SMNTCERR, Chapter 20 <100> #2.

   It was certain that Sangwoo’s preferred seat had a bag placed on it. Sangwoo hung his bag on the chair and sat down there. Even though sitting in someone else’s reserved seat was not the right thing to do, he sat there because he knew Jaeyoung wouldn’t come.

   It had been several days since Uttsah had been sitting in the same place, but Sangwoo didn’t feel good about it. Although the subject matter, ‘Algorithm,’ wouldn’t be difficult today, Sangwoo wasn’t very attentive.

   ‘Am I going to throw up?’

   It was irresponsible of Jaeyoung to drink excessively when he had classes the next day, and although his appearance didn’t seem comfortable, Sangwoo suddenly realized that he judged this situation differently from previous situations with similar logical structures [1].

   ‘Having someone check attendance is Jang Jaeyoung’s problem too, because it’s only fair if he doesn’t graduate.’

   Sangwoo was confused. When his original thought process was disturbed and turned into an unfamiliar feeling that refused to go away until the end of the class or until he went to eat alone at the cafeteria.

   Sangwoo’s mind was empty. He sat when he saw a seat, used a spoon when he saw one, then when he saw an empty tray, he stood up, neatly managed the remaining food, and placed the empty tray on the conveyor belt as if programmed like a robot. Then he separated the spoon and fork into separate bins. Finally, he took a sip of water from a glass.

   With nothing changing, he completed everything by 12:28 p.m. Sangwoo walked like a car being driven by automated instructions and entered a convenience store without realizing it, but there was no drink for him to buy. He realized when he reached the refrigerator section, the owner who used to sit at the counter collecting money approached Sangwoo, tapped his shoulder, and revealed a guilty expression.

   “Young man, you haven’t been here for a while. Someone told me that I should bring coffee on Monday. Don’t worry!

   “I know, thank you.”

   Sangwoo gently withdrew his hand, responding to the other person.

   “So I felt guilty and worried all the time. You have been drinking that coffee every day, you must miss it, right? Really?”

   Sangwoo looked toward the refrigerator, but what he saw wasn’t Row 5, which was the row for canned coffee, but the next row up.

   [On a new morning of a hungover person, you should take care of yourselves!

   Coupon number, 99999.

   A hangover remedy drink.

   Dawn 777.]

   He reached out his hand without intending to hesitate before retracting it, but then he reached out his hand again. And then he pulled it back once more. His hand defied the commands of his brain as if it were a living being with its own will.

   After hesitating two or three times, Sangwoo’s right hand overcame his brain and opened the refrigerator. When Sangwoo saw ‘Dawn 777’ he picked it up, and the shop owner standing nearby spoke up.

   “Did you go drinking yesterday? Today I am in a good mood. Take it, I saw your face the other day, and I felt uneasy.”

   Sangwoo absentmindedly accepted the free hangover remedy drink without realizing it, but he still didn’t know where to use it. While Sangwoo was about to ask for the bill, the shop owner walked back to the counter.

   Sangwoo left the shop and opened the canned coffee that Jaeyoung gave him in the morning. He sipped it as he walked along. After tossing the can into the trash bin in front of the Natural Sciences Building, he went straight to the library, registered, scanned a new book, and then sat down.

   When he opened his bag, he found a canned drink lying among the textbooks. Sangwoo picked up the book he was about to read and placed it neatly on the table. And then he picked up ‘Dawn 777’ to consider.

   [On a new morning of a hungover person, you should take care of ourselves!]

   As soon as he saw the word ‘hungover person’ he thought of Jaeyoung, who couldn’t walk straight. Although he tried to think of other drunk people, he couldn’t come up with any. That’s why he tried to imagine a bottle of liquor or a whale[2] but the image that had been stuck in his mind was too overwhelming.

   Sangwoo sat still for a while before getting up abruptly and picking up the drink. Then he hurriedly descended the stairs and walked through the library hallway.

   Sangwoo liked solving problems. Even though it wasn’t his problem, if the sentence written on the can was true “it said the hangover remedy drink had a coupon”, then it could only solve the problem.

   Actually, it’s a slightly absurd thought because sometimes Jaeyoung might have had too many drinks. Jaeyoung could have gone home. Although his mind was filled with endless questions, Sangwoo continued to walk forward confidently, deciding to leave the theater club room because he didn’t know where Jaeyoung was. That was considered his utmost effort… Sangwoo didn’t need to do more than that.

