“Everyone onboard?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Let’s go.”
Holding many pounding hearts, the tour bus started moving.
The change that the Ministry of Education had made in the university entrance exam system was being applied that year; it allowed the students who partic.i.p.ated in Experience activities to get extra credit.
Since Seung-ho’s school had already been selected, they had decided to go early because the later they went, the more harmful it’d be to the student’s studies.
That was how the decision was made to go on the school trip 10 days later. Since they were already going on the trip, the school princ.i.p.al gave them a whopping 4 days and 3 nights to go on the trip.
Unfortunately, they were going to spend four days in the mountains like a camping retreat because of the short notice and because they hadn’t found a decent lodging.
‘The good thing is that this is way cheaper.’
Going to Jeju Island or out of the country like the others would definitely have been a huge blow to Seung-ho’s life savings, so it was a good thing. If things had gone wrong, there was a chance he wouldn’t have been able to go at all.
“Have you been to Boseong?”
Geum-taek asked Seung-ho with an excited expression.
“No, it’s my first time going. Have you?”
“I went when I was little. It’s famous for green tea fields, you know. So my parents said we went as a family, but I was so young that I don’t remember it.”
“I see.”
Teacher Ryu Han-shin abruptly grasped the microphone.
“Are you all planning on being this boring?”
Not understanding, the students all looked blankly at the teacher.
“Whew, this is why we shouldn’t let the students only study.”
The homeroom teacher sighed deeply and turned on the TV in the front.
“Since you guys have to sit anyway when we get on the highway, let’s have fun until then.”
“Yes, sir!”
A couple kids, catching the teacher’s meaning, answered. However, Seung-ho still hadn’t grasped the situation.
“Do you know what he’s talking about?”
“He means that we should play, I think?”
It seemed as if Geum-taek hadn’t understood, either.
“Cla.s.s president! Come here.”
Fl.u.s.tered at the sudden calling, Seung-ho walked up to the front.
“Since you’re the cla.s.s president, you should have fun. Brighten the mood while you play with the kids.”
“Sir?”
He’d only just gotten used to doing the “Attention, salute!” greeting in cla.s.s a few days ago, but to brighten the mood?
‘It’s impossible.’
Seung-ho stared blankly at the teacher with a dumbfounded expression, but the teacher had a stubborn look on his face.
“Now, the driver has given us permission and it’ll be an hour before we enter the highway, so try and have fun until then.”
“How…”
“The cla.s.s president should find out himself.”
The teacher smiled insistently and went back to his seat. Receiving the microphone, Seung-ho stood in front of the kids with a blank look on his face.
Trying to stay standing in the moving bus, he held onto the chair next to him. His hand felt damp from sweating at the sudden situation. Seung-ho took a deep breath and carefully opened his mouth.
“What should we do, guys?”
There was an awkward silence. Seung-ho hadn’t played in these kinds of situations before, so there was no way he’d have a clue. He was hoping someone would speak up.
“Sing.”
At that moment, someone spoke up quietly from the back.
“Sing.”
That one word instantly spread throughout the bus.
“Sing!”
“Sing!”
The kids all chanted “Sing!” Cold sweat broke out on Seung-ho at the unexpected situation.
‘What do I do?’
A half-transparent panel abruptly popped up in front of his eyes.
QUEST:
Sing a cool song in the bus.
Reward: If people cheer - 10 points
If people only clap - 5 points
‘Haa.’
This was just telling him to sing a song.
‘But I can’t sing worth a d.a.m.n.’
However, there was no way he could avoid the “Sing!” chant that the kids were still shouting.
“Alright. But I suck at singing; is that okay?”
“Woaaaah!”
The students cheered and applauded. Although Seung-ho found this type of situation embarra.s.sing, he didn’t dislike it. It kind of felt like he was mixing in well with his cla.s.smates.
“Can this hook up to a karaoke machine, teacher?”
As if he’d expected the question, the teacher grinned and lifted the karaoke remote control that he’d been holding.
“Of course I have it ready.”
“Woaaah!”
Taking a deep breath, Seung-ho took the remote control and selected ‘Intensive Care Unit’ by Easy.
‘The internet said that this was the song that most males sang in karaoke rooms.’
He’d practiced the song a couple of times when he was alone in the convenience store after he’d seen the article.
“Oooooh! Intensive Care Unit!”
The female students cheered when they saw the selected song. Simultaneously, the prelude started flowing out.
He didn’t know why the short prelude felt so long that day. Apart from music cla.s.s, it was also his first time singing in front of others.
“... were doing that~”
He’d lost the timing to start due to his nerves. Barely finding his footing, he started to sing along.
Seung-ho kept the beat as he tapped his foot. As he was singing, the highlight part came up!
