SMNTCERR, Chapter 7 Red #2.
He never thought he would be stuck with a worthless elective course worth only 2 credits. The class had over a hundred students crammed together, learning about ethics without caring if anyone was listening, and ending with a report card. Although everyone was forced to attend, simply showing up almost guaranteed a passing grade. This course was considered a pointless subject that nobody cared about.
Jaeyoung never attended the class even once. He hated subjects related to character and competitions within extracurricular activities. Moreover, he relied on a junior acquaintance who promised to check attendance and take responsibility for the tasks. But then, that junior ended up in the same situation.
‘I’m really sorry, sunbae. I have nothing to fix… To be honest, I’m in a mess too. Even if I attend every class, my assignments score zero, resulting in an F. That cold-blooded group leader… My grandmother just passed away, and I was grieving. Damn it…’
Jaeyoung hurriedly bought a cup of green tea from a mountain on Jeju Island and went to meet the professor to express his remorse and explain how excellent he was in his university entrance exam. He wanted to demonstrate how he would contribute to raising the reputation of Hankuk University and Korea globally. However, his attempt to improve his grade failed, and the professor responded wearily.
‘It’s a pity, but it’s probably difficult. Actually, the head of the Virtual Arts
Design Faculty discussed this matter with me a while ago before leaving. But it didn’t help. If you couldn’t attend because you were preparing for graduation, you should have informed the me beforehand. It’s been in the news lately about attendance substitution, I might let it go easily. Actually, if no one knows, that’s another story… But I heard that the student has quite a reputation.’
Another thing the professor said was if he could just get a yes from the group leader, the grade could be changed. Jaeyoung asked for the phone number of the group leader from the junior batch. Then he eagerly contacted the other party, but that stubborn person ignored his messages and refused to answer calls. It seemed like they had blocked Jaeyoung’s number as well.
Since it was the end of the semester, he went to look for him on his own, but it wasn’t easy to find his whereabouts. The other party had just finished his military service and returned to study. He didn’t participate in any activities, or checked the office of Computer Engineering, or watched movies or, joined a cap club, or a judo club. No matter which club he looked into, he couldn’t find the person named “Chu Sangwoo.” And then, the event passed, and the time for score correction finally ended.
Jaeyoung felt hopeless, but in reality, the reason he couldn’t graduate was due to his own laziness. Just a few days later, he could smile again and let go. The situation was already laughable. Moreover, when it became a topic of gossip among friends, he started to feel embarrassed. After he complained and scolded the group leader, he managed to get rid of this matter from his mind.
Jaeyoung was a very open-minded person, and even if he graduated a bit late, compared to the male students who had to go to military service, it wasn’t considered late at all. Furthermore, his portfolio was very impressive. He planned to travel and have fun for about six months before looking for a job or continuing his studies. He was confident that he wasn’t falling behind. ‘Hey, good to see you. I heard rumors going around that you couldn’t graduate. So, wherever you are, you can do a mobile game project.’
‘Why a game? Isn’t it a student project?’
‘Well, the Developer is known as an Computer Engineeringuter genius, very interesting. If you don’t have anything to do, why not try this project?’
‘You are pretending to egg me to do it. You’re the one who dumped the work on me.’
‘Yes, that’s right.’
Han Sooyeong was a female student who was about the same age as
Jaeyoung, but she had dropped out of school for a while and would be graduating this year. She planned to continue her master’s degree at Hankook University but had to deal with various urgent matters.
‘Let me go. I don’t have time to deal with that anymore. That young developer is quite sensitive, so if you don’t want to do it, help me attend the meeting and explain to him that I can’t do the project anymore. Okay?’
‘Do I do things for free?’
‘If everything is settled next month, I’ll treat you to drinks.’
With this reason, Han Sooyeong’s work became Jaeyoung, who had nothing to do and was playing games in the club room. He pretended to refuse Sooyeong’s request, but eventually agreed. (5.)
It was surprising to see the strange group sitting in that conference room— the new member who stared at his seniors without blinking, the male student with white hair like snow, the plump guy they had met countless times before, and the guy who was sitting right in front of them. It seemed that the other party couldn’t remember Jaeyoung as well as before.
When Jaeyoung faced the truth that ‘crazy-guy = the group leader (Mr. ChuSangwoo),’ that guy left a notebook on the table and disappeared from the meeting room. The sadness of unable to graduate was dug up again as two credit units buried deep in his soul surfaced, stirring up his emotions. He intended to call the other party out to instruct him to calm down a bit. But that crazy guy reconsidered his message so Jaeyoung was furious, very, very furious. However, no matter what, there was a limit to correcting the score. Even if he confronted the crazy guy, it didn’t mean he would graduate or help him get to know the other party’s weakness. So, he acted as if nothing happened and let it pass.
(6.)
One weekend day, during their free time, Jaeyoung and his friends went to play games together and he encountered crazy-guy there.
