Yesterday, Yoon Taehee ordered a bunting bird to chase after the boy.
It was to figure out the boy’s movements. The bunting was a special bird that had undergone thorough training under the management and supervision of the Ceremonial Instruments Department from the moment it came out of the egg. On the way to leave after submitting his leave of absence, Yoon Taehee stopped by Lee Youngshin’s studio and robbed all kinds of things, including a bunting bird. It was a bonus that Lee Youngshin called later and cried, saying, “Hey you thief, you burglar.”
Yoon Taehee ordered the bunting to find out where the boy lived.
However, when Jaegyeom unexpectedly got caught up in Cho Youngwoo’s affairs, things got tangled. While the bunting sat on the fence of the alley and observed Jaegyeom, time passed and it became late in the afternoon. So, the bunting ignored the order to find out where the boy lived and returned to Yoon Taehee’s arms.
The saying went, ‘Talk during the day is heard by birds and talk during the night is heard by mice.’ The bunting was good at eavesdropping and spying. Instead, as the saying went, the effect only worked during the day when the sun was up, so when dusk began to fall, the bunting went home without a hitch.
However, Yoon Taehee did not blame the bunting. He stroked the bunting’s tail feathers with a rather satisfied face. It wasn’t what he wanted, but it was because there was a certain gain in his own way.
Yoon Taehee did not like wearing a tie. He found it cumbersome and stuffy, and he rarely wore a tie except when he was out in the field or attending a formal event. However, he believed in the principle of ‘ Give up the small and take the big (捨小取大).’ In order to take on something big, you have to know how to let go of little things.
Then,
“How do you tie this?”
Here came the opportunity.
“…”
Yoon Taehee quietly looked down at Jaegyeom.
The reason he was able to settle down in Naryecheong faster than anyone else was because of his ability to judge the situation in a moment and his tenacity not to miss even the slightest possibility. He expected that he would have at least one extra tie, but he chose a navy blue tie with the mindset that he had nothing to lose. If it was useless, it’s fine, but if it went well, it’s good. That’s how Yoon Taehee’s “just in case” always hit the mark.
“Ah… School uniform ties these days are tied automatically. I forgot…”
He laughed as if he hadn’t thought of it. He suddenly turned his gaze to the hand holding his arm. The warmth transmitted from the moderate grip, neither strong nor weak, was quite strange. Jaegyeom, who felt his gaze, brushed his hand away in an instant. Then, a light dimple formed on one of Yoon Taehee’s cheeks.
“I will do it. Come here.”
Yoon Taehee walked to a deserted corner of the street. He stood behind a large roadside tree and gestured to Jaegyeom, who reluctantly followed. Yoon Taehee held out his drinking yogurt he was holding to Jaegyeom.
“Hold onto it for a while. I have to tie it with both hands.”
Jaegyeom silently accepted the paper packet with a sullen look on his face. His expression was sour, but his ears were stained reddish. Yoon Taehee stretched out his long fingers and touched Jaegyeom’s shirt collar. Their eyes met head-on.
“Lift your head a little.”
Yoon Taehee straightened his shirt collar and wrapped his tie around it.
“If you turn it around like this, tuck the narrow hem on top, and make a loop…”
From a close distance, Yoon Taehee muttered in a whisper. He felt his finely stretched fingers brush the nape of his neck and wiggle around his collarbone. Jaegyeom, who was holding his chin up stiffly, glanced down. He saw the young man’s face concentrating on tying his tie. As he had felt yesterday, but he was a kind man that was burdensome. Were ordinary people supposed to be so kind to each other…
The young man tapped Jaegyeom lightly on his chest.
“It’s all done.”
Jaegyeom, who had been pretending to be indifferent while looking at the distant mountains, scratched his forehead. Yoon Taehee asked in a playful voice.
“Are you grateful to me?”
Jaegyeom looked blankly at Yoon Taehee. Thankful? Jaegyeom thought deeply and made a serious face.
“Technically, I’m grateful, but I’m not grateful enough to say thank you.”
“…”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Tbbc Kjftff rajgfv ja Ajfusfbw klat j wsrafglber fzqgfrrlbc. Lf vlvc’a jmaejiis kjca ab yf atjcxfv, jcv tf kjr pera jrxlcu jr j pbxf… Lf aegcfv rfglber jcv jrxfv.
