EAR Ch 36

“He said he’d study at home until school starts. It would be better if he joined us more, but if there’s study he wants to do, there’s nothing we can do.”

It wasn’t an uncommon thing. The school recommended to students that they attend vacation supplementary classes if possible, but as it was merely a recommendation, there were bound to be kids who missed out. Since it wasn’t regular class, it had no effect on attendance records, and because of that, among the kids who ranked at the top of the whole school, there were many cases where they wanted to take vacation special lectures or receive private tutoring at famous academies instead of listening to supplementary classes done at school.

Teachers tried to secure as many people for supplementary classes as possible, but since they couldn’t force it, if a student or parent strongly insisted, they tended to step back without recommending it further.

“Do people drop out in the middle like this too?”

“Mm, well, if there’s a reason, that can happen.”

As Seungpyo’s tone grew blunt, the Class 2 homeroom teacher looked at him in surprise.

“Did something happen with Jaemin? Is it because of the basketball match?”

“No, when was it that that ended already?”

Today was only the second day since it ended. Before the teacher could attach more words, Seungpyo offered a slight nod and left the spot. Moving toward the end of the hallway with fast steps without a destination, he eventually stood still in front of the reference room door.

If the whole school knew what Ryu Jaemin did in this tiny single classroom where old learning materials slept quietly, it would turn upside down.

‘This bastard to the very end.’

When whipping his dick out right in front of a person’s face like a lunatic was whenever, did he feel embarrassed thinking about it again? Even so, running away without coming to school was a thing only a loser among ultra-losers would do. He also had at least a realization that he himself, unable to suppress his anger from getting tangled up with such a pathetic guy, was unlike his usual self.

Returning to his class’s classroom with a sulky expression, Seungpyo looked for one of the guys he frequently hung out with. If possible, he wanted to talk quietly via message, but Oh Seungpyo was still a body without a usable cell phone.

“You said you attend the same academy as Ryu Jaemin, right?”

“Vacation special lecture? Yeah. We take the same class.”

“Did he come out yesterday too?”

“I don’t know. How am I supposed to remember that?”

Why can’t you remember that? Is that guy a guy who stands out normally? Seungpyo snapped inwardly and shut his mouth. The classmate asked back as if curious:

“Are you going to attend an academy too? You don’t really go to academies.”

“Since I’m going up to 2nd grade now, my brother told me to attend if there’s a good place.”

“If you’re going to enroll, want to go together today?”

At those words, Seungpyo cleared his throat, lowered his eyes, and feigned innocence. Leisure crept into his tone, which had grown slightly hasty.

“There’s no need to go in a hurry, though.”

“Then whatever.”

Seungpyo’s conversation partner soon lost interest and turned his gaze back to his cell phone game screen. Seungpyo quickly grabbed the guy’s shoulder.

“Since we’re doing it, wouldn’t it be better to go fast before vacation ends?”

“Right? Since it’s a special lecture.”

Promising to go to the academy together after school, Seungpyo returned to his seat.

The academy was the last time he went to a local cram school, Taekwondo academy, or art class—places he went because hanging around with friends when he was young was fun, and because like most kids, staying home alone after school was difficult.

Around the time when friends who hung around the neighborhood in groups of three or five quit Taekwondo academies or small private classes and enrolled in entrance exam academies, Seungpyo spent the rest of his day spending time at home or playing games or basketball with relatively free friends instead of moving academies together with the kids. As for studying, well, even without dedicating time to academies, cramming gave good scores anyway.

Though that was also a story before he met Ryu Jaemin.

“Oh Seung is going to an academy?”

“You’re attending an academy now too? It really feels real that we’re going up to high school 2nd grade.”

A few kids who knew that Seungpyo had been playing tough relying solely on his innate brain made distant expressions like old men looking back at the passage of time. Seungpyo answered awkwardly.

“I’m just going once to check it out.”

