Today I was bracing myself for another disaster.
But Thursday, miraculously, was... boring.
It was the most beautiful, glorious boredom I had ever experienced.
My schedule for the day was packed, but safe. Crucially, I had no combined classes with Class 2-A. That meant no Chae-rin. No death stares. No impossible demands to reinvent my face or reunite a broken band.
I decided, right there in the hallway, to exercise my right as a teenager: Procrastination.
All the other matters sounded like a problem for "Future San."
"Present San" just wanted to survive until Friday without ending up on Kirin's Secrets again.
Period 1: English (9:00 AM) was a breeze. While the other students struggled with nuanced prepositions, I just sat back. It was the one hour of the day where my brain didn't have to do gymnastics to understand basic instructions.
Period 2: Korean History (10:00 AM) with Ms. Choi. I walked in nervously, checking her blouse for coffee stains. She had changed into a fresh, crisp blazer, looking as professional as ever, though she did shoot a very suspicious, lingering look at (who was hiding behind a textbook) me. But she didn't say anything. We analyzed the Three Kingdoms period. I took notes. I didn't cause a diplomatic incident. Success.
Period 3: Music Technology (11:00 AM) was actually cool. We were in a computer lab that looked like NASA, learning the basics of mixing software. I kept my head down, fiddled with the faders, and enjoyed the fact that machines didn't judge my fashion sense.
Period 4: Korean Language (12:00 PM) humbled me, as usual. We were learning honorifics again. I spent forty minutes trying to figure out the difference between being polite to a grandmother and being polite to a boss. I probably wrote a sentence that insulted both, but the teacher just sighed and moved on.
Lunch was a covert operation. I grabbed a tray (pork cutlet, safe, non-liquid) and sat at the edge of Min-ah's table. I saw Chae-rin across the hall, eating gracefully. She didn't look at me. I didn't look at her. The truce was holding.
The viral video of "Masked Guy" was still the hot topic, but since I was currently looking like a tired student, no one connected the dots to the "swaggering rapper" from the club.
Period 5: Mathematics (1:50 PM) with Mrs. Smith. It turned out Mrs. Smith was terrifying. She taught math in English, which was fine, but she had eyes like a hawk. I spent the hour solving quadratic equations, grateful that numbers were the same in Ukraine and Korea.
Period 6: Ensemble Practice (2:50 PM). This was the danger zone. Room 2-B gathered in the practice room. Myung-Dae was there, in the back, noodling on a bass guitar. Jun-seo was in the front, organizing sheet music. The air was thick with their unresolved history, but since we weren't forced to interact, we just... existed. I played rhythm guitar for a generic pop cover the class was learning. I looked at Myung-Dae. I looked at Jun-seo.
Reunite them? I thought. Impossible.
I looked away. Not today.
Period 7: PE (3:50 PM). Coach Hong made us run laps. My orange tracksuit swished rhythmically. I ran. I sweated. I didn't dunk on anyone. God, fuck eveyone who thought that putting PE as one of the last periods would be a great idea. Spoiler - IT'S NOT!
Period 8: Modern Music History (4:50 PM). Mr. Kang lectured about the evolution of K-pop fandoms. I almost fell asleep, lulled by his monotone voice.
And then... the bell rang.
I stood up, blinking. It was over. I had survived an entire day at Kirin Arts High School without a single catastrophe. No fights. No falling. No accidentally groping strangers.
I walked to the bus stop with Ha-neul. The sun was setting, casting long shadows.
We got on the 143 bus. It was crowded, but quiet. The frantic energy of the morning had burned off, leaving everyone tired. Jun-seo had stayed behind for a Student Council meeting, so it was just us.
We stood side-by-side, swaying with the bus.
"You were quiet today," Ha-neul said, not looking up from her phone.
"I'm trying a new strategy," I said, leaning against the pole. "It's called 'being invisible'."
"It suits you," she murmured, chuckling.
We walked from the bus stop to the house in silence. When we unlocked the front door, the house was dark and completely silent.
No shouting about giraffes. No drunken summits. No clinking of dishes. Just the low hum of the refrigerator and the ticking of the grandfather clock.
"It's... quiet," I whispered, feeling weirdly unsettled. "Where are they?"
"Dad is at the clinic. Mom is probably at a charity gala or yoga," Ha-neul said, kicking off her shoes and lining them up perfectly. "And Oppa is definitely asleep or at work."
She walked into the kitchen, poured a glass of water, and leaned against the counter.
"It's usually like this," she said, seeing my confusion. "The last two days... that was the start-of-semester madness. The frantic energy." She gestured around the empty, pristine kitchen. "Now the routine begins. We're busy people, San-ssi. We exist in the same house, but we have our own orbits."
It felt a little lonely. But also... peaceful.
"Right," I said. "Routine."
Ha-neul set her glass down and turned to the stairs. She paused on the first step, looking back at me. Her expression was serious, the "Ice Princess" mask slightly softer in the dim light.
"And San-ssi?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't get too distracted," she said, tapping her finger on her temple. "By the band. Or Chae-rin. Or the 'Masked Rapper' nonsense. Or anything that they post on Kirin's Secret. I added it just for you to feel included, not to fully swim in the rumors forgeting about studying."
I stiffened.
"This is Kirin," she continued. "The arts classes are fun, but the academics are brutal. If your grades drop, the scholarship committee won't care how well you can rap or how many friends you make. They'll just send you home."
It was a splash of cold water. She wasn't being mean. She was giving me actual advice.
"Don't neglect your studies," she finished. "I'm going to my room. Don't make noise."
She turned and disappeared upstairs.
I stood alone in the foyer, the silence pressing in on me. The "routine" had begun. And honestly? I was glad. I needed the quiet.
I walked up to my room, threw my backpack on the bed, and for the first time since arriving in Seoul, I actually opened my math textbook to study.