   Sangwoo paused, his feet hesitating as he headed towards the student club. His gaze fixed on someone far away, whose face was not clearly visible from this distance, but he could see that the other person was laughing with a flushed face, waving their hand in the air multiple times, and bending their legs in a unique way. They were wearing a green coat that was discarded and spread on the ground.

   Jaeyoung sat on a chair, and there was a short-haired woman with bright yellow hair hugging his chest in front of him. Jaeyoung didn’t look particularly well, but he looked better than he did in class. When Jaeyoung held his stomach and showed a pained expression, the woman burst into laughter, and they started talking and then linked arms. Laughter, laughter, laughter filled their smiling faces.

   Sangwoo turned around and walked in the opposite direction, taking step after step without thinking. Suddenly, he found himself in front of a construction site where a soccer field was being built. The workers who had greeted him with strange words just the day before while they were working. Sangwoo walked briskly towards the other party, startling the man with a safety helmet.

   “Hey! Why are you here now?”

   “What do you mean?”

   Sangwoo extended the drink in his hand.

   “Drink this.”

   “Huh? What is it… I’ve quit drinking.”

   “Just drink it, okay?”

   Sangwoo ran straight back to the library. Although he had wasted time doing nothing during this period, he had never wasted so much time like this before. The remorse that consumed his time without any benefit made his heart beat faster.

   While Sangwoo searched for a pencil box in his bag, the light from the screen of his phone, which was on silent mode, flickered because of infrequent text message notifications.

   [NonPaddler 3: Sangwoo, I’m going home first today_13:27.]

   [NonPaddler 3: Even if you’re sad, keep it and tell me later_13:27.]

   Sangwoo stared at the phone screen, and after reading the short messages several times, he tapped on the typing field and hesitated for a moment.

   ‘Okay.’

   ‘Nice to meet you.’

   ‘Tomorrow, in the evening, let’s continue doing it like this.’

   Sangwoo typed and deleted several times, finally replied, “Yes.” Then he threw his phone into his bag.

   Jang Jaeyoung must have misunderstood or just teased as usual. Is he really sad? What is there to be sad about? It’s better without the person who always bothers. return 0;

   “Hello, Sangchu-Oppa.”

   Jihye said, sitting down next to him. In ten minutes, it would be time for Cultural Theory class. Sangwoo looked up and turned his gaze back to the thick book of Humanities once again.

   “You’re really focused on studying. It will be a long time before you take the exam.”

   “I am reading it in advance.”

   “I want to do that too, but I can’t make it.”

   Even though Jihye was chatting next to him, she couldn’t disturb Jang

   Jaeyoung who was sleeping. This guy even bothers Sangwoo when the other party is not around.

   “You don’t look very good.”

   Sangwoo ignored those words.

   “Wait, let me show you a picture that will make you feel better.”

   Then the phone in Jihye’s hand moved into his line of sight. Sangwoo looked at the photo of a small white dog from various angles with an expressionless face.

   “Don’t you like it? Then how about this one?”

   The next picture was an orange cat. Sangwoo just waited for the other party to put his phone away, but while she was sliding the picture for him to see, he saw something that didn’t belong.

   “Wait, what’s that?”

   “Huh? Oh, I saved it when I bought something online, I wonder if I saved it in the wrong folder.”

   When Jihye swiped her finger on the screen, a picture of a keyboard appeared. Sangwoo enlarged the small image to see it in detail. It was a picture of a Ninja Tenkeyless keyboard, with black and yellow special buttons, each button embedded with lights, LEDs, and more.

   “This is a Filco keyboard AX8990 Honeybee edition.”

   “Huh?”

   “The price is a bit high, but it uses Cherry switches, durable, feels good when pressing, can press multiple keys at once, overall okay in various aspects, probably usable for a long time. Think about the lighting, LED, takes care of that, but I heard it’s annoying to the eyes. Which switch do you prefer?” [4.]

   “Um… if I want to use it for document work, which one should I use?”

   “Then you’ll need a quiet one like the red switch. But if you want a quiet typing experience and tactile feedback, go for the brown switch. It’s also okay.

   As for the blue switch, it’s popular among gamers.” [5.]

   “So, should I buy the red switch? Is that right?”

   Jihye paused with a puzzled expression and asked. Sangwoo pondered for a moment and answered.

   “This one costs 198,000 won (USD 152$). Are you okay with that? It’s a classic model that has been out for a long time. There are probably secondhand ones available, but if you want  to get one that’s well-maintained, it might cost around a hundred thousand won.”

   “Oh, really? How do I go about buying second-hand ones?”

