“Sometimes, a single conversation changes your life.
The strange part is…
only one person realizes it.”
Morning rain had washed the city clean.
Small drops still clung to the classroom windows as students slowly filled the corridors.
Some complained about the weather.
Others complained about homework.
For students…
There was always something to complain about.
Yongi closed the novel in front of him.
A voice immediately came from behind.
“So…”
“…did the hero survive?”
Without turning around, Yongi replied,
“You skipped to the ending again.”
“I call it saving time.”
Yongi smiled.
“I call it ruining the story.”
The boy dropped into the chair beside him.
“I still don’t understand how you enjoy reading five hundred pages.”
Yongi looked at him.
“I don’t understand how you don’t.”
The boy laughed.
“See?”
“That’s why we’re friends.”
Yongi quietly shook his head.
“…You’re impossible.”
“I’ve been told.”
The classroom door opened.
Their teacher walked inside.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning, sir.”
The teacher placed a stack of papers on the desk.
“Before we begin…”
“…we have the monthly rankings.”
A long groan filled the classroom.
The teacher ignored it.
“As always…”
He looked toward the back of the room.
“First place.”
He smiled.
“Yongi.”
A few students clapped.
The boy beside him leaned closer.
“I still think you’re secretly thirty years old.”
Yongi sighed.
“I’m thirteen.”
“That’s exactly what a thirty-year-old genius would say.”
Yongi couldn’t stop himself.
He laughed.
The teacher looked up.
“I’m glad someone enjoyed mathematics.”
The class laughed.
The boy beside Yongi raised his hand dramatically.
“Sir!”
“Yes?”
“I’d like to report a miracle.”
“What miracle?”
“Yongi laughed.”
The entire class turned toward him.
Yongi immediately looked down at his book again.
“…Ignore him.”
The teacher smiled.
“I don’t think I can.”
The boy grinned proudly.
“You see?”
“I contribute to society.”
Yongi quietly muttered,
“You contribute to headaches.”
“What was that?”
“…Nothing.”
The boy smiled.
“That’s what I thought.”
The teacher continued taking attendance.
“…Heosok.”
“Present!”
“…Kim Yongi.”
“Present.”
Lunch arrived.
Students poured into the courtyard.
Heosok stretched his arms.
“I swear, if I hear one more math equation today…”
“…I’ll become a poet.”
Yongi looked at him.
“You don’t even like poems.”
“I don’t.”
“But they don’t have numbers.”
Yongi closed his lunchbox.
Heosok looked inside.
“…That’s all you’re eating?”
Yongi nodded.
“I’m not that hungry.”
Without saying anything…
Heosok placed two pieces of fried chicken into Yongi’s lunchbox.
Yongi looked at him.
“I didn’t ask.”
“I know.”
“…Eat.”
Yongi looked at the chicken for a few seconds.
Then quietly smiled.
“…Thanks.”
Heosok shrugged.
“You would’ve done the same.”
Yongi didn’t answer.
Because they both knew…
He would have.
Across the city…
Jeheon sat outside a convenience store with a notebook on his knees.
Mathematics.
Again.
He erased the same answer for what felt like the hundredth time.
A voice interrupted him.
“You’re attacking that paper like it insulted your family.”
Jeheon looked up.
A man stood beside him holding two canned coffees.
His smile was warm.
His eyes…
Somehow lonely.
He held one can toward Jeheon.
“You look like you need a break.”
Jeheon blinked.
“I don’t drink coffee.”
The man looked at the can.
“…Right.”
He smiled awkwardly.
“I forgot you’re still a kid.”
Jeheon laughed.
“For a second…”
“…I thought adults forgot that.”
The man laughed too.
“I guess we do.”
He sat beside Jeheon.
Neither of them spoke.
Cars passed.
The rain slowly stopped.
The silence wasn’t uncomfortable.
It was peaceful.
After a while…
The man looked at the notebook.
“Math?”
Jeheon sighed dramatically.
“My greatest enemy.”
The man chuckled.
“I had one of those.”
“What was it?”
“History.”
“You don’t like history?”
“I do now.”
“What changed?”
The man looked at the sky.
“I met people worth remembering.”
Jeheon didn’t fully understand the answer.
But…
For some reason…
He liked it.
The man stood.
“I’m Dong.”
Jeheon stood as well.
“…Jeheon.”
Dong smiled.
“It was nice meeting you.”
“You too.”
Dong walked away.
After a few steps…
He looked back.
Jeheon was still staring at the impossible math problem.
Dong smiled to himself.
Then continued walking.
For some reason…
He had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last time they met.
Neither of them knew…
Some meetings don’t happen by chance.
They happen because life quietly decides two lonely people need each other.
And neither realizes it…
Until much later.