238 – EP.10 Look at these guys?-3
***
We sat huddled together in our seats and focused on our plates without saying a word.
It took only a moment for the tableware to hit the plate, making a clattering sound.
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I picked up the chopsticks and looked at the plate.
Brown rice, stir-fried sausage and vegetables, seaweed soup, spinach salad
This is a delicious menu item.
I think I’m lucky to have this kind of menu from my first day at school.
This is usually a menu item that can only be eaten on Wednesdays or Thursdays.
“Ah, the dog tastes bad today.”
Sung Yun-ho stirred the sausage with chopsticks.
Is this guy crossing the line?
Sausage and vegetable stir-fry is invincible and divine.
“I should just go to the store and eat some bread.”
Jeong Ara notices Seong Yunho, but she pays him no mind and just grumbles and hits the plate with her chopsticks.
Why did you get so much sausage if you were going to complain about it?
It’s as ugly as a five-year-old child complaining about the side dishes at the table.
If you keep listening to good music, you get tired of it, but if you keep listening to people whining, an enjoyable meal time becomes a mess.
Even though Sung Yun-ho is making a fuss, no one is actively stopping him.
Jintae Kim, who was hit by me, is silently concentrating on his side dish, and Jeongah Shin is eating slowly while watching me.
In other words, the only person who can stop Sung Yunho is me.
“If you’re not going to eat it, give it to me.”
“I’m sorry….”
Sung Yun-ho is shocked and apologizes, probably because he didn’t know I was going to talk to him.
Then, he focused his attention on the food tray. He starts playing with his chopsticks vigorously.
It’s a bit quiet now.
I picked up a plump sausage, put it in my mouth, and mumbled.
As the warm temperature exploded, the umami flavor spread throughout my mouth.
Yes, I wanted food like this.
I swallowed my emotions and picked up another side dish with chopsticks.
“Inho, you have chopsticks….”
While she was putting spinach in her mouth, Shin Jeong-ah, who was still, spoke to her.
Her eyes are fixed on my right hand.
“Why?”
I flipped her hand back and forth, but didn’t see anything particularly strange.
“Did you always hold your chopsticks like that?”
Shin Jeong-ah narrowed her eyebrows and leaned forward.
I think it’s probably reacting like that because it’s different from what the previous person held.
Your powers of observation are scary. I guess I have to do this to become obsessed.
“I don’t know? I don’t remember.”
I said it as if it was no big deal and picked up the sausage again.
As I concentrated on eating, Shin Jeong-ah tilted her head and turned her eyes back to her plate.
While she was eating her meal in such a quiet mood, she felt Kim Jin-tae’s gaze on me and turned her head.
His cheeks were swollen, and he was leaning on a chair as if he had finished eating.
And as if thinking about something, he held a pair of chopsticks tightly and looked at me.
His eyes met mine, and Kim Jin-tae, probably surprised that he was caught staring, hurriedly turned his head to the other side.
…He might be angry.
After being humiliated so humiliatingly in front of everyone, it is natural to hold a grudge.
“Why? Are you going to shoot my head with that?”
I smiled slightly and joked, and in an instant, everyone’s hands stopped playing with chopsticks.
“…….”
Kim Jin-tae couldn’t bear to turn his head in my direction.
“Ah, it was a good meal.”
I scooped up the remaining seaweed soup with a spoon, ate it, and got up.
One by one, people followed me.
We left the cafeteria.
As I watched the students who quickly ate lunch come out to the playground and kick a ball, I slowly walked into the classroom.
“Hey, Kang In-ho.”
Shin Jeong-ah, who had been quietly following me, called me again.
When I looked behind her, I saw her ‘friends’, including Shin Jeong-ah, looking at me.
“Why?”
For some reason, it seems like the direction I’m trying to go is opposite to mine.
“Aren’t you going to open it?”
“What?”
“This.”
Shin Jeong-ah brought her index and middle fingers to her mouth and moved them back and forth.
This is the action of smoking a cigarette without any hesitation.
“I’m done.”
I didn’t open my eyes even after getting older, so what’s happening now?
I spoke somewhat harshly and turned around again to head to the classroom.
I heard Shin Jeong-ah say something from afar, but she didn’t look behind her again.
***
The back gate of the school connected to the mountain.
It was usually locked, so no students passed this way.
Teachers often stop by here to look for students who may be delinquent, but Shin Jeong-ah and her friends, who have become experts at avoiding such things, are enjoying an after-dinner meal in a safe place.
“It’s strange.”
Seong Yun-ho, who had lowered his tail at In-ho’s words, exhaled cigarette smoke and spoke.
“What?”
Lee Mi-jeong, who was smoking a cigarette next to him, asked.
“Inho. Isn’t something strange today?”
“……”
Sung Yun-ho raised the issue, but no one responded to his words.
“I guess I got scolded by my father.”
Someone took Kang In-ho’s change indifferently.
“……”
Kim Jin-tae just stayed silent, smoking a cigarette in the far corner.
“Jeong-ya. Have you heard anything? You are the closest to In-ho.”
When Lee Mi-jeong asked, Jeong-ah smiled bitterly and shook her head.
Friendly? I?
Shin Jeong-ah recently recalled Kang In-ho’s actions that drew a line for her and asked herself:
She
Thought she was close.
No, she was more than that, she believed, she had no doubt.
Even though her expressions were harsh, Kang In-ho treated her warmly at night.
She didn’t think that the warmth and pleasure she felt at that time were fake.
But suddenly everything cooled down.
Suddenly, he gave up on studying, and the person changed.
“That tutoring b*tch….”
These were the words that came out of Shin Jeong-ah’s mouth after much thought.
“Tutoring?”
Kim Jin-tae, who had remained silent, was the first to react.
Shin Jeong-ah, who had been squatting down, stood up and hit the smoke from her cigarette with her hand when Kim Jin-tae’s voice calmed down.
“I told you last time. There are people who are annoying.”
Shin Jeong-ah gestured to her chin as if asking if she remembered.
“Uh… I did.”
It was a request to take care of a completely unrelated person, so I changed the topic and said we would talk about it later.
“That b*tch is Inho’s tutor now.”
“But?”
“He must have done something to Inho.”
Shin Jeong-ah’s voice was full of confidence.
“Hey, make sense. Inho…”
“If you don’t know, shut your mouth, you f*cking idiot.”
When Seong Yun-ho intervened, Shin Jeong-ah raised her voice.
Shin Jeong-ah puffed on her cigarette again, and she approached Kim Jin-tae.
“Anyway, are you sure that that b*tch had some influence on In-ho? She even said out loud that she would separate In-ho…”
“So it’s annoying?”
Shin Jeong-ah slowly nodded her head in response to Kim Jin-tae’s question.
“Are you going to help me?”
“Hmm….”
Kim Jin-tae lowered her head and thought for a moment.
“Why don’t we do it?”
When the cigarette in Shin Jeong-ah’s hand was half lit, Kim Jin-tae gently touched her swollen cheek with her finger and said,
“Thank you.”
“Ah, but you’re not going to touch it just a little bit, are you? Are you going to touch it properly?”
Looking at Shin Jeong-ah smiling, Jin-tae Kim said.
“Of course.”
“Then, are you calling people you know?”
Shin Jeong-ah nodded her head without any doubt at the simple sound of his voice.
“Yes, the more the better.”
It was Shin Jeong-ah’s simple calculation.
“Yes, it’s good if there are a lot of them.”
Kim Jin-tae grinned while rubbing his swollen cheeks.