[T/N] I apologize for grammar mistakes and incoherencies
Chapter 5 <1> #5.
“Oppa, you seems to be quite familiar with that person.”
Jihye spoke without hesitation. She has managed to finish half a plate of pasta.
“No, not at all.”
“Well, he is Jaeyoung. Not Youngjae.”
Sangwoo placed his fork on the plate. He didn’t feel like eating anymore.
“He’s a prominent member of the drama club, and my friend likes to watch his performances. Plus, he also enrolled in Virtual Arts Design class. I’ve heard some things about him. When he was twenty, someone scouted him to become an actor for JS Entertainment...”
“Enough.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s talk about something else.”
Jihye usually speaks confidently in any situation, but now she looks completely speechless. As for Sangwoo, he forced a disappointing bite of the 3,000 won pasta into his mouth, hoping to relieve his restless feelings.
Changing one’s mind means what exactly? Hard to imagine. He doesn’t want to have anything to do with that guy anymore.
Return 0;
While Sangwoo studied on regular weekdays and took up extra work on weekends, the new semester was approaching quickly. He used the remaining time to read ahead and prepare for the upcoming semester’s lessons. It didn’t seem too difficult because, besides two required elective courses related to engineering that students should know about humanities, all the other subjects were major-specific.
In the past, he often took more than 20 credit hours per semester, but this semester he had to allocate free time for game development. After having issues with designers and not finding suitable ones, his planned map was flawed. But now, the registration period had already passed, and he didn’t really want to change the meticulously arranged schedule.
Sangwoo planned a balanced timetable from Monday to Friday, allowing him to have lunch right after classes finish.
Monday: (1) Intermediate Chinese, (2) Engineering Mathematics 2.
Tuesday: (1) Embedded Systems, (2) Algorithm.
Wednesday: (1)(2) Contemporary Culture and Cultural Theory.
Thursday: Same as Monday.
Friday: Same as Tuesday.
The new semester has begun.
Sangwoo woke up at 8:30 a.m., like every day, and did some light exercise. Then he took a shower and had cereal with milk. After that, he brushed his teeth and changed clothes. His shirt hung on top while his pants hung below, following the order of laundry. Today was his turn to wear a black t-shirt and black trousers.
He fastened his belt around his waist, then used his hand to comb his hair before putting on a black cap to cover his face and eyes. He wore a down jacket on the outside and wrapped a scarf around his neck. Then he slung his backpack over his shoulder and left the room, heading straight for his bike. As he rode his bike out, the digital clock on the front showed the time: 9:16 a.m., just like every day.
When Sangwoo passed through the university’s main gate, it was still 9:24
a.m., as usual. It was a satisfying start, as he would always get annoyed if he was even a minute or two late due to traffic problems, but such days didn’t happen often.
Sangwoo locked his bike at the designated spot and proceeded to the Humanities building. Once inside, he saw a long staircase and it took him 0.9 seconds to climb one step. There were a total of 64 steps, with a short landing after every 16 steps. It took him 61 seconds to reach the 4th floor, where the Chinese language classroom was located.
Sangwoo opened the door to Room 403 before the class started, 30 minutes early. In the classroom, there was one student who had arrived before him and was sitting at the front. Sangwoo walked to the fourth row without hesitation.
‘What now?’
However, today there was a bag placed on the table at the far right of the fourth row. Sangwoo glanced at it with disbelief in his eyes and blinked several times. In the six semesters of his history, he had never been deprived of his seat before. He always sat in the same position throughout, and he never even thought about moving to another seat.
The rightmost seat in the fourth row was a spot where he could make eye contact with the professor without having to strain his neck or look at the projector screen or whiteboard to see the text clearly. It was not directly hit by the heat of the heater or air conditioner, and there were no windows, so it didn’t let in direct sunlight. On top of that, it had a wall on one side, making him feel more stable compared to other seats surrounded by other students.
‘Who is it?’
Sangwoo felt slightly annoyed, but the classroom didn’t have a seat reservation system like the library, so everyone could choose their seats freely. Sangwoo had to sit in the next available seat on the left, which didn’t help. However, he still didn’t give up his original seat. Even though he opened his Chinese textbook, he couldn’t concentrate.
‘I should politely ask if I can switch seats.’
After making up his mind, Sangwoo felt slightly more confident. He didn’t believe in the first-button theory [1], but he didn’t want to feel strange and out of place by sitting in an unfamiliar seat since the first class of the semester. As the class start time approached, students began to enter the room.
“Oh, hello there.”
A male student who looked younger than him greeted him with a slight bow, but Sangwoo pretended not to notice. It was the first time he had encountered the other party.
“Oh! We meet again here.”
This time, a female student greeted him and then walked away, but Sangwoo didn’t know who she was.
Students continued to enter the classroom one after another, but the owner of the bag still hadn’t appeared. It was a leather bag with a long strap draped across the body. Sangwoo wanted to secretly move that bag and take the adjacent seat, but he tried to endure it because leaving a bag at a certain spot was a known unspoken rule that it had been reserved.
It was almost ten o’clock on the dot. The teacher entered the room and distributed documents, greeting and asking about one of the students.
“Hasn’t the assistant student arrived yet?”
