HYUNG 4

“Ah, the pairs. I’d prefer to leave the pairing to your own discretion as much as possible, but for those students who don’t know anyone, please come to me. I’ll pair you up arbitrarily. The presentation order will follow the attendance sheet, so those with earlier student numbers should stay on their toes. Once everything is finalized, I’ll post a notice on the bulletin board. If you have any more questions, feel free to contact me. Since it’s the first day, let’s wrap up the orientation here and finish early, shall we?”

“Yes!”

“Then, for those who don’t intend to drop the class and need a partner, please come to me now.”

I watched several students hesitantly approach the professor. They probably wanted her to form a pair for them. Group projects… how bothersome. Fortunately, she said we wouldn’t be doing the work together, but having one’s grades entangled with another person is quite a tiring issue. Should I drop the class? But if I do, I might have to give up my empty period while searching for another class. Besides, whether there’s even a class with remaining spots is the real question. I like the professor, though… But having just returned to school and not knowing anyone, I suppose I should also ask the professor to pair me up…

“Hyung, when do you have time?”

Suddenly, Ham Dowon spoke to me. I looked at him, wondering what was up, but he blinked his eyes as if he were the one puzzled.

“Huh?”

“Because of your student number, Hyung, you’ll likely be presenting next week, so we have to meet up to work on the assignment.”

“Ah, the assignment…”

He spoke in a tone that suggested it was a given that I would be his partner.

“I don’t have my part-time job tomorrow, so tomorrow works.”

The kid is a bit strange, but… I didn’t know anyone in this class anyway, and while I’m at least a Plastic Arts student, he’s from an entirely different department, so it would be even more awkward for him to find a partner. It’s better to just do it together.

“Then let’s do it tomorrow!”

The fellow grinned widely. He seemed quite happy not to have been left out like a stray duck egg on the Nakdong River.

‧₊˚♪ 𝄞₊˚⊹

“Ah. My head hurts.”

“Teacher, did you go really hard last night?”

“Jiwon. My head hurts because I’m looking at your drawing.”

“Aaaah, Teeeach!”

The object sitting on the table was clearly an apple, but the unidentified fruit on the paper resembled a Hallabong orange. Jiwon pouted and turned her back with a huffed expression. Then, she gripped a long pencil connected to a lead holder and started vigorously rubbing the paper with a swish-swish sound. She wasn’t drawing; she was literally “rubbing” it.

“Jiwon. Are you drawing a picture, or are you stroking the paper?”

“Teacher, just because you speak in a gentle tone doesn’t mean everything you say is gentle, you know?”

“Besides, isn’t that the back of the paper? Did you check the front and back?”

I thought it looked strange… Paper has a front and a back, so you have to distinguish between them. The official rule is to draw on the front side, but no matter how I looked at it, the paper on Jiwon’s drawing board seemed to have the front and back swapped.

“Teacher. I’m totally good at that. Of course I checked.”

“Let me see.”

To the embarrassment of Jiwon’s confident expression, the side the drawing was on was the back. Uh, there’s no way? Jiwon tilted her head and toyed with the edge of the paper. But sure enough, it was the back. Only then, with an awkward face, did Jiwon flip the paper fixed to the drawing board.

“Ha, ha. I’ve just been a bit tired lately…”

“Fortunately, someone drew such a tiny rat-dropping amount of a picture that it’s not even a waste to flip it over, huh? Right?”

“Ah, Teacher. Don’t talk like that. It’s hurtful.”

Making excuses. Tsk-tsk, I clicked my tongue, and Jiwon’s lips twitched. Since she’s just a kid, it wasn’t unpleasant to see, so a smirk escaped me. Jiwon followed along with a “hehe” laugh.

“What are you laughing at when you didn’t even do well.”

“Teacher, are you a psychopath?”

Because I suddenly spoke with a stern attitude, she threw quite a harsh word at me.

“You shouldn’t talk to adults that way, you know?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Even though that attitude of giving a half-hearted answer was annoying, she wasn’t unlikable. It must be because she’s the same age as my younger sister. Ah, speaking of which, I wonder what that brat Ye Hwanyoung is doing. Should I contact her? With that thought, I scanned the inside of the academy. Except for Jiwon, most were diligently drawing.

It had been roughly two months since I started my part-time job as an instructor at a college entrance art academy near Hongik University. Fortunately, instead of the entrance exam class, which is constantly tense and difficult, I was put in charge of the preparatory class for the lower grades. Since there were many instructors, I came in about twice during the week and occasionally on weekends.

