By Zephyria 
Oh Seung-pyo was good at studying.
In middle school, he had never once let go of the top spot in his grade. That wasn’t to say he was a model student who took expensive private tutoring, diligently previewed and reviewed his lessons, or invested a set amount of time in studying every day. Not at all.
On the contrary, he was the type to get scolded by teachers for fooling around with other kids in the hallways whenever he had a spare moment; he loved heading outside for a game of basketball, and once class ended, he’d skip his academies to sneak off to PC cafes to play games or spend his time texting girls he was close with.
Because he was athletic and generous with his money, he was popular with the boys; because he was clean-cut, handsome, and already over 180 centimeters tall by the third year of middle school, he was popular with the girls. He had received business cards from talent agencies while walking down the street and was frequently asked why he didn’t try becoming a celebrity.
To be honest, Oh Seung-pyo thought he could outshine most idols, but unfortunately, he had little talent for singing or dancing. Because he was so tall, when he danced, he looked like one of those inflatable tube men outside a phone store. With the lean muscles he’d developed from playing sports—which still had a youthful quality to them—he looked even more ridiculous than a doll.
Wondering if he might have a knack for acting, he tried mimicking drama lines in secret in front of a mirror, but even to his own eyes, it was a disaster. Eventually, whenever he was asked if he wanted to be a celebrity, Oh Seung-pyo simply answered that he wasn’t interested.
Even living like that, Oh Seung-pyo was good at studying. It was because he was smart. The saying that a high IQ meant great memorization skills seemed true. Oh Seung-pyo remembered almost everything he read once. As long as he crammed properly the night before an exam after playing all term, the top rank in the school was always his.
For example: there was a time he was caught blatantly slacking off during class. The teacher made Seung-pyo stand up and peppered him with questions, but Seung-pyo—glancing at his blank notebook as if he were reading his notes—answered everything fluently and without hesitation, slipping through unscathed. Since it was material he had already read through once before, it was fucking easy even without listening to the lecture.
“You little shit, you’re not focusing, are you? Just wait until your father gets home; you’re dead. You’ve gone crazy just because you’re a year older.”
Seung-pyo’s older brother was three years his senior. Their mother had passed away when they were young; the brother remembered her quite well, but Seung-pyo barely did.
Their father was a captain of a deep-sea tuna fishing vessel, so he spent more time away from home than he did in it. Whenever Seung-pyo saw canned tuna stacked on kitchen shelves or supermarket displays, he thought of his father, and he grew up healthy, consuming protein, calcium, and DHA, which was said to aid brain cell growth.
Because of this, his brother was something of a parental figure to Seung-pyo. Although aunts on both sides dropped by once or twice a week to check on them, it wasn’t the same as the brother he lived with every day.
That didn’t mean the brother was soft or affectionate—one look at his tone of voice told you everything. After going to college, he became even more arrogant, acting as if he were now a “complete adult” of the twenties.
“I just slacked off this time. It’s my first time in high school, so it might take a while to adjust. You struggled to adjust when you went to college, too.”
“Where does this brat get off using ‘you’ and pointing fingers at his heavenly older brother? You’re dead.”
The reason the brother was angry was that Seung-pyo’s grades had plummeted in the first mock exam of high school. Seung-pyo, who had never missed the top spot, had come in 13th in the grade.
But it was just a mock exam, right? A mock? Oh Seung-pyo was brimming with confidence. It was only because he hadn’t studied properly yet; if he set his mind to it, he could reclaim the top spot whenever he wanted.
“You said you’d get your act together. When is that going to happen? Do you want to just slide right into your senior year like this?”
A month later, his brother was chirping again. In the second mock exam, Seung-pyo ranked 8th.
Of course, it wasn’t a bad grade. But Oh Seung-pyo was a student who had never let go of first place. He was the kind of honor student whose shoulder the principal would personally pat while trying to act friendly. Since the brother had also been an honor student whose academic prowess was second to none, he seemed to have no intention of understanding his younger brother’s unexpected results.
More than anything, Oh Seung-pyo didn’t want to understand it himself. He had never even dreamed of a rank around 10th place, and the fact that he had actually “studied” for the exam and still got this result was something so embarrassing he wanted to curl into a ball and roll away. Nevertheless, Oh Seung-pyo pretended not to be shaken and answered with an air of annoyance.
