Part 6

First day at Sungkyunkwan

[This scene makes it clear that Sunjoon and Yoonhee are both attracted to each other physically from the beginning. This scene takes place when they arrived at the dorms, and Sunjoon and Yoonhee discover they will be roommates.]

Yoonhee looks at the doors to the entrance of the school. Today is her first day. She has been here before, but now she's a bit afraid, because she must live day and night as a man. She looks up to the heavens as if in prayer.

"Please, father, help me get through this without being discovered." She doesn't have the courage to enter, and she keeps staring from the outside. Suddenly, she hears a familiar voice.

"Oh, beautiful sunbinim, have you been alright?"

She turns around and sees Soondol. Although Sunjoon isn't with him, he can't be too far off. She greets Sundool cheerfuly.

"Sundool, it's been a while since I've seen you."

"And you're still as pretty as always. Oh, once again, I've said too much..."

"It doesn't matter. I'll take that as a compliment."

Soondol takes her books and her belongings and starts to walk, but along the wall and not towards the door she's been watching. She simply follows him, and realizes that he's carrying her heave load as if it were light as feather.

"Lee Jinsa... (anyone who passes the Jinsa exam can be referred to this way)

"Lee Jinsa? Oh, you mean our doryunnim! He's here. I followed him in order to help him with his things, but he keep admonishing me for following him all the time. But it's good I stayed next to him all this time, otherwise I wouldn't have found you."

Soondol suddeny stops walking. She asks him what's wrong, when he suddenly squats down and begins to cry.

"I want to stay next to our doryunnim, but he doesn't want me to. He says the school has its own officials, and he cannot have a personal aide (servant) by his side. What can I do now?

"What do you mean. Can't you go home?"

But doryunnim won't be there. What can I do at home?" Soondol looks at Yoonhee with a desperate expression. "Can't you convince him so that I can stay next to him? There's nothing more I can do to convince him. He's such a terrible person; even his father is afraid of him!"

Yoonhee smiles and squats down next to him.

"I don't know if I should say this, since I've only seen him a few times, but he frightens me too.

Soongol lowers his head in despair. Is it wrong to want to be next to Sunjoon? Although Soondol is huge, Yoonhee feels as if she were consoling a child. So she says jokingly:

"Why do you want to be next to someone as frightening as he is?"

"He's the scariest persona on earth, but he's also the kindest." Yoonhee can see what type of person he must be when he has a servant such as this one. Soondol holds back his sadness and gets up.

"In any case, sunbinim also is very surprising."

"Me?"

"You passed! Which was a bit suspicious."

"Why suspicious?"

"Because I thought you were a woman." Yoonhee's heart skips a beat, but she pretends it didn't faze her.

"I've heard that so many times, that it no longer surprises me."

"I...I didn't mean to offend you. Now that you've passed, I can see you are a man among men. How could a woman know how to write and read so well? It's definitely impossible to pass the test unless you are a man."

"Ha ha ha...You're right. It's ridiculous to think that a woman could do that!"

Yoonhee is grateful that she can fool people so easily, given that men don't suspect that a woman can read and write so well. Yoonhee follows Soondol, who passes by several open doors; not the main doors, but the rear doors which lead to the dorms on the East side. They reach a building with a lot of dorm rooms and a big porch. For each dorm room there is a seomdol (a rock on which to place your shoes). This is the Dongjae (Dorms of the East).

"Doryunnim!" Soondol starts to run towards the open door to the dorm room, and SunJoon appears behind the door, sticking out his head.

"I told you not to come back. Why are you here?"

Yoonhee follows and smiles broadly. Se sees that Sunjoon is wearing a blue-green dopo (the long part of the outfit) and a yoogun (the hat the students use while inside the classroom). She bows to greet him.

"It's been a while since I've seen you. How have you been?"  Sunjoon comes out of the dorm room and puts on his shoes.

"I'm glad you're here. I was waiting for you. But why have come from that direction?" Soondol is suddenly frightened at Sunjoon's words.

"Oh, I'm so absent-minded. I forgot that sunbinim are allowed to enter through the main door.

"It doesn't matter" says Yoonhee. "Thanks to you, I was able to enter through the nearest door. I think I'll use this door instead of the main one." Soondol puts her things down on the porch. Sunjoon and Yoonhee sit down, and she looks around at the building. "I'm not sure how all of this works, or what dorm room I have to go to."

