25 Chapter 25 - Focus Till the End (1/2)
Translated by: ShawnSuh
Edited by: SootyOwl
Juho carefully observed Mr. Moon's expression. He didn't seem to be suspicious of him being Yun Woo, and Juho slowly opened his mouth.
”I enjoy writing quite a bit.”
”Did you learn to write professionally?”
”No.”
”Do you read a lot?”
”I do read frequently. Though, I don't read nearly as much as Seo Kwang.”
”He's excessive even in my eyes. It's more like a sickness.”
Their footsteps echoed throughout the hallway. By the time they had arrived in front of the science room, Mr. Moon said, ”Well, today, try working on your conclusion a little bit more.”
Then, he flung the door open. With the exception of Juho and Mr. Moon, everyone was already sitting down, and they all stared at them. As Juho went to his seat, Seo Kwang said, ”I was wondering why you were running late. I see that you came with Mr. Moon?”
”Yep. We ran into each other on the way.”
In front of Juho's seat was the paper he had written previously. He skimmed through the pages for any written annotation of sorts, but the pages were left untouched.
Mr. Moon said, ”I enjoyed reading through your papers. Nobody here seemed to be inept. You all exceeded my expectations.”
”Inept?”
”You can be inept at writing, just like with dancing and singing,” Mr. Moon answered Seo Kwang rhythmically, and he quietly accepted Mr. Moon's answer. ”Seo Kwang, you read more books than anybody in this room.”
”Yes, that's right,” he answered proudly.
It was a matter of pride for him to read regularly and in large quantities. In midst of Seo Kwang's proud moment, Mr. Moon shared his thoughts on his paper, ”Because you read so much, your writing skill is pretty decent. It's just that your story tends to be boring at times.”
”Really?”
”Try focusing on the dynamics of your story. Whether the story is moving continuously or the climax persists throughout the entire story, it's going to be boring either way.”
”Yes, sir.”
Mr. Moon moved on to Sun Hwa, ”Sun Hwa, I liked that your story unfolds without holding back, but it was too much. There were too many details left out for the reader to be able to follow with ease. From now on, try to consider the reader's perspective more when you write.”
”That was too much… Yes, Mr. Moon.”
She seemed confused by Mr. Moon's comment, but Juho had a slight idea as to what her paper must have been like. Her story probably moved along in large intervals. The gaps were probably too large for the reader to catch up to the story.
Mr. Moon turned his eyes to Bom, who was sitting next to Sun Hwa, ”Bom. You've hit an average mark overall. Your sentence structures and plot weren't too bad. The only issue was that you tend to go overboard with your descriptions in places. Try not to get lost in your own emotions.”
”Yes, Mr.Moon,” Bom answered timidly as she nodded.
Sun Hwa cheered for her friend for her generally positive review. Juho clapped along. Bom blushed and waved her hands. She was quite the shy girl.
”Now, Juho.”
”Yes, Mr. Moon.”
”You need to focus till the end.”
The ending must have been quite disappointing. As if it hadn't been enough for him to comment on it the first time, Mr. Moon emphasized the ending of Juho's paper again.
'Yes, yes. I'll work on it,' he thought.
”And Baron, nice drawings.”
”Yes, sir.”
After concluding with compliments on Baron's drawings, Mr. Moon spread out the stack of paper he had had with him since the English class. There were five pages in total, and they were all different. Only, there was one common word between the pages.
”Essay contest?”
They were brochures for an essay contest. They contained information regarding the essay contests that were being held in various places.
”Are we going to be competing in an essay competition?”
”Of course! You're in the Literature Club for goodness sake.”
Everyone's faces lit up as they looked at the brochures. A contest was always accompanied by anxiety and excitement.
”There are different types of competition. What it looks like really depends on who's hosting it, including the topic and the format. Some give out an award just for writing your name, whereas others offer a cash prize.”
”Cash!” Seo Kwang exclaimed with excitement.
In some cases, bigger competitions offered a large amount of cash to the grand prize winner.
”It's up to you to choose the type of competition you want to participate in. BUT, whatever you sign yourselves up for, there's a contest we all have to participate collectively.”
”A mandatory contest? Where's that?” Bom asked, and Mr. Moon spread out his index and pointed to the floor.
”The school competition.”
'Ah!' There were sounds of realization.
”When is it?”
”The exact date hasn't been decided yet,” Mr. Moon answered Juho. ”You guys are familiar with the format. Remember the assignment where you had to use three keywords to write something?”
'Were the topics really injured, discretion, and non-permanent marker?'
”There will be different topics, and you'll have to choose one that you want to write about. This is actually a lot easier than your previous assignment.”
”It sounds like it.”
It did sound a lot easier than having to utilize three words that had nothing in common. 'What a surprise! Who would have thought he had even been thinking about competing in an essay contest?' On the surface, Mr. Moon appeared to be doing just enough to get by, but he had a thorough side to him.
Sun Hwa interjected and asked, ”Are there prizes?”
”Of course!” Mr. Moon continued before anybody had the chance to get excited, ”But there's only one winner per class.”
Juho hesitated at Mr. Moon's words. 'One winner per class.' He turned to Seo Kwang automatically, and he, too, was looking at Juho.
”Are we having a showdown?”
The words didn't sound like they came out from Seo Kwang's or Juho's mouth. Sun Hwa, who was sitting right across from them, had said it. Thinking about it, Bom was in the same class as her.