HYYH 1 Notes (ENG)

Everything Started From Here (PT 1)

SeokJin
2 March Year 19

I stepped into the principal's office following Dad. It smelled like mildew. It'd been ten days since I came back from the U.S., and I'd just found out
the day before that I'd be one grade lower because of the different school systems. "Please take good care of my son." I shuddered at Dad's hand on my shoulder. "School is a dangerous place. It needs to be tightly controlled. The principal looked me in the eye. Wearing a black suit, his wrinkly cheeks and the corners of his mouth quivered slightly every time he opened it. The insides
of his blackened lips were even darker. "Don't you agree, SeokJin?" As I squirmed at his abrupt question, Dad tightened his grip on my shoulder. I
felt a twinge on the back of my neck. "I'm sure you'll behave yourself." The principal obstinately tried to make eye contact, while Dad tightened down on me further. I clenched my fists as his grip almost fractured my shoulder blade. "You know you have to keep
me informed, right? You'll be a good student, right?" The principal stared
me down without a hint of a smile. "Yes." As soon as I squeezed the
answer out, the pain in my shoulder disappeared. Dad and the principal roared with laughter. I couldn't even raise my head. I kept looking at Dad's brown shoes and the principal's black shoes. The toecaps of their shoes shined brightly, though it was a mystery to me where the light was coming from.

JiMin
12 March Year 19

It had been several days since the
new semester began, but my classmates were still strangers to me. It was not hard to guess that they were gossiping about me. I tried to act indifferent but to no avail. "We heard you live in an apartment across the river.  Why did you come to this school?" I pretended
I didn't hear the question. I had nothing to say. I just continued walking past with my head bent. "Hey, didn't you hear me?" I quickened my pace. I had transferred to one school to another
as I had been in and out of the hospital. There were no more schools left near my neighborhood to transfer to.

I headed for the classroom-turned-storage room that
I cleaned as a penalty for being late
to school. As I opened the door, I was startled to hear voices inside. Who could be here at this hour? I was
about to silently close the door and
turn around when someone called
my name. "Hey, you're Park JiMin, right?" They were the senior students who cleaned the classroom with me
for being tardy. I wasn't sure whether
I should answer them or just leave. Somebody tapped me on my shoulder. "Aren't you going in?" Without realizing it, I walked into the classroom.
"It's good to see you again. Don't you remember me? I'm TaeHyung. We're
in the same grade."

Before I knew it, I was sitting down
on a chair. The storage room door continued to open and close. The seven students who did the cleaning together were all there. Nobody asked questions. We just listened to music, read books, danced, and fooled around. It felt as if we'd been hanging out together forever.

YoonGi
12 June Year 19

I cut school without thinking, but I
had nowhere to go. It was hot, and I had no money and nothing to do. It
was NamJoon who first proposed we
go to the sea. The others seemed excited about it, but I didn't care either way. "Do you have any money?" Hearing
my question, NamJoon told the others to dig into their pockets. A few coins and even fewer bills. "We can't go."
"Why don't we walk?" That must've been TaeHyung. Namjoon's expression seemed to tell him to use his head and think before speaking. Everyone but
me was jabbering, laughing for no reason, and romping around. I fell
back as I wasn't in the mood. The
sun was broiling. It was midday, and there was no shade under the trees.
The asphalt road had no sidewalks,
and every time a car passed, it would
kick up a thick cloud of dust.

"Let's go there." It was TaeHyung.
Or, was it HoSeok? I wasn't paying attention anyways, but it must've
been one of those two. I don't see
any point in going there•••. Should
I tell them to go on without me? I turned my head and almost bumped into someone. It was JiMin. He stood there as still as a statue. His face was trembling down to the smallest muscle as if he had seen something terrifying. "Are you OK?" He seemed unaware of the question. His gaze was fixed on a signpost that read 2.1km to Grass Flower Arboretum. Sweat was dripping off his face, which had turned ashen as if he was going to pass out. "Park JiMin!" I called out again, but he didn't budge. He just stood there, glaring at the signpost.

"Hey, it's too hot to go to an arboretum. Let's just go to the sea." I tried to say this as flatly as possible. I didn't know what the Grass Flower Arboretum was, but I had an instinctive feeling that we should avoid it. "We're short on cash." HoSeok objected. "We can walk." It was TaeHyung again. "I think we'll be able to figure something out once we get to the train station. Of course, we'll have to skip dinner." NamJoon chimed in. JungKook and TaeHyung whined. JiMin snapped out of it after everyone started heading for the station. JiMin, with his head bent deep and his shoulders hunched, looked like a little kid. I looked back at the signpost. The words Grass Flower Arboretum were slowly disappearing from our view.