At 7:30 AM, he asked the household helper for a simple bowl of cereal. By the time he’d showered, headed downstairs, and finished the milk and cereal, it was exactly 7:45 AM.
His hair was still damp and his stomach felt bloated from eating too fast. Jingi trudged down the hill, his entire body language screaming how much he didn’t want to go.
In the distance, there was no one in sight except for a person wearing a black hat and a mask. Thinking he’d arrived before Joo Unyoung, a small smirk formed on his face—until the completely covered figure spotted him and waved.
“Jingi, over here.”
Only then did he realize it was Joo Unyoung. Since Unyoung had such a tiny face, the hat and mask covered almost all of it. Jingi asked, looking a bit bewildered.
“What’s with the hat and mask?”
“Oh… just because. I don’t like being bothered.”
‘Is there a hidden keyword I missed? Like, is Joo Unyoung a celebrity or something?’ Jingi found the excessive disguise suspicious, but since it didn’t seem like the other boy would say more, he gave up.
“Anyway, you’re not late.”
“It’s right in front of my house. Did you eat?”
“Yeah.”
As Jingi smiled triumphantly, Joo Unyoung traced his own lips as if disappointed. What kind of penalty was it that he’d sigh with such regret? Unyoung’s sharp, fox-like eyes turned toward the direction opposite the school.
“Let’s go.”
“So, what was the penalty?”
“I’ll save it for next time.”
“…You’re planning on catching me with a penalty next time, too?”
Jingi had no intention of being late, but he’d never seen someone so obsessed with the idea of penalties. Dumbfounded, he narrowed his eyes and looked down at him.
“Why, you don’t like it?”
“No, it’s not that I don’t like it, but what exactly is it? If there’s something you want to ask of me, just say it.”
“I don’t want to. I want to see you do it against your will.”
‘…I don’t know what it is, but I think I can add ‘pervert’ to Joo Unyoung’s personality traits.’ He looked so innocent, yet he had such strange tastes.
Jingi shook his head and followed along. He felt like a fool for ever thinking characters created by Kim Hyeyeon would be normal.
They reached the study hall in no time. Joo Unyoung entered the large building without hesitation, as if it were his usual spot. ‘I don’t think a building this size used entirely for a study hall would turn a profit on such expensive land,’ Jingi thought idly as he followed.
“Eight hours should be enough, right? Four hours of study, lunch, then another four hours before we leave.”
“Sure.”
“Get a locker key, too.”
“Got it.”
A male and female employee were sitting at the counter. The two paid for eight hours and received their locker keys. Jingi was quite shocked by the exorbitant price but had to pretend to be calm. ‘…Guess I didn’t need to worry about their profit margins.’
Taking the elevator to the third floor, they entered a large lobby where two female students were whispering over a workbook.
“You have to be quiet once we go inside.”
“…Is it this expensive even if it’s not a private room?”
“Is it expensive? Do you prefer a private room?”
“No, I don’t care either way.”
“I can’t focus in those private cubicles anyway.”
In his past life, he could go to a study hall where students sat packed together for just 1,000 won. He’d only gone once, and it was decent aside from the old facilities.
“Let’s go to the couple seats. So we can sit together.”
“Okay.”
He flinched momentarily at the words “couple seats.” ‘Well, people use the couple seats at PC cafes with friends all the time,’ he rationalized. He followed Joo Unyoung into the room labeled 3-A.
The lighting was appropriately low, with desks scattered here and there. Each desk had partitions on the sides and a lamp on top. The chairs, desks, and lamps all looked expensive at a glance. The interior was also much more spacious than he’d expected.
Following Joo Unyoung further inside, Jingi glanced at students who had covered their desk walls with Post-it notes. Half seemed so focused they didn’t even notice someone entering, while the other half—likely there because it was exam season—were either on their phones or nodding off.
“Jingi, here.”
Joo Unyoung whispered and beckoned him. Only after reaching the end seat did Unyoung take off his mask and hat, fanning himself as if he were quite hot. Fortunately, the room was cool thanks to the air conditioning.
“Tell me when you’re hungry later. We’ll go eat.”
“Yeah.”
Pushing back his brilliant platinum blonde hair and shaking his head to settle the stray strands, Joo Unyoung pulled a workbook out of his bag. Jingi noticed that Unyoung never seemed to get anything wrong, nor did he ever see him actually memorizing anything. He just sped through the workbooks.
Joo Unyoung pulled his mask back up to cover his face below the eyes and started studying. Jingi also took a workbook out of his bag. He hadn’t decided on a major yet, but he knew he needed good grades to have choices. Until he thought of something, he planned to solve high-difficulty problems.
In his adult life, his friends and coworkers used to say as a habit: ‘”If I could go back to high school, I’d really do nothing but study.”‘
While people say these days that university doesn’t matter as much, that’s only for the talented ones. For people working average jobs, it definitely seemed better to go to a good school, if only to build a network.
Society still ranked people by their academic background, after all.
Since he’d returned to being a high school student like everyone wished… and was rich and handsome to boot… and his brain still held enough knowledge to maintain top-tier grades… he just needed to make the right choices and find his path.
He’d been studying hard when he felt a bit drowsy. Jingi stood up and headed to the restroom. As he walked out in a daze, he felt the gaze of a man sitting in the waiting area so intensely it almost stung. When Jingi turned his head, the man looked down.
Jingi went straight into the restroom and relieved himself first. He thought, as he always did, that the weight and size were different from his past life… He finished up with a bit of embarrassment. Just then, the man from the waiting area entered the restroom and stood at the urinal next to him.
“Ha, damn…”
For some reason, it felt like the man’s gaze was directed downward. Jingi’s shoulders flinched involuntarily at the curse word. He quickly adjusted his pants, chanting internally: ‘Self-conscious, you’re just being self-conscious!’ five times. He then went to the sink and turned on the cold water to wash his face.
‘I need to snap out of it. If I don’t want to live like a dog like I did in my past life, I have to decide on a career path and study hard. Don’t flinch at nothing, and don’t just take it if someone messes with you.’
He slapped his cheeks with his hands until they turned rosy. As he stared blankly into the mirror, the man also approached the sink. Jingi washed his face one last time.
Even though he told himself it was nothing, the person with the hat pulled low felt strange. ‘I should get out of here,’ Jingi thought, grabbing a paper towel to roughly wipe the water off.
“Excuse me.”
“Ah… yes?”
The man, who had just finished washing his hands, turned his head. Jingi swallowed hard, his body tensing up. The man was about the same height as Jingi and had bleached-blonde hair that looked quite damaged under his hat. Several piercings dangled from his ears.
“Have this.”
Bewildered, Jingi took the Starbucks bottled coffee the man held out. It was the kind he used to see in convenience stores and scoff at, thinking, ‘”Why do they sell coffee so expensive?”‘—yet he’d always wanted to try it once. Tension flooded his stiff shoulders. ‘Is this a cult? Or what?’
For a moment, the news article he saw this morning flashed through his mind.
‘No way. Surely not…’
“U-uh, thank you.”
“Sure.”
