.
Shortly after, Yoon Jung In came back and made a loud announcement, which astonished us all.
“Hey, we’re going on a retreat!”
“Oh, retreat? Didn’t we go last year? Are we having another one?”
“That’s too much.”
“Perhaps there’s a cozy relationship between the school and retreat. Don’t you think we need some investigation here?”
“A cozy relationship? Haha, you’re so funny!”
After the kids complained about the upcoming event, Yoon Jung In re-announced again, scratching the back of his head, “My bad, it’s a school trip.”
“Oh!”
Kids shrieked in relief, ‘Yoon Jung In, are you kidding me?’ or ‘You’re indeed who you are, Yoon Jung In.’ However, they soon walked toward the computer in a stampede with a solemn expression on their faces, then tossed coins into the metal case.
So, what was the school trip? It was a one-and-only event for high school students. Kids in the same school had a nice two or three-day getaway in the suburbs, entertaining themselves with many things to see, eat, drink, and play.
Even the adults indulged in reminiscence like, ‘Oh yeah, things were just better in the good old days’ or ‘We had those moments back then,’ when they heard the word ‘school trip.’
Although both the school trip and retreat forced us to follow their schedules, there was a huge difference between the two. Teachers didn’t wake us up at six in the morning during the school trip, nor did we get any boot camp training. Even the instructors there didn’t patrol at night with wide-open eyes!
So, that was a brief explanation about the school trip. Now, we could make a rough guess about what role it was playing in many different romance comics or web novels.
They say a web novel without an episode of a school trip doesn’t belong to this genre of work. That’s, of course, spoken by me; I just made it up, sorry.
“Ahem.” Around that moment, I stopped thinking and cleared my throat. Shaking my head sideways, I murmured, ‘Dang, screw it!’
It’s been about two years. I was now sick and tired of overreacting, ‘Law of the web novel, article something!’ whenever something happened. If I were a reader of this novel, these reactions would have felt already so lame.
Above all, I wasn’t the Ham Donnie anymore, who feared and trembled every day at the uncertainty of things occurring around me! Being armed with such things––my solid friendship with Ban Yeo Ryung, my boyfriend’s support, and my parent’s gift, the new phone––I was the new Ham Donnie, version 2.0 or 3.0.
That was when Yoon Jung In shouted, “They say the destination is Jeju-do!”
As if I had waited for this moment, I screamed, “Am I getting trapped in a cave after taking a night walk?!”
“What?” asked Yoon Jung In, staring at me in wonder.
I quickly shook my head, then knuckled me on the head. Idiot, didn’t I just say I’m done with overreacting to every new event?
Returning to my habit less than a few minutes, I felt somehow relieved, then fell into thought, looking at Yoon Jung In.
Kim Hye Hill murmured from beside me, “Are you okay…?”
“Yeah, yeah, they say uncertainty is our biggest enemy. I’ll choose from start to end what’ll happen in our school trip.”
She replied, “But that depends on the school’s decision, not yours…”
Kim Hye Hill murmured concernedly that perhaps I wasn’t feeling well. However, I revealed a satisfied smile, thinking that my years of experience would be used in these kinds of things.
So, let’s get back to the school trip story.
Three things can happen in school trips: things that take place during our stay in the hotel; something during the talent show; other random incidents.
First of all, things that could occur in the hotel included having a pillow fight, drawing on someone’s face, or playing truth or dare. We often did the first two in elementary school and middle school, so those didn’t mean to me.
‘Playing truth and dare is the thing here!’ I clenched my fist. Our class didn’t do this during the retreat, which lingered in my mind so much.
Cupping my face with my hands, I murmured, “At least, someone’s gonna confess their love in truth and dare.”
Sitting quietly across my seat, Kim Hye Woo replied to my monolog, “But you have a boyfriend.”
Of all occasions, Lee Mina, who had a loud voice, heard his remark. Looking startled, she asked me, “Oh my god! Donnie, were you trying to cheat on him?!”
“Ugh, what are you talking about, Lee Mina!” I flinched but soon bit my lips, taking a coin out of my pocket and tossing it in the metal case with a clink.
Expressing my feelings of regret, I asked myself, ‘Is this necessary? Although it’s me who proposed this game, now it’s too…’
Anyway, I returned to my seat and drew a big X on truth and dare in my list. Playing this game without any love confessions had no fun. Most of the people around me such as Kim Hye Hill and Lee Mina all had boyfriends to think of it.
With my head in my hands, I chewed the end of my pen. It was time to move on to the second one, things that could happen during a talent show.
“Is it then confessing their love in public?” I uttered to myself.
“What?! Ham Donnie, are you gonna publicly confess your crush at the talent show…?”
I immediately covered Kim Hye Woo’s mouth with my hand, who was enunciating each word so loudly like a human megaphone. Geez, now I’d come to think of it, he was doing this on purpose!
I was lost in thoughts again. It would be, of course, not me who would get confessed in public, but if there was someone who could…
“… Ban Yeo Ryung, cheer up,” I uttered, then removed the word ‘talent show’ from my list.
Reaching the last situation––a random incident––I wrote down the possibility of ‘calling out someone to confess their love,’ then crossed it out again. Smiling aimlessly, I shouted, “Alright, nothing would happen in this school trip. No fun at all!”
Writing something on the blackboard, Yoon Jung In murmured in perplexity, “Hey, Ham Donnie, do you think that’s appropriate to say during our school trip discussion?”
“Oh, sorry, that was just my opinion. No offense.”
“I mean, above all, we aren’t going to lose that easily this time!” addressed Yoon Jung In, pounding the lectern.
I threw an apathetic glance at him. Did he just say losing easily? That didn’t slip out of my mouth though. Anyway, by whom were we getting defeated? Were we fighting with someone?
His following words then made me realize what he’d been thinking.
“That’s because not only do we have Yi Ruda in our class, but now we have Ban Hwee Hyul as well!”
“Dude, Ruda’s name today is Rumi.”
“…”
Looking frustrated, Ruda quietly covered his face behind his hands.
Meanwhile, Yoon Jung In tossed a coin to the metal case and continued, “Anyway, we now have two people of great talents in our class. So, using this can turn the game around in this year’s talent show. That’s what I’ve been thinking.”
His remark put me back into a whirlpool of mixed feelings.
‘Yoon Jung In, the two boys, whom you’re talking about as if you’ve successfully created a rare Pokémon collection, are actually the main characters of a web novel… Do you have any idea of it?’
Amid the situation, other kids seemed like they had found some enlightenment.
“Oh, that makes sense.”
“Right, don’t you think Ban Hwee Hyul can do some cool dance moves?”
As the kids gradually showed positive reactions, the air began to get heated. With a look of embarrassment, Ban Hwee Hyul touched his new glass frames.
After the doctor advised that he would likely have impaired vision, Ban Hwee Hyul changed his glasses to a non-prescription one. He was now flaunting his handsome appearance, but at the same time, we had to, of course, accept him being a ticking time bomb.
The moment when everyone chanted ‘We’re the winner! Give us the prize!’ in excitement, Shin Suh Hyun threw a wet blanket.
“Last year’s talent show wasn’t about the actors. The problem was the script.”
“…”
“You all need to think twice if you don’t want to end up cleaning other places as a punishment.”
In the end, those who’re from Class 1-8 last year came up with the memory of cleaning the shower room the next day morning, which was the result of our class ranking the lowest at the talent show. Our face stiffened, feeling dreadful.