Oh no! Seo Juhan’s expression also hardened.
Being the owner of a brilliant mind, he immediately realized his mistake.
There are people in this world whose family circumstances don’t even allow them to go to college. Of course, no one who grew up in such a dire environment existed around Seo Juhan. That’s why he momentarily thought Go Un didn’t know the reality of society and wanted to jump into making money early.
Seo Juhan, confronting his own blunder, cleared his throat with a cough.
“Hey, Go Un. Listen to me carefully.”
Seo Juhan calmly entered persuasion mode.
“Making an extra hundred or two hundred thousand won when others can’t—that only feels like getting rich when you’re young. When you get older, it’s nothing. You’ve heard of the glass ceiling, right? The glass ceiling.”
Seo Juhan even demonstrated making a ceiling with the edge of his hand.
“For high school graduates, there’s an invisible ceiling. While college graduate employees go from here to here, high school graduates stay in place. Same with salary raises and promotions. You know how many people regret it later because of that glass ceiling?”
In truth, Seo Juhan had never experienced working at a private company. In the end, it was all talk from indirect experience through books and videos, but it overflowed with persuasive power.
“You know it’s hard to get jobs these days, right? Everyone’s struggling to get into large corporations, public enterprises, or become civil servants. But for kids like you, that’s not even the problem. Whether they provide the four major insurances, whether you can rest on weekends and holidays when everyone else does, whether you can freely use annual leave. And that, what was it.”
It was the exact same speech he’d given to a student he tutored in math during his freshman year of college, but since it had been a while, he couldn’t remember it well.
“Right, that’s it! Whether they properly pay overtime wages.”
It was something he’d prepared at a parent’s plea to please talk some sense into their kid. Apparently the kid had suddenly declared they wouldn’t go to college because they were going to become a BJ.
“You have to think about whether you can live like a decent human being with those basics. You get a job and then they work you to death with overtime every day and weekend shifts. You can’t take it and quit. Then where are you going to get employed again?”
Seo Juhan had quit tutoring before that student went to college, so it was unclear whether his words had gotten through.
After that, Seo Juhan had never done part-time work. He lived comfortably solely on scholarships and allowance.
“And wouldn’t your twentieth year—no, twenty-first year—be too precious? While others are drinking, going on blind dates, going to festivals and clubs to have fun, saving money to travel abroad during vacations, you’d have to earn money day and night.”
Seo Juhan, his throat dry, sucked down his milkshake through the straw and continued.
“Hey, it’s the age of living to a hundred. You guys are really going to live past a hundred, you know? Even if you live to a hundred, your twenties only come once in life. The time when you’re prettiest, most handsome, and most energetic is only then. You have to try everything others do. If not then, you can’t. That’ll stay in your heart for life, you know?”
“……”
“If you get it, stop talking nonsense and just study.”
His voice was light yet serious.
“Let me have some students to be proud of too.”
His voice trembled slightly at the end. Seo Juhan felt embarrassed somehow and avoided eye contact. Though he’d recited his lines like a script, the last part was sincere.
“……”
Go Un just looked down at the table without much response, as if lost in thought.
It was ambiguous to see as a positive reaction, but somehow he could sense that the air around him had changed.
Seo Juhan wiped under his nose and grinned. Even though he’d said it himself, his expressiveness was admirable. In his elated mood, he casually threw out a joke.
“I don’t know which college you’ll go to, but I guarantee it. When you go to college, you’ll immediately be worshipped as a campus god. Sounds like I’m kidding? I’m serious. After hanging out with these smelly bastards, when you see fresh kids, you’ll be grateful to me.”
Go Un chuckled.
“I’ll think about it.”
Having said that, Go Un seemed to have regained his appetite and bit into his burger.
Seo Juhan felt an inexplicable relief.
Even though his build was like some basketball player, he definitely ate like a kid. The fact that he got happy just from being praised about being a campus god or whatever—he was definitely still a kid.
Seo Juhan also continued his late meal, chewing his burger. A comfortable silence hung in the air. Even without much talking, the atmosphere was warm.
“But… what do you do staying here until late at night, Teacher?”
Go Un, who had been sneaking glances at Seo Juhan focused only on eating, asked.
“Ah… me?”
Seo Juhan hesitated for a moment, then just spoke honestly.
“Studying.”
“Studying?”
“Yeah.”
“…What kind of studying?”
But he couldn’t very well say he was studying for the teacher certification exam to leave this school and go back to his hometown.
Since the other person was just a big kid anyway, Seo Juhan rambled whatever came to mind.
“I originally like studying. There’s nothing to do even if I go home.”
