What’s Wrong with Taking a Year Off to Study?

In my first year of middle school, I met Ye-rin.

In my second year of middle school, I was briefly separated from Ye-rin.

Each year had a major event, but.

The third year passed calmly without any big events, perhaps because Ye-rin wasn’t there.

I maintained appropriate distance with my classmates, did my best with studying and exercising to aim for top universities.

And dedicated the rest of my time to Ye-rin.

It was a daily life not too different from before.

That fall, my birthday came around again.

Ms. Ye-rin, who said she wouldn’t send expensive gifts, was nowhere to be found, and sure enough, this year she sent an expensive headset as a gift.

But when I actually put it on, I couldn’t help but exclaim “oh” at the sound quality, so I had no choice but to thank her this time too.

Hmm. Wallet, wristwatch, pajamas, headset.

Somehow I felt like the things around me were gradually being filled with gifts sent by Ye-rin.

ㅡ I guess that just means Ye-rin knows well what I need.

That’s my Ye-rin. The performance is definitely good.

I just thought I should step up my game too.

**

That winter.

As middle school graduation approached and high school entrance was just around the corner.

My biggest concern at that time was surprisingly not Ye-rin.

…No, actually. Since I’m worrying this much because of Ye-rin, in the end it is about her, right?

“Mother.”

“Oh my. My son, do you need pocket money?”

“……People might misunderstand if they hear you.”

“But when my son calls me ‘mother,’ it’s only when he needs more pocket money or wants to ask for something~?”

…Was that true?

I had only called her, so I thought this was a false accusation, but when I thought about it, it wasn’t wrong.

“Then perhaps some pocket money…”

“No way~ I already give you plenty. Be frugal.”

“Tch.”

Then don’t speak. I got my hopes up for nothing.

The reason I called my mom wasn’t for pocket money, but since she was speaking with a smile, I thought maybe.

What maybe. It was as expected.

But if I said here that my pocket money was woefully insufficient and she asked why, I might have to reveal the existence of the marriage account, so I decided to take a step back.

I used to think there was no need to hide it, but after imagining my mom’s “oh my, oh my” reaction upon learning about the account, I firmly decided not to reveal it.

“So, do you have something on your mind?”

“…Just. I was wondering whether to go into liberal arts or sciences.”

“Oh my. I thought my son would naturally go for physical education?”

“…Why?”

“Hmm~ Just, since you’ve been exercising diligently and consistently taking care of your body for some time, I naturally thought you’d go that way… wasn’t that the case?”

Do I look like a gym rat to others…?

I just like exercising a bit.

Hearing both kids around me and now my mom talk as if it’s obvious made me wonder if I should really go for physical education.

“I don’t know. I don’t think I’m particularly better at sports than others, I’ve just been doing a few things at home. I’m not confident about aiming for physical education based just on this.”

“Hmm~ Do you want to keep exercise just as a hobby?”

I thought seriously about my mom’s question. What do I want to do?

After thinking for a moment, I opened my mouth.

“…I’m not sure about that either. Mom, I told you that Ye-rin is good at studying, right?”

“Of course~ I’m so grateful that because of her, my son is studying hard too.”

“When Ye-rin returns to Korea, she’ll probably be able to go to a top university. No, I’m sure of it. In my opinion.”

As I spoke, I felt increasingly thirsty, so I took a sip of water.

“So, if I want to aim for the same university, I feel like I need to focus on what I’m definitely good at. But I’m not sure what that is yet. So, I’m anxious. Afraid that I won’t be able to get into the same university.”

Afraid that I might hold Ye-rin back – I revealed my innermost thoughts quietly.

After honestly sharing with my mom what I couldn’t tell anyone, what I felt was relief.

It seemed that what had been a vague concern had remained as a major anxiety in a corner of my heart.

After hearing my feelings, my mom thought for a moment, then soon looked at me with a warm smile.

“Woo-jin. Do you remember your grades from first year?”

“…? I think I fluctuated between grades 3 and 4?”

“What about second year?”

“Probably between grades 2 and 3…?”

“Then… lastly, how were you this year?”

“Except for getting grade 2 on the first midterm, I got all grade 1s…?”

When I made a puzzled expression wondering why she was suddenly asking this, my mom warmly held my hand.

“Think about it. Just as your grades have steadily improved, you probably weren’t as good at exercising from the beginning as you are now.”

My mom was right.

When I first started exercising, doing 100 push-ups was out of the question; even 50 was challenging and left me suffering from muscle pain the next day.

And the jogging I recently started was so difficult on the first day that I couldn’t speak and just gasped for breath.

But now, I could easily do several times what I did back then for both activities.

“Mom believes that our Woo-jin can do anything he sets his mind to. I’m not saying this irresponsibly. That’s what I’ve seen so far, and that belief has never betrayed me.”

As she said she believed in me and gently stroked my hand.

My eyes unexpectedly stung, and I lowered my head.

