That night, the sound of blankets popping from Shiyeon’s room echoed.
Inside the blanket, thinking to myself, ‘I knew this would happen,’ I shook my head and let the day slip by.
What follows immediately after a mock exam is the great cold war known as the exam period.
“Your first high school exam needs to go really well; you know the saying that the first button is important, right?”
Those words come from each subject’s teacher.
High school grades last a lifetime; manage your school transcript properly.
There are also reminders about needing to manage things well from now on for a self-introduction letter, and so on.
Once I start hearing it, the sounds tend to stick better in my mind than the English vocabulary I just saw five seconds ago.
After hearing each phrase until my ears feel like they might develop calluses, a sweet break arrives.
It’s the lazy joy of napping even while others study during the break time.
“Is Mary not studying?”
Nearby friends, including my classmate, throw out a few concerned words, unable to bear watching my school life, which is just me lying down repeatedly.
Every time that happens, I just press my cheek against the desk, close my eyes comfortably, and mumble the same thing like a hopeless person.
“As long as I guess everything, it’s fine~”
Friends I’ve gotten a bit closer to jokingly say things like ‘acting like someone who has a store to inherit’ and ‘playing like the daughter of a landlord’ about me.
I might appear on the outside like the biggest loser living a meaningless life, but the reality is that I’m a runner on the path of life who succeeded at finding a job since kindergarten.
… I can’t really say it’s just a flower path.
“Agreed~”
Of course, I’m not the only one playing around like someone whose future is guaranteed.
Echoing my sentiment that it’s enough to guess everything, Somi, who is always plastered to the backrest of her chair, agrees.
She’s also one of the students playing around without a plan.
One day, out of pure curiosity, I asked what she would do after graduating from school….
“Me? I’m going to be a YouTuber!”
Her pure answer popped out without a hint of hesitation, leaving me speechless.
Tales of a White House chef cooking spaghetti, and of a four-star general getting someone sent to the detention center.
Making currently practicing doctors retake the exams, making a Harvard graduate Professor from the U.S. solve English finals.
Amidst this crazy lineup, she says she wants to become a YouTuber.
Can there be such a lack of a plan?
‘This girl really is in deep trouble….’
“Hey, do you think just anyone can succeed at that?”
‘Yeah, yeah, exactly.’
My equally hopeless friend Somi speaks her optimistic future hopes, receiving ridicule from around her as if it’s completely absurd.
Muttering my unvoiced agreement inwardly, I nod slowly.
Probably, if any friends knew a little bit about this market in middle school, they would understand.
The ones appearing on their video screens are the YouTubers who have “succeeded even a little,” and 99% of smaller YouTubers’ views on videos uploaded a month ago are in the hundreds.
With catastrophic results that are too shameful to even call income, they’re currently stuck in the depths of the ocean where one’s escape is uncertain.
Then, Somi gives an even more outrageous answer.
“If that doesn’t work, I’ll just become a virtual YouTuber.”
She says it confidently, as if she has a backup plan behind her original one, but that option is not very different either.
So she doesn’t plan to escape from being a creator at all?
‘Well, life is all about practical experience.’
Letting out a deep sigh internally, I disconnect from my friend’s future, which is likely to be a thorny path.
It’s said that experiencing everything with your body is good; after consuming a few minutes of video like it’s a meal.
Once she realizes that there are hours upon hours of broadcasts without breaks and the horrific editing process ahead, her thoughts might change a bit.
Finishing today’s school life with a small consolation that my life seems less messed up than hers.
“Even on a Fun Friday, make sure to enjoy in moderation, and since the exams are coming soon, you need to study well. Got it?”
“Yes-”
Every Friday during the exam period, regardless of whether it’s middle school or high school, we hear those words until we’re sick of them.
Yes, today is indeed Friday.
When we return home, the free time of Saturday and Sunday awaits us.
Once upon a time, there was even a time when we went to school on Saturdays….
Those Saturdays were called ‘play Saturdays’ since we could play every other week.
On the way home, I notice the magnolia trees that had beautifully bloomed along the way to school just at the beginning of April.
The petals, which had been pure white just a moment ago, had fallen from the branches and were now turning an unsightly black, like a banana peel left on the ground too long.
Spring, in many ways the season of flowers.
Maybe due to hormones embedded in my body, I feel the urge to snap a photo with my smartphone when I see blooming flowers and street trees.
But the thought remains simply a thought, as I fiddled only with my smartphone on the way home.
While looking at the list of videos on YouTube, a news headline suddenly catches my attention.
