The school year was already going fast. Most days were passing between noisy hallways and crowded classrooms, and everything was mixing together.
For Ho-jin, the photography club was the only place where he could really have some rest. He liked the chemical smell in the room and how quiet it became when he was alone there. Since he was a senior, people usually came to him when they needed advice or sometimes only wanted to talk. He did not have a problem with this attention, but mostly he wanted to focus on his own work. He was not seeing Min-ji very often anymore either. His classes were taking a lot of his time, and the photography club also kept him busy until late every day. Because of this, they did not have many chances to spend time together like before.
—
That week, the school newspaper asked the Photography Club to give them one photo. It was going to be used on one of the inside pages, next to a short article about the events happening at school. It was not something very important, but everyone in the club cared about it. If your photo was chosen, it meant other people would actually see your work. For them, this was important.
Ho-jin was also one of the editors of the newspaper, so he was the person who would choose the photo. At school, he did not talk much about it. He only took the folder home and looked through the photos later that night.
There were many good photos. There was a sunset behind the gym. Some first-year students were laughing in the hallway. There was also rain on a classroom window.
Then he came to Ji-hun's photo.
It was not a very noticeable photo. It only showed the basketball court after school. The lights were still open, and at the back, a janitor was cleaning the floor with a broom. The court looked very big and empty. There was a quiet feeling in the photo.
Ho-jin looked at it for a long time.
—
On Friday, Ho-jin put the photo on the club board. There were already a few students in the room. Some were checking their equipment, and some were talking about homework.
At first, nobody said anything. They only stood there and looked at the photo. After that, one student went closer. "This is the one?"
Another student also came closer. "Wait. This is Moon Ji-hun's photo, right?"
For a moment, the room became quiet. Then everyone started talking.
"Of course," one of the older students said. "He is Ho-jin sunbae's favorite."
A girl folded her arms. "There were better photos than this."
Ho-jin had not expected them to complain this loudly, and he started getting annoyed. His voice was a little harder than normal. "I chose the best photo," he said. "That's all. Stop complaining."
Someone made a sound. "He is only in middle school."
"So what?" Ho-jin said. "He is good."
More students joined the argument, and the room became even louder. One boy pointed to another photo on the board. "The lighting in this one is better."
A girl standing near the window also spoke. "This one doesn't even have energy."
"Why is everything always about Moon Ji-hun?" someone said quietly.
Ji-hun was standing at the back of the room, close to the shelf where they kept the extra tripods. Since the argument started, he had not moved from there. Nobody had even realized that he was in the room. His hands were inside his pockets while he looked at the board.
His name was written under the photo with a black marker.
Then one of the girls turned around and noticed him. She looked surprised when she saw him. "Oh, you're here. Congratulations, hoobae."
Everyone turned toward Ji-hun. Now all of them were looking at him, and Ji-hun felt like they were expecting him to say sorry because his photo had been chosen.
Ho-jin waited until they became quieter because he could see the situation was becoming unpleasant. "Moon Ji-hun works hard," he said. "He learned this from his mother and father, and he takes what he does seriously. If you also want your photo to be chosen, then work as hard as he does."
After this, the room became quiet again. Nobody really had anything to say.
One of the older students turned his face away. The girl near the window started playing with the strap of her camera without saying anything, and the boy who had complained about the lighting moved away from the board.
There was no big moment like in a movie. Nobody clapped, and nobody apologized. They only stopped arguing and did not continue it. A few seconds later, someone asked something about the next club trip, and slowly the room became noisy like before.
Ji-hun was still standing in the same place. He had not thought Ho-jin would say those things about him in front of everyone. Until now, nobody had talked about Ji-hun in this way before.
He kept his face normal and did not say anything, but he knew he would never forget this. Every time Ho-jin defended him in this way, Ji-hun felt a little less alone in the world. It was becoming more difficult for him to hide what he was feeling, but he also did not know what he could do about these feelings.
