Just A Friend

#18

[Kang Jihan: What should I bring later?]

[Me: Notebook]

After sending the reply, Nam Seonwoo closed the slide phone. He thought Kang Jihan might have something important to say since he kept asking for his number, but it wasn’t the case. Questions about tomorrow’s exam subjects, questions about what he taught yesterday. Kang Jihan’s texts were mostly such trivial things.

…Is this guy really thinking of me as his study shuttle? Nam Seonwoo was developing a reasonable suspicion while re-reading the text when a ‘ding’ sound came with a new message on the screen.

[Kang Jihan: Are your fingers uncomfortable?]

“This guy, really…”

He closed the phone again. It was already frustrating enough trying to type on the T9 keyboard, and now he gets this mockery in return. There was no reward for his efforts to reply diligently.

Nam Seonwoo looked at the clock and got up. It was almost time for night study to start.

“Those who aren’t doing night study, leave! Those staying, hand over your phones!”

At those words, more than half of the class got up noisily. Nam Seonwoo put his hand to his forehead at the noise of desks and chairs moving and the clamor. Perhaps because most had already given up on their school grades, the atmosphere didn’t feel like a class facing an exam tomorrow. It was closer to the atmosphere of a mock exam.

“Hey, class president! With the exam tomorrow, don’t you have any last-minute lecture tips to share?”

“I’ll do it if you pay 100,000 won each. Stay if you want.”

Ignoring the boos, Nam Seonwoo started collecting phones. Even as he did so, the class’s banter continued.

“Did you hear? They say the top student in the liberal arts class is so stingy he won’t even lend his notes.”

“What a petty bastard. Compared to that, our class president is like an angel.”

Nam Seonwoo thought to himself: It’s not that I’m an angel, it’s that you guys are blockheads.

His notes were practically public property for the class. Yet, unlike Nam Seonwoo, the class’s grades were a mess. It seemed that most had given up on their school grades early, probably because they were in the science track.

‘But why don’t you give up?’

Nam Seonwoo stopped in front of Kang Jihan’s desk and glared at the book he had open. With already ruined school grades, he had told him to cleanly give up and study for the regular admissions instead. The Physics 2 book he had open was for tomorrow’s exam. Just as he was about to say something, the class burst into loud laughter.

“That’s right. Our class president charges 100,000 won for lectures but lends his notes for free.”

“Where else can you find a class president with such a strong spirit of service? Lending his notes to everyone until they’re worn out-“

“Hey.”

For a moment, silence fell over the class. Though it wasn’t a particularly loud voice, the voice that pierced the center of the classroom seemed to lower the surrounding temperature.

“Could you be quiet?”

At these words, even those talking about other things far away closed their mouths.

In this atmosphere where everyone was watching Kang Jihan’s reaction, Nam Seonwoo found himself in an awkward position. The topic of conversation had been about him, and Nam Seonwoo was standing right in front of Kang Jihan. Everyone knew they had been hanging out together lately. It was easy to imagine how this scene looked.

Of course, the joke was crude, but it was as natural as breathing in an all-boys school. Just typical behavior from guys with underdeveloped frontal lobes, giggling at unnecessary teasing. Knowing this, Nam Seonwoo wasn’t affected at all.

So, while he appreciated it, it felt strange. Nam Seonwoo, who had been unconsciously rubbing his arm, decided to ease the awkward atmosphere first.

“Right. It’s disturbing Jihan’s studying. Let’s quickly get out, those who are leaving.”

Nam Seonwoo spoke with a smile, while Kang Jihan remained silent. The class, after observing both of them in turn, belatedly started to laugh along. Just then, Park Gyuhyeon shouted that a game event notice had popped up, and the topic instantly changed.

Nam Seonwoo held out the collection box to Kang Jihan. But Kang Jihan didn’t seem inclined to hand over his phone.

“Reply.”

He looked up from the phone in his hand.

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because my fingers are uncomfortable.”

Taking the phone from his hand and putting it in the collection box himself, Nam Seonwoo smiled.

“Speaking of which. You do the broom and mop today too.”

It wasn’t just today that he was passing the cleaning duty to Kang Jihan, but Nam Seonwoo brazenly raised his finger and said,

“As you know, my hands are very uncomfortable. As a friend, you should help, right?”

“…”

“I think my hands will be too sore to teach someone calculus later.”

“That’s childish.”

But the fact that he didn’t argue meant he would take care of the cleaning again today. As Nam Seonwoo was about to pass by him, humming, a strange scream of “Waaaaaah!” echoed through the classroom.

