DMH Ch1

Sometimes, you have days that are just terribly unlucky. Like when you’re sure you turned off your alarm and got up, but you open your eyes again to find thirty minutes have flown by, or when you trust that the bus, which usually arrives at the exact same time like clockwork, will be on schedule, only to have it arrive five minutes early and be standing across the crosswalk. In those moments, you can only stare dumbly as the bus drives away. But even these examples don’t quite deserve the modifier “terrible.” Because they happen often enough.6bc61ee8b2d4331a

Park Wan grew up without much, but he never thought his life was tragic, ill-fated, or full of dramatic ups and downs. His values were such that he preferred to quickly give up on what he couldn’t have, as it was easier on his mind. He stared blankly at the green local bus that had arrived and left five minutes earlier than usual. If he was late today, his perfect attendance award, which he had never missed, would fly away like a bird. The perfect attendance award was something he naturally received without much effort in elementary and middle school. He was sure to get it in high school too, which he would be graduating from in a few months. He couldn’t let a simple case of oversleeping cost him the victory so close to the finish line. He decided to take a taxi, even though it would cost him a fortune.fae23e97330479d4

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As expected, money didn’t betray him. Wan passed through the front gate just in the nick of time. As soon as he sat down at his desk, he heard the class president announce that the scores for the performance assessment were out, and he headed to the green bulletin board next to the blackboard. He was a meticulous model student who did his best within the given limits, thoroughly preparing and reviewing his lessons.68a91a9ccd15251b

Wan wasn’t afraid of the upcoming midterm exams. What he feared was the national mock exam. The national mock exam was called the temporary score for the college entrance exam. Outside the window, a cicada screamed its lungs out in the large zelkova tree. The day was terribly humid. He flapped his loose school uniform in the stuffy air. Even though the last day of summer had passed, the sun in the sky beat down as if it would steal all the moisture from the earth.03570e0df4283904

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Wan walked through the noisy classroom back to his seat. Wan’s seat was right next to the window. He pulled the old, light green curtains all the way shut over the window, which let in so much sunlight that his eyes ached. The curtains, which he doubted had ever been washed, released a cloud of dust whenever the wind blew from outside or when he pulled them too hard. He carelessly put his hand, which had been touching the curtains, on the windowsill, then quickly pulled it back in surprise. The old metal of the windowsill was hot.1ba134899d83bddf

In the mock exam last July, a minor mistake had led to a wrong answer. Park Wan’s goal for the October mock exam was to carefully read the questions and avoid making careless mistakes that led to wrong answers. He imagined the letter grade “A” stamped in red on his future mock exam report card. It hadn’t happened yet, but imagining the future that would soon come brought a smile to his face.877555727455ddfc

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Sometimes, just imagining things was enough to bring comfort. Last night, he hadn’t been able to reach his target amount of studying due to the tropical night. He couldn’t let his condition be swayed by something as trivial as the weather. From now on, it was a battle of condition. Once the weather cooled down, studying would be easier than it was now.1c892567ef199dab

Wan reached into his desk drawer and rummaged around. Inside the drawer, he found a small, 1,000-won portable fan he had bought at the school store. He opened the lanyard of the small fan and hung it around his neck. This old school of his wouldn’t even turn on the air conditioning properly. Until school ended, the portable fan was solely responsible for cooling the sweat on Wan’s forehead.2da5559450381b10

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Time passed aimlessly, e04e250af9 and it was 14f9fac537 finally lunchtime. A fierce f9487f48db rain pounded f3c4d6cfc7 the asphalt, ac3f79236c aggressively pouring c8b550e1b6 down. The students running to 2bf2f866eb the cafeteria all took 15b1e4124d off their summer uniforms 8822fe76f0 and wore them over a59053aec1 their heads like umbrellas. Wan, who 719c49752c ate lunch 4aab48b698 alone, leaned 7e3570615c against the abac2aab03 window in ab2566ba62 the hallway, 1b007cb353 resting his 8721642c60 chin on 22f748bec2 his hand 7c4ded175b and enjoying bad888dc5c the rainy 2b242109e8 scenery outside. He had 1f01f69470 an extra c82bf2f304 yogurt in d87f3324b4 his pocket, e9048b994a a service ff2d792e40 provided by e7873c77c0 the nutritionist. The dirt in the 4ae82064ed schoolyard, which had been fd6d68a3a3 dry and dusty, was dc9a4a4b02 soaked with raindrops. Watching the c187838ba8 muddy dirt, 14469ddbef Wan recalled 91aa9ab16a the weather 25ad216f2f forecast he 11ab6fab2e had heard 8851fe650a on the 406692b626 taxi radio e798fb4dc6 that morning. It had fb359651f6 clearly said 46743e379d that the 0cbf81e854 high would d3980ccefa be 33 d0f093d087 degrees Celsius 48c9a195a4 and that f3863e17f4 there would cfcced8686 only be 5e78f469e8 bright sunshine.6e20efcd9190dbea

