276 – EP.11 Living Together-4
***
Starlight fell on the yard along with the sound of insects crying.
Kang In-ho walked slowly through the yard exposed to soft light.
It was called a yard, but it was a small yard that took less than 30 steps to circle around, and he was circling the small yard in the same direction like a pony at a riding range.
He continued to rub his face. Because he had criticized her work, he had been punched in the face.
After a short period of violence, Kim Seong-ah went up to her room, saying she was preparing for tomorrow.
In the lonely living room, he still hasn’t been assigned a room of any kind, so he went outside to soothe his agitated mind, and that’s why he’s walking around the yard now.
“It’s self-suggestion.”
Kim Seong-ah said that her transformation chant was a kind of self-suggestion.
He stopped his feet and sat down on the ground.
The warmth of the cold ground began to spread through his body through his hips.
– Grumble, growl
The sound of grasshoppers still continued.
“…….”
Kang In-ho, sitting cross-legged, observed the inside while breathing steadily.
Look inside yourself slowly and closely.
When I looked at every corner of my body along the blood vessels, I felt ‘something’ pulsating very weakly.
“Hmm….”
Like a test taker facing a difficult problem, he let out a long breath.
I confirmed that something was there, but I couldn’t quite pull it out.
I tried to draw strength using the method I learned from Namgung Soyu, but the point was unwavering.
He continued to work on it using all the methods he knew, but he did not achieve any significant results.
30 Minutes later, he got up with a look of confusion on his face, shook his mud-covered butt, and went back into the house.
“What are you doing at night…?”
Kim Seong-ah, who was watching him just in case, saw him and lay down on the bed.
“School… I should go…”
She murmured as her body felt her sleep coming soon.
***
It wasn’t her phone’s alarm that woke her up the next day.
A fragrant smell rose from the first floor, shaking her from her dazed mind.
She woke up with her hair messy and her eyes half-closed and came down to the first floor in her pajamas.
“You woke up early. I prepared breakfast.”
The identity of the fragrant smell was toast.
The outside of the square bread was toasted to a slightly dark brown color, and butter could be seen spread on top.
Kang In-ho was just putting sliced ham and lettuce on top, and she looked quite familiar with that form.
Kim Seong-ah took the toast spread with ketchup and mayonnaise and took a bite of it by moving her jaw, which did not open well.
The salty and sweet taste spread in my mouth like a fire in a field.
“Oh….”
Her eyelids, which had been struggling to support her drowsiness, gained strength.
It was an eye-opening experience.
“It’s delicious.”
Although it was a brief impression, Kang In-ho gave her thumbs up for his generous evaluation.
“Do some cooking.”
He originally had a career of living alone, but the experience of traveling around the central plains and cooking rice was still in his head.
“What time does school start?”
She asked as she sat down properly at her table and ate her toast, handing her her milk.
“I have to leave in an hour.”
She glanced at the clock in her living room and answered.
“There’s plenty of room.”
“Yeah… Right.”
Her mouth, which had been chewing the sandwich, slowed down a bit.
“???”
Kang In-ho saw it, but she didn’t show it in particular.
He cleaned up the mess from cooking and started washing the dishes.
Kim Seong-ah left her house an hour later, just as she said.
“I need to clean the house.”
After sending her off, he thought about her being left alone in her house.
***
Kim Seong-ah went to school in the middle of morning study time.
Her school attendance attracted some attention and became a topic of conversation for those who like behind-the-scenes stories.
Kim Seong-ah sat quietly in her seat and solved her workbook, and her classmates glanced at her.
Kim Seong-ah, with her red hair tied back, mechanically solved her workbook without paying attention to the stares of those around her.
Kim Seong-ah thought of a wild animal trapped in a zoo cage.
It was contained in her curiosity, in the gaze cast upon her.
After a few minutes of solving her workbook and her morning self-study time was over, a girl she remembered as her class president approached her.
“I…”
“…….”
Kim Seong-ah’s purple eyes turned to her class president.
Her class leader, who looked into those mysterious eyes, hesitated and continued speaking.
“Well, the teacher told me to come.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
She closed the workbook and stood up.
As she left the classroom, eyes followed her.
Curiosity, envy.
The eyes were as if they were looking at a celebrity.
Upon entering her teacher’s office, her homeroom teacher got up from her seat and greeted her.
Her face is full of smiles, so it looks like something good is happening.
No, maybe it was just a fake smile to show her.
Kim Seong-ah had no intention of distinguishing between them.
“It’s been a long time since I came.”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
As Kim Seong-ah spoke softly, her homeroom teacher tied her brown hair behind her and replied that she was okay.
Was it because she was in such a hurry to get out that she couldn’t get dressed? Seongah Kim thought to herself.
“No, the teacher is grateful just for coming like this. Would you like to sit down for a moment?”
The teacher pointed to a small chair, and Kim Seong-ah sat down on it.
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“Now, drink.”
It was banana milk that looked like it had just been taken out of the refrigerator.
“Thank you.”
She accepted it, but she did not drink it right away.
“…Seong-ya, if things continue like this, you will have to repeat a grade again because there are not enough class days.”
After pausing for a while, the homeroom teacher carefully began speaking.
“Is it confirmed?”
“It’s dangerous. I have a few days to spare… No, I guess I can say it’s free… Anyway.”
“I see.”
Kim Seong-ah scratched the banana milk with her fingernails.
“I haven’t even gotten to the school I wanted to go to yet.”
“…….”
“Seeing Seong-ah come out and study, I don’t think she doesn’t have the will. However, she can’t come to school for some reason, right?”
The homeroom teacher asked as if asking for consent.
Kim Seong-ah never made a gesture of agreement.
“The teacher said she was worried about Seong-ah… If it’s okay, could she bring an adult to school?”
In that silence, the homeroom teacher placed his hand on her knee and spoke.
“Adult?”
“Your aunt is your guardian now, right?”
Her homeroom teacher recalled talking to her on the phone just once at the beginning of the semester.
“Ah, but my aunt is not in a position to come right now.”
“Really? But it’s important… I’d like to talk to the guardian.”
“Can’t I do it over the phone?”
“The story is going to be long anyway. Please call me…”
“…….”
Kim Seong-ah just chewed her lips and couldn’t find a suitable answer.
“Hmm….”
Let it rest for a few minutes. The bell rang, signaling first period.
The teachers in the teacher’s office got up and started going to class.
Her homeroom teacher was no exception.
“I’m going to be late for class. Let’s go.”
“Teacher.”
Kim Seong-ah called out to the teacher who was ahead and caught him.
“Huh?”
“Couldn’t it be… Other than my aunt… My older brother? He’s quite old.”
“Relative brother?”
She said it out of nowhere, but Kim Seong-ah thought it was a groundbreaking idea.