Five minutes before I die

03. The Truth of That Day (1)

*Continues from Chapter 1.



































Choi Yeonjun looked at me, his expression twisting slightly as if he’d noticed something, then he gave a crooked smirk.


"What’s going on here?"


....


That’s what I want to ask....


"Long time no see, sir."
"Ah, so I’m not your teacher anymore."
"Baek Eunyang? Baek Eun-ssi?"


Choi Yeonjun crouched down and sat on one knee in front of me, where I was squatting.


"...What are you...?"


"Why are you crying, teacher? What’s so hard?"
"Did you know you looked the happiest out of all the teachers at our school?"


Hearing that, I realized.
Iwas happy as a teacher.


"....It’s because of you."


"What?"


"You ruined my life, the one that had been so happy."


"What do you mean I ruined it?"

“No, fine.”

“Let’s say I ruined it.”

“And?”

”And then you-“

"You’re the one who ran away."

”…Selfish bastard.“

Knock, knock, knock-

Rattle-

"Teacher."

For some reason, Yeonjun knocked and opened the teachers’ office door.

"Oh, Yeonjun."

"Come in."

Yeonjun trudged over and stood in front of my desk.

Tall as a telephone pole, too.

"What is it?"

"I want to leave early."

Damn.... Of course.

"...."

"Why? Are you sick?"

"I’m sleepy."

"The teachers keep nagging at me, so I thought I’d just go home and sleep."

I laughed in disbelief.

"hahaha...."

"Are you kidding me...?"

"I’m serious."

"Should I call your grandma?"

"You want to leave early because you’re sleepy?"

"No, really, can’t you let me off just this once?"

"No. Go back in."

"No...."

Yeonjun swept back his black hair.

"Yeonjun, if I were you, I’d sleep now and reduce my fatigue."

"There are scientifically proven research results that say when you’re tired from studying, if you take a quick nap for about 10 to 15 minutes, the sleepiness goes away, and the research concl......"

"No, I don’t care. I’m not talking about 10 or 15 minutes—I just want to sleep straight through."

"....."

This bastard is serious........

"ㅎㅎㅎㅎ"

"That’s fun, isn’t it?"

"Nope, sleeping is fun."

"Get going already?!"

"I’m really calling her."

"Ugh, seriously."

PM 5:30

Phew- Today was another exhausting day.

Finally off work, damn!!!!!!!

Hehe, what should I eat when I get home?

After getting off work, I stopped by a side-dish shop on my way home.

"Ah, should I have just gotten tteokbokki?"

"Hmm.... no, Mom said to eat something healthy, so I’ll just have rice!"

As I was walking and muttering to myself, I spotted someone and froze.

It was Choi Yeonjun.

But what the hell is he doing now?

Choi Yeonjun was yelling at someone I could only assume was his grandma.

"Why are you going, whyyyy!!!"

No, that rude bas—

"You were just sick in bed until a few days ago, so why are you going out to work!!"

"If I’m gonna feed you, I have to go out, you son of a bitch-"

"I already earn money doing part-time work! That should be enough, so why are you going out to make more money!!"

"What if you collapse!"

"Shut up. Go inside, you old geezer."

"Working that lousy job barely makes ten thousand won a day, so why bother going!!"

"Grandma, you’re not fully recovered yet!"

"I know my own body, you brat."

"Aren’t you coming inside already?"

With that, his grandma went somewhere else.

I could only watch sadly as that scene unfolded....

Then I met Yeonjun’s eyes.

Feeling awkward, I smiled and waved.

Yeonjun stared at me intently.

"..Yeonjun!..."

"Did you eat...?"

“…”

"No."

I rummaged through my bag and took out the side dishes.

"Here."

"Go eat with your grandma."

“You didn’t buy that for you, teacher?”

”....Well, yes, but.”

“I suddenly felt like eating something else.”

“Don’t skip meals-”

“…”

“Thank you.”

It felt strange to hear Yeonjun say something kind and positive to me for the first time.

I opened my mouth in the silence.

“…By the way, that...”

“If you ever need help from an adult, contact your teacher.”

“Okay?”

“Why would I?”

Ha... I thought it was going to end on a heartwarming note for once, damn.

”No.. just.“

”Maybe, I’ve got some use somewhere?“

“Call me then.. you brat-“

”lol, I’m kidding.”

“Alright.”

“Ahem.”

“Ah, I’m hungry.”

“I’m heading out now?”

“See you tomorrow.”

“Ah, teacher.”

”Yeah?“

”….“

”Ah, never mind.“

”I’ll head out first.“

”Yeah- eat well.“

His personality had definitely gotten better....

The next day, I called Choi Yeonjun into the teachers’ office.

“Choi Yeonjun!”

“Sit down in front of me.”

“Ha... why?”

“You slept and came back again.”

“I told you to sleep at home..”

“No, why did you call me?”

“Last time, we didn’t finish your counseling session.”

“Because you left in the middle.”

“So I’m trying to finish what we didn’t.”

“Ah, okay-”

“Just answer comfortably.”

“Don’t feel too awkward.”

“Ah, I don’t care, so please just finish quickly.”

“…”

“Um...”

“Do you stay in contact with your parents?”

”…”

“Only with my mom.”

“Ah... so not with your dad.”

“Why...?”

“I don’t even know what my dad does for a living.”

“I don’t know his face either, and I have no memories.”

“I see...”

“But the person you live with now is your paternal grandma.”

“Your paternal grandma is your dad’s mother.”

“I don’t get along with my dad either.”

“We just cut off all ties.”

”Hmm...“

”Do you get along with your mom?“

When Choi Yeonjun brought up his mom, he went quiet.

“Just answer as comfortably as you can!”

“I called you when the teachers’ office was empty because I wanted you to feel at ease.”

“With my mom...”

“It’s good, but I think it might be bad too.”

“Good but bad...?”

“Can I ask what you mean?”

“My mom...”

“Is good to me.”

“Then you get along well!”

“But I grew up being abused by my mom.”

“...”

“Huh..?”

“Wh...what do you mean..?”

Choi Yeonjun rolled up his school shirt sleeve and showed me a scar.

“When I was six, I got stabbed with a knife while trying to stop my mom from causing a drunken scene.”

The scar was so large and deep it was unpleasant to look at.

“That must have hurt a lot.”

“Yeonjun must have had it really hard.”

A few hours later, something decisive happened at school.

If this hadn’t happened, maybe I’d still be a teacher now.

Around 12:50, right in the middle of lunch, the kids were noisy.

At that time, I was eating in the cafeteria when our class president came to find me.

“Teacher, Choi Yeonjun’s in a fight right now!”

“They’re going at it like crazy!!”

Hearing that, I jumped up immediately and ran.