79. Unchanged, Even in Second Year (5)

I entered the movie theater arm-in-arm with Aki, my mind so elsewhere that after a blink, the movie was already over.

‘The pamphlet clearly advertised it as the blockbuster hit of mid-year…’

But after seeing it, I couldn’t recall a single scene, only the lingering sensation of ‘softness….’

“Uhh, that was fun…!”

Aki, who had been glued to me throughout the entire film, seemed remarkably satisfied, unlike me.

Aki walked beside me, her gaze drawn to the posters advertising other currently playing movies.

“Woo-joo~chan, should we watch that one next time?”

“Huh? What, which one?”

“That one, Alien: Romulus.”

“……”

That’s a sci-fi horror movie.

I stared at Aki in silence.

Aki, not entirely serious either, leaned her head on my shoulder with a playful laugh.

“Hehe, just kidding. Let’s watch Léon, Léon.”

“Léon? Ah, looks like it’s been re-released?”

I knew that movie. If I remember right, the story was a revenge drama that began when a killer protagonist ends up protecting a heroine whose family was slaughtered by corrupt cops.

Given the subject matter, it was controversial, but a masterpiece so well-made that it overshadowed all the debate. Definitely worth making time to watch properly at least once.

“Yeah, but it’ll probably be gone soon, right? It premiered in April or May, so it must be nearing the end of its run.”

“Then I should hurry. Next week, or maybe this weekend…?”

“Ah, wait a sec. This weekend’s no good?”

“Huh? Why? You have plans?”

“Yep, I have plans with Uju~chan.”

“You have plans…with me?”

I don’t recall making any plans.

Well, sure, we meet every day without actually planning, but still. There was no mention of us hanging out specifically this weekend. So I just stared at her, as if to say, ‘What are you talking about?’ and Aki flashed her characteristic smile, batting her big eyes.

“We were going to that private pool villa we missed last year, remember?”

“Umm, were we…?”

“Yup, yup, and there’s more. Next week is the beach, and the week after that is the water park. And the week after that…”

Aki rattled off a string of plans I wasn’t aware of.

I listened quietly to the five weeks worth of commitments – private villa, beach, water park, swimming pool, hotel spa – and then chuckled, tickling Aki under the chin.

“It’s great to have fun, but if we spend every weekend on overnight trips like that, when will you study?”

“I study even when I have fun. And didn’t Uju~chan say? You get more done when you play hard and study hard?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

Even taking that into account, this feels like too much playing. No denying it, we’d be spending an entire weekend every single week just having fun.

‘Well, I do want to hang out with Aki…’

But at least until the university entrance exams are over, we should moderate ourselves. I gently smoothed Aki’s bangs and said,

“Let’s limit the fun to once every two weeks, and just make it a day trip.”

“Ehh, once every two weeks…? And just a day trip, tooo…?!”

“Yeah, I think that’s how it needs to be. At least until after the university applications are all done.”

“The entrance exam is still a year and a half away! We should just playing so strict until then…?!”

She pouted her lips as if she didn’t like it, her eyes silently asking, ‘Are you serious…?’

For a moment, I almost caved in to my girlfriend’s cute *aegyo*, but I steeled my resolve and nodded.

“Until we both decide on a university, let’s stick to an 80/20 balance. No more than that.”

“Playing’s the ticket, right? Eight out of ten?”

“Nope. Studying is eight out of ten.”

“……Tch. I want to play with Woo-joo~”

“Let’s play a lot after the university entrance exams are over. Nobody will stop us from playing then, no matter what.”

“…….”

Aki fell silent.

Suddenly, she seemed lost in thought, muttering and humming to herself.

“Okay, I get it. But.”

“Yeah, but?”

“Instead, after the exams, let’s go on a trip together.”

“A trip? Hmm…. Alright. Where to?”

If I could just get through the biggest hurdle of all, the university exams, what couldn’t I do for her? I asked with a light heart.

“We’re going to two places. Japan and France.”

“Japan and France…. Ah, perhaps…?”

Was she thinking of visiting her parents’ hometowns?

I asked with just my eyes, and Aki nodded in confirmation.

“Yeah, we’ll go to Papa and Mama’s family homes to say hello. ‘We’re getting married soon~’, we’ll tell them.”

“……Married?”

“Yeah, married. After the entrance exams, aren’t Woo-joo~ and I going to live together?”

To naturally disguise cohabitation as marriage.

For a moment, I didn’t know what was wrong and almost agreed without thinking.

……Well, of course.

It’s not like I dislike the idea of marrying Aki.

No, I rather like it.

I like it, but. Separate from that, there’s a real-world problem. And that’s the military.

I was born a man in the Republic of Korea, so whether I like it or not, I have to serve in the military for a year and a half. Unless I have some hidden illness I don’t know about.

“Getting married is nice, but first, shouldn’t I go to the military?”

“Ah, that’s right…. There’s the military, isn’t there?”

“Yeah, so–”

“Then, we’ll get married and then you’ll go to the military.”

“…….”

Speech failed me, caught in my throat.

Aki, as if struck by a brilliant idea, nodded emphatically, then with a sharp, “Ah!” clutched my forearm even tighter.

“No, wait. Didn’t they say if you have three kids before going to the army, you get an exemption? Woojoo~chan, maybe we should just, like, make a baby right away?”

