“Now, the sports festival is tomorrow.”
As soon as lunchtime came, the class president spoke loudly alone and clapped. The kids complained.
“They said other high schools wear class t-shirts, so why are we wearing blue shirts and white shirts?”
“I don’t know. I protested about that too, but the second-years desperately opposed it. They said they all wore them like that too.”
The kids lamented. I was rather pleased by that news. I already wore a skirt during the second semester school trip, and it would be annoying to also wear class t-shirts.
And usually class t-shirts have all kinds of strange designs, so I didn’t really want to wear them. I recalled things from before my possession. The worst was in third year of middle school, when it was fluorescent colored with a very bizarre design. Now I’m the only one who remembers it.
“Cho-yeon.”
I turned to look at Cho-yeon and leaned back in my chair. Cho-yeon, who had been crumpling a corner of his textbook, looked down at me.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
I answered carelessly and blinked my eyes. Anyway, since Cho-yeon is also a possessor like me, I felt a sense of kinship and became comfortable again. I felt guilty about whether it was okay to be this comfortable after deceiving Cho-yeon.
“You call me and then say there’s no reason.”
Cho-yeon answered irritably and I opened my eyes in surprise. Cho-yeon seemed about to frown but smiled brightly instead. My gaze stopped on Cho-yeon and my heart became heavier.
However, I didn’t pull my body back to avoid Cho-yeon.
***
The day passed quickly. Before I knew it, the day of the sports festival dawned. Watching me go out, Father asked.
“It’s the sports festival, don’t you have anything more to pack? Pack carefully.”
“I packed everything yesterday! I’ll be going now.”
I greeted Father and went outside. And as always, In-sae was waiting in front. We headed to school together. We were supposed to gather in the classroom first, and the teacher who came early greeted us.
“You all know that right after the sports festival is exam period, right? Have you all been studying hard?”
“I wanted to forget that exams are coming soon.”
I muttered to myself quietly. At the mention of exam period, the kids made deflated expressions.
“I guess I made everyone lose energy. Let’s all work hard and get first place.”
The teacher smiled awkwardly and showed a clenched fist. After confirming everyone had gathered, we went out to the schoolyard.
The schoolyard was neatly organized. Even the stones that would usually catch my feet when passing by weren’t visible today.
“The weather’s nice. No clouds either.”
Hee-ae admired. I followed Hee-ae and looked up at the sky, then squinted at the stinging sunlight. Still, because it was autumn, the weather was cool.
“Hey, should I take a picture?”
Lee Seung looked at me and Hee-ae and asked. Hee-ae readily linked arms with me and smiled toward Lee Seung. Lee Seung complained briefly and raised the camera.
“It’s so disgusting to watch. One, two, three.”
An indifferent shutter sound was heard. Cho-yeon, who was passing by, sneakily joined in and took a picture together. Hee-ae looked at that unfavorably.
“Now I’m going to take pictures of the Five Great Kings. The fan club is still going strong.”
Lee Seung walked toward the Five Great Kings with his usual confident attitude. Hee-ae quietly refuted Lee Seung’s words at a volume barely audible to me.
“Actually a lot of kids left the fan club to study. I guess they’re worrying about it a lot.”
“Hee-ae, are you going to stay in the fan club?”
Hee-ae pondered my question for a moment.
“Yeah, there are a lot of kids I became close with so I can’t leave. And I can do a lot of things using the fan club meetings as an excuse.”
“What can you do?”
“Sneakily go out and play with you?”
“That was fun.”
I answered with a laugh at Hee-ae’s words. In fact, I often went around here and there at school under the guise of fan club activities.
Kids from other classes also entered one by one, and the seats were almost completely full. The principal, who had neatly combed his hair back, stood on the platform holding a microphone.
“Hello, as the principal of Aseon High School, I stand here to give a congratulatory speech.”
“This reminds me of the entrance ceremony.”
I said while blankly looking at the principal. Hee-ae nodded and responded.
“Right. But I haven’t seen the principal much since the entrance ceremony.”
“He speaks incredibly long both then and now.”
“Was that March 2nd? I became closest with you first. You know that, right?”
Hee-ae grabbed and released my forearm. Hee-ae smiled and his disheveled brown hair swayed. He really is good-looking.
The principal continued speaking. The kids’ excited expressions changed to expressionless ones, and the congratulatory speech only ended when they started dozing off one by one.
“Then let’s do warm-up exercises and start with the group events first.”
The PE teacher organized the situation and blew the whistle hard. The kids got up from their seats and came out to the schoolyard.
After taking a long time to line up, we loosened our bodies to the PE teacher’s commands. The kids pushed each other and shouted quietly to move aside.
