FBF chapter 2 part 2
by Volare“Uh? Oh… take care! See you tomorrow, Ji Seon-uk!”
The hallway was crowded with students leaving school. Whether it was from running down the hall or being a transfer student, I ended up drawing attention anyway. I had already given up trying to avoid it. Since I had always attended the school right in front of my house, it was my first time rushing to get home on time like this. After running across the playground for quite a while, I realized I hadn’t even changed into my sneakers.
Despite all that running, I still only caught a glimpse of the departing bus’s rear.
“…Ha…”
If that was the case, I shouldn’t have bothered running.
Just in case, I checked the bus route map once more and confirmed that the bus I needed to take to get home was indeed the number 72 bus, and the interval was also 50 minutes. Countless buses came and went after that. Even after changing from slippers to sneakers and checking my phone several times, I still had to wait for a long time. By the time I hopped on the number 72 bus, which had arrived to an empty school now resembling a ghost town as the children had quickly dispersed, it was already 4 PM. It was a moment I vowed not to be late tomorrow no matter what.
My grandfather had mentioned he worked as a guard at a nearby factory. Even though he left early in the morning, he always made sure to prepare breakfast for me, which made me develop the habit of checking the table he set as soon as I woke up. In Seoul, there was a helper who also prepared breakfast for me, but my grandfather’s simple meal felt more delicious and comforting than the various dishes she made with her skill. It felt regretful not to say thank you for the meal to my grandfather directly.
Today, I intentionally set my alarm early. Thanks to that, I was able to wake up to the sound of my grandfather leaving the house.
“Are you going out?”
My grandfather, who was standing at the end of the hallway, turned around. He seemed surprised that I was awake at this time when I usually slept. It was a rare expression of surprise from him, who didn’t usually show emotions.
Perhaps it was because I wasn’t used to waking up early yet, so I was still a bit tired. I barely avoided bumping my head on the threshold and scratched the back of my head. I hurriedly added, so he wouldn’t worry about whether something was wrong.
“I woke up early.”
“Is that so?”
After briefly scanning me, my grandfather nodded casually while putting on his hat. I gathered from the context that he usually took someone’s car to work and consistently left home even earlier than scheduled. After bowing my head slightly toward his straightening back as he walked away, I re-entered the house.
After eating breakfast, doing the dishes, and brushing my teeth, it was only 6:30 PM. According to the information I got from the class president yesterday, I had to be at school by 8:30 AM, so I figured I could leave around 7:30 AM, yet I felt a bit anxious for no reason. After pondering for a while, I eventually decided to leave a little earlier. Since it was winter, the sun rose late, and the sky appeared more black than blue. The view of the rising sun was completely different from that of a setting sun. Watching the combination of colors slowly seeping in between the black, as if someone had cut out a piece of the black sky and washed it in the water, I followed the stone wall path that I had become familiar with over the past few days.
“…Huh?”
It was a reaction that slipped out unconsciously. It was early in the morning, and someone was already standing at a shabby bus stop before the sun had fully risen. A boy in a blue baseball uniform, with earbuds plugged in, was sitting there with his eyes closed. I stopped glancing at him and turned my head. In the distance, the bus was coming. It was the number 72 bus. The boy, who had been sitting with his eyes closed just a moment ago, was suddenly standing up. I followed his figure as he stood right in front of the bus door.
As soon as I got on the bus, I quickly checked the time. It was 7 o’clock.
Perhaps because it was early, the bus was rather empty. I couldn’t help but keep glancing at the back of the boy wearing the blue cap. He took a seat right at the front by the entrance. As soon as he sat down, he turned his gaze outside the window, and I thought he looked stubborn, like someone who only moved on a predetermined path, as if he had no room even to spare a glance at anyone. I passed by him. Sitting two seats behind, I couldn’t confirm whether he was still keeping his eyes closed like before. I only expected that he would be. The boy maintained his position, with his arms crossed, resting his head on the window since entering the bus. I was so focused on his back the whole time that I was certain of it.
He was the boy from the sports club I had seen in the classroom yesterday. In other words, he was the boy named Lee Jihoon, who could sleep during class.
Was there really a way to catch the bus without waiting 50 minutes? The homeroom teacher had just nagged a little longer, yet I was still standing at the bus stop, only watching the number 72 bus’s rear lights disappear in the distance.
