49 Chapter 49 - The Sound of a Crying Baby (2/2)
”Son?” she called for Juho. There was no response. 'Did he go somewhere?' After moving the groceries to the kitchen, she looked around the living room. Then, she saw that the door to Juho's room was slightly ajar and heard him in his room.
She opened the door.
”Oh my goodness…!”
Juho was in his room. He had grown much more mature as of late and he was the genius author, the talk of the town. She had been glad at first, but as time went on, her concerns grew with his fame. Even after more than forty years, there were still countless things to be learned. She wasn't sure of what to do. She didn't know what to tell her son as a person who lead an ordinary life. Thankfully, her proud son had been doing well on his own.
Now, he was trying to do something. As his mother, she was able to tell on instinct. Without even sitting on a chair, he was writing on his knees on the floor, surrounded by pages and pages of paper while pouring out his inspiration like water.
Being careful not to make a sound, she backed out slowly. She wasn't sure of what he was up to, but of one thing she was certain, 'I can't disturb him. I can't disturb my son.'
”Keep it up, son,” she rooted quietly for him as she sat on a chair in the kitchen.
*
Juho left for school, struggling to massage his burning back. In the morning, his mother had seen the scattered mess in his room and slapped him on the back. ”Clean your room!” she'd yelled.
”Yawn!”
On the hand covering his mouth, there was a bandage wrapped around it, and he was startled by the blood on his pen.
His eyelids felt heavy from writing into the morning. Though it hadn't been refined, he tried moving around bits and pieces of his story. As a consequence of that, he was going to school with hardly any sleep and he might as well give up trying to stay awake for his classes. ”I'm sorry, teachers.”
”Hey… What's with your face?” As he was passing through the gate, a voice called for him from behind. He turned around and saw Seo Kwang waving at him. He had asked, surprised by Juho's appearance.
”I didn't get a lot of sleep last night.”
”My friend, need I remind you that sharing is caring?” though Juho had already explained, Seo Kwang asked insistently.
”What do you mean, where? We're at school.”
Like the vigorous youth they were, they were boisterous from the morning, but Juho went to the class with his eyes closed halfway.
”Hey, wake up.”
As expected, he'd slept through the morning classes. He raised his head at the sound of Seo Kwang's voice. It was hard to wake up. As he slowly bobbed his head up and down, Seo Kwang said, ”Go wash your face or something. Make sure to tell me the website before you go.”
”Being a student is exhausting.”
”What are you talking about? Nothing's easy in this world.”
Juho rubbed his face to force himself awake. His body felt stiff from leaning onto the desk all morning. Then, he stood up and opened the window, but the breeze wasn't cold enough to wake him up.
”Let's go eat, I'm starving.”
'Yeah, I should eat.' He stood up and asked, ”Sun Hwa and Bom are joining us for lunch, right?”
”If you're late and get in trouble, I'm not going to take responsibility for your decisions.”
”Is it that late?”
”Well, not enough to be scolded by Sun Hwa.”
The two headed for the cafeteria and saw Sun Hwa and Bom waiting for them in the distance.
Just as Seo Kwang had said, Sun Hwa didn't look very happy. Bom was next to her, busy trying to calm her down.
”You two! Why are you so late? Do you have any idea how important a meal is to a student? I'm not rushing here for no reason, you know.”
”Don't look at me. We're late because somebody wouldn't wake up.”
Seo Kwang naturally shifted the blame onto Juho. It was true, however, so there wasn't much else to be said.
”Sun Hwa, we should go in before it gets late.”
”Juho Woo, if they served something good for lunch today, you're a dead man.”
”Haha.”
”Stop laughing! I'm trying to stay mad here.”
The four went into the cafeteria. Thankfully, the daily menu hadn't been very special, and there were plenty of seats since a good number of kids had already left.
”Lunch isn't very good today,” Sun Hwa complained.
”Yeah,” Bom agreed with her.
'At least there are some solid chunks in there,' Juho thought as he looked at his bowl of soup. There were pieces of mushroom and tofu floating around.
Thinking back to the time he had wandered about the soup kitchen, this was more than enough to be thankful for, so he put the food in his mouth without complaining.
”So why are you late?” Sun Hwa asked. She seemed displeased for some reason.
'Maybe it's her lunch… but then, she would've had the same expression even if the lunch was delicious.'
”I was having trouble waking up.”
”What were you doing at night staying up?”
He thought about her question, 'How do I explain this?'
Juho had written throughout the night. He'd started writing because he'd ran into various sources of inspiration when he had gone out for a walk. He had gone for a walk because…
”I didn't get the award,” Juho answered as he reached for a side dish. He regretted not finishing his composition at the competition.