It feels like life has picked up speed.
It’s not speeding up in a good way, but more like time seems to fly by faster than it did when I was younger…
This unsettling sense of speed makes the steering wheel of life feel stiff. Just as it’s hard to change the direction of a fast-moving car, it’s difficult to change the direction of a fast-moving life.
So, inevitably, you end up living the way you always have.
You lose your curiosity, lack the energy to learn new things, and when you realize you’re wrong about something, you just deny it and live quietly day by day.
I don’t know if this kind of habitual life is good or bad, but one thing is certain: turning a stiff steering wheel is hard work.
But sometimes, a big shock suddenly comes and changes your life, and for me, that was a birthday party on a non-birthday.
Near New Light Spring Orphanage, there is a park. It’s a public park with rather poor facilities, and there are many complaints about delinquent gangs using it as their den.
And since those delinquent gangs were our orphanage kids, Moon Hye-jin was greeted with respectful bows as soon as she stepped into the park.
As soon as Moon Hye-jin sat cross-legged on a bench, the delinquents occupying the park scattered like goldfish from a receding pond.
They began to stand watch at the park’s entrance, looking menacing, which probably meant another complaint would be filed soon.
While the delinquents were on guard, Moon Hye-jin casually took out a cigarette from her pocket.
Just like her boyfriend Ma Ki-hoon, she didn’t even ask if it was okay to smoke. Tsk tsk.
Sensing my disapproving gaze, Moon Hye-jin grinned and offered me an open cigarette pack.
“Why? You want to smoke too?”
“Yeah right. You crazy bastard.”
As I quickly tried to grab a cigarette, Moon Hye-jin slapped my hand away with a serious look.
Then, as if she had lost her appetite, she extinguished her cigarette and put it in a portable ashtray.
“Why don’t you enjoy a good thing together…?”
“Nah, I won’t smoke. I won’t. Okay?”
At that moment, I noticed an undeniable shadow on Moon Hye-jin’s face as she raised her hand in a gesture of surrender.
Fatigue? No. It was more complicated than that.
It was the kind of shadow you could easily see on the faces of people whose lives felt hopeless. Having been someone who had experienced such despair myself, I recognized it well.
It seemed that Ma Ki-hoon’s words were not wrong.
Moon Hye-jin’s mental state was far from normal.
You could tell just by the fact that Moon Hye-jin was smoking a cigarette right in front of the orphanage park. She couldn’t even grasp the obvious fact that the teachers would definitely hear about it.
Anyway, the trouble Moon Hye-jin was facing ahead of the college entrance exam was no trivial matter for me.
That’s because Ma Ki-hoon was working as my manager to save up for Moon Hye-jin’s tuition.
In other words, Ma Ki-hoon’s grand plan to propose by handing over the savings account right after the exam could be thwarted by the situation of ‘I need another year’.
Consequently, the money in the tuition savings account would flow not to a university but to a cram school for repeat exam-takers.
The signs had been evident in the orphanage even before I checked. Everyone lived together, so it was impossible not to know.
Rumors were rampant about how she messed up her mock exams, wasn’t eating properly, and cried alone under her blanket at night…
No matter how much Ma Ki-hoon pressed for answers, Moon Hye-jin kept her mouth tightly shut and said nothing.
So, in the end, I was sent on a mission by Ma Ki-hoon to find out why Moon Hye-jin was so distressed.
And just as someone burdened with a heavy heart is like a cracked dam, if you poke it just a little, the truth will leak out.
I was someone who knew from experience (though I didn’t particularly want to know) where to poke, so it didn’t take long to extract the truth from Moon Hye-jin.
“Ah, I got it! I got it! I’ll tell you, okay!”
This time, Moon Hye-jin really lit up a cigarette and took a deep drag as if to soothe her dark thoughts.
Finally, along with the smoke, the truth came out.
“…That idiot Ma Ki-hoon is saving up for my tuition?”
