Chapter 235

Arriving at the bus stop, I tapped the heels of my shoes together. It’s something I used to do during my military days whenever I had time to think, and now it just comes out without me realizing it.

‘The bus won’t be here for a while, right?’

After a moment of hesitation, Jin-hyeok turned back.

Tap-tap-tap—whoosh.

He arrived at Choi Mi-kyung’s house with quick steps and caught his breath.

How embarrassing for a man’s pride.

“Mi-kyung-ah! Let’s go to school!”

It was the first day of school for the second year, and he wanted to go with a friend. If he went alone, his pager might buzz with “1818” again.

Seeing the lights on in the living room and kitchen, he figured Mi-kyung might already be up.

Creeeak—.

As the front door opened, a delicious smell hit him before anyone appeared.

‘Mmm, clam doenjang stew smell.’

Even though he had eaten just 10 minutes ago, his appetite stirred again.

At this rate, he might suspect dementia, not gluttony.

The face that appeared as the door opened was Kim Soon-bok.

“Oh? It’s our Jin-hyeok!”

“Good morning. I’m here to go to school with Mi-kyung.”

“That girl’s still sleeping.”

Oh no. He came all this way with determination.

Maybe she’s planning to take it slow since there’s no wrestling club practice today? Still, he knocked on the door thinking she might want to leave early to hang out with Lee Seung-hoon. What a shame.

“Ah… I guess I’ll go ahead then.”

“Did you eat breakfast?”

“Yes!”

It seems he’ll have to go to school alone.

Vroooom—.

The sound of the bus in the still-dark morning makes him think of a spaceship he’s never seen. Closing his eyes and listening, it feels like his body and soul are floating in space.

A year ago, the glorious Helios bus slowly reduced its speed.

Screech—thud.

“Good morning.”

“Hey! Our gold medalist is heading out early again today?”

There were six bus drivers who operated the first bus of the day.

After riding daily, he’s become friendly enough with them to exchange greetings and chat.

“All the boys in this neighborhood get motorcycle licenses and ride around, but you like the bus, huh?”

“Haha, it’s safer.”

Motorcycles are scary.

He just learned to ride a bike in this lifetime, and now a motorcycle? No!

There aren’t any friends like that at his current high school, but in middle school, he saw many students get into accidents riding motorcycles without licenses.

One kid had a cast on his leg and walked with crutches, another had scabs all over one side of his face from severe scrapes, another had both arms broken and you wondered how he managed, and then… there was the one who became a bouquet on a desk.

They weren’t close, but it’s only natural to feel sorry as a human.

Even the postman who always ate lunch on Jin-hyeok’s porch ended up in the hospital after colliding with a bus in town two winters ago.

“Why? A man should ride a motorcycle in style and pick up girls!”

“I want to live a long and thin life.”

“Hahahaha!”

The bus driver laughed heartily.

The kid who used to either read books or mumble incomprehensible things has grown up and now cracks jokes. It’s amusing.

“Jin-hyeok, you’ve been living a golden life since forever, huh? Your face is all over TV and newspapers.”

“I just won’t get any fatter.”

“Hahahaha!”

Vroooom—.

The driver, who had been laughing while holding his stomach, shifted gears, and Jin-hyeok braced himself as the bus stopped at an unusual spot.

“Who’s there?”

“Oh? The daughter of the house with all the cows is also heading to school?”

That lazybones who loves sleeping in is already up?

Does Kim Eun-jung also have an interest in the wrestling club?

Anyway, it seems his goal of going to school with a friend on the first day of the semester has been achieved.

*

Kim Eun-jung is a bit of a know-it-all.

That’s the image Jin-hyeok has had of her for a long time.

It doesn’t mean he dislikes her or finds her awkward.

“Ugh! It’s March but so cold! Oh, Jin-hyeok, meeting on the bus—this must be fate.”

“…Come on in.”

Back in kindergarten, she teased Jin-hyeok, calling him “snotty” when he had a runny nose from a cold. He knows she didn’t mean harm, but those thoughtless actions left deep scars on his young heart and became unforgettable.

“Since it’s fate, should we sit together?”

