The thugs wearing students’ masks were looking elsewhere quietly as if they’d made a promise. At a glance, they seemed to be sitting quietly, each concentrating only on their own business.
Their attention, which seemed to be floating in the air, was actually pooled in one place. They were observing the interesting phenomenon unfolding at the window seat in the very back of the classroom.
For those just waiting to graduate, such situations were familiar.
After all, this was a place where only the worst of the worst gathered. Incidents and accidents that were so absurd they’d make your jaw drop were commonplace.
However, the graduating class who’d already formed a solid pyramid system caused trouble relatively infrequently. It was because their own hierarchy was already firmly established. Though they might grind their teeth inside, they at least maintained a ceasefire on the surface.
But when it came to mocking teachers, they became united.
Newly transferred teachers couldn’t easily adapt to this state of affairs and would fly into a rage, erupting like active volcanoes.
Fanning the flames to make them burn even more fiercely and enjoying the spectacle was their pastime.
Without even knowing it, Seo Juhan had gotten caught up in the scene of that fierce battle.
Whether he’d be able to enjoy the minimum respect as a teacher or fall to the bottom of the food chain hinged on this moment.
He was one step away from tumbling down a cliff. However, there was no way Seo Juhan, buried in rational thinking with remarkably poor animal instincts, could detect such a life-or-death crisis.
His numbness simultaneously made him a vulnerable prey and saved him by a hair’s breadth from this final ultimatum.
“Give me the mechanical pencil.”
Seo Juhan held out his palm while swallowing a sigh.
Having no immunity to, nor competitive spirit for, battles of wills, he chose evasion disguised as defeat. It was the extremely simple logic that you don’t avoid shit because it’s scary, but because it’s dirty.
“Here.”
Go Un grinned and tilted the mechanical pencil held between his index and middle fingers as if to say, take it. His wrist remained on the open book. He clearly had no intention of extending his arm properly.
“……”
The passive gesture that said “take it if you can” was childish beyond measure.
Though it was extremely irritating, Seo Juhan resigned himself to finishing quickly. He took a step forward and slowly reached out his hand.
The hand of this guy he’d never paid any attention to before came into view.
It was large enough to easily snap a mechanical pencil. The fingers were thick and long, and the protruding knuckles showed bulging bones. Blue veins protruded prominently on the back of the hand. Those rugged blood vessels continued vividly all the way to the forearm.
It was something that couldn’t be created without persistent exercise combined with innate genes.
Seo Juhan’s body remembered deep in its bones how thoroughly, how endlessly long that hand had ravaged him in every corner.
Reflexively, his heart pounded fiercely. His breathing became rough.
Juhan gulped down the abundant saliva pooled below his mouth. He tried hard to maintain his composure.
He wanted to stab that throat with the sharp pencil tip. However, stopping at imagination, he carefully grabbed the pencil tip. He was careful not to let even a strand of fine hair touch.
He gripped the pencil tightly and scrawled quickly.
“There, satisfied?”
Thud.
The mechanical pencil hit the book with a sound.
“……I can’t read any of it.”
It was a tone that was genuinely incredulous.
Seo Juhan looked down at the solution he’d scribbled hastily. It was definitely chicken scratch. Honestly, even he wouldn’t be able to read it at all if he looked at it again after time passed.
Damn it! Acknowledging his mistake, Seo Juhan picked up the pencil again. He leaned his upper body slightly. He wrote clearly in the empty space below the solution he’d just written.
Go Un leisurely tilted his head to the side to look. His gaze was fixed not on the equation but on the person. He observed as if viewing a work of art.
Suddenly his arm stretched out like a demon’s hand without warning.
“……What the.”
By the time he noticed, his wrist was already wrapped.
‘Let go.’
Seo Juhan glared at Go Un and mouthed the words.
Go Un ignored Seo Juhan’s words and gently stroked his wrist with his thumb. He caressed along the delicate part where the thin bone protruded on the inside of the wrist.
Goosebumps rose on his forearm. Seo Juhan pulled hard, trying to free his captured wrist. The brutish grip didn’t easily let go.
“You had a mole here.”
It was a small whisper that barely reached even Seo Juhan. Sweat beaded along Juhan’s nape. His heart pounded violently as if it would leap out of his mouth.
‘I said let go.’
Seo Juhan raised his eyebrows again and spoke soundlessly.
Go Un paid no heed and his eyes gleamed with interest.
“Why didn’t I know until now?”
It was almost like a breath.