“I’ve got the hang of it. I’ll get a real grade next time, so don’t worry.”
Because, until then, it was still just a mock exam. Oh Seung-pyo could still afford to be relaxed. Even if it was a fake relaxation for show.
But Oh Seung-pyo was starting to get nervous. After the second mock exam of high school, he had realized one thing for certain: in high school, if you relied solely on innate intelligence like you did in middle school, you could end up in a total mess.
Naturally, Oh Seung-pyo remained popular in high school, but he began to politely decline his friends’ invitations to hang out.
PC cafe?
Nah.
Why?
Allowance cut off.
Omg, I have money.
Dad’s home.
Since a few guys from his middle school had also come to the same high school, they spread rumors—like urban legends—about how strict and terrifying Seung-pyo’s father was (though the stories were heavily exaggerated). As a result, the new friends seemed to think of Seung-pyo’s father as some kind of Hulk who fought sea monsters like giant tuna with his bare hands. In reality, the captain didn’t actually catch the tuna himself.
The claim that his father had returned to the country was a lie, but regardless, once he said the Hulk was home, the kids stopped bothering him to play.
Oh Seung-pyo was actually quite serious. After two mock exams, the midterms—which counted toward his GPA—were approaching. Now was truly not the time to be relaxed. He had to normalize his grades somehow.
So, Seung-pyo studied harder than he ever had in his life. He cut off hanging out with friends and postponed chatting with former classmates from other schools via messenger, claiming he couldn’t use his phone because of his father.
In middle school, he would have been too embarrassed to let other kids see him studying this hard, but since most of his high school friends were new acquaintances, they just accepted it when they saw him buried in books. They would occasionally come over and chatter away as they pleased, which wasn’t particularly helpful, but they didn’t actively hinder him either.
And so, the midterms arrived.
* * *
“Wow, Oh Seung-pyo is insane.”
It was the policy of Oh Seung-pyo’s school to post the rankings from 1st to 50th on a large poster in the hallway. They possessed the cruelty to hang the poster before distributing individual report cards, forcing the students to see it. While being in the top 50 was a decent achievement, those who barely clung to the edge of the list hated the system, feeling their grades weren’t something to brag about.
On the day the first midterm results were posted, his classmates looked up at him with admiration, as if seeing him in a new light.
Oh Seung-pyo had truly worked hard this time. Once he actually started studying, he found that high school material wasn’t that different. He could still memorize the content of the books easily, and his understanding was sharp, allowing him to breeze through the practice problems. Thanks to getting most of the ambiguous questions right, he achieved an objectively excellent score. A first-tier grade was a given, and it was a score high enough to aim for 1st place overall.
That’s why Seung-pyo was confident. Confident that he would return to his rightful place.
“This is crazy. How did you jump up this much? Tell me your secret.”
“You’re freaking good at studying.”
Despite the words of congratulations, envy, and jealousy from his new friends, Oh Seung-pyo’s stiff expression did not soften.
From behind him, he heard the exclamations of people he didn’t know.
“Is it Ryu Jae-min again?”
“He was 1st in his grade throughout middle school, too.”
“Daebak.”
Seung-pyo glanced back. Students from other classes, whom he didn’t recognize, were reacting with surprise as they spoke the name of the top student with familiarity.
That name wasn’t his. He, too, had monopolized the top spot throughout middle school. He had studied hard for this exam. He had prepared more diligently than he ever had in his entire life…
And yet, Oh Seung-pyo had not reclaimed his place. 2nd in the grade. It was a grade anyone would praise, but to the current Oh Seung-pyo, it was a rank that symbolized nothing but humiliation.
‘Who the hell is this guy?’
Seung-pyo, who had never cared about others’ grades until now, wondered for the first time who the person above him was. However, it didn’t seem like the person was among those currently looking at the poster. Seung-pyo was in Class 4; the top student was in Class 2. The guy was just one classroom away.
“Oh, Ryu Jae-min.”
“Did you come to see the grades?”
