Chapter 63: Choice (3)
“Chairman, how are things going on our end?”
At the question, the chairman of the election campaign jolted up, sitting even straighter on his chair than he already was.
“Oh, yes. Right now, gathering supporters is our biggest goal, and those nasty rumors popped up at the worst time. It’s safe to say that we have lost a few people, sir.”
There was no doubt that the chairman was doing his absolute best. At the very least, Jeongho Ju was confident that the chairman was the most hardworking person in his whole campaign. On the other hand, the one who was doing the least was…
“And PR? How are things going over there, manager?”
Indeed, it was the PR manager, who had gone so pale he looked almost sickly. Added to the fact that his unkempt beard and protruding cheekbones were positively drenched in sweat, he really made people feel uncomfortable just by looking at him.
“Yes, well…” the manager stuttered, stumbling over his words, “we’re looking into it, of course, but we think it might be a bit difficult without reliable tip from…”
In this case, a “tip” referred to digging dirt on the opposing candidate, since they had gone ahead and slandered Ju’s campaign. Whoever said elections were black or white? They were black and black at most. But this scarecrow of a man who called himself the PR manager was barely able to get any information at all. Could his opponent really be clean? Hah! There was no such thing as a clean candidate in politics. If they were clean, why would they even step into politics in the first place? That was Jeongho Ju’s firm belief.
“Manager.”
Ju’s voice was soft enough, but to the manager, it sounded like nothing less than a poisoned dagger aimed straight at him.
“Yes, sir,” he answered feebly.
“I’ve heard many good things about you and your talents. But with your latest achievements, or lack thereof… I cannot help but be disappointed.”
“M-My apologies, sir,” the manager choked out. A dagger indeed, pressed dangerously close against his throat. He couldn’t leave things like this. The manager closed his eyes and squeezed every last braincell trying to find a way to remedy this.
“W-We’re trying our best to stop the rumors from spreading…” he blurted out at last, “So… We should be seeing results soon.”
It was nothing more than speculation, an empty promise at best, but it was all he could do at the moment. Of course, this did nothing to appease Candidate Ju. After all, optimism was of no use to him if he were to lose the elections.
“We’ll keep an eye on things for now. There’s still a week left for campaigns, is that correct? If we don’t have tangible results in two days, this will all have been for nothing. We could lose everything. So I need you all to be at the top of your game and give it your all until the end.”
“Yes, sir.”
Candidate Ju frowned as he looked at his team, so frantic and on edge. He hadn’t imagined things would be so hard, even at the beginning of the campaign, but here they were now, going through a rather serious crisis. He turned to look at his campaign poster and sighed. He hadn’t worked so hard just to fall like this. He would not let this get to him. Thinking back on his thirty years of experience working as a public officer, he thought and thought of a way out of this mess.
****
Lucid made his way to the center of the circle where the two girls were still grabbing on to each other’s hair and gently put his hands on their wrists. The girls stared at him for a moment, unsure of what he was up to, but then quickly withdrew their hands. Their wrists had suddenly started to burn, even though there was no sign of a burn or even an injury. Given their immediate, simultaneous reactions, it was easy enough to infer that Lucid had done something, but no one could tell what for sure.
“What did you just do?”
“What was that?”
The girls spoke at the same time, and Lucid couldn’t help but sigh. He had acted because he didn’t want his classmates to fight, especially not in front of him, but he now realized that he hadn’t thought about how to get the two to make up. He didn’t even know why they were fighting, so how on earth could he know how to resolve it? For now, he decided that imitating Ki-woong was his best choice.
“Why are you fighting?”
“What?” Hyejin asked, incredulous.
She looked at him in disbelief, as if he had just asked the stupidest question in the world. As far as she could tell, he was barely 140cm (4’7″) tall, but here he was, daring to stand up to her and get in her way. Did he have no notion of fear? Had it been anyone else, she would have immediately pushed them away and threatened them with bodily harm. But alas, this was “plaster face” standing there in front of her, the most popular kid in the class (or rather, the whole school), known everywhere for his brains. Or for his looks. Truthfully speaking, he wasn’t at all Hyejin’s type, so she couldn’t understand the hype surrounding him, but even her own parents often mentioned him to her, telling her to get along with him and be his friend. She hadn’t minded that, since he had never gotten in the way of her “grand quest” or done anything to turn her against him. She wasn’t his friend by all means, but they got along well enough. Yet here was now, recklessly sticking his nose into her business without second thoughts. It was baffling.
For Yurim, things were a bit different. She was interested in Lucid, though she had been too conscious of her rival to really get close to him. She simply spent her time admiring him from a distance, which was quite fitting given his nickname, and the more she looked, the more she grew to like him. However, she hadn’t ever imagined that he would step in like this, so she had no idea how to react to such a situation. Furthermore, she couldn’t quite tell which of her feelings were strongest at the moment. Was it her competitiveness towards her rival, or her interest in Lucid?
“Move,” Yurim spoke first, breaking the silence.
Whichever of her feelings was strongest, for now, she simply didn’t want Lucid to get hurt.
“I’m sorry, Yurim. But I don’t think it’s a good idea for you two to be fighting like this.”
Yurim’s face turned bright red. Was it because Lucid had ignored her request? Or was it because…
“He called me by my name!” She thought excitedly.
As far as she knew, Lucid had never called anyone by their names. Usually, it was everyone else going up to him to strike up a conversation, so Lucid never really needed to address someone by their name first. And now, he had called Yurim by her name.
Completely oblivious to the small happiness he had just caused, Lucid turned to Hyejin.
