END OF THE MONTH BONUS CHAPTERS!
The afternoon of the sports festival passed more quickly than the morning.
Having participated in tug-of-war on an empty stomach, he quickly became exhausted. Seo Juhan recharged his sugar levels by sucking on the ice cream that had been given out as a snack. Even before he could finish it, he had to go referee the basketball championship game again.
Seo Juhan’s stamina was running toward complete depletion, but the delinquents’ youthful vigor only intensified.
The dark-skinned bastards played tacky girl idol songs and bounced their hips, or they giggled while shooting water guns at each other that they’d gotten from another class.
They seemed a bit crazed, probably excited from winning game after game. It looked quite revolting, but while other classes were having fights and injuries left and right, there were no major incidents, so it was actually better this way.
With the relay race as the finale, all the competitions ended.
The awards ceremony followed. Seo Juhan’s class, riding on various individual first-place victories, took overall first place and collected a hefty cash prize and goods. It was Go Un who went up on the podium as the representative to receive the box with “1st Place” written largely on it.
[That concludes the sports festival. Since we all enjoyed the sports festival together, we’ll all clean up together. Please pick up all the trash you see and put it in the bags.]
Before the PE teacher holding a microphone in one hand could even finish speaking, pandemonium broke out.
From the time of the awards ceremony, there had been several guys sneaking out little by little beyond the school gate, but now they were leaving in droves.
It was complete chaos. It was almost like being at a disaster site.
Seo Juhan, sitting on the stairs, looked at the escape scene of the prison breakers with a disgusted expression.
In principle, they were supposed to have a closing class meeting in the classroom before going home. The announcement had surely been made that way.
But when rebellion exceeds a certain level, society itself gets overturned. There was no way to control them with the paper-thin authority of a teacher.
Fortunately, the sky-blue soccer uniforms came marching this way imposingly, raising sand dust. The only reason these guys were quiet was purely because of the snack box they’d received as a prize. It was natural for chain smokers to crave something sweet after smoking.
Seo Juhan stood up and brushed off the sand stuck to his butt.
“Guys, congrats on taking first place. Let’s head back to the classroom now.”
At those words, the bastards swaggered up the stairs. The surroundings became noisy with rough cursing that sounded like phlegm rattling everywhere and the sound of sand scraping under shoe soles.
Seo Juhan looked around to do some rough cleanup. On one side of the stairs was the trash bag the class had used. The large-capacity bag that looked to be easily 100 liters was bumpy as if it would burst at any moment. All sorts of miscellaneous trash filling it to the brim showed through hazily.
The trash kept trying to overflow, so he’d had to stomp on the upper part with his foot several times, which was why it looked like that. That level of weight was good enough for strength training.
Seo Juhan, about to lift the trash bag, grimaced fiercely. The ends of the trash bag that should serve as handles were dirty. It was because of residue from throwing away snack bags and ice cream wrappers.
Seo Juhan quickly looked around. The class students were jostling against each other and chattering noisily as they moved en masse toward the main building. Their swaggering, flashy gaits were reminiscent of a B-grade gangster movie.
Among them, Juhan spotted a tall black head standing out.
“Hey, Go Un!”
Even though Go Un was surrounded by the crowd and the surroundings must have been quite noisy, he heard him like a ghost and turned around. He raised one eyebrow as if asking what was wrong.
“You carry this.”
Seo Juhan pointed at the trash bag.
Go Un said something to the guys next to him and walked over. It seemed he’d roughly told them to go ahead.
Walking over leisurely as usual was frustratingly slow. Come to think of it, his hands were empty. The box with “1st Place” that Go Un had received was already being carried by the Vice Representative, who was grunting under the weight.
Go Un passed by Seo Juhan without a word and went straight to the trash bag. Then he stepped firmly on the trash sticking out from the top.
Meanwhile, Seo Juhan picked up conspicuous pieces of trash out of conscience. Empty beverage plastic bottles and scraps of vinyl and such. He was careful not to touch any sticky or dirty parts.
Go Un tied the bag opening tightly twice. He lifted it easily with one hand and strode forward.
“Go Un.”
Seo Juhan called out while following behind. Between his fingers, he held empty plastic bottles.
“Throw that away at the recycling station, and there’s no separate closing meeting, so divide up the snacks among yourselves before you go.”
Go Un nodded his head faintly and trudged ahead first.
Seo Juhan’s steps were much slower than his. Though he’d been just as worn out by the heat and fatigue all day long.
“……”
Suddenly, Seo Juhan looked at Go Un’s back as they went in different directions.
He’d felt it all afternoon, but it seemed the guy was subtly avoiding him. Well, even if it was half-asleep, after making such a fool of himself in the nurse’s office, he had nothing to say for himself either.
