Spring Day 轉; knj + ksj

Clash of Ideals

I was dreading this moment so much. I was already using my precious one-hour of free time after school to tutor this ungrateful delinquent who was balancing a yellow pencil above his lips. We were studying in one of the study rooms at the school library. He had his chin plopped on top of his textbook while he was playing his stupid game. It was clear that he wasn't even interested in studying. He already made a fool out of the teachers and me when he shouted in that office.

"I'm not interested!" Jin pointed at me and blurted. He was squinting one eye and scrunching his whole face that made him look like some crinkled onion.

"Too bad," Mr. Lim uttered. "It's already fixed. If you don't pull up your grades, then I'm afraid you'll be repeating a grade. Are you sure your parents--"

"Fine! Fine! Fine!" Jin shrieked. "I'll do it. I'll let this four-eyed coconut head tutor me."

Coconut head?! Thinking about that statement already made me furious. Who did this pink alpaca think he was? Huh? If it weren't for the recommendation letter, I'd already have ignored him. He should have been grateful that I was even in this room and breathing the same air as him. So many students have asked me for help and I've mostly ignored their requests.

"Can you at least try to pay attention?" I lectured and reached forward to snatch the pencil from his lips.

"Hey!" Jin snapped at me as the pencil fell onto the table. "That wasn't very nice!"

"I'm only nice to people who deserve my respect," I told him.

With his chin still glued to his textbook, he glanced up at me and wondered aloud, "Have you ever thought of getting contacts and losing some weight?"

"Wh-Wh-What are you blabbing about?" I stammered before pushing my glasses up with my index finger.

"Just a thought," he mumbled.

"An-And what does that have to do with your learning?" I asked.

"If I had a better looking tutor, I'd be more engaged," he sighed while resting his cheek on the table now. "Imagine someone as sexy as Scarlet Johansson coming to teach me . . . then I'd be so motivated."

He sat upright with his mouth open; his hands were gesturing the size of her chest. He honestly looked like so much like a pervert that I smacked his head with my textbook. Then I remarked, "If you're interested in someone like her, then get your English grades up so you can communicate with her."

Jin chuckled at me as his shoulders jolted once. "I'm never leaving Korea," he muttered with a surprisingly wide smile.

"You stupid?" I grumbled. "There are planes these days. You can just fly anywhere. You can even travel by boat if you're scared of planes. Foreigners also come to Korea too. If you do well, you could potentially study abroad."

"Is that what you want to do?" he asked me abruptly in a very serious tone. "Study abroad?"

I scratched the back of my head and tilted my head to the side. "Well . . . I don't think I can--"

"Aren't you the hypocrite?" Jin sat back in his chair, leaning against it so far that I thought he'd fall off from his seat. With his arms crossed, he noted, "You say that if I do well enough, I'd be able to study abroad but you can't do that for yourself? What happened to you, Joon? When'd you start being so boring?"

His questions left me in shock. I really didn't know how to respond to them probably because I didn't want to face the answers. I didn't want to admit at that time that I had become so ordinary. I had no real purpose in life. I just wanted every day to pass by in a normal, steady manner. I was terrified of change because I didn't want to risk anything anymore.