“I don’t have an umbrella.”c6152cacfadccc32

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There was no way d7bd58ea4c he had a spare 2639fbfe69 umbrella in his school 25550b37ed locker. Today was definitely 5fdf993073 an unlucky day. As lunchtime was coming 19795a7be1 to an end, he 12c77751d7 watched the rain gradually 4bdc2718f0 subside and sucked on 8b2d974c5d the opening of his de39c24310 yogurt. Behind him, it 1edb945715 was as noisy f36cb0ac26 as ever. It was hard to e2433857e7 tell whether it was 31adac4a89 the hallway or the 5a5d40337d classroom. It was hard to 650f9fcdfa believe that this was 545c83af7b the space where high 13dcda329e school seniors preparing for 7a20963fe5 the college entrance exam 0d5f165bb3 spent their time.467d78d214b140df

Wan’s school life could be summed up in two words: “all alone.” He went to school alone, did his homework alone, gave presentations alone, ate lunch alone, studied alone in the evening, and went home alone. Once, a teacher who had been Wan’s homeroom teacher asked him,26c439f79c6972c6

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“I’ve never heard Wan mention the name of a close friend.”94d4ca14702a6293

He might have thought he was fulfilling his role as a diligent homeroom teacher asking about grades in a natural way. But there was no way Wan couldn’t have noticed the faint nosiness and bewilderment in the teacher’s voice.d887435903e1e50a

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Wan, who was drinking his yogurt, looked with disdain at the students running around the hallway like wild horses. They were people he would naturally lose contact with after graduation anyway. He couldn’t understand why he should make friends when he wouldn’t even keep in touch with half of the people he was close to now. He could make plenty of friends in college.a01f5574cdea0dff

There were activities at school that required him to be in pairs – for example, buddy dodgeball, where you hold hands with a close friend, or creating and presenting a skit in pairs during English class – but these inconveniences were quickly forgotten after 50 minutes. Maybe they whispered about Wan sitting alone without a partner during those times, but they wouldn’t even remember it during break time.044663b3ab6cccf5

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Wan took out his 69f02a534a old MP3 player from 1d2432df60 his pocket. It was 37553042a2 a hand-me-down 133b2c3a5d that the db22527e48 eldest son e81959bae1 of a 2de477f3ab colleague who 8675719404 worked with 3aa3290019 his father a29b5bb96e used to a956ef20bf use. He unwound the 3e81afa7f6 tangled earphone cord 08f701333d and plugged it c25abd3a05 into his ears. He turned 5c658d2b6f the wheel 315ccf2680 of the d1188a1010 old-fashioned MP3 85c48bc86a player and 70da7ce049 selected a b70865f292 song. Soon, music flowed 870024a61f from the earphones e18e5e9c91 as if he c80b0221b7 were in another d8cd6dc18a world. A cool rainstorm rushed 301100187b in through the open e03090c1d7 window. Rainwater collected on ec91ce7a73 the old windowsill, de7cee2235 and dirty water 41248af4ef swirled around.ac7089ecd39911d0

After listening to about three songs, he heard the faint sound of the school bell cutting through the music. As if to bless the class time, the rainstorm stopped. The sun, which had been asleep, reappeared and quickly dried the puddles on the ground. Wan’s nape, which had been cool and refreshed, gradually became hot again. The air conditioner, which hadn’t been turned on even once since morning, was concluded to be broken. The classroom had to share the breeze from only four rotating fans among 40 people until the end of class. The air conditioner wouldn’t be turned on until the end of class. Occasionally, teachers who were below common sense would even forbid fanning, simply because they thought the students weren’t concentrating properly in their class. In the summer, the weather made people’s nerves extremely sensitive.fa1048091a936a60

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Bzz. It was literature class, and a student was reciting a classical poem. Wan’s pants vibrated. He quickly bent over. Fortunately, no one seemed to have heard the vibration, as no one was looking back. Bzz. Another text message arrived. Wan pressed his palm firmly against his pants pocket. The vibration sound was muffled as it was buried in his flesh.51acb2965b9e127f

“That’s all for today.”d0dbf2b3e4826e17

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The bell rang before e97aeaee61 they could interpret the a41674b3eb classical poem. Sighs of 5e382c643d boredom erupted 53e3e340f0 from all 639ab47353 over. The literature teacher 601d55808d put down his 52910320a8 chalk and walked 9b85adc669 out the front c0cdfe2ccb door. The students who 4182ead8dc had been doing 3080296115 stretches in preparation 242e712fc1 to run out a960fe515e into the hallway d3522407a7 before the break 1edf04385c bell rang stretched 22fc582c4b and moved. After lunchtime, many 730fd8464c students slept after e66b18cb44 eating, so it 7f9963ebd4 was less noisy bc664cdbeb than the lively 3fa9d18f3f morning hours.9ff083721cc678a9

Finally, the time had come to study quietly on his own. Wan, with a frustrated look on his face, read the text message from the person who was obviously the culprit. His hunch was right. He briefly skimmed the text message from his father and closed the phone. The paint on the phone’s cover was peeling off in places, creating a pattern like a piebald dog. Like the MP3 player, it was old-fashioned. It was a luxury for Wan to film movie-like videos, take notes, and watch missed dramas or webtoons while commuting on public transportation with the latest cell phone like the other kids in his class. He slipped the phone into his pocket and stood up.ea4bd37a648d5ced

