novelraw Chapter 291: Graduation (2)
Chapter 291: Graduation (2)
When we arrived at the school field, we witnessed an incredible scene.
Jeong Seongbin was taking a group photo with about 20 students.
‘Do people usually take class photos on graduation day?
I didn’t think our class did. Maybe his class was just especially close.
As I was admiring the friendly atmosphere, Jeong Seongbin spotted us from a distance.
“Huh?”
At the same time, the heads of the people taking the picture also turned this way. Among them was Jeong Seongbin’s mother.
“Jeong Seongjun!”
“Oh dear, we’ve been caught.”
His mother quickly asked another parent to take over the camera, then rushed toward us at the speed of light.“How is it that you can’t behave yourself even on graduation day!”
“They say it’s bad if a person suddenly changes, Mom.”
Mr. Jeong Seongjun got smacked on the back as if someone were dusting off powder snow on a day when not even a flake was falling. Meanwhile, his mother showed us a benevolent smile, asking if we had come to see Seongbin.
I wondered where Jeong Seongbin’s benevolent smile and irresistible power came from. It must have been maternal inheritance.
While Mr. Jeong Seongjun was curled up like an armadillo and getting hit, Jeong Seongbin said something to his friends. Then, after saying his goodbyes, he left the group alone and ran towards us.
“How did you all get here?”
“We came to congratulate you on your graduation.”
As soon as I finished speaking, Choi Jeho handed Jeong Seongbin the bouquet of flowers.
“Park Joowoo chose the flowers.”
“Congratulations on your graduation…!”
“Congratulations on your graduation, hyung.”
Park Joowoo and Kang Kiyeon offered their congratulations to Jeong Seongbin. Lee Cheonghyeon looked at Jeong Seongbin’s group of friends and asked.
“But hyung, weren’t you taking a class photo? Is it okay for you to just walk away like that?”
“Oh, that was just with my close friends. We’ve taken plenty, so it’s fine.”
Those were all his friends? That wasn’t the whole class?
It was shocking. But as if to prove his point, the group began exchanging goodbyes and quickly dispersed.
“Our Seongbin has amazing social life. It’s not for nothing that he became the leader.”
“Not at all. More than that, Jeong Seongjun is… why is he like this…”
Jeong Seongbin, holding the bouquet, looked at his younger brother who had appeared with gray hair.
“I was worried when I didn’t see you in the auditorium, but when did you dye your hair… Never mind, forget I asked.”
“I dyed it right after the entrance exams ended. You have no idea how anxious I was that Spark might have another comeback. How’s the color? Looks the same, right? I have a good eye for things.”
“There must be a reason why you’re doing this.”
“Of course. It’s so we can take photos for the quiz: ‘Which one is Seongbin?’ How often do we get to wear the same clothes?”
“Why do you need to take a picture like that?”
“Because it’s fun.”
Then Mr. Jeong Seongjun started asking their mother to take a picture.
“Cover the name tag with the flower! I’ll cover mine with my arm!”
“Please stop already…”
Jeong Seongbin muttered with a distressed expression. Even so, their mother fussed over them, determined to capture good graduation photos of her sons.
By the time their mother’s gallery was full of pictures of the two of them, I approached her and said.
“Ma’am, I’ll take the picture for you. Take one with your kids.”
“Oh my, would you?”
‘You have to have a family photo on graduation day.’
That was what my sister had told me. She’d even come to my graduation—which sometimes people’s families didn’t even bother attending—and taken pictures with me.
“Here we go!”
With the sound of the shutter, the happy smiles of the mother and her two twin sons with gray hair were captured on the screen. It was a wonderful picture.
Even after that, Jeong Seongbin couldn’t leave the school field. Because I had threatened that no one could leave until I got a perfect picture.
“If the uniform had been a little more ash purple, it would have been a perfect match with Seongbin’s hair tone… I should have washed that jacket in lye water yesterday…”
“I’m really starting to get scared of you, hyung.”
Lee Cheonghyeon muttered. Even so, for the crime of having an excellent aesthetic sense, he faithfully carried out his duties as an assistant photographer next to me.
I heard a clicking sound from above my head, and when I looked up, Choi Jeho was taking a picture of me from above my head.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s funny.”
Is it funny? Am I, who has thrown my body onto the school field for the sake of the leader’s monumental event photos, funny?
“Look at this.”
Even though I was glaring at him with fire in my eyes, Choi Jeho didn’t care. Instead, he busied himself showing the photo to Kang Kiyeon and Park Joowoo. The two guys who saw the picture desperately held back their laughter.
* * *
Because a bit of a crowd had gathered, we snapped a few group photos and then immediately returned to the car.
Once it was confirmed that everyone except Jeong Seongbin, who had decided to have a meal with his family and return to the dorm, was in the car, the car departed.
“Hyung, you’ve become a star…”
“Why?”
It wasn’t me, but Choi Jeho who had become a star. That guy had turned into the ‘hot guy’ of the moment, heating up social media with the recent leak of the ‘cover up festival’.
≫ Choi Jeho cov’upㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Looks like a general bellowing orders
└ damn Yejeho Choi Myeo went viral
└ Oh Eㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ I don’t know if I should be glad or sad that this didn’t get aired on TV
└ Definitely glad, if it had aired, he would’ve been flamed as an attention seeker
≫ Am I done for if I see Choi Jeho taking off his blanket as an emperor taking off his cape?
└ No, if it’s just that, you’re still safe
└ If Choi Jeho taking off a blanket looks like a farmhand rolling up his bedding to go chop firewood, then you’re done for
└ Thank goodness, I haven’t gone that far yet. But hey, which stages had outfits similar to Spark’s year-end stage?