“You should also calm down. Can you tell me why you’re fighting? I feel like it’s better to solve things by talking, instead of just resorting to violence,” he suggested.
This did nothing to appease Hyejin. On the contrary, she was offended that this shortie (even though he wasn’t short by all means, when compared to the other boys in the class) would have the gall to talk to her like this.
“Hey. Stop acting so cocky. Who are you to tell me what to do?”
“And you’re way out of line!!” Yurim yelled, taking more offense at Hyejin’s words than even Lucid had.
Hyejin had called plaster face cocky! How dare she? Angered beyond words, Yurim lunged towards the other girl, but Lucid stepped in front of her before she could even move one inch. Reaching out with his hands, he grabbed both of Yurim’s arms and stopped her from getting any closer to Hyejin. Being stronger than he looked, Yurim couldn’t do anything to free herself from her grip. She stared at him, and that was when a random thought struck her.
Had he just tried to hug her? What if he had? What if he hadn’t just grabbed her arms, but had pulled her into a hug, like in those dramas? Suddenly, she resented the fact she was so tall, and she felt bad for Lucid for being so short.
While Yurim, as tall as she was mature, was busy fretting over her first physical contact with her crush, Lucid turned his head around to look at Hyejin.
“Of course, I’m sure there are things I don’t know about this situation. I didn’t mean to hurt your pride. But I still think it’s not very good for classmates to fight like this. What if you got hurt? What could you do about the consequences?”
If he had been speaking to Yurim, she would have been touched beyond words to hear that Lucid was worrying about her safety, but this was Hyejin. To her, it just sounded like he was looking down on her, on her strength, on her abilities.
“Hurt? Me? You think I’d get hurt fighting her? You think I’m a joke?”
Lucid realized that the more he talked, the worse the situation got. He wasn’t sure why or how exactly, but it seemed that he was hurting Hyejin’s pride over and over again.
He also realized that Hyejin was afraid. He wasn’t sure of what, but that wasn’t important. For now, he had to dissipate her anger and stop the two from fighting. He let go of Yurim’s left arm, keeping his hand on her right arm, keeping Yurim flustered.
“I don’t think that at all. You’re all and good at sports and get good grades. Why would I think of you as a joke? You get along with your friends and the teachers like you. I don’t think anyone here thinks of you as a joke. That goes for the teachers, too. And I think that means people have a lot of expectations for you. But if you got into a fight right now, all those people would be disappointed. I think. And I also think that you wouldn’t want that. Right?”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. You don’t know anything about me.”
Lucid let out a heavy sigh. If this had been Myeongsu, he would have at least been able to talk things out. Hyejin just kept cutting him off no matter what he said. Thankfully, Yurim was standing still (too preoccupied with the clash between reality and fantasy) without putting up a fight. Even Hyejin wasn’t jumping at him to attack him, so he figured that he still had a chance to end things peacefully.
He briefly wondered whether he should just wait until the end of lunch break, but as things were, it would be too difficult a task for him to stay like this for ten more minutes. Besides, he didn’t want to waste his precious time over something like this. He sighed again, realizing that he still had a long way to go before reaching Ki-woong’s level.
“Alright, then,” he said, “What do you want to do?”
“What?”
“What is it that you want right now?”
Of course, there was something that Hyejin wanted. That was why she had taken it upon herself to face Yurim. But when Lucid asked her so flat out, she found it hard to answer. The more she looked for an answer, the more she found herself lost. What had she wanted?
As Hyejin glared at him silently, Lucid wondered whether he should say more or wait for her to speak. If he were to speak, he could just anger her more, and waiting might give her time to cool off. On the other hand, talking to her could get her to think more rationally, and waiting might cause him to lose the chance to persuade her.
The classroom fell into silence again, and the children were unable to say or do anything at the sight of this strange faceoff.
****
“Esteemed citizens of Inpyeong! A government official must be transparent and upright. Over the years, we have seen countless examples of why this is important. We know it in our hearts that government officials must be held to a higher standard and be judged harshly. That is the only way for us to move forward as a society, in the right direction. But I tell you now that Jeongho Ju has a history! Yes, 20 years ago, he has turned our hard earned money and taken it to fill his own greedy pockets! Our taxes, esteemed citizens! And though it hasn’t been investigated by prosecutors, we know it to be true that he has continued to do this over the years. Now I ask you this. What can such a man do for us, for Inpyeong City, for society? Do you really believe that he will do his best for our future? A seat in the National Assemby requires self-sacrifice and honesty! Do you believe he is fit for such a position? People of Inpyeong! I am asking you!”
“Yeah!!!”
“While Candidate Ju spoke empty words of justice and fairness, I was at the courthouse, at these very streets, out in society! Not just promising justice, but living by it! For over twenty years, I’ve worked as a human rights lawyer with just one goal in mind! To work towards a more clean society, a more just and rational society with morals! For twenty years, I, Haejun Kang, have given my life for society, for the people of this country! And now I stand here, ready to give my life for you, citizens of Inpyeong!”
“Yeah!!”
“Please remember me, #2 Candidate Haejun Kang, and vote for me when the time comes! Vote for me, Haejun Kang, so that I may work for Inpyeong City, for this community!”
The speakers next to the campaign truck began to blare out a campaign song, repeating “Believe in #2” over and over again over an upbeat old-style trot track. Campaign members danced to the music in front of the truck, all donning campaign ribbons with the campaign slogan, and Haejun Kang bowed deeply in front of the crowd, smiling solemnly. The crowd went wild, their cheers echoing through the streets.
<Choice (3)> End.
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