Chapter 3 - Photograph

It was almost dark when Jun Ho left. He had rented a place near the school. Since it was already the last week of autumn, the wind was damp and the night was threatening a downpour. In Korea, summer means rainy days.

"You! Get up!"

Jun Ho turned his head in the direction of the park, located just in front of the school, where the voices came from. Two boys were hovering over a boy lying on his back and there's also saw a boy sitting under a tree just staring at the drama in front of his eyes.

'He must be their leader,' Jun Ho thought.

Jun Ho was the type of person who couldn't tolerate any kind of abuse. He would easily jump on a situation he thought of as injustice and suffer the consequences later. But someone influenced him to understand the root of people's actions first. Studying Psychology helped him a lot to control his emotions and understand the emotions of other people well.

One of the boys picked the boy on the ground by his collar and was about to throw a punch when Jun Ho interrupted the scene. Some old habits never change.

"Students. It's already dark, why are you still here?" Jun Ho said.

They turned around and faced him, even the one sitting under the tree looked at him.

"Ahjussi, aren't you from here? Students usually go home later than the sunset." One of the boys replied with a smirk.

"Ah!" Jun Ho muttered, faking an amazed expression on his face, and continued saying:

"Review sessions, right? But, aren't you supposed to be in your school rooms now reading your books instead of exploiting money from other people's pockets?" Jun Ho said with a hint of authority in his voice.

"Why?! Who are you anyway?" They challenged him.

"I saw him come out of the principal's office this afternoon. He seemed to be a school visitor."

Jun Ho glanced at the boy who said that. He was still under the tree but was now lying down on the ground with his hand under his head. The other two boys were surprised.

"Ah, Sir! We're not like that!" the student trembled.

"We're actually after him because he ran out of our session. Yah, let's go!" the other student said.

The two embraced the other boy, pushing him in the middle, and started to walk away.

The student lying under the tree stayed there motionless. Jun Ho didn't try to call him off, instead, he started to walk his way out of there.

"Nothing changed. The Playground is still a place for bullies," he murmured.

* * *

"Hyun Jun Ho-ssi, are you going to take a look around the school now?"

Miss Oh asked. She said that loud enough for Jin Ae to hear. Jin Ae who was plopped in her chair suddenly straightened her back and scurried over her computer.

"I guess, I'll do that."

Jin Ae heard Jun Ho say. She glanced sideways at Miss Oh who was standing at the front of their cubicle and she could see that her eyes were on her. Jin Ae sighed in resignation.

Forced, she guided Jun Ho around the building. But all she did actually was to tail behind him since he walked around and about as if he knew every nook and cranny, something she dismissed as a curiosity. When they got to the fourth floor, he peeked inside the rooms through the door's peepholes. Unlike the other classrooms, the rooms located on the right wing of the floor didn't have windows.

"Are you looking for the school clubs?"

Jun Ho glanced at her without saying anything but she knew she had guessed it right.

"The school club's number grew so they were transferred to the new building. These rooms have been unoccupied since."

"Grew? How many clubs are there now?"

"Hmm... About seven, actually I don't know exactly. Every year, students invent a new club of their own. Aish, why are students so self-esteemed nowadays?" she laughed a humorless scoff. He stared at her seriously which made her wonder if there was something wrong with what she just said.

"You seem to be against it,” Jun Ho remarked.

"No... I mean, I'm not against student clubs orvleadership like... My point is, when students' interests contradict each other it may create problems in the future. For me, there should only be one interest above all, one leadership."

"Uniform interest. That would be the club advisor's responsibility."

Jin Ae just lifted her shoulders up in a resigned manner, obviously not convinced. But she was curious how he knew of the former club's location so she asked him, he answered that he just knew and walked again.

"It seems like you don't even need someone to guide you around here. Have you been here before?" Jin Ae asked out of curiosity.

Jun Ho glanced down at her. Even with her two inches heels, Jin Ae fell short below his nose.

"Hmmm?" she urged.

"This morning, we bumped at each other outside. Did you really not notice me?"

He really wanted to ask her that question. Because in his case, even after just meeting her for the first time in ten years, he knew he could easily spot her in a crowd. But how could she nonchalantly ignore him this morning? And concerning her question, had she really forgotten him? For real?

She stared at him perturbed then she darted her eyes ahead. She scoffed suddenly.

"Do psychologists answer a question with a question? If you don't want to answer my question then don't."

That ended their conversation.

Jin Ae excused herself afterward because she still had a class. When she left, Jun Ho returned to the former club's rooms and luckily found the former Student's Organization Club boardroom open. He went inside and noticed that some things were still kept in their original place and heavy dust had already settled everywhere. The air of neglect could be felt as enhanced by the faded blue paint that hadn't been renewed. He scanned through one cabinet and found what he had been looking for- a notebook.

He turned a page of the notebook and picked up an old photograph. Happy faces of a group of students, some standing while some sitting on the ground, greeted him. A pensive smile appeared on his face when he successfully recognized his young self standing on the outermost right with a serious smile.

Then his eyes transferred on a girl, leading a pack of students, captured by the camera walking on the building's second-floor hallway. His smile vanished.

"Why? Why don't you remember me?" he whispered melancholy.

And the students in the picture moved in his vision bringing him back ten years ago. At the time he was still called Kim Jeong Won.

1999

"Everyone, smile! 1 2 3!"

The camera flashed. The photographer, a senior student from the news club, wrapped the photoshoot disappointedly, "Yah, why is everyone in the Student Org Club so serious. Do you purposely want to look brusque? Are you one of the bully elites?" he complained.

And just after saying that, a student came running down towards them shouting that the Elites were on their way down to the track field. Jeong Won turned his body around and saw a group of fewer than ten students now walking in their direction. Immediately, the photographer flew out of the scene tumbling himself on the track field, as if running for his life.

A simple mention of the Elite group's name would really make a student of Daegu High School cringe in fear. They were composed of students whose parents were either school shareholders or those who belonged to great family backgrounds. A reason why they were called the Elite students. Despite that, just being a part of a top-tier family couldn't secure anyone a place in the group. Elites were at the top of the batch.

Almost all the information, mostly negative, was supplied to Jeong Won. He was a newly transferred senior student from Seoul and landed a position in the Student Org Club since the president was his classmate- Kim Min Jung.

Although the club members were voted to stand as the representative of the students, they were easily stomped by the elite group. In reality, the club was nothing compared to the elites. But that would change this year as Min Jung vowed to change the fate of their club.

The war was waged when the Student org club claimed to represent the school in the district inter-high school newspaper. The news of their pictorial that time reached the Elite students and they got mad as they were ignored and belittled by the measly club.

"What's the meaning of this?!"

The elite group stood before them with sharp eyes ready to slew them.