Soon, kids from other classes continued the dodgeball game. Neither team was particularly ahead. The game, which had reached almost a tie, ended with the white team winning.
“Our class won so there’s no problem. Still, I wanted to last longer, but I got eliminated too early.”
“You survived pretty long yourself.”
“No, I usually last longer.”
Hee-ae dusted off his hands while looking at the game results. Since it was the second-years’ turn next, we continued sitting and watching. While watching the second-years do the three-legged race, Hee-ae quietly asked.
“Will we do the same thing next year? That event, I mean.”
“Probably. They rarely change the sports festival events.”
“I hope we’re in the same class next year too.”
Hee-ae said in passing. I responded as if it were just as trivial.
“Mm-hmm, I really hope so.”
At my answer, Hee-ae smiled faintly.
“Remember we decided to go see cherry blossoms together next spring?”
“Yeah, I think I remember.”
“Do you think things will be different then? I mean, between us.”
Hee-ae asked, but I didn’t answer and pretended not to notice. Hee-ae, who had been looking at me for a moment, fell into deep thought. For some reason feeling scared, I grabbed Hee-ae and said.
“You know that even if things get awkward between us then, a promise is a promise, right? No backing out after this.”
Hee-ae nodded with a smile. Actually, what I just said was my own selfish desire. But Hee-ae looked rather pleased by my words. I stared into empty space with mixed feelings.
The second-year sunbaes’ games continued, and ended with the opposing team’s victory. The PE teacher shouted loudly.
“It’s lunchtime now, so let’s eat and gather again. Second-years, follow slowly starting now.”
The second-year sunbaes headed to the cafeteria in order. Because the seats were arranged far apart, there was hardly any opportunity to talk with Cho-yeon. He approached closer and complained.
“We’re only getting to talk now that it’s time to eat.”
“Why are you acting like we didn’t talk at all today?”
“But it’s not like I talked with you much either. Someone else was flirting and playing around with you all day.”
Cho-yeon retorted. I didn’t talk much today, that’s true. I checked how long the cafeteria line was. Even though I clearly knew Cho-yeon was feeling hurt, I answered pretending not to know.
“I hope you take it up with the school that arranged the seats that way.”
“Is that all you have to say?”
Cho-yeon closed his mouth as if to say he wouldn’t talk anymore. Today’s lunch menu only had so-so side dishes. Perhaps because of that, many people headed to the school store in the middle, so we could receive our lunch quickly.
After finishing my meal, I stood up holding my tray and said.
“This is almost my first time seeing the second-year sunbaes. I haven’t really had any reason to meet them until now.”
“Right, but you must have seen one third-year sunbae a lot.”
“Third-year? No, those people are always…”
I stopped mid-sentence. Then I turned my head to Cho-yeon and whispered quietly.
“You’re talking about yourself. But you don’t seem like a sunbae.”
Cho-yeon contemplated whether to get annoyed or not. As I was about to put down my tray, someone bumped into me and side dishes splattered, dirtying my clothes. I looked around to see who it was, but the person who bumped into me had already disappeared.
“I knew this would happen someday.”
I put down my tray and looked at my clothes. Cho-yeon also put down his tray and glanced at me. He got angry.
“What do you mean you knew this would happen? Who does that person think they are, bumping into someone and disappearing alone? Leaving without even apologizing?”
“Does anyone have gym clothes?”
“I didn’t even see their face. Who the hell was it?… Gym clothes?”
Cho-yeon, who had been getting angry, asked. I roughly dusted off my clothes and came outside.
“To change into. It happens to be the class T-shirt, so I’m not sure if it’s okay to change.”
“But you can’t just keep wearing dirty clothes. Who would be crazy enough to keep wearing that?”
Cho-yeon and I looked for our homeroom teacher. Perhaps having just finished eating, the teacher walked out from the faculty cafeteria.
“Teacher, someone bumped into me and the class T-shirt ended up like this. Would changing be too much trouble?”
“Someone bumped into you? Oh my, what should we do? We all matched these in blue together.”
The teacher looked down at my clothes and said worriedly. But there’s no other way. He stopped examining my clothes further and gestured.
“Well, what can we do? Go ahead and change.”
“Thank you. Cho-yeon, do you have gym clothes?”
“I should. It’s probably shoved in the corner of my locker.”
Cho-yeon answered while heading to the classroom. At the words “shoved,” I followed behind Cho-yeon with a dubious expression. The kids resting in the classroom gave us passing glances. Cho-yeon walked making loud footsteps and opened his locker.
