2.
On the first day of final exams, the first subject was literature.
Being number 2 on the attendance list, Gong Pyeonghwa sat in the front row of the exam formation, while Shin Saebyeok and Seonwoo Jeong sat near the end, one behind the other.
“Gong Pyeong. Let’s go to the school store.”
“What are you getting?”
“Kim-man. Kim-man.”
“Stop eating so many kimchi dumplings. You’re making them go extinct because of you. Eat a pizza bun. Pizza bun.”
“Shut up. I’m eating them because I want to make them extinct. My mission is the extinction of kimchi dumplings.”
Shin Saebyeok, who sat behind Seonwoo Jeong whose only reason for coming to school was to eat the kimchi dumplings sold only at the school store, was actually regretting what had happened yesterday.
Yesterday, he wasn’t in his right mind.
After committing that crazy act, he felt a sense of vigilance that he needed to pull himself together. Perhaps because of that, today he seemed to be in better condition than yesterday.
Saebyeok looked over his mistake notes one more time to strengthen his resolve.
Although Gong Pyeonghwa had said yesterday that he would lose on purpose, Saebyeok didn’t believe it.
Gong Pyeonghwa was always frivolous about everything, so yesterday’s words were probably just something he said casually.
“Hey, Shin Saebyeok is studying. Hurry up and get the dump-dump-dumplings.”
“You mean pizza bun. Pizza buuun.”
Even now, the way he winked after making eye contact showed exactly that. He looked normal but acted like this.
Saebyeok took a deep breath and focused on his mistake notes again.
Five minutes later, the teacher stood at the podium with the exam papers.
As the Peace and Friendship gang came running in a hurry, the teacher handed out the exam papers with a small sigh, without any particular scolding.
‘I can do this.’
***
On the first day of final exams, during the last subject, social studies.
Shin Saebyeok’s face floated above the test paper.
Gong Pyeonghwa recalled what had happened on the rooftop yesterday.
The situation where Shin Saebyeok grabbed him and shed tears was a little, just a little, thrilling.
More thrilling than when he beat Shin Saebyeok for the first time.
‘Do I want to see that bastard cry?’
Pondering his own sadistic tendencies while solving problems without hesitation, Gong Pyeonghwa finally recalled Shin Saebyeok again after leisurely finishing all the essay answers.
‘Didn’t I promise to lose to him? But how do I lose on purpose?’
To begin with, they weren’t in a relationship where “losing on purpose” made sense.
Their victories and defeats were separated by just one or two problems. Even if he said he would lose on purpose, he could actually lose even if he tried desperately to win.
‘Ah! But those eyes.’
The problem was that he kept thinking about those brown eyes brimming with tears.
‘Since I’m losing anyway, I might as well make it obvious, really go all out with losing.’
With 5 minutes left until the exam ended, Gong Pyeonghwa suddenly raised his hand.
“Teacher! I need to change my OMR sheet!”
“Just raise your hand quietly. Just your hand.”
Gong Pyeonghwa smiled awkwardly and remarked again. He deliberately marked the answers one problem off.
He continued doing this for the next three days.
Whether Shin Saebyeok or Gong Pyeonghwa was more stubborn is unclear, but anyway, that’s how the first semester final exams of their first year in high school ended.
After homeroom, Gong Pyeonghwa’s steps toward home were light, while Shin Saebyeok’s were very heavy.
‘It looks like he got everything right… I made a mistake on one problem…’
The thought that he might have lost again washed over him.
Gong Pyeonghwa approached Saebyeok with a grin, looking like he had done well on the exam. Then he suddenly held out his test paper.
Saebyeok took Gong Pyeonghwa’s test paper with suspicious eyes and checked it.
Gong Pyeonghwa had gotten right exactly the question that he had gotten wrong.
Saebyeok handed the test paper back to Gong Pyeonghwa with trembling hands.
Gong Pyeonghwa put the test paper in his messenger bag and grinned smugly.
“Hey.”
“…What.”
Gong Pyeonghwa dragged his slippers and chose his words.
Whether he wanted to brag about winning or mock him for actually believing he would lose on purpose. Either way, Saebyeok didn’t want to see Gong Pyeonghwa’s face right now.
“Where am I going now?”
He suddenly asked a strange question, as if building up to something.
“Home, I guess.”
Saebyeok answered curtly.
“Nope. Not right.”
The childish, teasing way Gong Pyeonghwa spoke was incredibly annoying.
Even though Saebyeok deliberately didn’t ask where he was going, Gong Pyeonghwa told him anyway.
“I’m going to the teacher’s office now.”
Is he going to get praised for doing well on the exam? A corner of Saebyeok’s heart rose sharply.
“Because I marked my answers out of order.”
“…”
“For all subjects.”
“…”
“I’m going to get fucking scolded. You go home and enjoy yourself, okay? I’m so jealous.”
Gong Pyeonghwa said while ostentatiously brushing his wrists.
“I marked everything wrong because of my trembling hands. Ah. This fucking tremor.”
Despite using his usual crude and improper language habits, today, strangely, Gong Pyeonghwa looked a little cool.
The sound of him dragging his slippers echoed through the hallway.
‘Maybe he’s not such a hateful kid after all.’
