Chapter 21 – Time Has Passed – Part 4

Chapter 21 – Time Has Passed – Part 4

Mansu, reacting to becoming manager, suddenly stood up and extended both hands.

“Yes! Of course!”

Woojin replied briefly.

“Yes.”

Professor Lee sat down with a benevolent smile.

Mansu couldn’t help but eat more carefully than before. After all, a professor was sitting right in front of him.

To the freshmen, professors were great and formidable beings.

Their social standing was high, and they were the ones who could evaluate their grades.

But Woojin was different.

He was focused only on eating.

Unlike others, to Woojin, a professor was merely a component of the world.

In other words, people other than his family were simply higher organisms that constituted the place he was in, that is, his surroundings.

Seeing Woojin eat with relish, the professor subtly asked.

“Isn’t it much better than high school lunch?”

“I took the GED.”

Professor Lee, momentarily flustered, changed his expression in an instant.

“You passed with the GED. There are sometimes such prodigies, and you’re one of them. Hahaha.”

Of course, the professor thought Woojin had attended an academy or received good private tutoring.

Most students who got into S University were like that.

Just as Woojin finished every last grain of rice on his cafeteria tray, the professor spoke again.

“Woojin, ah, I can speak informally, can’t I?

“Yes.”

“From what you said about simulated stock investing during class, it seems you’re interested. I have a graduate student in my lab who’s good at stocks. That friend is also participating. If you’d like, Woojin, I’m willing to introduce you. Are you interested?”

Woojin combined his initial observations of the Professor’s expression, voice inflection, and actions from when he first sat down next to him, with his current observations.

There was a hint of goodwill.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world…

A hypothesis formed in Woojin’s mind, as he always thought beyond the obvious.

Woojin had already read his non-verbal cues.

-He wants me.

The way Lee Hyerim looked at him when she sent him a message this morning overlapped with Professor Lee’s gaze.

A dictionary word came to mind, combining emotional language with the meanings of happy, joyful, jolly, and glad.

‘Gay?’

Woojin’s gaze instantly shifted to Professor Lee’s left hand.

A wedding ring was on it.

The surface should be smooth from the friction of his finger, but there are many small scratches.

That means he often takes it off.

Conversely, the inside of the ring would be smooth from the repeated friction of putting it on and taking it off…

Woojin, who had once again observed his attire and glasses, scanned Professor Lee’s cafeteria tray.

He left a lot of food.

He went to the cafeteria with Mansu right after class. If he calculated this time as a percentage, the Professor had not eaten lunch.

He couldn’t.

The Professor was approximately 168 cm tall and weighed 78 kg. Despite having a stomach that could consume all the food in front of him, he didn’t eat it.

His self-consciousness controlled his desire and craving for food.

What that Professor’s self-consciousness desires is me.

He might be gay, or he might not be.

The Professor Ira sitting next to him often wants to hide his marriage and desires me in some way.

It’s best to avoid getting too close to such a person.

Because it was something that deviated from the ordinary.

Woojin’s thoughts ran through his mind and were organized in just a few candles.

“I’m not interested. I was just giving an example.”

He just needed to attend lectures like other students, and that was it.

Woojin immediately picked up his cafeteria tray and leisurely left the spot.

Mansu blinked and watched Woojin’s retreating figure.

It seemed as if Woojin was ignoring a professor who was showing interest, and who wasn’t just an ordinary person.

From Mansu’s perspective, Woojin had kicked away a blessing that had fallen into his lap.

“Professor! I’m interested in the Stock Competition!”

The professor, who had never experienced such a situation, wore a dazed expression, just like those who first met Woojin.

He couldn’t quite grasp the situation.

He was leaving a place, seemingly uninterested, even though connections for employment were opening up and an S University professor was paying attention to him.

There was no hint of any internal conflict.

The professor, who had been lost in thought, patted Mansu’s shoulder encouragingly.

“Yes, a challenge is always important. Work hard.”

The professor also disappeared like that.

***

Woojin, who had left the cafeteria, sat on the grass like others.

It was soft, and everything was peaceful.

Woojin took out a palm-sized notebook and a pen from his bag.

Rustle, rustle.

As Woojin flipped through the notebook, he saw some writing.

It was something he had written himself.

[Attend lectures at the University]

Woojin drew a circle over the writing.

[Eat a student meal at the University Cafeteria]

He drew a circle around that too, then flipped through his notebook and fixed his gaze on another phrase.

[Hanging out with several friends]

Woojin slowly nodded and put the notebook in his bag.

He would experience this today as well.

Because they said they would have a drinking party after all the lectures were over.

I’m looking forward to it.

“Wait for me. You’re so fast.”

Kim Mansu, who had approached without him noticing, plopped down next to Woojin.

“It seems like the professor is interested in you, why did you refuse?”

“Because it didn’t feel ordinary.”

“Huh? The professor isn’t ordinary?”

“Because it felt like me accepting wouldn’t be ordinary.”

Kim Mansu, who had been scratching his head, wondering what Woojin meant, widened his eyes.

‘Wow… Does a guy who got a perfect CSAT score think differently from the ground up? Like opportunities should be equal?’

It was the moment when Woojin’s earlier image of cherishing and enjoying his food overlapped with his current words.

Kim Mansu thought Woojin was amazing, different from other perfect CSAT scorers.

The more he built rapport with professors, the better his university life would be.

He heard there were many people desperate to gain a professor’s attention.

But Woojin didn’t do that.

Kim Mansu said,

“Opportunities should be equal?”

Woojin answered Kim Mansu’s question without thinking. It was literally an answer to the question.

“I think so.”

Kim Mansu shook his head back and forth.

Even a monk wouldn’t be like this…

Kim Mansu briefly reflected on himself. Regardless of what Kim Mansu was thinking, Woojin looked up at the sky.

The sky was bright blue, and birds, visible intermittently, were flying leisurely across it.

He closed his eyes.

It was warm.

The sun, approximately 150 million kilometers away from Earth, travels at a speed of 300,000 kilometers per second, reaching my skin in about 8 minutes and 20 seconds, at which point the brain detects the heat energy.

As Woojin closed his eyes, enjoying the sounds tickling his ears and the sunlight, Kim Mansu asked him,

“What are you doing?”

Woojin opened his eyes and said,

“I’m in the process of making vitamin D.”

“Are you talking about photosynthesis?”

Kim Mansu chuckled and continued,

“What kind of artifact-like joke is that?”

Woojin stood up, dusting off his pants, and said,

“Humans don’t have chloroplasts, so the word photosynthesis isn’t appropriate.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Plants and humans are different. Vitamin D precursors require a certain wavelength of ultraviolet light…”

Kim Mansu, who had been listening blankly to Woojin, quickly interrupted.

My head is starting to hurt.

There’s still class left; I can’t let my mental state waver already.

“Let’s go! Our next lecture is at 1 o’clock. We need to go and save seats!”

Woojin nodded as Kim Mansu led the way.

He exchanged words with Kim Mansu, with whom he was building a friendship.

They also ate together.

Woojin’s lips, without him realizing it, curled up slightly in satisfaction.

“It feels natural.”

He felt he was getting a little closer to ordinariness.

The lecture, which seemed like it would blow the freshmen’s minds, ended, and Woojin, having experienced his second lecture, moved to attend the spot he was looking forward to.