Kim Eun-jung pushed her padded, plump buttocks forward, so Jin-hyeok hugged his bag and moved to the window seat.

“Did Eun-jung wake up early today?”

As a child, Kim Eun-jung was taller and stronger than her peers. She was so sturdy that she never caught a cold. It must be because she grew up eating beef from infancy—beef baby food, beef porridge, beef soup, beef side dishes, this beef, that beef…

But eating alone must have had its limits, as she’s now only slightly taller than Choi Mi-kyung. Well, growth depends on genetics and exercise as much as nutrition.

“I woke up early because my stomach hurt, but there’s nothing to do, so I might as well go to school. It must be heaven’s will.”

“Right…”

Her personality is casually optimistic.

To put it nicely, she’s optimistic; to put it harshly, she doesn’t think much. She says what comes to mind and acts on impulse.

“Is it because I’m getting older? My stamina’s lacking, and I’m tired.”

The academic consensus is that Kim Eun-jung, who eats beef daily, is tired because she uses all her energy digesting it. It might also be due to her congenital rhinitis, which doesn’t supply enough oxygen to her brain.

“It’s all because of this damn Korean school system. School and I are cursed, cursed.”

Well, she’s not entirely wrong…

But blaming others should have its limits. She doesn’t hesitate to point fingers at aliens and foreigners for her problems.

“They say UFOs zapped radars off Japan’s coast, causing earthquakes. Those Japanese couldn’t stop the UFOs, so now I’m tired too. Isn’t that an amazing cause and effect?”

“…Amazing.”

She probably means UFO lasers.

She picks up strange rumors and rambles on, even if her friends don’t pay attention. She won’t stop until she finishes what she’s saying.

In his past life, Team Leader Son Jin-hyeok had the skill to shut up people who talked nonsense. But Kim Eun-jung operates on a whole different level.

“How about taking some herbal medicine? I hear a lot of people are taking that these days.”

“Ugh, no. They say if you take that, you’ll suffer when you die because your breath won’t stop.”

“…”

She often uses conversation-stopping techniques.

It’s like she’s living to die. I only suggested herbal medicine for a healthy life.

‘If making nonsense sound convincing is a skill, then she’s skilled.’

Jin-hyeok kept his mouth shut again.

With Choi Mi-kyung, he can have a back-and-forth, and her words are often helpful. But Kim Eun-jung seems like she’s on her own strange path.

Yeah, like those people on the show “I’m a Storyteller” who blame the world. Team Leader Son Jin-hyeok, who liked documentaries, would occasionally watch it on cable channels on his days off. Sipping canned beer, he’d listen to their stories—people who gambled on uncertain ventures, lost everything, and then acted like the world had betrayed them. Well, that’s the impression he got from a few of them.

“Eun-jung, your padded jacket is pretty.”

“Padded jacket?”

“Parka.”

“Yeah. My youngest uncle bought it for me during New Year’s.”

In the past, he wouldn’t have associated with her type, but now he just goes with it, neither disliking her nor intentionally keeping his distance.

Kim Eun-jung is also a friend he grew up with in the same neighborhood, so he’s seen it all.

“Jin-hyeok.”

“Yeah?”

After watching some foreign movies, even the way she calls him is a bit different from other friends.

“Are you running for class president?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Why are you asking the same embarrassing question as my dad?

“I can’t run.”

“Oh…”

Kim Eun-jung has no history of being class president, but it’s polite to ask.

“Why can’t you?”

“There’s a top student in liberal arts in our class. She’ll probably get it. She and I are cursed.”

Jin-hyeok and Choi Mi-kyung are in science, while Kim Eun-jung is in liberal arts.

“Ah… I see.”

What does she want me to do?

But he has no complaints.

This much can still be considered a normal conversation.

“My cousin’s kid said thanks for the autograph.”

“Thanks for what? We’re friends.”

Vroooom—.

Just as he was enjoying the brief silence, Kim Eun-jung opened her mouth again.

“My cousin’s kid lives in Seoul. She’s pretty.”

“I see…”

“Not interested? This is fate too, you know.”