“Xgjafoei, yea cba fcbeut ab rjs atjcx sbe?”
“Tfr.”
Ajfusfbw kjrc’a yflcu rjgmjralm bg ugewqs, tf gfjiis rffwfv ab atlcx rb. Tbbc Kjftff, ktb rabbv atfgf abemtlcu tlr mtlc obg j ktlif, jrxfv j defralbc.
“You’re grateful, but you don’t want to say thank you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Why? It’s just what I feel.”
“…”
Yoon Taehee stared blankly at the boy standing in front of him.
He lent him a tie and even put it on him himself, but the boy seemed indifferent. It seemed that he was very reluctant to receive help as if he was being pushed into it. The boy was much more wary than he thought. It was evident that he instinctively felt the impurity of goodwill, without even realising it.
He must have been badly burned by someone. It might take some time…
“Just kidding, it’s because I wanted to do it anyway.”
Yoon Taehee smiled and took back the drinking yogurt that was in Jaegyeom’s hand.
But there was no need to be in a hurry. If you keep digging into a gap, someday that gap will become a ‘side’. Yoon Taehee was well aware that teenage gwijae were often closed off and clumsy in emotional interactions.
He slowly walked away as Yoon Taehee waved his paper pack. As the distance widened, Jaegyeom realised that he had been frozen. He felt like he could finally breathe and let go of the tension. Perhaps because of the tie the young man was wearing, a subtle reverberation that had never existed before lingered at the tip of his nose.
“Then see you later after class. I’ll be waiting for you in the library.”
‘He would be waiting? For me?’
“Why?”
Jaegyeom asked reflexively. It was as if he was asking what else they had to meet for. Yoon Taehee, who was staring at Jaegyeom, spat out a dishevelled laugh.
“Why?”
The young man playfully mimicked Jaegyeom’s words.
“The tie is mine, so you have to come back to give it back.”
“Ah…”
Jaegyeom exclaimed, averting his gaze.
***
Did ordinary people originally treat each other so kindly? It was a question that had popped into Jaegyeom’s head just a moment ago.
He decided to dismiss the question.
Jaegyeom looked at the middle-aged man standing in front of him with a sullen face. The man with a fierce impression was a teacher who guarded the entrance of the main building every morning, and the children who entered the building greeted him politely and called him ‘Mr Dean’.
In front of the entrance of the building, seen from the school gate, there were several student leaders and the dean with a solemn appearance. He waved a pointer in his hand in the air, meddling with the children who entered the front door. Until then, Jaegyeom had a carefree thought that if he was caught like that, he would get penalty points. He just thought it would be someone else’s business.
At first, he didn’t realise he was being called when the dean beckoned for him. As soon as he entered the entrance, a student leader ran and obstructed Jaegyeom’s path, and Jaegyeom finally realised that he was the target. At that moment, a dark cloud covered Jaegyeom’s face.
His first thought was,
‘Some bastard saw me borrowing a tie and told on me…’
The librarian was right. While hesitating for a moment, someone must have witnessed it. The scene of the shrewd-looking guy whispering in the dean’s ear was clear to his eyes. The world was really tough. Wasn’t he being too naive? Jaegyeom, who was dragged in front of him, looked around while grinding his teeth.
“You…”
“Wh- who said that!”
“What?”
Jaegyeom snarled in anger.
“It is possible for a person to do that throughout his or his life, but only once…”
“Hey, what is he talking about?”
The dean exchanged glances with a student leader standing next to him with an absurd face.
“You, why is your hair so long?”
“…”
Somehow, it felt like things have been going wrong since the morning today.
“If it were a little longer, you could tie it up, right?”
“My hair?”
“Yes, dude. Are you Jean Valjean?”
The student leader next to him quietly swallowed his words, but Jaegyeom, who did not know who Jean Valjean was, thought “my hair is long?” His eyes blinked quickly. He didn’t get caught because of the tie. If so, it was reassuring. Jaegyeom checked the hair of the children passing by with a slightly awkward face. What difference was there… The veteran teacher did not miss the opportunity and read a strange dissatisfaction in the student’s eyes.
“Hey, look at this guy. Hairstyle rules are not your business, is this it?”
“What’s the hairstyle rule?”