[“Cherry blossoms delayed due to cold snap, expected to bloom this weekend”]
[“Cherry blossom festival returns, crowds ‘buzz'”]
At this moment, when the press, usually busy gnawing at celebrities, is momentarily carried away by the spring atmosphere, they’re pouring out festival articles.
It’s a festival I’ve had no interest in usually, but perhaps because of the exam period, my heart suddenly ignites with excitement.
Everything outside of studying becomes interesting during the exam period.
Surely there will be tons of people, it’ll be tiring, and the vendors will be outrageous.
Even so, despite these thoughts, my heart has already arrived at the grand park.
“Shiyeon, are you thinking of going to the grand park?”
With a series of taps on the back button, I pose my suggestion to Shiyeon.
I worry about feeling a bit lonely going solo, so I subtly pull Shiyeon into my plans.
At my unexpected mention of the park, Shiyeon tilts her head.
“Huh? What park?”
“I heard the cherry blossoms have bloomed a lot, and if you don’t want to go, I’ll just go by myself.”
Thinking about the possibility of being rejected from this sudden invite, I throw in a comment I don’t really mean.
Just wishing there was someone to eat something with and chat.
After a moment, Shiyeon let out a thoughtful sound, “Hmm…” as she tilted her head slightly but soon returned it to its original position and said.
“…Sure!”
In a way that fits with my insistence, Shiyeon happily accepts.
For now, I could just drop by home and grab a snack or something before heading out, right?
“When are we going?”
As I methodically organize our plans in my mind, Shiyeon swiftly cuts in with her question.
I momentarily catch my breath, feeling a bit surprised at her question, before answering.
“I’ll go home and then directly.”
“What?!”
She must not have anticipated such decisiveness from me, as she exclaims in surprise.
I packed a rolled blanket, a pack of wet wipes, and a drink that was lying around haphazardly in the fridge at home.
Aside from that, all I needed to prepare were the foods to eat at the park.
Without the hassle of buying ingredients, wrapping them up, and making them, I headed directly to takeout for kimbap and inari sushi before they closed.
The roads began to congest more and more as we got closer to the grand park.
I started to see people who opted to get out and walk due to the massive traffic jam from the cherry blossom viewing lineup starting Friday afternoon.
If it looked this congested Friday afternoon, I can’t even imagine what Saturday and Sunday will be like….
After five minutes of crawling along at most three steps in the traffic, the meter continues to increase steadily.
“We’ll get off here.”
Ultimately, I couldn’t take it any longer and got out right in the middle of the road.
As I slipped through the slowly moving cars and set foot on the sidewalk, I couldn’t help but notice how many people had come to the park; not only cars but also a huge number of people were everywhere.
Having underestimated the population density because it was close to my home, I was suddenly reminded that I was in the metropolitan area.
As I looked at the throngs of people at the entrance of the grand park, even Shiyeon couldn’t contain her admiration.
It seemed we came to see the flowers, but it felt like there were more heads than blossoms.
Though I was the one who suggested we come, I found myself regretting even before entering amid the crowd.
“Wow, was it a mistake to come….”
Shiyeon sighs in agreement, glancing around the area.
People here, people there, even a few carrying small dogs around.
The atmosphere already seemed to suggest that leisurely viewing was out of the question.
However, having brought along kimbap and inari sushi, we decided to just step into the grand park for the sake of enjoyment.
Upon entering, we found a surprisingly leisurely path that wasn’t as crowded as we had expected.
I had imagined a hellish scene where we couldn’t even put a foot down on the road to the grand park, but it seems it wasn’t as bad as I imagined.
‘It’s not as crowded inside as I thought.’
“Where should we start?”
“Yeah, that’s true….”
In response to the question of where to begin, we just started walking together, step by step.
Cherry blossom viewing isn’t really all about strict planning, so we decided to just go with the flow like dandelion seeds dancing in the spring breeze.
Then, we stumbled upon an area where a large number of people had gathered quite unexpectedly.
“What’s happening here that so many people are crowding?”
Shiyeon exclaimed in surprise, trying to peek over the heads of the crowd, eager to find out what was so impressive.
Is there a performance? Or is there somewhere where an extraordinary number of cherry blossoms are blooming?
With these questions in mind, I analyzed the familiar signs visible through the gaps in the crowd and finally managed to decipher.
“It’s a chicken shop, and a convenience store.”
“Oh.”
Upon revealing the identity of the signs I squinted to read, Shiyeon let out an exasperated sigh.
Yeah, in the end, the purpose of gathering at a festival is for food, isn’t it?
