I,A Gangster, Became a High School Student

Choi Se-kyung thought he would be kicked out. The fake Song Yi-heon looked really upset, but he didn’t give him a congratulatory speech. Instead, he just walked out to use the restroom, brought in a tray of fruit, and mumbled something about what he was doing. He did not open his book.

Se-kyung did as he asked, solving the practice test questions and spreading out the material for each to study. Except for the occasional question from Kim Deuk-pal about something he didn’t understand, the two didn’t share a word.

As darkness fell outside the window, Kim stretched his stiff body as he finished writing down the wrong answers to the research questions. Se-kyung, who had finished her notes early because she hadn’t gotten much wrong, was studying another subject. With one forearm propped up on the table to support her upper body, she teased Sharp with her thoughts.

Wondering if she was getting such an excellent grade for nothing, Se-kyung continued to work on the problem book without hearing Kim Deuk-pal stretch. Not wanting to disturb him, she turned her phone silent and checked notifications. In the group chat room, the number of messages in the red circle grew in real time.

“What is Kono?”

Se-kyung’s sharp edge snapped as she underlined a non-literary passage. Se-kyung looked up, suspicious of my hearing, but Kim Deuk-pal was busy looking at the liquid crystal. The children’s group chat room was a flurry of words and pictures, requiring high concentration levels to follow the conversation.

Kim’s brow furrowed in concentration as he read the message.

“They say they’re in Kono.”

“Who?”

“Girls.”

Kim Yeon-ji and Kim Deuk-pal are named some of Yeon-ji’s friends. His manners earned him an invitation to their private chat room.

Choi Se-kyung took cell phone out of his bag and put it back in. The same chat room that Kim had invited Kono to was the one he hadn’t been invited to. He didn’t check hi accumulated messages.

“Are you getting ready?”

“What’s Kono’s name?”

“Are you sure you don’t know?”

Not to be argumentative, but Kim Deuk-pal made a lame excuse.

“…I hurt my head in an accident, so I don’t remember.”

It’s impossible to live a normal life if you can’t remember everyday terms. If you can’t comb your hair with a fork and moisturize your skin with body wash, you need hospitalization and treatment. Se-kyung didn’t believe Kim Deuk-pal’s excuse, but he didn’t ask questions and just told him. He didn’t want to fight anymore, not even over the smallest of arguments.

“Coin karaoke. A place where you sing in a room with a machine that plays accompaniment if you put in 500 won per song.”

“Karaoke?”

I don’t remember coin karaoke, but I do remember karaoke. Se-kyung resisted the urge to be sarcastic and nodded. But the soul of a middle-aged man who hadn’t fully adapted to teenage life had many questions.

“Why don’t you get a room and hang out?”

“Huh?”

Se-kyung blinked in confusion. This time, it was Kim Deuk-pal, too, and he explained, sweating, because the images that came to mind when he heard the word “karaoke” were so different. When he was a teenager, he worked in a factory to make ends meet. He was a gangster, and the first time he came to a karaoke bar, it was decadent.

“No, if it’s karaoke, it’s a room with girls… No, I’m sorry. Never mind.”

At the mention of calling for a girl, Se-kyung looked disgusted, treating him like an animal. Kim Deuk-pal moistened his dry lips with his tongue and bucked his hips, and Se-kyung definitely nailed it.

“We’re just singing and playing.”

“Uh, yeah…….”

“No girls, no drinking, no smoking, what the hell are you thinking?”

Kim Duk-pal wiped his sweat from his forehead. When Se-kyung didn’t erase his disdain, he mumbled like he was reading a Korean book.

“I see the kids are playing healthy these days…. Well, that’s a good thing…….”

His shoulders slumped like a puppy with a curled tail. He stiffened in embarrassment, and Se-kyung shrugged off his disdain and finished reading the non-literary prints. Having a good attention span, he was able to get into the problem quickly.

But Kim Deuk-pal’s mind was already in the bean field. Instead of looking at the question book, he rolled the pen in his hand. He distracted himself, and eventually put his head on the floor behind his back. The fluorescent light blinded him and he immediately looked up, but his eyes, glistening with anticipation, were unperturbed by the glare. My lips twitched as I wondered what he was up to.

“Choi Se Kyung.”

He slipped under the table and stretched his legs out in front of him. He found Se-kyung’s knee and nudged it with his toe, and Se-kyung looked up to ask what was wrong.

“Let’s play.”

Song Yiheon’s eyes crinkled, sharpness disappeared, and her delicate face looked like an innocent rascal.

***

Song Yi-heon’s house was so secret that he didn’t turn on outside lights at night. The flashing lights of the city reached the garden, making it easy to distinguish Between the sons-in-law, Se-kyung held on to Kim Deuk-pal’s hoodie hat as he led the way, pretending not to fall.

The oversized hoodie swayed loosely on his skinny body. His neck, which could be caught in a handful under the thick hat, his slender fingers poking out of the sleeves, and the shapely calves beneath his above-the-knee shorts reminded me of a herbivore like a roe deer.

If there was a hint of vulnerability in the transformed Song Yi-heon, it could be seen in the original Song Yiheon.

“Hey.”

But when he became belligerent, he was no longer the same person as the original Song Yi-heon. This time, he grabbed the door and stepped aside to let Se-kyung go first. After closing the gate behind him, Kim Deuk-pal looked like he’d jumped off a cliff due to his light weight. Trying to pull up his sleeves, which kept sliding down his hands’ backs.