“Guys. Don’t fight and move apart a bit. In-sae, can you move back a little too?”
“I don’t mind bumping into people.”
In-sae, who was in the back, answered nonchalantly. The kids booed, and I gave up trying to persuade further. When we finished the warm-up exercises, the PE teacher held the microphone and spoke.
“First event, we’ll start with the group event.”
“Please do jump rope first.”
Contrary to my desperate wish, the teacher spoke clearly and precisely.
“Dodgeball.”
“We’re screwed. When we do group jump rope, several people skip out saying they’re sick, one vote.”
I grumbled while sliding the schoolyard sand with my foot. Because we’re Class 1, we’ll be first in the game order too, so I should get hit and get out as quickly as possible.
“Class 1 and Class 2 will play first. Come out.”
“I should be careful not to get hit while watching the kids.”
Everyone except Class 2 and our class returned to their seats. I said while looking at the kids watching with sparkling eyes. In-sae approached to the side.
“Shi-dan, you be careful.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll watch for an opportunity, get slightly hit, and drop out.”
In-sae still seemed unable to rest easy and made a distrustful expression. I ignored In-sae’s expression and observed Class 2.
“I heard a transfer student is coming to Class 2, will they come after the sports festival?”
“Ah, that rumor.”
In-sae also seemed to know and answered lowly. The game started so the short conversation was cut off. The kids threw and caught the ball fiercely. I moved my head following the ball and shouted.
“I give up on getting slightly hit. It’s impossible to get slightly hit with this.”
“Whoa.”
In-sae barely caught the flying ball and exclaimed in admiration. I stood in the corner with a face that couldn’t tell if I was crying or laughing.
The kids almost ran wild throwing and dodging the ball. I gave up and just stood in the corner of the court watching. Cho-yeon was eliminated early, and Hee-ae was laughing.
“Why are you laughing?”
“No, it’s just. It really doesn’t make sense.”
At my question mixed with surprise, Hee-ae answered in a trembling voice. I looked at Hee-ae pitifully.
“Ah, it was a hollow laugh.”
“Yeah.”
Hee-ae answered and slightly dodged the ball. I started watching for an opportunity to get hit and be eliminated. This one’s too strong, that one’s too far.
“Shi-dan, you said you’d get moderately hit and go.”
In-sae said in a faintly laughing voice. I made excuses.
“The kids aren’t hitting me.”
“What do you mean when you dodge all the balls that come.”
“Honestly, I was scared.”
I answered while watching the ball graze past to the side. In-sae made a gesture like he didn’t quite understand. And a brief back-and-forth continued.
While I was distracted for a moment, the ball grazed my arm and passed by. With the word “eliminated,” I smiled brightly and exited.
“It’s brutal, brutal.”
Someone added commentary while watching the game. I watched in a daze every time the ball flew. In-sae was still standing strong. A Class 2 kid pointed at the Five Great Kings and stamped their feet.
“Hurry up and eliminate him.”
“Him?”
“No, please eliminate the Five Great Kings.”
The kid lowered their head like a sinner. The Class 2 class president took a deep breath and threw the ball with all their might.
“At that rate they’ll get hit in the head?”
Along with someone speaking as if frightened, a loud thwack sound was made. Lee Seung muttered something that might have been a curse.
“Kim In-sae got hit in the head.”
“Huh? Hey, what do we do?”
I shouted in surprise while looking at In-sae. The surroundings became noisy, and In-sae still had a calm expression. The Class 2 kids poured out apologies profusely.
In-sae nodded roughly and the game resumed. I kept looking at In-sae worriedly. In-sae threw the ball with more force than usual, as if angry.
Thanks to the Five Great Kings, dodgeball ended safely with our victory. As soon as the game ended, In-sae walked toward me.
“It hurts.”
“If it hurts, you should have rested a bit.”
I carefully put my hand on In-sae’s head.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
In-sae pondered for a moment. Seeing this, it doesn’t seem to hurt that much. In-sae answered confidently.
“It really hurts.”
“Anyone can see it’s a lie, but I’ll fall for it just this once.”
I ended up laughing at In-sae’s words. In-sae looked at me calmly as usual. I took my hand off In-sae’s head. In-sae seemed to notice and immediately said.
“Don’t take that off. If you’re going to fall for it, fall for it all the way.”
“Don’t be obsessed with my hand.”
In-sae leaned his head against my hand again. My heart fluttered again and I wanted to avoid him right away. But I couldn’t do that anymore. Still, because I liked it, I decided to just leave it.
‘I’m trash.’
I blamed myself.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
“I’m trash” lmaooooooo shi-dan is so funny ajdkakal