While I was preoccupied like this, the kids who had filled the bus stop quickly faded away. It had barely been 15 minutes, yet five buses that were not the number 72 had come and gone, and I was the only one left at the stop. Realizing that no amount of looking over the bus route map would make the bus come any quicker, I pulled out my phone. My message inbox was full of contacts from friends who had gone to the same school in Seoul. Even though I had cleared it out once due to storage issues, it was still overflowing. It seemed rumors had spread about my transfer; even friends I had never shared the same class with were messaging me, asking where I had gone. Everyone was baffled by my sudden transfer without any warning.
Especially friends with whom I had studied for high school entrance exams in an academy asked if there was a high school here too. Here? I raised my head and looked around. Maybe there was one somewhere in Taean, but certainly not around here. I had heard this school was the biggest middle school in Taean, so it was fairly large and spacious, but it couldn’t compare to the high school I had visited a few times for field trips.
Come to think of it, could I prepare for high school entrance exams here too? I had no idea what to do, not even where to look for an academy.
Until recently, it had been a normal part of my life, but now it felt so strange that I didn’t even know how to respond when reading those text messages for a long while.
In a message from a friend I used to hang out with at the academy, I found myself hesitating over how to respond. If I were to explain the reason I came down here, I’d also have to explain why my grandfather abruptly barged into our home, which would inevitably lead to mentioning my parents’ divorce. I couldn’t quite visualize how to say any of that. To be more honest, I didn’t feel the need to explain that to anyone in particular. Ultimately, I gave up on replying and turned off my screen.
‘Bang—’
I turned my head towards the noise that had been echoing from the place I kept almost forgetting about since earlier. It was coming from the baseball field behind the bus stop. On the first day of my transfer, I found out that my school had a baseball field. According to the information I heard while touring the school with the class president, it was a well-known middle school for baseball. They even said that among those shown in a rather old black-and-white photo in a display case inside the school, there were people who became actual baseball players.
Was that the reason the baseball field was right beside the school? I caught sight of members of the baseball team practicing behind a high fence that was too tall to allow a ball to easily pass over. Suddenly, the boy from the sports club whom I saw this morning came to mind. Since he was wearing baseball gear, he might be practicing in there too. He could very well still be training at that moment. The bus stop was situated below a sloped hill, so to see the baseball field, I had to tilt my head back. Even then, everyone was wearing the same baseball uniform, making it hard to identify anyone. I briefly tried to look for the boy before promptly turning my head away. The sunlight was dazzling, and I wasn’t curious enough to endure it.
Bang— I heard the sound of a baseball bat hitting for the second time. The number 72 bus had left 40 minutes ago, so the next one would arrive in just 10 minutes. I took out my English vocabulary book from my bag. Even though my situation regarding whether I would go to high school had changed, it wouldn’t hurt to study ahead.
“Hey!”
I didn’t even need to look around to know who it was calling me. I was the only one left at the bus stop anyway. As soon as I lifted my head, I spotted the boy in baseball gear, who had moved closer to the fence. To prove that I hadn’t misheard, he called out to me again.
“Over there, the ball! Please help me pick it up!”
I was puzzled for a moment, but there was a baseball lying halfway up the hill. It seemed it was a ball hit out of the field, soaring over the tall fence. Looking around, I realized I was the only one who could pick it up. Knowing that, the boy was waiting patiently against the fence. As if he believed I would inevitably go help.
There was no other choice. I clutched my vocabulary book in one hand and climbed up to the slope. Luckily, it wasn’t too steep, so I got there quickly. Holding the dirty baseball, I peeked up. The boy with the blue cap was nodding toward me. That seemed to indicate that it was the right ball. Should I throw it over the fence? I pondered that question, raising my head, but I got blinded by the sunlight once again. I covered my forehead with my hand and lowered my gaze just a bit. Only then did I understand how the boy wanted to receive the baseball.
“…Ah.”
There was a small gap just big enough for one hand to fit under the fence, almost like someone had dug a small hole underneath. The boy already had his hand shoved in that gap, waiting for me to hand him the ball.
“You can throw it here.”
Thinking I didn’t understand because I was being so still, the boy hurriedly added more explanation. He seemed to be looking back occasionally, as if someone was waiting behind him. I nodded and climbed up the hill further. The fence was right in front of me when someone suddenly shouted loudly. The voice was booming.
“Lee Jihoon! What are you doing, you punk? Hurry up!”
Judging by the straightforward phrasing and commanding tone, it seemed to be the coach. But it wasn’t that I was surprised because of that booming voice. It was the name that was called that sounded familiar to me. I belatedly confirmed the boy’s face pressed close against the fence. Although I still couldn’t see clearly due to the sunlight, hearing his name made me feel like the nose and mouth that were not covered by his cap were somehow familiar.
