Ch.108Chapter 108. End of Term Ceremony (1)

It was a morning like any other.

The kind of morning where I’d wake up basking in sunlight, wash my face to chase away sleep, and prepare breakfast.

But there was one small difference…

“Hey! You’re dripping water! Dry yourself properly before coming out!”

“Hehehe! Got it!”

“Tsk…”

Cuss was unusually high-energy today.

I opened my eyes at the sound of running water to find Cuss already up and washing her hair in the bathroom.

She usually stayed sprawled out in bed until I woke her up.

The reason for her excitement today was obvious.

“Are you that happy?”

“Yes! Starting tomorrow, I don’t have to go to school anymore!”

Today was the end-of-semester ceremony.

From tomorrow until the start of the second semester, there would be a long vacation.

For Cuss, the gates of heaven were opening; for me, the gates of Hell.

“I thought you were enjoying school these days.”

“Going to school is good. But not going is even better.”

“Hmm…”

She had a point there.

Apparently, alien monsters and humans didn’t think all that differently when it came to school.

“Ah, ugh… I… I want to go too…”

“…”

Just then, a blonde ghost with disheveled hair staggered out of the bedroom, leaning against the wall.

I didn’t know she had the energy to get up.

She was so intense yesterday that I thought she wouldn’t wake up until noon.

“You need to go to work, Juliane.”

“Ugh, I don’t want to. I want to go to Cuss’s ceremony too.”

“It’s not even a graduation ceremony. Why would you skip work to attend an end-of-semester ceremony?”

“Aren’t you going to work, Jinsoo?”

“I took a day off.”

“…”

Juliane’s expression went blank.

What? Why?

“Me too! I want to take a day off too!”

“Trying to call in an hour before work? I’m sure that’ll go over well.”

“Ugh…”

“Just go to work. I’ll make something delicious for dinner.”

Good grief. I wasn’t an aging parent coaxing a grown daughter to go to work.

Yet somehow I felt like I was raising two children.

“Can you manage on your own? Then we’ll be going.”

“Ah… I don’t think I can. I’m too sore to even stand…”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Hehe. I was joking. You two go ahead… whoa?”

“…!”

Juliane took her hand off the wall and suddenly her knees buckled as if she was about to collapse.

I reflexively jumped forward to catch and support her.

I thought she was just being dramatic.

But judging by how her thighs were trembling, she really did have severe muscle pain.

“Maybe you should take that day off?”

“No, I’m fine. I can go to work.”

“I made food. There’s soup, so eat that.”

“Did you two already eat?”

“I felt bad waking you, so we ate first. You were sleeping so soundly despite the noise.”

“I passed out like I was unconscious. Hehe…”

“They say beautiful women are heavy sleepers.”

“How do you always know just the right thing to say?”

After exchanging a quick kiss, I helped Juliane stand upright.

She then shuffled toward the bathroom with a zombie-like gait, her legs barely supporting her.

Her colleagues would definitely worry when she showed up like this…

Asking if she was sick.

“Let’s get going.”

“Okay!”

Cuss scurried to her room and came back with her bag already packed.

I quickly scanned to make sure…

She didn’t seem to have forgotten anything.

This might be a first.

Cuss getting ready for school without my nagging.

If only every day could be like this.

“Hey! When it’s fully open… tsk.”

Just as the garage door was sliding open.

Unable to wait even that long, Cuss ducked under and slipped inside.

I was about to say something but held back.

If she ever hits her head doing that, she’ll learn to be more careful on her own.

“Mom! I have to go to work!”

“Sweetie! Just eat this before you go! You look so thin lately!”

“I’ve gained weight and I’m on a diet! What are you talking about?”

“Diet?! Oh my goodness! Are you starving yourself?!”

“Aah! Mom, please!”

Loud shouting was coming from the shotgun granny’s house next door.

What a disrespectful daughter.

I was shaking my head and about to enter the garage when…

“Ugh! I said I’m not eating!”

“Just one bite! Just have one bite before you go, honey!”

The woman who burst through the door looked familiar.

Seeing me standing there, Cuss came back out and grabbed my hand, clinging to me.

“Isn’t that your homeroom teacher?”

“Oh! Yes! It’s Jane!”

“Jane…?”

Wasn’t it Joan?

Anyway, she was definitely Cuss’s homeroom teacher.

Ah, I guess she won’t be her teacher anymore after tomorrow.

I put on my most welcoming smile and turned toward the neighbor’s house.

“Hello?”

“Who are you? Why are you acting like you know… oh.”

Jane’s scrunched-up face suddenly changed as her eyes widened.

She kept looking back and forth between me and Cuss, then her cheeks flushed and she became visibly flustered.

“Oh! I-I’m sorry! I didn’t realize you were Cuss’s father!”

“It’s fine. I didn’t know you lived next door.”

“It’s my mother’s house. Oh, do you live next door to my mother?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Ah! My mother talks about the man next door all the time, but I had no idea it was Cuss’s father!”

“What kind of things does she say?”

“Well… that you’re a g-good person, hardworking and kind…”

The way she avoided eye contact was suspicious.

She must have complained about me often.

I suppose no one would be happy with a neighbor who makes loud noises almost every day.

“You haven’t gone to work ye— Child! Step back! That’s him! That’s the Chinese guy from next door I told you about!”

“…”

I’m not Chinese, for fuck’s sake…

She must be showing early signs of dementia.

Maybe if I did the “Do you know kimchi?” routine every day, it would sink in that I’m Korean.