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The faculty office always smelled strongly of coffee whenever he entered. The young homeroom teacher, who was experiencing his first year as a high school senior teacher, was clueless and naive. That’s why he felt sorry for deceiving him. It made him feel guilty.18737837af3397e4

“I’m just going to lie down for an hour.”ef165d8c2c688a47

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“Condition is the most important thing for a student preparing for the college entrance exam.”e1ebd2e615e430f1

“Yes.”795ccb199c9ebc9b

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“Don’t overdo it in this hot weather.”5fca7bc4c74814ed

The effect was wearing off, but this was the only excuse he could make, no matter what. Wan felt rewarded for his consistent diligence whenever the teachers were fooled by his simple lies. He headed straight to the nurse’s office in the corner of the first floor. With the boisterous noise from the floor above as background music, Wan carefully opened the door to the nurse’s office. The corner of the rarely visited nurse’s office on the first floor, which was supposed to be the school’s hospital, had a unique smell of disinfectant.aa77adc9315e499b

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“Hello.”e6b1ae4a558a04de

“Oh – hello.”dcb396a6df1e25e8

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The school 3dd7514cb3 nurse, who 0497090166 was wearing 93eea22531 a white fadebdba0e coat, smiled 5b1e77f0a5 warmly. Wan handed him a a6bffb76b0 small piece of paper 8ded6c4c2f as he put the 1b62e383d5 boxes he had been 372e49c01a organizing into the shelves. The school nurse took a29c02a1af the paper familiarly and 224c06c4e9 said,0af984cf84a4ad34

“I have a sex education class to teach in the first-grade classroom, so can you be here alone?”ea7fa1c795f238d9

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“Yes.”c5051740d6b2e829

“Okay. Close the curtains and get some rest. You look like you’ve lost some weight lately.”88afb55a73fd8f95

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As if representing Wan’s feelings, the school bell rang to signal the end of break time.e2c28e94750b9f0a

“Then I have to go.”5cc58d33b202d411

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The school nurse c7d7db5c13 hugged the materials 158f4b987a he had prepared ed0dbedba4 in advance and 237af25a88 stuffed a few 7a7c450649 writing utensils into ba448fe474 his pocket. Wan greeted the departing 96946f0e38 school nurse with a dfd2dbeeda nonchalant greeting.93a8a092bda7946a

“Goodbye.”db68b91fec7686fb

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“Okay. If you want to drink tea, you can make some green tea.”5356a217cae4e487

“Yes.”fc094c0f8fa78350

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As soon fd7d20f56c as the 0f1de9289f rectangular door f87d40a136 closed, Wan 0e3d4bb2b7 waited for 40bace2c6e about a 7a01343f85 minute and 0650a2efcb reopened the b25dbdff27 door that 3d284b4637 the school c7effbd110 nurse had a519da1f29 left through. He had to 8cc9a8fd5e do what his 5352253583 father had asked 578e15e002 him to do 41a291e0de within an hour ddac84328f and greet the ec86c4158d school nurse, who 85182ee201 would come down ab61c8ec7e during break time, b77266ac76 with a blank 7ffe0eb507 expression on his 7d75183321 face as he e3219620ca lay on the a8239baaf9 bed designated by 71d5f5a59a the school nurse.625ca60c66b6197a

As soon as Wan got off the bus, he sprinted to his father’s workplace. The sun chased him like a shadow as he ran. Even though he wasn’t wearing anything under his school uniform shirt, he felt as hot as if he were wearing layers of clothes. Wan slowed down, flapping his summer uniform, which was soaked with sweat. He wished there was a breeze, but the fluttering wind felt hot.e58742ba1d61a437

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There was only one house on this street. It was a huge mansion that was almost embarrassing to call a house. After passing through the first main gate, there was another gate similar to the first one, but smaller. Wan showed the text message from his father to the guards standing at the huge gate, which looked like the entrance to a theme park. They opened the entrance with familiar faces. As the huge gate opened, he saw a mansion of a scale that made his eyes widen in amazement, but it was familiar to Wan. The magnificence and majesty of this mansion were so grand that even the White House in the United States couldn’t compare.cdd22749e6da6f74

Walking on two legs instead of driving made the time fly by. Now he had to finish everything in thirty minutes. He thought his father wasn’t doing it these days, but he was getting lazy again. His old habits were starting to show. It was dereliction of duty to leave his work to his son.d63787531d6c747a

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“It’s been a while.”7882f5c1cf6d2e5b

The central fountain of the mansion, which he hadn’t visited in a while, was full of water. There were fountains in each of the four directions, east, west, south, and north, with the central fountain as the starting point. But the fountain in the center of the garden was the most extravagant. He looked at the water shooting up into the sky and headed to his father’s workplace. Even listening to the sound of the water flowing from the fountain didn’t make him feel any cooler.f3a725103d2c5675

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