The person who burst into the teachers’ office was Bae Mansik, the night security guard.
“Just a moment.”
Seo Juhan hurried over to the corner of the teachers’ office. He opened the refrigerator door, took out a beverage bottle, and handed it to Bae Mansik.
“Thank you for your hard work staying late. I have a lot of work for a while, so I’ll probably be staying at school pretty late.”
“Oh my, you didn’t have to do this.”
Bae Mansik tore open his cracked lips. His yellowed, worn teeth showed. The space where his front teeth should have been was empty.
At the repulsive sight, Seo Juhan controlled his expression from contorting.
“Young people are so diligent. Did you join this year?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Take it easy, take it easy. What are you going to accomplish with kids like these anyway?”
“Haha…”
Seo Juhan, mistaken for a passionate teacher, laughed awkwardly.
“I’ll turn off the lights and lock up everything before I leave, so you don’t need to worry about it at all.”
Bae Mansik, beverage bottle in one hand, nodded roughly and turned around. His dry scalp was visible between sparse graying hairs.
Seo Juhan watched the skinny back descending the stairs after leaving the teachers’ office, then closed the door, rotated his shoulder joints, and returned to his seat. After loosening his stiff body somewhat, he picked up the mobile phone he’d left on his desk.
Confirming that dinner time had long since passed, he entered a delivery app.
The thumb selecting a late dinner wandered, debating whether to press or not.
I do want to eat it though…
Though he felt uneasy, Seo Juhan pressed the order button.
There’s no way the same delivery person would come again, right?
A notice appeared that the order had been received. After confirming it would take 50 minutes for delivery, he sat down.
He picked up his pen again and continued his memory retrieval work.
True to his specialty, he’d been sitting motionless for quite a while when suddenly his phone vibrated.
It was an unfamiliar number, but the caller was obviously clear even with his eyes closed. Seo Juhan answered the phone while continuing to move his pen.
“Hello.”
[Hello. I’m here with your delivery, but the door is locked.]
The voice sounded muffled, as if blocked in the middle.
“Ah…”
Seo Juhan recalled the helmet he’d seen last time and made a sour expression. It was quite burdensome to have his workplace exposed to someone he’d acted like an asshole toward.
But why should I avoid him? He was in the wrong too.
Seo Juhan, struck by a strange stubbornness, spoke calmly.
“Press 6518 and the star button and it’ll open. Come to the Second Teachers’ Office on the 5th floor.”
[Okay. I’ll come up now.]
Seo Juhan hung up and finished what he’d been writing.
Done. Feeling lighter, he put down his pen and rolled his chair wheels backward as he stood up.
Clatter.
It was the exact moment he opened the teachers’ office door.
“Ah!”
Seo Juhan flinched in surprise at the figure blocking his path. Shadows fell across irises close to brown. A black helmet with dark tinting looked down at him imposingly.
It was indeed that guy. In the midst of it all, a certain unease swept down Juhan’s spine. It was the suspicion that he might have spit in the food or secretly eaten some as revenge for last time.
“You must have a lot of work.”
“Huh? Ah… Yes.”
At the unexpectedly concerned voice, Seo Juhan blinked and answered belatedly.
“…”
“…”
The two stood inside and outside the teachers’ office respectively in a silent standoff.
Suddenly he felt a sense of déjà vu.
Though lean and slender in build, Seo Juhan was 181cm tall. Even among Yangseong School’s bulky students, most just looked imposing because they were broad—the majority were shorter than him.
It was rare for a human to look down at him from that eye level. Moreover, he’d now reached the point where he could recognize him even with his whole body wrapped up tight in a helmet and rider jacket.
“…Go Un?”
When the other person remained silent, Seo Juhan asked again with certainty.
“Hey… You’re Go Un, right?”
“…”
There was still no answer. His expression wasn’t visible, hidden by the black wind shield.
“Take off your helmet.”
Seo Juhan urged, tapping the helmet with his index finger.
The guy, seeming to hesitate, slowly removed his helmet.
Jet-black bangs lifted up due to static electricity. Briefly, his neatly extended dark eyebrows were fully revealed.
That bare face was somehow unfamiliar. When teaching, the kid was in a seated position. It seemed to be because he usually looked down at him from above.
“Hey… it really is Go Un.”
Go Un tucked the helmet under his arm and gently smoothed down his disheveled bangs. Even the leather gloves on his hands were pitch black like the helmet.
“Hello.”
Go Un greeted him with just a slight bow of his head while glancing sideways.
Seo Juhan, who’d been scanning Go Un’s face without realizing it, felt a pang of guilt.