“I’ll go pick up the ball!”
His loud reply matched his energetic shout. Even as he turned his head back to respond, the boy didn’t withdraw his hand reaching through the gap. In fact, he started to gesture towards me more urgently, almost urging me to hurry.
“Forget it, just come!”
It wasn’t until I heard his shout again that I came to my senses. The hand that had been close to the gap had disappeared. The boy flicked his cap up slightly, revealing the face that had been hidden under the brim.
“……”
The boy was making a more raw expression than I expected. However, that expression disappeared in the blink of an eye. Just like that, the slight frown on his forehead smoothed out as if he had been annoyed by the coach’s shouting, and the facial muscles that had been tense quickly relaxed. His short, military-style hair got sucked back into his cap. After hastily wiping off the sweat pouring from his forehead with his sleeve, the boy quickly stood up.
“Yes, Coach!”
His response was as sharp as the white vapor that dispersed quickly. Come to think of it, it was winter. It would be cold to practice without even a coat. Although the quick actions of the boy who pulled his cap down low made it hard to notice that fact.
Just as he was about to leave his area, the boy unexpectedly looked back at an awkward moment, as if he had just realized someone was still at the top of the hill. For the first time, the boy’s gaze landed on me instead of the ball.
“Uh…”
I was about to say something when I noticed the boy’s eyes scanning somewhere on my coat near the chest. Thanks to his cap pulled low again, it wasn’t easy to see like before, but I felt like I caught a glimpse of the boy’s frozen expression soften slightly. It was such a short moment that I couldn’t be sure.
“Just keep it as a memento for you.”
It was only in that moment alone at the hill that I realized the boy may have just confirmed the color of the name tag attached to my chest. I also recognized he was the same boy from my class whom I had only seen in passing on my first day of school. Of course, it wasn’t like he noticed that I was in the same class; it was more likely that he just spoke informally upon seeing the name tag color.
After a while, I finally came down from the hill. I boarded the number 72 bus, which arrived just in time. Throughout the ride home, I found myself glancing down at the baseball resting in my hands repeatedly.
It felt strange to realize that I had memorized the name of the boy from the sports club—whose name, I thought, I would pass by without saying a word—just within a day. The back of his head from yesterday morning and the same view I had of him on the way to school today replayed in my mind.
I lifted the baseball up to my eyes. What was I supposed to commemorate with this? A commemoration for coming to Taean? A celebration for attending the same school?
Whatever it was, it seemed absurd to receive a gift from a boy who would probably never know my name for the rest of his life. Feeling a bit uneasy, I shoved the baseball into my bag. I checked the time and noted it down. It was 4:02 PM. I had to remember it.
* * *
Today, the bus arrived at 7 o’clock sharp. For reference, it had been 6:55 yesterday and 7:03 the day before. Though the margin of error was just around ten minutes, any delays would mean I’d helplessly wait for the next bus. Uncertain about the bus schedule, I chose to wake up early and camp at the bus stop instead.
This also meant I would be taking the same bus as the baseball boy every day. Unlike me, who was there as early as 6:50 AM, he seemed to have an impeccable grasp on the bus schedule, only showing up exactly three minutes before the bus arrived. Whenever I started to worry that I had missed the bus, I couldn’t help but look back to see him climbing up the alleyway, feeling relieved once I caught sight of his blue cap. So I had not missed the bus.
Clearly, it was early; among the passengers on the number 72 bus, it was just the two of us getting off at the bus stop in front of the middle school. Today, as soon as I stepped off, I briefly watched the boy walk towards the baseball field at a leisurely pace before I turned my steps in the opposite direction.
The empty classroom was silent. But it was a little surprising that I had already started to feel somewhat accustomed to being here, considering I had only been attending for about a week. I sat down, took out my workbook, and then stood up to open the window.
“Did the duty student ventilate this morning? And didn’t we tell you not to leave things on top of your lockers? I’ll check again during homeroom, so the owners of those things should put them away quickly. And at the end of the fourth division, right. Next to Hyeon-ji. Who’s sleeping so lazily this early?”
The homeroom teacher’s scolding on my first day of school made sense. The morning winter breeze was indeed a bit chilly, but it was necessary to clear out the stuffy air. Opening all four windows wide, I returned to my seat.
I had solved about five pages of my workbook when I heard the sound of the door creaking open. I didn’t even need to look back to know who it was.