"Usually students share a dorm room with other students that they know. Do you know anyone here?"

"What? Shared dorm rooms? We don't have individual rooms?"

Yoonhee's heart beats as fast as it possibly can. All along she thought she'd be alone in a dorm room. Sunjoon explained to her about the dorm rooms in the East side and West side, which has 32 rooms, of which 29 are for the students (the others are for faculty).

"But the total number of students is about 150, so it's necessary for students to share the dorms. It's a bit uncomfortable, but..."

Yoonhee does some mental calculations. "If there are 150 students and only 29 rooms, that means that there are 5 or 6 students per dorm room!"  She looks around the room. It is small. Even three students would be uncomfortable. Would she have to sleep with men in the room? All she can think about is fleeing, but when she picks up her things to leave, Sunjoon says.

"There will only be 2 or 3 students per dorm room." Yoonhee calms down a bit. Two or three is better than five or six.

"What about the rest?"

Some stay in Banchon, others live nearby, so they come and go. We are lucky that the King has allowed us to stay in the dorms.

Lucky? Yoonhee doesn't even want to imagine what her mother would say if she knew she was going to sleep with men. She looked around the room, and asked with concern: "I don't know anyone here. What should I do?"

"You know me."

Yoonhee looks at Sunjoon, nervous and unsure. Sharing a room with him is fortunate, but also unfortunate. Although she trusts him, she doesn't trust herself.

"Th...then, I'll have to share the room with you. Is there anyone else besides us?"

"I haven't seen him yet, but I think there is. There were things in the room already when I arrived, and all the other dorms are occupied by two or 3 people, this was the only one where there was just one.

"Do you know what type of person he is?"

"No, I don't. Are you worried?"

"Since he is a complete stranger...yes, I worry a bit. What about the dorms in the West side?

"The rooms over there are mainly occupied by Norons. Over here, there is everyone else, Sorons, Nam-in...you look like a Nam-in.

"H...how did you know?"

"I just had a feeling." An uncomfortable silence arises between them. Yoonhee breaks the silence by asking:

"But if the dorms on the West side are for Norons, what are you doing here?" Sunjoon smiles.

"Originally, the dorms on the west were for Jinsas and on the East for Saengwons. But then they divided them between Norons and Sorons, which isn't right. I am both a Jinsa and a Saengwon, so it doesn't matter which side I stay on.

Yoonhee doesn't understand. Even so, he's a Noron, and he'd be more comfortable in the same dorms as his fellow Norons. Why should he want to be in the East dorms? That seemed strange. In any event, she's glad that she's able to share a room with him and not with a stranger.

Yoonhee goes to unpack her bags. She opens her pile of books, and Sunjoon sees the title on the cover of the first book. "Wait, what is this?"

Sunjoon looks to be sure no one is around; only Soondol is at the door. He approaches Yoonhee, places his lips close to her ear, and whispers. Although it's just a whisper, his warmth makes her heart beat faster.

"It's against the law to have books by Lao Zi, and besides, it's against school rules."

"What? I didn't know! I was reading it only because I was bored."

Sunjoon is surprised. Besides being very difficult to find this book, she was reading it because she was bored?

"What should I do? Where should I hide it?"

Yoonhee is nervous, and she goes through all her books, to turn the banned ones face down. After Sunjoon explains which one are not allowed, he warns her to be careful.

You're not going to be able to take them home, so I'll ask Soondol to take them to my house for the time being.

"Thank you. Thanks to you too Soondol." Soondol smiles while he receives he books.

"But I don't see your mat and blanket. Didn't you bring them with you?"  Yoonhee gives Sunjoon a surprised look. He realizes that she didn't know she needed to bring them, so he tells her: "I brought mine, but I've heard you can get them here too."

Someone from the school approaches them and asks them if they are new students. When Yoonee and Sunjoon confirm it, he brings out a piece of paper and checks off their names.

"You've decided on this room? There weren't any other empty ones?"

"I understand there's only one other person here. Is something wrong?"

"No, there's only one person, but...Let me see if I can find you another room."  He checks his list and says: "No, there are no other rooms available. Well...I guess you'll be alright. He doesn't come here too often."  When he sees their strange looks, he changes the subject. "Your desks and uniforms will be brought in shortly. Will you be needing anything else?"

Sunjoon speaks up for Yoonhee. "I didn't bring my mat and blanket. What can I do?"