I can provide a tutor for Moon Hye-jin if she’s struggling with her studies. I can even call someone graduated from Oxford’s English Literature department a couple of times.
I can give money to Moon Hye-jin if she’s worried about tuition. I can Visit NovelHub for more amazing novels and chapters. It’s such an easy thing to do.
But the sense of guilt that comes from realizing your loved one is working hard and sweating hard to earn money for you, making it hard to eat and hold a pen because of the fear of failure…
I couldn’t relieve that overwhelming burden.
There was only one person in the world who could resolve Moon Hye-jin’s anguish.
Ma Ki-hoon burst into New Light Spring Orphanage.
He was drenched in sweat on his forehead, probably from running so hastily.
The students and teachers, who were returning to their dorms in groups after dinner, saw Ma Ki-hoon burst through the door.
But Ma Ki-hoon saw only one person.
“Wha-what, Ma Ki-hoon, why are you here…?”
There was no ring case in Ma Ki-hoon’s hand as he walked toward Moon Hye-jin. He didn’t have the savings account book he had painstakingly saved for a year. He didn’t even have a bouquet of flowers.
Because right now, those trivial things weren’t necessary.
Ma Ki-hoon ran over with empty hands and grabbed Moon Hye-jin’s hands tightly, startling her.
And he started mumbling something, trying to speak.
Everyone was confused about what was happening, but since I was the one who had summoned Ma Ki-hoon via text, I had a rough idea of what would happen next.
My heart was pounding.
What would he say? That the savings account didn’t matter? That it was okay to fail the exam? That the important thing was their hearts? That he was sorry for causing her distress? Or perhaps…
At that moment, cheers erupted from the orphanage.
“Damn it, Ki-hoon hyung!”
“Ah, fuck, Ki-hoon hyuuung!”
“Kyaaak! Kyaaak! Kyaaaaaah! Kyaaaaaaah!”
“Damn it, I believed in you!”
“You guys, what the hell is this…?”
“Oh my god… What do I do… I’m crying…”
“Eeeee! Eeeeek! Eeeeeeee!”
Dating was forbidden in the orphanage.
But if you’ve been dating for almost ten years since elementary school, even the teachers just let it slide.
But this was only tacit acceptance, not approval. For most of human history, love has been seen as a sin.
Even in today’s world, where there are so many love songs that people complain, purity is considered good, and passionate love is seen as evil. But is that really true?
The two people of unfortunate fate, who spent their childhood at New Light Spring Orphanage, overcame all obstacles and finally found their first partners.
In the moment when a promise and fruit of their bond were made, there was undeniably beauty.
This beauty was raw and sparkling, more honest and vivid than the tangled web of words in literature, so much so that even those who were not fond of books could clearly see it.
Wasn’t romance always a reflection of love?
“Stop! What are you all doing—ugh! Mmmp!”
“Stay still, Teacher Kim!”
As I, along with everyone else, watched the two young people kiss, and we laughed, cried, and enjoyed the moment for a long time.
Life makes us suffer, but sometimes humans can overcome that suffering and create happiness.
In the end, the plan for Ma Ki-hoon to propose to Moon Hye-jin by handing over the savings account ‘after she did well on the college entrance exam’ fell through.
Both of them realized that true trust must be unconditional.
How much was in Ma Ki-hoon’s savings account didn’t matter to Moon Hye-jin. How well Moon Hye-jin did on the exam didn’t matter to Ma Ki-hoon.
Because the most important things are invisible.
But that was that, and this is this.
A beautiful love is a beautiful love, and the college entrance exam is the college entrance exam.
And fortunately, boosted by the power of love, Moon Hye-jin ended up with a perfect happy ending for her college entrance exam.
Moon Hye-jin was accepted into a university worthy of having a banner hung at the orphanage entrance.
It wasn’t the best, but it was a university that was among the top 3. It was a tough university for an orphanage student who hadn’t attended a single private academy to get into. The orphanage was ecstatic at Moon Hye-jin’s personal victory.