Ch.189Wherever You Are (2)

Sungcheon Science High School.

It was a name I hadn’t heard in a while.

I thought it was just a MacGuffin high school created to supplement the background explanation that Do Hamin was good at studying.

Who would have thought I’d see this name again now.

Just when I was starting to forget

It was quite the impressive bait and switch, poking at old memories and reminding me, “Ah, right, that setting existed too.”

[Sungcheon Science High School Admission Scandal Self-Report – Wronged Additional Admittee]

[Sungcheon Science High School, located in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Since its establishment, this school has built its reputation as a leading science and engineering high school in South Korea. Recently, allegations of admission fraud involving some teachers and school officials have come to light. The whistleblower of this admission scandal is none other than ‘Cheon Sangmin,’ the newly appointed chairman of the board who took office this year at Sungcheon Science High School….]

Last year, when Do Hamin took the entrance exam for that school.

During the process of selecting additional successful applicants for Sungcheon Science High, some teachers within the school manipulated students’ grades and scores.

They ignored the originally scheduled waitlist numbers and admitted the child of someone in a high position as an additional student. This fact has only now come to light after the admissions process and even the first semester have ended, leading to this public announcement.

That was roughly the summary of the news content.

It was news that could be seen not uncommonly in reality, without having to experience it in the world of <Half of Half Island>.

While it was somewhat interesting that the newly appointed chairman discovered and internally reported the corruption himself, the content of the incident itself was just one of those “big and small incidents happening in a chaotic world” that didn’t necessarily warrant much emotional investment.

[The whistleblower, Chairman Cheon Sangmin, expressed a heavy sense of responsibility for this situation that occurred before his appointment. He stated that the teachers involved in the case would be immediately dismissed, and student A, who benefited from the additional admission, would be promptly expelled. He pledged to normalize the compromised Sungcheon Science High School as soon as possible.]

The news was showing footage of Chairman Cheon Sangmin’s inauguration ceremony as the new chairman of the science high school.

Well, since he was the whistleblower himself, using such footage wasn’t unusual. It was typical press material.

If we had only seen up to that point, those of us watching TV could have just thought, “What noisy news to start the morning with,” and moved on.

[Chairman Cheon Sangmin further stated that due to student A’s expulsion, the vacant position at Sungcheon Science High School would primarily be offered to students who had received high waitlist numbers in the original admission results.]

“Th-th-that…! That’s Hamin’s student ID photo! Right?”

If only they hadn’t shown the victim’s photo that followed,

with Hamin’s face blurred out.

“I see that even with the mosaic, people who know you can still recognize you. If we hadn’t known you during your loner days, we wouldn’t have recognized you at all—”

“…”

At first, I was just surprised that I could recognize who it was despite the mosaic,

and turned my head toward Hamin who was next to me.

“…Hamin.”

“…”

But the moment I saw a strangely clouded light in Hamin’s golden eyes, which usually sparkled like the morning sun,

I couldn’t carelessly utter any words.

I had seen angry Hamin, loud Hamin many times before.

I don’t particularly deny the fact that I’m usually the main cause of raising that decibel level.

So basically, an angry, loud Hamin wasn’t an object of fear for me.

“Hamin…?”

“…”

But now, seeing Hamin making no sound, with no change in facial color,

wearing an expression that seemed to genuinely hate something, I felt a chill run through my entire body without realizing it.

To be honest, Hamin’s eyes, silently harboring a dark anger at the fact that all his efforts had been manipulated by the whims of adults he’d never even seen…

“Hey, Hamin…”

“…Huh?”

“Why… are you making such a scary face?”

“…M-me?”

It was frightening.

To the point where I hoped that whatever happened, I would never be on the receiving end of that gaze from Hamin.

“You startled me… making a face I’ve never seen before.”

“S-sorry… I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Phew… if you’d kept that face any longer, I was about to say I’d let you touch my chest if you’d calm down.”

“W-were you really surprised? You’re not just teasing me?”

I was genuinely scared.

Scared enough that if Hamin with that face had said “Take it off,” I would have replied “Yes.”

“I don’t know how my student ID photo ended up there, but it’s probably not me. Just a coincidence. Hehe. An incredible coincidence.”

Hamin, realizing that he had been wearing a very serious expression until just now,

was deliberately forcing a smile, putting extra effort into his facial muscles.

