Romantic Gangster

#03

Here’s the English translation of the Korean text, keeping in mind the names Lee Hyun-joon, Seo Ji-woo, Choi Young-jae, Han Woo-jin, and Jo Ki-hyun:

“Oh, it’s true, I’m telling you. His dad is like the… what do you call it? The leader? No, the… Ah! There’s also the term ‘boss’.”

Hearing this, Ji-woo became convinced that more than half of the rumors about Hyun-joon were either false or greatly exaggerated. He already knew that Hyun-joon was an orphan like himself.

“Anyway, just tell the homeroom teacher you can’t do it. What can they do? I mean, they can’t handle him themselves, so why are they asking you to do it?”

“I’ll see tomorrow first.”

“See what?”

“Whether Hyun-joon comes to school or not.”

“Why do you need to see that? He won’t come. If he doesn’t come tomorrow, will you give up?”

Young-jae sighed and shook his head as Ji-woo didn’t answer that he would.

“You might really get into trouble. Don’t get yourself beaten up unnecessarily, just back out while you can. I’ve warned you.”

“Okay. To be honest, I’m curious about that too.”

“About what?”

“Huh? Oh… whether he’ll come tomorrow or not.”

Ji-woo vaguely answered Young-jae’s question and recalled what Hyun-joon had said on the rooftop.

‘If you do this again, you’ll get hit next time, okay?’

Honestly, he was a bit curious. If they met again, would Hyun-joon really hit him or not?

Is it weird that I want to find Hyun-joon again just to satisfy this curiosity?

Ji-woo tilted his head, then turned towards the door as he heard it open, greeting the incoming customer.

The thoughts about Hyun-joon quickly disappeared from his mind.

Completely.

* * *

As expected, Hyun-joon didn’t come to school. Or more precisely, he didn’t come to the classroom. The homeroom teacher sighed softly as she saw the empty seat at the very back when she came in for roll call. She briefly glanced at Ji-woo before starting her usual morning reminders.

Young-jae, watching the teacher, suddenly turned his head and whispered.

“Hey, the teacher definitely looked at you. What, did she leave something in your care? She’s putting too much pressure on you. It’s not like it’s been days since she asked, she just told you yesterday. Why is she acting like this? Has she lost her conscience?”

Ji-woo gestured for Young-jae to look forward, unaware that the teacher’s gaze was now on the back of his head as he continued to talk. Ji-woo smiled slightly as he made eye contact with the teacher again. The teacher smiled back and asked Young-jae to sit up straight.

With a final reminder to have a good day so they wouldn’t feel like they’d wasted it before going to sleep, the teacher left the classroom. Ji-woo, relieved that she hadn’t called him out, checked his schedule for the first period and took out his textbook.

“…”

Although he had expected Hyun-joon not to come, his absence bothered Ji-woo more than he thought it would. Was it because the teacher had asked him for a favor? Apart from wanting to get it over with quickly, he felt a strange sense of responsibility, as if it was ‘something he had to do’.

And the one who had created this strange sense of responsibility wasn’t the teacher, but Hyun-joon himself. The face that looked like it would never listen to him and the threat of hitting him if they met again kept coming to mind, oddly sparking a sense of defiance. Like wanting to see whether he’d give up first or if Hyun-joon would come and sit in this classroom first.

He might not be able to beat Hyun-joon in strength, but he did have persistence, which he considered his own pride. The kind of persistence that keeps going steadily without getting bored and eventually achieves its goal. Young-jae called it stubbornness rather than persistence, but anyway, because of this trait, he didn’t want to give up just like that.

“…”

Anyway, my problem is that I sometimes get fixated on strange things. I should break this habit of wasting time.

Ji-woo sighed heavily and shook his head slightly to dispel his thoughts as he heard the front door open. But unlike yesterday when his thoughts disappeared completely with a shake of his head, today Hyun-joon’s face didn’t easily fade away.

It stayed with him until lunchtime, after the first and second periods ended.

* * *

Lunch was pork cutlet rice bowl. It was always delicious, but the special menu was as good as eating at a restaurant, making the cafeteria particularly busy.

After thoroughly enjoying the rice bowl, soup, french fries, and salad, Ji-woo inserted a thin straw into the grape juice pack that came as dessert and left the cafeteria.

“Ah, I want to eat ramen.”

“We’re still in front of the cafeteria, you know.”

“That doesn’t fill me up. I need to eat at least three more bowls of ramen to feel properly full.”

Young-jae, always a big eater, would often raid the school store for bread or snacks throughout lunchtime even after eating more than others in the cafeteria. Ji-woo also enjoyed eating, but not to the extent of eating constantly like Young-jae, so he was usually satisfied with just a few snacks or a bite of bread that Young-jae would share.

“Oh, you go to the classroom first. I’m going to go somewhere for a bit.”

“Where? You’re going to look for Hyun-joon, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I want to check if he’s on the rooftop.”

“Ah, I told you to let it go. You’ve really gotten fixated on this weird thing again. I’ll come with you.”

“No, it’s okay. You don’t like meeting Hyun-joon, right?”

