And so, finishing the tiresome journey at the villa, we got back on the wide highway. This time too, it was that bastard Baek Sahyun who held the steering wheel.
Whether he found me unreliable or just enjoyed driving, Baek Sahyun continued driving while humming a tune like he had on the way there.
When I listened closely to the melody, it even seemed similar to a new song released by some girl group. This bastard—when was it that he only wanted to listen to piano pieces like funeral dirges, and now he’s switching gears like this?
Perhaps sensing my puzzled gaze, Baek Sahyun tilted his head this way. Right. When you think about it, this bastard is also a vigorous guy in his early to mid-twenties, so there’s no reason he’d avoid girl groups.
He’s probably around twenty-six or so. An age that’s in full youth—going to college, dating, and slowly preparing for employment. No wait, college? A reasonable doubt suddenly crossed my mind.
“Hey, but Sahyun-ah. Your school… are you just skipping it?”
I turned my body toward the driver’s seat and asked. Actually, I’d wanted to ask since the villa but had been holding back. The main setting of *Excessively Brilliant* is campus. Therefore, the protagonists are all college students.
They’re nominally undergraduate students in Hell Joseon…, but is it okay for them to be leisurely killing time at a resort from early spring? Are college students originally like that? Damn it. I don’t know since I’ve never attended college.
Unfortunately, I died before Jang Haesu entered college, so there was nothing to compare it to.
“I’m taking online classes though?”
Baek Sahyun shrugged his shoulders and returned an answer. And added.
“I’ve been playing them in between. I’m diligent, you know.”
Seeing one corner of his mouth rise with a smile, my worries were relieved. I thought he’d thrown away studying and everything, distracted by me. If his obsession had been to that degree, my concerns would have grown even more.
It was when I was examining the scenery outside the car window with a much more comfortable mind. Suddenly feeling a sense of incongruity, I frantically tapped Baek Sahyun’s forearm and asked.
“Hey, hey. Crazy, then, what about… me…?”
“Hm?”
“Me? I’m also…, a college student, aren’t I?”
That’s right. Nam Heejae is also a college student. Though Jang Woohyun was a high school graduate, Nam Heejae was definitely a prodigy among prodigies who entered Korea University’s Department of Political Science and Diplomacy.
“That’s right.”
Baek Sahyun answered indifferently as if it were an utterly trivial question. My spine instantly went cold. What should I do? I’d completely forgotten the fact that I too was a college student who needed to attend classes regularly.
“My, my classes? Don’t I need to attend anything?”
“How would I know your schedule? Why are you treating me like a stalker?”
Seeing Baek Sahyun chuckle made me feel betrayed. Treating you like a stalker, my ass. You’re even worse than that.
Though it was an improper emotion, I still felt resentful. While he’d completely disrupted my daily life, he himself had been diligently attending online lectures.
Cheap bastard. Where’s the harm in giving me a heads-up?
After glaring sharply at the bastard’s profile, I turned my eyes to my phone. These days, college life is all conducted through applications, so there should be some information worth gleaning.
“Give it here.”
But when I was wandering around for a while not knowing which app to open, Baek Sahyun took the phone. After turning the steering wheel with one hand to stop the car near the roadside, the bastard tapped the screen a couple of times as if familiar with it.
“It’s the 4th week and you’re marked absent for everything. They’re all major courses.”
“…Then what happens?”
Four weeks of absences. Is that very bad? A vague anxiety came over me.
I’d heard that universities don’t care much about attendance, so wouldn’t this much be okay? Should I contact the professors from now on to explain the situation?
“Four absences means an F.”
A bombshell statement dropped on me as I trembled with anxiety. Though I’d never even crossed a university threshold, I roughly knew what the alphabet F meant. It meant dangers like expulsion or demotion lurked.
What should I do? Making Nam Heejae receive an F. I felt sorry to the body’s owner.
When I sighed in dismay, Baek Sahyun pulled my ear without hurting me.
“Is this your first time attending college? Why are you skipping all your classes?”
“It is my first time attending…. I told you I’m a high school graduate. Actually, I didn’t attend classes well even in high school.”
Because I’d always just get drowsy whenever I attended. From that time, I’d thrown myself into part-time jobs. Thinking that since Haesu was good at studying, I should just support her from behind.
When I trailed off and lowered my head, Baek Sahyun seemed a bit flustered and was silent for a moment.
“…I get it, so just do what I tell you to.”
