SMNTCERR, Chapter 5 <1> #5.
“Oppa, you seems to be quite familiar with that person.”
Jihye spoke without hesitation. She has managed to finish half a plate of pasta.
“No, not at all.”
“Well, he is Jaeyoung. Not Youngjae.”
Sangwoo placed his fork on the plate. He didn’t feel like eating anymore.
“He’s a prominent member of the drama club, and my friend likes to watch his performances. Plus, he also enrolled in Virtual Arts Design class. I’ve heard some things about him. When he was twenty, someone scouted him to become an actor for JS Entertainment…”
“Enough.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s talk about something else.”
Jihye usually speaks confidently in any situation, but now she looks completely speechless. As for Sangwoo, he forced a disappointing bite of the 3,000 won pasta into his mouth, hoping to relieve his restless feelings.
Changing one’s mind means what exactly? Hard to imagine. He doesn’t want to have anything to do with that guy anymore.
Return 0;
While Sangwoo studied on regular weekdays and took up extra work on weekends, the new semester was approaching quickly. He used the remaining time to read ahead and prepare for the upcoming semester’s lessons. It didn’t seem too difficult because, besides two required elective courses related to engineering that students should know about humanities, all the other subjects were major-specific.
In the past, he often took more than 20 credit hours per semester, but this semester he had to allocate free time for game development. After having issues with designers and not finding suitable ones, his planned map was flawed. But now, the registration period had already passed, and he didn’t really want to change the meticulously arranged schedule.
Sangwoo planned a balanced timetable from Monday to Friday, allowing him to have lunch right after classes finish.
Monday: (1) Intermediate Chinese, (2) Engineering Mathematics 2.
Tuesday: (1) Embedded Systems, (2) Algorithm.
Wednesday: (1)(2) Contemporary Culture and Cultural Theory.
Thursday: Same as Monday.
Friday: Same as Tuesday.
The new semester has begun.
Sangwoo woke up at 8:30 a.m., like every day, and did some light exercise. Then he took a shower and had cereal with milk. After that, he brushed his teeth and changed clothes. His shirt hung on top while his pants hung below, following the order of laundry. Today was his turn to wear a black t-shirt and black trousers.
He fastened his belt around his waist, then used his hand to comb his hair before putting on a black cap to cover his face and eyes. He wore a down jacket on the outside and wrapped a scarf around his neck. Then he slung his backpack over his shoulder and left the room, heading straight for his bike. As he rode his bike out, the digital clock on the front showed the time: 9:16 a.m., just like every day.
When Sangwoo passed through the university’s main gate, it was still 9:24 a.m., as usual. It was a satisfying start, as he would always get annoyed if he was even a minute or two late due to traffic problems, but such days didn’t happen often.
Sangwoo locked his bike at the designated spot and proceeded to the Humanities building. Once inside, he saw a long staircase and it took him 0.9 seconds to climb one step. There were a total of 64 steps, with a short landing after every 16 steps. It took him 61 seconds to reach the 4th floor, where the Chinese language classroom was located.
Sangwoo opened the door to Room 403 before the class started, 30 minutes early. In the classroom, there was one student who had arrived before him and was sitting at the front. Sangwoo walked to the fourth row without hesitation.
‘What now?’
However, today there was a bag placed on the table at the far right of the fourth row. Sangwoo glanced at it with disbelief in his eyes and blinked several times. In the six semesters of his history, he had never been deprived of his seat before. He always sat in the same position throughout, and he never even thought about moving to another seat.
The rightmost seat in the fourth row was a spot where he could make eye contact with the professor without having to strain his neck or look at the projector screen or whiteboard to see the text clearly. It was not directly hit by the heat of the heater or air conditioner, and there were no windows, so it didn’t let in direct sunlight. On top of that, it had a wall on one side, making him feel more stable compared to other seats surrounded by other students.
‘Who is it?’
Sangwoo felt slightly annoyed, but the classroom didn’t have a seat reservation system like the library, so everyone could choose their seats freely.
Sangwoo had to sit in the next available seat on the left, which didn’t help. However, he still didn’t give up his original seat. Even though he opened his Chinese textbook, he couldn’t concentrate.
‘I should politely ask if I can switch seats.’
After making up his mind, Sangwoo felt slightly more confident. He didn’t believe in the first-button theory [1], but he didn’t want to feel strange and out of place by sitting in an unfamiliar seat since the first class of the semester.
As the class start time approached, students began to enter the room.
“Oh, hello there.”
A male student who looked younger than him greeted him with a slight bow, but Sangwoo pretended not to notice. It was the first time he had encountered the other party.
“Oh! We meet again here.”
This time, a female student greeted him and then walked away, but Sangwoo didn’t know who she was.
Students continued to enter the classroom one after another, but the owner of the bag still hadn’t appeared. It was a leather bag with a long strap draped across the body. Sangwoo wanted to secretly move that bag and take the adjacent seat, but he tried to endure it because leaving a bag at a certain spot was a known unspoken rule that it had been reserved.
It was almost ten o’clock on the dot. The teacher entered the room and distributed documents, greeting and asking about one of the students.
“Hasn’t the assistant student arrived yet?”
Did someone decide to be an assistant student for the elective course? It was considered an outstanding effort, as being an assistant student increased the opportunity to get closer to the teacher and often resulted in extra credit from the teacher. Many students looked around in curiosity. A student who had just entered through the back door raised his hand.
“I’m here!”
“Jaeyoung! Long time no see. Why did you suddenly decide to take
Intermediate Chinese?”
“I don’t have enough credits. If I don’t practice the language, it will deteriorate, right?”
“Yes, that’s right, everyone. This is Jaeyoung. He will be assisting us throughout this semester. He is a senior student who used to live in Hong Kong. If you have any questions, feel free to ask him. You can also send homework assignments to this student starting from today.”
Sangwoo, who was sweeping his gaze over the documents, was so startled that he dropped them. But he thought it must be a common name since there were many people with the same name.
At that moment, the leather shoulder bag on the right-hand table was lifted, and someone sat down on the chair. Even though he didn’t want to turn and look, Sangwoo’s head automatically turned.
The red felt hat and the striking red feather jacket were so eye-catching that they stood out excessively. When he took off the feather jacket, the inside revealed a red jersey [2]. Moreover, one hand was still holding a red cola can. Fortunately, the other side did not wear red pants. Sangwoo felt speechless, so he only opened his mouth without uttering any words.
[1] The theory of the first button. When the first button is wrong, the following buttons will also be wrong. It means that if there is a mistake from the beginning, it may lead to continuous misfortunes.
[2] Jersey, a jacket used for exercise, made of sweat-wicking fabric.
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