Chapter Text
Yoon Jeonghan, nurse at Cheodong high school, had a well defined routine.
He woke up every morning, did his breathing exercises for ten minutes then took a shower ; he combed his auburn hair, got dressed and took the bus at 6h10 to be at the school at seven.
There, he did like every student late : run the hill as quick as possible before the main entrance closed.
“You know nothing will happen to you, mister…” said a student, breathing hardly, while they both passed the entrance “if you’re late.”
“I’m doing that to show you all that even adults have to be on time.” He replies, winking.
The truth was that his heart was always pounding harder when he saw the guards banging their wooden sticks (always made to intimidate, never to punish) on the concrete of the steep road.
After the hill test, he would arrive in his office, put on his blouse and sit at his desk. And spend the rest of his day sitting there, doing nothing—
"Good morning, Mr. Yoon."
A man in his 30s had just entered. It took only a second for Jeonghan to recognize the cleanly combed black hair and firm eyes with long lashes.
Choi Seungcheol was the new principal of Cheodong High School. He had arrived a months ago and he had captivated everyone. He was a handsome man, cultured and polite; his mother must have been proud of him. And all the women, crazy about him.
Jeonghan got up and gave the man a short salute.
"Good morning, Mr. Choi. What can I do for you?”
“I wanted to ask you to participate in the monthly meeting that will take place tonight. I sent you an email but you didn't reply so I came to see you in person.”
“Oh... Sorry, I don't check my emails every day...”
The nurse observed the principal begin to walk around the small infirmary, study every corner of the room carefully and judge the general state of the place. He didn't like it too much.
"Anyway, I'll come. Thank you so much for coming here.” he said, hoping that the man would stop his inspection. To no avail. The principal began to bypass the office because, for some reason that was completely unknown to Jeonghan, he felt comfortable enough to break through this invisible, implicit barrier.
Mr. Choi laid eyes on the blue rabbit stuffed animal on the shelf behind Jeonghan and pointed his finger at it.
He took another step, getting a little closer to the nurse. Unfortunately, he did not see Jeonghan’s backpack on the ground and intertwined his feet in it resulting in a loss of balance.
He fell on the nurse who narrowly caught up with him.
Flap!
The door of the infirmary opened.
"Mr. Yoon, Mina is—" exclaimed a young girl with her friend in her arm. She froze, her eyes wide open, surprised. Suddenly her mouth closed and she began to blush. "S-sorry to bother you sir but...” She seemed to hesitate and it was her friend's complaints that encouraged her to pursue "Mina has a very bad stomachache.”
Jeonghan gently pushed Mr. Choi away and bypassed the desk to help the student place her friend on one of the beds hidden by a curtain. He took the temperature of the teenager and asked her a few questions. He turned to retrieve a heating pad when he realized that the principal had not moved since the accident.
"I will come to the meeting Mr. Choi, thank you," he said simply. The principal instantly understood the message and left.
What was that? thought Jeonghan. Then he remembered that the final episode of his series was for tonight and wept inwardly thinking that he should watch it later since he had said he would go to the meeting.
It is not that this kind of meeting was unnecessary but Jeonghan did not see any interest in his presence. He was not a teacher and therefore had no impact or power on the students; he didn't even know the face of most of them and he knew that a rumor was circulating about him (it said he was a ghost that only materializes at the entrance of the school in the morning and in the hallways once the end of the day arrived). And since those who arrived late were always the same, only a handful of students knew about him not being a ghost. And the administration, which preferred to send sick students home without sending them to the infirmary at first, did not help.
In short. Jeonghan was a ghost for the students... and the teachers too, it would seem.
"We have an infirmary?" said one teacher, staring suspiciously at Jeonghan.
"Unbelievable...” another professor whispered as if this information called into question all his beliefs.
Jeonghan looked up at the sky, irritated. What kind of school does not have an infirmary? Is it even legal not to have one?
A hand landed on his shoulder and he startled inwardly—because Jeonghan could not startle; his whole being harden and his legs became weak, but he did not startle: there was never visible evidence of his surprise.
"Mr. Yoon has been working here for almost five years now and you didn't know?" said the principal, frowning. "How does that happen? What do you do with sick students?”
The poor man did not know in which school he had set foot...
