Chapter 3 – 3 – Number 2
Quiet classroom
There is about 10 extra left until class time.
Sia usually sat in the front seat close to the professor during class, but
She sat in the row behind her as she couldn’t seem to concentrate because of what had happened.
Since she was in a liberal arts class anyway, and grades are based only on attendance and test scores, she didn’t have to look good to the professor.
In the case of the class, it was time to organize in preparation for the final exam next week, so I chose the back seat because I didn’t have to concentrate on the class.
The numbers displayed above people’s heads on the way from the subway to school
Sia analyzed these numbers bit by bit. It was short before coming to school, but there was a point that I came to a conclusion after going through many people.
I opened the notepad on my laptop and jotted down a few things.
[One. It seems that only those who recognized me have numbers displayed above their heads.]
[2. The numbers that were displayed outside a certain range disappeared.]
[3. Numbers are not displayed for women.]
Sia came to a conclusion based on her previous experiences and some self-experiments (?)
As she experimented, she stared at the person walking on the other side.
Some of the people who recognized Shia moved their gaze toward Shia, and a number was displayed above the head of the person who recognized Shia.
I saw that the number above the head disappeared when I moved about 30 meters away from the person whose number was generated during the observation.
I thought it was a coincidence at first, so I repeated it several times, but the results pointed to Shia’s conclusion.
‘But why aren’t the numbers displayed for women?’
Curiously, women were not shown. In the previous self-experiment, in the case of women, there was no change even if they recognized themselves.
‘And what the hell does this number mean… Ha ha…’
The numbers displayed were different for each of them.
It usually starts at 5 and the average is about 10? Among the high-numbered people, there was also a number of 40.
Sia typed the sentence ‘The identity of numbers?’ On the notepad of her laptop, and what do the numbers mean? Continued her speculation about
[Age? Life span? Stations of the remaining subway? Income? How many breads have you eaten so far?…]
She wrote down all the different cases, but came to no conclusion.
There was someone approaching Sia, who was wringing her hair while thinking about it.
“Good morning. Huh? Did you sit in the back today?”
Shia heard her voice and hurriedly took down her notepad.
“Uh… Are you here? I’m not feeling well today.”
The person who greeted Sia in the morning was Eugene. She is a classmate from college.
It’s a bit ambiguous to call it morning, but to college students, 10 o’clock is also morning.
Eugene prepared her class by opening her laptop in the seat next to Sia.
Eugene has a hard morning class. I wish she only had afternoon classes. She complained on her back to Shia.
Meanwhile, the professor came in.
…
“Kim Min Soo”
“Yes”
“Bora Kim”
“Yes”
.
.
.
Professor calling attendance.
Usually, in the case of other classes, it is replaced by electronic attendance, but for some reason, this class called the name directly to check attendance.
I think I heard that a professor relied on electronic attendance in the past and was burned once because of an error.
“Park Yujin”
“Yes”
Eugene, who was next to her, answered. And a few students came in and…
“Isia”
“Yes”
A professor who checks attendance by looking at the student’s face as a process of calling attendance and checking to prevent proxy attendance
And a number appeared above the professor’s head.
[12]
“What the hell…”
Yujin, who heard Nancy Sia’s voice in a low voice, asked Sia what she said.
“No, no, I’m talking to myself.”
Eugene looked at Sia with a slightly worried look. In Yujin’s eyes, she had the feeling that Sia looked a bit haggard.
“Are you tired? Did you get a bad night’s sleep because of an assignment due yesterday?”
“Ah!… I guess… I’m a little tired haha…”
“It’s a bit of a tough assignment, but I barely submitted it before the deadline.”
.
.
.
So the attendance continues.
“Eugene. Do you see the number above the professor’s head?”
“Numbers?…Can’t you see?”
“Right?… Haha…”
“As expected, you’re weird today. I think it’d be better to go home and sleep right away.”
She had no one to ask so far, so she thought, ‘I’m not the only one like that.’
Sia lowered her head. She thought about just going to sleep, but she remembered the story she had with Joo-won this morning and raised her head.
“Ah, that’s right. Eugene-ah. Tae-woo and Joo-won asked me to have lunch together. How is it?”
Yu-jin flinched a little when she heard the name Tae-woo.
It was a shiver that she couldn’t notice, but Sia could tell because she was watching Eugene’s reaction when she called Tae-woo.
