“Some people enter your life quietly…
and leave footprints louder than anyone else.”
The morning sun slowly climbed over the rooftops.
The city stretched, yawned, and began another ordinary day.
Shopkeepers unlocked their stores.
Children hurried toward school.
Someone missed the bus.
Someone forgot their homework.
Someone fell in love.
Someone said goodbye.
None of them knew today would become a memory.
A wallet lay beneath a wooden bench.
People walked past it.
One after another.
Nobody noticed.
Except one boy.
He stopped walking.
His eyes stayed on the ground for a few seconds before he crouched beside the bench.
An old man, breathing heavily, ran down the street.
“My wallet!”
The boy picked it up.
“You dropped this.”
The old man looked surprised.
“You found it?”
The boy nodded.
“How?”
The old man looked around.
“There were so many people.”
The boy pointed beneath the bench.
A small receipt peeked out from underneath.
“The wind was blowing.”
“So?”
“The receipt wasn’t moving.”
The old man blinked.
“It was trapped.”
He smiled.
“I thought something was holding it.”
For a moment, the old man simply stared at him.
Then he laughed.
“You notice strange things.”
The boy scratched the back of his head.
“I guess.”
The old man smiled warmly.
“What’s your name?”
“…Jeheon.”
“Thank you, Jeheon.”
Jeheon bowed politely.
Then continued walking toward school.
He never looked back.
The first bell rang.
Students hurried through the school gate.
Some laughed.
Some complained.
Some were still trying to finish homework while walking.
Jeheon sat quietly by the classroom window.
His mathematics test rested upside down on his desk.
A classmate walked over.
“You aren’t going to look?”
Jeheon sighed.
“It won’t change the score.”
“So…
how bad is it?”
Jeheon slowly turned the paper over.
31.
His classmate stared.
“…That’s impressive.”
Jeheon looked confused.
“It is?”
“I didn’t know someone could get exactly thirty-one.”
Jeheon laughed.
“I was aiming for thirty.”
The two boys laughed together.
Even Jeheon couldn’t help smiling.
At least someone found it funny.
The teacher entered.
Everyone returned to their seats.
“Open your books.”
The classroom became quiet.
Almost.
Five minutes later…
“Kim Jeheon.”
“…Yes?”
“What are you looking at?”
Jeheon looked toward the window again.
“A bird.”
The class laughed.
The teacher crossed his arms.
“The equation is on the board.”
“I know.”
“Then why aren’t you solving it?”
Jeheon looked genuinely embarrassed.
“I forgot.”
The teacher rubbed his forehead.
“One day…”
“…you’re going to pay as much attention to mathematics as you do to birds.”
A few students laughed again.
Jeheon smiled awkwardly.
“I hope so too.”
The lunch bell finally rang.
Students rushed outside as if escaping prison.
Jeheon remained inside for a few seconds.
He closed his notebook.
His answers were wrong again.
He sighed.
“…Maybe tomorrow.”
Then he stood.
Across the city…
The library was almost silent.
Only pages turning disturbed the quiet.
A boy sat near the window.
Three books lay open in front of him.
A fourth rested on his lap.
Without looking up, he turned another page.
Someone placed a chocolate milk beside him.
“…You’re doing it again.”
The boy looked up.
A taller boy grinned.
“You forgot lunch.”
“I didn’t forget.”
“You’ve been reading since before first period.”
“…Oh.”
The taller boy laughed.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
The quiet boy finally smiled.
“Thanks.”
“You don’t have to thank me every time.”
“I know.”
“…Thank you.”
“You really don’t listen.”
“I do.”
“No.”
“…Maybe.”
The taller boy laughed so loudly that the librarian looked over.
He immediately lowered his voice.
“Sorry.”
The quiet boy finally closed his book.
“Let’s go.”
Outside the library…
They walked toward school together.
“You know,” the taller boy said, “one day you’re going to walk into a tree.”
“I’ve never walked into a tree.”
“You walked into the principal.”
“…That happened once.”
“I’ll never let you forget it.”
“I noticed.”
The taller boy laughed again.
“Come on, Yongi.”
“We’re going to be late.”
At Hanyoung Middle School…
A girl hurried into the classroom just before the bell.
She dropped into her seat dramatically.
“I made it!”
Jisoo looked at her.
“Barely.”
“I was only…”
She looked at the clock.
“…twenty seconds late.”
“Exactly.”
“I call that success.”
Jisoo shook her head.
“You forgot your homework again.”
“I didn’t forget.”
“You left it at home?”
“…Maybe.”
“So you forgot.”
“I prefer ‘accidentally donated it to my desk.'”
Jisoo burst into laughter.
“You’re impossible.”
The girl smiled proudly.
“I’ve been told.”
Their teacher entered.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning!”
The lesson began.
Halfway through the class, the teacher asked,
“Can anyone explain why the author chose this ending?”
The room became silent.
Nobody answered.
The teacher looked around.
“…Jiwoo?”
Jiwoo blinked.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
She looked down at the page.
Quietly.
For several seconds.
Jisoo whispered,
“You’re doomed.”
Jiwoo ignored her.
She read the last paragraph again.
Then slowly raised her hand.
“I think…”
“…the author wasn’t writing about losing.”
The teacher nodded.
“Go on.”
“I think…”
“…he was afraid people would stop believing in him.”
The classroom became quiet.
“So the ending isn’t sad because he lost.”
She smiled gently.
“It’s sad because he thought losing meant he wasn’t worth anything.”
Nobody spoke.
The teacher smiled.
“Excellent.”
Jiwoo scratched her cheek.
“I just guessed.”
Jisoo leaned closer.
“No.”
“You thought.”
Jiwoo smiled.
“…Maybe.”
A few rows behind them…
Someone quietly looked up from his book.
For the first time that day…
He forgot to turn the next page.
Outside…
The wind carried cherry blossom petals across the schoolyard.
Some landed on the empty bench beneath a tree.
The bench would seem ordinary to everyone.
For now.
But years later…
Someone would return to it.
And remember a promise that had almost been forgotten.
The wind carried the petals away.
As though the future had already begun moving.