1. "What's wrong, unnie? Are you tired?"
2. "Even venus herself would cry herself to sleep if she saw you. Do you amaze yourself every time you look in the mirror?"
3. "No, I'm fine."
4. "Matching jammies for you and me unnie!"
5. "Those are basically for couples!"
6. Still wore the pajamas.
7. "I wouldn't be as tired if you hadn't gotten all sappy on me, girl..."
8. Totally sincere
Memuatkan…Memuatkan…
1. The problem is that she really meant all that.
2. "Oh, we're out of milk."
1. "Care for some juice, unnie?"
2. "Sure."
3. "Apple juice? Orange?"
4. "Orange please."
5. "You really like orange juice, don't you unnie?"
6. "Well... I guess I always have since I was little."
1. "It's a familiar taste."
2. I thought living with sulhwa could get a little awkward.
3. Surprisingly it all feels so natural.
4. "Hey sulhwa?"
5. "Yeah?"
6. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you."
7. "What made you decide to come to our school? As a student teacher, I mean."
8. "Is it because it's..."
1. "Because it's your alma mater?"
2. "Oh, wait. Weren't you prepping to become a professional athlete?"
3. "To be honest..."
4. "...I know that as your sister and former teacher..."
5. "...asking you this after all this time..."
6. "...is pretty shameless of me."
1. "But until now...I wasn't exactly at a place where I could ask you this sort of thing."
2. "..."
1. "Well, it's nothing much, really."
2. "But I decided to become a teacher..."
3. "...when I was injured in my junior year of high school."
1. People love a good story of overcoming trials and tribulations.
2. "...what?"
4. "Hmm... I'm sure it's not easy to hear this..."
1. "But you've suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury."
2. What nobody expects is that they might go through those very trials and tribulations.
3. "What...?"
4. I sure didn't see mine coming back then.
5. "Although your ligament hasn't ruptured, the affected area is less than ideal. So I'm afraid we'll..."
1. "So... I'm going to have to perform surgery."
2. "It'd be best if we set a date as soon as possible."
3. "Fortunately for you, you can expect a speedy recovery given your age..."
4. Although the doctor walked me through the surgery and recovery process with his calm, soothing voice...
5. ...I could hardly hear a word he spoke.
6. It felt as though all hope had been shattered to pieces.
1. I hardly had control over my own body.
2. I felt so helpless that I could barely make it to the bathroom on my own.
1. "Ms. Choi..."
2. "I want to die."
1. "..."
2. "Here, have some fruit."
3. "Your classmates are bringing pizza. What do you want for toppings?"
4. "Hawaiian with extra pineapple."
1. "Pineapple as usual?"
2. "You think I'm kidding around here?! I'm dead serious!"
4. "So what? You gonna drop dead now?"
1. "You're my teacher! How could you joke about something like that!"
2. "What's going on?"
3. "This might be the end of my athletic career!"
4. "What's all the ruckus about?"
5. "It's all so abrupt..."
6. "..."
1. "Want to end it all?"
2. "What do you mean by that?"
3. "People don't get ligament injuries overnight. You're responsible for neglecting the pain in your knee all this time."
4. "But I..."
5. "I know it's serious, but the doctor said it hasn't been ruptured."
6. "I'm sure you'll heal just fine if you keep taking your meds after surgery."
1. "Meds after surgery, get plenty of rest, and diligently stick with your physical therapy."
2. "It'll still be hella difficult to beat your own record like before, though."
3. "Are you trying to make fun of me?"
4. "Just because it's not your knee-"
5. "But..."
6. "If you give up, things will be even harder for you."
1. "..."
4. "HELLO? OH, HI MS. JUNG. YEAH, I'LL BE RIGHT THERE."
1. "Grab a slice or two when the other kids bring the pizza."
2. "I've gotta run now. Byee."
3. "You can't just leave after giving me that sort of lecture!"
4. "Hey, I've got better things to do, okay?"
1. "See you in school, sulhwa."