“Teeeach! Please look at my drawing!”

“Got it!”

I quickly moved toward Min-gi, who was waving his hands wildly from far away. Unlike Jiwon, who was barely sketching, Min-gi was using paints. However, he was very clumsy. Only after sticking by his side and teaching passionately for a long while could I finally take a little break.

[Hey, what are you doing?]

I slumped into a chair and sent a KakaoTalk message to Ye Hwanyoung. It should be time for her to still be at school, right? Or is she at her academy? If so, she obviously wouldn’t be able to use her phone anywhere…

“Ah, this girl…”

The “1” disappeared immediately. You’re on your phone when you’re supposed to be studying? I glared at the screen with narrowed eyes.

Ye Hwanyoung: [Studying]

Studying, my foot. Does a kid who’s studying send messages??

Ye Hwanyoung: [Ah, Oppa, you were the one who interrupted me!!!]

The annoyed character emoticon sent by that brat Ye Hwanyoung was arrogantly shaking its butt. This kid, to her oppa…

[Then I’m not buying you those noise-canceling headphones.]

Since this brat had been singing about wanting noise-canceling headphones recently, I had said I might buy her a pair if she did well. I admit it. Threatening not to buy something I already promised was childish for an older brother with such a large age gap.

Ye Hwanyoung: [Even if Oppa doesn’t buy them, I can just ask Mom to buy them, you know???]

But this brat Ye Hwanyoung never backed down either. Thanks to that, I ended up acting even more childishly, in a way unbecoming of a twenty-five-year-old.

[I’m going to tell Mom not to buy them either.]

Ye Hwanyoung: [Fucking childish]

“This brat…”

Swearing at her oppa? Should I call her and give her a piece of my mind? Or just call Mom and Dad…

“…What are you guys doing again?”

There shouldn’t have been any noise other than the sound of brushes and pencils, but I suddenly realized it was rowdy. Lifting my head slowly, I saw students gathered in groups of three or five. It seemed Jiwon was handing something out; the other students were surrounding her in a circle with their hands held out one by one.

“My… blood sugar dropped.”

As I approached, I saw what Jiwon was holding. It was a bag containing round chocolates. Despite having just been fighting childishly with my own sister, I went soft for kids who were my sister’s age again, and the corners of my mouth unknowingly slid upward.

“Good grief. Jiwon, and the rest of you—you better raise your sugar with those and work hard, okay?”

“Yes. Totally. Do you want some too, Teacher?”

“Is there even any left for me? You’re offering after you’ve eaten them all.”

“Oh, come on. Teacher, I’ll give you this.”

Handing the chocolate bag to another friend, Jiwon rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a small item. It was a single-serving pack of gummy bears.

“It’s okay. You eat it, Jiwon. And let’s get back to our seats, okay?”

The students who were huddled nearby returned to their places one by one, and Jiwon slumped down in front of her easel with an unnatural “Hehe” laugh.

“Hwanoh Teacher.”

“Yes. Teacher Dohee.”

Finally, the kids were drawing faithfully, so I was sitting there with satisfaction when the door slid open and Teacher Dohee, poking her head in, carefully called for me. Teacher Dohee was a full-time instructor who taught the entrance exam class on the floor right above; she was a case where she started as a part-timer like me and eventually settled in. I glanced around at the students drawing quietly before heading outside. Click, as the door closed, Teacher Dohee whispered in a small voice.

“I’m sorry, but could you go into the men’s restroom? It seems like one of the students isn’t coming out. Since the other teachers and the office manager are all women, Hwanoh Teacher is the only person I can ask.”

“Who isn’t coming out?”

“That… Gihun.”

“Ah.”

Gihun was a fourth-year retaker who was a headache for the entrance exam teachers. He was a student who graduated from a famous arts high school but failed his entrance exams every year. Because of the pride of having attended a prestigious arts high school, he insisted on applying to only the top three universities, making the teachers’ hearts feel stifled every application season—the rumors had been widespread since he registered. He could probably get into a decent school in Seoul if he compromised a bit. That reason alone was enough to worry.

“I’ll go in and check.”

“Then please, I’m counting on you.”

Teacher Dohee wore a worried expression. It was probably because that retaker had a tendency to try and act like an equal to instructors who were close to him in age.