It must be the baseball boy again. I couldn’t discern why he didn’t head straight to the classroom like I did, but I guessed he might be heading off to practice. I could sense the peculiar warmth and faint smell of sweat that one gives off after running.
The sound of footsteps grew closer. Given that his seat was in the back of the neighboring division, he would inevitably have to pass by me. As expected, I heard him passing by behind me, followed soon by the creaking sound of the chair being pulled back. It was probably a routine where he leaned forward, arms resting on the desk, and fell asleep. I could easily picture that scenario, having seen it many times this week, as I pressed the button on my mechanical pencil once more. I could have sworn I had put lead inside yesterday and had used the sharpener, but oddly enough, no matter how many times I pressed the button, the tip wouldn’t come out.
After struggling for a while, I eventually changed the pencil. When I turned my head back after finishing five pages, the clock in the classroom pointed to 8 o’clock. Beyond the open window, the chatter of students starting to make their way to school flowed in loudly. By reflex, my gaze lingered on one of my classmates who had come to school with me. As expected, the boy I had predicted would be there was still sleeping, sprawled out likely until the morning assembly. It was just as I had seen him for the first time. I halted mid-thought as the image I had seen on the first day interwove with this one.
“……”
Wait, was he wearing a puffer jacket back then? Like I was finding incongruities in a puzzle, I observed for a moment longer before quickly losing interest and redirecting my attention back to the workbook. Whether he was in a puffer jacket or not didn’t concern me much anyway.
“Hey.”
I was unexpectedly stopped while walking back from a moving class. It was someone I hadn’t seen before. Stopping in my tracks, I looked up and met her eyes, noticing she didn’t drop her hand from my forearm, indicating she had something to say, but I didn’t know why.
“Can I have your number?”
She was a girl with hair so long it fell well beyond the school’s regulations. Based on her name tag’s color, she seemed to be a senior, a year above me. Upon meeting my eyes, she smiled and held out her phone again. Her new phone was adorned with various stickers. The friends beside her gave each other playful nudges while laughing. Before I knew it, everyone in the hallway was looking at us. A girl from my class passing by glanced our way with curiosity, and one of the girl’s friends spat onto the floor as if to scare her off. Catching sight of my slight frown, the girl looked at me cautiously and tried to dampen her friends’ antics.
“Hey, hey. Don’t stir things up.”
“Oh, what? They’re the ones who started it.”
I looked down at the phone that was being handed firmly to me, as I realized that things would only get awkward if I didn’t resolve this situation. I pressed my number into her keypad and handed it back.
“Here you go.”
“Uh? Thanks.”
As she took her phone, she smiled brightly. I hadn’t noticed it at first, but her dimples were noticeable when she smiled.
“But I heard you came from Seoul, and you really do speak Seoul dialect. It’s fascinating.”
“……”
“I’ll text you, so be sure to reply.”
Before I could respond, she gathered her friends and walked away. Just in time, the bell signaling the start of our next class rang. Upon returning to my seat, the class president quickly poked my side. It seemed he intended to begin childish teasing while adding an exaggerated “Wow!” as if it was some accomplishment, which made me uncomfortable. I had dealt with this sort of teasing at my previous school, and I had never really enjoyed being the center of gossip.
“Did she ask for your number?”
“…Uh, yeah.”
“Wow, even someone like that asks for numbers first. I usually only see her around the school store, but I’ve never seen her all the way down here before. But she’s seriously pretty. You must have liked it, honestly?”
I gave a vague nod to the class president’s question, focused on escaping the awkward situation, letting the unnecessary details flow past me. I was not even close enough to ignore him. Noticing I wasn’t particularly engaging in conversation, the class president silenced himself with an awkward expression. Just when I felt relieved, I began reading the problems in my textbook when my phone vibrated in my pocket.
It was a message from an unknown number. It was highly likely to be the message from the senior I had just given my number to. After a moment of hesitation, I tapped on the keypad.
I saw the notification that the message had been sent and then put my phone away.
Today, I had a total of 100 math problems to solve. By the end of the day, I needed to finish 15 more problems. Glancing at the clock, I set my phone to silent so it wouldn’t vibrate anymore and put it at the front of my bag.
Even at home, the senior’s messages didn’t stop coming.
Even though I had set it up to avoid vibrations, the screen would flicker with each message that arrived. I had originally taken out my phone to use the stopwatch function, but it continuously disrupted my flow. Every five minutes or so, a message arrived, and it seemed like the frequency only increased the more I replied.