Chapter 15

Dowook stared at Maru. The dude was going to sleep with earphones on. Just what was up with him? He wasn’t picking a fight or anything, offering some sensible advice instead.. But why?“Fuck.”He was only becoming more confused the more he thought about it. Dowook chewed on his pencil in annoyance. Not that it brought him any sort of relief.

* * *The classes for their day were over. For the first time, the kids were allowed access to the Electrical Engineering labs in the school. First time in this life, at the very least. Maru has definitely been here in the past. Not that he could remember it. It was a place where they soldered equipment together.“That smelled really bad. By the way, I heard that soldering apparently kills your semen?” Dojin noted as they walked out.“Really?” Daemyung frowned. Dojin cracked a dumb joke and laughed by himself.It was a familiar joke. Maru felt pretty sure he’s heard it in his previous life. He momentarily as he turned the corner to a different corridor with his two friends. Joonghyuk was walking towards them from the other side.“Hello, senior.”“Ah, back from soldering?” The three nodded. Joonghyuk informed them of a random soldering advice before going back on his way. Maru decided to follow behind Joonghyuk after sending his friends off first. Dojin was a little confused, but didn’t question it.“Senior,” Maru called out.“Oh, Maru. You’re still here?”“I have something to tell you.”“Really?”Joonghyuk brought Maru to the deli down on the first floor along with him. He bought hot chocolate from the vending machine for the both of them.“Here, drink.”“Thank you.”They sat on the bench next to the deli. Students were running past them towards the deli from their respective classes. The foyer quickly filled with the chatter of the students. Maru could hear the occasional yells from a teacher as well.“So? What is it?” Joonghyuk asked after the crowd thinned a little.Maru put his cup of hot chocolate on his lap. He told Joonghyuk about his discovery from the previous day.“So the cigarette burns were from the kids from your class?” “Yes.”Joonghyuk sighed as he scratched his nose in irritation. A moment of silence passed. All the kids were gone now, too. Joonghyuk gestured to go outside. Maru complied. They could hear a few more kids outside. Maru could make out that some of the sounds were from the soccer players next to the basketball court.“Did you tell anyone?”“No.”“So it’s just you and me who knows about this?”“Yes.”“Let’s keep it this way, then.”“Alright.”Maru wasn’t surprised. That was pretty much the response he was expecting. Joonghyuk seemed to find the compliance surprising, though.“You aren’t saying anything about it?”“I mean, this is the right thing to do.”“Oh, is that so?”“You told us, didn’t you? We have a bad rep. It’s better to keep quiet for such a small problem. No need to hurt the club for it.”At least, that’s what Maru thought. He seemed to be right, thankfully, seeing from Joonghyuk’s nod. Their eyes met for a second, which prompted a word bubble to appear.[He’s thoughtful.]Bah, of course I am. I’ve lived decades longer than you after all.“And Yoonjung...”“Never thought about telling the president from the start.”“Oh, really?”“Felt like she’d charge into the class or something.”“Yeah. She’d do that.”Joonghyuk crumpled the cup in his hand. He shook his head firmly when Maru offered to throw it away.“I didn’t recruit more members to get myself a servant,” he threw the cup away, “and stop being so stiff all the time. It’s getting on my nerves a little bit.”“Alright.”“Do you have any siblings?”“A younger sister.”“Really?”“Why?”“You look responsible. You act the part as well.”That was a surprise. Maru hadn’t expected that at all. The guy made a pretty firm judgement about him from just a few days of interaction?“You’ll help the club quite a bit, I think.”“No way.”“I’m not joking. Group mentality is the most important thing about an acting club. The club needs foundation. Especially as a club that requires various types of people.”Joonghyuk appeared to be thinking about something, noted from his expression visibly turning sour. “Um, senior?”“Yeah?”“Can I ask you something?”“Go on.”“How did Yoonjung become a president?”Joonghyuk laughed at that. Almost as if he remembered something he forgot about.“She wanted to do it.”“...That’s it?”“You’ll see what that means in the near future. She’s a weird kid.”He seemed entertained just thinking about her. Then again, Yoonjung really was quite the character.“Can I ask you something else?”“Is it about the third years?”A soccer ball flew up high in the sky with a bang. Maru could hear the kids shouting in excitement from across the field. Joonghyuk was looking up at the school building bitterly when they heard a voice calling them out from the windows. “Yo, Maru! Ah, senior?”It was from the second floor. Dojin and Daemyung were looking down at them from the class.“They’re waiting for you.”“Ah, yes.”“We’ll talk about the third years next time. You should go.”Joonghyuk walked back inside with a wave.“Thank you for the hot chocolate!”“Sure.”Maru turned back after taking the last sip from his cup.