When the alarm rings, I close the book.
Every time the 25-minute alarm rang, Junho closed his book and left the café. But the day his friend sat across from him, the same page caught his eye again.
After starting to study at a café, Junho closes his book whenever the 25-minute alarm rings. The counselor looks at the time he stopped studying separately from the time he stopped writing.
Junho sits alone at a café, sets a 25-minute alarm, and starts studying, but when it rings, he leaves without finishing the problem. The story pauses just before it becomes clear what Junho has been counting as finished, as his friend and counselor look at the pattern from another angle.
When Your Studying Keeps Getting Interrupted
Instead of counting your study time as one block, separate when you started from when your hand stopped. Then the next part becomes smaller and easier to continue.
When do you find yourself putting your pencil down while studying?
The scene of Junho closing his book with the unfinished problem still in front of him stayed with me. I saw him counting the time his study ended and the time his hand stopped as one and the same. If you’re going through something similar, please tell me about it too. Today, we looked together at the time he stopped.
Scenes
- 01 · Before the First Alarm Before the First Alarm — Junho opens the first page of his workbook and sets a 25-minute alarm on his phone. Junho: I’ll do just two this time, then go.
- 02 · The Time He Closed the Book The Time He Closed the Book — When the alarm rang, Junho closed his workbook with the half-solved problem still there. Junho: That’s enough for today.
- 03 · The Same Page The Same Page — Even on Sunday, Junho’s workbook was still open to the page he had closed on Friday. When Mina pulled out the chair across from him and sat down, Junho placed his pencil on the book. Mina: Planning to do another 25 minutes and leave? Junho: Better to finish before I get interrupted.
- 04 · The Time He Stopped The Time He Stopped — Junho laid out three café receipts. Saebyeok pointed not to the times beside the alarms, but to where the pencil marks stopped. Saebyeok: Junho, shall we look separately at when you started and when you stopped? Junho: The time I stopped, separately?
Stories by Saebyeok
- Saebyeok
- Even when I go to the study room, I can't open my book.
- Before bed, I write down only how much I studied today.
- While I wait for the results, I’m already worried about who I’ll be compared with.
- After washing up, I stand before the mirror and see the choice I left behind again.
- On rainy days, I’d open just one page.
- When I say I’m taking a break, the dinner table falls quiet.
- I sat at my desk waiting for a reply.
- After an interview, every little thing I could’ve done better comes to mind at once.