Then another thing came to his mind.
He had never told anyone in this club about his mother. On the first day, he had only talked about his father's old camera.
How does he know about my mother? he thought.
—
Later, when the meeting was over, everyone put their things into their bags and left. Outside, the sky was gray, and the lights in the hallway were already on. Ji-hun stayed behind because he wanted to put one of the cameras back in its place. He was being very careful with it.
Ho-jin was sitting at the desk in front and moving some papers around. "You don't have to clean everything every time," he said without looking at him.
"It's fine, sunbae," Ji-hun said.
"They were only talking. You shouldn't care about what they think, Ji-hun-ah."
Ji-hun closed the cabinet. "I don't care."
But this was not true. He did care, only not because of the reason they thought.
Ho-jin looked at him. "Your photo was the best."
Ji-hun bowed his head a little. "Thank you, sunbae."
They left the room together. The hallway was almost empty, and they could hear their footsteps on the floor. A few students walked past them. One of them looked at Ji-hun for a moment before looking somewhere else.
Ji-hun noticed this, but he did not care anymore. Ho-jin had defended him. Ji-hun knew he would do the same thing again if it happened another time. For him, this was the only important thing.
—
Outside, the weather was warm. The school gates had not closed yet, and there were cars waiting on the street to pick up students.
"Don't become too proud because of this," Ho-jin said as they walked.
Ji-hun looked at him. "I won't."
"And don't stop working hard."
"I won't."
Ho-jin nodded. This answer was enough for him.
They walked for some more time, and then Ji-hun suddenly asked something. "How do you understand if someone really likes you or if they are only being nice?"
Ho-jin did not know what he should think about this question. He was not sure if Ji-hun was asking it because of what happened earlier that day. Still, he wanted to give him a normal answer. "Sometimes it is difficult to understand," Ho-jin said. "But people who are only trying to be nice usually stop after some time. If someone really cares about you, they will always find some reason to stay around."
"I see," Ji-hun said.
They continued walking, and after some time, Ji-hun asked another question. "Do you think people fall in love because they want to, or does it happen by accident?"
"I think it happens completely by accident. Usually, it happens when you are not paying attention to something like that at all," Ho-jin said.
He still did not understand why Ji-hun was asking these things, but if there was something Ji-hun wanted to know, he did not mind answering him. Still, after looking at him, Ho-jin could not stop himself from laughing. "Are you in love, Moon Ji-hun?"
Ji-hun's face became hot immediately, and he quickly shook his head. "What? No way!"
Ho-jin did not say anything more about it and continued walking.
—
When they reached Ji-hun's house, Ho-jin looked like there was something more he wanted to say. He waited for a moment but then decided not to say it. "See you tomorrow," he said.
"See you, sunbae."
Ji-hun went inside and closed the door. After that, he directly went to his father and hugged him. He told Dong-min that his photo had been chosen for the school newspaper and showed it to him on his phone.
But while his father was looking at the screen and having difficulty seeing the details, the excitement Ji-hun had felt while coming home slowly became less.
After changing his clothes, Ji-hun went to the kitchen and prepared a simple dinner. There was porridge, kimchi, and one pork chop. They ate together at the little table, and Dong-min looked better that day. Seeing his father like this made Ji-hun feel more relaxed.
When he finished washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen counter, Ji-hun went back to his room and sat on his bed.
He opened the photo of the basketball court on his phone again. Everything looked smaller on the phone screen, but when he zoomed in, he could see the janitor again at the back of the photo. The man was bent forward, and his broom was in the middle of sweeping the floor under the very bright lights.
The photo was not perfect, but it was good. Ji-hun knew this.
He looked at it for a few more seconds. Then he put his phone on the desk and lay down on the bed, looking at the ceiling.
He felt like he had won something, but this feeling was not really because of the photo.
It was because Shin Ho-jin was the person who had chosen it.