“Mom, that’s rude. This gentleman isn’t Chinese, he’s Japanese.”

“Excuse me?”

“Whether he’s a chink or a jap! He should have sex inside the house! What’s with parking the car out front and making noise all night long! The car frame was creaking so badly it was about to break!”

“…”

“I almost grabbed my shotgun and banged on your window, but I held back!”

Cuss was sleeping inside, so I couldn’t help it.

I felt solemn thinking I might have accelerated the old lady’s dementia by disturbing her already fragile sleep.

“I’m sorry about that.”

“Anyway! Don’t talk to that guy! He’s like a monkey! The woman was crying and begging him to stop, but he kept going until just before sunrise!”

“What the…”

My head was starting to hurt.

Why did I have to suffer this humiliation in front of my daughter’s homeroom teacher?

The shouting old lady turned around and slammed the door shut.

Silence fell between us as we both hung our heads in embarrassment.

I was too ashamed to look up.

“Are you heading to work?”

“Ah, yes. I take the bus…”

“Should I give you a ride?”

“That’s not necessary…”

“Come on. You know how terrible the bus schedule is around here.”

“Then I’ll gratefully accept…”

It seemed this uncomfortable companionship would continue a bit longer.

As we headed to the garage, I felt Cuss squeezing my fingers tightly.

“What is it?”

“Nothing…”

“Do you have something to say?”

“No. It’s nothing…”

What is it, really?

She kept acting like she wanted to say something, which was frustrating.

Judging by her pouting lips, something was definitely bothering her.

Still, even though she was deliberately kicking the ground, she followed along as I pulled her hand.

I drove the car out, seated Jane in the passenger seat, and Cuss in the back.

Jane still seemed uncomfortable with the situation, sweating and sitting stiffly.

With her fists on her knees and arms straight, she looked like a private sitting in the front row during military training.

Just as we were about to enter the main road…

“Sit up straight. Put your seatbelt on.”

“Don’t want to.”

“You little…”

Suddenly Cuss wrapped her arms around my neck from behind.

Has she lost her mind?

Why is she clinging to me like this?

I thought she was trying to play a prank, but she wasn’t pressing my Adam’s apple or pushing my shoulders to interfere with my driving like she usually would.

I slightly adjusted the rearview mirror and saw that Cuss was glaring at Jane.

She was clearly unhappy about losing her claim to the passenger seat.

“We’re here.”

“Should I, um, get out first? You two can come out a little later?”

“Why would we do that? Let’s just get out together.”

“But it might look like an inappropriate relationship… don’t you think?”

“Just beat up any student who says such nonsense. What’s the problem?”

“Excuse me? Beat up students…?”

I couldn’t help but be surprised by the shocked look in Jane’s eyes.

She seemed to be a teacher who avoided corporal punishment.

Girls might be different, but boys need a good thrashing to keep them in line, don’t they?

When I was in school, I got my calves whipped for the most trivial things.

“Just kidding. Hahaha.”

“…”

She seemed to have taken it as a joke.

“The ceremony will be over quickly, within an hour.”

“Yes. I’ll wait in the car.”

“Ah, that works too.”

Since school would end early today, I was planning to take Cuss somewhere fun.

I thought if I let her enjoy the first day of vacation, she might be tired enough to be quiet from tomorrow on… well, that was more my wishful thinking than anything else.

“Jinsoo, before you go.”

“What?”

“The thing we do every day before leaving.”

“…?”

Cuss tugged at my clothes and clung to me.

What do we do every day?

Does she want me to touch her chest?

I can’t do that in front of her homeroom teacher, idiot.

“A kiss, I mean.”

“Why suddenly? You skip it plenty of days.”

“Hurry, Jinsoo.”

There are many mornings when she’s sulking and leaves without a kiss because I nagged her.

But today, strangely, she was the one asking for it.

I sighed deeply, bent my knee, and gave Cuss a firm kiss on the cheek.

“Uuugh…”

“Happy now?”

“Jinsoo is mean.”

“I hate you too. Now go. You’ll be late.”

I gave her a push on the… oops, that was her chest, not her back.

Anyway, after I pushed her away, Cuss walked beside Jane toward the classroom, still looking disgruntled.

She seems to be getting irritable in the mornings lately.

I wonder if not having to go to school during vacation will reduce her irritability.

Instead, she’ll probably act up all night since she can sleep in.

Ah, I’m already tired just imagining it.

“Hmm?”

Cuss, who had been trudging along, suddenly stopped.

Before I could wonder why, she abruptly turned around and started running toward me.

“Oof!”

I had no time to dodge.

She charged at me with fierce speed and crashed into my stomach.

Then she wrapped her arms around my waist and rubbed her face against my chest.

“Jinsoo. You’re being cold today.”

“What? Me?”

“Yes. There’s not enough Jinsoo today. So I’m going to recharge.”

“What…”

Trying to push her away was useless.

She only hugged me tighter.

I had to stand there with my back arched, not understanding what was happening.

“Are we saying goodbye forever? We’ll be together plenty after the ceremony ends. What do you mean ‘not enough’?”

“Ah! That’s right!”

“…”

Cuss suddenly lifted her head as if she’d had a revelation.

Then she let go, turned around, and ran off.

Stupid girl…

I couldn’t help but smile watching that blockhead.

“Not enough, huh…”

Still, I think I vaguely understood what Cuss meant by “not enough.”

After all, I often felt something similar every night.