NABC Chapter 20- A Smell That Lingers
Chapter 20- A Smell That Lingers
Present time, March 13, 2020, 7:38 am.
Jin-woo didn't draw much attention when he rode his scooter into school. More than a few students were doing the same. There was even a designated parking area between their Gymnasium and High School for students' scooters and bicycles.
While driving through the gate and passing the cherry blossom trees, Seong suddenly appeared behind Jin-woo with his arms wrapped around his waist.
"You actually rode the scooter to school! But aren't you still underage to ride one? What if you were stopped by an officer and had to show your student ID?"
"It's not like I was caught. Besides, my birthday is in two days."
"Hm, I guess."
Jin-woo rode to the parking area and got off to move his scooter to an empty spot. Seong got off as well and followed behind him.
"Jin, what are we going to do about that thing?"
Seong suddenly asked as he secured the red scarf around his neck.
"What thing?"
Jin-woo asked slightly confused as he parked his scooter and took off his helmet.
"Y'know, that thing we saw in the Lab, what are we going to do? Are we going to report it to the school or go straight to the police?"
Jin-woo placed his helmet on one of the scooter's handles before he paused. After a moment of silence, he turned off the scooter and said.
"I don't know."
Pocketing the scooter key, Jin-woo turned to head to his class. He was a bit late.
"What do you mean? Don't tell me you're not planning on doing anything when you've seen something like that!"
Seong said in distress as he walked alongside Jin-woo.
"No, I obviously want to do something about it, but I genuinely don't know what to do. Remember, the School's Chairwoman is Seo-joon's grandmother, meaning she's Teacher Park's mother. Going to the school is meaningless. As for the police, it's my word against Teacher Park's. Do you think an accusation like that from a person with my illness would be taken seriously?
And what if the girl doesn't want everyone to know? She could just say I'm lying. I don't know her circumstances but from what I saw she didn't seem unwilling."
Seong went silent for a moment then sighed.
"You're right."
"Don't worry, I'll think up something."
"What? Like taking a video next time? Wait, maybe not that."
Seong said and then frowned in thought before having his eyes light up.
"What about Nurse Soh? Maybe he could help."
Jin-woo immediately shook his head and then asked a strange question.
"Do you know what I hate about cannabis?"
"Cannabis? You mean weed?"
Jin-woo nodded and then answered his own question.
"What I hate about it is that it has a distinct smell that lingers on you. Worse, if you're too used to its smell, you might not even notice."
The sliding door to the Nurse's Office was suddenly pulled open hard. Teacher Park then came marching in while closing the door behind him.
Nurse Soh who was in the middle of biting one of his sandwiches, paused and looked at Teacher Park with a frown.
"Can you not try and break my door every time you enter?"
Teacher Park ignored Nurse Soh's complaint as he walked over and suddenly picked up the second sandwich inside a container nearby before saying.
"Have you contacted the drivers?"
Nurse Soh watched as Teacher Park bit into his sandwich with an annoyed expression.
"Yesterday you ate my sandwiches before I could even taste them. No wonder you were crazy enough to commit a crime in school, and you were even caught."
Swallowing what was in his mouth, Teacher Park said dismissively.
"Don't worry about that, I'm handling it. What about the drivers?"
Nurse Soh nodded and said.
"I've already contacted the two of them. They should arrive around noon to collect the water."
"And the main source?"
"I paid one of the security guards to just leave the latch open this morning so it's easier to siphon the water."
"Great, if everything goes well, we could really make some money from the school's water supply."
Nurse Soh pause biting into his sandwich once again to say.
"Don't you feel bad stealing from your mother's school?"
Teacher Park smiled ambiguously at Nurse Soh before saying with his mouth full.
"I didn't tell you this, but I've already convinced her to turn a blind eye. She even helped me out a bit by telling the school that a water company would come today to do a standard water check. So, the guard at the back of the school should let the drivers in without a problem."
Nurse Soh was shocked when he heard that.
"Chairwoman Mrs. Park seems to favor her son a lot, even after having to pay several million Won in hush money to that girl's parents from your previous school."
Teacher Park finished his sandwich and then said.
"I'm leaving for my new Class; I'll check up on things at lunch."
Nurse Soh nodded and finally took a bite of his sandwich.
Before turning around, Teacher Park commented.
"The weed leaves a after smell, my wife almost caught me yesterday so be careful with that."
Nurse Soh nodded casually before going to take another bite, however, he suddenly realized something and turned to Teacher Park who just opened the door before asking.
"Wait, you got a new Class?"
Teacher Park didn't pause his steps and simply waved his folded attendance book and said.
"Didn't I tell you? I'm handling things."
Though Nurse Soh couldn't see his face, he could tell Teacher Park was smiling. After the door closed, he pondered about Teacher Park's cryptic words. However, he soon ignored them and went back to his cannabis-filled sandwich as it didn't concern him.