Chapter 37: Year 2 Class A Jo Seong-hyeon (3)
A Year 2 Class A classroom where the warm spring breeze had been coming through the window since early morning.
When the front door opened, the children, who had gathered in twos and threes wearing expressions as clear as the weather, all returned to their seats.
“Good morning, kids.”
The homeroom teacher, Yoo jin, stepped onto the podium.
As he put the attendance book down on the podium, Yoo jin moved his gaze.
From the front left seat, all the way across.
If it were a formality, calling attendance would be the start of an ordinary morning, but this was an Academy City where the entire student body lived in dormitories.
And since it wasn't like a university where anyone could enter a lecture.
Naturally, he could identify the absentees just by them entering his field of vision.
As if to replace calling attendance, Yoo jin smiled at each child he made eye contact with and asked briefly about their well-being.
It wasn't much.
Did you eat, your expression looks good today, your earrings are pretty, etc.
Those kinds of trivial stories.
Perhaps trivial, but stories that no teacher had ever bothered with.
Like that, Yoo jin was approaching the children today as well.
“Then, next is…….”
Yoo jin's expression sank.
Something that should have been there was missing.
The student who should have been looking out the window nonchalantly with an expressionless face uninterested in everything in the world.
Jo Seong-hyeon was not there.
“Did Seong-hyeon go to the bathroom or something?”
At Yoo jin's voice, the mouth of the student in the next seat opened.
“I don't think he came yet. Haven't seen him since morning.”
Absentees were extremely rare at Taewoon High.
As mentioned just before, because the dormitories are inside the Academy City.
“Hmm…….”
As if lost in thought for a moment, his finger tapped the podium.
It's too early to be sure.
He could have overslept, or his body could be sick.
Well, if not that.
Since this is also the period when kids drag out all the rebelliousness they will have in their lives…….
First, I should check.
“Who has the room closest to Seong-hyeon in the dorms?”
When Yoo jin asked.
Whoosh!
The children's heads moved to the very back simultaneously.
Like a final boss.
The guy with the trident frown appearing between his eyebrows.
Kang Tae-wook entered Yoo jin's view.
Confirming that all eyes in the classroom were focused on him, Kang Tae-wook rolled his eyes and turned his head sharply.
“I don't know. We aren't close.”
Well, it's an expected reaction.
“Sigh, that crooked guy…….”
Yoo jin shook his head.
‘I'll only tolerate that crooked guy until the Athletic Meet. Since Jin-ho reserved him first…….’
Silence flowed like that.
Suddenly, the twins who were gauging the mood jumped up from their seats.
“W, we are in the room next to the next room!”
“Really?”
“Yes!”
“Then did you see Seong-hyeon last night or this morning?”
“……No.”
“Hmm…….”
“Therefore!”
“We will go and come back!”
“It's done. You guys are just trying to play hooky….”
Pat!
The twins disappeared before Yoo jin's words even finished.
“These guys…….”
Yoo jin grabbed his forehead and shook his head.
“I could have just gone to check after homeroom.”
While Yoo jin was clutching his head like that.
Voices were heard.
“He ain't there.”
“Ha, ha……. He isn't in the room.”
The appearances of Im Jong-sin and Im Jong-il gasping for breath were seen.
“That was fast…….”
Slightly flustered, Yoo jin nodded.
“Good job.”
The twins looked like they were in a good mood.
Unlike them.
‘The feeling isn't good.’
Along with Yoo jin's sigh.
The bell announcing the start of class rang.
***
After all classes for the day ended.
Yoo jin was on the school rooftop for Jin-ho and Ye-na's training as usual.
However.
“…….”
An expression that had sunk gravely.
It was an expression different from the stern face that whipped the children for training.
The conversation with Seong-hyeon yesterday came to mind.
As soon as homeroom ended, Yoo jin looked for the dormitory.
As expected, Seong-hyeon was not seen, and he immediately moved to meet the housemaster who managed the dormitory.
‘I was just about to contact you anyway; he was definitely there during roll call last night, but he wasn't there during roll call this morning.’
Yoo jin closed his eyes, his mind spinning fast.
Night…….