“Hamin, you don’t need to force yourself.”

“That’s right, not all anger is the kind you show to hide your embarrassment from Doyoung. You should be even more angry about something like this. Thinking, ‘If it weren’t for that, I could have gone to that school too.'”

“Thank you, Master, Auntie… But I’m really okay.”

While nodding gratefully at the consolation from Mom and Dad, who thought the wronged party in the news was Hamin,

Hamin kept waving his hands, saying he was fine.

“Besides, I was only waitlist number 2. Even if what was just reported in the news had happened, the opportunity would have gone to the student who was waitlist number 1, not me. You can consider it something that never concerned me in the first place.”

“If that’s how you want to think about it, Hamin, we have nothing more to say… but is it really okay for you to think that way?”

“…”

At Dad’s question, Hamin made a thoughtful face for a moment before carefully opening his mouth.

“I chose Sungcheon as my goal just because I thought going to that school would make Mom happy, not because I had any particular purpose with that school. And besides…”

As Hamin continued speaking, he looked in my direction and gave a faint smile.

“I always feel that this place is better for making Mom happy.”

“…It’s true that making Hamin laugh is a specialty of mine and my mom.”

“So I’m fine. No, I’m glad I chose Bulsa High as my second choice.”

The school uniform, sized larger in anticipation of a growth spurt that might come at any time.

Looking at that uniform that now fit his body perfectly, Hamin smoothed down the shirt he was wearing with satisfaction.

“Aren’t you frustrated, Hamin oppa? What you’re doing now. You’re asserting that even without that incident, you wouldn’t have been able to go to that school in the first place.”

Siyoung, who was right next to me, would have had the opportunity to see up close what expression Hamin was making while watching the news about the admission scandal.

Perhaps that’s why even Siyoung, who calls herself the Scarlet Swordmaster,

seemed more cautious in her attitude toward him, probably because she had seen Hamin’s dark face.

“Setting your own limits and closing yourself off. It’s a case I’ve seen countless times in kendo, but not once have I seen someone take it positively.”

“I’m trying to think about it differently.”

“…Differently?”

“The idea that I would have failed to get into Sungcheon High even without the incident in the news means, looked at differently, that with or without that incident, I was destined to come to Bulsa High where Doyoung is.”

“…”

Hearing those words,

the body that had been chilled by Hamin’s cold face

began to melt like snow. In both good and bad ways.

“If I think of it as leading to the outcome of meeting Doyoung one way or another, it doesn’t feel so bad…”

“…Ah, seriously.”

“Why, why…?”

I draped a towel over Hamin’s neck and ran straight up to my room.

“Hey, Ban Doyoung! Why are you suddenly going up to your room! We need to leave right now to avoid being late!”

“My underwear got wet!”

“W-what?”

I clearly said I changed into fresh ones yesterday.

You really had to make them wet, didn’t you, Hamin, you jerk.

.

.

.

“Sorry we’re late…!”

“Sorry, I was late because I had to change my underwear.”

“You’re late, student Doyoung and student Hamin! You should be picking up each other’s good habits, not the bad ones!”

“I apologize for disturbing 15-week pregnant Teacher Miso’s mood.”

“You don’t need to add ‘somi’ in front of ‘teacher’!”

The first day of the second semester began gloriously with Hamin and Ban Doyoung marking tardiness on their school records.

It was in stark contrast to the first day of the first semester, when Hamin and Ban Doyoung were the first to arrive in the classroom.

“Sigh… I’ll let it slide for everyone today, thinking you still have your vacation sense of time. But from now on, you must come on time, okay?”

“Y-yes, I’ll keep that in mind!”

“Now then, student Doyoung, please sit down and prepare for first period. Student Hamin, would you mind coming with me to the teachers’ office for a moment?”

“J-just me to the teachers’ office?”

With his first tardiness in high school life, and now his first summons to the teachers’ office.

Hamin gave Teacher Miso a bewildered look at these two first-time experiences right at the start of the second semester.

“Ah, I’m not going to scold you or anything. There’s someone in the teachers’ office looking for student Hamin right now.”

“Looking for me… who could it be?”

“Chairman Cheon Sangmin of Sungcheon Science High School. He came personally wanting to meet student Hamin.”

“…Eh?”