“Shi-dan!”
Hee-ae half rose from his seat and welcomed me. Somehow it felt like seeing him after a long time. Feeling sudden fatigue, I sat down in the chair as if lying down.
“Wow, is this person the rumored Yu Shi-dan?”
“You can lure people with candy?”
“Yeah, you guys eat some too before you go.”
The kids playfully clung to me eagerly. Giving up on refuting, I shook out the remaining candy and threw it to the kids around me.
The kids turned the candy around with strange eyes. I wish they wouldn’t treat it like it had some weird love potion in it.
“Kim In-sae must really be charmed. Even now he’s eating the candy Yu Shi-dan gave without any suspicion.”
“I don’t really care about it.”
Does In-sae’s answer mean it’s okay whatever’s in it as long as it’s candy?
“You guys are too much for suspecting. It’s just normal candy, okay?”
I refuted while frowning. The kids who had gotten into the fun of teasing laughed gleefully. In the end, it seems like me giving up is the answer.
I was tired but I straightened my posture when I saw Cho-yeon starting his talent show. Cho-yeon was nervous at first, but as soon as the song came out, his complexion changed. Soon a calm ballad prelude came out, and the kids were enveloped in quietness and began to gaze at Cho-yeon shining in silver light.
Cho-yeon holding the microphone and singing was fully displaying his usual high, beautiful voice. As if it had become a concert hall in an instant, kids here and there began to shed tears of emotion. I looked at the sniffling Hee-ae pitifully and just patted his head.
“Um, this hand…”
Hee-ae’s ear was red. He seemed quite flustered, so I awkwardly withdrew my hand. Hee-ae fidgeted with the hair I had stroked. I’m worried if it was a bit uncomfortable after all.
Cho-yeon gradually raised his pitch, and I looked at him admiringly. By the time he finally arrived at the song’s climax part, even the kids around had stopped breathing. Kids who respond well too, good kids.
Cho-yeon smiled with a relieved face. Perhaps because he rarely smiled and was usually blank-faced, the kids who saw his smile screamed like crazy.
Of course, I see his smiling face often so I wasn’t particularly impressed. Kids who still had lingering feelings sniffled.
“Next is Nam-hwi-nim’s performance. Stop crying.”
The kids stopped crying like ghosts. I’m gradually getting a feeling for how to handle these kids. Hee-ae also wiped away tears and rubbed his head against my hand before pulling away. It seems he had just been startled earlier when he spoke.
And I don’t remember Nam-hwi’s performance. I fell asleep because I was tired and no one woke me up. I slept, but I hope it looked like I closed my eyes and savored it, intoxicated by his performance.
After the performance ended, the teacher’s instruction fell to all return to their respective rooms. The kids had planned to gather together on the second night to do something, but actually I hardly heard it. Hee-ae promised to tell me once more later.
“Ah- that was fun.”
Seon-yoon said while opening the door. As soon as I opened the door, I was exhausted and lay down in the corner. In-sae bent his waist to check if I was okay, and Hee-ae shook my shoulder with his hand.
“You can’t sleep.”
“That just now sounded like a ghost story. Die the moment you fall asleep. Escape from his threat, grand opening on February 31st.”
Speaking according to the stream of consciousness, I barely got up. When I’m intoxicated by sleep after a long time, any words just flow out. If it were now, couldn’t I list out 1,000 characters praising the Five Great Kings? I fell into miscellaneous thoughts for a moment.
I washed and slept in a half-asleep state, then woke up earlier than wake-up time. I slept as if knocked out without even dreaming. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.
Seon-yoon and In-sae, who slept on the bed last night, had half kicked off their blankets, and Hee-ae seemed to have a sleeping habit as he was hugging me, so I gave him a pillow to hold instead. Hee-ae grumbled while mumbling, as if realizing it was a pillow. He grabbed my hand in his sleep, but I felt bad about pulling it away so I left it as is.
Sunlight shone over the kids’ bodies, creating stripes.
***
“Where did they say we’re going today?”
“They said we’re going to a sheep farm.”
Seon-yoon and Hee-ae had a conversation and got on the car. I got on the car while confiscating all of In-sae’s candy. In-sae showed resentful feelings beside me, but I pretended not to know at all.
A sheep farm, I’ve never seen sheep in real life. I looked for a seat while searching my memory for what sheep look like. Cho-yeon, as if fed up with the Five Great Kings today too, sat in the row next to us.
Yesterday the twins seemed to have been thoroughly scolded by Cho-yeon, as they showed a quiet appearance only reading the room and not rashly approaching. Today is such a good day with them being so well-behaved without even opening their mouths. To not have to see that aegyo for a while.