Yoo jin resented his intuition every time something like this happened.
“Did I say something needless.”
***
And the next day.
Year 2 Class A classroom.
“Two days…….”
Seong-hyeon did not come to school again.
A message from the housemaster he met yesterday had arrived on Yoo jin's phone.
[He wasn't there for roll call last night either. And this morning's roll call too. I tried contacting his home and guardian, but I can't reach them…….]
Two days?
He might not come.
Since there is even a saying that if you don't play hooky once during your school days, you'll regret it for the rest of your life.
As said several times, once you wear a school uniform, your rebellious phase gets a plus.
Because students are those visited by the stormy period of life where a black dragon resides in the left hand and a desire to fight the world in the right.
Right.
A kid of that age could be absent for two days.
However…….
This is an Academy City called prestigious.
And the entire student body lives a dormitory life.
If there was something happening with family or at home, a contact would have come in advance.
So…….
Buzz buzz.
“Is something wrong?”
“Isn't he sick?”
“I heard he wasn't there for roll call either.”
“Ah, I'm envious. Resting from school for two whole days.”
The kids seemed unaware of the police station matter.
Except for Jin-ho and Ye-na.
The heavy gazes of the two were directed at Yoo jin.
Yoo jin's eyes drew a diagonal line.
‘So something has happened.’
***
And that afternoon.
As soon as classes ended, Yoo jin left the Academy City.
To find Seong-hyeon.
He didn't know exactly what happened, but he had a rough guess.
Since tomorrow was the weekend, he decided to find Seong-hyeon.
But…….
“Why are you guys here again?”
Jin-ho and Ye-na were standing next to Yoo jin.
Both wearing sunglasses.
“Of course we have to follow.”
“Something might have happened to a friend.”
The appearance of striking a pose while adjusting sunglasses like detectives in a movie.
“…….”
Yoo jin was lost for words seeing that appearance.
“I get that, but what's with the sunglasses?”
At the mention of sunglasses, the serious detective-like expressions disappeared from Jin-ho and Ye-na's faces, and childlike expressions emerged.
“We tried copying what Mister Lee Si-wang wears!”
“A-Rank No. 1's trademark! How is it, cool right!”
Yoo jin, scratching his chin, exhaled.
Yoo jin thought that next time they met, in addition to telling him the sunglasses didn't suit him, he should throw those sunglasses into some sea over there.
‘Come to think of it, is that guy doing well?’
It was because today was the very day Lee Si-wang must have been waiting for so much.
Because it was the last day of tailing Teacher Lee.
“Well, he must be doing well.”
Yoo jin, shaking his head, looked at Jin-ho and the kids and said.
“You guys just do training. or rest. You haven't been able to rest a single day until now.”
“Ey. This is more important. Teacher.”
“We can rest tomorrow too. And it's practical application! Where would there be training bigger than this.”
Jin-ho and Ye-na with sparkling eyes.
“Geez, if only they couldn't talk…….”
Yoo jin shook his head.
However…….
They changed, both Jin-ho and Ye-na.
He taught them with hesitation, but they were showing him an answer better than anything.
“Kids these days, really. I can't understand them.”
He spoke brusquely, but a smile he couldn't hide spread on Yoo jin's lips.
Thud.
Thud.
Yoo jin's legs moved.
“But, where are you going Teacher?”
“Yeah. Do you know where Seong-hyeon is?”
“Roughly?”
“Ah! Then quickly…….”
“Before that, there is something I need to check.”
“Check……?”
Jin-ho and Ye-na's heads tilted to one side as they looked at Yoo jin's back.
.
.
A little later.
The place where Yoo jin and the kids arrived after leaving the Academy City was.
“This place is…….”
“It's the police station, Teacher. Why here?”
The starting point of this matter.
It was the police station where Seong-hyeon was a few days ago.
Unlike the kids' surprised expressions, Yoo jin's expression was like a calm lake.
“Usually, for a problem, you have to know its beginning to solve it easily.”
Even at Yoo jin's voice, the kids' faces were full of questions.
At that time.
Thud.
Thud.
Footsteps were heard from the side.
“It was delicious, right?”
“It's decent. Let's go again next time.”