The other party was working in an internet cafe, a place where they clearly didn’t get along. Thoughts of retaliatory methods sprang up in Jaeyoung’s mind immediately upon seeing crazy-guy’s reaction change after seeing the portfolio, but crazy-guy wasn’t someone who could be easily provoked through normal means. Having witnessed the failures of others in similar situations before, Jaeyoung decided to handle things cautiously.
But playing games while leaving the other party right in front of him made him unable to concentrate. Jaeyoung let his frustration get the best of him and ended up ordering Ramyeon multiple times after catching crazy-guy’s mistakes, not really intending to make him feel stressed, but rather wanting to see some sign of discomfort from Sangwoo’s usually composed face.
However, crazy-guy remained unfazed. Jaeyoung understood the feelings of those who had previously tried to provoke the other party in an instant and eventually snapped.
“Then please continue being trash, sunbaenim, and don’t bother contacting me again.”
Encountering someone who lacked social boundaries to this extent was a first for Jaeyoung. He wanted to confront the other party, but if he did, it was certain that crazy-guy would call the police with a completely unperturbed expression.
Today, Jaeyoung had to endure it once again, just like before.
He observed crazy-guy for many years. Regardless of what anyone said, he couldn’t help but be impressed by how crazy-guy managed to maintain his composure in the face of adversity. Previously, Jaeyoung had been somewhat interested in those outside the norm, but there were limits to madness. It was overwhelming when confronted with someone like that. Instead of finding it enjoyable, he felt a profound sense of boredom and never wanted to see that person again.
(7.)
One day, out of the blue, the crazy guy who had once said they should not meet again brought a good-looking young girl to the restaurant where
Jaeyoung worked. This place belonged to his noona, whom they both knew. Jaeyoung had been working here since the place opened, and people in the neighborhood knew that he worked here.
Jaeyoung’s blood pressure rose the moment he saw the crazy guy walking into the shop. As he walked in fearlessly for a fight, Jaeyoung’s heart raced. But the crazy guy just ordered pasta, nothing more. He didn’t recognize Jaeyoung, and it wasn’t an act. Even when their eyes met. The other party simply looked through him as if seeing someone for the first time. Jaeyoung’s heart was filled with intense anger, double the anger he had ever felt before.
Why?
While waiting for the food, Jaeyoung pondered why he felt so hot-headed, and there was only one answer: absolute indifference.
The events of the welcoming party for the new recruit, the incident about the 850 won, and the interview had passed a long time ago, perhaps forgotten. But it was the incident that caused one person to drop out of school. If they were a human being, they should consider the feelings of the other side and at least pretend to feel a little embarrassed. Especially if the other party pretended to be friendly, it would have been better to pretend to care, right? Moreover, it seemed that this kid only thought that he was not at fault and quickly brushed his head aside.
‘Oh, sunbaenim… Min-Youngjae.’
Furthermore, it was clear that the other party did not see Jaeyoung as a human being but as something that made weird sounds and gestures. That’s
why when Jaeyoung changed his attire and accessories slightly, the other party couldn’t recognize him anymore. Jaeyoung had never encountered anyone who made him feel so worthless.
Jaeyoung’s anger took a somewhat peculiar direction. While the E-Com representative who called for a baseball bat on that day wanted to knock this crazy guy out, Jaeyoung wanted to make the other party pay attention to him, to care about him as much as he cared about the other party.
Jaeyoung wanted to see the indifferent gaze of the crazy guy twisted with hatred or any strong emotion. He wanted the name Jang Jaeyoung, these three syllables etched into the mind like a machine.
‘Is there something you don’t like?’
‘You, sunbae.’
It was that simple. After finishing the matter that day, Jaeyoung immediately began to execute his plan. In the notebook that the crazy guy left in the conference room, there was a schedule for next semester. Jaeyoung organized his own schedule based on that. Then he started walking, gathering information.
‘Do you know a student named Chu Sangwoo? A student who likes to wear dark jacket and black hat.’
He kept asking the gate guards, front and back doors, cafeteria staff, nutritionists, convenience store owners, part-time secretaries, librarians, soccer field construction workers, and students who took the same class as the other party last semester. And he got an amusing answer.
“I know him well, that student rides his bicycle into the university every day.”
(Security Guard…)
“He comes to the same café at the same time and always buys the same brand of coffee. He never tries anything else.” (Convenience store owner.)
“Last semester, that male student came here at exactly two minutes past four every day without fail. He almost didn’t need a watch anymore.”
(Library librarian.)
“You mean the boy who likes to go wherever alone, right? He would pass by here at minute 41. Just perfect. And when he turns at that corner, he’ll have to throw the coffee can into the recycling bin on the second floor. I wonder if he dislikes the other bins.” (Construction worker.) That kid is crazier than I thought.
Other people have shown that the usual methods cannot leave any trace on them, having this hard time to look for him, find a crazy person’s path one has to empathize with him. Jaeyoung has finally come up with a way to ruin Chu Sangwoo’s perfect daily life.
A day before the start of the semester, he eagerly awaited the university days more than anyone else.
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