# Chapter 1
[Hey, did you know that smell is connected to memory?
I believe this.
Really, sometimes when I smell something, memories come flooding back.
I wonder if you’ve experienced it too.
One time, this happened.
As soon as I entered the hospital and smelled that hospital scent, I asked my mom if I’d been there before, and she said I had been there as a newborn.
Amazing, right?
My theory is that when we take deep breaths, fragments of smells enter through our nose and get stored in our brain.
They stick somewhere in our soft brain.
And when we happen to smell that scent again, the stored memories surface too.
If I become a scientist someday, could I uncover this principle?
That’s why I take deep breaths whenever I’m happy.
I want to store lots and lots of happy memories.
You should try it too whenever you think of it.
Actually, this is a secret, but I often do this when I’m with you…
You always smell nice.
Especially when you smile.]
—From a letter long ago.
***
Generally, a teenager’s turbulent period is filled with all kinds of misfortunes.
Yumyeong had come to think that he was somehow broken.
It felt like ages since he had gotten up early to prepare for school without any questions or complaints. Now he had become so lazy. The wake-up alarm was blaring from the dormitory speakers, and his roommate was busy washing up in the bathroom, yet Yumyeong was lying there blankly, just blinking, far from getting ready for school. His long, unfocused eyes with drooping lashes still seemed drowsy, as if drunk with sleep.
He fumbled around the side of his pillow to check his phone.
But there were still ‘0 messages’ received from last night.
“Sigh…”
Yumyeong buried his face in the pillow and despaired. His black hair was disheveled.
It was as expected.
What went wrong? He thought things had been going well with a good atmosphere.
[Will you go out with me?]
Yesterday, Yumyeong had sent this message to the girl he was closest to.
But their chat window, which usually had constant conversations flowing, had completely stopped after Yumyeong’s last message. Considering that replies usually came within 5 minutes, this was clearly a rejection.
Feeling listless at the thought of being turned down, Yumyeong pulled the blanket over his head. He no longer cared about school. Yet still, thinking a message might come at any moment, he tightly clutched his phone, closed his eyes again with hope.
“Shin Yumyeong, sleeping again!”
Just then, from behind Yumyeong came the voice of his friend and dormmate, Hanju. Already dressed in his uniform, Hanju shook Yumyeong’s back.
“If you don’t leave now, you’re definitely going to be late. Only 5 minutes left until attendance!”
“Go ahead…”
“You haven’t even washed up yet. You’ll be late at this rate!”
Finding the continued nagging irritating, Yumyeong expressed his annoyance by wrapping himself more tightly in his blanket.
“What are you counting on? This is driving me crazy!”
After fidgeting restlessly behind him, Hanju finally dashed out of the room with just 2 minutes left until attendance time. He abandoned his friend at the brink of tardiness and fled with intensity.
Yumyeong, still cocooned in his blanket, criticized the unreasonableness of attendance time while sleep still clung to his eyelids. Attendance time was set at 8:30 AM. However, first period starts at 9:00, and the homeroom teacher comes around 8:50 for a brief roll call and morning assembly.
This was Yumyeong’s complaint: Why must one go to school 30 minutes earlier than class time? Shouldn’t it be enough to just make it for the assembly?
To make some excuse, Yumyeong believed people have their own patterns. He was simply pursuing extreme efficiency. If he could wake up just 10 minutes before attendance time and still make it to school without issue, why did they need to do morning roll call an hour and a half early, and arrive 30 minutes ahead? Whose standard was this?
Moreover, for someone like him who loves sleeping in, school rules that standardize start times without considering individuals’ physical and genetic characteristics didn’t sit well with him.
‘Not all humans can be morning people.’
Yumyeong rationalized his laziness that way, wriggling in his blanket with laments and wails. He only emerged from his blanket after delaying to the absolute last possible moment.
“Ugggh…”
He sprang out of bed, kicking off his blanket like a coiled spring. When he shook his head vigorously once, his fine black hair swayed in the air. His hair looked soft yet had a certain elasticity to it. Having come to his senses, Yumyeong washed his face like lightning and swiftly changed into his uniform. Being the type to shower before bed, his morning preparations were quick. Of course, the reason for doing so was also to sleep a little longer in the morning.
With eyes now clear of sleepiness and looking sharp, Yumyeong carefully opened the door.