Someone was walking this way along with the voices.
“Uh?”
“That person is…….”
The kids' pupils dilated.
The police officer walking to the entrance also discovered Yoo jin and the kids and stopped walking.
“Uh, go inside first for a moment.”
Asking for understanding from the person next to her, one police officer passed Yoo jin and the kids and entered the entrance.
Thud.
Thud.
With small footsteps, the remaining woman approached.
“Looking at your expression, it seems you knew I would come?”
It was Corporal Yoon Byeol wearing a heavy expression over her uniform.
“No. Not at all.”
“Really? Your expression doesn't seem like it.”
“Well…… It's the first time. Someone coming back like this because of Seong-hyeon's matter.”
“Seong-hyeon……. You call him familiarly. As if you've known him for a long time.”
At Yoo jin's voice, Corporal Yoon Byeol's eyes shook.
Silence lingered for a moment.
Corporal Yoon Byeol looking like she was hesitating about something.
Conversely, Yoo jin looking like he knew something.
The two people's gazes crossed in the air.
While they just stared at each other quietly like that, the eyes directed at Yoo jin stopped trembling as if she decided something.
“I have something to tell you. Why Seong-hyeon was there…… why he became like that.”
Yoo jin's gaze, which held Corporal Yoon Byeol, moved to the night sky.
“Seems the beginning was indeed here.”
Yoo jin's small sigh was dyed into the darkness.
***
At the time Yoo jin was meeting Corporal Yoon Byeol at the police station with the kids.
“Lulululu!”
Lee Si-wang stood on the rooftop of a building in the Academy City.
As if he had even forgotten that he was tailing someone.
Humming a tune.
“Ah, this life also ends today.”
Seeing him even doing a shoulder dance while standing on the railing, he didn't look like someone doing a background check on anyone no matter how you looked at it.
It couldn't be helped.
What kind of day was today!
The last day of the long, long tailing!
Once just tonight passes, he could escape from this hellish daily life.
The events of the meantime flashed through Lee Si-wang's mind.
From receiving unfair looks while tailing Teacher Lee.
To eating sweet red bean bread for three days straight because he couldn't even eat proper meals.
Besides that, there were countless hardships and adversities.
‘Will you do it?’
‘Check even his sleeping hours.’
The boss and the Returnee's threat-not-threat.
That too ends today.
“You worked hard. Si-wang, you really worked hard. Sob…….”
Lee Si-wang, who was humming unable to control his joy, was now even on the verge of tears.
During the few weeks of tailing.
Even though he knew the target absolutely didn't come out of the dormitory at this time, Lee Si-wang was trembling pitifully on the rooftop of the building where Teacher Lee's dormitory room was best seen.
It's the last time, so would anything special happen.
But since it was the last day, he wanted to enjoy this strange tension and the joy of liberation.
“Time, please go faster. Once it strikes twelve, I'll go straight to the sauna and have sweet rice drink and a grain drink in both hands…….”
Just as Lee Si-wang was drawing a happy circuit.
Click!
The light in the target's room turned off.
And a while later, the target.
To be exact, Teacher Lee walked out of the dormitory.
It was the first time this happened.
Coming out after entering the room.
And at this late hour too.
Lee Si-wang's eyes became diagonal slits.
“Hmm…….”
Thinking something, Lee Si-wang's lips moved.
“There is no way he's going to see a room again at this hour. And moving is…….”
He knew the move to the penthouse obtained in Gangnam was definitely next week.
Because he heard him talking with the real estate agent.
In the first place, no one moves in the middle of the night, but based on what he investigated so far, if not that, there was no reason for Teacher Lee to move at this time.
So.
“Ey…….”
The last day.
Only a few hours left until liberation from hell.
The target who hadn't made a single move until now shows movement for the first time?
Even a child could know what this meant.
“…….”
Teacher Lee, looking around as if checking the surroundings, moved his steps into the darkness.
“Can't sleep, so I guess he's going for a stroll.”
Lee Si-wang moving his legs while spitting out a nonchalant voice.
However…….
Something fell from under the sunglasses of Lee Si-wang leaving the Academy City.
Trickle.