Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 282

Five Vitality – Episode 282 (282/502)

282. Club

It happened while the teacher was writing the lesson on the blackboard and talking.

Thud-

A female student sitting in the back stood up and nearly collapsed to the floor.

“What! What’s wrong?”

“Teacher, Lee Sun has fallen!”

The eyes of the students, surprised by the sudden commotion, focused on the fallen student. The male student sitting next to her jumped up, calling her name and asking if she was okay.

“Lee Sun! Hey, Lee Sun?”

“Sun, are you okay?”

The teacher rushed over with a surprised expression, and the fallen student raised herself up as if nothing had happened.

“Teacher, I’m sorry. I was going to get a book from my locker, but suddenly my legs gave out.”

“Are you okay? You just collapsed.”

“I haven’t been sleeping well because I’ve been studying lately, so I think I was just dizzy for a moment. I’m fine now.”

“Are you really okay? Are you sure?”

The female student got up from her seat and dusted off her school uniform skirt as if nothing was wrong.

“Don’t do that. Just lie down for a bit. Take her to the infirmary.”

The teacher instructed the male student who was checking on her.

“Yes.”

“Hey! Sun?”

The teacher called out to the female student again as she was about to leave the classroom with the male student.

“Stop eating those lollipops. You almost stabbed yourself in the throat when you fell earlier. It’s dangerous.”

“Teacher, I have no joy without this lollipop.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s a lollipop that reduces my academic stress. I’ll be careful.”

The female student, still with the lollipop in her mouth, left the classroom with the male student.

“Hey!”

The male student, heading to the infirmary, urgently called out to the female student who was going in the opposite direction.

“Where are you going? The infirmary isn’t that way.”

“I know. Transfer student? What’s with the old-fashioned infirmary? Follow me if you’re curious where I’m going.”

“Hey!”

The male student, unsure of what to do, eventually followed the female student instead of going to the infirmary.

Creak-

The female student passed through a quiet hallway, opened a door locked with a number key, and went inside.

“Come in.”

“Where is this?”

“Where else? It’s the club room.”

The place the female student introduced as the club room was nothing like a regular high school club room.

Several expensive brand PCs were visible, and there were quite a few trophies and awards displayed on one wall.

“Anyway, transfer student? Are you going to keep standing there like that? Want to sit down?”

“…No.”

“What?”

“My name isn’t ‘transfer student.’ It’s been a while since I transferred…”

“I know. Your name is Seo Jun-woo. But, you’re good-looking, and your name sounds like an idol. You said you came from Hong Kong, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Anyway, you’re really good at studying. You’re aiming for medical school too, right?”

“How do you know that?”

“Your mom said it at a meeting? Oh right! Seo Jun-woo, you’re a member of our club starting tomorrow.”

“What? Me?”

“Seung-gyu will tell you tomorrow. Don’t say I told you in advance; just pretend you don’t know.”

“……”

“What? What’s with that reaction? You don’t know what kind of place our club is, do you? Other kids can’t join even if they want to.”

“I’ll go first. The teacher will be looking for me.”

“They won’t be looking for you.”

“What?”

“The teacher won’t be looking for you. You saw the math teacher’s expression earlier. They looked like they were worried to death about me. No one at school touches our club members. Not even the principal can mess with us.”

“I can’t skip class. I’m leaving.”

Creak-

“Wow! It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone so nerdy to the bone.”

As Seo Jun-woo left the club room, the female student looked surprised for a moment, then lay sprawled out on the sofa.

“Ha! I’m really going crazy.”

The female student still had the lollipop in her mouth and closed her eyes with a blissful expression.

* * *

Beep-boop-

“I’m home.”

“Son! Our son who will be great, did you do well?”

As Seo Jun-woo came home from school, his mother, Kim Mi-young, who was in the kitchen, greeted him with a bright smile.

“Yeah. Same as always.”

“Nothing special happened?”

“They told me to join a club.”

“Club! Wait a minute!”

At the word ‘club,’ Kim Mi-young sat her son on the living room sofa and took a seat opposite him.

“Don’t tell me you’re talking about the ‘Brilliant’ club?”

“Brilliant club? What’s with that childish name?”

“Childish? Our lives shine brilliantly, that’s why it’s called the Brilliant club. Anyway, you mean the club that Lee Sun from your class is in, right? It’s a place that anyone can’t join even if they want to.”

“How do you know more about school than I do, who actually goes to school?”

“Of course, what doesn’t your mom know? Mom knows everything about Jun-woo.”

“But do I have to join that club?”

“What are you saying right now?”

Kim Mi-young, who had been smiling until now, looked as surprised as if something terrible had happened when her son showed no interest in the club.

“Jun-woo! Do you not know what kind of school this is and what kind of club that is?”

“……”

Kim Mi-young is a passionate Korean mother who lives with her husband, who works in the finance industry, and her only son, Jun-woo.

She had been searching for a school for her son Jun-woo to attend for a year before her husband finished his work at the Hong Kong branch and returned to Seoul.

As a result, she chose the current school, which sends the most students to medical schools in the top 3 universities in Korea.

Most of the parents were also from large corporations, lawyers, and doctors; in short, it was a school where children of the wealthy gathered.

The apartment was also a luxury apartment where many of the school’s children lived.

Seo Jun-woo transferred to this famous private high school after attending a regular humanities school for a few months.

Even when he transferred from the humanities school, he said he didn’t want to go, but it was difficult to break the stubbornness of his mother, whose goal in life was to send him to medical school.

“Do you know why Mom sent you to that school? You have to play in different waters. These days, it’s not an era where dragons rise from the stream [a Korean idiom meaning it’s hard to succeed without connections or wealth]. Friends from high school help each other out even after they go out into society.”