Did someone decide to be an assistant student for the elective course? It was considered an outstanding effort, as being an assistant student increased the opportunity to get closer to the teacher and often resulted in extra credit from the teacher. Many students looked around in curiosity. A student who had just entered through the back door raised his hand.
“I’m here!”
“Jaeyoung! Long time no see. Why did you suddenly decide to take
Intermediate Chinese?”
“I don’t have enough credits. If I don’t practice the language, it will deteriorate, right?”
“Yes, that’s right, everyone. This is Jaeyoung. He will be assisting us throughout this semester. He is a senior student who used to live in Hong Kong. If you have any questions, feel free to ask him. You can also send homework assignments to this student starting from today.”
Sangwoo, who was sweeping his gaze over the documents, was so startled that he dropped them. But he thought it must be a common name since there were many people with the same name.
At that moment, the leather shoulder bag on the right-hand table was lifted, and someone sat down on the chair. Even though he didn’t want to turn and look, Sangwoo’s head automatically turned.
The red felt hat and the striking red feather jacket were so eye-catching that they stood out excessively. When he took off the feather jacket, the inside revealed a red jersey [2]. Moreover, one hand was still holding a red cola can. Fortunately, the other side did not wear red pants. Sangwoo felt speechless, so he only opened his mouth without uttering any words.
[1] The theory of the first button. When the first button is wrong, the following buttons will also be wrong. It means that if there is a mistake from the beginning, it may lead to continuous misfortunes.
[2] Jersey, a jacket used for exercise, made of sweat-wicking fabric.
Chapter 6 Red #1.
He met the ‘crazy guy’ for the first time at the welcome party for new students in his third year, first semester. Since Virtual Arts Design and Computer Engineering shared the same venue for welcoming new students, the new members of both faculties sat in the same Korean barbecue restaurant with a partitioned table, giving the impression of being the same age but different races. While the dining table of Virtual Arts Design seemed to have eyes because everyone was trying to express their individuality, the side of Computer Engineering was like a colorless sea, as if there was a rule that anything conspicuous would be caught. Just by comparing the number of dyed heads, it was clear that the two factions had different perspectives on expressing their individuality.
“1.”
Jaeyoung saw the other side when Computer Engineering was ordering the new student to drink alcohol unnecessarily.
‘I don’t want to drink.’
Jaeyoung had a good memory, but he couldn’t remember the details of the appearance of the person he met four years ago. And the appearance of the other side was not more outstanding than others. What remained until now was the impression of the exterior that seemed relatively ordinary but turned out to be more easily irritated than expected. If there was something special, it would be the slim neck that seemed to draw attention.
‘Can’t you drink alcohol? Or is it because of religious beliefs?’
‘I can drink, but I don’t feel like drinking right now.’
The student representative and the new student placed a glass of whiskey on the table and faced each other. At that moment, Virtual Arts Design table didn’t show any excitement as the neighboring students gathered to watch the unfolding scene. There was a crazy guy who appeared from the faculty next door, and the student representatives stopped what they were doing and turned to watch the fun.
‘Do you think I’m a funny guy? Are you planning to resist or something?’
‘sunbaenim, I’m not drinking because I don’t want to drink. It’s not because of the liqour you gave.’
Jaeyoung remembered that the other party spoke a sentence that didn’t really help improve the situation. In this Computer Engineering class, there were male students, 90% of them and thus there is a hidden culture of hazing—SOTUS. The only ones who could refuse alcohol were either religious or allergic to it. The ones who refused without any reason were only those who would mock the student representatives. But if it ended there, it would be fine. However, the student representative who was drinking managed to shout and order someone to grab a baseball bat. And then things escalated quickly. When it reached this point, if it were any other kid, they would probably give up. But that crazy guy took out a phone.
‘What are you gonna do with that? Who are you calling?’
‘The police station.’
Then chaos ensued. One side tried to reach for the phone, and the crazy guy ran around inside the shop to avoid them. As for the student representative in Computer Engineering, he shouted for a baseball bat and the scene became indescribable. Jaeyoung, who was watching from the neighboring seat, felt that the situation wasn’t going well, so he intervened. He snatched the phone and threw away the battery. Then, he blocked the student representative in Computer Engineering with a frying pan and ordered the crazy guy to fuck away. All of this was Jaeyoung’s doing. At that moment, it seemed like he was about to get beaten up, but he couldn’t recall much anymore.
Even though the reception of the new student was chaotic, the students drank, sang, played, and danced on the chaos. As for the crazy guy, he turned into a fresh piece of meat in the whiskey group called “The Ninta Topic” and was beaten to almost pulp and chewed like squid. The student representative in Computer Engineering declared loudly that he would kill the crazy guy...
But looking at how the crazy guy was still walking normally now, it seemed that getting through to him wouldn’t be easy. In fact, it was difficult to make someone who didn’t join clubs or participate in activities like him pay attention. Throughout his two years at university, Jaeyoung heard that the student representative in Computer Engineering had tried various ways to bother the other party, but the crazy guy never seemed to be affected. It was certain that he ate alone, and even when he was scolded, he remained indifferent. Sometimes, when it seemed like things were about to escalate (such as using force or blocking the way to prevent him from attending class) he would call 112.
