EAR Ch 4

“Ryu Jaemin?”

“Yeah. That guy really does nothing but study at the academy. Though at school, he talks with the kids pretty often.”

“Right. I heard Ryu Jaemin is nice, though? He doesn’t act cocky, and he’s popular in Class 2, too. They say if you ask him things you don’t know, he explains them well.”

Oh Seungpyo didn’t reply and only nodded his head slowly. I see. I guess that’s how he looks in the kids’ eyes.

Well, he’s a model student, good at studying, listens well to teachers, and smiles while matching the energy of kids who approach him. If you call that nice, you could say he’s a nice punk. First of all, he’s not a bad punk.

“At the academy, once class starts until it ends, he barely even stands up or speaks to people. I guess you have to do that if you want to be first in the whole school. Does he not even get stressed?”

“Maybe he doesn’t talk to just anyone because he’s in the heavenly realm.”

“Come to think of it, Oh Seungpyo is in the heavenly realm too, so why does this guy feel so much like the human realm?”

Seungpyo let out a smirk. Why else? Because Oh Seungpyo was normal, and Ryu Jaemin was a punk who was arrogant to his core.

‘No matter how much you pretend to be nice, it all shows in your eyes. Thinking only he’s superior while everyone else is below him.’

Ryu Jaemin actually made that kind of expression at times. A devious expression, as if only he knew facts others didn’t, or as if he had a secret. Once he noticed it, even if Ryu Jaemin smiled like a model student, in Seungpyo’s eyes, he looked like he had ulterior motives and didn’t look pleasant at all.

“I am in the human realm, right. I just like studying roughly and getting rough grades.”

“Hey, you’re even more obnoxious.”

Around the time the kids’ playful complaints began, the teacher knocked loudly on the door and walked in. The first period of supplementary class had begun.

Though he laughed it off like a joke, once class started and he was left alone, Seungpyo’s brow furrowed slightly. It was because after listening to the kids’ words, he felt that no matter how short of a vacation it was, spending it only playing around was indeed a mistake.

Originally, he had intended to do nothing but study even during that short vacation, but somehow, he went to the ski resort a few times with his older brother, went to his grandmother’s place in the countryside and relatives’ houses after a long time with his dad who returned to the country… With all kinds of minor things getting mixed in, time passed by without him being able to do much prep for the 2nd year.

He had to pull himself together starting today. Because while he was playing around like that, Ryu Jaemin must have been studying while going back and forth only between his house and the academy.

To strengthen his resolve, he did look at Ryu Jaemin’s photo in his phone a few times. Would anyone believe it if he said that even when he went to his grandmother’s house, he looked at that punk’s photo and thought, ‘I have to study’? But it was true. Even though he couldn’t actually spare much time to study, that is.

As a result of observing him for a year, the rumors about Ryu Jaemin were all true. Whether he didn’t get stressed and had no desire to play around, although he mingled broadly with kids at school, there was no punk who could give a confident answer to the question of who Ryu Jaemin’s close friend was. Isn’t it so-and-so? No, it’s not him, it’s someone else—the names mentioned by each person were different like that.

Seungpyo didn’t have anyone who could be called a best friend here in high school either, as his high school was split from his closest friend; still, rather than having no friends, it was closer to him being friendly with all the guys he hung around with. There was a slight difference between having a group you always hang around with even if you don’t have a best friend, and merely getting along broadly with everyone. If you lived like the latter, first of all, school life seemed like it would be way too boring.

“Stop chatting and open your books. Doing well now will set your 2nd year grades.”

Yeees. At the teacher’s usual warning line, everyone replied with bored faces and opened their books. At a time when teachers and students alike were finding vacation supplementary classes bothersome, only human realm rank 1 Oh Seungpyo sat at his desk with an expression of newly fortified determination.

In January of the new year, the kids had grown a year older. Though they were still sitting in the 1st year classrooms, they were now practically 2nd years. When March came, the classmates in the same class and the classrooms they frequented would change again.

