4
His mood wasn’t particularly good.
Since elementary school, he had never laughed at the pranks that others played. They were strangely unfunny, and he couldn’t relate to them. Moreover, Taein only felt bad when he became the subject and laughingstock himself. Not just making fun of his face, but from the very beginning when he suddenly approached and grilled him about his school. All of it was unpleasant.
Gu Wanjae didn’t even stop there. He took out his phone and even filmed him.
In an instant, there were click, click sounds. At the second shutter sound, Taein frowned and reached out his hand. Gu Wanjae was saying “Hey, look at this” and even showing it to the guys next to him.
“Whoa.”
Quick-witted Gu Wanjae gripped his phone tightly. Instead of Taein snatching it away, he ended up just grabbing the top and shaking it.
“Give it back.”
“Give what back? This?”
Gu Wanjae responded while waving the phone. Taein looked at the phone and then raised his eyes.
“Or just delete it.”
“The picture?”
He kept asking the same thing repeatedly when he already knew. Taein also answered each question properly.
“Yeah, shibal…”
“……”
At the curse that came out without him realizing it, Gu Wanjae didn’t respond. The guys who had been laughing in front also just tilted their heads to the side. He could hear one of them who occasionally said “what, what” asking “Did this bastard just curse?”
Taking advantage of the moment when his grip loosened slightly, Gu Wanjae quickly pulled the phone down hard. Then only Taein’s hand remained in the air.
“It’s funny right now. Can’t I delete it for you later?”
It meant that since it was funny now, he’d look at it a few more times and delete it later. Gu Wanjae didn’t even listen for an answer. He didn’t do anything else to Taein either. He just put the phone in his pants pocket and, just as suddenly as he had approached, turned around and quickly left the classroom. The guys who had been giggling next to him also disappeared one by one following Gu Wanjae.
In the end, what remained were only the guys who couldn’t even stick close to Gu Wanjae, and those lying face down on their desks sleeping.
Taein walked toward the window, passing by one guy who was looking at him strangely.
Soon he could see Gu Wanjae leaving the school.
Although half the guys were following behind him in a line, Gu Wanjae acted as if he were alone. He would stick around in front of the snack shop by himself, then suddenly walk down the downhill road at a fast pace. Thanks to that, only the guys behind him were hurriedly trying to keep up. He could hear him occasionally saying “The weather’s fucking good, damn good,” but that was also talking to himself. Even when the half guys reacted loudly, he could see that he didn’t even give them a glance.
Gu Wanjae, who had come to school for the first time that day, didn’t show up again after that. He attended for the first and last time at the end of April, and didn’t show up even into mid-May. The classroom had returned to what it was in April, before Gu Wanjae appeared. Guys who talked about Gu Wanjae without Gu Wanjae, and who would throw punches at any time when their pride was hurt. Except for two guys dropping out, nothing had changed.
The classroom was in the midst of vocational education. It was also the time when the half-dead guys in the class actually concentrated. Taein sat in the back seat, raising his head when the teacher’s words entered his ears, and otherwise watching the half guys. Moreover, there was a lot going on today.
A comic book that started from the left side had made it to the middle. Calling it a comic book was putting it mildly – it was actually a pornographic comic printed from the internet. There was a guy who specialized in just that. His surname happened to be Byeon, making it even easier to remember. His name was Taehee, which was pretty, but because of his surname, he was called “Byeontae” (pervert). It was printed material that guy brought a few times a month.
The size was only palm-sized, but each frame was printed out separately and seemed decent to look at.
It was when Taein’s eyes fell on the printed material being passed to another guy.
Suddenly the door opened and someone appeared. The class itself was proceeding noisily, so the teacher didn’t seem to notice that a student had entered. Only after seeing the student head to his seat did he say “Oh, who is it?” and flip through the attendance book.
“Gu Wanjae.”
Instead of the person himself, the guy sitting in the front row said the name.
Usually attendance checks were often just skipped over, but since it was a vocational education teacher, he seemed to be lenient about such things too. Taein looked at the teacher, then turned his head toward where Gu Wanjae was sitting. His eyes were quickly withdrawn.
Unlike the end of April, Gu Wanjae’s hair had gotten shorter. His forehead was coolly exposed, but it didn’t seem like he had done it on purpose. From his body to his head, he was wet all over. Especially as if he had washed his face before coming in, water was still dripping from his face.
