first time he’d felt such warmth not from ‘seizing’ something, but from ‘helping’ someone.
Outwardly, Seo Juhan presented himself as a civil servant who’d fallen into complacent indifference, but in truth, his inner self harbored an intense desire to be recognized and praised more than anyone.
Humans are, after all, beings who perceive loneliness as physical pain. It had been that way since the hunting and gathering societies, where being cast out from the group threatened one’s very survival.
That gene, passed down generation after generation from his ancestors, naturally existed in Seo Juhan as well.
Having lived as an honor student and received mostly admiring looks throughout his life, one could say he was perhaps even more desperate for it.
Nevertheless, Seo Juhan was withering like dried straw among students who had not even a speck of interest in academics and teachers who were set in their ways, focused only on preserving their own comfort.
Even today, the only human interaction worth mentioning was a brief conversation that morning with Park Daekwon, the Student Affairs Director. Even that hadn’t been entirely comfortable.
In such circumstances, Go Un’s attitude made Seo Juhan feel a certain sense of calling and efficacy.
From that point on, one-on-one tutoring between Seo Juhan and Go Un began.
The location was the classroom shared with classmates, and the time followed the regular schedule during calculus period, but in reality it was no different from private tutoring.
Every time Juhan watched Go Un growing steadily under his guidance, he felt a strange pride.
Pride in his teaching ability that made even blockheads understand everything clearly. Added to that was the satisfaction of rescuing an untouchable from the brink of life’s downfall.
Whenever he gave Go Un special instruction, the classroom became particularly quiet. The air settled low, as if deliberately shutting out their world from the rest.
It must have stirred something within the other students’ hearts as well. At that thought, Seo Juhan’s heart swelled like a balloon.
By the time the cherry blossoms were scattering and fading, Go Un had become the only student at Yangseong School who commanded Seo Juhan’s attention.
At this point, a natural question couldn’t help but arise.
Why on earth was a kid who could perfectly function as a proper person rotting away in this backwater alternative school?
This was Seo Juhan, who had not even a speck of interest in students beyond his job duties. Yet even he couldn’t suppress his rising curiosity and checked Go Un’s academic records on NEIS.
It showed that the kid had attended a general high school and dropped out in his third year.
It was only a single line of record, but to Juhan’s eyes, it strangely stood out. However, no matter how hard he stared holes into the monitor, there was no more information to discover.
Seo Juhan searched through the education administration information system looking for other clues.
The kid’s school life record through the second semester of his second year was lackluster. To Seo Juhan, who had been in the top tier and strived to fill every item in his school record meticulously and thoroughly, it was frankly pathetic beyond comparison. During his high school years, he didn’t seem to have been a particularly diligent student.
Did he strategically enter Yangseong School to secure better grades?
Right, maybe the kid had fooled around thoughtlessly and belatedly awakened, now burning with passion for academics.
In this alternative school that hadn’t moved beyond the introductory stage, one could complete three years’ worth of high school curriculum in at least one year and graduate.
The most plausible hypothesis was that he’d deliberately transferred here, exploiting loopholes in the system to aim for not only a grade 1 GPA but also the position of first in the entire school.
Just as he was drawing that tacit conclusion and about to turn away from this needless interest—
Staring intently at the static screen, Seo Juhan’s mouth fell slightly open at a sudden realization. If he’d dropped out in his third year and enrolled the very next year, he should be nineteen, but the kid was exactly twenty.
In other words, he’d lost a year at school even before that.
If it had been anyone other than Go Un, he would have assumed the obvious story and moved on. Given the school’s nature, he would have dismissed it as naturally being involved in some violent incident.
But the current situation made it difficult to dismiss Go Un as just another thug.
Within Seo Juhan, his perception of Go Un had changed to that of an exemplary student with a mountain-sized build who quietly did his best at his tasks.
The label of ‘exemplary student’ evoked attributes of being sincere, diligent, well-mannered, and smart.
Seo Juhan, conflicted between pure curiosity and unpleasant suspicion, decided to act on his questions.
“There. Got it?”
“Yes.”
Little bastard. Now he understood immediately when prompted.
Seo Juhan patted his shoulder as if to say “well done” again this time. He kindly put the mechanical pencil back into the pencil case. Then he casually broached the subject.
“Hey, but there’s something I wanted to ask you…”
“…What is it?”
Clear black pupils looked up at Juhan with puzzlement.
It was the first time Seo Juhan had initiated conversation about something other than studying.
Ahem. Seo Juhan cleared his throat unnecessarily and leaned his upper body forward. Since it was a private matter, the other kids shouldn’t hear.
“You took a year off from school in the middle.”
The classroom was eerily quiet, so he was practically whispering into Go Un’s ear.
“…”
The glass-like black pupils silently asked why he was asking such a thing.
Seo Juhan, worried he might have touched on a wound that shouldn’t be disturbed, spouted words he didn’t mean.
“Ah, no, back in my day, kids with early birthdays entered school early and all. But yours is in December. So I was wondering if you deliberately entered late.”
Seo Juhan stammered uncharacteristically in his flustered state.
Go Un chuckled. Then he answered strangely.
“I was seriously injured as a middle schooler and hospitalized.”
Spinning his pen seemed to be a habit.
“Ah… Really? What grade in middle school?”
“Third year.”
Seo Juhan made an effort to show a sympathetic expression.
“Really? I guess you couldn’t meet the attendance requirements while hospitalized.”
“…Actually, it wasn’t enough to be held back, but like you said, since my birthday was on the late side anyway, it didn’t seem to matter much, so I rested more.”
“How did you get injured?”
Seo Juhan asked the question he’d wanted to ask most.
Go Un lowered his eyes and thought carefully before answering.
“…A traffic accident.”
“I see…”
Seo Juhan nodded his head as if it was truly pitiful.
As expected. Go Un wasn’t that type of kid. No matter that he was a student at this shithole school, mass brawls covered in blood had nothing to do with him.
At that moment, the sturdy back that had skillfully handled the bike flashed through his mind.
He couldn’t have been riding one since middle school, could he?
“But don’t your parents say anything about you riding a motorcycle around?”
Seo Juhan asked casually, considering other possibilities.
“A motorcycle? Not particularly…”
Well, he was legally an adult, so it would be strange to interfere in every little thing. But recalling himself at twenty, he’d been hopelessly young.
“Hmm… Really? Isn’t it a bit dangerous? They don’t worry?”
“No. I need it for work too.”
Go Un shook his head firmly.
“You work part-time too?”
“Yes… Something like that.”
If he was juggling work and studies, his family circumstances were probably difficult. Seo Juhan, who’d never experienced economic hardship growing up, felt secretly sympathetic.
“I see… Must be tough studying while being so busy.”
For a middle school graduate whose only resource was a healthy body, there wouldn’t be much part-time work that could be done with a motorcycle. Something like delivery work, perhaps.
For a moment, Seo Juhan felt awkward, recalling his own misdeeds toward unspecified strangers.
“Well, anyway…”
He lowered himself to eye level and whispered so only Go Un could hear.
“If you’re going to ride it, be careful. And make sure you always wear your high-ba… I mean, helmet.”
Whatever else, he was sincere about this.
“…Yes.”
Go Un, who always met his eyes directly, smoothly averted his gaze. The excessive interest and closeness seemed to make him uncomfortable.
Seo Juhan straightened his upper body while cupping Go Un’s shoulder with his palm as if in encouragement. He squeezed it a couple of times, then turned his back as if his business was done.