Just then, the name at the very top of the poster pierced his ears. Seung-pyo wasn’t the only one reacting to that name. At the start of a new semester in a new school, the unfamiliar students all turned their heads to see the face of the top student.
“Yeah. I heard they were posted on the wall.”
“I’m so jealous. If my mom found out, she’d probably want to trade me for you.”
A pale face smiled brightly, though with a hint of bashfulness.
Seung-pyo frowned slightly. It was strange. Ryu Jae-min had merely given a smile that didn’t even show his teeth, yet it felt as if the surroundings had suddenly brightened. Did he have a bright impression? He wasn’t sure. If anything, he seemed quiet and gave off the vibe of a total nerd—just an ordinary guy.
Regardless, the guy looked up to check his rank and gave a very slight look that said, I thought so. He was smiling modestly, but Oh Seung-pyo recognized that look. Since Oh Seung-pyo was an expert at thinking he was superior while pretending not to be, he could spot it a mile away.
Because of this, Oh Seung-pyo stared at Ryu Jae-min for too long. Feeling the gaze, Ryu Jae-min turned his head toward Seung-pyo. Fuck, the 2nd place student staring intently at the 1st place student—what an embarrassing situation. Seung-pyo quickly looked away, but it felt as if their eyes had met for a brief moment.
Seung-pyo shook his head sharply.
“Hey, let’s go.”
“Yeah, okay.”
As Seung-pyo headed back to the classroom first, the classmates who had been standing with him followed. Once Seung-pyo had departed, a few of the students remaining behind began to whisper about him.
“That’s Oh Seung-pyo, right?”
“What the hell. Isn’t it unfair to look like that and be good at studying too?”
“A kid who goes to the same academy as him said he gets talent agency business cards whenever he goes outside. Apparently, he’s insanely popular with girls.”
Setting aside the slightly exaggerated rumors common among adolescent boys, Jae-min looked in the direction Oh Seung-pyo had disappeared before turning away. After chatting briefly with the friends around him, Jae-min finished his business and returned to his classroom.
1st and 2nd place. Even without exchanging a single word, they were bound to remember each other. In their respective classrooms, Oh Seung-pyo thought of Ryu Jae-min, and Ryu Jae-min thought of Oh Seung-pyo.
Naturally, the time Oh Seung-pyo spent thinking about Ryu Jae-min was overwhelmingly longer. In most competitions, the emotions of the loser are always more intense than those of the winner.
Time flowed steadily, and exams continued regularly. Another mock exam, finals, summer break, and then the new semester bringing the second-semester mock exams, midterms, and finals…
Each time, a new poster was put up on the wall, and the name at the very top did not change for the rest of the year. 1st place: Ryu Jae-min. 2nd place: Oh Seung-pyo.
The students of Ilyang Boys’ High School now had that order engraved in their minds like a fixed blueprint. Even Seung-pyo’s brother and father came to accept the fact that their brother and son were only 2nd in the grade as naturally as breathing.
2nd place was still a wonderful achievement, and above all, because Seung-pyo had studied so much harder since entering high school, his family was very satisfied. They weren’t the kind of manic guardians who would harass him for not being 1st.
‘Fuck.’
The only person who wasn’t satisfied was the 2nd place student, Oh Seung-pyo.
In his own mind, Oh Seung-pyo was a perfect guy: good at studying, good at playing, handsome, tall, and athletic. Of course, the world was wide and there were plenty of people better than him, but Oh Seung-pyo was a student at a general high school. He bragged a bit, but he was a boy of ordinary scale, not one to aim for world-class status.
He had always been completely satisfied with himself. He had never envied another friend and had lived with the confidence that he could achieve anything if he set his mind to it.
Now, in the unfamiliar situation of meeting an opponent he couldn’t beat no matter how hard he tried, Oh Seung-pyo was tasting several emotions he had never felt before. His first experience of defeat, humiliation, and the inferiority complex that led to hating and envying someone…
It made no sense. These were all emotions that should have had nothing to do with Oh Seung-pyo.
“Jae-min, are you having any trouble with your studies lately?”
“No, it’s not hard. I’m not the only one studying, after all.”
