The Best of Tomorrow

The door closed with a sound and I stood side by side in front of the Jagam Snack Bar with Seon-jae. As soon as we left the snack bar, the starting bell rang.

“Thank you for the refund…” I bowed my head and said thank you to Seon-jae, and took the first step.

Thump, thump.

I nervously stepped on the ground, holding back the desire to walk and distorted my face.

A while ago, the owner of the snack bar, who looked at me and Seon-jae, said, ‘If you add 1,500 won to 5,000 won, it’s 6,500 won! What the student ate just now was 6,500 won!’ The owner revealed the numbers.

I shook my hands with a confused face, and Seon-jae glanced at my table that had been emptied clean, leaving three kimbap left. Seon-jae looked at me with an embarrassed expression.

I couldn’t say it wasn’t true, so I slightly lifted my lips repeatedly. “A student stole my bag…” I said crying.

Seon-jae lifted his wrist to look at his watch, took back 5,000 won, put it in his pocket, and paid it with a card. I wondered if this was an ordeal, or was it an ordeal to see this.

“Student! You left this!”

When I looked back to see why he was calling me, the owner of the snack bar grabbed a gym uniform and shook it like a Taegeukgi.

[T/N The flag of South Korea, also known as the Taegeukgi.]

Next to him, Seon-jae, who had not left yet, stood still in front of the snack bar, looking at me with his hands in his pocket.

“I sold it back to him!” I shouted and ran.

The place where I ran to was not my home, not my school, but an empty lot behind the auditorium of Jagam High School.

It was an unlucky day.

The end of the class bell rang. Now that the 6th class was over, it was time to clean.

Sitting leaned against the wall, I stretched my knees and got up and shook my hips. I took a broom and a dustpan from the rear car.

It felt like a character buying weapons at an item shop. A basic character that just created an ID and didn’t have anything. There was nothing to gain and nothing to lose. That’s why, if i went to the room full of rich kids playing around, I’d be kicked out.

I tucked my shirt into my gym pants and stepped out. I was going to walk slowly through the hallway and looked inside the classroom while I was cleaning.

If they took it back to the classroom without throwing it away, I thought there would be a bag hanging somewhere on the chair or desk. If I didn’t find my bag there, I’d have to go through the toilet trash can, and if not, I had to found that yellow-haired guy.

I entered the hallway.

I was nervous as I entered the hallway full of students who laughed and talked. With a broom on my side, I slowly walked down the hall and swept through the classroom.

I looked everywhere from the first year to the fourth year. I went through the classes in the first year, but there was none. Now it was time to look at the second year classrooms.

I walked through the hallway, covering my face with a dustpan as a shield. I stuck near the window and looked at the classroom, then stopped.

It looked like I just saw my bag…

I turned around and put my forehead on the window and looked into the classroom.

“That… that… that’s mine! Crazy! Why is it here?!” Even though I was talking to myself, I stuttered so much in surprise.

There was no clock on the wall. Where the clock was supposed to hang, my bag was hanging just right there!

Public execution!

Why is it… why is it hanging like that over there?

I couldn’t open the window and looked around the class, sticking my face to the glass.

There was a yellow-haired guy sitting on the desk just below the bag.

He was the one who took my bag!

I turned my head and checked the class. ‘2nd year 4th class.’

There were many students in the classroom.

Just like standing in front of the show window and checking the amount of goods on display, I put my hands on the window and looked at my bag.

“Oh, my God, it has fingerprints and it’s Mr. Tak’s class! I have to wipe it to the bone.”

My hand suddenly slipped on the side and stretched out from the window in an instant. When I was so surprised and turned around with my eyes wide open, Baek In-hyuk, who was frowning, looked more surprised than me.

“Are you following Seon-jae?”

“Huh…” I lifted a dustpan in my hand and covered my face.

At that time, someone passing by hit the broom on the side and my body went back. My side face was revealed to Baek In-hyuk as my face turned around with my body.

At a glance, I rolled my eyes and looked at Baek In-hyuk. Unpleasantly, only one side of his mouth was raised. “You’re weirdly trying to hide yourself, but I don’t know if you know it doesn’t help at all.”

“Who, who…”

“Who are you? You know it’s strange to ask? In the yard where you yelled Seon-jae’s name.”

“Yeah? That’s not me…”

“That’s not you… I want you to know that the face you looked at me is so intense that I can’t forget.”

I’m not talking about it.

I lowered the dustpan and showed Baek In-hyuk my face. I couldn’t win with words, so I had to show him my face.

“Hey! You look the same as the last time I saw you.” Baek In-hyuk pointed to my eyes, squinting.

Then, I sprayed glass cleaner on the windows covered with my fingerprints and wiped them with newspaper.

“Are you very determined to live in our school?”

“It’s not because I want to…”

“Is it because there’s Seon-jae?”

I opened my mouth because I thought I could be honest with you.