In particular, there was a famous club in the school, which was the Brilliant club that the fallen female student had mentioned.

It was a club created by kids who were the best in the school in terms of academics, and it was a kind of private gathering where they studied together and mothers shared university information.

The parents had also donated a considerable amount of money to the school, so their influence was significant.

The children were good at studying, and the parents were good at giving money to the school, so in fact, no teachers at the school interfered with the club’s children.

It was easy to get information obtained through the parents’ great connections and to secure the best private tutors.

As a result, the children wanted to join the Brilliant club, and there was high interest in the members.

Kim Mi-young invited other mothers to dinner and made efforts to ensure that her son could become a member of the club.

However, Seo Jun-woo’s thoughts differed from his mother’s.

He found things that were too excessive to be burdensome and wanted to live a normal life.

Sometimes his mother’s behavior was frustrating and suffocating, but he couldn’t show it.

“Jun-woo, you absolutely can’t say you won’t do it. That’s an opportunity. Got it?”

“…Got it.”

“This is all for your own good. Wash up and eat a snack before your tutor comes.”

“Yes.”

With that, Seo Jun-woo finished his mother’s nagging and ended his day after a long tutoring session.

A few days later-

A week has passed since Seo Jun-woo joined the hottest club in the school.

In the meantime, Seo Jun-woo’s thoughts on the club have changed.

As his mother said, he was assigned the best private tutors for each subject, which made his study efficiency even higher.

Also, the club members were all good at studying, so it was nice to be able to study together and fill in each other’s shortcomings.

And the best thing was the way the other students looked at him.

As a club member, the children’s interest was enormous, and they all talked to him to get closer to him.

Moreover, even the school teachers treated him kindly, as if he was something special.

Clang-

“Hi! Friends~ We’re here.”

Lee Sun, the female student who had collapsed in the classroom a week ago, came into the officetel [a type of studio apartment often used for studying or small businesses] where Seo Jun-woo was tutoring with the others and greeted them.

The club kids were gathering in a nearby officetel after school to receive tutoring.

“Did everyone do well on the mock exam? It was said to be tough this time, and it was a bit difficult.”

“I did okay. What about you and Jun-woo?”

“I maintained my score, and Jun-woo got the first place in our class on his first mock exam since transferring.”

“Wow! Seo Jun-woo’s brain is crazy. Amazing.”

“No. I just got lucky this time.”

“Ugh! It’s annoying when a good-looking guy is humble.”

“I agree!!”

“Okay. Sorry. I did well on the exam because I’m good. Are you happy now?”

“It’s much better with a human side.”

“Guys, will the tutor go over the mock exam questions today?”

“Probably? The tutor said they’d give homework according to the number of questions we got wrong.”

“Ah! I messed up this mock exam. When I go home, I’ll get nagging from my mom and homework… I hate it.”

“Then who told you to mess up the exam?”

“Look at this guy talking. Who wants to mess up on purpose?”

“That’s your usual skill level.”

“Well done. I need to soothe my tired body and mind from the exam. If you have any patches left, give me one.”

“I don’t have any. Suck on a lollipop.”

“Heartless guy. Okay! I’ll just suck on a lollipop… Huh!”

The male student, who was lying on the sofa talking about the exam and looking for a lollipop, trailed off and looked embarrassed.

“Ah! Damn it. My lollipop? Hey! Who took my lollipop? Lee Sun, did you take it again?”

“What? It wasn’t me.”

“Isn’t this it?”

Seo Jun-woo, who was looking at the mock exam paper, picked up a lollipop that had fallen under the table and asked.

“That’s it! My lollipop! The patch fell off, and that was the only one left… Thanks, Jun-woo.”

The male student got up from the sofa, grabbed the lollipop Seo Jun-woo handed him, and even made a grateful expression.

“But there’s something I’m curious about…?”

“It’s amazing that the word ‘curious’ is coming out of quiet Jun-woo’s mouth. What is it?”

“What kind of lollipop is that?”

Seo Jun-woo pointed to the lollipop his friend was holding and asked.

Lee Sun, who had collapsed a week ago, and the five club kids all had the same lollipop in their mouths every few days.

It wasn’t that he was tempted by the lollipop or wanted to eat it.

The small lump stuck on the white stick was a little different in appearance from a typical lollipop.

So he wondered what that lollipop was.

‘Son? Don’t eat jelly from now on.’

Jun-woo suddenly remembered what his mother had said the day his transfer to this school was decided.

One day, he was studying when his mother came in and told him not to eat the jelly on his desk.

‘Suddenly?’

‘Eating too much sugar interferes with brain function. Mom heard earlier that the kids at this school don’t eat just any jelly or candy. They only eat snacks that are good for the body, like the ones eaten in European royal families.’

‘Ah! Mom is really overdoing it. I can’t live eating only those things.’

Seo Jun-woo wondered for a moment if the lollipop his mother had mentioned at that time was good for the body was that lollipop.

“Seung-gyu, I think Jun-woo is curious about the lollipop?”

At the male student’s words, Go Seung-gyu, the leader of the club who was looking at the exam paper, quietly raised his head.

“Jun-woo, are you curious?”

“Of course, I’m curious. It’s already been a week since Jun-woo joined our club.”

“Chan-sung, I didn’t ask you, I asked Jun-woo…”

“Oh, that’s right. Sorry.”

At Go Seung-gyu’s calm words, the friend who had been so playful looked at him slyly and felt embarrassed.

“It’s okay to be sorry between friends. Now that I hear it, it’s understandable that you’re curious. Jun-woo?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to know what that lollipop is?”