Ch.90Call Me Brother (7)

“Attention, bow.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Everyone, good job with today’s classes. Even though exams just ended, don’t completely let your guard down. Stay focused on your studies. Those attending evening self-study, make sure to participate diligently starting Monday and study hard!”

“Heh, sounds like she’s talking about you, Do Hamin.”

“…I have nothing to say.”

Before I knew it, the afternoon classes had ended, and it was time for the closing homeroom.

As Teacher Miso made her final announcements, students began gathering their belongings and standing up from their seats.

“Goodbye, Teacher Miso!”

“Get home safely! Be careful of cars, watch the road, be mindful of people, and watch out for kickboards darting onto sidewalks! Make sure to come back with smiling faces tomorrow!”

“Is there anywhere worth going after school?”

“But with the sky looking like this, I’m a bit worried about going anywhere. I didn’t bring an umbrella today.”

“True, it’s not raining now, but it might pour like it did this morning by the time we head home. If we’re going somewhere, let’s grab umbrellas from home first.”

Until just this morning, there had been no forecast of rain.

The weather report only mentioned slightly cloudy conditions throughout the morning.

That’s why some students had come to school without umbrellas.

“I’m doomed.”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t bring an umbrella?”

“No, there was no mention of rain this morning.”

Of course, I was in the same boat.

“They said it would only rain in the morning and stop in the afternoon…”

“Why is it still cloudy in the afternoon?”

“Oh, I just refreshed the app and now it shows a rain icon.”

“What’s with these fake forecasts?”

By lunchtime, when I checked my phone, the weather app had sneakily changed to show a 30% chance of rain, with the cloud icon subtly morphing into a rain icon.

As if to say it was only raining with a 30% probability,

so the forecast wasn’t technically lying.

Well, in today’s world, forecasts can change at any time.

I can’t complain about something that flips back and forth like a coin toss,

but they say betrayal only hurts when you have expectations.

Like a devoted first wife abandoned by her husband despite years of blind loyalty,

those who innocently trusted the weather forecast always paid the price of not bringing an umbrella.

“Whoa, why is the rain getting heavier again?”

Right now, I was paying dearly for that trust.

“Damn it, Yeonjin noona. You said it wouldn’t rain today… You tricked me.”

“Didn’t you buy that mini umbrella with your tumbler during that Art Cube collaboration event? Just keep it in your bag.”

“It makes my bag unnecessarily heavy, so I took it out. It was annoying to carry around when it wasn’t even raining.”

Unlike the Ban Doyoung in the original work, one thing I hate is carrying around a bunch of miscellaneous items.

Back in elementary school, I used to kick my indoor shoe bag around in frustration every day as I carried it.

Even something genuinely useful like that stressed me out from having to carry it daily.

Eventually, I got so annoyed that I just left my indoor shoe bag at home and kept my indoor shoes in my locker at school.

So how much more would I detest carrying around ambiguous items that might not even be useful?

That’s why cloudy days like today didn’t sit well with me.

If it were definitely going to rain, at least carrying an umbrella wouldn’t feel pointless.

For someone like me who finds it annoying to hold even clearly useful items,

asking me to always hang an umbrella on my right wrist for a 30% chance of rain was too much.

It’s only a five-minute walk home anyway, so why not just get a little wet and run?

That’s how my thinking gradually shifted.

“Then what do you do on days like today when it rains unexpectedly?”

“It’s okay, I have something I can rely on.”

-Tap

I tapped Hamin’s shoulder as I answered Hyerang’s question.

“Help me, Dohaemon!”

“…”

Hamin silently pulled out a folding umbrella from his bag and placed it on my desk with a disgruntled expression.

“I knew it! With a two-hour commute each way and your meticulous planning for every little thing, I knew Dohaemon would always have a folding umbrella ready. I was counting on you!”

“All your reasons for borrowing my umbrella are so spot-on that I can’t even argue…”

“Hey, what does it matter? Can we share it on the way home?”

“Yeah, since we’re going to the same place…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll hold the umbrella the whole way. I’m taller, after all. At least for now, heh.”

“Ngh…”

Hamin’s height was something of a complex for him,

but rather than arguing back, he just blushed and looked away.

“Aren’t you just dumping your umbrella problem on Hamin because you don’t want to carry one yourself?”

“Whoa, that’s going too far, Chicken Coop #2. Hamin here takes kendo lessons from me at our dojo anyway. If we’re going to the same place, can’t I borrow something like this?”

“What about rainy days when you don’t have kendo? Will you drop him off at his house and then make your own way to the station?”

“Wow, Doyoung. That’s a clingy, high-maintenance kind of girl. Guys these days don’t like that type.”

“Oh… is that true?”

I turned to Hamin beside me and asked.

“Am I being high-maintenance? Isn’t this much okay?”

“…”

“Our ‘final destination’ is the same anyway, right?”

“Final…”

“Right?”

“…Yeah. That’s right.”

Unlike what Sahyang or Hyerang said, Hamin quietly nodded, agreeing with me.

That’s more like it.

I knew you were on my side, Hamin.