In situations like this, he knows he shouldn’t hesitate and should answer clearly and firmly. And if Kim Eun-jung is talking about her cousin’s kid, it’s probably the daughter of that aunt who treated non-believers like demons.

‘Getting involved would be a headache.’

His brain instantly calculated a result that even a supercomputer couldn’t easily derive.

“Not interested.”

“Hmph. I guess only someone as beautiful as me would catch your eye. Sorry about that. I’ll be popular in college, you know.”

Sigh. He can’t hit her, and it’s not worth it. Hitting her would just hurt his fist.

Maybe he should just get a motorcycle license, like the bus driver said.

‘I should’ve waited for Mi-kyung and gone with her…’

If Choi Mi-kyung were here, Kim Eun-jung wouldn’t dare open her mouth. Choi Mi-kyung is scary even to Jin-hyeok, but to others, she’s even more terrifying.

Kim Eun-jung can’t make a peep when Choi Mi-kyung glares.

When Choi Mi-kyung starts firing sharp words at someone bigger than her, other kids line up behind her to join in, resembling a pack of velociraptors hunting.

That’s why Jin-hyeok secretly nicknamed Choi Mi-kyung “Choi-raptor” in his mind.

Their small size compared to large dinosaurs is another thing they have in common.

“Jin-hyeok, sorry about this.”

No, you don’t have to be sorry.

Bzzz—.

While he was hesitating, his pager buzzed.

‘Mi-kyung, that punk, must’ve just woken up.’

She really can’t be a noble.

「1818181818181818」

Ohhh, I was right.

It really was Choi Mi-kyung.

Maybe getting a license is the better option…?

*

‘If you elect me as class president…’

‘If you don’t elect me, you’ll have a harsh year…’

‘If you don’t vote for me, it’s over. There’s no candidate 2 or 3…’

What should I say in my speech to get even one more vote?

While letting Kim Eun-jung’s words go in one ear and out the other, Jin-hyeok was brainstorming his speech when the bus passed the health center.

He saw Yoo Jae-woon doing calisthenics in the health center’s open space.

‘Even in this cold, he doesn’t skip. So diligent.’

When Jin-hyeok waved, Yoo Jae-woon raised his hand high to greet him.

‘People can be so kind.’

Kim Eun-jung kicked Jin-hyeok’s foot. She seemed annoyed that his attention was elsewhere.

“When I was in middle school, second year, I was studying at the library until dawn and heading home—”

Hey, stop lying.

You never went to the library.

“I got home, and the sky was bright. I looked up, and there was a UFO… I’m cursed with UFOs.”

Hey, it’s a UFO.

As he half-listened to Kim Eun-jung’s mix of fantasy, sci-fi, shamanism, and horror, the hill leading into town came into view.

‘That man is standing there again today?’

He seems to be the owner of the large chicken farm in the distance. Around this time every day, he stands there with a regretful expression, looking at the road. It’s been over a year since Jin-hyeok first noticed him standing like that. When he used to ride his bike, he was too focused on the road to notice. He looks like someone waiting for someone.

“Hey, so that UFO kidnapped our cow and artificially inseminated it, right?”

What is she even trying to say?

“But the cow’s belly got bigger, and no calf came out—”

At least they returned the cow.

The aliens were kind.

“It was so weird that my dad gently rubbed its belly. Then, gas came out—whoosh! Isn’t that amazing?”

Sniff—.

Kim Eun-jung sniffled and kept spouting her unbelievable story.

‘You’re more amazing.’

The story was that aliens kidnapped a cow, artificially inseminated it, but instead of a female cow, they messed with a bull, so only gas came out.

“How could they do that to a cow! Because of them, greenhouse gases are increasing, so we don’t get snow in winter and it’s hot in summer.”

Right.

You’re probably correct. Jin-hyeok just nodded silently. He’s reached the stage of accepting it all. Kim Eun-jung, the liberal arts student, hypothesizes that cow farts are worsening the greenhouse effect.

Huuu—.

A rough breath escaped.

He didn’t want to embarrass his friend, so he just listened, but as time passed, his mind felt like it was going dark.

‘I’m sooooo tired.’

Fate or whatever, this fate needs to end.