Rumours

“Laughing seemed possible, and crying seemed possible too.”

Without properly looking at Han Gangun’s face as he pulled back, I turned around and opened the locked door.

I pushed the partition door and went outside.

The face reflected in the bathroom mirror was dyed red, whether from Han Gangun’s handprint or from the heat rising on my skin.

I was glad Han Gangun hadn’t touched my ears.

If he had noticed that my untouched ears were hot, I would have wanted to die of embarrassment.

“Let’s go together.”

Han Gangun, who had roughly rinsed the side dish container with water, followed me out.

He stuck to my side and walked down the hallway with me.

At some point they must have turned on the air conditioner, as all the classroom doors, including the windows, were closed.

You, who sit in the back every day playing on your phone, sleep sprawled out, yet get good grades.

You, who are used to girls’ confessions and envied by your peers.

Just what is the reason you like me this much?

There was Shin Jooho, who hated me so much that he put spoiled side dishes in my locker, and there was Han Gangun, who silently stood by my side, helped clean up the mess, and liked me.

What kind of existence was I to them?

“Han Gangun.”

“Why?”

“Ijae.”

Han Gangun, who had been walking one step ahead, turned back to look at me.

The face I looked into felt new.

I pulled my lips into a smile.

“I just called you.”

In our neighborhood, if you went two more stops from school, there was a large academy street.

After Mokhwa Apartments were built, the wide commercial buildings in front were all filled with academies for kids.

First piano academies, then English academies, Korean academies, math academies.

Academies for various practical studies piled up and filled the buildings.

More than half of the students at our school attended academies in that area.

Around the time school ended, shuttle buses would wait for the kids, and some kids grabbed their bag straps and got on city buses.

Since it wasn’t too far, many walked there during seasons when the weather wasn’t hot.

That academy street was also close to Han Gangun’s apartment.

Mokhwa Apartments was an apartment complex almost 20 years old.

New apartments were built one after another behind it, and Han Gangun lived in one of those new apartments.

Behind the 16-story Mokhwa Apartments was Han Gangun’s apartment complex, which looked at least 30 stories tall.

I had passed by and seen it often, but when I headed to the front of Han Gangun’s complex for morning school, I was surprised anew by its height.

Behind the academy street, places like snack bars and coffee shops appeared, and kids spent their days there until late at night, only returning home well past 11.

Even at night, the academy street was bustling, and kids getting off shuttle buses poured out endlessly and disappeared.

And behind that alley was the Dongyang Motel.

Unlike the bright and cheerful atmosphere in front of the academy street, the area around Dongyang Motel inside the alley had a dark and damp atmosphere.

It couldn’t be helped.

It was a building located in the shadow of an alley completely overshadowed by the academy street.

The surroundings were always covered in cigarette butts and spit.

It was the hangout spot for the “iljin” kids.

Even when I heard Shin Jooho say he saw Han Gangun go to a motel with some sunbae, I naturally thought of Dongyang Motel.

Han Gangun entering that place.

Han Gangun’s appearance that fit so perfectly there that no sense of incongruity could be found.

Recently, Dongyang Motel seemed to have been newly remodeled, as a lodging app banner was also hung in front of the building.

The exterior looked the same, but the photo on the banner showed that the interior had been completely changed.

Of course, I only knew because of the banner text; I had never been inside.

The incident happened a little over ten days after the side dish terror.

There was a bamboo forest account with our school’s name on the community.

I didn’t use that SNS often, but I knew of the existence of the bamboo forest account.

It was a place where posts could be made anonymously, school notices were posted, photos of the school cat Nabi were uploaded, someone would suddenly snipe at someone else, and someone would confess to another person.

That was exactly what the bamboo forest was used for.

That day was the day Han Gangun was supposed to come to my house.

But from the morning, heavy plum rain poured down.

The rain was so heavy that even with an umbrella I would get completely soaked, so I checked the window and texted Han Gangun.

I said let’s go separately today.

I didn’t want Han Gangun to go through the trouble of going up and down the hill because of me in this weather.

Fortunately, Han Gangun replied saying he understood and that he’d see me at school.

The summer rain was brutal.

It seemed to be starting the full rainy season.

