A Gangster Return To Highschool, Chapter 06
A Gangster Return To Highschool, Chapter 06
After leaving the cafe, expecting to part ways, the man crossed the same crosswalk as Kim Deuk-pal. Thinking they were just heading in the same direction, Kim Deukpal stayed quiet, but when the man followed him all the way to the hospital entrance, he couldn't hold back anymore and asked:
"Why are you following me, student?"
"I'm also heading to Central Hospital. For a visit."
How did he know I was going to Central Hospital? Kim Deuk-pal furrowed his brow with suspicion, but the man pointed to the hospital gown sticking out from under his coat. His shoulder, where the IV was attached, was only draped with the coat, revealing the hospital name on the gown. Feeling embarrassed, Kim Deuk-pal quietly wheeled his IV stand across the hospital driveway first.
The man, following behind, helped move the IV stand over the curb without being asked. Kim Deuk-pal was inwardly impressed.
He had felt it all along, but this young guy was quite sharp. Mistaking him for a middle school third-year, yet on their first meeting, he recommended study materials, brought drinks for adults without being prompted, seemed good at studying from what he heard, had a face like a gigolo but in a charming way that would drive women crazy, and was tall with a decent physique.
If that student were his son, how proud his parents must be. As the saying goes, you can't give others what you don't have, Kim Deuk-pal acted his real age with shameless enthusiasm.
"The student's parents must be full even without eating."
"I've been wanting to ask since earlier, do you live with your grandfather? You seem wise for your age."
The man could no longer hold back and burst out laughing. It seemed like he had been trying to suppress his laughter for a while. Realizing he had acted like an old man, Kim Deuk-pal scratched his neck awkwardly. Noticing that Song I-heon's earlobes were particularly red, perhaps not just from the cold wind, the man bent down to meet his eyes, teasingly. As he did, his well-groomed hair swayed gently. "With that tone, one'd think you're a student."
"I am a student, what else would you call me? We don't even know each other's names."
As the man playfully taunted him by winking, Kim Deuk-pal responded grumpily.
His fist twitched, contemplating whether to hit this cheeky kid.
"Oh, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Choi-."
"Se-kyung!"
A woman who had been wandering around the hospital lobby spotted the man and called out. Choi Se-kyung. He waved in response to his name being called and gave a crescent-eyed smile until the end.
"I have to go. I'm late. Study hard."
He handed the shopping bag he had brought from the cafe to Kim Deuk-pal and dashed towards the main entrance where the woman was waiting. His long legs stretched out from under the flapping coat, which wasn't buttoned up. Kim Deuk-pal, left standing there, only came to his senses later, scratching his head as he watched Choi Se-kyung and the woman enter through the hospital's revolving door. "That guy's got some nerve..."
How many times had he smiled with his eyes in that short span? Kim Deuk-pal had a feeling that the playful eye-smile would linger as an afterimage, and he pushed his IV stand forward.
As he exerted himself, a sharp pain shot through his ribs. Looking down to trace the source of the pain, he noticed the shopping bag in his hand, filled with workbooks from the bookstore. Only then did Kim Deuk-pal realize he had bought the workbooks but hadn't taken them from the cafe. Choi Se-kyung had brought them for him. He thought the guy was crazy for grabbing his hand before leaving, but it was to pass the bag to him without suddenly adding weight.
There was no chance to thank him for carrying the load without making a fuss, as
Choi Se-kyung was no longer visible among the crowd in the lobby. Eventually, Kim Deuk-pal placed the shopping bag on the IV pole handle and muttered to himself about Choi Se-kyung.
"He's kind."
He couldn't reconcile this Choi Se-kyung with the one from the diary.
New Semester Syndrome
The winding back alleys of Itaewon-ro in Yongsan-gu were different from the main streets lined with shops and bars; they were filled with high-walled detached houses. These areas, where not even an ant would pass, had an unspoken rule of severance from neighbors, making it an ideal place to hide a chairman's mistress, much like the saying "the darkest place is under the candlestick."
Since the residents had many secrets, it was natural that the house staff chosen here were those who were tight-lipped and discreet.
Seo-Sandaek, who got a job in this mansion, was recommended for her discretion. What she saw in the mansion was to be instantly forgotten and never spoken of. She was not to meddle with the mansion's residents, only to do her assigned tasks and housework.
Seo-Sandaek kept to the lines specified in the contract.
She recognized that the woman living in the mansion was a beautiful actress who had stirred the media twenty years ago and then vanished, but she pretended not to know. Even when the woman's son came home with shoe marks on his body, she didn't ask questions.
Seo San-dak, who perfectly assisted in their lives without intruding, was also a perfect observer. As an observer, she sensed a new change.
Song I-heon, the son of this house, who always walked with his head bowed and his long bangs covering his face.
Seo San-dak had packed Song I-heon's hospital things on the butler's orders when she heard he had been in a traffic accident around last Christmas. He had been seriously injured and hospitalized through the winter, but when he returned home before the new school term, he had changed.
Only Seo San-dak, who had worked in this house for ten years, could recognize Song I-heon with his hair cut short like a chestnut; anyone else might have suspected he had been switched with someone else.
The original Song I-heon was timid. If he had been more stoic, it would have been better, but he was sensitive, quick to notice things. He knew his biological mother didn't like him, and he suffered stomach aches from the stress whenever she got drunk and sought out the chairman.
He was often sick, which made him eat little, and when dining with the chairman, who occasionally visited the mansion, his reluctance to use his chopsticks was evident. The chairman, like a tiger, would leave the table in disgust, saying, "How can such a weakling be my blood?" while his mother would cling to the chairman, begging him to stay longer. Song I-heon, watching all this, would end up vomiting all night from an empty stomach due to indigestion.
