11 Chapter 11 - Inside of a Pouch 2 (1/2)

Translated by: ShawnSuh

Edited by: SootyOwl

”OK, time. That was good for a first try. You observed well.”

”Yes, sir.”

Sun Hwa sighed loudly and collapsed onto her seat. It felt much more exhausting than climbing up and down the stairs. She borrowed Bom's list of words to see what she could've missed, 'What did I miss?'

”You're good at seeing things from a bird's eye-view,” Juho said.

Sun Hwa looked at him.

”What do you mean?”

”You see the forest itself rather than the trees.”

'Forest?' Sun Hwa checked at the list again. She reflected on the moment she had struggled: that weird liquid, just liquid. She had desperately tried to remember the name of it because she couldn't find any more words. Her mind focused on the details because there was no more information that could be identified from simply looking at the external. She looked around the room again. Just with the lab coat alone there were words like pockets, sleeves and white. Then, she started to see the things that weren't visible moments ago.

”Was I ever bad with details?”

By the time Sun Hwa realized it, the rest of the club members did as well.

”Details are important. Is that the secret? Wouldn't that give a bigger advantage to the person that went after?”

”Oh, yeah! I forgot to tell you, no repeating words.”

”What…? Isn't there an advantage for the person who goes first?”

Just as Seo Kwang was contemplating when he should have his turn, Mr. Moon's words made him think even more. While he was busy thinking, Sun Hwa told Bom, ”Get this over with, Bom.”

”Should I? Mr. Moon, I'll go next.”

”Sure.”

As if giving up, Seo Kwang quietly raised his fist in front of Juho's eyes. It was an unspoken offer to settle it with a game of rock-paper-scissors. Juho nodded.

”Winner goes last.”

”Whatever.”

”Rock, paper, scissor!” Seo Kwang played rock, and Juho played paper. Juho won. He was going last. Seo Kwang smiled and made Juho a boastful promise to Juho, ”I'll make sure that there's nothing left for you.”

'Yeah, yeah. Do your worst,' thought Juho.

The timer started, and Bom seemed slightly nervous. She opened her mouth in a hurry.

”Um, paper, rope, tree, pencil case, cloth, pen, mechanical pencil, lid, handle, rubber, pen tip, spring, ink… and uh, hair tie, scribble, letters, and… and…”

She focused on things that she could find on the desk first: paper and rope from her notebook and tree was from the desk. Bom hastily looked around. She was definitely more detailed than Sun Hwa, but she was tensing up. It made sense considering that there was a time limit. Moreover, the words Sun Hwa had said kept interrupting her thoughts. The same, repeating words danced around in Bom's mouth.

”That… um… uniform, name tag, slipper, stocking, pants, shirts, vast, activewear, buttons, sleeves, pockets, collar, lining, thread, knot, wrinkle, um, um, and…”

he stumbled through to find more words. There were quite a few words coming out of her mouth. There were long gaps in between, but the result wasn't bad at all. Mr. Moon shouted stop, and Bom returned to her seat while calming her breath. There were still remnants of excitement on her face.

”That was good, Bom.”

”Oh, it's nothing. I'm kind of embarrassed that I stuttered so much. I didn't even get to look around the room like Sun Hwa did. I must be narrow-visioned.”

She waved her hand in denial at Sun Hwa's compliments. 'Bom's approach was definitely more effective than Sun Hwa's,' Seo Kwang thought. 'Seeing how she was pulling out multiple words out of uniform, perhaps we really are overly depend on what we see.'

”My turn.”

Without saying a word, Mr. Moon started the timer. Seo Kwang spoke calmly and was not in a hurry. He realized that two minutes was not a short time after watching Sun Hwa and Bom. 'There's plenty of time. No rush'

”Let's see, so, men and women, and...things, object, glass, plastic, letters, sentences, self-introduction, books, bookshelves, title, author, publisher, translator, publish, publish date, edition, issue, cover, paper band, numbers, um, and…”

Seo Kwang thought for a brief moment and continued. Those were words that hadn't been mentioned yet.

”Light, sunlight, dust, microscopic dust, air, breath, respiration, heat, voice, sound, high pitch, low pitch, student, teacher, time, teenager, friend, friendship, courage, hopes and dreams, peace, youth, and…”

Seo Kwang walked over and opened the window. A cool breeze flowed into the room.

”Refreshing wind.”