"Oh, it's possible we may have some in the warehouse, but they're probably not in good shape. They're old and worn out, so I recommend that you bring one from home." Yoonhee realizes that the ones at home are not in much better condition, and besides, she can't take them away from her mother and brother.

"I'll take one anyway" Yoonhee says.

"It will take a few days to get them fixed."

"Well, I don't have any to spare at home..." The worker looks at Yoonhee and nods.

"Don't worry" says Sunjoon "I'll bring them from home."

"When the worker leaves, Sunjoon asks Soondol to bring a mat, a blanket and a pillow.

"I don't know if it will be ready right away."

"If you tell my mother, she'll have it ready right away. Bring it tomorrow morning."

"It doesn't matter. Don't worry about it." says Yoonhee.

"No, you've been sick, and it won't be good for your health to use old things from the warehouse.

Yoonhee lowers her head, not knowing what to do or how to take his good deed. She had thought there weren't any good and generous men in the world, but she had just met Sunjoon. After organizing his things, Soondol leave with the books and they sit on the porch. Yoonhee is nervous so she plays with her fingers while she looks at the trees and the rest of the buildings.

"Which building is that?"

                                                                                                                       

"I think it's the student's cafeteria."

"Oh, I see."

"You should take that off."

"What? Remove what?"

After seeing Yoonhee's startled reaction, Sunjoon was also surprised, and he pointed towards her hat. Students don't wear it in school.

"Oh, the hat...yes, I'll take it off." Embarrassed, she begins to untie it.

"I'm not telling you how men should act, but you seem a bit shy."

Her heart beats rapidly when she sees his kind smile. She takes off her hat and puts it on the floor. She looks through her clothes until she found her yoogun (the cloth hat that the students wear). She starts to put in on, but it was handmade by her mother with cheap cloth (all they could afford) and it doesn't fit the way it should. Yoonhee is embarrassed to show her sangtoo (the ribbon for the topknot) so she rushes to put it on quickly, tying the ends of the ribbons. Suddenly, Sunjoon's hand is near her face. Before she could show her surprise, his long fingers undo the ribbon she had tied. His hands lightly touch her chin, and her body responds to his touch. Sunjoon ties the last knot, leaving it perfectly tied.

It's natural that you would be shy, since you're not used to be surrounded by people. I'm sure you'll get over it after being here a while.

Yoonhee nods in agreement, almost out of breath. Sunjoon hangs up her clothes next to his, everything in perfect order. There are also some ripped clothes that surely must belong to their other roomate.

Yoonhee sees a piece of cloth, probably a handkerchief, that has fallen below the clothes of the other student. When she picks it up, Sunjoon says: "Didn't you say that you had something to tell me after the Bangbangryeh? You left quickly and I wasn't able to ask you.

She has thought of telling him she was a girl. But she was so taken by surprise over the king's presence, that she completely forgot. She's still too shaken up to say anything, so she just turns towards him and says: "Ah...ah, yes. It wasn't anything special. I just wanted to congratulate you. Oh, didn't you have something you wanted to tell me too?"

Yoonhee is still holding the handkerchief, which is all bloody, but she hadn't noticed. Her hands are now bloodied, but she's looking at Sunjoon, so she doesn't see it. She sits and waits for his answer.

"Oh, it's already done."

"What was it?"

"I just wanted to ask you if you were interested in attending Sungkyunkwan with me, but it's already done."

"Oh, I see. Why are we talking so formally? Think of me as a younger brother, and talk to me that way."

"Should I, now that we are sharing a room? I'll try. But I can't call you by your name, so think of a nickname that I can call you.

Yoonhee tries to think of a nickname. It's as hard as choosing a name. But since she is now a student, she must find a name by which they can call her. A student passes by and sticks his head in the door to greet them.

"You're new here, right? Nice to meet you."  Sunjoon and Yoonhee return the greeting.

"Are you our roomate?"

"No, I'm not. I'm from over there, from the hajongbang."

Suddenly, the students' eyes open wide, as if just realizing something. "Th..this room is...!

"What? Are you ill?"

"N...no. Nothing. It's nothing. Nothing."

After looking around carefully, the student rushes out. Yoonhee thinks about his strange reaccion, and recalls the similar reaction of the worker when he confirmed their room. Sunjoon notices the same thing. The both look at each other apprehensively, as if they shouldn't be in this room.