Chapter 31 (1/2)

Chapter 31: Chapter 31 - With All His Heart (3)

Translated by: ShawnSuh

Edited by: SootyOwl

The bell rang . When Juho looked at the clock, he realized that the first period had just ended . The cla.s.sroom became rowdy, and Mr . Moon left the room . Juho stared at his paper . He had not written a single word . There were about three hours left at that point, and there were a few half decent ideas floating around in his head . He needed something to bring it all together .

”There's still time,” he murmured quietly .

'It's break time, so I should rest my mind for a little bit,' he thought .

He leaned against the rigid backrest of his chair . While he was idly staring at the ceiling, he heard Seo Kw.a.n.g getting out of his seat, leaving the cla.s.sroom unhurriedly .

On the seat he left behind, there were bits of eraser dust and a sheet of gray paper . There was about ⅔ of the page written . Much like Juho, Seo Kw.a.n.g had circled the word 'plaster figure . ' He had chosen the same topic . Juho tried to think about what he had been doing while his friend was busy writing, but soon, gave up and closed his eyes to calm his mind .

'My shoulders are too tense right now,' he thought to himself . When he relaxed his shoulders, the rigidness of the backrest a.s.serted itself . He was finally in a good place to write .

The bell rang again . As soon as he opened his eyes, the distant noise rushed back into his ears . Some were complaining about the contest lasting for another three hours . Some were asking one another if they could read each other's paper, whereas some were busy protecting what they wrote .

Some were simply complaining for the sake of complaining . All of those different emotions and voices mingled into a big mound, and that mound was a form of protest . It was a protest against fading away as they were and a protest to be remembered . As a proof, Juho couldn't help his eyes turning towards it .

”Now's not the time . ”

As he was about to gather himself again, he saw Seo Kw.a.n.g walking into the cla.s.sroom . Seeing how his sleeves were slightly wet, he must have gone to the restroom . He sat down at his seat and took a brief moment to think . Soon, he started writing again, hard at work .

His shoulders and elbows were moving . His body leaned slightly forward . He was concentrating . At a glance, he kind of looked like a runner in the moments right before the start of a race .

As Juho stared into his back, he remembered something, 'I won the award . '

It was a fragment of a memory that had been worn out with only a small portion remaining . Inside, was Juho himself, taking the award as if he deserved it . At that time, he had already been bound to win the contest . It had been obvious . He had already been a professional writer by then . There had been some contestants who hadn't even been close to being amateurs . To them, writing had been secondary, and they had been busy playing around with each other . Some contestants had even submitted blank pages . The cla.s.sroom had been twice as noisy, and he had struggled twice as much to concentrate .

Back then, he had not been close to Seo Kw.a.n.g . In fact, they had not even talked to each other . Just like he had been with Ina Jang, Juho was disappointed in his past self .

'I see . Maybe, I've already disappointed myself,' he thought to himself .

He glimpsed down at his slippers . They were slightly dirty . He felt like he had been careful when he first bought them, but now, that didn't even matter .

Out of the blue, he thought that the sound of kids talking resembled the sound of rain . In his mind, his shoes were already wet . There was a puddle in front of his eyes . Without hesitation, he jumped in . The water splashed in all directions . It was refres.h.i.+ng .

He looked at his hand dripping with water and thought to himself, 'I might as well have some fun while I'm at it . '

Then, he looked at his blank page . Faint excitement tingled the tips of his fingers . Now, he was in a really good place to write . On a line that stretched endlessly, he wrote his first sentence .

”OK, submit your papers now . ”

His story came to an end at Mr . Moon's announcement . Fortunately, the ending was not as absurd as the protagonist dying from a head injury by monkeys raining from the sky .

”Well, I managed to finish in time . ”

He was relieved that he had written something and put up his hands in the air and stretched . After waiting for the wave of kids that flooded the front of the cla.s.sroom, he finally walked up to Mr . Moon to submit his work .

Mr . Moon asked him, ”You were serious this time, right?”

”I wrote with all my heart . ”

Mr . Moon had been emphasizing the end to him, but by that point, he had given up on that persistent absurdity . For that reason, Juho often heard him grumbling about his teaching career . He did feel sorry for Mr . Moon, but there was nothing that could be done .

As he went back to his seat, Seo Kw.a.n.g turned around with the backrest in between his legs . His hands were glowing red . Juho looked down at his own hands . They were the same .

”I really worked my b.u.t.t off,” Seo Kw.a.n.g said proudly . His concentration was actually quite impressive, even in Juho's eyes . His shoulders had been moving throughout the duration of the contest . It had almost looked like he had been putting in the same amount of concentration he invested into reading . It explained the satisfied look on his face .

”How about you?” he asked .

Juho answered him while rubbing his fingers that still glowed red, ”Me too . ”

'Clap, clap, clap . '

The kids clapped insincerely .It was time to give out the certificates and announce the cla.s.s winner . Everyone was lukewarm, from the awardees to the clapping teachers and students . Juho was one of them . As a gesture of support, he threw his hands up in the air .

”Last , but not least, the winner of this essay contest is…”

The teacher took his time . The students kept their eyes fixed on his lips in antic.i.p.ation . Whether they had tried or not, all contestants were probably hoping secretly that their name was called . That was the effect an award had . Whether one had fought for it or not, he longed for it .

Similarly, Juho was listening for the winner with similar antic.i.p.ation .

Soon, the teacher announced, ”Seo Kw.a.n.g Kim!”

It was Seo Kw.a.n.g .

”Huh?” he answered with confusion . It sounded like he was wondering why his name was being called .

”Come get your award!”

” . . . Pardon?”

He couldn't grasp this situation . He turned back to see Juho clapping for him with a peaceful look on his face . He had been certain that Juho was going to be the winner . Even with the white certificate in his hands, he stood absent-mindedly .

He had all sorts of thoughts in his mind .

'Did Juho not keep his promise? Did he go easy on me? No, he's not like that . Then, what's this certificate doing in my hand? Why? Wait… could it be? Did I really beat Juho with my own skills…?'

”Juho Woo . ”