Ch.98Call Me Brother (15)

I hadn’t planned to sit here like this from the beginning.

It was true that I had many things I wanted to talk about during this visit to my alma mater after so long, but still, my sister and her boyfriend (presumably) were waiting for me in the car, probably getting impatient.

My plan was to escort Teacher Yeo Mi-so to the faculty office, briefly show my face to the teachers who had shared my school days, and then leave right away.

Coincidentally, my sister Do-young had unnecessarily overspent at the hospital, so there were still quite a few hospital visit pastries left. I could at least give those as a small gift for meeting them after such a long time.

That was roughly the picture I had in mind.

“My goodness, it’s been so long! How have you been, Ban Sol-young?”

“Ah, hello, Teacher Hak-ju.”

“Wow, kid. You were handsome in high school, but you’ve gotten even more handsome now. Meanwhile, some of us are aging by the day!”

“Is that so? To my eyes, Teacher Hak-ju, you don’t seem much different from when I was in school. I’m glad you look healthy despite your daily morning struggles.”

“What can I do when my eyes open automatically every morning as if this is my calling? If only your sister would reduce her frequency of tardiness, I might age a bit more slowly.”

“Hahaha, unfortunately, that’s in her nature and hard to fix. If she suddenly matures and starts getting up early, you might actually miss the old her.”

“You brat, are you speaking from experience?”

“Whew, I’ll have to say no comment on that.”

The reunion with the teachers after so long was warmer than Sol-young had expected. Despite the considerable time that had passed, most of the teachers who had been working there during his school days remembered him and were as delighted to see him as they were to remember him.

Even for teachers who constantly meet new students and accumulate new experiences while letting go of the past, Sol-young had remained a student with good memories for quite a long time.

Of course, the main reason he had stayed in the teachers’ memories for so long was largely because he was not only a “good student” but also a “handsome student.”

“It’s been a while, sit down. Tell us what you’ve been up to since graduation.”

“Ah… I’d love to, but…”

“C-come on, Sol-young. Do-young and Ha-min will understand if it’s just for a little while.”

“Huh? Teacher Yeo Mi-so, you know Sol-young?”

“We went to the same university. We met in a liberal arts class and became friends.”

“Ho-ho, really? What a coincidence! I absolutely must hear about what happened between you two during your college days!”

The teachers in the faculty office practically forced Sol-young to sit down on the counseling sofa.

“Tsk, that Do-young. She’s going to be annoyed again.”

“We, we won’t keep you too long. You went through the trouble of bringing her here, so we should at least thank you. Would you like some coffee? I’ll brew it for you.”

“Ah, if it’s coffee brewed by noona, I must have some.”

At Teacher Yeo Mi-so’s offer to personally brew coffee, Sol-young relaxed his stiff posture and leaned back comfortably on the sofa.

“I’ll just have coffee and then go.”

Right, when does anything in life go according to plan? Besides, it was only a five-minute walk from the school to home anyway.

If they got tired of waiting, they could just walk home. Even though it was raining, Do-young and Ha-min had umbrellas.

And so, under the lingering spring rain, Sol-young momentarily forgot about the outside world and immersed himself in nostalgic stories while enjoying the aroma of the coffee brewed by Teacher Yeo Mi-so.

“Oh my, look at the time… I’m sorry, teachers. I have people waiting, so I should get going now.”

“Leaving already? That’s too bad. I wanted to hear more stories about Teacher Yeo Mi-so’s fresh college days from Ban Sol-young’s own mouth.”

“Y-you’re all too much, teachers…!”

Pleasant times always pass quickly. The clock hands, which he thought would have moved only two notches, had already made a full circle and were returning to where they had started.

While he wasn’t particularly worried about Do-young and Ha-min, the issue was the dojang vehicle parked at the school.

It was getting close to the time he had promised his father, Ban Do-che, to return the vehicle. He needed to keep his promise to return it home before the afternoon class driving time, so no matter how enjoyable the conversation was, it was time to leave.

“I’ll be going now. I had a great time today, teachers. I’ll visit again when I have time.”

“Sure, come back before we get more gray hair. And bring some good news if you can.”

“Well… I think you’ll hear that good news soon enough without me delivering it personally. Right, Miso noona?”

“Huh…? Eh? Uh?”

With a sly smile directed at Teacher Yeo Mi-so, Sol-young opened the faculty office door and stepped outside.

“That kid… with that face saying such things…”

“Hehe, then I’ll be going!”