I leaned my body against the chair with a comfortable face. Today I won’t get sleepy like last time, but I hope it doesn’t take long to arrive. I thought while looking at In-sae who was blankly looking out the window.
***
“We’ve arrived so everyone get off.”
The bus passed through a curved highway, then arrived at the top of a high hill. Kids who had been sleeping began to get up groggily. In-sae looked like he would fall asleep any moment but managed to come along well without dozing off.
I unfastened my seatbelt and checked if Hee-ae and Seon-yoon sitting in front were sleeping.
“Hey guys, you have to wake up.”
Confirming they were asleep, I whispered softly to the two. Even though it was a small voice, Hee-ae and Seon-yoon opened their eyes and got up at once. I withdrew my body that had been leaning heavily and this time looked after Cho-yeon.
I saw Nam-hwi carefully attempting to converse with Cho-yeon. Cho-yeon, who was secretly soft-hearted, showed a softened attitude.
It seems I don’t need to worry about Cho-yeon either. I got off the bus taking In-sae who was completely listless and couldn’t pull himself together. The smell of dirt and grass wafted first.
The sky was so blue it seemed like it would dye even the clouds blue. I thought Cho-yeon in white clothes would be dyed by the sky at that moment. The meadow visible in the distance created a pastoral landscape and freshly scattered greenery. I admired while avoiding a blade of grass caught at my feet.
The season was late April, the height of spring, so wildflowers blooming everywhere caught the eye and caused an impulse to want to approach closely. I liked the current weather and season.
“Where are the sheep?”
“Have you ever seen sheep?”
Kids poured out words full of question marks here and there. Even kids from other classes joined in and gathered closely like a flock of sheep. The homeroom teacher smiled elegantly and answered.
“The sheep are a little below. You just have to go down a bit.”
“How many minutes?”
“Won’t it be about 30 minutes?”
From experience, when they say that, it takes double the time. I decided not to believe the teacher’s words which lacked some credibility. Obviously it will take at least 10 more minutes.
“Let’s take a photo once before we go, kids!”
The homeroom teacher who strangely went back and forth between casual and formal speech brought over the kids who were running around as they pleased. Kids who had been jumping around like dogs off their leashes were caught one by one. Seon-yoon laughed hahaha at the gloomy appearance of the kids who were dragged over.
At the teacher’s words that we would take a photo, we formed ranks with the meadow as the background. With my ambiguous height, I stood in the middle row. After handing the camera to another class’s teacher, the homeroom teacher also squeezed in among the kids.
“I’m taking it. One, two. Three!”
But if we’re going to do it anyway, shouldn’t we take it in front of the sheep farm? Why are we taking it with the bright blue meadow as the background?
“We’ll also take one more in front of the sheep farm.”
There was that method. Comprehending the deep meaning, I went to In-sae, Hee-ae, and Seon-yoon’s side. They naturally made room for me who came beside them and started a conversation. Before I knew it, I also participated in the conversation as I went down the hill path.
The downhill path didn’t have a steep slope, and a fence made of brown wood surrounded the path. Occasionally large stones blocked the path but I don’t know why they don’t remove them. What if someone gets hurt like that.
“Ah!”
It comes true as you think, the world of magical novels. Possess into it right now and meet them.
It’s just like advertising copy passing by. When I looked back, sure enough, the unlucky Cho-yeon had tripped on a stone and fallen. Blood was already starting to form on his knee.
“You’re bleeding. Anyone with a band-aid?”
“Shi-dan, do you have a band-aid?”
“I do.”
It’s not thanks to my useless preparedness, I brought it worried someone might get hurt like this. I took out a band-aid from my cross bag. The Five Great Kings took the band-aid from me.
“Thank you.”
Cho-yeon thanked me and the Five Great Kings. The kids also started moving forward again when Cho-yeon was okay. The sunken atmosphere became lively again.
Still, I was concerned about Cho-yeon so I ended up texting. By the way, I told Cho-yeon to save me as Uncle.
[Uncle][10:13 AM] Be careful
[Mom][10:14 AM] You do well yourself
[Mom][10:14 AM] You be careful too
Cho-yeon, still set as Mom, replied right away. The Five Great Kings didn’t pay attention as they were busy playing among themselves. After checking Cho-yeon’s reply, I put my phone back in the cross bag.
Perhaps excited, Hee-ae ran forward quickly far ahead. I looked at Hee-ae’s form getting farther away and shouted.
“You’ll fall!”
Hee-ae immediately stopped and started walking slowly. I approached Hee-ae’s side with quick steps.
“There are lots of stones so you’ll fall if you’re not careful.”
He averted his gaze. Then he looked at the ground and carefully took steps. Hee-ae hesitated as if embarrassed and said.
“I suddenly remembered the day we saw cherry blossoms.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