What was even more surprising was that the crazy-guy was a truly eccentric and outstanding student, to the point where he was praised among the Computer Engineering students as a programming language genius. Despite some obstacles, he still managed to secure the top position in his class, making him a dark legend among the representatives of Computer Engineering students. Until now, crazy-guy remained a distant story for Jaeyoung alone.
(2)
In the following semester, he found himself sitting in an elective class.
Normally, Jaeyoung would be half asleep from drinking soju all night and had no choice but to sit at the back since he was always late. On the other hand, crazy-guy usually sat in the same spot every time, right in front of him. Even though his consciousness would slip away, the peculiar beauty of his slender neck and excessively pale skin for a guy kept Jaeyoung’s attention fixated on his neck instead of focusing on the lecture.
But their relationship remained as strangers who never spoke to each other. Jaeyoung was too lazy to attend that class again, while crazy-guy was temporarily erased from his memory.
(3)
One day, Jaeyoung happened to encounter the crazy-guy in front of a convenience store. The other side glanced at him momentarily and looked at Jaeyoung with eyes indifferent to the world’s affairs.
‘sunbaehim, please return the money, 850 won, that you borrowed three days ago.’
Just then, the other side spoke up, perhaps because he noticed the stolen glances directed at his neck. Jaeyoung couldn’t find the words to say and handed over a thousand-won bill, the crazy-guy took the money and quickly lowered his gaze to inspect if it was counterfeit. His eyelashes were lined up like a fan, and the feather hat made it difficult to see his eyes, making Jaeyoung want to take off the hat that seemed sewn onto the other side’s head.
‘I need to give you change, but I don’t have any 50-won coins.’
‘No need for change.’
However, despite that, the other side still rushed into the convenience store to exchange for coins before coming out again and placing 150 won in Jaeyoung’s hand. At that moment, the crazy-guy encountered a large-built male student, resulting in a confrontation between the three of them. The male student greeted him while the crazy-guy alternated his gaze between the other party and Jaeyoung, looking puzzled.
‘Just a moment, did I borrow money from you, or am I mistaken?’ Asked the big male student.
‘It was me. 850 won.’
‘Let it go and just keep it.’
Crazy-guy accepted the money from the other party and handed it to Jaeyoung.
‘I remember the wrong person, can I have the 150 back, please.’
Jaeyoung took the thousand-baht bill and returned the coins to the other party, feeling like he had turned into a fool himself. The crazy guy handed the coin to a male student before disappearing immediately. Jaeyoung stood there still for a moment, then began to understand the situation. Although the towering male student had nothing in common with Jaeyoung, there was one thing that was similar—both had bright-colored hair.
After finishing the second semester of his third year, Jaeyoung went to military service, and the unbelievable event at that time was buried in his memory. After completing his service and returning to study, Jaeyoung was busy with his studies, part-time jobs, exercising, as well as activities in the drama club, leaving no room to think about the crazy guy.
In his fourth year, second semester, Jaeyoung was occupied with his final term studies and couldn’t afford to forget or neglect anything. However, he couldn’t refuse the sincere request of a junior classmate to be a presenter at the university festival. He was involved in various activities and relied on the breaks between club rehearsals to roam the university with a camera, interviewing students.
(4.)
Jaeyoung encountered the other party again in front of the Engineering Faculty.
The other party wore a black hat that covered his face, a dark green checkered shirt, dark jeans, and worn-out sneakers reminiscent of when he was a freshman. The other party looked more gloomy and appeared less confident “judging from the darker complexion, probably just finished military service”. The only thing that remained unchanged was that indifferent gaze. Jaeyoung quickly approached him.
‘How’s the festival going, my fellow student?’
He was glad to see the crazy guy whom he hadn’t seen for a long time, and couldn’t fathom where his newfound confidence came from. But the crazy guy replied without looking at Jaeyoung.
‘I’m not buying.’
In that instant, Jaeyoung felt an inexplicable annoyance, but he refused to give in and approached the other party again, holding the microphone for another interview.
‘The camera is filming now. Fellow student, what fun things are there in the festival?’
‘This kind of culture should disappear already. I don’t care about the festival, and I don’t find it enjoyable at all. Don’t force me to have fun.’
While Jaeyoung hesitated, unable to express his feelings, the crazy guy walked away. Even though he turned to laugh with the junior classmate from the sound distribution club, saying that there are always strange people in this world, Jaeyoung remained irritated in his heart.
But those little events couldn’t do anything to him because it was the end of the semester, and he was about to graduate. Jaeyoung won first place in an international product design competition and traveled to Singapore to attend the award ceremony. With various awards and a packed portfolio, he was accepted into a prestigious graduate program at a leading design school.
In the second half of the final semester, he believed he was close to graduation and hardly attended classes. He spent his days rehearsing for a theater performance and enjoying leisurely outings that brought him immense joy. Unexpectedly, the results exceeded his expectations.
[Hankuk University Student Personality Test (compulsory elective) -
Fail.
Evaluation - Not approved for graduation.] __________________________.
Chapter 7 Red #2.
He never thought he would be stuck with a worthless elective course worth only 2 credits. The class had over a hundred students crammed together, learning about ethics without caring if anyone was listening, and ending with a report card. Although everyone was forced to attend, simply showing up almost guaranteed a passing grade. This course was considered a pointless subject that nobody cared about.
