Two weeks after getting the flu shot…
As fate would have it, the flu began to spread severely nationwide.
Even the ENT clinic, which usually had very few visitors, was bustling with people coming in for medication.
The pestilence from China, which had seemed to calm down a bit, was ramping up again.
As if that wasn’t enough, with the flu crisis mixed in, it became impossible to tell whether those coughing and feverish were suffering from the flu or COVID.
Just when one might think they recovered from the flu, they would catch COVID, and just as they thought they were over COVID, they’d be struck down by the flu again.
In this chaotic collaboration of two plagues, I found myself once again rummaging through the house for that mask I had only used occasionally when going to the hospital.
At least the cooling weather made it somewhat bearable; my mouth didn’t feel suffocated as it might have.
The real problem was school.
After living alongside COVID for years, it was treated as just a “slightly severe flu.”
Due to this prevalent social perception, there were no special school closures, and we continued attending classes as usual.
The only thing teachers urged was to keep the masks on and to quickly inform someone if you had any coughing or cold symptoms, and that was the entirety of the precautionary measures.
Still somehow, the school schedule flowed normally.
Yet, given the circumstances, quite a few students, including those absent from school, ended up taking sick leave.
“Is Soo Young sick too?”
“Yeah… She said she couldn’t come today. I’m so jealous.”
“I heard the middle school in Bupyeong is taking a break.”
During break time, I caught snippets of classmates grumbling about why we had to come to school when flu and COVID were running rampant.
My seatmate, Seo Hyun, was no different.
“Why isn’t our school taking a break?!”
“Even if you ask me…”
“Ugh, it’s so frustrating.”
After venting to me, she expressed her frustration and placed her mask on her desk.
The teachers’ advice not to remove our masks seemed quite pointless.
Every break, students indiscriminately tossed aside the white fabric masks that had been carelessly clinging to their faces.
With flu and COVID spreading as they were, the mentality was that it would be better to catch something and get a break from school.
Ordinary parents generally tend to send their kids to school unless they’re actually sick, so the sentiment of wishing for an illness to get a break was thrown around.
Still, the masks remained intact.
Honestly, since I wasn’t even wearing glasses, I wasn’t particularly uncomfortable, and since it wasn’t hot, the air that stayed within the mask kept me a bit warm.
With both flu and COVID being so common, it was easy to hear firsthand accounts from those who had experienced them.
Many probably thought, “What the heck, let’s just get sick once and take a break from school!”
But…
‘…Once you’ve fallen seriously ill, you stop thinking like that.’
As I sat sideways, resting one ankle on the opposite knee, I propped my chin on my fist and pondered.
If only it was a slight fever in the mid-37 degrees with a mild cold that could be cured after taking some medicine and sleeping it off, I might have thought about partying with the plagues and going mask-free.
But I remembered being bedridden alongside Siyeon in elementary school.
Feeling dazed and unstable, it was like someone was striking my head with a giant nail.
If such a high fever persisted for over a day, a person simply devolves into lethargy.
Few had experienced that level of sickness, and since one in every two had caught something lately, people seemed to view it lightly.
In reality, if one could feel that sick, they’d just wish to be rid of it, school be damned.
“Marie, aren’t you frustrated?”
“Just a bit uncomfortable, but it’s not like I can’t wear it at all…”
When asked if it was bothersome, I answered candidly and straightforwardly.
“Really? Ugh, I just can’t stand it anymore.”
After hearing my response, Seo Hyun exclaimed that she couldn’t keep it on and began twirling around the ear straps of her disposable mask, playing with it.
Thinking back, it seemed that those old cloth masks we used to wear were far less tolerable.
Those damp masks that stuck tightly to your nose and mouth, making every breath feel stifling, were genuinely unbearable.
Compared to that, disposable masks felt like a blessing.
Seo Hyun, covering her upper body with her textbook, sighed.
“Ah, wouldn’t it be nice if a monster showed up at our school?”
At the mention of a monster, my body instinctively reacted, tensing up.
For an adult, it might be akin to the lament, “Wondering if a meteor would drop on the company.”
A bit more realistic longing than an absurd meteor crashing in the middle of the city.
But if a monster did show up, it would be my duty to step in!
“Are you talking nonsense?”