“I really don’t, but if he hits you, I need to report it.”

Thinking it was a fair point, Ji-woo nodded once and started climbing the stairs. Perhaps because he had eaten a hearty meal, the climb to the rooftop didn’t feel too difficult today.

The rooftop door was still open. Upon closer inspection, the part where the lock should be was dented, making it impossible to lock the door. Could Hyun-joon have done this too? It’s not good to jump to conclusions, but somehow Ji-woo felt like he might have.

“Hey, what if we open the door and there are like ten people there?”

“…No way.”

Ji-woo carefully grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. He peeked through the slightly open gap.

“…There’s no one here?”

The rooftop was quiet, making Ji-woo feel a bit embarrassed for being so cautious earlier. Come to think of it, it was probably too much to expect to encounter Hyun-joon in the same place two days in a row, especially since he apparently only came to school once or twice a week.

Ji-woo scanned the wide, empty rooftop once more before leaving. As he descended the stairs, he sucked up the remaining half of his grape juice. His mouth instantly filled with sweetness. Along with that sweetness, Ji-woo decided to forget about ‘today’s Hyun-joon’.

* * *

After coming up empty-handed in his search for Hyun-joon for three consecutive days, Ji-woo unexpectedly ran into him at an unforeseen place. It was in front of a very old and shabby hole-in-the-wall store at the end of the alley where he lived.

The tall Hyun-joon was coming out of the rundown store with his head bowed low. Ji-woo, who was on his way to his convenience store part-time job, stopped about two steps away, quietly observing the person he had been looking for for three days suddenly appearing before him, and then spoke.

“Hyun-joon.”

“Ah, shit, you scared me. Oh, what? It’s you again?”

Instead of his school uniform, Hyun-joon was wearing a track top over a t-shirt, and in his hand was a new pack of cigarettes. Seeing this, Ji-woo immediately guessed why Hyun-joon was frequenting this shabby store.

“Are you following me again?”

“No. Today is a coincidence.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“That’s up to you. It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me. Just because you don’t believe it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a coincidence.”

“Alright, just go on your way. Don’t talk to me. Remember what I said about hitting you if I see you again?”

Seemingly unbothered about being caught buying cigarettes, Hyun-joon took out a long white one, put it between his lips, and lit it with a lighter from his pocket. Ji-woo noticed the word ‘Pool Hall’ written on the lighter as he made eye contact with Hyun-joon, who was glancing down at him.

“Aren’t you leaving?”

“The teacher says you don’t have to attend classes, just sit in the classroom. She’s worried that it would be such a waste if you can’t graduate because of missing a few days.”

“Okay, I can understand the teacher thinking that, but what about you?”

“Me?”

“Yeah, are you worried I might not graduate?”

“…No, not really.”

“There’s your answer. Stop bothering me. And tell the teacher to stop too. She came herself and failed, so she sent some kid who was in my class in first year, and when he failed, she sent someone from second year, and when he failed too, now…”

Hyun-joon paused, took a drag of his cigarette, and slightly turned his head to blow the smoke in a direction where it wouldn’t directly hit Ji-woo’s face. Although the smell was still there, Ji-woo was a bit surprised by this action, as he had thought Hyun-joon might just blow it right in his face.

“What are you? After everyone failed, is she now sending students from the class in order? Are you number one?”

“I’m just in the same class as you.”

“Still, there must be a reason why the teacher specifically called you and told you to do this to me.”

There was a strong suspicion about the most likely reason, but Ji-woo decided not to voice it to Hyun-joon. While being an orphan was no longer a big deal to him, he couldn’t be sure Hyun-joon felt the same way. Even if that wasn’t the case, his grandmother had taught him that one shouldn’t carelessly bring up other people’s family matters.

“They said we went to the same middle school.”

“Really?”

“And that we were in the same club.”

“I’ve never joined any club, what nonsense is this?”

“If you didn’t join anything, you must have been in the Movie Appreciation Club too? That’s what I was in.”

Watching Hyun-joon wave his hand dismissively as if he didn’t need to hear more, Ji-woo sighed and continued.

“…And I have a bit of a persistent side. I don’t give up easily. I think the teacher knows that… so that’s probably why.”

“Oh, so you’re going to use that trait, whether it’s a strength or a weakness, to really cling to me? Until I come to school every day and sit in the classroom?”

“It would be good for both of us if you came before it comes to that.”

The long ash from the cigarette fell to the ground. Seeing this, Ji-woo suddenly remembered to check the time. He had completely forgotten he was on his way to his part-time job when he ran into Hyun-joon. Realizing he was in danger of being late if he didn’t hurry, Ji-woo quickly looked back up at Hyun-joon.

“I have to go because I’m running late. I’ll see you at school tomorrow. I’m going first.”

Ji-woo unconsciously raised his hand and waved once, as he would do with other friends, before quickly turning around and running out of the alley.

Left alone, Hyun-joon watched the small retreating figure that wasn’t even a handful and let out a short breath as if in disbelief.

“…Huh?”

What was that, really?