Jaeyoung never attended the class even once. He hated subjects related to character and competitions within extracurricular activities. Moreover, he relied on a junior acquaintance who promised to check attendance and take responsibility for the tasks. But then, that junior ended up in the same situation.
‘I’m really sorry, sunbae. I have nothing to fix... To be honest, I’m in a mess too. Even if I attend every class, my assignments score zero, resulting in an F. That cold-blooded group leader... My grandmother just passed away, and I was grieving. Damn it…’
Jaeyoung hurriedly bought a cup of green tea from a mountain on Jeju Island and went to meet the professor to express his remorse and explain how excellent he was in his university entrance exam. He wanted to demonstrate how he would contribute to raising the reputation of Hankuk University and Korea globally. However, his attempt to improve his grade failed, and the professor responded wearily.
‘It’s a pity, but it’s probably difficult. Actually, the head of the Virtual Arts Design Faculty discussed this matter with me a while ago before leaving. But it didn’t help. If you couldn’t attend because you were preparing for graduation, you should have informed the me beforehand. It’s been in the news lately about attendance substitution, I might let it go easily. Actually, if no one knows, that’s another story... But I heard that the student has quite a reputation.’
Another thing the professor said was if he could just get a yes from the group leader, the grade could be changed. Jaeyoung asked for the phone number of the group leader from the junior batch. Then he eagerly contacted the other party, but that stubborn person ignored his messages and refused to answer calls. It seemed like they had blocked Jaeyoung’s number as well.
Since it was the end of the semester, he went to look for him on his own, but it wasn’t easy to find his whereabouts. The other party had just finished his military service and returned to study. He didn’t participate in any activities, or checked the office of Computer Engineering, or watched movies or, joined a cap club, or a judo club. No matter which club he looked into, he couldn’t find the person named “Chu Sangwoo.” And then, the event passed, and the time for score correction finally ended.
Jaeyoung felt hopeless, but in reality, the reason he couldn’t graduate was due to his own laziness. Just a few days later, he could smile again and let go. The situation was already laughable. Moreover, when it became a topic of gossip among friends, he started to feel embarrassed. After he complained and scolded the group leader, he managed to get rid of this matter from his mind.
Jaeyoung was a very open-minded person, and even if he graduated a bit late, compared to the male students who had to go to military service, it wasn’t considered late at all. Furthermore, his portfolio was very impressive. He planned to travel and have fun for about six months before looking for a job or continuing his studies. He was confident that he wasn’t falling behind.
‘Hey, good to see you. I heard rumors going around that you couldn’t graduate. So, wherever you are, you can do a mobile game project.’
‘Why a game? Isn’t it a student project?’
‘Well, the Developer is known as an Computer Engineeringuter genius, very interesting. If you don’t have anything to do, why not try this project?’
‘You are pretending to egg me to do it. You’re the one who dumped the work on me.’
‘Yes, that’s right.’
Han Sooyeong was a female student who was about the same age as
Jaeyoung, but she had dropped out of school for a while and would be graduating this year. She planned to continue her master’s degree at Hankook University but had to deal with various urgent matters.
‘Let me go. I don’t have time to deal with that anymore. That young developer is quite sensitive, so if you don’t want to do it, help me attend the meeting and explain to him that I can’t do the project anymore. Okay?’
‘Do I do things for free?’
‘If everything is settled next month, I’ll treat you to drinks.’
With this reason, Han Sooyeong’s work became Jaeyoung, who had nothing to do and was playing games in the club room. He pretended to refuse Sooyeong’s request, but eventually agreed.
(5.)
It was surprising to see the strange group sitting in that conference room—the new member who stared at his seniors without blinking, the male student with white hair like snow, the plump guy they had met countless times before, and the guy who was sitting right in front of them. It seemed that the other party couldn’t remember Jaeyoung as well as before.
When Jaeyoung faced the truth that ‘crazy-guy = the group leader (Mr. ChuSangwoo),’ that guy left a notebook on the table and disappeared from the meeting room. The sadness of unable to graduate was dug up again as two credit units buried deep in his soul surfaced, stirring up his emotions. He intended to call the other party out to instruct him to calm down a bit. But that crazy guy reconsidered his message so Jaeyoung was furious, very, very furious. However, no matter what, there was a limit to correcting the score. Even if he confronted the crazy guy, it didn’t mean he would graduate or help him get to know the other party’s weakness. So, he acted as if nothing happened and let it pass.
(6.)
One weekend day, during their free time, Jaeyoung and his friends went to play games together and he encountered crazy-guy there.
The other party was working in an internet cafe, a place where they clearly didn’t get along. Thoughts of retaliatory methods sprang up in Jaeyoung’s mind immediately upon seeing crazy-guy’s reaction change after seeing the portfolio, but crazy-guy wasn’t someone who could be easily provoked through normal means. Having witnessed the failures of others in similar situations before, Jaeyoung decided to handle things cautiously.
But playing games while leaving the other party right in front of him made him unable to concentrate. Jaeyoung let his frustration get the best of him and ended up ordering Ramyeon multiple times after catching crazy-guy’s mistakes, not really intending to make him feel stressed, but rather wanting to see some sign of discomfort from Sangwoo’s usually composed face.