Honestly, a meteor that crashed here after school was better than a monster.
Outwardly, I brushed off Seo Hyun’s complaint as silly.
‘If a monster does show up, Siyeon and I are the ones capturing it, you know!’
…Grudgingly chewing on the silent resentment I could barely voice.
Those vain hopes scattered with the sound of the school bell, and it was time for our move to art class.
The art room is on the same floor as classrooms for second and third graders.
I hurried through the hallway filled with school seniors, hugging my textbook and making my way there.
In truth, carrying the textbook didn’t mean we’d use it that much.
Most of the time, it was all about drawing, cutting, and pasting.
Ascending the stairs two steps at a time, I reached the art room’s cool atmosphere and switched on the heater.
Unlike other classrooms, the art room was an odd space not frequently used.
The peculiar smell of dried paint lingered, and it always felt hot in summer and cold in winter when entering.
An expansive desk with eight round chairs attached.
One of the minor perks of the art room was the absence of assigned seating, allowing students to sit together as they please.
The screech of metal chair legs scraping against the stone floor filled the air.
As I pulled out a chair to sit, I used the art textbook as a cushion and placed my face on the lukewarm pages instead of the cold desk.
“This is my seat!”
Naturally, the one claiming the spot next to me was Siyeon.
Regardless of how close students might have become at school, seating was firmly established.
Taehyun could sit across from us, but it was an unspoken rule among students.
In these movement classes, boys sat together, and girls sat together at the same desks.
Though it was just about drawing what we were told, I was now right next to Siyeon and could see her artwork.
Today’s two hours of art was all about drawing three-dimensional shapes.
Distinguishing the position of light, shadows, dark parts, and bright parts in the drawing.
In my previous life, I had drawn those squares and circles as instructed.
Doing my best to utilize that past experience, I tried to emphasize my pencil strokes but ended up with awkward shadows and an unnatural looking drawing.
I shoved the back end of the pencil into my hair and scratched my scalp; even I could tell this wasn’t it.
‘Yeah, I can’t draw.’
There’s a saying that you can’t be full after just one meal, and a person who hasn’t learned anything can’t draw a perfect picture.
I resigned myself mentally, thinking that this was just how it was and that I and art weren’t quite compatible.
I decided to wrap things up without getting overly ambitious.
I could just erase it and try to make the shadows look more natural…
Of course, that was pointless. The more I touched it, the worse it would be, and this was my best effort.
As the first hour came to a close, I was prepared to give up completely at the next opportunity.
“Siyeon draws really well-”
I tuned in to the admiration of a classmate who was drawing at the same desk.
Siyeon, the sudden center of attention, was receiving compliments.
Slightly turning my head to the side, I glanced down at the paper.
“Oh? Ha, if I’m going to the academy, I should be able to do at least this much…”
Among the best-looking elements were shadows and highlights.
Though not as perfect as what I’d seen online, they clearly had a weight that stood in stark contrast to my half-hearted scribbles.
It was obvious that Siyeon wasn’t just wasting her time at the art academy.
Although she responded to the praise humbly, clearly flattered, she lowered her head slightly and paused the lead pencil that had been freely advancing across the page.
Even among girls, she was getting reactions that deemed her cute, with a shy demeanor.
That was how the day passed with us casually sketching on paper for two hours.
After school ended, I walked out with Siyeon, through the short distance to the school gate.
With art class behind us, I grew curious about what Siyeon might have drawn at the academy lately and decided to ask her.
“When are you going to show me what you’ve drawn?”
“Um, not yet!”
Siyeon shook her head firmly, refusing to share when I’d asked about her artwork.
Sure, I’d seen sketches she’d drawn on paper during cleanup, but she seemed completely unwilling to share what she’d drawn on her tablet.
First off, there was a password on it, so I couldn’t just take a look without her permission.
I wanted to compliment her on the free-spirited drawings I caught glimpses of, but it seemed like she still wasn’t ready to show them.
I wondered how beautiful her drawings might be.
‘I guess I’ll find out when the time comes.’
Swallowing the increasing anticipation mixed with disappointment, I closed my eyes and tilted my head to the side, letting fate take its course.
What if she was drawing some naughty things on her tablet that I didn’t know about?
I really didn’t think she was that bold yet…
Nah, no way.
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