Adaptation by Sunmo Kwon

The Catcher in the Rye

     If you really want to know about it, the first think you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my tangles childhood was like, and how my parents tried to make me always be under their control. But I’m not gonna tell my goddam biography or anything. I’ll just tell you what happened to me in last autumn just before I experienced something goddam terrible..

     Where I want to start the story is the day I left KMLA. KMLA is this school in HoengSeong, Gangwon province. You’ve probably heard of it especially if you’re nerd. You’ve seen the picture of students wearing weird and traditional costumes, probably the ones with long ribbons in the front, I bet. The news is all about nerdy students going to goddam great universities, getting awards from different contests and so on. People around me never did. What the hell am I listening about from all these people?

     Anyway, it was a peaceful Saturday morning. Our school had a basketball match with Chungshim. All the Crossover guys were damn excited since it was a very big matter of pride. In fact, they would commit suicide or anything if their pride is lost. I remember I was in front of the Pasteur factory. From there, you can go up to the gym or head for Dasan or Chungmu building. I could hear people yelling and shouting with such fervor. There were never many girls at all at any sports match. Only gits came, talking about online games they played last night. It was supposed to be a coed school, but the reality sucked. There was nothing I could enjoy with girls, also because I did not enjoy doing what girls like to do. OK. But that day, this girl sat next to me. She was a pretty nice girl, and friendly to talk with. Sitting next to her was quite pleasing except the fact that she was ‘officially’ the girlfriend of a crossover guy. But I liked her. She had a pink palm and a glossy hair.

      The reason why I was in front of the Pasteur factory instead of in the gym was because I’d just got back from Seoul with the volleyball team. I was the goddam manager of the volleyball team. Very big deal. We’d gone in to Seoul that morning for this volleyball match with Daewon. Only, we didn’t have the meet. I messed my way up when heading for Daewon school after arriving at Seoul. It was not my fault because the bus driver stopped at the wrong place.

     Oh! I forgot to tell you about that. They kicked me out. I wasn’t supposed to come back after the winter break, on account of I was the last 10% of two-thirds of all the subjects for three times in a row. Well, KMLA has a good rating. It really does.