One day, from the stairs leading from the second floor to the third, Oh Seung-pyo was secretly looking down at a teacher and Ryu Jae-min talking. To the teacher’s words, which had naturally become affectionate while dealing with the top student, Ryu Jae-min replied with his usual faint yet bright smile.
With only winter break remaining, both semesters of the first year of high school had ended. Throughout the entire year, Oh Seung-pyo had not once put his name in the first spot on the poster.
For a year, Oh Seung-pyo had observed Ryu Jae-min intermittently but intensely. Of course. Ryu Jae-min might not have known Oh Seung-pyo well, but Oh Seung-pyo had no choice but to be acutely aware of Ryu Jae-min—sometimes to a degree that annoyed himself.
Whenever Ryu Jae-min’s name came up while he was hanging out with other kids, Seung-pyo would pretend to be uninterested while slipping in questions to gather information. It was truly exhausting to ensure that neither other people nor Ryu Jae-min himself realized how incredibly interested he was in him.
The Ryu Jae-min he discovered through these means was a picture-perfect model student, the complete opposite of Oh Seung-pyo.
That wasn’t to say Oh Seung-pyo was a delinquent. But no one would describe Seung-pyo as a model student. Seung-pyo was a typical student who did the things adults told him not to do, provided he read the room.
The one who wasn’t typical was Ryu Jae-min. Not a single student had ever witnessed Ryu Jae-min entering places adults forbade, such as PC cafes or coin karaoke rooms. He rotated only between three places: school, the academy, and home.
His family background was also special. Both his father and mother were professors at prestigious universities, so his passion for education was immense. Seeing that both his paternal and maternal sides were full of so-called “professionals” like doctors and lawyers, it seemed he was simply born smart. Naturally, they had plenty of money, and it was said that famous instructors from Gangnam made time to give him private tutoring. A few kids who had visited Ryu Jae-min’s house in middle school said he lived in a large premium apartment with an interior that was truly magnificent.
‘It’s all money. How can you beat a silver spoon? What a filthy world.’
Oh Seung-pyo had begun to blame others with a fair amount of cynicism. He held his pen between his fingers and shook it as if he were smoking a cigarette.
Seung-pyo’s father hadn’t built his life on academic credentials. However, as a deep-sea fishing captain, he earned a considerable income, so Oh Seung-pyo had never felt a lack of financial resources—he was essentially a silver spoon himself.
His father didn’t deny that the reason both Seung-pyo and his brother were good at studying was due to their maternal lineage. His father didn’t care much about grades or his sons’ career paths. He just kept saying the comfortable words that as long as the boys looked decent, they’d find a way to make a living.
If his smart mother had been by his side, would she have looked after his studies better and led to a better result than now? Seung-pyo was now attributing the reason for his defeat even to a mother he couldn’t even remember.
Regardless, Ryu Jae-min was a model student, and he was handsome. He was a different style of beauty than Oh Seung-pyo. Although he hadn’t seen him play sports at school, his build was decent, and his posture was straight and confident. At first, Seung-pyo had thought he was ordinary, but that seemed to have been because the anger of not reclaiming 1st place had interfered too much.
While he didn’t have a flashy appearance, his impression became radiant with just a small smile, and his features were reliable yet neat, making him a face that easily garnered liking. Because he was such a studious guy, there weren’t many who openly approached him to date, but it was said he was subtly popular.
He was slightly shorter than Seung-pyo. He always wore his uniform neatly without a single crease, and while the content of his speech was ordinary, his tone was polite and gentle, which sometimes felt cringey to Seung-pyo, who tended to throw words out bluntly. In other words, he had the tone of a total nerd.
If a family manages grades like that, they’d probably have him do separate exercise too. Still, he seemed to avoid outdoor activities entirely, as his skin was quite fair. His hair was a common style—moderate length with bangs—but every time Seung-pyo saw it, the texture looked soft and silky. He seemed to use expensive shampoo, too.
‘Shampoo, my foot. Am I losing it?’
He was really starting to think about the most random things. Lost in these idle thoughts, Seung-pyo was absentmindedly spinning his pen when it suddenly slipped from his hand.
Clack!
The heavy pen fell like it was plummeting off a cliff, hitting the step one level below with a loud noise, as if it had shattered.
