Dongsu, listening to Suhyuk’s math formulas, scratched his head hard. Even an alien language was more comprehensible to him than those math formulas.
“Let me go to the bathroom.”
“Are you going there to smoke a cigarette?”
He smiled awkwardly, saying, “As you know, I’ve been studying for one hour without stopping. It’s time for me to pee…”
“Do not smoke. It disturbs your studying.”
Dongsu made an expression as if he did not care.
“What does a cigarette have to do with studying? If I smoke, it seems like I can focus well,” said Dongsu.
Then Suhyuk replied, “Well, It takes about seven seconds for you to suck your nicotine into the brain. But that’s not the problem. It’s an effect on the brain. That’s the problem. Nicotine blocks the ability to transmit information between brain cells. In other words, you won’t be quick on the uptake. People are mistaken there. They say that as the amount of information perceived is small, their stress will be blown away. That’s addiction. The same applies to people who are affected by second-hand smoke.”
Dongsu was astonished by Suhyuk’s words. He is not only smart but also he knows a lot of things. Of course, there was something really different about a boy who was first in his class like him.
“You had better quit smoking from now on,” Suhyuk challenged him on purpose.
‘The more Dongsu feels suppressed, the greater the chance of me parting with him will be.’
After a deep sigh, Dongsu touched his head here and there.
Suhyuk’s eyes gleamed at it. He had been expecting some sort of reaction from Dongsu like this. ‘Yeah, just tell me you want to give up studying right away and go home.’ When Suhyuk’s face made a satisfying smile, Dongsu opened his mouth,
“Shall I really quit smoking this time?”
Dongsu silently stared at the cigarette box in his hand briefly, and then he crumpled the cigarette box with one hand.
“Ok, let me quit. What’s the big deal? Let me go to the bathroom.”
An embarrassed Suhyuk just looked at his back blankly.
……………………………………………………
Six days passed by.
After finishing their work in the reading room today, Suhyuk was going out with Dongsu.
Moving his head to the left and right to warm up, Dongsu opened his mouth.
“You believe I’m catching up with your teaching, right?”
Suhyuk nodded his head.
Yes, he really did. Of course, he had difficulties catching up initially because he lacked the basics for math, but now he could solve routine problems.
It was a great accomplishment. Suhyuk’s original intention to teach him intensively like Spartans gradually disappeared.
‘Can I tell him him I want to stop at this point for some urgent reason?’
Suhyuk shook his head.
That kind of behavior was typical of the Lee Suhyuk of the past, namely doing anything for his own benefit and spitting out promises like a half-chewed gum.
He decided he would never be the same as his past self.
“By the way, why do you want to study so suddenly?” asked Suhyuk.
Dongsu touched his head at his words, “I want to make my mother’s wish come true.”
His mother worked in a restaurant despite her suffering from sore knees.
Every time he got in trouble, she kept repeating to her son the same thing, “Please, come to your senses and study!” That was her wish.
“Wish?” Suhyuk asked.
“Yes, she says it’s her wish for her to be able to see me studying.”
Dongsu shook his head as if he were proud of himself. Suhyuk stopped walking and looked at him.
“Do you really want to study well?” Suhyuk asked.
Dongsu’s eyes sparkled glowingly.
“Shall we study all through the night?”
He really showed his strong determination. Suhyuk felt he could never kick him out.
‘Ok, as he has come this far, let me go with him to the end.’
“Tomorrow we’re going to study at a different place.”
“Why? Where?”
“You will come to know of it tomorrow.”
And then they split up.
…………………………………………………….
The next day.
After school, Suhyuk and Dongsu were standing at the main gate.
A foreign car approached them quietly.
Getting out of his car, the driver looked at Dongsu, with a grin.
“You’re Suhyuk’s friend. I heard about it.”
“Hello mister,” said Dongsu, bowing his waist and scratching his head awkwardly.
“Let’s go. Get in!”
The driver drove out of the school with them, and arrived at his boss, Kim Hyunwoo’s house in no time.
Woof! Woof! Woof!
Dongsu recoiled at the big lion dog’s barking. It was a huge single house like those that could be seen in TV dramas. Dongsu could not believe he was in such a house. He felt timid.
“Is your boss at home at this time?” Dongsu asked, wondering if the boss worked at all.
The driver nodded his head with a laugh.
The door opened and Suhyuk and Dongsu went in.
As expected, he was smoking and playing games.
“You just got here? Wait a minute.
“Ah.. I died here again.”
Standing up from his seat, he approached them.
And he looked at Dongsu. He heard from Suhyuk by phone yesterday that he would bring his friend.
Whether he would bring two or three, it did not matter to Kim Hyunwoo.
“You’re Suhyuk’s friend? Nice to meet you.”
“Hello sir” Dongsu bowed his head deeply.
He looked like a great man, though his attire made him look like a jobless man.
“What’s wrong with your head?”
He had his ugly head shaved cleanly, with its crown risen high.
When Dongsu touched his head shyly, Kim Hyunwoo opened his mouth again,
“It looks like a missile.”
At that moment, they heard the urgent voice of a woman inside.
“Madame, No! Please come this way.”
“I’m sick, I’m going to see the doctor!”
Then there appeared a middle-aged woman, who was none other than Kim Hyunwoo’s mother.
Suhyuk smiled at her brightly and then told Dongsu, “Let’s play.”