Chapter 8: Han Yoo Sung
‘Why isn’t she here?’
Han Yuseong glanced at the empty seat beside him.
His childhood friend, who had suddenly taken unauthorized leave from class, claiming something had come up, still hadn’t returned.
“You there, Han Yuseong.”
“Yes.”
I answered the fourth-period teacher’s call.
“Was the seat next to you Haneul’s? If you see her later, tell her to come find me.”
“Yes.”
Yuseong looked at the clock.
Five minutes left until lunch.
The teacher, who had finished class a little early, had already left the classroom.
“Yuseong, is something wrong with Haneul?”
“I’m not sure either.”
“What on earth happened? She looked a bit unwell this morning, too. Is it because of that?”
Letting the nosy group of girls chatter in front, Yuseong fell into thought.
‘Is she really sick?’
But Haneul’s ability was a healing type.
From the beginning of the semester until now, he had never once seen her in pain.
‘Could she have a serious illness that even her healing ability can’t handle?’
‘Like this, so suddenly?’
‘Just yesterday, they had a pleasant farewell.’
‘Could she have gotten such a serious illness overnight?’
‘It’s strange.’
But no other reason came to mind.
Haneul never dozed off during class and always did her best.
Yet to miss four classes at once.
She wouldn’t recklessly do something that would result in an unexcused absence without a valid reason.
That was the personality of Yu Haneul that Han Yuseong knew.
A diligent model student.
Ding-dong-dang-dong.
The lunch bell rang.
The impatient children immediately ran to the cafeteria, while the slightly slower ones slowly rose from their seats.
Han Yuseong was the latter.
“I guess I’ll have to ask.”
To the child whose dormitory room was next to Haneul’s, and who commuted to school with her.
“Hey, where did Haneul go?”
To the girl loitering by the front door, asking her, who was about to leave their class.
“So, you only woke up after I called you ten times this morning?”
“Yeah. If I hadn’t knocked on the door, I probably would have kept sleeping, wouldn’t I?”
Haneul, whom I saw this morning, looked incredibly tired.
Had she accumulated so much fatigue that even sleeping for such a long time couldn’t relieve it?
But nothing special happened last night. I don’t understand why she’s so exhausted.
“How about… going to the nurse’s office?”
Baek Seorin.
A friend I became familiar with through Haneul.
But a friend with whom it felt a little awkward when it was just the two of us without Haneul.
“I already went right after first period. But there was no Haneul, and no teacher either.”
“No teacher? Was the nurse’s office door locked then?”
Yuseong recalled the appearance of the nurse’s office earlier.
A dark room with the lights off.
“Probably.”
“Then Haneul wouldn’t have been able to get in either! Let’s go again. Maybe she met the nurse teacher while coming up to the classroom or something.”
But Seorin’s words had a flaw.
Because of what Haneul had asked him just before leaving the classroom.
‘She asked me to make an excuse to the teachers that she went to the bathroom.’
He didn’t know why she had made such a lame excuse about going to the bathroom, when she could have just said she was going to the nurse’s office.
If she was really sick enough to go to the nurse’s office, she could easily get the teacher’s permission.
Hmm.
“Alright, let’s go look for her.”
Still, just in case.
He was about to walk boldly towards the nurse’s office but paused.
“Are you okay not eating lunch?”
“Yeah. I’m on a diet. What about you?”
“Haneul hasn’t eaten lunch yet, has she? We can just buy some bread from the convenience store together or something.”
Seorin nodded as if she understood.
“I’ll excuse myself once I confirm Haneul is okay.”
“Huh?”
“What. No need to thank me.”
“No.”
“What are you talking about? Thank you for what?”
“Ugh, you frustrating b*stard.”
Seorin mumbled quietly, then pounded her chest.
“Ugh, this is so frustrating! Just blurt it out! Everyone knows you like Haneul!”
“Huh?”
“How long do I have to keep setting you up! You two are so dense, it’s driving me crazy!”
Yuseong was incredibly flustered by the current situation.
Because until now, when he was alone with Seorin, it had always ended with awkward greetings and a few words of conversation.
This was the first time he’d seen her express emotions like this when Haneul wasn’t around.
“It’s the end of first year now! Go on a trip for the last time. Huh? Spend time together. Huh? You should!”
Moreover, her choice of words was very blunt.
“Seorin, there are other kids around, so this kind of conversation is a bit…”
“Hmph! No one doesn’t know anyway, I tell you!”