Clack, clack, clack, roll…
The pen bounced haphazardly down the stairs and finally rolled across the hallway. The voices of the teacher and Ryu Jae-min, who had been chatting in the quiet hallway, cut off abruptly in surprise.
Panicked, Oh Seung-pyo held his breath and tried to scramble back up the stairs, intending to just abandon the pen. However, before he could even turn around, he had to stop; the pen was an engraved one he had received from his father as a gift to commemorate his entrance into high school. Since Oh Seung-pyo’s name was carved into it, anyone who looked at it for a few seconds would know exactly who the owner was.
Dammit. Swallowing a curse, Seung-pyo had no choice but to trudge down the stairs. The teacher standing below looked up and asked in surprise,
“Oh, Seung-pyo. Is this yours?”
“Yes, I dropped it while coming down in a hurry.”
Just then, Ryu Jae-min leaned down. With a fair, neat hand, he picked up the navy blue pen with a cap and held it out to Seung-pyo, looking him straight in the eye.
“Here.”
“Uh.”
Their fingertips brushed slightly as he took the pen. Feeling an uncomfortable sensation, Seung-pyo unconsciously stiffened his expression.
Here. Uh. That was their first conversation. They had exchanged glances and been acutely aware of each other during every exam period countless times, but this was the first time they had officially spoken to one another.
After the brief exchange—which could hardly even be called a conversation—they both fell silent as if by agreement, and the teacher smiled at them.
“It’s nice to see the first and second rank students standing together. You two should get along.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
They answered almost simultaneously. The teacher left first, and the two of them, left awkwardly in the hallway, exchanged another short set of words. This time, Seung-pyo spoke first.
“I’m going.”
“Uh.”
Seung-pyo climbed back up the stairs. His fingertips felt itchy where they had touched. He brushed his palms together as if something were stuck to them, and upon reaching the spot where he had been standing, he peeked over the edge to look down. Ryu Jae-min was wearing a solitary expression while looking out the window, as if he wanted to enjoy some time alone.
Winter break was coming soon. He had suffered total defeats in all his exams this year, but he couldn’t let that continue into his second year. To reclaim the top spot in the school, he had to work incredibly hard during winter break and seize the momentum from the first exam of the second year.
To focus on studying, setting a goal was essential. The goal was, naturally, to beat the school’s number one, Ryu Jae-min. There were supplementary classes during the break, but those didn’t start until January. This meant that from mid-December to the end of the month, he wouldn’t have to cross paths with Ryu Jae-min.
Seung-pyo pulled out his phone and covered the speaker to ensure the camera wouldn’t make a sound. He zoomed in and snapped a shot of Ryu Jae-min’s face as he looked out the window.
Right now, he could see the guy whenever he came to school, which naturally fueled his sense of purpose, but since he couldn’t do that during the break, he felt he needed to occasionally look at the face of his enemy to keep his competitive spirit alive. Taking one secret photo of his face… well, that wasn’t exactly a malicious act.
‘He’s surprisingly photogenic.’
The side profile of him gazing into the distance came out better than necessary. How annoying. Seung-pyo gave a short snort and closed the photo app.
Compared to the perpetually popular Oh Seung-pyo, the popularity of the top student was no less. Ryu Jae-min, who had been staring blankly out the window, was now leaving the spot, chatting quietly with some students who had approached him. Seung-pyo finished climbing the stairs.
* * *
High school winter break was practically nonexistent.
At Seung-pyo’s school, they had a break of about ten days without classes from late December until the New Year’s holiday, and supplementary classes began in the first week of January. The students, who had been apart for a short while, chatted busily about how they had spent their time.
“Where’d you go?”
“My mom and dad were busy, so I just stayed home. Dammit, I told them to let me travel even if I had to go alone, but they said no.”
“I went to Jeju Island. What about you, Seung-pyo?”
“I went snowboarding for a bit with my Hyung.”
From the second semester, Seung-pyo’s Hyung had become obsessed with university club activities, and after the semester ended, he often went snowboarding with the club members. After one trip, he became completely hooked, and since then, he had taken Seung-pyo to the ski resort a few more times.