"He never showed up, sir," explained another teacher, "The administration contacts the parents of the sick student on its own to pick him up.”
“What about those whose parents can't come?”
Silence in the meeting room was the only response.
Mr. Choi did not seem to know how to react and Jeonghan, suffocating under the general embarrassment, decided to intervene:
"I understand that I've gone under the radar, after all the infirmary is at the end of a corridor and no one ever ventures into it." The two girls this morning were only there because one of them were among the recidivist latecomers. "So I thought we could put posters on the bulletin board and in the hallways so that the students would... know that they can come to me if they don't feel well.”
Jeonghan hadn't spoken so much in a long time; he was slightly out of breath.
"It's not a bad idea," one teacher smiled, "And now that we know there's an infirmary, we're going to be able to send our students there too."
Jeonghan nodded. The principal's hand slipped from his shoulder and he turned his gaze toward him. He had not realized that his hand had remained on his shoulder for so long — neither had Mr. Choi, given his expression.
"Good. Now that this is settled, let's move on to the gym topic.”
Jeonghan nodded, looking focused. He still spend the rest of the meeting into his thoughts.
Mr. Choi suddenly spoke a little louder than before and Jeonghan laid his eyes on him. He looked young, probably a little older than Jeonghan. Tall and muscular, a square jaw, not a wrinkle on the face, long lashes and hair styled with application ... He was an attractive man. He looked like that stable, strong man figure that the media liked to portray as women's favorite type. He was also a pleasure for men's eyes ; Jeonghan was well placed to know.
Is Mr. Choi married? he wondered, Hum... No alliance. He looks like a secret man, it would not be surprising if he removed it before work.
"Isn't that true Mr. Yoon?" said the man he was observing.
Jeonghan stood up a little, blushing.
"Absolutely," he replied, with a voice much more stable than his inner state.
Mr. Choi nodded and then resumed where he had interrupted and Jeonghan returned to his thoughts.
"Well. Good job everyone.” Mr. Choi said, clapping once in his hands. "Good evening to all of you."
The whole faculty set in motion like a machine and everyone gathered their belongings to leave. A few groups formed to discuss lighter topics, such as Mrs. Kim's cat, which had just given birth to five kittens.
Jeonghan, wishing only to go home and sleep until the following Monday, quietly left the room.
He went first to the exit before turning around; he had to come to his office to clean it. He liked to find it clean on Monday morning but for that he had to tidy it up a little on Friday.
It took him forty minutes to arrive at a satisfactory result -largely because he had fallen asleep, leaning on the broom.
Quietly, he headed down the black hallways of the high school towards the exit. His keys, rotating around his index finger, resonated pleasantly with each of his steps. He arrived in the entrance and had no trouble opening the door; the others were probably still in the meeting room.
He went out and stopped in front of the stairs. He looked up at the sky; almost a full moon.
"Should I take you home?" someone said behind his back.
"Ah, Principal Choi, it's you." although he saw the man a little earlier, he greeted him again "Don't worry about me, I'll take the bus.”
“At this hour? I know you are not used to going home so late, especially for a meeting that only concerned you for five minutes. Taking you home is the least I can do to make amends.”
Jeonghan shrugged.
"There isn't really anything to be forgiven." Mr. Choi seemed to want to insist again, and since Jeonghan didn't really have the strength to continue this exchange any longer, he added, "But I confess that going home in ten minutes instead of forty is very tempting."
Mr. Choi's gaze lit up and the corner of his lips trembled a little, as if he were holding back a smile.
"Good. I just have to lock the door and then we can go.” he sounded a little more happy than before; Jeonghan thought he made the right decision by accepting his offer.
They didn't say anything about the whole trip and Jeonghan was relieved that it lasted only ten minutes.
"It's here," he said, pointing to the building next to his —he wasn't crazy, he barely knew the principal, he wasn't going to give him his address (he forgot that the man already had access to this kind of information).
"I live a little further away," Mr. Choi said, and Jeonghan smiled politely. It's not that he didn't care, but a little anyway.
"Good evening, sir.”
“You too.”
Jeonghan gently closed the car door and Mr. Choi gave him a little smile before starting his car.
The nurse waited for him to disappear at the end of the street to go home.
What a strange vision, he mused, thinking of the principal's face, even his smile is beautiful.