However, crazy-guy remained unfazed. Jaeyoung understood the feelings of those who had previously tried to provoke the other party in an instant and eventually snapped.
“Then please continue being trash, sunbaenim, and don’t bother contacting me again.”
Encountering someone who lacked social boundaries to this extent was a first for Jaeyoung. He wanted to confront the other party, but if he did, it was certain that crazy-guy would call the police with a completely unperturbed expression.
Today, Jaeyoung had to endure it once again, just like before.
He observed crazy-guy for many years. Regardless of what anyone said, he couldn’t help but be impressed by how crazy-guy managed to maintain his composure in the face of adversity. Previously, Jaeyoung had been somewhat interested in those outside the norm, but there were limits to madness. It was overwhelming when confronted with someone like that. Instead of finding it enjoyable, he felt a profound sense of boredom and never wanted to see that person again.
(7.)
One day, out of the blue, the crazy guy who had once said they should not meet again brought a good-looking young girl to the restaurant where Jaeyoung worked. This place belonged to his noona, whom they both knew. Jaeyoung had been working here since the place opened, and people in the neighborhood knew that he worked here.
Jaeyoung’s blood pressure rose the moment he saw the crazy guy walking into the shop. As he walked in fearlessly for a fight, Jaeyoung’s heart raced. But the crazy guy just ordered pasta, nothing more. He didn’t recognize Jaeyoung, and it wasn’t an act. Even when their eyes met. The other party simply looked through him as if seeing someone for the first time. Jaeyoung’s heart was filled with intense anger, double the anger he had ever felt before.
Why?
While waiting for the food, Jaeyoung pondered why he felt so hot-headed, and there was only one answer: absolute indifference.
The events of the welcoming party for the new recruit, the incident about the 850 won, and the interview had passed a long time ago, perhaps forgotten. But it was the incident that caused one person to drop out of school. If they were a human being, they should consider the feelings of the other side and at least pretend to feel a little embarrassed. Especially if the other party pretended to be friendly, it would have been better to pretend to care, right? Moreover, it seemed that this kid only thought that he was not at fault and quickly brushed his head aside.
‘Oh, sunbaenim... Min-Youngjae.’
Furthermore, it was clear that the other party did not see Jaeyoung as a
human being but as something that made weird sounds and gestures. That’s why when Jaeyoung changed his attire and accessories slightly, the other party couldn’t recognize him anymore. Jaeyoung had never encountered anyone who made him feel so worthless.
Jaeyoung’s anger took a somewhat peculiar direction. While the E-Com representative who called for a baseball bat on that day wanted to knock this crazy guy out, Jaeyoung wanted to make the other party pay attention to him, to care about him as much as he cared about the other party.
Jaeyoung wanted to see the indifferent gaze of the crazy guy twisted with hatred or any strong emotion. He wanted the name Jang Jaeyoung, these three syllables etched into the mind like a machine.
‘Is there something you don’t like?’
‘You, sunbae.’
It was that simple. After finishing the matter that day, Jaeyoung immediately began to execute his plan. In the notebook that the crazy guy left in the conference room, there was a schedule for next semester. Jaeyoung organized his own schedule based on that. Then he started walking, gathering information.
‘Do you know a student named Chu Sangwoo? A student who likes to wear dark jacket and black hat.’
He kept asking the gate guards, front and back doors, cafeteria staff, nutritionists, convenience store owners, part-time secretaries, librarians, soccer field construction workers, and students who took the same class as the other party last semester. And he got an amusing answer.
“I know him well, that student rides his bicycle into the university every day.”
(Security Guard…)
“He comes to the same café at the same time and always buys the same brand of coffee. He never tries anything else.” (Convenience store owner.)
“Last semester, that male student came here at exactly two minutes past four every day without fail. He almost didn’t need a watch anymore.” (Library librarian.)
“You mean the boy who likes to go wherever alone, right? He would pass by here at minute 41. Just perfect. And when he turns at that corner, he’ll have to throw the coffee can into the recycling bin on the second floor. I wonder if he dislikes the other bins.” (Construction worker.) That kid is crazier than I thought.
Other people have shown that the usual methods cannot leave any trace on them, having this hard time to look for him, find a crazy person’s path one has to empathize with him. Jaeyoung has finally come up with a way to ruin Chu Sangwoo’s perfect daily life.
A day before the start of the semester, he eagerly awaited the university days more than anyone else.
________________________________________ .
Chapter 8 <10> #1.
Sangwoo couldn’t focus on learning Chinese because of the annoying person next to him, constantly shaking his leg and tapping his pen. Whenever he tried to concentrate, he forgot that there was another party beside him, and that party would hit him with an elbow. Therefore, a 50-minute class felt like 5 hours to him.
When the class ended, he felt relieved. While Jaeyoung was busy taking notes and coloring the corner of the desk, Sangwoo got up without looking back and hurried to the next classroom before anyone else.
‘You seem abnormal, so I thought I’d let it go, but I changed my mind. I’ll wait and see next semester.’