While many children learn leisure sports from a young age, it wasn’t easy for the Seung-pyo brothers, whose caregivers had been inconsistent. Flower viewing in spring, the beach or water parks in summer, and the ski resort in winter—that kind of standard family formula didn’t exist in Seung-pyo’s house.
Now an adult, his Hyung played hard all year round, as if trying to make up for all the lost time. Seeing him play like that, it seemed certain he had failed his exams, yet he nagged Seung-pyo about his grades dropping since entering high school while never revealing his own GPA.
What was so special about being born a few years earlier? Oh Seung-pyo felt it was unfair, but he decided to let it slide. After all, he had a great time at the ski resort using his Hyung’s money.
“It was my first time, and it was fun.”
“If you wear snowboarding gear, people probably think you’re a college student.”
“Yeah, actually, since I was with Hyung, there were some Noonas who asked if we wanted to hang out.”
“Really? Did you get their numbers?”
“No, once I said we were brothers, they just left. Why would they care if we’re brothers?”
“Ah, this bastard was out here scamming people.”
Though it was a short break, as they giggled and shared the things that had happened, the school he had been reluctant to return to suddenly felt familiar. Then, one guy interrupted the conversation, his eyes widening as if he had just remembered something.
“Come to think of it, the school’s number one was at the academy I went to for special lectures. My mom paid for a short course there during the break.”
“Ryu Jae-min?”
“Yeah. At the academy, he literally does nothing but study. At school, he at least talks to people often.”
“True. I heard Ryu Jae-min is nice. He doesn’t brag and is popular in Class 2. They say he teaches you well if you ask him something you don’t know.”
Oh Seung-pyo didn’t respond and only nodded slowly. I see. That’s how he looks to other kids.
Well, he’s a model student, studies well, listens to the teachers, and gives appropriate responses with a smile to those who approach him. If you call that ‘nice,’ then he’s a nice guy. At least he’s not a bad person.
“At the academy, once class starts, he barely even stands up or talks to anyone until it’s over. I guess you have to be like that to be number one in the school. Doesn’t he get stressed?”
“He’s probably from a higher plane of existence, so he doesn’t talk to just anyone.”
“Thinking about it, Oh Seung-pyo is also from a higher plane, so why does he feel so… human?”
Seung-pyo chuckled. Why? Because Oh Seung-pyo was normal, and Ryu Jae-min was arrogant to the bone.
‘No matter how much he pretends to be nice, it all shows in his eyes. That he thinks he’s the only one who’s great and everyone else is beneath him.’
Ryu Jae-min actually made that expression sometimes. A mysterious look, as if he knew something others didn’t, or as if he had a secret. Once he noticed it, even when Ryu Jae-min smiled like a good student, he looked like he had an ulterior motive in Seung-pyo’s eyes, and he didn’t look pleasant.
“I am definitely human. I prefer studying moderately and getting moderate grades.”
“Hey, you’re even more annoying.”
Just as the children’s playful complaints began, the teacher entered, knocking loudly on the door. The first period of supplementary classes had begun.
Though he had laughed it off as a joke, Seung-pyo’s brow furrowed slightly once the class started and he was alone. After hearing the other kids, he felt that even for a short break, spending it only on playing had indeed been a mistake.
Originally, he had intended to do nothing but study even during that short break, but somehow he ended up going to the ski resort a few times with his Hyung, and after his father returned to the country, he visited his Grandmother’s house in the countryside and other relatives’ homes for the first time in a while… With various small events intervening, time had flown by without him doing much previewing for the second year.
He had to get his act together starting today. While he was playing, Ryu Jae-min must have been studying, going back and forth only between home and the academy.
To strengthen his resolve, he looked at the photo of Ryu Jae-min on his phone a few times. Would anyone believe him if he said that even while visiting his Grandmother’s house, he looked at that guy’s photo and thought, ‘I need to study’? But it was true. Even if he hadn’t actually carved out much time to study.
After observing him for a year, all the rumors about Ryu Jae-min were true. Whether he didn’t get stressed or simply had no desire to play, he got along with everyone at school, but when asked who was actually close to Ryu Jae-min, no one could answer with confidence. Everyone mentioned different names, saying it was this person or that person.