└ It seems your heart has gone that far, though
It hadn’t been that long since the incident; who dared to have taken the star’s spot already?
Park Joowoo held out his phone instead of answering.
≫ Today’s Mirae Arts High School Graduation’s Biggest Star
Spark’s Iwolㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
He’s not even a graduate, but he got the most attention
└ It’s hilarious that the reporters took pictures of Kim Iwolㅋㅋㅋ
└ ‘Iwol, who passionately takes pictures of his graduating member’
└ Isn’t the title too much? ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
≫ Starting today, Mirae Arts High School’s famous figure is Kim Iwol
It has been decided
└ Even though the person in question didn’t even attend Mirae Arts High School
└ But he got the most articles, right? He brought honor to the school’s name, right?
≫ Kim Iwol’s thigh: I’m trying hard for your perfect shot, but I… I don’t know how long I can hold on.
└ Just by looking at the tight fit of his pants, it seems he can hold on until next year’s graduation ceremony
≫ They say no matter how big a child’s love is, it can’t compare to a parent’s love
It’s really true, Iwol’s love is too big
└ Seongbin, what is your dream?
How do you plan to take pictures from now on?
Do you even have such a thing as composition and professional spirit?
Do you even want to keep stanning your member?
Then why is there still space in your gallery?
Why isn’t your phone battery dying?
Shouldn’t it buffer at least once if you’re working that hard?
Do you memorize the profile? Do you do it to death?
└ Mr. Iwol, please, you can’t do this here
My spectacular performance had received too much attention. Already, memes of me photoshopped had started circulating on all sorts of social media and communities. Me speed skating, me doing the backstroke… At this rate, they might even host a full-on photoshop contest.
They say the world doesn’t understand artists. But once Spark’s official account posted Jeong Seongbin’s photos today, everyone would finally understand my artistic vision.
* * *
As soon as the long entrance exams and graduation were over, Jeong Seongbin and Park Joowoo received a text. It was a notification of their admission results.
The two of them took the shared laptop each and went into Park Joowoo’s room.
Choi Jeho, who had been kicked out, lay on the sofa playing a game, while Lee Cheonghyeon and Kang Kiyeon sat at the table with their hands clasped in prayer.
“What are you doing?”
“Hyung, you come and pray too. Opportunity comes to those who are earnest!”
“Are Seongbin and Joowoo really at the point where they need to pray over this?”
I could say with certainty that there was no one who sang as good as Park Joowoo among his peers. Before and after Park Joowoo, there had been no one who surpassed his skills at this age.
Jeong Seongbin might fall just a little short of that, but he too wasn’t someone to be underestimated. He had countless experiences singing in recording studios and on stage, even competing against professional singers.
So there was really nothing to worry about.
After all, not a single one of them had come out of the performance exam in tears, so…
“Hyung!”
“We both passed…!”
…the result was already decided. Wasn’t it?
“Joowoo is at the top of his class.”
“Really?”
At my words, Lee Cheonghyeon asked, chewing on a celebratory energy bar that had been hastily piled up in place of a celebratory cake.
“Seongbin is the second top too…”
“You’re both amazing.”
When Kang Kiyeon praised them, Jeong Seongbin and Park Joowoo’s faces turned a little red.
After the congratulations, a realistic conversation took place. It was time to decide whether to register and take a leave of absence right away, or to attend for a semester or a year and then take a leave.
“What are the members’ opinions?”
Jeong Seongbin asked.
If it were me… assuming the school system allowed it, I’d suggest registering first and then taking a year off.
As a freshman, a lot of bothersome things crop up. You get called here and there, and have to handle your work while listening to complaints. And if you’re an entertainer, all the more so.
But that was just my take, as someone whose school relationships had gone to pieces—Jeong Seongbin, who liked to make friends, might have a different opinion. He might have dreamed of a fun orientation and a hopeful freshman life!
“What do you two want to do?”
“I… I’ll leave it to Seongbin’s opinion.”
Park Joowoo backed out. Thanks to that, Jeong Seongbin was faced with the crisis of having to decide how to take the first step of two people’s college lives.
I thought for a moment and then answered.
“First of all, it would be good to attend for one semester.”
“What’s the reason?”
“The schedule for the first half of the year isn’t that tight.”
At my words, Lee Cheonghyeon brought his laptop and opened the calendar shared by the dedicated team.
“Our regular comeback is scheduled for June. Around the time you finish your semester. In the second half of the year, we won’t have as much leeway as in the first half because of the concert preparations. And we don’t know what next year’s plan will be like.”
“So it’s better to at least try attending for a semester?”
Lee Cheonghyeon summarized my words. It was an excellent summary.
“In the first semester of the first year, the major subjects probably won’t be that tough. Just in case, take a few classes, mainly the required ones. Since you won’t have to pay tuition this semester, you can take summer or winter session classes later, even if it costs money…”
I flipped through my planner and fell into a serious contemplation of whether it would be better for them to take summer session or winter session classes.
Taking a seasonal session while promoting seemed like overkill. Would one or two classes be okay? Or should they do the seasonal session in the winter after the concert was over? It was not like they had to graduate on the dot, so maybe it was better to just tell them to attend for 5-6 years depending on the situation?
Seeing me deep in thought, Jeong Seongbin quickly cut off the conversation.
“We’ll discuss it well with the company staff…!”
Well, they’re not kids, so they’ll figure it out, I thought, and told them to do that.
“Ah.”
When I made a sound as something came to mind, the guys looked back at me.
“It would be fun to join a club or something.”
“Wouldn’t it be difficult with our schedule?”
“That’s true.”
At Kang Kiyeon’s words, I nodded my head with a smile.
Still, it felt like a shame. Those things were fun, after all.
I thought back to the cozy club room. A wave of nostalgia washed over me.