a Gangster Return To Highschool, Chapter 05
Chapter 05
"Please come again!"
He didn't notice when his hair was long and covering his neck, but when he left the hair salon, the breeze felt cold on his neck. Kim Deuk-pal awkwardly touched the short bangs lying on his forehead.
After the persistent persuasion from the employee, Kim Deuk-pal agreed to a cut with some style. Despite his insistence on shaving his head, the employee's argument that it would intimidate teachers and friends at school was convincing.
Song I-heon was already struggling with peer relationships, and Kim Deuk-pal couldn't let that get worse. Moreover, for 47-year-old Kim Deuk-pal, the authority of teachers was something to be revered, an untouchable sacred area.
Awkwardly running his fingers through the hair that now easily slipped between them, his next destination was the bookstore. Due to the IV stand, he took the elevator to the basement bookstore where dry heater air hit his scalp. Perhaps because it was the beginning of the year, various diaries were displayed on the shelves, and the workbooks Kim Deuk-pal was looking for were prominently placed for the new semester.
The workbooks, covered with plastic, reflected the fluorescent lights, giving off a glossy shine. Kim Deuk-pal's eyes were quite serious as he chose among them.
Unfortunately, the workbooks left by the woman who seemed like a butler were far beyond Kim Deuk-pal's level... The private tutoring scene was too intense for a lateblooming examinee like him, and Song I-heon, who grew up in that environment, was quite good at studying.
Upon skimming through the workbooks Song I-heon had been using, Kim Deukpal's back straightened with tension. They were full of red circles. 'This kid studies well...'
Once back in school, he'd have to take mock exams and midterms, and it wouldn't do to give Song I-heon's soul a report card with the lowest grades in school when he returned.
Despite being a tough guy, Kim Deuk-pal still had a conscience. Since Song I-heon was already accustomed to studying, he looked through the workbooks with the intention of mastering the material step-by-step to avoid being last in class. If he took it from the basics, perhaps he could manage an average grade of 7...
"Try this if it's your first time."
"Ah, shit!"
A hand suddenly appeared in his field of vision, recommending a workbook, and in surprise, Kim Deuk-pal swung his arm. His right fist precisely hit the center of the workbook held up like a shield by the other person, pushing them back a couple of steps.
"Ah."
The other person, also surprised, let out an exclamation from behind the workbook. Realizing he had hit an innocent person out of surprise, Kim Deuk-pal awkwardly bowed.
"Uh... Are you okay?"
The workbook that had been covering his face slowly lowered, perhaps because he interpreted the man's question as a safe word meaning "no more hitting." His black bangs covering his forehead and his wide-open eyes were revealed in sequence. The gaze that met head-on scanned his face thoroughly, showing a flash of
disappointment, but it was so brief that Kim Deuk-pal decided not to pry, assuming he had mistaken someone.
The man, pretending he had never been disappointed, casually flipped through the workbook and said, "Uh... I should probably buy this."
The workbook was crumpled around the center where Kim Deuk-pal's fist had left an imprint. Despite the potential force of the punch, he first checked if he could read the content by opening it.
"Sorry, did I startle you?"
He then slightly raised the corner of his mouth to Kim Deuk-pal, who was still in an aggressive stance. The man's hair was so smooth that it gave off an impression of gentleness. His ivory knit and brown coat added to his intellectual look.
Perhaps because of his unusually good social skills, he tilted his head to lower his gaze and smiled with his eyes.
"If it's your first time learning this, start with this one. That one has few concepts and lots of problems, so it'll be hard to solve."
Was he a student? Kim Deuk-pal, who had been on guard due to the sudden approach, didn't relax his wary eyes but stood shoulder to shoulder with the man when he recommended a workbook with equal parts concept explanation and basic problems, which Kim Deuk-pal had pushed aside.
"Since you're spending money, you should get one with lots of problems to solve."
The man smoothly brushed off Kim Deuk-pal's grumbling. His voice soothing complaints was as soft as milk foam.
"Hmm, you'll probably get a lot wrong though, is that okay? It won't give you much sense of achievement, and you might lose motivation. Solve this quickly and then tackle the next one that's all problems. If you just want to solve problems, I recommend this one."
"Will I make fewer mistakes if I solve this one after that?" "Usually, yes."
Though he didn't show it, the truth was Kim Deuk-pal had lost motivation after repeatedly failing at solving similar workbooks. The man in front of him was the first to acknowledge the frustration of solving problems only to get them wrong. This guy was the real deal; he knew his stuff about studying.
Kim Deuk-pal's eyes, which had been looking at the man with disdain, suddenly lit up.
"Student, do you have some time?"
"Should I put it in an envelope?"
"Yes."
Kim Deuk-pal handed over his card to the bookstore employee. From his diary entries mentioning the butler and the chairman, one might think he came from a welloff family, and indeed, there had never been any restrictions when he used the credit card from the shoulder bag given by the butler.
The employee handed back the card and receipt, putting the workbooks Kim Deukpal bought into a shopping bag. Following the man's advice, he had only bought two or three books per subject, but with Korean, English, and Social Studies added up, the shopping bag was quite heavy.