“Teacher Juhan, throw that here.”
At the voice from beside him, he turned his head—it was Woo Jongwan. In his hands, he held a trash bag filled halfway.
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
Seo Juhan bowed his head while putting the trash in his hands into the bag.
Woo Jongwan also headed toward the recycling station carrying a thick trash bag.
Seo Juhan brushed off his hands and walked into the main building. After changing into slippers, he caught an elevator whose doors were just about to close. Normally he went up and down the stairs, but today he was too exhausted to do otherwise.
Inside the elevator, it was packed with teachers who’d gotten on first. With many people crammed into the narrow space, it was stifling hot.
Returning to the Second Teachers’ Office, Seo Juhan plopped down heavily in his chair. He had no strength left. It seemed he’d have to slump here and just wait for quitting time.
“Teacher, have this.”
While he was closing his eyes for a moment, something was placed on the desk with a thud. When he opened his eyes, it was a pear-flavored ice cream of the suckable kind.
“It’s what the class kids had left over.”
The English teacher who shared the same office left behind a soda-flavored popsicle and disappeared in a flash.
“Ah, thank you.”
Seo Juhan thanked the empty air.
As he got up from his seat, his neck, which had been bent at a strange angle, felt stiff. While stretching his neck by extending it to the side, he went straight into the bathroom right in front of the teachers’ office.
As he washed his hands and came out shaking off the water, noisy sounds could be heard from the corridor that should have been desolate. It was the sound of raucous voices chattering harshly. Mixed with it was the thumping sound of rhythmic percussion instrument accompaniment.
Somehow this distance… it seemed to be coming from his class.
Seo Juhan walked with an puzzled expression, tilting his head as if exploring. He passed empty classrooms and headed toward the source of the noise.
Just as he thought. Seo Juhan opened his mouth upon seeing the bustling classroom scene through the open back door. The desks had all been pushed forward, and in the wide space created by that, a festival was taking place.
Half of the punks were making noise, and the other half were playing around holding long plastic brooms. Though there were some diligent guys, most were either having sword fights or messing around hitting desks to the beat like playing drums.
At least the mop crew was taking the lead in cleaning most diligently.
Go Un was sitting on a desk near the back door. He also had a broom between his legs. Then when the guy next to him tapped his shoulder, he turned to look this way.
Seo Juhan asked with his eyes what the hell this was.
Go Un lifted his butt from the desk and approached, swinging his long legs. On his knee was the large band-aid that had been put on earlier.
He came to the back door and leaned against the doorframe, looking down at Seo Juhan as if asking what was the matter.
“No, what the…”
Seo Juhan squinted and let out an empty laugh.
“Hey, why are you cleaning the classroom even on sports festival day?”
Expressing it in words made it even more absurd. He was scared he’d get complaints from the guys. So he quickly stuck his face past Go Un’s shoulder.
“Hey, just put your desks back where they were and go.”
Seo Juhan spoke fairly loudly, but it was drowned out. It was because of the flashy pounding of the band holding a rock festival with brooms. Even the guys nearby joined in, banging locker doors shut and stomping the floor with their feet.
“Hey, stop cleaning and just go!”
Nevertheless, the band’s ensemble sound gradually grew faster and louder. It was like the highlight of a pungmul troupe beating gongs like mad. They were passionate as if possessed by hallucinations.
It was the moment Seo Juhan was about to put strength in his stomach and shout even louder.
“Hey!”
Suddenly, a roar rang out from above his head. At the monstrous cry like thunder and lightning striking, Seo Juhan flinched in surprise.
That single syllable spread throughout the entire classroom in an instant. The sky-blue soccer uniforms turned their heads in one direction with wary expressions. They looked just like startled meerkats.
Even the guys who’d been whacking desks with brooms as if to smash them stopped their movements and looked up.
“He says just straighten the rows and go.”
In the classroom where silence had descended, a deep voice settled. Though he didn’t seem to put much force into it, the vocalization was loud. The markedly low resonance had something that made you pay attention automatically.
“Let’s just straighten the desk rows and go quickly.”
The guys who’d frozen as if a disaster warning had sounded slowly regained movement. They returned with swaggering steps while pushing desks, and revived their fidgeting while making squeaking friction sounds. The classroom quickly transformed back into a debauchery scene of rakes.
Thanks to the class representative serving as a loudspeaker, Seo Juhan, who had easily conveyed his intentions, turned his back. And he walked down the corridor hearing the bustling noise spreading from behind.
Like a working person, he contemplated his life after work.
Studying was out today. It seemed he’d collapse on his bed as soon as he got home.
