Ch.56Doyoung’s Favorite Random Game (3)

After finishing that day’s kendo lesson,

Hamin was getting ready to return to school for evening self-study.

“Wait, I’ll go with you.”

I quickly changed into comfortable clothes at home,

then followed Hamin out.

“I can go alone. You didn’t even eat dinner because you were getting scolded by the master. Just stay home and eat.”

“That’s exactly why I’m coming with you. After getting scolded like that, would I want to stay home? I can grab dinner at a convenience store. I’ll buy a sausage—the biggest, thickest one they have.”

Just thinking about a sausage heating in the microwave, slightly bending as it releases that fierce meaty aroma,

my mouth was already watering, and my thumb and index finger curved into a circle as if holding a thick sausage.

“D-don’t make that weird gesture. What if someone sees?”

“Sorry, did that turn you on?”

“No, it didn’t!”

“You’re the model student, so don’t shout. The whole neighborhood will stare.”

“Sigh…”

“Hehe, don’t worry about me. I’ll just grab something quick and head home. Dad should be teaching his evening class by now.”

Though we’d reached a temporary truce,

I had just been thoroughly scolded by Dad in his dojo master mode.

I didn’t particularly resent him.

We just lacked the confidence to face each other properly after that emotional outburst.

Dad had his own disappointment about his daughter not putting in effort,

while I felt wronged about being scolded for past actions of Ban Doyoung that I hadn’t even committed.

These two emotions had no intersection point,

so no matter how forcefully they collided, they couldn’t be resolved or reconciled.

Right now, we needed time for emotions to burn themselves out and for a compromise to form.

“You’re not going to stop talking to each other, are you?”

“We can reconcile anytime if I just show a willingness to study. If I wake up early tomorrow morning, build up some filial piety points, and act like I’ll listen to Dad, he’ll probably get over it quickly.”

“…Yeah. Somehow that sounds like you.”

“That’s a compliment, right?”

“Of course.”

“Since you’re not bowing, I guess you’re serious.”

Walking in the increasingly cool spring breeze,

chatting with Hamin on the way to school wasn’t such a bad feeling.

Was it because the weather had become warm enough that even Ban Doyoung’s cold-sensitive body no longer felt chilly?

Or was it simply because I enjoyed laughing and talking with this guy?

Hmm, let’s go with the first option—the second is too embarrassing.

“Ah, showing the right attitude is good, but I really hate the idea of starting school studies again now.”

“C-come on, it’s not like you’ve gone that far yet.”

“I have gone far. I think it’s been about 3-4 years since I gave up on studying. Having completely forgotten how to study, can I really raise my score to the midterm average?”

“You can do it. I’ll help you too. Though I’m not entirely confident…”

“What? You’re saying that without confidence? You’re not planning to pretend to teach me while actually dragging me to evening study, are you? What are you planning to do to me in that empty classroom at night?”

“…I’m trying to get you above average scores precisely so I don’t have to hear comments like that during every evening study session.”

“Hehe, looking forward to it.”

The distance was just over a 5-minute walk at a leisurely pace.

Though it seemed like we hadn’t talked about much, we had already reached the school gate.

“I’ll go in first. Thanks for coming with me.”

“Thank you too. For letting me have yours, slurp.”

“I-it was Zero Lime, to be exact…”

“Ahaha, see you inside.”

Normally, I would have turned around right there and headed home,

but for some reason that day, I wanted to stay at the gate until Hamin’s figure disappeared from sight.

**

-Click

At 6:30 PM, the start time for Bulsa High’s evening self-study,

Hamin entered the classroom at precisely that moment.

“Ah, Hamin. Welcome.”

“Oh… Teacher Mi-so.”

Upon entering the classroom for evening study,

Teacher Yeo Mi-so greeted Hamin as if he were entering his regular classroom.

“Oh, Teacher Mi-so is supervising today. Wow, you came really early.”

“Of course! To perform perfect supervision duties, one must be seated at least five minutes early. That’s the iron rule of evening self-study supervisors!”

“Haha… though no other teachers follow it and usually come ten minutes late…”

Typically, students dislike when their homeroom teacher supervises evening study.

