Rehabilitation-2

The next day, I had to politely decline the text message from Shin Jeonga.

Looking at her message alerts that kept popping up, I belatedly regretted that brushing her off yesterday had been a bad decision.

Shin Jeonga: Don’t ignore me! Read it quickly!

She must have known I was just looking at the message alerts and not replying, because she was angry at me.

Ignoring messages… I’ve been on the receiving end of that a few times. Ah, the bittersweet memories of romance….

They say you learn bad habits quickly, and I felt a pang of conscience for doing the same thing I had suffered.

Just as I was thinking about replying, Shin Jeonga, her patience exhausted, called.

“Hello.”

[Why are you ignoring my messages?]

Contrary to what I expected, like an angry wave, Shin Jeonga’s voice was rather calm.

“Ah….”

I stalled for time, trying to come up with some excuse, and I heard a small sigh on the other end.

[So you’re not denying it.]

“I don’t feel like going out.”

She was suggesting we go to a bar run by an older acquaintance?

I almost wrote “Are you crazy?” in the group chat, but I held back.

[Tell me honestly. It’s not that you don’t feel like going, but that we… no, that I’m annoying, right?]

Shin Jeonga’s voice gained strength.

A faint hint of disappointment leaked out from the cracks in her stiff tone.

It wasn’t that Shin Jeonga and her group were annoying.

It was just that I was trying to slowly distance myself, knowing that continuing to associate with them would lead to no good.

“It’s not that… um, I’m trying to be more self-restrained.”

[Self-restrained? What’s that?]

“Huh? I mean, I’m trying to be careful as a form of reflection. I’ll be careful during my suspension.”

[……]

Silence fell.

Shin Jeonga probably knew how absurd my excuse was.

[Really? It seemed like you were trying to distance yourself….]

But she held onto hope, expecting something from me.

That once this ‘self-restraint’ was over, we could hang out again….

Of course, even if the self-restraint ended, I wouldn’t be returning to the original group.

“Yeah, let’s grab a meal then.”

[Wow, you sound like an old man.]

Her voice livened up, as if she felt a bit better.

[Well, if you change your mind while you’re doing this… self-restraint thing, contact me. But at least reply to my texts.]

Unlike the quietly furious person from a moment ago, she returned to being a cute, affectionate student.

“Okay, sure.”

I ended the call, sending a silent word of comfort to the emotions of kids that age, which changed as easily as boiling porridge.

I lay back down on the bed.

I felt a momentary languor at the sensation of the soft mattress.

Ah… is it already evening?

I should eat before tutoring.

I had eaten all the food I bought from the convenience store yesterday, so I headed back there.

Whether I was starving for ramen, even though I had eaten so much of it, my body constantly craved it.

I threw on some clothes and trudged down the hill.

“Ugh, it’s cold.”

The season was transitioning from summer to fall.

If you let your guard down for a moment because of the warm daytime temperatures and wore thin clothes, you would be ambushed by the chill that rode in on the night like an assassin.

I shivered as the cold gradually seeped into my skin, and I quickened my pace.

-Ding

I opened the door to the convenience store. Whether what the part-timer had said yesterday was true or not, the food bowl at the entrance was filled to the brim with kibble.

I glanced at it indifferently.

There was already a customer in the convenience store.

Two police officers in patrol uniforms were paying for drinks, and I eavesdropped on their conversation as I swept the ramen into a basket.

Keywords like “be careful” and “report” appeared in their conversation.

“What did the police say?”

After the police officers left, I put the ramen on the counter and asked the part-timer.

“There have been some muggings lately.”

The woman, who looked exhausted, answered my question kindly despite seeming annoyed.

“Oh, really.”

I held out my card, and the part-timer pointed to the card reader with her finger.

Ah, I had to insert it myself.

When I finished paying and came out, there was exactly an hour and a half left until tutoring.

-Ding

The door opened with a chime.

-Meow

Whether they had come to eat, a few cats had already taken their places next to the entrance and were burying their faces in the food bowl.

The creatures briefly watched me, sensing a stranger, but when I didn’t do anything, they went back to what they were doing.

These days, those stray cats have no fear.

I watched the cats eating their food for a while, then started walking again.

“Did you eat ramen?”

Yoon Sia’s first words as soon as she came in were a little unexpected.

The way she kept sniffing was a bit different from the serious face I had seen on the first day.

“Yes.”

There was no reason to hide it, so I answered honestly.

“……..”

I could see Yoon Sia’s pupils shaking slightly.

“Okay, okay… let’s start the lesson.”

She shook her head and led the way upstairs, and I quietly followed her.

It was when Yoon Sia sat down and took out the textbook.

-Grumble

A loud noise came from her stomach.

“……”

I didn’t know a person’s face could turn that red….

“Did you not have dinner?”

Looking at Yoon Sia’s face, which was getting redder and redder, I asked carefully.

“I was a little busy….”

She avoided my gaze and mumbled in a voice as small as a mosquito’s.

“I have some food at home, would you like some?”

I had bought all kinds of ramen at the convenience store. It wouldn’t be a problem to give her one.

“Hmm….”

The dignity of a tutor, or the hunger of Yoon Sia the human…

She was probably wondering which of these two paths to choose.

-Grumble

John Stuart Mill was wrong.

“Then, just one… maybe….”

People will choose a full pig over a hungry Socrates.