“Ban Doyoung, Do Hamin! If you’re ready, please follow me!”

“Ah, Teacher Miso. We’ll be right there. Hey, Hamin. Let’s go. I’ll hold the umbrella, so I’ll take it for now, okay?”

“Ah, okay!”

“Huh? Doyoung, where are you going with Teacher Miso?”

“Oh, we’re going to see that bastard Lee Jeongkyu.”

“Ehhh?”

“What’s that about all of a sudden…”

“See you both tomorrow then?”

I followed Teacher Miso out of the classroom with Hamin.

.

.

.

“Hmm… the taxi app isn’t working well today. I think it might be faster to hail one directly from the nearby road. Ban Doyoung and Do Hamin, please wait here for a moment.”

“No, we’ll come with you. If we’re taking a car anyway, what’s wrong with getting a little wet?”

“No, that won’t do. What if you catch a cold? Besides, you two only have one umbrella between you. I’ll bring the taxi here, so please wait just a moment.”

Teacher Miso left us waiting under the covered main entrance of the school building,

then opened her umbrella and walked toward the main road where taxis could pass.

Given the bad weather, and the fact that she was trying to catch a taxi rather than a bus,

it seemed that wherever Jeongkyu was located was quite far away.

“If the app isn’t working, trying to hail one directly probably won’t be any better…”

The raindrops, far from subsiding, were getting heavier.

Today’s weather forecast was spectacularly wrong.

By the time she left the main entrance, Teacher Miso’s shoulders were already getting wet from rain seeping through the umbrella.

“Hey, Hamin.”

“Yes…?”

“Between us and Teacher Miso, who do you think is more likely to catch a cold if we all got equally wet in this rain?”

“Hmm… probably Teacher Miso. She’s shorter and looks more delicate. Why do you ask?”

“Sigh… that’s what I thought.”

I took out my phone from my pocket and dialed a saved number.

“Tsk, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to resort to this.”

“Hmm…?”

Still, as a student, I couldn’t just stand by and watch my teacher fall into a fever-induced abyss.

**

“Here you go, Seonhee and Haejo. Don’t get wet in the rain—take my umbrella on your way home.”

“But what about you, Teacher Miso…?”

“I’ll be fine. I was planning to catch a taxi anyway since I have somewhere to go. Don’t worry too much, just take it.”

“But still…”

“Hey, Kim Seonhee! What are you hesitating for? She’s offering to lend it! Thank you, Teacher Miso! I’ll definitely return the umbrella tomorrow!”

Teacher Yeo Miso had gone to the main road in front of the school to catch a taxi.

However, when she saw students from her class running through the rain without umbrellas,

she didn’t hesitate to lend them her last umbrella.

“Hey, hurry up and run! We saved money on buying umbrellas at the convenience store, let’s go to the karaoke place!”

“Be, be careful on your way home, Kim Seonhee and Kim Haejo!”

The students rushed off toward home without looking back, having received their teacher’s umbrella.

Even with her bangs drooping from the rain and her dress getting soaked enough to see through, she waved goodbye to her departing students with a smile.

It’s okay, as long as I catch a taxi quickly, it won’t be a problem.

Better me than my beloved students catching a cold.

That’s what she thought as she waited by the roadside for a taxi with a “VACANT” sign.

Of course, proving that there were no available taxis due to the unexpected bad weather, all the taxis passing by the school either had their lights off or displayed “RESERVED” signs as they rejected her gestures and drove away.

-SPLASH!

“Cough, cough!”

To add to the tragedy, a passing car splashed muddy water from a puddle onto her.

“Ugh… E-even spring rain feels cold when you’re this soaked. This is terrible… I-I didn’t expect it to be this hard to catch a taxi…”

“Taxis don’t usually come around here at this time. If there are any, they’re mostly around the station or terminal.”

“I-I see. I had no idea… Huh?”

Suddenly, a shadow fell over Teacher Yeo Miso’s head,

and the fierce raindrops that had been beating down on her crown subsided.

“It’s been a while, Miso noona.”

“N-noona? I might allow ‘Teacher Miso,’ but calling a teacher ‘noona’ is…”

She turned her head to look up at the shadow sheltering her.

Through her rain-blurred vision, a familiar face from her old memories stood before her.

“…Solyoung?”

“I heard from people in your department that you’d become a teacher here. So it’s true, Miso noona.”

“H-how are you here? I heard you went to the military… Wait, could it be. The brother that Doyoung mentioned…”

“What, you just realized? We have the same surname and both have ‘young’ in our names? I thought even if you didn’t notice, Doyoung would have told you.”

“I had my suspicions, but so it’s really…”

“Hey, buzz cut!”

Just then, a female student approached where Teacher Yeo Miso was standing, shouting loudly.

It was her students, Doyoung and Hamin.

“Oh, you’re here? I got here super fast, right? I started the car and rushed over as soon as I got your call. I figured you might need me.”

“What are you doing flirting with our teacher the moment you arrive? I was planning to make you do the dishes anyway. Do you know our teacher?”

“Yeah, she was my senior in college. Different departments though.”

“…Ehhh?”