Taein found Gu Wanjae’s appearance like a monthly event both absurd and understandable. How many guys had already dropped out? According to the teacher, there were more second-year dropouts, and about ten people survived in the third-year classroom. About ten people graduated per class. As Taein was watching the guys passing around the comic book, he felt his gaze going to the side again.
Without turning his head completely, he looked at Gu Wanjae with his peripheral vision.
Gu Wanjae was lowering his head, then thud, bumped his head against the desk. Instead of lying down with his arms in front, he just banged his head and closed his eyes.
Did he need a place to sleep? That was the only thought that came to mind about Gu Wanjae, who had come to school for the first time in almost a month.
Gu Wanjae’s wet hair was pointed and dripping water droplets.
* * *
There’s an old snack shop on the opposite side of the narrow street. Even Taein, who had a small appetite compared to his peers, had stopped by that snack shop several times. He visited whenever the school lunch menu was bad, so counting the times, it would be quite a few. The taste wasn’t particularly outstanding. It was ordinary, but since it was in front of the school, business was decent enough. Taein, with his hands in his pants pockets, went to the front of the snack shop and looked for the owner ajumma.
There were many guys who would eat and just run away, so showing his face to the ajumma was essential. At first, he didn’t know this and had to listen to the ajumma’s annoyed voice for several minutes straight. Now he automatically looked for the ajumma.
“You’re here?”
The ajumma came out from inside the few hall tables.
“Yes, hello.”
What Taein mainly ate was fish cake skewers or tteokbokki, and he had never sat down to eat. Since it was just the start of lunch time, he was the only customer. Taein glanced at the back and picked up one fish cake skewer.
The ajumma just checked his face and sat in a chair in the hall area. From there, she monitored with burdensome eyes how many fish cakes he ate and whether he did anything strange. Although there were other schools a few minutes away, mainly guys from delinquent schools came here. She must have been victimized more than once or twice. It was uncomfortable, but since he understood the ajumma’s situation, he just pretended not to notice and ate.
What Taein picked was a fish cake skewer that had become plump from being cooked. Due to the nature of snack shops that opened in the morning, when you came around lunch time, there were usually a few well-cooked fish cakes stuck on skewers.
Taein quickly ate two fish cakes. He usually stopped at two, but today it seemed like it would be okay to eat one more. With that thought, he was grabbing the third skewer when he heard the sound of glass breaking from behind.
Looking, it seemed to have fallen from the rooftop. There were guys who would throw trash piled up on the rooftop as a prank when no one was around. The ajumma must have known this well, as she stuck her head outside and said something.
“Those bastards are at that bullshit again.”
Nothing else fell, and the area around the school was quiet. Taein checked above once more and brought the fish cake to his mouth.
“Ah, shit…”
The sound that came out like a curse was because of the person standing next to him. Originally no one was there, but he could see a tall guy suddenly cutting in front of him and picking up a fish cake skewer.
“What the shibal.”
The guy standing with his shoulder pressed right against him, saying “What the shibal, what shibal,” was Gu Wanjae. He hadn’t seen him since he entered the classroom earlier like someone who had been splashed with water. He thought he had gone home like that, but apparently he had been around. Taein was looking at Gu Wanjae with his upper body pulled back. Gu Wanjae brought one fish cake skewer to his mouth without hesitation.
“Does it taste good when friends curse at each other?”
He said that so easily while eating.
Gu Wanjae quickly finished one fish cake skewer and raised his hand toward the inner hall. Soon the ajumma came out.
“Did you eat one?”
She seemed displeased that there was only one guy eating, but now there were two. Usually it was normal to give a signal before eating like Taein did. Still, since he gave a signal even if late, her voice didn’t get louder. Gu Wanjae said “Yes” and ordered tteokbokki. Then the ajumma opened the lid and stirred the tteokbokki around.
“Ah, it’s overcooked.”
“It’s not overcooked.”
“It is overcooked, isn’t it?”
For Taein, the snack shop ajumma was a source of tension. Even when standing in front of the sales counter, he would look for the ajumma first, and he had to eat while being mindful of her. It was because being scolded once had remained in his memory for a long time. But Gu Wanjae was treating the ajumma like a classmate and speaking casually to her. He wasn’t mixing in curses like he did when dealing with the half guys, but anyone could hear it was a comfortable tone.
NOTES:
Byeon Taehee (변태희) – Student nicknamed “Byeontae” MEANS “Pervert”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