   Sangwoo spent the remaining time explaining tips for buying second-hand items. Jihye listened attentively, occasionally jotting down notes. Sangwoo couldn’t stop himself.

   “There’s nothing you don’t know, huh?”

   “Not to that extent.”

   Just as Jihye said something strange, the teacher came in at the right moment. Sangwoo immediately diverted his gaze back to the book. One minute into the class, Jihye placed something on the book—it was a torn-out sticky note from a notebook. At first, Sangwoo thought she was giving him trash and almost scolded her, but upon closer inspection, he saw that there were written notes on it.

   [Hi, Sangwoo ^-^ Thank you for the good information!!! If you ever don’t know something, feel free to ask me, I want to help you *_*.]  Sangwoo wrote on the back of the paper, ‘Um.’ and handed it back to Jihye, but then he became curious. What could he ask Jihye? When Sangwoo had questions, he usually found the answers in books or on the internet. As a humanities student, she understood cultural theories better than him, but she was still just a student. She probably couldn’t provide more information than textbooks or internet knowledge while Sangwoo was pondering. However, Sangwoo realized that Jihye had knowledge in one area that exceeded his own.

   ‘I should ask during the break.’

   Sangwoo noted it in his mind and returned his focus to studying.

   return 0;

   “About that sunbae.”

   When it was break time, Sangwoo had the opportunity, and Jihye changed her sitting position to listen attentively.

   “Who is it?”

   “It’s… Jang-sunbae… Jaeyoung.”

   “Oh, I see.”

   “Seems like he has a girlfriend.”

   After speaking, Sangwoo felt uneasy. What Jihye wanted was a question.

   Sangwoo thought his question was complete, but when he actually asked, he listened carefully.

   Fortunately, Jihye didn’t seem to mind and responded with a smile.

   “As far as I know, he hasn’t any.”

   Sangwoo’s curiosity eased easily.

   “The person he dated last year seems to have taken a long break. The other party is a law faculty senior girl who has graduated… very beautiful, comes from a wealthy family. Moreover, she is smart, a type of woman that women admire as being stylish.”

   And the information that wasn’t asked followed suit.

   “How did you find out about all this?”

   “Well, I saw it on social media and heard some rumors.”

   “What kind of rumors?”

   Jihye’s mouth moved again. When Jaeyoung was twenty years old, an agency approached him to become a celebrity, so he worked as a model for a while and now one of his classmates from the same year has become a famous singer. All of this is unnecessary information. When Jihye saw Sangwoo’s disappointed expression, she stopped talking.

   “I don’t really care. It just so happens that my friend likes Jaeyoung, so she often tells me about him.”

   “Really? Why do people like him?”

   “He is handsome.”

   Sangwoo accepts that story.

   “He’s good at playing sports.”

   That he is really good at skateboarding.

   “He also has a very good personality.”

   The next sentence is something he disagrees with.

   “No, really? you’re close, so you should already know this.”  “We are not close at all.” crazy-guy, sadist, cancerous human, this group pretends to be good people, 

   but it’s clear in Sangwoo’s mind that he only says exaggerated things to Jihye, who doesn’t know Jaeyoung well.

   “Yes, before this, you told me not to mention Jaeyoung again. So what’s this now?”

   When teased. Sangwoo pretended not to hear, luckily the teacher came in at the right time.  return 0;

   ________________________________________.

[1]       Logical data structure, a data structure that arises from the user’s imagination to solve problems in the created program, stores data and relationships of data in a database system.

[2]       Imagining bottles of liquor or whales, the word for whale in Korean is

   “고래” (gorae) while the word for drunk person in Korean is “술고래”

   (sulgorae). Therefore, the term “whale” here is a play on words in Korean with the word for drunk person.

[3]       Ninja Tenkeyless, a keyboard that removes the number pad and moves the numeric keys to the bottom.

[4]       Keyboard or typing device for computers divided into 2 main types: rubber dome keyboard, commonly used, and mechanical keyboard, which has a higher price. Besides various circuit boards, an important part of the keyboard is the key switch and keycap. The switch is the main component that works in conjunction with the circuit board. There are various brands, but Cherry MX is the preferred brand. As for the keycap, it is the part that covers the switch.

[5]       Keyboard switches are divided into 3 main types: Clicky – two-step switches, variable resistance, need to be pressed all the way to work, giving a typewriter-like feel, but require less force. They have a loud clicking sound when pressed, such as blue switches. Tactile – similar to Clicky, but without the clicking sound when pressed, such as brown switches. Linear – one-step switches, constant resistance, quiet sound, fast response, such as red switches.

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