Being in the position of homeroom teacher naturally means paying more attention to your own students.

When making rounds, they check their own class one more time,

and when staying in one place, they stay where their students are, not elsewhere.

Having to endure nearly three hours of study time under the watchful eye of your homeroom teacher, without any freedom, was undeniably uncomfortable.

Of course, this was only an issue for students who wanted to slack off during evening study

and yearned for the freedom to leave school as early as possible,

It wasn’t a problem for Hamin, who always arrived at the classroom on time

and didn’t lift his bottom from his desk until the 10 PM ending time.

“…”

Regardless of who was supervising that day, Hamin quietly and diligently

fulfilled his planned study quota for the day.

In fact, having his homeroom teacher sitting at the front desk

gave him a sense of familiarity, like being in his usual Class 1 classroom.

‘Strange, I’m solving problems faster than usual today.’

Just a little bit.

It was just that the environment made it easier to concentrate.

Hamin solved his planned problems more quickly than usual.

The grading results were good too.

Not only had his speed improved, but his accuracy was much higher.

His handwriting, already poor, became even worse as his right hand trembled from the recoil of swinging the bamboo sword with all his might during practice,

but as long as he could read it himself, that was all that mattered.

‘I thought this would take an hour and a half… but I finished it all during the first period of evening study.’

Hamin looked with surprise at his workbook, which had almost no correction marks.

In fact, he solved the problems so quickly that he had time to spare before moving on to the next planned set.

What should I do?

Should I start on the next set of problems early?

No, if he forced himself to move up the schedule,

it might overlap with break time and make proper timed practice difficult.

It was an early break, but

he decided to just enjoy today’s satisfactory results.

Hamin briefly reviewed only the problems he got wrong and planned to take a short rest for the remaining time.

After closing his workbook,

Hamin gave his eyes a rest from their intense focus on the problems.

‘If I could do this well every day… if I just work hard on my own… I can manage my own studies somehow. Then I could use that time for something else…’

The leisure and rest that came after intense concentration brought sweetness along with other stray thoughts.

Things that the usual Hamin would never have considered began to fill his mind during this early break.

.

.

.

“Hamin…? Do you have something to say?”

“Teacher Mi-so. Could I talk to you for a moment? Just five minutes.”

Somehow time had passed, and with five minutes left before the end of evening study,

at 10 PM sharp, Hamin, who usually finished studying right on time, for some reason got up five minutes early and approached Teacher Yeo Mi-so, who was sitting at the front desk.

**

“Everyone, remember to be careful of cars, roads, and strangers on your way home, okay?”

“That’s such an outdated line, teacher.”

“We’re high school students, you know? We already know all that.”

“Ah, I know you do! But it’s something I’ve always wanted to say to all of you since becoming a teacher! And it’s natural for teachers and parents to worry and nag even when they know you understand!”

The next day during the closing homeroom,

Teacher Mi-so ended class with her usual farewell that conveyed the anxiety of sending children out into the world.

The subtle tremor in her voice suggested these weren’t mere pleasantries but words coming from her heart.

“She’d be such a great teacher if she didn’t always tell us to study…”

“I-if she didn’t tell us to study, she wouldn’t be a good teacher…”

“That’s unfair, fighting with facts.”

“Oh, right! And be especially careful of electric scooters riding on sidewalks, understood?”

Ah, that was definitely something to be careful about.

Cars, roads, people—in today’s world, adding scooters to that list made perfect sense.

In terms of danger, the latter was close to a terrifying hybrid combining cars, roads, and people all in one.

“Those of you doing evening study, hang in there tonight, and I’ll see the rest of you next week!”

With Teacher Mi-so’s closing remarks,

those not staying for evening study quickly packed their bags and exited through the back door.

“Model student, I’ll see you later. At the dojo at the usual time… huh?”

The moment I was about to leave through the gate, something about Hamin’s appearance seemed off.

He had his backpack on as if he too was about to leave with me.

“What’s this, model student? No evening study? Why are you wearing your backpack?”

“I decided to take a break. Until the midterms.”

“What? You’re taking a break from evening study? You? Why…?”

“So I can study with you.”