2. "Hmph..."
3. "She didn't even let me respond."
1. See you in "School," huh...
2. Things got real tough after that.
3. After the surgery, my muscles pretty much melted away. I literally screamed when I had to go through physical therapy.
4. But ms. Choi's advice that things would get even harder if I gave up kept me going.
5. And perhaps thanks to that, I even won a medal at the national juniors competition the following year...
1. "Sorry, that was all pretty lame and obvious, huh?"
2. I knew that she had surgery for her injury, but this...
3. "No, it's a moving story."
4. "So why did you go to a teacher's college? I mean, you got over your injury after all."
5. "That's what made me change my career path."
6. "As much as I love running and pushing on my physical..."
1. "...boundaries..."
2. "I wanted to become like ms. Choi."
3. "Even if I can't provide a clear answer to the kids, I want to be there by their side..."
4. "...letting them know if what they choose is at least a bad idea or not. Talk to them about stuff like that, you know."
5. "Oh..."
1. "For the first time in my life, this was something I didn't just sort of end up doing."
2. "I've decided to pursue a dream."
1. But fostering her will get us this much stipend.
2. "It'll help with the family income and you'll get a little sister. Isn't that nice?"
8. Well, I did get my inheritance when I became an adult...
1. "Lucky you. You get to pursue a dream."
2. "Oops"
1. "W-what I meant is-"
1. "Oh!"
2. "Sorry!"
3. "Are you alright? It's fine, I'll clean it up."
4. "Don't move. There's glass everywhere."
1. "Geez, it got all the way over here..."
2. "..."
2. Artist | BARAM Writer | SIRIUS
3. PLAY.3 The Safe Word (8)
1. "Here's your whiskey on the rocks... Are you alright, ma'am?"
2. "You downed three of these by yourself..."
3. "Oh... Yeah, I'm fine."
4. I left the house because things got awkward...
5. But I don't really have anywhere to go...
1. "HAA..."
3. "THAT WAS SO IMMATURE OF ME."
1. She used to be just a little kid, always holding my hand to follow me around...
2. And now she's decided to make something of herself... I should've congratulated her if anything.
3. Lucky you. You get to pursue a dream.
4. I'm so stupid!! You're a dumbass, chun jaehee!!!
5. The least I could do is congratulate her...
1. "While becoming a teacher was a dream for you..."
2. "It wasn't so much a choice for me..."
4. "...but an inevitable reality."
1. I left home as soon as I turned 19.
2. I needed money to get by.
3. I had to earn my own tuition and daily expenses.
3. For a literature major entering her 20s without anyone turn to but herself...
1. "And what made you decide to apply to our school, ms. Chun jaehee?"
2. ...being a high school teacher was the most realistically viable career option.
3. Not some lavish, abstract dream...
4. "The reason I decided to apply to your school is"
1. "School is..."
2. ...but something that would bring stability in my life.
3. I'm not envious that she's dreaming of becoming a teacher.
4. I'm jealous she can afford to have a dream at all.
1. "I envy you for your resilience, getting up every time no matter how often you may fall."
2. "I envy you for your fighting spirit that never lets failure intimidate you."
3. I can't believe I'm being jealous of sulhwa right now...
4. There's no one I can even vent about this to...
1. "No... One?"
5. "Aw, no... I couldn't possibly..."
1. "OOPS! SHORRY ABOUT THAT, HIC!"
3. "!!!"
1. "..."
2. "Haha! What? Who's that?"
3. "Be quiet. ...hello?"
4. "I was...going to hang up."
5. "Hee?"
6. "...yeah."
7. I heard another woman's voice on the other end.
8. I could also feel the whiskey take my inhibitions away.
9. It's funny, I wasn't curious one bit about the woman you were just with.
1. I just wanted to get away from all this headache of reality.
2. I just wanted to indulge in the familiar debauchery of pleasure.
3. Like I always have.
4. And you spoke to me with a familiar voice.
5. "Where are you?"
6. To be continued...