“Huh? No, I…”

“If we start from twenty, we could pop out three kids by twenty-three or twenty-four. A son that looks like Woojoo~chan and a daughter that looks like me, and another one that’s half of both of us…”

Passersby, their eyes wide, stared at us. Understandably so. Here were Aki and I, still in our high school uniforms, linked arm in arm, discussing popping out three kids. Anyone would look.

Before these nameless faces could start whispering, I quickly clapped my hand over Aki’s mouth. Then, I corrected her misinformation.

“Mmph, mmm…!”

“…There’s no exemption for having three kids. That’s just an old wives’ tale, a total fabrication. Got it?”

“Mph, wooph…”

Nod nod.

Aki nodded her head as if she understood.

I slowly lowered my hand.

“Woojoo~chan, really? Korea doesn’t give exemptions for having babies?”

“Nope. But I heard if you have kids, you’re more likely to get assigned to a regular conscription.”

“Regular conscription means…you still have to go to the army. No full exemptions?”

“Yeah, unless you’re sick or something, there are no full exemptions.”

“Eeeh, really? That’s insane. In Israel, you get an exemption just for having one kid!”

Aki, as if it was happening to her, furrowed her brow fiercely.

Wanting to soothe her, I started walking slowly forward, and said a word.

“It can’t be helped. It’s the law.”

“If it’s the law, they should rewrite it. They’re trying to raise the low birth rate anyway, shouldn’t they say ‘thank you~’ and not send you to the army if you have a baby?”

“Don’t get so worked up…Here.”

Prepared for moments like this, I unwrapped a mini chocolate bar and fed it to Aki.

Aki took the chocolate, with its alphabet letter imprinted on the surface, obediently, and crunched it between her teeth with a noise that sounded like pebbles grinding, muttering,

“If there are no exemptions… Well, I guess we’ll have to get him sent to a regular conscription then. I can’t go a year and a half without seeing Woojoo~chan’s face…”

“What are you planning to do?”

“What else? Make a baby right as we turn twenty, of course.”

“…You’re not serious, are you?”

I lowered my gaze, meeting Aki’s eyes.

They were earnest.

“Don’t worry. I already got permission from our Mama and Papa. Once your mother and father arrive from Korea, we just need to get their blessings then…!”

“………Want to go see a baseball game?”

“Ah, baseball? I love baseball! But I wonder if the Lotte Giants have a game today~?”

* * *

And so time flowed on.

Half a year.

Exactly half a year had passed since Aki made her peculiar vow to get me employed as a full-time staff member, no matter what.

Happy moments always flit by, they say. It felt like just yesterday that Aki and I became classmates, yet already we were in our third year.

“Oh, look at that. You and Joo Woo-joo are in the same class again?”

“I told you in a message as soon as the class assignments went up online. You didn’t check again, did you?”

“Of course not. Why would I look at something like that?”

Unlike our second year, when almost all the faces I knew were crammed into our class, this third year, it was almost entirely unfamiliar faces.

Out of 24 students, I could only say I truly *knew* three people, besides Myung-hoon from the basketball club.

But, the consolation was that those three made for a pretty well-rounded bunch.

“Woo-joo, let’s get along this year~”

First, there was Kim Seung-woo, with whom I’d been in a different class in second year.

Second, the girl I had introduced to Seung-woo.

“Ah, Seung-woo-yaaa~!”

“Uh-oh….”

“I’m so glad we’re in the same class this time around, aren’t you~?”

No, now I ought to call her Seung-woo’s ‘girlfriend’, Lee Ha-ram.

And then, the last, the third.

“…It was a good thing I slipped away a bit that time, wasn’t it?”

Who had stealthily crept up behind me, whispering in my ear.

My girlfriend, Aki.

Those three, in total, were the friends I shared a class with in my third year.

“But they’re so stubborn, too. I mean, how can you just be ‘seeing each other’ for six whole months before you start dating? Someone should have confessed a little sooner.”

“……..”

“That’s true enough. Though I don’t think we’re the ones to talk, seeing as how we’ve been flirting for nearly eleven years…?”

The urge to say that was a burning fire in my chest, but I held it back. I didn’t want to poke the bear and have him come bother me while I was studying, peppering k*sses on my cheek and the nape of my neck as “punishment.”

‘Maybe it’s because I’m really feeling the pressure of being a senior now….’

He’d been acting up more and more lately with his subtle teasing, hadn’t he?

Like sitting across from me and nudging my bare legs with his own, or sneaking up and breathing on my ear.

Or when I was hunched over my workbook, he’d call out, “Woo-joo~chan, how do you solve this problem?” to make me look up, then subtly tug at his already loosened school uniform shirt with a finger, flashing me a peek inside.

“Right?”

“Yeah, I guess so…”

Still. Just one more year of hardship and the entrance exams will be over. Once we pass the age of studying together, I won’t be able to see Aki’s teasing even if I wanted to. We could go to the same university, but there’s no guarantee we’d be in the same department.

“Woo-joo~chan, what should we do for fun this year?”

“Cut back on the fun and study. I’m a senior now.”

“Tch, so boring…”

“It’s just for a little while, even if it’s boring. Once the exams are over, I’ll play with you until you beg me to stop.”

“……Heh, that sounds a little naughty.”

“How, exactly?”

“Saying you won’t stop even if I tell you to? Heh heh…. Woo-joo~chan, you’re being lewd. So ecchi…! You want to torment Atashi that much~?”

“…….”

If I didn’t know anything else, I knew this one thing.

Aki hadn’t changed a bit, even as a senior in high school.