Unlike his own extremities that cooled easily, Go Un’s extremities had high body temperature. His captured wrist was warm. It ached as if wrapped in a hand warmer.
Seo Juhan froze silently as if shot with a tranquilizer. His wrist was a part he’d never once been sexually conscious of before. It suddenly felt foreign, like someone else’s.
At least he wouldn’t do anything reckless openly in front of all these people. He believed that, but it was a mistake.
Tension flowed between those who shared intimate secrets.
The secret locked within the walls raised its head. It was a private matter he couldn’t dare confess to anyone.
The shame of being toyed with by this immoral scoundrel without a shred of humanity, yet feeling each and every one of those hot hands and breaths, and going into heat over them.
It was that day when the psychopath wearing the mask of vice representative had closed the distance in one bound.
It was a night when rain poured torrentially. Starting from that night, something essential inside him had changed.
He couldn’t stand that sensation at all.
Unable to endure any longer, Seo Juhan shook him off forcefully.
“Let go.”
The hand came off surprisingly easily. It seemed the grip had been relaxed.
Seo Juhan rubbed his captured wrist with his other hand as if disinfecting it.
“You haven’t finished solving it yet.”
Go Un just looked up with a coolly smiling face and spoke. Insufferable leisure oozed from him. There was a feeling that he was the one in control of the current situation, just like the wrist he’d kneaded at will.
“I need to move on with the lesson, so I’ll tell you later.”
Seo Juhan made an absurd excuse and stepped backward. He widened the distance as if he’d immediately be attacked if he showed his back.
Go Un, who’d been staring at that sight, let out a snicker. It soon continued into giggling laughter.
Seo Juhan turned around while hearing that mischievous low laughter.
I need to move on……
It was a phrase that could be interpreted with double meaning. Seo Juhan realized the meaning of that laughter and blushed. But he soon swept up his bangs and set his lips firmly. He walked between the desks sprawled crookedly in all directions.
* * *
“Okay. Taking the picture. One, two, three!”
Seo Juhan, sitting askew on the edge of the bench, forced his unwilling mouth corners upward. He barely made his eyes into half-moons, fighting against the squinting caused by the bright sunlight pouring on his face. He maintained his expression and looked at the black lens.
Click.
A crisp shutter sound rang out.
As soon as the photo was taken, the sounds of held breath burst out from around him. Whether they were trying to inflate their chests or what, he couldn’t understand at all why they made such sounds.
Seo Juhan’s face changed to expressionless in an instant. Taking advantage of this moment, he didn’t hide his annoyed and bothersome look. It was close to sullen.
“Why is everyone’s expression so stiff. When I say one, two, three, everyone say kimchi together~!”
However, there was no time to rest even for a moment. The photographer wearing a black cap on his dark skin was full of enthusiasm despite his drab appearance.
“One, two, three!”
“Kimchiiiii.”
The thick voices reeked of rotten, soured kimchi. The atmosphere of the arboretum where summer energy was gradually rising instantly transformed into a gangster den.
“Wait, the very back row there.”
But the photographer’s passion didn’t cease.
“Why are you so spread out again. Move to the center.”
At those words, the back murmured. Whispering like “Move to the side, bastard,” and “Don’t push, fucker” were also added.
“A little more. Just a little more.”
Unable to bear the frustration, the photographer came out in front of the tripod. He gestured with his hands while giving instructions. Black arm sleeves swayed below his short-sleeved dark shirt.
“Good. Stop.”
Finally the okay sign came down.
“Now, this time, cheeese! Here we go! One, two, three!”
“Cheeese.”
If this was cheese, it was cheese reeking of the dirty gunk between toes.
“Okay, last one. This time, only pretty and handsome people smile.”
Seo Juhan desperately created a smiling image. His mouth corners were gradually starting to spasm. Trying to maintain a forced smile, his facial muscles trembled.
“One, two, three!”
Click.
“Perfect~!”
Seo Juhan let out a “whew” sigh. He wanted to relax his eyes, but since he was sitting facing the sunlight, he naturally frowned.
The photographer looked into the camera. He seemed to be checking the photo just taken.
Seo Juhan had not even the slightest desire to have his face stuck in Yangseong School’s graduation album. However, since the atmosphere was that all homeroom teachers participated in class photos, he couldn’t stand out alone.
Moreover, having lived his whole life as a model student, he’d never once shirked the legitimate duties imposed on him in life. Thus, he came to take graduation photos combined with a one-day experiential learning trip.
The location was Jeonghan Arboretum in the outskirts of the northern new city district in Jeonghan City, Gyeonggi Province.
