Chapter 7
“Ah. Another tough day.”
Jaeyeon, who had just finished evening self-study session and returned home, took off her shoes and immediately sprawled out in the small living room that doubled as a kitchen. Having apparently sold off her school uniform somewhere, she was only wearing her gym clothes, making her look like an idle bum at first glance.
“Jaeyeon.”
“Yeah. What?”
I was folding towels when I casually spoke to Jaeyeon. Normally, I would have nagged her to change clothes and shower as soon as she got home, but today I acted like a caring brother.
“How’s school these days? Anything unusual? Any difficulties with studying?”
“What’s with you? Why are you talking like that? That’s crazy! It’s creepy!”
Jaeyeon shuddered, apparently not liking my unusually gentle tone.
This brat? I try to show concern and she freaks out.
“You’re a high school senior now. I was wondering if there’s anything I should be concerned about. Nothing unusual at school?”
I asked again, gritting my teeth. Actually, rather than being concerned about Jaeyeon, I was asking to gather information before going to her school tomorrow. Jaeyeon, who had been lying down looking at her phone, suddenly seemed to remember something and sat up, crawling on her knees toward me as I folded towels.
“There is something unusual.”
“What is it?”
“Lately, potato dishes keep appearing in the school meals.”
“What?”
I narrowed my eyebrows at Jaeyeon’s deflating answer. I couldn’t believe the flasher’s appearances had been overshadowed by potato dishes.
“Just this week, we’ve had braised potatoes, potato salad, and potato cakes in our school lunch! I think the nutritionist must have placed the wrong order with the supplier. They definitely ordered a ton of potatoes.”
“That’s what’s unusual?”
“Of course it’s unusual! How important do you think school meals are! Imagine eating only potatoes for two meals out of three every day!”
Jaeyeon, who was usually level-headed except for her strong stubbornness, was genuinely upset. I wiped away a bead of cold sweat as I tried to calm down my excited sister.
“Yes, yes. School meals are important. But is there nothing else? Like a pervert showing up…”
“A pervert?”
At the carefully tossed keyword, Jaeyeon scratched her cheek and then exclaimed, “Ah!”
“Well, there is the Sea Squirt Man.”
“Sea Squirt Man?”
“Yeah. We call him Sea Squirt Man because he’s said to have something like a sea squirt between his legs. I think he’s been appearing for about a month?”
Sea Squirt Man… The explicit naming sense of high school girls made me feel a bit dizzy.
“But how do you know about that?”
“I just overheard some kids talking about it in passing. Have they reported it to the police?”
“They report it to the police whenever he appears, but it doesn’t really help. The police seem annoyed and always arrive late, so they miss him every time. None of the teachers are stepping up to catch him either.”
“A pervert is prowling around a girls’ school and no one is doing anything? How does that make sense?!”
“It doesn’t. It doesn’t make sense, but what can we do? People are just turning a blind eye because they might be in danger if they step up.”
So that’s why a call came all the way to the Earth Peace Research Institute office. Thinking about the students who had made the request themselves after seeing that no adults would help them, when they were already under so much stress from their studies, left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I could no longer take this request lightly. Just as I was filled with determination to step up and catch that shameless pervert as soon as possible, Jaeyeon continued.
“Anyway, I hope he gets caught soon. It was fun at first, but now it’s getting tiresome, and it’s hard to study with all the commotion whenever he appears.”
“What?”
I stared at Jaeyeon with wide eyes, not having expected her to describe the flasher’s appearance as “fun.”
“I have a mock exam coming up, and every time that pervert shows up, there’s so much noise that I can’t study.”
“No, not that. You said it was fun when the flasher appeared?”
“Yeah. Isn’t it funny to see someone strip naked to show something the size of a thumb in this cold weather? It’s like a small event in the monotonous life of a high school senior, you know.”
“…”
I closed my mouth at Jaeyeon’s unexpected response. Not noticing my astonished expression, Jaeyeon continued with a sigh.
“Sigh. If the size was like a penis fish instead of a sea squirt, it might have been more entertaining.”
What on earth is she saying in front of her brother? Is this what high school girls are like? It’s scary. So scary.
The more I listened to Jaeyeon, the more my burning sense of mission and fighting spirit turned to white ash and blew away, replaced by a cold fear that wrapped around my body.
In the end, I couldn’t ask Jaeyeon for any more information about the pervert and fled to my room.
The next day. Heerim and I headed to Hanguk Girls’ High School. We planned to meet the client to hear a general account and then catch the flasher, but things went wrong from the school gate.
“Hmm? Who are you two? Trying to enter the school?”
“Yes.”
“What’s your business?”
