4th Track: Decisions & Choices

In Kwon Jiyong’s dictionary, friend means unconditional devotion which is also an equivalent to slavery; which means finishing up his and his friends schoolwork, buying food for him and covering for him whenever he needed it – which was practically most of the time.

In order to protect Choi Seunghyun, I could only listen to Kwon Jiyong, whenever I refused to do something, he’d use Seunghyun to blackmail me into it.

“Good Morning Auntie, I’d like to order 1 serving of Japchae, exclude the carrots and onions. Separate the noodles from the sesame oil and 1 serving of Daktoritang, none spicy and extra serving of chicken. And for lunch today, 1 bowl of Bimbimbap, place the raw egg in a separate bowl and exclude the bean sprouts and an additional dollop of gochujang, thank you.”

The auntie sighed in response and the pencil she held in her hand snapped into half.

-

“If there was no carrots in the Japchae, why are there carrots in the Daktoritang?! Buy it again, properly this time you hear me?” Kwon slapped his chopsticks hard against the table.

`

The bell rang signalling that lunch break would end in 5 minutes and Yumi hurriedly dashed down the staircases only to arrive at an empty foyer.

Didn’t Kwon said his class had a MT for Biology Class? Why was it empty? Where was he?

“Here.” He emerged from behind a tree.

"I thought you forgot your textbook for your Biology MT, where’s the rest?” She questioned.

“Idiot. MT? Who needs textbooks for an MT?” He scoffed, snatching the book from her hands and hitting it lightly on her head before slipping it into his school bag.

“Hurry up, the movie starts in an hour’s time.” He grinned as he slung his school bag around her.

“Eh, the bell rung already, I’m going back to class.” She announced before turning around to dash off only for him to pull her back by the bag’s strap.

“Then who’ll buy food for me? Who’ll throw away my trash? Who’ll fan for me?” He snarled.

“Ah, I can’t climb the wall. So, I really can’t.” She apologised and shoved his own bag into his hands.

But, just as she turned away, his hands wrapped her into a headlock, “Wishing for death?”

“No, ah, wait, what if the teacher finds out? I’ve never skipped class before!”

“If you’ve never skipped class in your uniform before, you’ll regret it when you grow up. Got it?”

He pushed her against the wall, lifting her up and told her to climb the wall as he groaned from her weight, “Hurry up. You’re so heavy.”

`

They’ve arrived at the skating ring and he rode freely across the ring while she struggled with balancing.

“Hurry up and skate, don’t goof off.” He growled when he found her standing in one spot and grasping onto the railings.

“Can I go back to class now?”

“Attach yourself to the back of the line.” He smirked and headed off straight after.

She held on tightly as the skating line increased in speed and for the finale, he let go of the line and they all followed suit