📚

That evening, having finished class and returned home, Seungpyo had to leave the house again as soon as he got home.

Just when it seemed like a winter rain was falling, by the time he arrived home, it had become quite a heavy rain. No sooner had he set his bag down than a phone call came from his older brother.

“Why?”

―My one and only younger brooother.

A voice disgustingly acting cute at the drawn-out end of his words. Seungpyo scowled deeply.

“Did you drink alcohol? Come home by yourself.”

―I don’t have an umbrella. Please bring one out to the station for me. I’ll give you allowance money.

“How much?”

―Ten thousand won.

“You can just buy an umbrella with that money and use it. Or come in a taxi.”

Seungpyo had a fairly generous allowance, so he didn’t move easily for an amount like ten thousand won.

―My stomach feels bad and I’m dizzy, that’s why. What are you gonna do if your brother collapses while going alone? If I collapse in this weather, I’ll freeze to death.

“Then you shouldn’t have poured it down your throat. Collapse my ass. Seeing how well you talk, you look completely fine.”

―Don’t be like that and come out, please. I’ll give you 30,000 won.

“Ah, I said no.”

―50,000 won.

“I don’t have much battery right now, so don’t go anywhere else and stay attached to the station. Or go inside the convenience store right in front.”

It was too big an amount of money to decline. He must really be drunk. Seeing how he was tossing out offers wildly.

Perhaps because a winter rain that wasn’t even in the weather forecast was falling, the wet streets were bustling. The sharp tip of his nose grew cold at the moisture created when chilly air and hot breath met. The car headlights and streetlight beams shining through the rainy night looked clearer and damper than usual.

It was a winter street where everyone was hurrying to avoid the rain and cold, but in Seungpyo’s eyes, the night street sparkling as it reflected in the water wasn’t bad. Hanging a folding umbrella over one arm and humming a tune, he walked down the street while peeking at his phone every now and then.

Though he didn’t reply to each one because touching the screen was annoying, while walking and giggling as he spectated the conversations of other kids in a group chat room where many had gathered, his phone suddenly went black and turned off. The battery had drained faster than expected. It was just when he quickened his pace, intending to pull out a portable battery, and turned right around the corner.

“Whoa!”

Thump! Seungpyo collided hard with a person who popped out from a building. The umbrella and phone fell simultaneously and slid smoothly across the wet floor. The person who had popped out bowed his head to Seungpyo as if flustered.

“I’m sorry.”

“Ah, no. I’m sorry, too…”

Seungpyo was also flustered and bowed his head. And when the person he bumped into raised his head, he became even more flustered.

“Uh…”

Seungpyo opened his mouth unconsciously. The person who came out of the building was Ryu Jaemin.

The surprised expression was the same on that side as well. Even in the meantime, rain was falling, and Ryu Jaemin’s uniform shoulders and hair—which was already black—were getting soaked even blacker. Of the two standing facing each other blankly, the one who came to his senses first was Jaemin. He hurriedly picked up his umbrella and phone that had fallen to the ground.

Is this where his academy is? Seungpyo looked up at the building Ryu Jaemin had popped out from. It was an old building without even a proper sign, where the shop on the 1st floor had its shutter pulled down as if it had gone out of business, looking desolate, and the inside of the building was as chilly as a deserted house. It didn’t look like a building where an expensive college entrance exam prep academy would be located.

As expected, it might not have been an academy, as Ryu Jaemin made quick preparations to leave.

“Oh Seungpyo, I’m sorry. I’m in a rush for academy time, so I’ll go first.”

“Uh… yeah. Okay. Bye.”

As soon as Ryu Jaemin finished speaking, he disappeared as if running. Seungpyo alone stood in place for a moment, savoring the lingering echo of the voice left in that spot, feeling somewhat dazed.

Like the sound of water spreading as raindrops fell into a puddle, Ryu Jaemin’s voice hovered around the area.

‘Oh Seungpyo, I’m sorry.’

It was the first time Ryu Jaemin had called his name, saying ‘Oh Seungpyo’.