Saying that he changed his mind. Don’t tell me it’s because we happened to study the same subject and obstructed each other during the lecture? Although his heart felt a sense of danger deep down, Sangwoo tried to deny that. It must be a coincidence, nothing more.
As he rushed to the next classroom, he saw another bag placed on the seat once again, which was unbelievable. This time it was a dark blue backpack.
Does this class have someone who knows the perfection of this seat position?
Unfortunately, luck wasn’t on his side.
Sangwoo took a deep breath to calm his mind and sat down in the adjacent seat. Then he opened his book but struggled to see the words in those books. He wiped the sweat off the book until the pages were damp. Here, does he have to encounter that demon’s face every Monday morning like this? And that’s why he can’t concentrate on studying!
While Sangwoo cursed in his mind, the owner of the backpack arrived. Sangwoo didn’t care who the other party was, but this time his head automatically turned again.
A red down jacket, a red shirt, a red cap, and a Coca-Cola can!
His formidable enemy hung a shoulder bag and a backpack on the chair and sat down. Sangwoo stared at him for 30 seconds. While Jang Jaeyoung drank a cola in one gulp and chuckled softly ‘That’s not it anymore…’ Sangwoo thought, so he forcefully pushed his chair back and stood up. However, he couldn’t skip class, so he moved to the farthest seat from Jaeyoung instead.
It didn’t take long for the class to begin. As the attendance was being called, when it was Jaeyoung’s turn, the teacher put on her glasses.
“Jang Jaeyoung, you are an excellent graphic design student. It shouldn’t be a problem for him to take this course? Right?”
“I really like math. Teacher.”
“Even so, do you also want to take on engineering mathematics?” Although the teacher seemed interested, Sangwoo remained apathetic. While feeling hopeless, he missed four minutes of the lesson, and after that, it was difficult to concentrate. It wasn’t the usual seat, and the angle to see the teacher was different. Furthermore, he felt like he couldn’t hear clearly. This was terrible because he felt that the atmosphere was more chaotic than usual. As soon as the class ended, Sangwoo rushed out of the room like a bullet. He had never felt so angry before. Usually, he could keep his cool, but now he felt like he had been hit where it hurt the most.
Sangwoo almost ran to join the lunch line, leaning on his knees and adjusting his breathing. Only then did he glance over and see the man in the red down jacket that he didn’t want to see. Jang Jaeyoung was chatting with the students in line as if he didn’t care about Sangwoo, but Sangwoo felt fear rising from the other side. Just having the other person nearby made him feel like a poisonous gas was spreading.
He felt that queuing today took longer than usual. After receiving his food at the Korean food corner, he walked to his seat two minutes faster than usual, but even so, Sangwoo still felt restless.
“Oh, there’s a seat available right there!”
‘Available?’
Intuition was never wrong. Jaeyoung carried a tray and deliberately walked through the numerous empty tables, intentionally walking over to sit next to Sangwoo, who was sitting alone at the table in the corner.
[1. Move to another seat: The other person will follow. And the situation will loop, wasting time.
2. Stay indifferent: Nothing will happen.]
Sangwoo simulated the situation briefly. Then he continued eating his meal without paying attention to the other party.
“Hey, how do you get to the cafeteria?”
“There you are, long time no see, you jerk.”
“I heard that you insulted the teacher and didn’t graduate, is that true?”
“No way, you asshole. Who told you?”
And then he witnessed a shocking event. Unintentionally, Jaeyoung intentionally chose a next seat, but just having Jaeyoung sitting next to him made the seat full. There were many people surrounding them, making loud noises, disturbing Sangwoo’s meal without him realizing whether he was putting the food in his mouth or nose.
After finishing his meal, he lowered his head to check the time and discovered that it was 12:22 PM. He finished eating faster than usual by six minutes. Sangwoo hurriedly picked up the empty tray, swiftly put it away, and grabbed five glasses of water to drink. He felt a bit uneasy in his stomach, perhaps due to rushing through the meal and causing indigestion.
Sangwoo exited through the back door and stopped by the convenience store. He drank a canned black coffee called “Blackhole” every day after meals. He chose this brand because it was the cheapest and had an appropriate quantity.
As he walked past the bakery section, the instant noodle zone, and the ice cream zone, he came across three refrigerated beverage cabinets. Sangwoo walked up and stopped in front of the third cabinet and looked at the fifth shelf.
“Oh? Where did they go?”
No matter how he looked, he found that the shelf where the regular coffee used to be placed was now empty. Sangwoo was accustomed to unexpected events. This was the first time since he entered university that he had encountered such a situation. He stood in front of the refrigerator for a moment before walking over to the middle-aged woman who was in charge of the convenience store.
“So, they don’t have Blackhole anymore?”
“Oh, my goodness! Well...”
She avoided eye contact with Sangwoo nervously.
“Yesterday afternoon, one student bought all of them.”
Sangwoo felt like the sky was falling. There was no need to ask who that student was; everyone knew. What mattered now was how to deal with this situation.
“So, when will there be more available?”
“It’s not a popular item, maybe another two weeks.”
Sangwoo picked up a can that had a design similar to “Blackhole” but couldn’t pay for it and left the store.
Has his life ever been so chaotic? Has there ever been a day that didn’t go as planned like this? He hesitated for a moment before answering that there had never been even a single day.