Even he thought it was an obnoxious statement.
“……?”
Go Un raised one corner of his mouth as if he didn’t understand at all. However, when Seo Juhan put on a shameless face, he didn’t bother to press further. Instead, he asked a different question.
“Do you live there alone, Teacher?”
“There?”
He seemed to be talking about his studio apartment.
“Ah… yeah.”
Seo Juhan momentarily felt awkward, remembering the violence he’d committed against Go Un there.
“Why do you live there?”
“…Why do I live there?”
“Yes. It’s kind of far from school.”
“Ah…”
Seo Juhan drew out his words as if understanding the point of the question.
Because I don’t want to run into you guys after work.
“Just. Because the rent is cheap.”
“That neighborhood’s location is terrible though.”
“Really? It is a bit of an uphill climb. Ah, you must have had a hard time coming to deliver there too.”
“There was a murder there last year.”
“What? Really?”
Startled, Seo Juhan’s face hardened stiffly.
“Yes.”
Go Un’s answer was firm.
Wow… that lady scammed me. She said it was a neighborhood where simple, honest people lived, even if it just looked that way.
Seo Juhan trembled, recalling the real estate agent’s face.
At least the fact that he’d only be there until this year and then leave was a consolation. Trying to calm himself, he bit into the handmade burger filled with well-ripened avocado with his front teeth.
Before he knew it, Go Un’s burger had also been reduced by half.
“Hey… hey.”
“Yes?”
“Let me have a bite to taste that.”
Seo Juhan gestured with his chin toward the burger in Go Un’s hand.
“…Yes. Here.”
Go Un readily stretched out his arm.
Seo Juhan slightly lifted his butt from the chair and bent his upper body. Then he took a big bite from the part with the thick Korean beef cow patty. Like a gourmet, he rolled his eyes as if savoring the taste and gave his review.
“The sauce is a bit greasy.”
“…Is it?”
“Yeah. Avocado is better.”
Go Un stared down at the part with Juhan’s bite mark.
“I thought this one was the best.”
“Oh, you’ve tried them all by type?”
“Yes.”
Go Un answered and then put the part Seo Juhan had just bitten into his mouth. The way he chewed carefully was somehow touching.
Seo Juhan was busy pulling out and looking at the small menu inside the bag.
“What’s the best seller?”
Go Un swept the inside of his mouth with his tongue and answered.
“Avocado.”
“See? I told you avocado is the tastiest.”
Seo Juhan responded with an ‘I knew it’ feeling. As expected, his choices weren’t wrong.
“I think truffle or something is newly released, does that sell well?”
“No. I think it’ll be gone soon.”
Seo Juhan chuckled and picked up his milkshake. The ice inside rattled.
“As expected. You shouldn’t challenge new products.”
Seo Juhan put the straw in his mouth and sucked up every last drop. Air entered through the straw, making a loud noise.
He set the cup down on the table with a thud and continued.
“But if they have a separate delivery person, that place must be doing really well.”
“Pretty much.”
“Well, that’s why they opened a chain. I didn’t know this was the main store?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Seo Juhan nodded and stuffed the remaining burger into his mouth. It was a bit big, so it felt like his mouth would burst. He covered his mouth with his hand so it wouldn’t spill out and chewed firmly.
He’d wasted too much time suddenly doing career counseling. Seo Juhan stood up from his seat with his cheeks bulging and crumpled the paper wrapper, putting it in the plastic bag.
“You finished eating, right? Go now. You’ll get fired for slacking off too much.”
His pronunciation was slurred because of what was in his mouth.
Go Un also silently put the paper bag that had wrapped his burger into the bag. Then he put on his matte black helmet, covering his face.
As Go Un was also putting on his gloves, Seo Juhan squinted his eyes and held out the lightened plastic bag.
“Hey… sorry, but could you throw this away when you leave?”
“Yes.”
Go Un accepted it without complaint. He was a guy whose personality was as refreshing as his face.
“Thanks.”
Seo Juhan patted Go Un’s arm and saw him off only up to right in front of the teacher’s office door.
“Be careful not to get into an accident.”
“Yes. Take care, Teacher.”
Because of the helmet, his voice sounded distant, as if reverberating inside.
Go Un just bowed his head slightly and crossed the threshold of the teacher’s office.
The guy who only wore his school uniform was wearing a leather jacket that clung tightly with a motorcycle helmet, so he looked like a complete thug.
No matter how desperate for money, he should be studying at that time instead.
But anyway, Seo Juhan, for whom his own studying was more important, closed the teacher’s office door without hesitation.