He had no interest in academy classes. It was just that there were still more than one or two issues to reckon with that wretched guy who hid after doing an unspeakable thing to a person, so he was just going to check it out.

‘If I knew it would turn out like this, there was no need to apologize first either.’

This time, it was Seungpyo’s turn to receive an apology first from the pervert. If it were up to his heart, he wanted to throw a slap at least once, but since the matter would grow complicated, he decided to hold back physical violence. He was also curious about the reason why the cell phone he said he lost ended up in the homeroom teacher’s hands.

At any rate, before going up to 2nd grade, clearing up this uncomfortable relationship cleanly and spending time like the beginning of 1st grade again—recognizing each other’s existence only through text on bulletin boards—was Oh Seungpyo’s goal.

The ‘academy’ he visited for the first time in several years was a completely different place from the neighborhood study room or various arts and sports classes remaining in his childhood memories.

Calling it an academy, unlike those places in his memory that were halfway no different from a playroom, the atmosphere was solemn right from entry. At the entrance, there was a counter staff member in charge of counseling or attendance management, and the friend who brought Seungpyo stood in front of them turning on his cell phone.

“Why the phone?”

“We have to register attendance with the app.”

Seungpyo marveled inwardly. In that place where even the hallway was quiet, unlike school, Seungpyo whispered to his friend.

“If you don’t have a phone, you can’t even attend the academy.”

“You can register with an attendance card too.”

It was thorough. He wouldn’t even be able to skip using the excuse of losing his cell phone. While Seungpyo looked around, his classmate explained to the counter staff that Seungpyo was a student accompanying him for vacation special lecture enrollment. The counter staff guided him through the curriculum, and Seungpyo also shared his situation.

“I don’t have a phone right now. Until I buy a new one, I’ll take attendance with a card.”

“Let’s do that.”

On the document handed over by the counter staff, Seungpyo wrote down simple personal details, and as soon as he finished writing quickly in messy handwriting, he looked around. He was restless, looking like a person searching for something to anyone’s eyes.

“What are you looking at like that?”

“Nothing. Can I just go right in?”

“Yeah.”

The two went into the lecture room. Unlike school classrooms, the large lecture room had seats placed quite densely. The friend said while putting his bag on an empty desk:

“As for seats, just sit wherever is empty.”

Seungpyo, like his friend, put his bag on an empty desk and kept looking around. The seats were already considerably filled, but Ryu Jaemin wasn’t seen even a bit.

Among the kids sitting in the lecture room, there were kids who had already started self-study, and kids who were whispering among themselves and chatting quietly. In an atmosphere he wasn’t really used to, Seungpyo felt a bit restless.

“I’ll go to the restroom for a second.”

“Yeah.”

He stood up. He thought it would be an atmosphere similar to school, but perhaps because it was a place where only kids who wanted to study gathered, the classroom and hallway were suffocatingly quiet. Even though Seungpyo walked confidently anywhere and everywhere, somehow he ended up killing his footsteps too.

Searching the surroundings noiselessly to see if Ryu Jaemin might be in the hallway or somewhere else, he happened to pass near the instructors’ waiting room with its door closed. A person’s voice leaked out from inside.

“They say he’s not coming starting today.”

“Did he say he had some complaint about our class? He’s the number 1 in the whole school for Ilyang 1st grade.”

At the anxious tone, Seungpyo came to a dead stop. Among the 1st graders at Ilyang Boys’ High School, the person who could be referred to with the modifier of number 1 in the whole school was, regrettably, only one person.

…Don’t tell me he’s not coming to the academy either?

“I heard it’s not that, but I don’t know. It doesn’t seem like the kid said he wouldn’t come, and parents are so varied too.”

“It’s bothersome. He was attending well.”

“Should we have reported right away that he was late for self-study a few times? But since self-study isn’t class, doing so much for that is…”

Seungpyo listened quietly, but no more talk about Ryu Jaemin could be heard. Far from sharing a conversation, feeling a sign that people were about to come outside, Seungpyo quickly moved his steps.