Chapter 58

* * *“Lord, why is it so hot already? It’s just morning.”“Oh, welcome!”Maru sat down on his seat after catching Dojin’s happy greeting, along with his flying candy.“Dude, were you okay back there?” Dojin asked.“Back there?”“Back when you went somewhere else with instructor Miso.”“Oh, yeah, I was totally fine.”“...Really?”Maru nodded with a grin. He knew why Dojin was so worried. For now, Maru was basically excluded from the club. He did what he did knowing fully that this would happen though, so he was fine. To begin with, he was never that deep in with the club anyway.“I’ll just have to be quiet for a while, if I don’t want to be hated that is.”“Wow, you’re quite something.”Daemyung walked over to the two of them from his seat as well.“Sorry, Maru. I should’ve been on your side back then.”“Come on, guys. Why so sad in the morning? There’s nothing wrong, and there’s going to be nothing wrong, so it’s all good. Don’t try to make things even more awkward by playing sides. You guys just focus on making a decent play, ok?”“S-sure.”Maru gave Daemyung’s belly a light slap. They were definitely good friends, seeing how they took the time to ask him if he really was okay. That was probably why people said high school friends last a lifetime. Because they truly cared.“Sit down, you asses!”The homeroom teacher burst through the door, making Daemyung run over to his seat hurriedly. The teacher began the class by saying a string of useless, predictable words. Ah, summer break was truly over.

* * *“Maru.”Taesik called Maru as he was headed to the cafeteria. It was lunch time. Maru told his friends to go without him, and walked outside the campus with Taesik. The teacher asked Maru if he wanted to eat anything as they entered a restaurant.“I’d prefer to hear about what you have to say, rather than talk about what I want to order.”“Can we order first, though? I’m hungry. You should eat too. I’ll be paying, so order however much you want.”“That last line’s really only reserved for barbeques, isn’t it?”“Hmm, is it?”Maru ordered a tuna kimchi stew with a slight grin. Taesik ordered the same thing. “I wanted to say thank you for now, Maru.”“Is that about instructor Miso?”“Ah… well, there’s that too.”Taesik’s cheeks turned slightly pink. Maru smiled proudly. ‘They are definitely a couple now.’Though Maru had no idea how far along they are in their relationship just yet.As they talked about Miso for a few moments, the stew they ordered came out. Maru dumped his bowl of rice into it before talking again.“Good to hear. But you’re not here to just show off, are you?”Taesik nodded.“I wanted to properly apologize. I’m bribing you a little as well, so I’m hoping you’d accept it.”“Bribing with just stew? That’s a little cheap, isn’t it?”“Is it?”“Haha, that was just a joke. But like I said, you don’t have to worry about it. I did that because I wanted to. I’m not pathetic enough to shift the blame elsewhere.”“I honestly didn’t think you’d go this far. I’m both thankful and a little ashamed as a teacher.”“Well, things would’ve been different if I knew them better, but… to be honest, I don’t know them all that well. It’s really the difference of being one and two steps away.”“Was… it really that easy?”Maru took a bite of his food.“Well, that was exactly why I did it. Because it really was that easy.”At the same time, Maru remembered something. It was back when he was told that his paycheck would depend completely on how servile he was towards his boss. When he almost quit out of sheer rage, the faces of his wife and daughter floated into his vision. At that moment all the anger inside him dissipated, and his brain immediately started to calm down.Compared to the humiliation, anger, resentment and desperation he felt back then, this was nothing more than a joke. It wasn’t like antagonizing the entire club was going to endanger his livelihood. This was just a minor event.“You didn’t feel disappointed?”“When my friends didn’t side with me?”“Yes.”“Teacher, do you decide if someone’s your friend solely based on whether or not they take your side?”“...I asked you a stupid question.”Maru had to admit, Taesik was a good teacher. The man didn’t take his students’ words lightly, instead using it as an opportunity to learn. It was something that only teachers who respected their students could have.“You really are a teacher, teacher.”“Haha.”“If I ever get a daughter, I’d love to leave her in your hands. You’d listen to her words at face value.”“That was a pretty decent compliment, I’ll have to admit. Do you want to eat anything else?”“I did notice that a restaurant next to this place sells really good beef.”“That’s… a little too much for my wallet, I’m afraid.”Taesik smiled awkwardly in response.