Seung-pyo also didn’t have anyone he could call a best friend at this high school since he had been separated from his closest friend, but it was more that he was close with everyone he hung out with rather than having no friends. There is a difference between having a group you always hang out with even without a best friend, and simply getting along with everyone. If he lived like the latter, he felt school life would be too boring.
“Stop chatting and open your books. You have to do well now to secure your second-year grades.”
“Yes…” Everyone responded with bored faces to the teacher’s usual warning and opened their books. While both teachers and students found the supplementary classes tedious, only the ‘human world’ number one, Oh Seung-pyo, sat at his desk with a look of renewed determination.
January of the new year, the children had aged one more year. Though they were still sitting in first-year classrooms, they were effectively second-years now. When March came, their classmates and the classrooms they entered would change again.
* * *
That evening, after finishing class and returning home, Seung-pyo had to leave the house again as soon as he arrived.
It had started as a winter drizzle, but by the time he got home, it had turned into a fairly heavy rain. No sooner had he set down his bag than he received a call from his Hyung.
“What?”
—My only little brotherrr.
A voice acting disgustingly cute with a drawn-out ending. Seung-pyo grimaced.
“Are you drunk? Just come on your own.”
—I don’t have an umbrella. Could you bring one out to the station for me? Hyung will give you some pocket money.
“How much?”
—Ten thousand won.
“You can just buy an umbrella with that money. Or take a taxi.”
Seung-pyo’s allowance was quite generous, so he didn’t move easily for just ten thousand won.
—I feel sick and dizzy. What if Hyung collapses while walking alone? If I collapse in this weather, I’ll freeze to death.
“Then you shouldn’t have drunk so much. Collapse, my ass. You sound perfectly fine since you’re talking so well.”
—Don’t be like that, just come out. I’ll give you thirty thousand won.
“I said no.”
—Fifty thousand won.
“My battery is low, so don’t go anywhere else and stay at the station. Or go into the convenience store right in front.”
It was too much money to refuse. He must have been drunk, seeing as he was just throwing money around.
Perhaps because of the winter rain that wasn’t even in the forecast, the wet streets were bustling. The tip of his nose felt stinging from the humidity created where the chilly air met warm breath. The car headlights and streetlamps shining through the rainy night looked clearer and damper than usual.
It was a winter road where everyone was hurrying to avoid the rain and cold, but in Seung-pyo’s eyes, the night street sparkling in the reflections of the water wasn’t bad. With a folding umbrella hooked over one arm, he hummed a tune and walked, glancing at his phone every now and then.
He didn’t reply to every message because touching the screen was a hassle, but as he walked, giggling while observing the conversations of other kids in a group chat, his phone suddenly went black. The battery had drained faster than he thought. He quickened his pace to pull out his power bank and had just turned a corner when—
“Oh!”
Thump. Seung-pyo collided head-on with someone who had suddenly stepped out of a building. His umbrella and phone fell simultaneously, sliding across the wet ground. The person who had stepped out bowed to Seung-pyo, sounding flustered.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorr—”
Seung-pyo also bowed his head in surprise. And when the person he collided with looked up, he became even more flustered.
“Uh…”
Seung-pyo opened his mouth unconsciously. The person who had come out of the building was Ryu Jae-min.
The surprised expression was the same on the other side. Meanwhile, the rain continued to fall, and the shoulders of Ryu Jae-min’s school uniform and his already black hair were becoming even darker as they soaked. Between the two people standing blankly facing each other, Jae-min was the first to snap out of it. He hurriedly picked up his own umbrella and phone from the ground.
Is this the academy he goes to? Seung-pyo looked up at the building Ryu Jae-min had emerged from. It was an old building without a proper sign; the first-floor shop looked desolate with its shutters down as if it had gone out of business, and the interior of the building felt chilly like an abandoned house. It didn’t look like a building that would house an expensive entrance exam academy.
As expected, it wasn’t an academy, and Ryu Jae-min hurried to leave.
“Oh Seung-pyo, sorry. I’m in a rush for my academy time, so I’ll go first.”