A dysfunctional family that wouldn't even feature in weekend dramas. In this household, Song I-heon was the weakest link, at least from Seo San-dak's ten years of observation.
Getting up at dawn for morning exercise and eating a large bowl of rice was not the Song I-heon she knew.
The habit of picking at rice grains was gone, and he now ate heartily with a spoon, scooping up big mouthfuls. He seemed to go out for exercise before Seo San-dak even arrived at work, coming back sweaty and eating his bowl of rice with such appetite that he finished it in no time.
"Give me more rice."
Seo San-dak, who had been watching Song I-heon with curiosity, hurried to take the empty rice bowl, her feet tingling with excitement.
"Oh, oh. Sure. Should I grill some more fish? How about the soup?" "I'm fine."
His brisk, clear response was another change. After being discharged, Song I-heon returned from his morning exercise, glanced at the empty table, and demanded breakfast. The original Song I-heon would never have made such demands for fear of causing trouble, but the discharged Song I-heon requested it as if it were his right and easily declined offers.
His confidence made Seo San-dak the one who felt cautious now.
Before, she would just serve the meal and leave for the kitchen, not caring whether Song I-heon ate or not. Now, she paid attention to the table setting, bringing out more side dishes or placing a water glass. While wiping her hands on her apron and hovering around, Seo San-dak remembered that today was Song I-heon's first day of the new school term.
Laundry and ironing were part of Seo San-dak's duties, but she had never ironed Song I-heon's school uniform before. The original Song I-heon would have worn it without complaint, but somehow, she felt the new Song I-heon would not hide his displeasure at seeing a wrinkled shirt. To avoid offending her young employer, Seo San-dak quickly slipped into her indoor shoes.
A luxury sedan made its way from the alley to the main road. Driving in the crowded Seoul city center usually made one rough, but the chauffeur was careful not to let the car shake. His tense gaze occasionally glanced at the rear-view mirror.
The boy sitting comfortably in the backseat, with his legs crossed, was playing with his phone. Who would think this boy was the same gloomy Song I-heon who used to walk with his head down?
"What are you looking at?"
Although he seemed absorbed in his phone, Song I-heon noticed the glance and spoke sharply. Despite being ten years younger than the driver, his informal way of speaking was so natural that it made Park, the driver, straighten up. "Oh, nothing!"
Realizing a beat too late that the young man had spoken informally, Kim Deuk-pal scratched the back of his head in apology.
"Ah... I'm sorry."
This wasn't the kind of apology one would expect from someone of his age, but the chauffeur, hearing the apology that somehow smelled of middle age, parked the car near the high school Song I-heon attended. However, when Song I-heon made no move to get out and just kept tapping away on his newly activated phone, the uncomfortable chauffeur spoke up.
"Uh, young master, aren't you getting out?"
"Here?"
Kim Deuk-pal finally looked up from his phone to survey outside the window. He could see students in the same uniform as Song I-heon climbing the uphill road beyond the alley.
"You always said you didn't want to get out in front of the school, so you got off here."
"Why go up the hill? It's annoying. Drive to the front gate."
The chauffeur, who was around the same age as when Kim Deuk-pal ran his gang, accidentally spoke informally, then quickly added: "Sir."
The luxurious sedan came to a halt in front of the school gate. Although it was an affluent area, due to the equalization policy, not all students were from rich families, so the rare sight of a foreign car drew the attention of the commuting students.
The back door opened, and the first thing to emerge was an ankle with a round ankle bone visible due to the trousers being hiked up from sitting. Was this a transfer student? The students passing by had similar thoughts as they saw their peer step out of the car.
"I will call when I need a ride... sir."
Kim Deuk-pal awkwardly added the honorific to his habitual informal speech before closing the car door. Suppressing the urge to shout, he faced the school gate, leaving behind the fumes from the departing sedan. He took in the sight of the folded green gate. School, a school gate, students!
To encounter the golden age that had passed in his life once again!
Even though he was intruding in someone else's life, the fact that he was going to school in a uniform stirred his emotions. Jeong Jun-ho, who appeared in "Two Cops," was in his 30s at the time, but at forty-seven, dressing in a school uniform would only earn him insults for being senile, or so he thought his life would never intersect with a school uniform again!
Kim Deuk-pal calmed his rough breathing due to his heightened emotions and gripped his bag strap.
Despite knowing that his current appearance was Song I-heon's and he was properly dressed in a uniform, he was still nervous. The gate was guarded by the homeroom teacher and members of the discipline committee. He worried that they might recognize him as Kim Deuk-pal and chase him away, saying, "How dare an old man like you come here?" His meager imagination ran wild.
The sound of his beating heart reached his ears. Trying to blend in with the other students, Kim Deuk-pal took cautious steps, one after the other. The new sneakers he bought scratched at the skin behind his ankle, and from the bag, which only had a notebook for the first day, came the clinking sound of a metal pencil case.
As he walked through the gate with the crowd of students, just when he thought he had passed safely, a sharp call pinpointed him.
"Hey, you there!"
Kim Deuk-pal, who had been leaning forward to get through the gate quickly, stopped awkwardly and pointed at himself.
"Me?"
"Yeah, you. Who else would I be talking to?"
There are so many people... Kim Deuk-pal couldn't point out the strange way the teacher spoke and was drawn by the pointing index finger. The homeroom teacher pointed at Kim Deuk-pal's chest with a 30 cm ruler. Kim Deuk-pal's eyebrows furrowed curiously.
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