“Your side hair can’t cover your ears.”
“Why?”
Jaegyeom was genuinely curious and asked. Come to think of it, he wondered why he would be penalized if he didn’t wear a tie. Why couldn’t he have long hair? Of course, Jaegyeom was going to do whatever the school told him to do. That’s why he wore his tie obediently. But apart from that, he just asked for the reason out of pure curiosity.
However, as soon as Jaegyeom asked a question, the dean’s eyes sparked. Jaegyeom did not know that innocent questions would jeopardise his teaching authority.
“Why? Why?”
The dean sternly stretched out his words. The student leaders standing in a row around them flinched and glanced at the two.
“Huh, this prick has been pissing me off this morning. If it’s against the rules, then it’s against the rules! What are you talking about so much? Uh? If you have eyes, look at the other kids’ hair. Your side hair is like a blanket. Blanket. It even covers your ears. Yeah, don’t you think anything about this?”
In the meantime, Jaegyeom was always at home, so there was no need to cut his hair. He had long hair a long time ago, but as the years went by, when it became a little longer, he just took a pair of scissors and cut it off. If it’s annoying, tie it tight, if it’s hot, shave it short. That was all.
Moreover, after receiving the curse, the rate of his hair growth was terribly slow. It’s only been a few years since it had grown this much. Now, Jaegyeom’s hair was half-length, covering halfway up his ears and reaching down to the nape of his neck.
“I mean… I’m just curious, so please tell me why it’s against the rules… if you can tell me.”
He couldn’t understand why the dean was so angry. Did he do something wrong, Jaegyeom opened his mouth in the most polite way possible. At that time, he jabbed Jaegyeom in the chest with the pointer he was holding.
“This is pushing it, so you want to try it with me right now?!”
Jaegyeom lowered his eyes and looked at his chest.
“…”
‘Jaegyeom. If you go to school and the teachers scold you for something, just say you’re sorry.’
‘Why?’
‘That’s the way the world is these days. Be sure to use respectful words for people who look older than you. Understand?’
Jeongjoo’s voice echoed in his head. The state of the world these days… He calmly suppressed his emotions. When he raised his eyes and looked at himself clearly, the dean burst out laughing, saying, ‘Look at this?’
“There is an old saying, ‘step by step (一步一趨)’.”
“What?”
“When the master walks, the disciple walks, and when the master runs, the disciple runs.”
Jaegyeom raised his hand and brushed off the part where the pointer touched.
“The disciple takes the master’s footsteps as an example and follows them.”
“Huff! What are you saying…”
“Teacher, your side hair looks longer than mine?”
“…”
“…”
“…”
All of the students who passed by the two and went into the building looked back at Jaegyeom in amazement.
“Teacher, isn’t the side hair a blanket? You have long hair too.”
Clatter…
The pointer fell from the dean’s hand and rolled on the floor with a loud sound. He had a good relationship with Mr Moon among the teachers. It was probably because they were the same age, and both shared the pain of being bald. It was a story everyone had guessed.
He was strict with the students, but in fact he had a lot of affection. Instead, he couldn’t tolerate the act of his own sore spot being touched. One day, a student saw the dean and Mr Moon walking side by side and said, ‘Octopuses go in pairs, let’s go to Ssangmun-dong. Ssangmun-dong.’ then quietly giggled. And then had to do a community service project.
Stop, stop… The student leaders standing in a row closed their eyes.
Regardless, Jaegyeom, who not only did not know such a situation, but also had no way to know the inner thoughts of the student leaders, suppressed his exasperated feelings and politely added.
“The ones covering the top of the head are all side hair.”
The dean, who was standing there with a pale face, picked up the pointer that had fallen on the floor after a while. Contrary to everyone’s concerns, he asked Jaegyeom with a calm face.
“What year and class are you in?”
And, overshadowing the young man’s efforts to avoid penalty points for not wearing a tie, Jaegyeom achieved the splendid feat of receiving 5 penalty points on the second day of school.
The reason was poor attitude and failure to follow the instructions of the teacher.
Hakjoo was asking for it! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
It was funny 😂😂😂
At the end of the day he still got penalty points
Hahaha 😂😂
It’s not your fault that the education system is so patriarchal… Poor Jaegyeom …
HAHAHAHAH! Omg that’s the first