Baek Sahyun answered while patting my shoulder as if encouraging me and resumed driving.
At some point, I dozed off. When I subtly opened my eyes, I felt a strange stuffiness on my face. It was because a white handkerchief was covering my face.
I removed the handkerchief and looked around. Harsh direct sunlight was pouring through the car window blinds. The white handkerchief covering me to block the ultraviolet rays seemed unbelievably to be Baek Sahyun’s consideration.
The bastard was quietly dozing with his arms crossed in the driver’s seat. His face with eyes lowered looked like a fairy in deep sleep. When he stays quiet, he’s such a pretty and handsome-looking bastard.
When I shook his forearm to wake him, his eyelids that had been twitching slowly opened.
“Weren’t you taking me to the hotel?”
I asked while gesturing with my chin toward the outside scenery. It was because we’d arrived somewhere different from the expected location. Baek Sahyun answered while squinting his eyes.
“I wasn’t?”
“Then what, you want me to walk?”
When I shot back sharply, the bastard chuckled quietly, then got out of the car and opened the passenger seat door. Displaying manners again. You don’t really need to do this for me.
I awkwardly got out of the car. Right in front appeared a huge mansion surrounded by gray walls. It was the kind of grand mansion I’d seen a lot in dramas. Just facing it seemed overwhelming to the atmosphere.
Baek Sahyun pushed me as I stood frozen.
“Even if you go to the hotel, it’ll be a mess anyway. Rest here. While we’re at it, I’ll handle the school matter too. Well, you can’t do anything by yourself anyway.”
I blankly stared at the back of the bastard walking ahead triumphantly while even carrying my luggage.
…Isn’t this bastard treating me too much like a child?
My pride was strangely hurt, but it was awkward to rebuff someone offering to help. And actually, I was in a situation where I needed help. Since Baek Sahyun is also a college student, he would definitely have expertise in this area.
However, contrary to my expectations, the bastard’s method was far too primitive.
Since he pompously said he’d ‘handle it,’ I thought he’d call the university president directly to negotiate or something, but he first told me to send emails to the professors in charge to ask for their understanding.
When I asked if it wasn’t something that could be finished by just slipping them some money, Baek Sahyun looked at me like garbage and flicked my forehead. He said if the emails worked, great, and if not, I should accept taking a leave of absence.
He also told me I’d get badly burned trying to live life the easy way. So I should live properly.
I wanted to ask back if he lived properly, but well, I could accept up to that point. So I worked hard on writing emails. Since I was going to do it anyway, I also wracked my brain trying to imitate a polite and neat student’s tone.
Are you well, Professor? It is a March morning when the spring air is still chilly. I am writing this for no other reason than to convey my sincere apology regarding my absences for 4 weeks. I have nothing to say even if you scold me, but I went to a resort with a friend who is very mentally unwell….
The problem was that Baek Sahyun started nitpicking beside me.
“That email, are you serious?”
“Huh?”
“…Just move aside. I’ll write it for you instead.”
The bastard shook his head as if unsatisfied every time I rewrote it, then eventually snatched the laptop in front of me and completed the email as he pleased.
Without giving me a chance to protest, the bastard instructed the next task. There were several online lectures with deadlines until today, so listen to those first; there were assignments that gave points just for submission, so do those too, etc.
And then he confirmed with me.
“You can do it, right?”
“What do you take this hyung-nim for? That much is a piece of cake.”
I also answered confidently.
Baek Sahyun, who worked hard to establish the basics of college life for me during the remaining time, implemented Spartan education starting from the next day for a week. He even showed enthusiasm by checking my attendance and assignment submissions every time via messenger, and taking me to campus to show me the locations of the cafeteria and library.
Though I was a bit puzzled why he was teaching me so actively, anyway it was great for me. While getting excited about campus life I’d never experienced, I also thought, is this okay?
These things are actually the daily life Nam Heejae should be enjoying….
But since these aren’t things I should be enjoying, if I just left them alone Nam Heejae’s life would be ruined, so I rationalized guiltily while receiving Baek Sahyun’s helpful tips.
Thanks to that, I was able to vaguely take on the appearance of a college student. Finding my way around the vast campus fairly well, and learning the sense of listening attentively to professors’ words while nodding my head even if I didn’t understand the content at all.
So honestly…, it wasn’t a bad life. Except for going to Baek Sahyun’s mansion every evening to report on my daily activities and receive specialized knowledge.
