Hello dear readers! More angst drabbles from School 2013. These are set after they've graduated. I hope you like it! Remember to tell me what you think.

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“Everyone breaks. You’ll get hurt sometimes, in this life. You fly so high, you crash and burn sometimes. And I want you to know, you are not alone. We all fall down.” – Aerosmith “We All Fall Down”

                In the grand scheme of life, high school is but a mere blip on the timeline. It’s a chapter glossed over in the memoirs; it’s the short introduction to the feature film. That being considered, adults must laugh at the amount of time they spent in those short years as a high school student stressing out. College holds more weight. In college a person begins to really solidify his or her goals for the future and build a reputation in that respective field.

                But Kim Min Ki knows that college is also a place where his older brother had a mental breakdown. Hong Ki came back the shell of who he was. He locked himself in his room for years. On Min Ki’s first day of university, Hong Ki came out of his room to throw himself off the apartment complex’s roof. Min Ki stands mutely, numb to the bustle around him. There’s a ringing in his ears drowning out his mother’s hysterics, the whispers of the neighbors, and the wailing of the police sirens. He stares down at the mangled, splayed body of his older brother. Blood pools by his head where impact was made with the cold, unforgiving concrete. Min Ki remembers standing on the roof of Seungri High, holding his backpack over the edge. He watched it drop, felt his blood run cold as it seemed to take an eternity for it to hit the ground. He wonders what his brother thought about as he made the drop from twenty stories up. Did he think it was a long drop?

                Min Ki goes to college. He majors in media. He becomes an assistant at a network and slowly climbs the corporate ladder. By the time he’s twenty-five he’s become a production director. It occurs to him that kids like Hong Ki need a voice. So his first project is a documentary about teen suicides. He sets up a hotline for suicide prevention. He creates a non-profit organization to help kids who don’t have access to therapy or medications. He names it in honor of his brother.

                Teacher Jung calls him a few days after the documentary airs. She tells him how proud she is of him. Min Ki smiles into the receiver. He says that if it weren’t for her, he wouldn’t have been around to make that film. And sure enough, at the end of the film the dedication plays: To Jung In Jae, who saved my life; and Kim Hong Ki, who no one could save.

                Ha Gyung makes it into S University. She doesn’t really know what she wants to do with her life. So when the opportunity to study abroad presents itself, Ha Gyung jumps at the chance and onto a plane to Europe. As she strolls down the streets of Paris, camera in hand, she decides to declare her major as art. While in Paris, she enrolls in art classes, doodles at cafes, goes to the opera, and takes pictures of the Eifel Tower at night.

                She has a fling with a French model for a few shining months. He ultimately breaks her heart and for a month after, Ha Gyung paints nothing but scenes in varying shades of blue, purple, and black. She gives up painting after that, and returns to photography. She sits at a café for three hours, snapping pictures of the people passing by. She goes to her little apartment and takes pictures of the view from her bathroom window. She goes to the river and drinks coffee alone. She paints for the first time in weeks. She paints a coffee cup bobbing alone in the river.

                Her mother leaves her furious phone messages and e-mails. Ha Gyung deletes them all. Her mother is just upset that Ha Gyung is rejecting the path that was chosen for her. Like Min Ki’s mom, Ha Gyung’s mom will get over it one day.

                Ha Gyung returns to Seoul and drops out of S University to set up an art studio. She lives as a starving artist, selling her Paris creations at fairs. The director of a renowned art museum catches sight of her portrait of the cup in the river and displays it at her museum. Ha Gyung invites her mother to the exhibition, but the woman doesn’t show up. Ha Gyung doesn’t take it to heart.

                Kang Joo doesn’t get into S University, but still gets into college. At her part-time waitressing job, Kang Joo falls in love at first sight for a student at her school. They date all throughout college and get married as soon as they graduate. They move back to his home in the country and quickly start a family. Kang Joo knows she’s going to have a family like the one she grew up in – stable, loving, simple. She gives birth to a boy first. Then four girls follow in the next five years.

                She still keeps in contact with Ha Gyung from time to time. She sends e-mails loaded with pictures of her growing kids and short stories she dreams up while doing the laundry or cooking dinner. Ha Gyung sends her real letters with painted pictures of the photographs Kang Joo sends. Kang Joo frames them and hangs them next to her kids’ art projects.

                Kang Joo sits down and writes a book one summer. Honestly, she’s just written about Seungri High but changed all the names and places. It becomes a bestseller and gets translated into several languages. Ha Gyung calls to congratulate her. She asks what Kang Joo plans to do with all the money the book is making. Kang Joo laughs and says it’s for her five kids to go to school. She says she and her husband don’t need much. They’re content to raise chickens, a boy, and four tomboys in the countryside.