“Uh… yeah. Okay. Bye.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Ryu Jae-min disappeared as if he were running. Only Seung-pyo remained standing in place for a moment, somewhat dazed, chewing over the lingering echo of the voice.
Like the sound of raindrops spreading as they hit a puddle, Ryu Jae-min’s voice lingered nearby.
‘Oh Seung-pyo, sorry.’
It was the first time Ryu Jae-min had called him by his name, ‘Oh Seung-pyo.’
That was because they weren’t in the same class. Although they were occasionally in the same room due to moving classes, they had never had a long conversation even then. Everyone in school knew the two were conscious of each other, but still, they didn’t acknowledge one another.
Oh Seung-pyo. It felt strange to have his name called so clearly in Ryu Jae-min’s voice. Only after a moment passed did Seung-pyo shake off the awkwardness and pick up his umbrella and phone a beat late.
Why do I keep dropping things every time I run into this guy? As Seung-pyo grumbled to himself, his hair and shoulders had also become damp.
“Hm?”
Seung-pyo, who was about to wipe the phone screen, blinked. The phone screen that had been dead had turned back on.
After touching the screen and scrolling through a few times, Seung-pyo muttered unconsciously.
“Huh? This isn’t mine.”
Panicked once again, he quickly looked back. He ran a few steps further, but Ryu Jae-min, who said he was in a rush for his academy, had long since disappeared from sight.
‘Was Ryu Jae-min’s phone always this one? I don’t think it was before the break.’
In Seung-pyo’s hand was a phone of the exact same model and color as his own. Even the plain transparent case was the same, so it wouldn’t have been strange to mistake it and swap them.
While tilting his head in confusion, Seung-pyo continued to touch the screen here and there as if wandering, to prevent it from turning off. Once it turned off, it would ask for a password or face recognition. Even as his hands moved busily, he felt unsure of what to do. He plugged the power bank he had intended for his own phone into Ryu Jae-min’s phone and pondered for a moment.
…The phone of the school’s number one. Honestly, he was curious.
He wouldn’t be able to find the secret to maintaining the top rank just by looking through a phone, but it was a natural human instinct to be curious about the contents.
‘I heard he gets tutoring from really famous instructors, so he must have all their personal numbers. Expensive tutoring includes one-on-one management, so there must be chat logs.’
What kind of things would the top student talk about with those instructors? He heard famous people are really good at picking out predicted questions for exams. Does this guy exchange messages with close friends too? Even if he doesn’t have any now at school, he might have had a best friend in elementary or middle school. Seung-pyo continued walking, lost in these thoughts.
It was information that would be useless even if he found out, but he was still curious. Since he was the only rival Oh Seung-pyo had ever met in his life, he couldn’t help but be curious.
‘Still, looking through someone else’s phone is a bit…’
Even if it belonged to the annoying Ryu Jae-min. While he was indecisively scrolling through the home screen where the apps were installed, a notification banner suddenly popped up.
[A reply from *** has been registered.]
“Hm?”
The design of the app in the notification window was unusual. It wasn’t the notification window of the chatting app used by almost everyone in the country, including Seung-pyo. Seung-pyo soon found an icon with the same design on the home screen.
‘Is this it? Ryu Jae-min has an SNS too?’
It was unexpected. The guy who supposedly did nothing but study without saying a word at the academy, and who seemed to get along with people only superficially at school without any particularly close friends—to think he had social media.
He’d heard that some people, due to their personality, find it easier to talk to others online than in real life; was he that type? Come to think of it, even back in middle school, there were kids who were quiet at school but seemed close with people they met on social media or internet communities. Though he had never spoken to them much himself.
Forgetting his hesitation over whether to look or not, Seung-pyo let his curiosity take over. Touching the social media app that had sent the notification, Seung-pyo stared silently into the phone. After scrolling down a few times, his steps came to a sudden halt. His eyes widened.
“Fuck, what is this?”
Seung-pyo muttered unconsciously. The end of his voice trembled slightly. Forgetting that he was on his way to pick up his Hyung, he stood there blankly as if he had been hit in the back of the head, before quickly stuffing the phone into his pocket. Looking around like a petty thief, as if terrified that someone might have seen, he quickened his pace.