As soon as we entered the main gate, a security guard blocked our way. The elderly man looked us both up and down with wary eyes. I realized my mistake. Unlike in the past, schools these days strictly control outside visitors, and I hadn’t thought of that. Moreover, this was a girls’ school. They wouldn’t easily let in two strange men.
“Can’t we just go in for a moment?”
Heerim asked in a voice full of aegyo. The security guard shook his head at Heerim’s suspicious appearance. It was no wonder—Heerim, who claimed to have a sun allergy, looked suspicious even to me with his hat, sunglasses, and mask.
“Listen, gentlemen. These days, you can’t just enter a school without proper business. You need to state your legitimate purpose and get a visitor’s pass. Otherwise, you can’t enter.”
“Just 10 minutes! Only 10 minutes!”
“Heerim, please be quiet for a moment. Hello, sir. Thank you for your hard work.”
I pushed the insistent Heerim back and bowed politely to the security guard.
“And who might you be?”
The security guard examined me with cautious eyes. I showed him the most respectful smile I could manage. Since Heerim had only aroused more suspicion, I needed to act as calmly as possible.
“I’m the older brother of Son Jaeyeon, a student in class 5 of the 3rd year.”
“Well now. How am I supposed to believe that?”
“Just a moment, please.”
I immediately took out my phone and selected a few photos to show the security guard. Most were pictures of Jaeyeon sprawled out at home looking haggard.
“Hmm. Wait a minute. Isn’t this student our school’s scholarship recipient?”
Fortunately, the security guard seemed to know Jaeyeon. I nodded with a pleasant smile.
“My sister forgot to take her house key. So I came to deliver it.”
“People still use keys these days?”
“Yes. Our house is quite old.”
The security guard carefully examined the photos, looking back and forth between the Jaeyeon in the pictures and me. He even took off his magnifying glasses to scrutinize my face, which made me unnecessarily nervous. What if he called Jaeyeon to confirm? What would I say? As I was mentally searching for an excuse to give my sister, the security guard slapped his thigh.
“Well, I’ll be. You do look alike. Yes, you do.”
“Pardon?”
“Your sister is a fine-looking person, and you’re a fine young man too. The siblings look just alike.”
“Oh, no. We don’t look that much alike…”
“My goodness. You must be proud to have such a smart and pretty sister! Is that your friend? I was wondering why he’s all bundled up. Is he a celebrity, perhaps? Haha! I’ll give you visitor passes, so hurry up, deliver it, and come back out, all right?”
I looked at my phone screen, which hadn’t turned off yet, with a disgruntled expression. I could see Jaeyeon lying comfortably with an unwashed, oily face.
We look alike? Really?
I didn’t feel particularly good about it, but I had achieved my goal. Heerim and I safely passed through the main gate with the visitor passes the security guard had written for us.
“Wow. Mr. Jaeo, your improvisation is amazing. I didn’t know your sister attended this school.”
Heerim said, giving me a thumbs up. I quietly clicked my tongue, looking at Heerim, who was essentially my workplace senior but had been of little help. At this rate, I might end up catching the flasher all by myself.
We didn’t go into the school building but headed toward a small container next to what appeared to be a storage building. It seemed we were to meet the client here.
I took a moment to catch my breath while looking at the exceptionally clear sky today. The campus was quiet, probably because classes were in session. Nevertheless, I could feel the vibrant energy of teenagers. Thinking that my sister was here made me feel inexplicably proud.
Even when I was a student, I had worked part-time jobs to save money, so I hadn’t properly experienced my school days. I didn’t have time to make friends. That’s why I wanted my sister to spend this once-in-a-lifetime period just like everyone else. To make that happen, I needed to earn more money.
“Where did you go to school, Heerim? Boys’ school? Co-ed? If it was co-ed, you must have been super popular during your school days.”
I suddenly became curious about Heerim’s school days. I had attended a boys’ high school, but occasionally there were students from nearby girls’ schools who came to confess. With Heerim’s looks, he must have been at least the school’s star.
“Some celebrities have casting directors from entertainment agencies who come to their schools and give them business cards. Did that ever happen to you?”
“Umm.”
Heerim, unusually hesitant, hung his head low.
“I’m sorry. I’ve never attended school…”
“What?”
“I’ve never been to a place called school.”
He said, tapping the ground with his shoe as if embarrassed.
He’s never attended school? Not even once?
Let’s say high school isn’t mandatory education, so that could happen. But saying he had never attended school at all left me not knowing how to respond. Judging by his face alone, he looked like someone who would have graduated from a private school for the wealthy, but it turns out he had never attended school—he must have had some circumstances. I was curious about those circumstances, but I tried to act nonchalant and simply replied, “I see.”
“…”
“…”
When Heerim, who would usually chatter away beside me without being asked, closed his mouth, a heavy and unfamiliar silence pressed down on my shoulders.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
