Mint Candy Love - Chapter 00

Ki-young Han, aged 23. △△ Graduate of a foreign language high school, discharged from the air force after service, 2nd year student at Korea University, Department of Political Science and Diplomacy, average grade 4.37 out of 4.5, 2 relationships, no ideal type, special notes… … .

“Uh. Ki Young Han is great in all things.”

It was the fourth time in four years of studying that he’d gone to see a full-time professor. Ki-young Han looked at the professor with a blank expression. He asked, “Do you have any thoughts about graduate school?” The professor kept asking him the same question. Finally, he decided to find fault with him when he didn’t get the answer he wanted.

“There is a lack of communication.”

Old man. When you’re old you should retire.

Ki-Young Han cursed inwardly. He did not answer.

Features: Get lost.

“How many of your classmates do you still contact?”

“Jeong Jeon-ui, Park Eun-hyeon and Lee Yoon-hak.”

“Uh… That’s right. But, uh… Seniors and juniors, uh… The Politics and Diplomacy Department has a very important senior/junior network. The classmates are good. They’ll accept Ki-young Han well”.

“… You’re going to get rejected.”

Ki Young muttered to himself. His mouth was open. However, the professor, who was in the middle of a long speech as if he were some kind of great counsellor, did not understand Ki-young Han’s tongue clicks and low-quality cursing.
The professor listed countless talented people who had made the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at Korea University shine. In the end, he bragged about himself. With his hair completely bald and the remaining hair now grey, this professor, who once made the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy of Korea University shine or not, is now an old man in a closet, with only five years left until his honorable retirement, trying to somehow stretch his legs to the end and hold on to Han Ki-young, but in the end it didn’t work out that way.

“Two years ago, uh… that, my student. He came here as an associate professor and started to give classes, and the response was really good. That… uh.”

Ki Young Han closed her eyes tightly. Damn, that damn ah. He felt like he couldn’t continue talking without saying ‘ah’. He was about to decide that if he said ‘ah’ once more, he would just storm out of the room.

“There’s a course called ‘Performance Communication’. Have you ever heard of it?”

Ki Young Han looked at the professor, who finished his speech skillfully without saying a word, and at the same time, one corner of his mouth turned up. He was already sitting with his back straight. Communication is good. Then shouldn’t he also have an understanding of the meaning of my actions now? Even though his whole body was radiating the energy of ‘I don’t want to have a conversation with you’, the professor had no intention of sending Ki-young Han away. Ki-young Han replied with a blank look on her face.

“No, I haven’t heard that.”

“This… This is the best humanities lecture at Korea University. It gets a lot of rave reviews… He studied under me for his master’s and doctoral degrees… You’ll probably know if I tell you. He’s Professor Lee Han-woo.

This is definitely the first time that I’ve ever heard of him.
The way in which he made up his liberal arts timetable was similar to that of all students at the university. He took his major classes first, played Tetris in his free time, and then he took some interesting classes. He was a true college student of the 21st century, who wanted to make his time at school as short as possible and get through his classes as quickly as possible.

“Anyway, just like Ki Young Han… I’m a bit awkward in communication with people… The more students I am, the more I’ll benefit from this class… um…”

Ki-Young Han’s smile was bright. He turned to the professor with a bright smile.

“Professor, I have a humanities class, so I’ll get up first.”

Then I got up from my seat and picked up the bag that I had left on the floor next to me. As soon as I was out of the stinking old professor’s office, I swallowed the curse.

“This is annoying. Really.”

After I left the faculty building, I made my way to the smoking area in the corner of the building. Cigarette butts and rubbish were scattered untidily, unlike at a prestigious university. Paying no attention, he lit a cigarette in the corner.

After he had turned the wheel of the cigarette lighter to light it, he held it up to the end of the cigarette. With a whoosh, the smoke from the cigarette, which had seeped from the inside of his mouth down into his throat, was quickly blown out of his mouth in one long breath. His breath was there too.

It was so cold that my teeth were chattering. Han Ki-young, who always complained, put his hands in his pockets and put a cigarette in his mouth and said it was too damned cold. He kept breathing in and out like a goldfish in a fishbowl. Just when he thought it was good that no one was around, a group of students approached the smoking area. They had just come out of the professor’s building.
“I’m really tired of Professor Nak’s nagging.”

“Fuck! Do we have to pay for it and have to listen to it?”

Ki-Young Han agreed with the words of the unknown men a hundred times over.

“Hey, Ye-jun.”

They joked among themselves and then spoke to the man in the middle. Ki-Young Han looked up and down at the man. He had a cigarette in his mouth. His skin color was a little darker than the yellowish men around him, as if they had jaundice. It was like cocoa mixed with milk. The mole under his eye was a mystery to me. He held an electronic cigarette in one hand.

“I really like Yejun. Is it going to be just for a day or two? Hey, go and get a degree.”

“What are you trying to say?”

The man smiled. His eyes were closed. Ki-young Han, who had been leaning against the railing of the stairs and breathing in and out the smoke from his cigarette several times, blew out the smoke in a single puff.

“Why does the professor only like me? We are all students.”

He’s so damn nice. I thought to myself as I looked at the man with his eyes downcast, as if he were being rude.

“… … .”

“… … .”

The man turned around. His eyes met Ki-young-han’s. Ki-young-han didn’t panic. He put the cigarette in his mouth between his index and middle fingers and took it out. I put my cigarette into the dirty ashtray. The man lowered his eyes slightly as if to greet you, then raised them. Then he exchanged glances with his friends. Ki-young-han put his hands in his pockets and stood up.
It was probably time for me to be on my way home.

It was the last day of the second half of the term. The weather was cloudy and cold. Han Ki-young walked to the car park but turned back. The men who had been sharing cigarettes were already on their way. He stared blankly at the smoking area. There was no one there.

The impression of the man who had met my eyes just a few moments ago was a very different one.

Why is it that the professor only likes me? We are all students, after all.

This is the kind of person I really hate. The kind of person who pretends to be good and thinks he’s something special.

Soon after that he started to walk again. Instead of staying in his studio, he went to his parents’ house to drink beer and miss his only younger brother, Ki-young-Hyun. This was the only hobby of the 23 year old Ki Young Han.