“Teacher Miso, what are you doing? You should see him off. Ah, I don’t mind you making good news, but please don’t make it at school, okay?”

“D-don’t tease me, everyone! Hey, Sol-young, wait up!”

Teacher Yeo Mi-so followed Sol-young out of the faculty office.

“I’m sorry, we took up too much of your time. Do-young and Ha-min must be waiting a long time.”

“It’s okay, I was enjoying myself so much I didn’t notice the time passing. And who knows? They might need some time alone too.”

“N-no way… Of course Do-young and Ha-min take good care of each other, but… surely there’s nothing like that between them…”

“Be careful. They may be classmates now, but if you’re not careful, Do-young might get ahead of you, Miso noona.”

“Huh…? What do you mean by getting ahead… B-Ban Sol-young…!”

Teacher Yeo Mi-so, realizing the meaning of Sol-young’s words, covered her reddening face with one hand and shouted at him.

“Are you going to keep teasing your noona? Earlier you were treating me like a child in front of all the other teachers! I’m four years older than you!”

“Hehe, it’s raining, so hurry back inside. I went through the trouble of bringing you here, and what’s the point if you catch a cold from the chilly wind? Like Do-young said, at four years older than me, you’re at an age where you could collapse from getting caught in the rain. After I kindly delivered you by car, are you planning to blame me if you catch a cold?”

“Really… This is why Do-young copies you! If you treat me like a child one more time, I won’t let it slide!”

“Alright, I promise I won’t treat you like a child anymore.”

Sol-young took the hand of Teacher Yeo Mi-so, who was shouting at him.

“Then next time, we’ll meet as adults. Not as innocent and wholesome children, but truly as adults meeting adults.”

“…Huh?”

“I’ll be looking forward to the day we meet again. Noona.”

Sol-young smiled at the fuming Teacher Yeo Mi-so and walked toward the parking lot where those waiting for him would be.

“…”

Teacher Yeo Mi-so stood there dazed, as if in a trance, until Sol-young’s figure disappeared behind the curtain of rain.

.

.

.

“I’m sorry, I’m really late. The conversation went on longer than I expected.”

Returning to the parking lot much later than he had planned, Sol-young couldn’t think of any excuse to appease Do-young, so he bowed his head to those who would have been waiting for him.

“Since we’re already late, should we buy pizza on the way home? I’ll tell Dad it was my fault, so you two don’t worry too much… Huh?”

However, there was no one at the spot where he had parked the vehicle. Neither his sister Do-young, nor her boyfriend (presumably) Ha-min, nor the yellow Bongo van they would have been in.

“…What the hell?”

Sol-young stood frozen for a moment, seeing that the three elements that absolutely could not have disappeared together were all gone.

“No way…”

Sol-young recalled that before getting out, he had left the car keys inside.

.

.

.

The sidewalk had turned into complete mud due to the intermittent rain since morning. Sol-young sprinted quickly through it on his way home.

Despite wearing clothes he quite liked for his outing, he paid no attention to the mud splashing from puddles onto his pants and clothes.

“How is the car here?”

Upon returning home, Sol-young headed straight for his home’s parking area. The dojang vehicle, which he had definitely parked in the school parking lot, was safely parked in his home’s garage as if nothing had happened.

-Click

Just then, the dojang door opened from inside. The one who came out after hearing the noise from outside was Sol-young’s father, Ban Do-che.

“Who is it? Oh, it’s Sol-young. You said you had to visit the school again, are you done with your business?”

“…Dad.”

“Son, if you brought the car back, you should have let me know. Bringing it back without a word and disappearing. If Do-young hadn’t told me… I saw only Do-young and Ha-min sitting in the car, and I almost fainted thinking Do-young had driven it here.”

“…Is Do-young home now?”

“Yes, she’s supervising Ha-min’s kendo lesson right now. Why?”

Sol-young pushed past Ban Do-che at the door and headed into the dojang.

“Ban Do-young…!”

-Clank!

Sol-young opened the dojang door and went inside. As his father had said, there was Do-young with a strange smile, and Ha-min, who seemed uneasy and couldn’t meet his eyes.

“Ah, you’re finally here.”

“Do-young, you… No way, right?”

Do-young approached Sol-young with a mischievous smile.

“Welcome back. I thought you’d never come. Big. Bro. Ther.”

“…”

A chilling fear that Sol-young had never felt before ran down his spine.