“That’s really not it, you idiot~~”
His voice cracked severely at the high part. The other kids grasped their stomachs as they laughed when they heard that, but Seung-ho couldn’t afford to pay attention to anything else but the song.
After a couple of minutes, a couple more voice crackings, and lost timings, the song finally ended.
“Haa.”
As soon as the song ended, Seung-ho bowed his head and sighed deeply, thinking that he was ruined.
‘I sang for nothing.’
Although he’d already known that he couldn’t sing, immense regret flowed over him at the thought that he was being humiliated like this.
“Woooooaaaah!”
But unexpectedly, the kids cheered and applauded for him. Surprised, Seung-ho turned around and looked at the students.
‘Even though I sang this badly?’
A couple kids were smiling broadly as they clapped.
QUEST COMPLETE!
The kids cheered after hearing your song.
Reward: 10 points
The kids knew that Seung-ho had sung badly. However, that wasn’t what was important - it was the fact that he had sung at all.
Seung-ho went along with the mood and tried to hand the microphone off to somebody else.
“Is there someone else who wants to sing?”
However, n.o.body raised their hand. If one or two more sang, the mood would have soared and they would have been fighting for the chance, but it was still early and they were still hesitant.
“You should make someone do it!”
“Yeah, you choose!”
“Me?”
Fl.u.s.tered, Seung-ho pointed at himself and asked. The other students were all thinking, ‘Just not me.’
‘Who should I pick?’
In order to pick someone to sing, he looked around the bus. Although he wanted to pick someone who he was at least a little close to, they all avoided his gaze.
‘If I pick them, they’ll hate me too.’
Seung-ho still wasn’t completely friends with them, so the worry that picking them would distance them was forefront in his mind.
However, there was a guy looking at Seung-ho for quite some time and sitting in the backseat who caught Seung-ho’s eyes.
‘I think he’s looking at me because he wants to sing, right?’
While Seung-ho pondered whether or not to pick him, the guy grinned.
‘He wants to sing but is too shy to say so.’
Seung-ho looked around again just in case there was someone else who wanted to sing, but there wasn’t anyone who stood out. He raised his hand and pointed straight at the guy sitting in the backseat.
“Han-seung, you can sing!”
The loud bus instantly became quiet. Park Han-seung didn’t know the reason he’d been picked and was asking a friend next to him.
A female student next to Seung-ho, as if she was worried about him, whispered quietly.
“Why did you do that? He’s scary when he gets angry.”
“It seemed like he wanted to it…”
Park Han-seung snorted as he walked up. He was the school’s top bully. Even though they were in the bus, n.o.body knew what crazy thing he would do.
All the students except Seung-ho looked at Park Han-seung, who was walking up to the front, while they held their breaths.
“Cla.s.s president.”
“Huh?”
“You’re telling me to sing?”
“Y-yeah.”
Park Han-seung let out a “Haa” sound and extended an arm toward Seung-ho. There were female students who squeezed their eyes shut because they thought he would get hit, and the teacher was getting ready to step in and stop Han-seung if needed be.
“I just have to sing something fun, right?”
Park Han-seung just took Seung-ho’s mic and tested it while making “Ah, ah” sounds.
“I request Gangnam Oppa Style by Psychologist, please.”
“What?”
Even the homeroom teacher was caught off-guard at the unexpected reaction. Seeing that, Park Han-seung scowled and made fun of the teacher.
“Ah, it looks like the teacher doesn’t know the song because of the generation gap.”
“No, no. I know it. Okay, I’ll select it right now.”
That vicious and fierce Park Han-seung was going to sing in the bus. All the students, as one, looked at Seung-ho and Park Han-seung.
At that moment, the prelude started playing in the bus. An upbeat EDM style of music started ringing in the bus.
“A girl who drinks warm Americano during in the day!”
As expected of the most popular song of the generation, things were exciting from the beginning.
“Eeeeehh~ s.e.xy lady!”
Park Han-seung, caught up in the fun, started yelling as he sang.
“O-o-oppa is Gangnam Oppa Style!”
“Gangnam Oppa Style!”
Inside the bus, things started heating up instantly. Although he couldn’t dance the horse dance well, Seung-ho helped liven up the atmosphere by dancing next to Han-seung.
“I’m Gangnam Oppa Style!”
As Park Han-seung finished the song and struck a pose, the entire bus rang with the sound of cheering.
“Woaaaah!”
“You sing so well!”
The students were mostly in awe at the fact that the being called ‘Park Han-seung’ had sung a song in such a place.
“Thank you.”
Park Han-seung took a bow and walked back to his seat with a composed air. Thanks to him things were heated up, and the others started arguing with each other in order to sing first and requesting songs.