“What a coincidence meeting like this. It’s amazing.”
Seo Juhan spoke as if happy to meet by chance, but in reality, embarrassment was stronger. He remembered everything from not long ago when he’d nakedly revealed his true colors.
I think I even cursed at him angrily before closing the door. How much must he have cursed me as a hypocrite inside?
It wasn’t just any student, but Go Un, whom he’d sat right next to and taught closely. But still, the words “I’m sorry” didn’t come out.
“…Want to eat with me before you go?”
Instead, Seo Juhan asked carefully. It was an invitation he didn’t usually make.
“What?”
Go Un asked back as if he hadn’t understood.
“Ah… I ordered quite a bit. To meet the delivery fee minimum.”
“…”
“Ah, are you busy? Well, I guess you have to go make more deliveries.”
“…It’s okay for a moment.”
“Really? That’s good. Then come in.”
Seo Juhan gestured for him to enter and walked inside the teachers’ office.
Go Un reached back to close the teachers’ office door. Then he followed with a searching gaze.
“Sit here.”
Seo Juhan pulled out a chair at the table while speaking with feigned kindness.
“Okay.”
The thick bag Go Un had been holding was placed on the communal round table. He set the helmet down on an empty chair.
Meanwhile, Seo Juhan stood and rummaged through the bag, pulling out two handmade burgers packaged in paper boxes.
He placed the one labeled <Avo> in front of himself and pushed the one labeled <Double> in front of Go Un.
He even brought paper cups from the shelf. He removed the plastic lid from the milkshake, poured it into a paper cup, and handed it to Go Un.
“Here, drink this too.”
Go Un placed one of his removed black leather gloves on top of the helmet and silently accepted the paper cup.
Having finished setting the table, Seo Juhan also pulled back a chair and sat down facing Go Un. He peeled off the red franchise logo sticker attached to the brown paper and unfolded the wrapper. A savory smell wafted up from the rustling paper.
Once unwrapped, the avocado burger looked as appetizing as last time. The sight of the greasy patty and the plump, luscious avocado made him suddenly ravenous, and he took a big bite.
Go Un only sipped the milkshake quietly.
“Why aren’t you eating? You eat comfortably too.”
Seo Juhan gestured at Go Un’s burger with his chin while chewing.
“…Okay.”
Go Un looked uncomfortable, as if awkward about this unexpected shared meal.
Feeling bad about taking it? Seo Juhan personally tore open the wrapper of the double patty burger in front of Go Un.
The two Korean beef patties that supposedly had a charcoal flavor looked quite hearty. It was a menu he’d ordered for the first time today. Juhan subtly examined that bountiful meat while pushing it toward Go Un.
“Delivering must use up quite a bit of stamina too. Aren’t you hungry? Eat. Go on.”
“Thank you.”
Only then did Go Un pick up the burger with his hands.
“How much do you get paid for one delivery like this?”
Seo Juhan asked casually while picking up his avocado burger again.
“Maybe two or three thousand won per delivery?”
“I don’t get paid per delivery.”
“Then a monthly salary?”
“Um… Something like that.”
He seemed reluctant to talk about it.
Something like a weekly or daily wage, I guess. Seo Juhan nodded as if he understood, then grinned at a sudden thought.
“Then that’s perfect. Come often. I’ll order for you. It’ll be good for you to slack off too.”
Seo Juhan raised and lowered his eyebrows as if sharing a secret operation, then took a big bite of his burger. He chewed deliciously with bulging cheeks, wiped the sauce from the corner of his mouth with his thumb, and sucked on it.
Go Un, who’d been glancing at him, also picked up his portion of the burger and took a bite.
Seo Juhan slurped up the sweet shake through the straw as if cleansing his palate. Then he suddenly asked.
“What’s your goal?”
“…Goal?”
“Yeah. A university or department you want to go to.”
Seo Juhan spoke amiably while gently swinging his crossed leg. The sweet beverage temporarily elevated his mood.
“…I’m not going to university though.”
“What?!”
Seo Juhan raised his voice as if he’d heard something absurd.
Go Un raised one eyebrow as if asking what the big deal was.
“Why?”
But it was Seo Juhan who asked “why.”
“Are you going to get a job?”
Go Un just nodded quietly.
“Hey, you joined the college prep class. And your grades are good too, so why aren’t you going to university?”
“…”
“Don’t you think a grade 1 GPA is too precious to waste?”
Seo Juhan furrowed his eyebrows as if he couldn’t understand at all.
Go Un remained silently unresponsive. Instead, he put the burger he’d just started eating back down on the table, as if his appetite had completely disappeared.