“You said it was shoved in the corner. What’s with this neat locker?”
I asked, pointing at the locker. Inside the locker, books were neatly organized. The gym clothes were also neatly folded. Cho-yeon threw the gym clothes almost as if tossing them.
“So it was just words after all. I really thought it would be a mess.”
“Would I be human if I didn’t keep things at least this organized? Don’t make a fuss.”
“Thanks. By the way, have you experienced something like this before?”
I was about to go outside holding the gym clothes when I stopped and asked. Cho-yeon asked while closing the locker door.
“What kind of thing? If you mean someone bumping into you while passing by, that’s happened quite a bit.”
“You’ve had your share of troubles.”
I nodded briefly. Cho-yeon continued.
“Good that you know. I’ve also experienced a lot of being constantly involved with people I want to avoid.”
“I guess it’s an unavoidable fate. I’ll go change.”
I took Cho-yeon’s gym clothes and was leaving the classroom when I suddenly thought.
‘These days he hasn’t been involved with the Five Great Kings much, has the situation changed?’
After changing clothes in the bathroom, I came out neatly folding the T-shirt and holding it. The protagonists of the original novel were definitely Cho-yeon and the Five Great Kings. Then it would make sense for the two to be involved.
‘Original or whatever, it’s ruined.’
I came to a conclusion and placed the class T-shirt on the desk. The original that I don’t even remember wasn’t important at all anyway. Rather, I’m glad Cho-yeon isn’t involved with the Five Great Kings.
I should take it home later. Cho-yeon looked at my appearance with an unfamiliar gaze. Hee-ae came in with In-sae and asked.
“Shi-dan, your clothes changed? Whose gym clothes are those?”
“Cho-yeon’s. Someone bumped into my tray so I changed.”
“Someone bumped into you? You should have borrowed mine, that’s too bad.”
“Cho-yeon was right next to me so I borrowed from him.”
Even at my words, Hee-ae looked at the gym clothes with a regretful expression. I adjusted the slightly loose gym clothes and went back out to the field.
How long had we rested? The sports festival resumed again. This time it was the figure-eight jump rope’s turn.
“We need to jump 60 times quickly. Don’t get caught, okay?”
Hee-ae, standing in front of me, clenched and unclenched his hands several times as if nervous. Since it’s a group event, if you make a mistake, you feel sorry to the entire class.
With the whistle sound, two people turned the rope. The kids calmly jumped over the rope. I also carefully closed my eyes tight and jumped the rope to avoid making mistakes.
“The class next to us got caught.”
“No, let’s just focus on this.”
Hee-ae turned his gaze to the side for a moment then focused again, muttering to himself. I almost got caught when I misstep.
“Ah! Got caught.”
One kid from our class got caught and came out of the rope with an irritated expression. This time Hee-ae got caught, and I, who jumped in right after, got caught too.
“Sorry. Let’s do well.”
Hee-ae quickly exited the rope with an apologetic expression. The kids brushed it off as no big deal and focused on jump rope again. Hee-ae muttered from behind.
“I did really badly. I was kind of a nuisance.”
“Look at the class next to us. Our class is way ahead.”
I answered while looking around at the noisy surroundings. Our class seems to be doing pretty well. I looked at the teacher counting numbers and asked.
“How many are we at now?”
“Fifty-five. Now fifty-six, fifty-seven.”
Our homeroom teacher counted the numbers. My steps became lighter thinking we were done. On the fifty-ninth, Hee-ae got caught one more time, and we filled all 60. Hee-ae felt regretful that he got caught at the end.
“Class 1 finished 30. Are we second place?”
The teacher looked around. I said while pushing back my disheveled hair.
“Looks like there wasn’t much difference from first place. That’s too bad.”
“I got caught a lot. I should have pulled myself together.”
“Hee-ae, didn’t you get caught a lot because you were too nervous? Just do it comfortably.”
Hee-ae let out a light sigh.
“I ended up like that trying to do well.”
“Still, we did pretty well. Our team’s going to win, right?”
I said while watching Class 3 just passing 49. At the sound that we’d probably win, Hee-ae’s complexion brightened. I suddenly became curious and asked.
“Why are you trying so hard to do well?”
“If you fall behind, it’s really hard to catch up. I have to do well.”
Hee-ae wiped sweat that wasn’t even flowing. After Class 3 succeeded, the game ended with our team’s victory. Including the second-year game from earlier, our team is winning.
The kids clapped with satisfied faces. I looked at the results without much emotion and returned to my seat.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
yessss I love the clothes-sharing trope!!! so cute so cute