“Um.. Yes, I have classes in the afternoon anyway, and Eugene and you are going home.. Eating alone is not so… Yes, yes.. Yes, let’s have lunch together”
It was a part that showed how much Yujin had a crush on Tae-woo until he spoke.
‘Just buy it quickly…’
After the attendance check by the professor, the class began.
…
“Then, I’ll finish today’s class here. Next week is the final exam, so I’ll prepare hard and expect good grades.”
The professor left the classroom with a laptop and a bag.
The sound of chairs being pulled and chattering filled the classroom.
She thought about the identity of numbers for two hours in class, but she came to no conclusion.
‘I never thought there would be so many people spying on me than that.’
Peeking would be the right expression.
Unbeknownst to Sia, the number of male classmates sitting in front of her was marked.
Sia was sitting at the very back of her seat, and people sitting in front of her had to be in an uncomfortable position to see her, but she was able to see her, so it would be appropriate to say peeping.
‘Am I too dull?’
When she was in high school, she didn’t really stand out, so no one peeped at her, but when she got to college, she felt a lot of men staring at her. She thought she recognized that kind of gaze, but didn’t she?
‘Is this why Woojin is so anxious?’
Woojin’s heart began to understand for ten minutes.
Two people approached Sia who was sighing.
“Hello Xia? How is Yujin?”
“…”
One was a man who looked like a bully.
One was a man who seemed to have a strong body, probably because he had been exercising for a long time.
“Hello.”
“Hello seniors”
The two of them greeted Shia and Yujin, and Shia and Yujin also greeted them.
A man who looks like a bully is Joo-won, and a man with a strong body is Tae-woo.
In Ju-Won’s case, it is said that Tae-Woo is in a different department even though he is in our department, and the two have been close friends since before.
“Where shall we go for lunch?”
A little thought over the lunch menu followed, but one person broke the silence and spoke up.
“Let’s just have a simple hamburger.”
Tae-woo who breaks the silence. After hearing that, everyone didn’t have much complaint, so the lunch menu was decided to be a hamburger.
“The two of us will be down first, so come down slowly”
Sia watched over the heads of the two as they exited the classroom.
[Juwon 62]
[Taewoo 17]
Though Joo-Won’s number was the highest she had ever seen, Sia, thinking it was no big deal, took out her notebook and put it in her bag and left the classroom.
…
Sia in the car
The only people in the car were Shia and Juwon.
Yu-jin says that he is going to ride in Tae-woo’s car.
The destination was the famous burger maker ‘Burger Emperor’. There was a Burger Emperor near the school, but it was packed with people during lunchtime, so I was going to a nearby store with a little extra space.
Joo-won’s car is a model A of H company, and it is a slightly noticeable red vehicle on the roads in Korea.
Did you tune in? I could hear the exhaust sound in the car.
Sia was used to this. It’s because she doesn’t ride Joo-Won’s car twice.
But I didn’t like the bullshit.
Even though he looks like a bully in person, from his talking to his car, in Sia’s eyes, Joo-won was the ‘Trinity’ of the elements of a bully.
‘Should I just get a driver’s license and ask to buy a car?’
Siane’s family is very wealthy. The reason she took the subway or bus to school was because she didn’t want to stand out for having a lot of money, and she didn’t like to brag about how much money she had.
One of the big reasons is that he didn’t want to make Woojin feel her qualifications while hanging out with him.
“Siya. Why don’t you eat lunch and watch a movie?”
“Senior, don’t you have afternoon classes?”
“Does your grade change if you don’t go for a day? You don’t have to go.”
“No, I will go home early today.”
Sia glanced over Joo Won’s head as he drove.
[64]
There have been some changes since before. As a result of continuous observation, the number went up and down and changed from moment to moment.
[61] [63].. [57] [60]
‘Is it heart rate?’ It was Shia who thought that, but when that happened, she was just [10] Or single-digit numbers made no sense.
The identity of the numbers gradually fell into the labyrinth.
“…Hey ow? Shiaya?!”
“..Yes?”
“No, should I take you to lunch? I asked, but there was no answer.”
“No, I’ll go alone.”
“Then I’ll drop you off at the nearby subway station.”
“Yes..”
…
She has finally reached her destination.
When I parked, Eugene and Tae-woo arrived first and were waiting for them.
Looking at the faces of the two, they were fiddling with their phones, exuding an embarrassing atmosphere about what had happened in the car.