                Kye Na Ri gets accepted to a performing arts college much to the surprise of everyone around her. She throws herself into study with passionate vigor. She passes all of her courses and no longer complains about being tired. When her school holds auditions for a play, Na Ri goes. She only gets a chorus role, but she’s satisfied. She needs her foot in the door now. She’ll worry about the big roles when the time comes.

                One day while shopping in Seoul, Na Ri is street-casted by a talent scout. Na Ri goes to a screen test and audition and gets casted on an upcoming television drama. It’s some sappy, melodramatic sitcom but Na Ri maintains her “foot in the door” attitude and works hard. It all pays off when Na Ri is presented an award for best new actress. As she the clutches the heavy gold statue, she rattles off a list of thanks yous to her family, friends, cast mates, company, and teachers.

                “Oh! Most importantly, I have to thank my sophomore literature teacher, Kang Se Chan. Ssaem, if it hadn’t been for you I wouldn’t have gone to college. And if I hadn’t gone to college I wouldn’t be here now.” Na Ri swallows the lump of emotions in . “So what I’m trying to say is, I haven’t forgotten about what you did for me. Thank you, Teacher Kang.”

                Gil Eun Hye fulfills her dream of becoming a television anchorwoman. All of Seoul wakes up to her falsely cheerful voice. She also succeeds in finding a rich man to marry – she gets hitched to an influential lawyer, though neither of them pretends their marriage is anything but a business transaction. They have an expensive wedding to flaunt their wealth and status. Her husband doesn’t want any children so they don’t have any. He goes on long business trips and leaves Eun Hye alone in their massive house.

                Eun Hye doesn’t love her husband. She loves his money. It isn’t a secret. She cheats on him on a monthly basis, usually with the young lawyers in her husband’s firm, purely out of spite. Her husband never lashes out at her the way she wants him to. He only fires or relocates her lovers. He doesn’t love his wife either and does his own share of cheating.

                Strangely enough, they can coexist this way.

                Lee Yi Kyung and Lee Jihoon move in together after graduation. Jung Ho never did show up that day to get promoted and then never came back to school. They wonder what’s become of Jung Ho these days, but have continued on with their own lives. True to their word, they regret leaving Jung Ho behind. Yet they know the world can’t stop because Jung Ho chose his own path.

                Jihoon never gets into vocational school and Yi Kyung doesn’t get accepted to college. Luckily, Yi Kyung is able to find a stable job which allows Jihoon to spend his time studying for the police academy exams. Turns out Yi Kyung is a decent cook and Jihoon can expect food and maybe a shy kiss pressed to his cheek when he returns from long hours at the library. They’re happy, but they’re stretched pretty thin sometimes. It seems each month they play the “can we pay the bills on time?” game. Whenever Jihoon writes out the bills he wonders how Jung Ho is. The boy promised not to live by doing bad things, but Jihoon wonders how the other is surviving. There’s nothing else left to pawn in the Oh household for quick money. Only the gangs remain as a source of fast cash. Jihoon shudders when he thinks of Jung Ho getting in trouble with the gang again.

                Yi Kyung gets promoted and Jihoon gets into the police academy. They don’t feel so stretched and for three months in a row they pay their bills on time. Jihoon promises that when he gets into the police force he’ll try searching for Jung Ho. Yi Kyung kisses him a little more bravely these days.

                Go Nam Soon knew immediately why Park Heung Soo left Seoul. He knew Heung Soo’s sister was acting more and more strangely as the weeks passed after their graduation. She had cried at the ceremony before babbling something about how her duty was complete. He hadn’t thought much of it then, but he thought about it now. He knew as soon as he saw the boarded up windows and locked gate that Heung Soo had found his sister swinging from a rope tied to the ceiling. He knew Heung Soo had left town to get away from her ghost. Nam Soon only wished Heung Soo had told him.

                Nam Soon gets his conscription notice and goes without telling his dad. It’s not like it would matter anyway. He leaves a note on the counter, just in case the old man was to come home randomly and not know where his son had gone. Nam Soon closes his eyes as the razor buzzes off his hair. As he goes through drills, he prays that one day he’ll magically see Heung Soo. It’s a preposterous thought. Heung Soo’s knee can barely bend thanks to him. He’ll never have to serve in the army.

                The army changes Nam Soon. He smiles a bit easier now, even though he misses Heung Soo. He makes friends with some of the guys in his part of the camp. They play cards together and talk about their youths. He’s learning to breathe without Heung Soo. Still, every once in a while, Nam Soon calls Heung Soo’s old house, wondering if anyone will pick up. He doubts anyone will want a house in a bad neighborhood where someone committed suicide, but he clings to a little scrap of hope that Heung Soo might return there.

                When he’s discharged, Nam Soon is a different person. He holds himself up with more pride now and learns not to resent his father so much. He returns home to find everything as he left it. It doesn’t surprise him. He walks past Heung Soo’s house to find it still boarded up. He sighs and decides to go looking for his friend.