The sky, which had been damp since dawn, poured rain.

Even though I brought a large umbrella, I couldn’t avoid the rainwater splashing onto my feet and my bag getting wet.

I changed into slightly wet slippers and climbed the stairs as usual.

When I entered the classroom that day, I felt a different atmosphere.

The classroom mood was clearly different from usual.

Kids gathered in groups were all looking at their phones together or talking about something.

Some groups talked for a while and then burst out laughing loudly.

For some reason, that laughter sounded unpleasant to me.

Without any reason.

“But don’t the teachers see this too?”

“Hey, f*ck, I’m jealous.”

“What is it?”

“What’s going on?”

One kid entering the classroom ran straight to his group without even putting down his bag.

I silently took my seat and brushed the water off my bag.

Unlike other days, perhaps because of the cloudy weather, the classroom was dark even though it was morning.

“Wow, this is crazy.”

“Isn’t this Dispatch?”

“Dispatch.”

“So f*cking funny.”

Voices that stung the back of my head kept coming.

While organizing the books in my bag, I pushed my chair and stood up.

I headed toward the group of kids I wasn’t even close with.

My body moved on its own regardless of my will.

I squeezed through the kids and asked haphazardly.

“What is it?”

All their gazes turned to me at once.

“You’re close with Han Gangun, right?”

“Hey, no.”

Han Gangun?

My ears twitched in reaction.

One kid pointed at me and asked that, and the kid next to him giggled and tapped his shoulder.

“Han Gangun… they say he goes to motels.”

The kid next to him said while giggling, and everyone burst out laughing with “Puhup.”

“Hey! Why would you say it like that, you crazy bastard.”

“Why, it’s true!”

Everything seemed to grow distant.

I couldn’t understand a single thing.

The sentences came into my ears fragmented as if cut into pieces.

The kid holding the phone placed it on the desk.

Ignoring the kids shouting “s*x, s*x” and making vulgar gestures, I checked the phone screen on the desk.

[Title: 2nd year Han Gang X and 3rd year Shim X Yeon seen at motel]

[Photo]

[Photo]

Is it okay for high schoolers to do this?? Saw them coming out of Dongyang Motel

They came out so boldly, shouldn’t Dongyang Motel be investigated for minors lol

Photo verified

I stared blankly at the body of the post.

There were two photos.

A male student coming out of Dongyang Motel was captured.

Next to him was a female student.

The turquoise skirt stood out.

The female student’s long straight hair face was clear.

I checked the white sneakers visible at the end of the male student’s long legs.

No, I could tell just by looking.

I could tell even from afar.

It was Han Gangun and Shim Yuyeon.

It was a post uploaded to the bamboo forest.

It had only been 15 minutes since it was posted.

The phone screen blurred.

I lifted my unfocused eyes and asked flatly.

“When was this photo taken?”

“They’re wearing summer uniforms.”

“It’s really recent.”

“They say last week.”

The kid next to him nodded.

“That noona cut her hair.”

“She has short hair now.”

“Crazy.”

“Wow, this photo also has short hair.”

“It’s really recent.”

No one knew much about Shim Yuyeon in detail.

Everyone only knew that she dated Han Gangun, and that she had been a trainee.

That much I already knew too.

Shim Yuyeon, with her flowing hair and big double eyelids, was known to everyone at school.

She had dated Han Gangun.

I returned to my seat.

The kids were busy giggling while talking about things like “What happens if we submit this to the homeroom teacher?”

I wanted to mute everything.

I wished all sound in the world would disappear.

Sitting in my seat, I blankly opened my electronic dictionary.

I plugged in the earphones and played the mp3 connected to the dictionary.

I turned the song volume up loud and scrolled down the dictionary list continuously.

Hundreds of words flickered by.

I stopped abruptly at some word that had been passing by.

Sexual intercourse 性交하다

Verb: A man and woman unite their sexual organs to have a physical relationship.

I examined each letter carefully.

Han Gangun’s lips came to mind.

The hot sensation that touched my lips came to mind.

The breaths that clung together sharing warmth came to mind.

The heat that breaths combined and exhaled toward each other came to mind.

Something seemed to wriggle in my stomach as if crawling.

It was an unpleasant, stinging feeling.