25 Chapter 25 - Focus Till the End (2/2)
”Showdown, huh?! That sounds dignified.”
”What?! It is a showdown. You two should compete too. It's fun,” Sun Hwa answered Juho after hearing his murmur.
At that moment, an unexpected competitor quietly joined in, ”Sounds good! Should we make a bet?”
It was Baron, who quietly emphasized the idea of betting.
”Come on, Baron. We're still students,” Juho snuck himself out of the group, but the others joined in on Baron's suggestion with excitement. They just didn't know better.
”Yeah, let's make a bet. Loser buys something for the winner.”
”Oh, come on! I'm not into things that cost me money,” Seo Kwang's face bittered as he appealed to his financial situation.
”Is it because you're afraid somebody might ask you to buy them a house?”
”Oh, nooo! You got me.”
”Guys, let's discuss this in peace,” Bom stopped Seo Kwang and Sun Hwa as the tension rose.
After listening to everyone, Mr. Moon added, ”The winner gets a fried chicken from me.”
Juho laughed on the inside. 'Who would compete for that?' he thought. Yet, as if mocking his thoughts, the science room exploded in loud, excited voices.
”Yes!”
”Sweet!”
”Wow, fried chicken!”
Even Bom's face was lighting up. The response was tremendous. With Juho at a loss for words, Baron raised his hand, ”Am I getting that prize too?”
”Sure, if you win an award.”
At the bewildering conversation, Juho asked him, ”Baron, are you planning on writing?”
”I've done it once, and I can do it again. Besides, it's fried chicken.”
”Oh, yes! That's what I like to hear!”
Among the members united by fried chicken, Juho found himself feeling left out. 'Wow, they're going crazy over fried chicken.' They were still kids after all.
For a moment, Juho reminisced about his past. He thought about a sports day in elementary school when the entire school competed for a whole pizza.
”OK, that's enough. If you want fried chicken, you know what to do, right?”
”Are we doing word chain again today?” Sun Hwa asked, and of course, Mr. Moon nodded.
”Until it gets old. Maybe we should play a syllable game next.”
”Why a game?” Seo Kwang asked.
”I wanted to prove that even a word that came out as coincidence can be turned into a writing prompt, even if it came out during a game. I'll show you that every word in existence can be turned into a composition.”
”I see.”
After accepting his answer, the members thought in unison that Mr. Moon was going to unnecessary lengths to prove his point. At that moment, Mr. Moon shouted the first word, ”Pot!”
”Huh? What the… OK, pot. Uh… um… Tree pipit! Think wisely this time!”
*TL's Note: Again, different words for continuity*
Sun Hwa pointed to Seo Kwang as the next contestant. Although he knew that anything he said could be an ingredient for writing, Seo Kwang prioritized driving other birds out of his mind. The game wasn't about birds.
”T, T… trumpet!”
He looked at Juho as if everything was in his hands then. Without hesitation, Juho said the first word that came to mind, ”Tarzan!”
It had been decided. The three keywords for the members to write about were tree pipit, trumpet, and Tarzan. While Bom laughed awkwardly, Seo Kwang murmured with disappointment, ”Tarzan? Why Tarzan of all things? Should I just write about Tarzan playing the trumpet while he hangs out with his buddy tree pipit? What are you, E.R. Burroughs?”
E.R. Burroughs was the author of Tarzan. With a big smile, Juho answered the dejected Seo Kwang, ”I'm not quite at the level to be on par with E.R. Burroughs.”
Tarzan playing the trumpet, hanging out with his buddy tree pipit. It wasn't half bad.
”That story is actually not half bad.”
”Yeah? It's not?”
At Mr. Moon's mark, the members picked up their pens. Brainstorming was essential. Everyone pictured the story they were going to portray.
While others were busy mapping out their story, Juho was the only person who had began writing. 'Tarzan, trumpet and tree pipit.' Juho started with the word that came out of his mouth.
'Let's say there was man who introduced himself as Tarzan. He was so moved by the novel 'Tarzan,' written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, that he decided to be Tarzan himself.'
Juho observed the character from a distance. That was so that he could strike a balance between emotional and rational perspectives.
'The man thought to himself, 'Tarzan's friends are animals.''
'Let's think of some animals,' Juho thought.
'The man went outside. The only animal he saw was a tree pipit. A tree pipit here, a tree pipit there. He wondered about the streets in search of gorillas, snakes, and elephants. There were only people. People after people. The man came to a realization. That was not the jungle. That place was different from a jungle, where all sorts of creatures came together and mingled. Where the man lived, there were only people.
'The exhausted man found a trumpet in a pile of trash. As soon as he blew on it, it made a sound. He couldn't communicate with the instrument, but it had been a beautiful sound. He blew the trumpet once again, and the trumpet answered immediately.'
When Juho had written up to that point, he felt a piercing gaze from someone. He peeked around and found out that Mr. Moon was looking in his direction. He remembered what Mr. Moon had emphasized in his comment about his writing, the ending.
Others were still in the beginning stages of their stories. They were much calmer in comparison to the previous time, so Juho put down his pen for a moment. He took some time to think about how he was going to wrap up the story.
'The ending, the ending, the ending.'
Juho couldn't think of anything and sighed internally. It was a feeling all too familiar to him.
Juho acknowledged to himself that he was being too conscious of the readers. It felt like when he wrote his second book, and he didn't have to try to remember the result.
In the end, Juho was the last person to submit his paper.
”Haha!”
He wrapped up the story by a starving Tarzan choking to death while eating boiled carrots.
'Sorry, Mr. Moon.'
<Focus Till the End> The End