Saebyeok slightly modified his thoughts about Gong Pyeonghwa, which hadn’t been updated in 12 years.
***
A week passed.
During that time, Gong Pyeonghwa’s report card came out, and he got his back beaten by his stern mother and was scorned with a glare by his benevolent father.
Honestly, he didn’t help Saebyeok expecting anything in return, but he went from being the cute second son of the Gong family to a hopeless fool overnight, and for more than a week, Shin Saebyeok hadn’t said a word.
‘He just glares and doesn’t open his mouth.’
He thought Saebyeok would at least say thank you, but Shin Saebyeok didn’t even mention the first letter of “thank you” and only glared at Gong Pyeonghwa from time to time.
‘Am I asking for a fruit basket or something? Just say thank you, at least. I even made a big deal about it just in case. Do you know how much I was beaten that day when I got home?’
Gong Pyeonghwa’s back still ached when he thought about it.
‘Is this your grade? Your grade? Are you rebelling? Huh?’
‘Why! Our family is well-off, so even if I don’t study well, you can at least send me to university by laying down some turf.’
‘Is that what you should be saying right now? Huh? Huh? Huh?’
‘Ah! Ah! Ah! It hurts!’
‘I’m hitting you so it hurts! I’m hitting you so it hurts!’
Thinking that his mother might be the reincarnation of the Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara, Gong Pyeonghwa poked Seonwoo Jeong.
“Kim-man?”
“Ha, this bastard… Now you’ve discovered the taste of kimchi dumplings.”
“What are you talking about? We’re going to eat pizza buns.”
Seonwoo Jeong clicked his tongue. In the image of Seonwoo Jeong clicking his tongue, Gong Pyeonghwa saw his father’s face. Feeling his back stinging again, Gong Pyeonghwa tapped and pulled Seonwoo Jeong to the school store.
He felt he needed to heal this pain with pizza buns, at least.
5 minutes to line up, 1 minute to eat, 2 minutes to go back up. Gong Pyeonghwa spent the 10-minute break efficiently and sat down leisurely.
It was worth opening the textbook for the next class in advance, as he had expected this.
But in that short time, a note had been placed on top of his textbook.
[Could you come to the rooftop after class?]
The handwriting was identical to last week’s note.
That meant Shin Saebyeok had sent another note…
‘Doesn’t this guy know how to text?’
Why leave such an analog trace? To make him excited?
Gong Pyeonghwa, who had been excited last week thinking the note was a confession letter, now disliked everything about it.
It didn’t seem like it would be anything good, and he wondered what nonsense Saebyeok was going to spout on the rooftop today to leave such a note.
Gong Pyeonghwa crumpled the note and shoved it roughly into his pocket, thinking that in the second semester, he would destroy Shin Saebyeok or Shin Whatever.
***
Shin Saebyeok observed Gong Pyeonghwa with eagle eyes during every break.
He then quantified and recorded all of Gong Pyeonghwa’s statements and actions.
Frequency of visits to the school store: Average 4 times a day – before homeroom, during 2nd period, lunch time, and 6th period.
Foods eaten besides school lunch in a week (school store): 26 pizza buns, 11 bags of potato chips, 12 cans of ion drinks, 5 cans of soda, 20 packs of jelly, 2 chocolates, 22 ice creams, 7 cup noodles.
Foods eaten besides school lunch in a week (delivery): Boneless chicken, pizza, sweet and sour pork, stir-fried sundae (blood sausage), tteokbokki, shaved ice, rice noodles, cake, macarons.
After analyzing Gong Pyeonghwa’s eating habits, Shin Saebyeok came to one conclusion:
‘How does he eat so much?’
Like a curious puppy, Gong Pyeonghwa would put something in his mouth the moment you took your eyes off him.
Moreover, despite being a first-year student, he had the intelligence to evade teachers’ eyes by having food delivered to the third-year classroom.
The chicken operation during self-study time still made his palms sweat just thinking about it.
‘The audacity to order dessert on top of almost getting caught…’
During his week of observing Gong Pyeonghwa, Saebyeok’s mouth often fell open at his antics.
He was shocked at how Pyeonghwa did things in daily life as naturally as breathing that Saebyeok wouldn’t even dare to imagine. On the other hand, he also felt a sense of relief. It was a kind of vicarious satisfaction.
Perhaps he had been seeing Gong Pyeonghwa too one-dimensionally because of misunderstandings and prejudice? That question arose. The reason his observation period, which started to express gratitude and consider what gift would be appropriate, lengthened was because of this.
Gong Pyeonghwa was interesting.
The Gong Pyeonghwa who used to bully him abruptly when they were young was just naturally playful by nature.
He felt sorry for only seeing him in a negative light. He felt so anxious about needing to apologize properly.
Of course, Saebyeok had no intention of apologizing empty-handed, with just words.
As soon as school ended, Saebyeok headed to the school store with confidence.
While the delivered food always changed stores, the things bought at the school store were always the same products. It seemed like school store food would be less likely to miss the mark as a gift.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen Shin Saebyeok at the school store.”
Actually, it was Saebyeok’s first time at the school store.
Saebyeok was the type to strictly manage his diet, so he rarely snacked at all.
“Aren’t you curious about what I’m going to buy?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