He absolutely did not want to agree with her, but the words a passing male student uttered added credibility to Seorin’s assertion.
“What, Han Yuseong got a girlfriend?”
“No!”
“Still at a standstill? You haven’t made any progress with Yu Haneul yet?”
D*mn it. How did he know that, too?
“See! Even he knows. Your face gets so red every time you see Haneul, who wouldn’t know!”
An unbearable wave of embarrassment washed over him.
“I thought you were blatantly giving signals, but when I realized you were supposedly trying to hide it, I was really horrified, you know?”
“Right? It’s amazing that Yu Haneul is so oblivious when you’re making it so obvious.”
“…Enough.”
He didn’t know how the conversation had gotten to this point.
Seorin and the male student, with perfect synergy, chipped away at Yuseong’s sanity.
“So, now that Haneul is sick and lying down, it’s your chance to score points…”
Too distressed to hear any more of their nonsense, Yuseong chose to flee.
“…Why are you following me?”
He could understand Baek Seorin, as she was Haneul’s best friend.
But Lee Juwon. He had no idea why he was following them to visit Haneul in the infirmary.
“Our class president is sick, so I should wish her a speedy recovery.”
When Yuseong stared blankly at him, he changed his words.
“Watching other people’s romances is so much fun. I can’t miss this.”
Haa.
“You know a lot, don’t you?”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
Ignoring the boy and girl who were bantering back and forth, completely disregarding the feelings of the person concerned, Yuseong began to walk at an even faster pace.
“He must be eager to see Haneul as soon as possible.”
He covered his ears.
Knowing that any clumsy explanations would do little to stop their teasing, Yuseong wished he could reach the nurse’s office quickly.
Fortunately, the time spent enduring mental attacks that were enough to die of shame wasn’t too long.
Because they had arrived at the nurse’s office.
Unlike before, bright light was seeping out from inside.
“It seems he’s at work.”
Nodding at Seorin’s words, he opened the door.
Creak.
The Nurse Teacher, who was sitting in a chair, raised his head.
“Ah, what brings you here?”
The teacher asked, adjusting his glasses.
“Has a student named Yu Haneul ever come to the nurse’s office?”
“Yu Haneul?”
The teacher made a peculiar expression.
‘What is it?’
‘Why is he like that?’
“Let me just check the roster. A few students did stop by, but I’m not sure if there was a name like Haneul.”
He went into the inner room of the nurse’s office.
“He probably doesn’t have many names to check, so why would he forget?”
Seorin grumbled softly.
“He must be busy… Oh! Lee Juwon!”
Rustle.
A bed in the corner of the nurse’s office.
Juwon, who had walked over there, peered beyond the curtain surrounding the bed.
“Yu Haneul is here!”
‘What if it wasn’t Haneul but someone else in there?’
‘And even if it was Haneul, the fact that it’s rude behavior doesn’t change.’
“I’m confident, that’s why.”
“Ugh.”
Clicking his tongue, he walked over there.
It really was Haneul, asleep.
Smiling softly, as if she was having a pleasant dream.
“It looks like Sleeping Beauty needs a prince’s kiss to wake up.”
“Shut up for a bit.”
“She needs a kiss! Kyaa!”
“…Haa.”
‘What’s with this childish behavior?’
“Haneul might get angry if she hears that, so maybe those kinds of jokes…”
As his words trailed off, Juwon and Seorin, sensing something strange, looked in the direction I was seeing.
The expressionless Nurse Teacher was staring blankly at us.
“Are you finished with your conversation?”
“…I apologize.”
“No. There’s no need to apologize. Rather, I’ll leave, so please continue your conversation.”
He was about to open his mouth again, but the Nurse Teacher was already halfway out the door.
“Their minds are completely filled with flowers. Well, the more they are, the more fun it is to break them…”
Slam!
We just blinked blankly.
“Is he really angry?”
“We must have been too loud.”
Seorin replied in a crestfallen voice.
“I’ll have to apologize to him later.”
“Ugh.”
I sharply turned my head and looked in the direction of the sound.
“Where is this…”
Haneul, who had been asleep until just now, was rubbing her eyes.
“Haneul, are you okay?”
Yuseong spoke first.
Because Seorin kept poking him in the side.
“My head is a little dizzy… Huh?”
Haneul, who was answering, let out a strange groan.
“Is this, the nurse’s office?”
Han Yuseong couldn’t understand why Haneul’s face suddenly turned pale.