For Kim Deuk-pal, this would have been a weight he could easily carry on his wrist, but for Song I-heon, with his healing rib fracture, it was too much. As he took the bag, his body tilted to the right with the weight, and a sharp pain spread from his chest. However, not one to show weakness, he placed the heavy bag on the IV pole handle and started walking slowly. The man, who had just finished paying for an essay collection, approached them.
They rode the same elevator as if by agreement and headed out to the street. While waiting for the traffic light to change, Kim Deuk-pal scratched his head, hesitated, then nudged the man with his elbow.
"Let's have a drink. I'll buy."
Feeling guilty for making him go through the trouble of choosing textbooks on our first meeting, I pointed towards a café with a nod of my chin. The man, who had been overly helpful in selecting textbooks, now looked at Song I-heon with confusion as they actually headed to the café.
He kept his gaze on Song I-heon's reddened nose tip, which had been exposed to the cold wind due to his short haircut, and the dark circles under his eyes from wandering around with an injured body, then finally said, "Okay, let's go." He nodded.
The franchise café near the four-way intersection was crowded. Since Kim Deukpal was only used to crowded places like bars or police stations on days of brawls, he was overwhelmed by the crowd.
"Pick whatever you want to eat and pay for it."
Not really in the mood to eat himself, Kim Deuk-pal handed the man his card and went to a table first. It wasn't like an uncle buying something for his nephew; the young Song I-heon just handed over the card and left, leaving the man bewildered as he looked at the gold card in his hands.
Perhaps overestimating Song I-heon's stamina, Kim Deuk-pal slumped over the table, completely drained from having walked around. His cheeks, which had been exposed to the cold wind, flushed red upon entering the warm interior. When the man sat across from him, Kim Deuk-pal reluctantly sat up and brushed his dry face.
The man, after ordering and bringing back the drinks, pushed the card back with the takeaway cup.
"Why did you buy mine too? I wasn't going to drink it," Kim Deuk-pal thought, but seeing the effort the man had put in, he pretended to drink, only to find the sweet drink rushing up the straw, perking him up.
"What's this?"
"Hot chocolate."
In the rural area where Kim Deuk-pal spent his childhood, sweetness was limited to the sugar used for boiling corn, so hot chocolate, a concentration of sugar, was a whole new world. Dissatisfied with the slow pace it came up the straw, he gripped the cup with both hands and sucked vigorously.
"Isn't it hot?"
"At my age, I could chew on steel. What's hot?"
Meanwhile, the man sipped his latte, having opened the lid of his cup. He seemed amused by how Song I-heon was drinking the hot chocolate like it was some sort of challenge, hiding a smile behind his cup. His pink lips, barely visible over the cup's edge, slightly curved up as he asked,
"Middle school?"
I am forty-seven, you bastard. Kim Deuk-pal mumbled to himself before giving Song I-heon's age.
"Nineteen."
The man's calm demeanor finally broke. He couldn't keep his hand still, constantly rubbing his chin after setting down his cup.
"Ah, we're the same age. I'm nineteen too."
His eyes flickered with uncertainty before he confessed.
"What should I do? I thought you were a middle schooler, so I recommended stuff for a third-year middle school student."
"Yeah, you did well. Thanks."
One of the good things about getting older is you shed unnecessary pride. There was no shame for the gang boss in laughing at a college entrance exam result, nor envy or jealousy towards a much younger person. He just had the mindset of, "I'm old, so help me out, young one," as he asked,
"How do kids study these days?"
"...Kids these days?"
Without realizing how absurd his questioning tone was, Kim Deuk-pal nodded enthusiastically. After a brief moment of disbelief, the man, as if finding something interesting, matched his enthusiasm with a bright look in his eyes.
"Study hard with a focus on textbooks."
"Do they still do that these days?"
"Even in this rapidly changing era, the basics don't change easily."
It sounded quite plausible, so Kim Deuk-pal nodded. The man, with his neat appearance suitable for an educational broadcast, added:
"If you work hard on Korean, English, and Math, you'll be fine." "This..."
Only then did Kim Deuk-pal realize he was being teased and shot the man a glare.
He kicked the man lightly under the table while the man shamelessly sipped his drink, then Kim Deuk-pal sucked on his straw out of boredom. When he was only pulling in air because his drink was finished, he began packing up to leave.
"Let's get up now."
"But I still have some left."
The man tilted his cup to show there was still half of his drink left, unlike Kim
Deuk-pal, who had finished his hot chocolate. With no choice but to sit back down, Kim Deuk-pal tapped his nails impatiently. The man, seemingly not in a hurry to finish, pretended to drink while stealing glances at Kim Deuk-pal, whose light brown hair shone in the sunlight.
"Why are you staring like that?"
When Kim Deuk-pal asked with his head bowed, the man, who hadn't expected to be caught, made an awkward excuse.
"I thought you were someone I knew."
"Me?"
"I guess I mistook you for someone because of similar builds. You're completely different, especially in personality and the way you talk."
Kim Deuk-pal was tense, wondering if the man knew Song I-heon, but the man denied it. If they were acquaintances, they would have recognized each other sooner. Kim Deuk-pal, not realizing how different he looked with Song I-heon's bangs covering his face, to the point where even machines would recognize him as someone else, relaxed and slouched in his chair.
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