Se-kyung grabbed Kim Deuk-pal’s hand and pulled him up. In Song Yi-heon’s body, it was a thick palm that had never suffered any pain. he tugged at his hoodie sleeve, which was raggedly pushed up to his elbow, and folded it neatly. Yi-heon held out Se-kyung palm for the other sleeve, and Kim Deuk-pal gave it to him without hesitation.

“I bought a big one.”

“You’re going to be tall, so buy long.”

Kim deuk-pal wonder how tall he’ll be at the end of his teenage years…. Still, Se-kyung didn’t want the stink to dampen anyone’s hopes, so he silently folded his sleeves.

As they walked down the street, Se-kyung pulled out his phone to hail a taxi.

“Where’s Kono, the one with the kids?”

“I don’t go there.”

Se-kyung tried to guess where they were heading, but he didn’t know where Song Yi-heon was heading in the first place. As they walked down the long alley and out of the residential neighborhood, the hip cafes on the famous street appeared.

The sidewalks were bustling with traffic and people on the sidewalk, with streetlights casting pale white light. Kim waved his arm off the sidewalk and caught an empty taxi. He opened the back door and gestured for Se-kyung to get in. Se-kyung obeyed and got in, holding on to the door for dear life.

“I thought you wanted to attend to karaoke?”

“I know you don’t like noisy places, so why are you taking me?”

When Se-kyung stopped in her half-riding position, Duk-pal leaned against the open car door and asked.

“You want to sing to karaoke

“…No.”

“Then get in. The driver’s waiting.”

Pushing Se-kyung in, Kim Duk-pal closed the car door. Se-kyung scratched her cheek awkwardly, as the unspoken attentiveness was both strange and good. This is why girls like the changed Song Yi-heon, she thought, almost knowing.

“Where would you like me to take you?”

The older taxi driver asked, making eye contact in the rearview mirror. Se-kyung urged him to tell him where they were heading. The excitement of heading out reminded her of Kim Deuk-pal. Between his impatience and anger during the day and Kim Deuk-pal’s bitter remarks about the snow, Se-kyung suddenly felt better.

When he realized he had smiled without realizing it, Se-kyung groped his lips in surprise. But when Song Yiheon asked him a question, the smile turned into a grimace.

“Where do kids play these days?”

***

In the movie theater, where the savory smell of popcorn hung in the air, an invisible interest formed toward the two boys. Women hovering nervously nearby covered their mouths and pointed to a corner.

“Are those school uniforms? Is the taller one a student? Oh, that’s too bad.”

“Isn’t he cute next to him?”

“But he looks grumpy. And he’s young. Did he take his brother to the movies?”

Of the two boys who had taken up residence in the corner at their urging, the taller one, leaning against the wall, was mature enough to pass for a student if he wasn’t wearing his uniform. But there was a residual boyishness about him that made him seem gentle.

The little boy on the high stool, on the other hand, wore a black ball cap. His fierce eyes, not hidden by the cap shadow, brimmed with rebellion. However, he didn’t look scary, either because of his small frame or because he munched popcorn on both cheeks.

Se-kyung, with a coke in each hand, and Kim Deuk-pal, chewing popcorn combatively, were waiting in the movie theater waiting room for the movie to start, and it was because of Kim Deuk-pal’s curious questions.

“What are kids doing these days?”

Asking him where he was playing and then pretending he wasn’t a kid anymore was an open admission: “I’m not Song Yi-heon.” It used to be funny to watch him act like an uncle, but now it was just annoying. Se-kyung resisted the urge to call the police or the hospital. What have I been up to lately? He thought, rubbing his aching temples.

In elementary school, he played soccer after school with his friends, though his schedule was dominated by tutoring.

 ‘In middle school, I attended to the fish room, and in high school, I still attended to the fish room. However, I also travelled to VR cafes and escape room cafes according to the trend.

In the 11 years I was in school, I lived through a lot of nightlife as I got older. However, there was one sport that never fell out of style.’

After dinner at a franchised noodles restaurant, Se-kyung brought Kim Deuk-pal to the movie theater. Excited to see a movie, Kim Deuk-pal walked into a sports apparel store on the escalator leading up to the movie theater. He tried on things, bought a ball cap, and bought Choi Se-kyung’s because he said you have a hard time.

Se-kyung frowned as he held the shopping bag in front of his eyes. He bought it for him to thank him for coming out to play with, but he couldn’t tell.

Unlike Duk-pal, who immediately removed his hat and put it on, Se-kyung had a shopping bag with the logo of a sports apparel brand on his wrist.

“This.”

His pants pocket vibrated, and Se Kyung held out a Coke. Kim Deuk-pal sucked on the straw as the sweet and salty popcorn made his mouth water. Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, he turned and answered the call. he didn’t get far before hearing the call end.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m with a friend at the movie theater. Is that right? Um… I’ll call you back.”

There was a hint of frustration in his voice, and when he turned away from the phone, he looked disdainful. It was a flash, but Kim Deuk-pal didn’t miss the change. But Choi Se-kyung doesn’t know, it’s not a day or two, and he’s not an old woman who reacts immediately to what he sees, so he stopped trying.

Outside, he acted nonchalant and looked at the fox cub, the fox cub, and the fox cub.

“Parents?”

“No, Mrs. Helper.”

“What’s going on?”

Se-kyung hesitated, then spoke up.