Sangwoo walked with a bewildered feeling. There was a walking path he often took to enjoy a cup of coffee after finishing his meal—a small tenminute walk on a trail in the mountain behind the university that always brought his daily life back to normalcy.
Sangwoo took slow steps, pondering the unpleasant events that had occurred today. It wasn’t just one or two strange incidents. How did Jang Jaeyoung know his schedule and how did he know where to sit, what coffee to drink, and everything else along with the stickers?
“Don’t pass through here, please.”
“Why not?”
“The Drama Club is using it.”
The entrance to the pathway that Sangwoo usually strolled through was closed. Although it seemed like a reasonable occurrence, he wondered why such a thing had to happen today when it had never happened before.
With no other choice, Sangwoo had to walk another way. He opened the can of coffee in his hand and took a sip, but the taste was unnaturally sweet, causing his face to cringe automatically. As he walked past the soccer field, a worker who was taking a break near the construction site greeted him.
“Hey young man, why are you coming from that direction today?”
He didn’t understand what the other person was talking about, seemingly that this is their first encounter. Today, too many strange things were happening. Sangwoo disposed of the remaining coffee in a drain and continued walking towards the Natural Sciences building.
“...”
The second trash bin that he usually used was overflowing at this hour, and it didn’t look like an accidental occurrence. Sangwoo dropped the coffee can into the third bin, feeling uneasy about it getting full, and even more so about having to throw it into the third bin. Furthermore, the can hit the rim of the bin and fell onto the floor, making him pick it up again. Sangwoo trembled with anger and headed towards the library.
‘It’s too bothersome here.’
________________________________________.
Chapter 9 <10> #2.
The library allowed seat reservations through a booking system, and Sangwoo would always make his reservation at midnight to avoid any seat clashes. He walked swiftly into the library and sat in front of a computer, entering the names of the books he needed and borrowing new ones from the shelves. Then, he proceeded to the reading room and sat down at the farthest table on the right that he had reserved in advance. That spot was located next to the Philosophy section, which rarely had many students, so it was not crowded and there were no disturbances because there were no windows.
Sangwoo never sat anywhere else.
Upon seeing a bag placed nearby, Sangwoo’s heart sank, but it lightened when he realized it was a white cloth bag. It wasn’t the backpack or leather shoulder bag that he had seen today.
Sangwoo opened his textbook and began studying on his own. In the meantime, he got up and entered a restroom once. When he came back, he found a canned coffee placed on the table.
“N = No, Y = Yes.”
[1. Did we buy it? N.
2. Did you see someone looking for something? N.
3. Is it beneficial for us? Y, (Reason: It’s ‘Blackhole’).]
After going through Algorithm 3 [1], he reached out his hand towards the can. Just as he was about to open the can to drink, he noticed a handwritten note stuck on it, with writing that could be called chicken scratches.
[Jang Jaeyoung’s property.]
Sangwoo frowned as if he saw a repulsive insect, and instantly a hand emerged from behind and snatched the coffee can away. Sangwoo’s eyes flickered and met the eyes behind the large glasses.
“See you again.”
“...”
Jaeyoung placed his backpack and leather shoulder bag on the table. Then he moved the white cloth bag to hang it on the chair. Even though it was right in front of him, it was hard to believe that there was a crazy guy who carried three bags just to deceive one person. He took off his knit hat and placed it on the table before walking off somewhere.
Sangwoo exerted too much force with his hand, causing the pencil to snap twice. The praying mantis was even more terrifying when seen up close than when it was in front of him. For Sangwoo, Jaeyoung was like that. Even if the other party wasn’t sitting beside Sangwoo at the moment, he couldn’t focus on reading the book because he was constantly worried about why the person left this red beanie here and went off to do something.
Not long after, Jaeyoung returned with a book in hand—’The History of Sexuality,’ ‘The Nature of Ultimate Pleasure,’ ‘The Beauty of Naked Bodies.’ He held three volumes of books, leaned back in the chair, and flipped them open. When he opened to a picture, he would examine it closely.
‘That attention-seeking bastard...’
Sangwoo tried not to look in that direction, but his ears could still hear the sound of pages flipping continuously. Moreover, the other party only kept shaking the table with their leg. If there were another student present, they could have joined forces to warn him. But at this moment, there was only Sangwoo alone. The table could accommodate eight people, but it was clear that the other party intentionally sat next to him to shake the table.
[Showing anger = Losing.
Being indifferent = Winning.]
Back in high school, Sangwoo had dealt with similar situations where people demanded attention before and he knew well how to handle it. No matter how big the reason was, the minds of those people were no different from those who liked to show off, hoping to surprise the opposite side. What Jang Jaeyoung wanted was to make Sangwoo lose his cool, be defeated, get angry, and curse.
However, despite knowing that, Sangwoo’s patience was diminishing with each passing moment. No matter what happened, he would endure it to the end. But the second the table shook and his pencil snapped, his legs moved automatically, propelling him to stand up. He collected his writing materials, closed the book, and forcefully stuffed everything into his bag. In that moment, Jaeyoung also grew weary and stood up. Then he followed along casually, as if it were a normal occurrence. At this point, Sangwoo no longer felt surprised.