“So. Instead of wondering ‘Can I get into the same university?’, think slowly about what you want to do yourself. Then the results will follow naturally.”

“…Yes. I’ll think about it a lot. Thank yo-“

“Frankly speaking. Even if things don’t work out and you have to take a year off to study, what’s wrong with that? Then you could attend with that girlfriend you like so much.”

…Am I hearing things?

I raised my head, wondering what I just heard, and my mom was still looking at me with a warm expression.

I asked back, wondering if she was possessed by Satan for a moment.

“…Are you serious?”

“I said ‘frankly speaking’.”

My heart, which had been touched just moments ago, cooled down with surprising speed.

“…Isn’t that too harsh to say to your son?”

“Honestly, you’ve thought about it at least once too.”

ㅡ How did she know?

It was frustrating, but I couldn’t deny it, which made it even more frustrating.

“…I won’t take a year off.”

“Oh my, I never said you should?”

My mom was so irritating, whoever’s mother she was.

“Anyway, thank you. I’ll think about it more.”

“You do that~”

My mom’s bright smile was irritating, but even a fool like me could tell that she was deliberately acting this way to ease my burden.

I just felt glad that I had talked to her.

**

“…So you chose liberal arts?”

March.

After the high school entrance ceremony, it was time to meet and greet unfamiliar faces in an unfamiliar class again.

At my seat, there was a face that I probably shouldn’t be glad to see anymore.

“What’s wrong with liberal arts, you jerk.”

“No, weren’t you aiming for something like physical education? After agonizing over it for a while.”

“Ah, this is called keeping options open, you ignorant fool. I’ll prepare for physical education too.”

“What do you mean options, you coward. If you’re going to do that, cut off the thing below.”

“Even if I cut it off, it’s still bigger than yours, kid. Why are you in liberal arts?”

“I have a disease where I get dizzy when I see numbers.”

“Idiot.”

“That’s harsh, damn it.”

I know Yoon Do-hyun is a good guy, but.

With no time to miss him, ending up in the same school and same class for three consecutive years, at this point I was starting to think he might be a stalker.

“But Han Woo-jin, didn’t you have grades good enough for sciences too?”

“I don’t really care either way. It’s just that Ye-rin seems interested in business administration. When I looked it up, it was in the liberal arts track, so I came this way too. In case the physical education route doesn’t work out, I thought I’d aim for that.”

“Business administration? Why?”

“I think she said it would be helpful when working at her uncle’s company? I think she wants to help since he’s so busy.”

As I smiled like a proud father thinking how kind my girlfriend was, Yoon Do-hyun looked at me with an “are you serious” expression.

“The Seo siblings’ uncle… could he be the president?”

“…I didn’t ask for details so I don’t know much. I think things went well for him after going to America.”

“Wasn’t that family already well-off…?”

“…Terrifyingly well-off.”

The Seo siblings’ family lived in the most expensive building in our neighborhood, and now they seemed even richer than before, so I couldn’t even imagine how rich they were, but.

Neither Ye-rin nor I cared much about it.

When did we ever care about such things?

To put it bluntly, I wouldn’t care even if Ye-rin’s family had nothing.

“Daaaammmmnnn!!! The difficulty level of life is way too different!!!”

But Yoon Do-hyun didn’t seem to think that way, as he rolled his eyes with jealousy and banged on my desk.

“Whoa, what’s wrong with you, crazy? As if you’re living a hard life? Hey, in Africa…”

“You bastard, I’m living in Korea, so if you mention African kids, do you think I’ll say ‘Oh, I’m full. I should reflect on this’?”

…Damn, that didn’t work.

“But you’ve had 10 times more relationships than Seo Jin-hyuk. If you think of wealth in those terms…”

“Is your brain full of muscles too? Besides, if I had such wealth, I could date just once in my lifetime!!!!”

“says the guy who’s gone through 10 people, so convincing”

“I’m going to kill you today.”

“Ah, ouch, hey that really hurts-!”

When Yoon Do-hyun, whose patience had reached its limit, threw a sincere punch, it hurt enough to make me scream despite being an exercise guy, but I didn’t regret teasing him.

“This won’t do. From today, I’m going to message Seo Jin-hyuk once a day to build rapport.”

“Ouch, it hurts. Why Seo Jin-hyuk?”

“Your girlfriend doesn’t like me.”

“Even recently, when I told her that your girlfriend has finally changed to the 10th one, Ye-rin grimaced.”

“…Couldn’t you just not have mentioned that? Why would you say something that would lower her impression of me?”

“There’s no impression left to lower anyway.”

“You’re really a damn bastard…”

In Ye-rin’s mind, Yoon Do-hyun’s existence was probably something like a beast in heat 365 days a year.

When she heard about the 10th girlfriend, Ye-rin really made a disgusted expression and even said “…I really dislike that.”

But for Yoon Do-hyun’s sake, I decided to keep it a secret.

Because I was a warm-hearted man who knew how to think of his friends.