My daily life was always a boring monochromatic color.
Even the noise of smashing and trampling someone took on no color for me.
My world, which just repeated itself like a dead film.
You dropped with a thud onto that dry canvas.
A single, very transparent droplet that would stain my life, which seemed like it could never be mixed.
.
.
.
"Finally, my world has color, too."
Episode 1. The Transfer Student
Early morning, with crisp, cold air filling the air that stings the tip of the nose.
Sieun crosses the school hallway with a familiar gait, holding an old English vocabulary book in one hand.
“...abandon, give up. absolute, absolute.”
The softly murmured sentences scattered as white breath. Only the rhythmic sound of Sieun's footsteps echoed in the empty hallway. As she took the classroom key from deep inside her bag and opened the door, the ungreased door swung open with a sharp sound.
'Rumble-'
A dark, empty classroom. Sieun familiarized herself with the routine, turning on the light and opening the window to drive out the stale air that had lingered all night. Then, sitting in her seat, she inserted her earphones deep into her ears as if severing her connection with the world.
The colorless daily life begins again.
The classical melodies flowing through the earphones and the words in the vocabulary book were the only world Sieun was allowed.
How much time had passed? The bluish haze outside the window faded, and the sound of children dragging their sneakers could be heard from the hallway, one by one. The empty classroom quickly began to fill with noisy chatter.
However, Sieun did not lift her head. Relying on the melody flowing through her earphones, she kept her gaze fixed solely on the words in her vocabulary notebook. To Sieun, the surrounding noise was no different from the distant sound of machinery.
It was then.
'bang-!'
The moment the front door slammed against the wall with a harsh noise that shattered the silence, the noisy classroom fell silent as if cold water had been poured over it. A deep shadow fell over Sieun's desk. Piercing through the earphones was a voice mixed with a bitter laugh.
“Hey, Yeon Si-eun. Did you come early again today to play the ‘first place in the whole school’ game?”
A heavy hand brushed past Sieun's shoulder with a thud. Sieun's pen nib strayed long across the vocabulary notebook. It was the moment Sieun's canvas, which had been nothing but black and white, began to distort hideously.
Starting from that unsightly black line, the tension of the children, who had been holding their breath and observing the situation, suddenly released. Suppressed laughter and feigned relief burst out from here and there.
“Oh, what? I thought the teacher had come.”
“Hey, Kang Wooyoung! Go easy on him. Our top student was so startled he underlined words in his vocabulary notebook. Heh heh.”
The classroom was quickly filled with laughter. The children surrounded Sieun as if they had discovered an amusing spectacle, each throwing out a comment. The shadows cast around Sieun's desk swayed grotesquely.
However, Sieun did not lift his head. The music coming from his earphones had long since stopped, but he still pretended to be cut off from the world, staring only at the hideous lines on the vocabulary book.
Once again, Kang Woo-young's hand roughly struck the back of Sieun's head.
“Hey, Yeon Si-eun. Are you deaf? When someone talks to you, you should answer.”
Kang Wooyoung's bitter voice cut through the silence. Wooyoung snatched the earphones from Sieun's ears as if tearing them out mercilessly.
widely-'And. With a short, heavy scraping sound, the earphones rolled across the floor. Only then did Sieun slowly raise her head to look at Wooyoung. A gaze so dry it was transparent, without even a blink. At that indifferent look...
“This is unbelievable… Can’t you open your eyes properly? Didn’t you learn your lesson even after getting beaten up like that yesterday?”
Wooyoung's face contorted menacingly. Unable to hold back, Wooyoung's hand slashed through the air.
'match-!'With a sound, accompanied by a scream-like tear, Sieun's head snapped. A terribly red handprint bloomed on her pale cheek. More than the burning sensation spreading across her cheek, the unpleasant feeling of having her world invaded weighed heavily on the corners of her eyes. Amidst the throbbing pain, Sieun's pupils trembled slightly and began to turn red.
“Ah—this won’t do. You, just this once today—.”
The moment Wooyoung raised his hand high again.
'Rumble—'
The back door burst open roughly as someone entered. Wooyoung, who had stopped with a fierce look, turned his gaze toward the door. It was Leehan, with his bag slung loosely over one shoulder.
“Huh? Lee Han! You’re here? Why are you so late?”
The kids around him lit up and acted like they knew him. Wooyoung also awkwardly lowered the hand he had raised and clicked his tongue.
Ah, I overslept.
Lee Han walked into the classroom, replying indifferently. However, his gaze was fixed not on his friends, but on Sieun, who was hanging her head with her cheeks flushed red and swollen. Lee Han's brow furrowed slightly. Unable to take his eyes off Sieun, he turned toward Wooyoung.
“Hey, but I saw on the way here that the homeroom teacher was already almost here. Stop it.”
“Oh, really? Damn it… Hey, Yeon Si-eun. You should consider yourself lucky today.”
Wooyoung returned to his seat, fuming as if he hadn't quite let go of his anger. Even as Leehan walked past Sieun and sat down in his seat, he persistently scrutinized her flushed cheeks until the very end.
A short while later, the front door opened and the homeroom teacher came in.
And as a strange shadow followed in from behind, the classroom was instantly plunged into silence. The children's gazes fixed on Ahn Su-ho, who stood beside the homeroom teacher. A transfer student who had entered wearing a uniform but without a bag, with both hands stuffed deep into his pants pockets. His dark eyes languidly scanned the entire classroom.
Just as you can see, a new student has arrived. Don't fight, and get along well with everyone.
The homeroom teacher, who would normally have shouted irritably, showed a cautious demeanor toward Suho for some reason. The teacher asked Suho in a soft voice.
“Suho, could you introduce yourself to the kids before we go in?”
Ah, yes.
Suho answered briefly, a faint smile playing on his lips.
It's Ahn Su-ho. Let's get along well.
Suho's gaze slowly scanned the children's faces one by one. Then, it stopped at Sieun in the corner of the classroom, whose right cheek was swollen red and whose eyes still held a fever that had not yet dried.
Suho's eyes flashed strangely for a moment, as if he had discovered the only colored subject in a black-and-white movie. He murmured in a voice low enough for no one to hear.
“…You’re pretty.”
The homeroom teacher pointed to the empty seats in the back and said.
“Suho, the seat behind Sieun is empty over there, so go sit there.”
However, Suho stopped in front of the student sitting right next to Sieun, not the empty seat the homeroom teacher had pointed to. Without taking his hands out of his pockets, Suho looked down at the student, who looked visibly flustered, and gave a low command.
“I’d like to sit here. Can you move?”
“Uh…? Uh, that…”
The student sitting in the seat looked at the homeroom teacher in confusion. However, the teacher pretended not to see, quickly turned his head, and gestured for him to come out. Eventually, the student gathered his belongings and stood up, and only then did Suho seem satisfied as he slumped down right next to Sieun.
Suho rested his chin on his hand and stared intently at Sieun's flushed cheeks as she hung down beside him.
.
.
.
My world was always black and white.
And today, a very strange and vivid drop of water fell on that dry paper.