The dark-skinned boys were plastered to the wall, looking up at the ceiling. Nam Seonwoo thought a hornet might have entered, but when he saw a butterfly floating leisurely in the air, he felt deflated.

“Aah, why is it coming towards me?! Hey, someone catch that thing!”

“You catch it! Haven’t you seen a butterfly up close? It looks fucking gross!”

Boys making such a fuss over just one butterfly. They were throwing textbooks and running around trying to avoid the butterfly. Then someone picked up a broom and shouted loudly.

“Hey, come out! I’ll kill you!”

Normally, Nam Seonwoo wouldn’t care what they did. But the reason he grabbed the broom being swung in the air was because the butterfly that had entered the classroom was white.

“Hey. Don’t do that.”

Nam Seonwoo threw the broom he had snatched back into the cleaning box and said,

“Why go as far as killing it? Don’t you know something terrible happens if you kill a white butterfly?”

“Why, why would something terrible happen!? Don’t tell me it lays eggs like cockroaches?”

Ah, these stupid guys, really. Nam Seonwoo approached the center of the classroom where the butterfly had landed. It seemed better to send it outside rather than into the corridor where it might encounter students from other classes.

As he lured it towards the wide-open window, the butterfly soon began to flutter following Nam Seonwoo. The weird screams grew louder with each wing flap, but the butterfly leisurely drew curves in the air before flying out the window.

“Ah, now that the class president mentioned it, I remember. Didn’t someone say before? That butterflies have different meanings based on their color. Was white for dead people?”

“That’s creepy as hell. But isn’t that all superstition?”

Listening to the murmurs, Nam Seonwoo nodded inwardly. He agreed that it was superstition. But knowing the meaning of white butterflies that Kang Jihan had told him about, and the look in his eyes when he saw white butterflies after his mother passed away, he couldn’t let an innocent butterfly be killed.

As he went to get the collection box he had left on Kang Jihan’s desk, he felt a gaze staring intently at him. Kang Jihan seemed like he wanted to say something. Nam Seonwoo felt that gaze lingering on him until he finished collecting phones from around the classroom, but he desperately pretended not to notice. Somehow, it felt like he had meddled unnecessarily again.

‘Watch your mouth, please. Nam Seonwoo.’

It was unavoidable that he had become close with Kang Jihan, but it was better to refrain from doing anything too noticeable. Being ordinary friends, that was the plan for this life.

“Um, Seonwoo.”

As he was organizing the collection box on the teacher’s desk, he heard a mosquito-like voice. It was Kim Jaewoo.

“If you have time, could you help me with this problem? I can’t understand it even looking at the solution…”

He couldn’t remember exactly when it started, but Kim Jaewoo had been talking to him more frequently. But that wasn’t a problem, and asking about problems before an exam was common, so Nam Seonwoo nodded willingly.

The mechanical pencil writing down equations paused momentarily at an unexpectedly difficult problem. Forgetting it was Kim Jaewoo’s, Nam Seonwoo habitually put the pencil to his lips as he organized the problem in his head. That’s when Kim Jaewoo took a step closer.

“Um, do you… like butterflies?”

At this sudden question, Nam Seonwoo looked at him, and Kim Jaewoo lowered his gaze abruptly and said,

“It seemed that way earlier.”

“Ah.”

You don’t dislike them, right? Nam Seonwoo answered like that and looked back at the problem. Somehow, this problem felt like it might come up in tomorrow’s exam. But the person who had brought the problem didn’t seem interested in that.

“Do you… have any plans for the weekend?”

“After the exam? Why?”

“Ah, well, there’s a butterfly exhibition on the weekend. I like butterflies too…”

Nam Seonwoo stared at Kim Jaewoo. He looked even smaller with his body curled up. This extremely shy guy must have mustered up the courage to say he wanted to become friends. His trembling hands showed he had taken an enormous leap. Seeing that reminded Nam Seonwoo of a student he had once been in charge of, making him smile.

“You’re cute, kid.”

As a teacher, he knew too well how much of a negative impact giving a rejection experience here could have. But he didn’t want to spend the first weekend of the vacation with Kim Jaewoo, whom he wasn’t particularly close to. Nam Seonwoo smiled at the red-faced Kim Jaewoo and vaguely said,

“Well, let’s see when the time comes.”

“R-really? Then can I have your num-“

With a thud, the mosquito-like voice stopped. Nam Seonwoo and Kim Jaewoo’s heads naturally turned upward.