Confirming that the dorm supervisor wasn’t on this floor, he ran up to the top floor nimbly and silently. There, a skybridge connects the dormitory building to the school building. It’s usually locked in the morning, but Yumyeong had a key. He stood in front of the door and carefully grasped the lock. The way he cupped the lock in his hands to minimize noise before turning the key showed he was quite practiced at this.
With a light twist of his hand, there was a soft “click” as the metal engaged. Yumyeong glanced back one last time to check. The empty dormitory corridor remained silent with no signs of anyone.
Another successful day.
Relieved, he quickly slipped out the door.
This key was one he had stolen and copied months ago when he’d been called to the supervisor’s office for a scolding. Being scolded that day was unfortunate, but he had turned misfortune into luck. Since then, Yumyeong could sleep right up until the very last minute before attendance time.
As he crossed the skybridge, Yumyeong suddenly stopped in the middle and glanced down below.
A light breeze blew, briefly revealing the forehead and eyebrows of the intelligent-looking boy. The contours of his face and profile were remarkably elegant, as if drawn in a single, smooth line without any excess. Most eye-catching were his bright, sparkling eyes and upright posture. Without a bag and just in his shirt, Yumyeong didn’t hunch even slightly despite the cold wind at the top floor.
At the end of his gaze, at the school gate below, tardy students were caught and lined up in a row.
‘Clueless guys.’
Just as he was looking down sympathetically at the students standing nervously in line:
Caw, caw!
A bird flew overhead, screeching with a strange cry. It seemed like a student below turned his head this way in response.
“Oh no…”
Yumyeong quickly ducked below the skybridge railing. The bird flew low again, circling above Yumyeong’s head. It was as if it was announcing that there was a tardy student here.
“What’s with that thing?”
Yumyeong waited anxiously for the crow to leave. But the crow, as if taunting him, flew close enough to nearly touch his head before soaring up again, flying with complete freedom.
“Look over there! There’s a huge crow!”
Someone shouted from the first floor below. Because of the crow inadvertently drawing attention, Yumyeong finally had to walk in a duck-like crouch instead of standing up again. His thighs ached when he finally made it inside the door in that comical manner.
Eventually, the crow seemed to lose interest once its target disappeared and flew toward the mountain. Watching the crow fly away, Yumyeong opened his mouth slightly.
“Seriously, that thing.”
He couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d been messed with.
Located in a mountain valley of Gangwon Province, this school had a mountain at its back. The boundary of the mountain behind, shrouded in morning mist, became hazier with distance, like a landscape in an ink painting. It looked nice, but because of this, all kinds of animals not commonly seen in urban areas could be spotted around the school. When leaving the dormitory at night, it wasn’t uncommon to come face to face with the glowing eyes of unidentifiable four-legged creatures. The anecdote about seniors who went up the mountain behind the dormitory to secretly drink and encountered a wild boar is famous.
“Can you eat crow?”
The restaurant closest to the school sold sparrow skewers and rabbit soup to hikers. There’s no reason crow meat wouldn’t work too.
He should suggest crow meat to the restaurant owner.
With such thoughts, Yumyeong naturally headed toward his classroom. He pretended to be someone who arrived early but had been wandering around the upper floors because he had something to do.
Humming to himself, he encountered more people as he went down the floors. At the bottom of the stairs, a group of students caught for being late were following a teacher with their heads bowed, trudging up the stairs with gloomy faces.
“You lazy fellows. How can the same people be late every day? It’s a habit, a habit!”
The teacher’s shout came from below. While mentally agreeing with those words, Yumyeong argued in his heart that it was actually a genetic characteristic. But after glancing at them, he crossed the corridor as if it had nothing to do with him.
“Shin Yumyeong!”
Along with an unpleasant feeling of something poking his back, a booming voice that seemed to grab his nape rang out. Yumyeong’s steps came to an abrupt halt.
“You weren’t late?”
What poked Yumyeong’s back was none other than the massage stick of the PE teacher who also served as the grade supervisor, Teacher Jang. He always carried around a massage stick that he used to loosen muscles, threatening students like this.
“I wasn’t late? Did you happen to see me?”
Though he almost felt intimidated for having used a trick, Yumyeong responded brazenly. As he made an innocent expression, his sharply arched eyebrows rounded.