                Oddly enough, Heung Soo and Jung Ho find each other in the poorest part of the city. Heung Soo holed himself up there after finding his sister hanging from a power cord tied to the ceiling fan. Jung Ho’s father had finally passed away after losing a battle with his injuries and alcoholism. Jung Ho had gotten a job fixing up people’s cars and motorcycles. He had kept his promise to live honestly and on the side he mentored the troubled kids at the community center. He encouraged them to stay in school and out of gangs. Heung Soo had found a job at the same community center coaching a soccer team.

                When their eyes meet for the first time in five years, there is pure shock. Neither can imagine why the other is there, of all places. Heung Soo assumed Jung Ho had skipped town long ago to finally escape his father’s abuse. Jung Ho thought Heung Soo would be cozied up with Nam Soon, living an untroubled life. So when they finally are able to explain how they ended up there, it makes more sense. Both of them are escaping from deaths, Jung Ho running with relief, Heung Soo running from the pain.

                Jung Ho mentions that he would like to know how Jihoon and Yi Kyung are doing. He figures they’ve finally gotten together. “They always acted like they weren’t into each other than way.” He rolls his eyes. “I really don’t know who they were trying to fool. It never worked.”

                Heung Soo chuckles. Admittedly, he feels a little guilty for skipping town without telling Nam Soon. He knows Nam Soon knows why he left, but he still wishes he had told his friend. He didn’t know how to deal with finding his sister. He always knew how close she was to teetering over the edge, but then again maybe he didn’t know how close she was to falling until she had fallen.

                “How did you react when your dad died?” Heung Soo asks.

                “I think I screamed. I don’t remember too well. I just remember feeling like I was free. And you?”

                “I called the police when I found her, but then I left. I got on a bus and rode until I had no idea where I was anymore. I went back the next day to lock up the house.”

                It’s funny to think that five years ago they could barely stand looking at each other and now they work together, trying to help kids like them.

                Eventually, Kang Se Chan returns to his lesson school. He’s ready to let go of Seungri High. He stops seeing his lesson school kids as moneybags. He still doesn’t get as involved as In Jae did. He’d never go get any of them from the precinct or the hospital in the middle of the night. But he cares more for them. He still never makes any kind of intimate connection; in his heart he still can’t risk it.

                He thinks of calling Kye Na Ri to congratulate her on her award, but decides against it. Instead, he sits down with another cup of coffee and plans out that evening’s lecture. He knows In Jae has been rotated to a different high school. He doesn’t hear from her anymore but he knows she’s still the same. He kind of hopes she’s teaching a bunch of confused delinquents again. Honestly, he thinks she’s the only one who could convince kids like that to see there’s more to life than their harsh realities. He smiles a little when he thinks of her in a different classroom, knocking her book against the lecture podium calling for silence. He chuckles when he thinks of her leafing through introduction essays that all say the same thing. He knows she’s doing well.

                He downs the rest of his coffee and packs up his papers before heading out.

                 “There you are.”

                Heung Soo looks up from his clipboard. He’s been scribbling passing patterns for his kids to practice. Nam Soon looks down at him, through the chain link fence, with a grin.

                “Here I am.” Heung Soo responds. “How have you been, punk?”

                “I did my service requirements. I got back a week ago. And yourself?”

                Heung Soo holds up the clipboard. “Coaching soccer. These kids keep growing taller.”

                Nam Soon smiles softly. “I always knew you’d get back to soccer.”

                “Sometimes I wish I could run around with them. But I’m giving them the chance I never had.”

                “I hope none of them have an like me around to ruin it.”

                “Shut up, you punk. Don’t make this sad.”

                Nam Soon shrugs apologetically.

                “Oh, you know who I found here? Oh Jung Ho.”

                Nam Soon’s eyes widen. “What? How’d he get here?”

                “Old man finally kicked the bucket. Now Jung Ho’s counseling the kids here. Trying to keep them out of the gangs and in school.” Heung Soo shakes his head. “I’ve never seen him look so… cheerful. Teacher Jung would be so proud. Kid finally found his purpose.”

                “That’s good. That’s really good.”

                “Have you seen anyone from school? Do you know how they are?”

                “Jihoon’s a police officer. I saw him the other day. Not sure if he saw me, but I could tell it was him. He looks good. I think he’s happy where he is. I haven’t seen anyone else.”

                Heung Soo nods. “I’ll tell Jung Ho about that. He’s been wondering how Jihoon and Yi Kyung are getting on.”

                “Hey, Heung Soo…”

                “Yes?”

                “Don’t leave me again. I… I know why you left. But next time, just tell me. I’ll help you through it.”

                “What did I say about making this sad? I won’t leave you.”

                It’s a promise they don’t break.