Chapter 18 (1/2)
Chapter 18: Chapter 18 <yun woo=”” is=”” in=”” our=”” school=”” (1)=””>
Translated by: ShawnSuh
Edited by: SootyOwl
Juho wrapped up the cleaning and went out to the hallway to throw out the trash . There used to be a trash can in each cla.s.sroom, but being that it was hard to maintain, they were removed by the school . Instead, the students were to use a community trash can at the end of the hallway .
Standing at the front of the trash can, Juho began separating the recyclables from his trash: a pen missing its lid, an eraser about to break in half, the crumpled up school newsletter, small pieces of paper, etc . They were all found on the cla.s.sroom's floor .
”What's this?”
After he had finished separating the recyclables, there was another piece of paper lying on the hallway floor that caught his eyes . It must have fallen out of Juho's trash . Judging from the torn pages and crumpled up surface, it looked like it was treated roughly . When he saw the neat writing on the paper, he picked it up .
”This . . . ”
Juho was shocked . He was familiar with what was written on the crumpled up paper .
”Is this… a transcription?”
It was part of a transcription of the book Juho had written . The neat penmans.h.i.+p abruptly came to an end .
'Who wrote this?' thought Juho . Transcriptions were something Juho had been working on himself . It was part of the daily routine of the Literature Club . The purpose of it was to become a better writer .
'Could this belong to someone who aspires to be a writer? Then there must have been better books . Why did this person choose 'The Trace of a Bird' of all books?' Juho was having trouble understanding the motive of the transcriber . Besides, did it mean something that Juho had found it next to a trash can?
Seeing the homeroom teacher from a distance, Juho shoved in the crumpled up paper into his pocket and finished cleaning .
'How boring . '
It was the math cla.s.s . The teacher, with his lower belly bulging out, had a simple teaching method . He wrote out the equations and the process on how to solve them . Then, as a final touch, he added a short and quick explanation to what was written on the chalkboard .
The math teacher was surprisingly popular among the students . It wasn't because of his friendliness or his appearance, but because of his writing and equations .
With his pinky finger sticking up while using the white chalk, his handwriting was neat and consistent . His craft reached its climax when he started drawing figures on the board . His drawings were comparable to those of an art teacher . They were steady and three-dimensional .
What was funny was that even the teacher himself found satisfaction in his craft on the chalkboard . After cla.s.s, on his way out, he looked at what he had written and drawn and smiled in a way that he never would to his students . For some reason, Juho thought of Mr . Moon . It felt like he had figured out why the math teacher was able to come to school so consistently .
While Juho was spending time looking at the chalkboard, he noticed a disturbance in the cla.s.s . When he looked around, he saw a small piece of paper being pa.s.sed around . They were exchanging notes . Usually, he would have ignored it, but that time was different .
There was a much bigger number of people exchanging notes with one another . It wasn't just a note between two individuals . Rather, it was a note being pa.s.sed around to the entire cla.s.s . It seemed more like a telegram than a note at that point, and Juho became curious . 'What's written on that paper that has to be pa.s.sed around in the middle of cla.s.s?'
Eventually, the note reached Seo Kw.a.n.g . He seemed confused about getting the note since he was reading his book on the down low, but soon, he opened it to read it . Juho stared intently at his back .
His shoulders started moving up and down . Seo Kw.a.n.g was quite shaken . He took his eyes off the note and looked around at his surroundings . It seemed like he was trying to find some sort of confirmation . Whenever his face pa.s.sed by Juho, he could see the shock in Seo Kw.a.n.g's face .
'What was going on?' Juho tried to remember if anything had happened around that time of his life, but nothing came to him .
After Seo Kw.a.n.g had his moment, he quietly turned around to Juho and handed him the note . After antic.i.p.ating reading it, Juho took the note without delay . For some reason, the paper was getting floppy . It must have been pa.s.sed around the entire cla.s.s . The moment Juho opened the floppy piece of paper, he had to stop himself from gasping out loud .
The paper was filled with small letters . It read, ”Yun Woo is in our school . ”
'Is my cover blown? It doesn't really seem like it,' thought Juho .
There wasn't much he could do in that difficult-to-understand situation . For that reason, Juho stared out the window absentmindedly until the math teacher left the cla.s.sroom with a satisfied smile .
”Hey,” Seo Kw.a.n.g called, quickly turning to Juho as soon the cla.s.s ended .
With a slight determination, Juho answered, ”What?”
Seo Kw.a.n.g responded with a serious face, ”Let's go . ”
'Go? Where?'
”Where?”
”To meet Yun Woo . ”
”What?”
Juho was still confused . 'Where can anyone go to find Yun Woo? He's sitting right in front of you . What's happening?'
”Let's hurry . The others went ahead . ”
”Where are we going?”
”What were you doing during cla.s.s when the note was being pa.s.sed around? Come on, I've heard she's in Cla.s.sroom 7 . ”
”I was paying attention to the lesson, of course,” Juho said, although he was actually s.p.a.cing out then .
As he caught up to Seo Kw.a.n.g hurrying his steps, Juho was slowly came to grasp things . 'That must mean there's another Yun Woo in this school aside from myself . In Cla.s.sroom 7 at that . '
”Could it be a case of ident.i.ty theft?”
”What did you say?”
”Nothing . ”
Seo Kw.a.n.g exclaimed with excitement, ”It's just as I thought, a girl!”
”Who?”
”What do you mean who? Yun Woo, obviously!”