Sangwoo made a firm decision to ignore the other party. But as he walked down the stairs, anger kept building up after nearly colliding face-to-face in front of the building. Sangwoo could no longer bear it and turned to confront Jang Jaeyoung.
It was like a scene from the movie “My Darling Clementine [2].” If judging solely by appearances, Sangwoo with his scowling brows might seem like the villain, while Jaeyoung, who looked relaxed, appeared as the protagonist. But the reality was the opposite. Whenever Sangwoo faced the hostile group that constantly harassed him, it felt as if a gust of wind passed between them, just like in a video game. Sangwoo wanted to pick up a weapon like a character in an RPG game and strike back at the other party.
“Are you crazy?”
A weak attack couldn’t harm his opponent. Jaeyoung heard that and looked satisfied.
“sunbaenim, so you’re a stalker, huh?”
“What kind of stalker? My actions are too obvious.”
Jaeyoung covered his yawning mouth and rummaged through his bag.
“Everyone knows that you’re doing the same thing. In the same place, at the same time every day. Thinking that wearing a black suit will make you invisible or something. You’re attracting more attention than you think.”
“How do you know my class schedule?”
The other party pulled out a familiar notebook from one of the three bags and tossed it over. It was the notebook that Sangwoo had left in the meeting room, and inside it was his class schedule written. As Jaeyoung took two or three steps closer, their similar heights became even more noticeable.
Sangwoo raised his head and stared defiantly at the other party.
“sunbaenim, doing this won’t help you graduate, why waste your time?”
“Why would I bother with such annoying things? If you hadn’t meddled with me in the first place.”
“What did you gain from harassing me?”
“It’s just... a matter of feelings.”
Jang Jaeyoung grinned like a true villain, so Sangwoo felt a chill down his spine. Or could it be possible that the other party was a rational human being? Should he have done something differently if the other party was just a sadist who enjoyed tormenting others? What should he do to make the senior stop?
“What should I do for my senior to stop?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it at all, at least for now. Maybe the prime minister is trying to act as if sleeping makes teaching easier, or maybe he regrets being rude before.”
“Before feeling regretful, there must be a wrongdoing, right?” “If not, then you shall wait until I change my mind. I’m easily swayed.” “I thought it was just a bad habit, but it turns out it’s a good mental illness.
That’s me.”
“I hear that often.”
Between them, the invisible sky appeared, and Sangwoo’s lips revealed a twisted smile.
“Looks like sunbae you see me as a weakling, but you n misunderstood me. I have nothing to fear, ever since I was born. Whether it’s crazy people, bad habits, or attention seekers. I’ve dealt with it all. What you do isn’t a big deal to me at all.”
When he saw the other person deliberately talking nonsense, Jaeyoung smiled happily.
“When I hear that, it ignites a fire even more.”
“Well, let’s see. sunbaenim, you are mentally ill.”
“Hmm, there’s nothing else to do. Thanks, I live to annoy you.”
Sangwoo turned around and walked towards the bicycle parked in front of the library. He tried to keep his back hidden so that Jaeyoung could sneak a look at what his bike looked like. When he unlocked the bike, he immediately got on it.
‘I guess he didn’t let the air out, right?’
If the other side messed with his bike, he would immediately report it to the police, but the bike was running fine, and the only thing that happened was that Sangwoo returned home faster than usual.
He locked the bike in front of the apartment and went up to the 4th floor.
When he unlocked the door and entered the room, his body and mind felt safe.
Sangwoo lay down on the bed without changing his clothes.
‘What just happened?’
He had been disturbed all day, couldn’t focus on studying, couldn’t digest his food, failed at walking, couldn’t read in the library, and even though he talked to Jaeyoung like that, Sangwoo wasn’t sure. That guy named Jang Jaeyoung was different from the criminals he had encountered before. The other party was well-prepared, meticulous, smart. Didn’t leave any evidence for him to take back.
‘There’s only one solution.’
That is to endure patiently until the other person gets tired and retreats on their own. Even if Jang Jaeyoung thought about it, he wouldn’t have a way to accept it. “Engineering Mathematics 2.” sigh, and even if he said he would attend class, he probably wouldn’t listen to subjects that were useless to him until the end, at most two weeks, because during the first two weeks, you could withdraw from the course freely, but after that, you couldn’t do it anymore.
Two weeks. Although it was distressing, compared to a whole semester, it wasn’t that long. Just sleep through it for a little while, and sunny days will come.
‘But it’s still annoying.’
Sangwoo felt an increasing sense of resentment, and it was a sorrow that couldn’t be expressed. Even though he didn’t have friends, no one could understand how stressful it was for him to have someone sit next to him after snatching his seat. That night, Sangwoo slept fitfully, waking up intermittently.
return 0;
________________________________________
[1] Algorithm, “Algorithm.” The process or sequence of processing steps in solving a particular problem that helps programmers see the programming steps more easily.
[2]. My Darling Clementine (1946), a film adapted from the novel (Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal) (1931) written by Stuart Nathaniel Lake, an American writer, presenting the biography of Wyatt Earp, the sheriff of Tombstone, Arizona, and the legend of his gunfight with Newman Haynes Clanton, also known as Old Man Clanton at O.K. Corral.