Even after leaving the restaurant and parting with Seonghyeon, Yoonjo endlessly thought about the ring. Thinking he might be able to work during his spare time, he tried matching up his schedule this way and that, but it didn’t work out at all. What other methods were there…
Yoonjo, who had been idly browsing a part-time job site, stared intently at the title written in bold letters: ‘Daily wage 120,000 won.’
“From 6 PM to 4 AM… Isn’t that jackpot?”
Thinking about the price of the ring, Yoonjo roughly calculated how long he’d have to work. Then he pressed down on the number in the job posting and made a call.
“Can I start working from today? Is that possible?”
After finishing a simple phone interview, he also heard an explanation about the meeting place. Yoonjo left the campus with a grin.
***
It had been only four days at most. The time that had passed since he started the package loading and unloading part-time job to earn money.
Every dawn, Yoonjo crawled to the bedroom with a body worn to exhaustion, half-washing and half-not, and sometimes he would fall asleep on the sofa. When he opened his eyes, he’d be on the bed, but Seonwoo was never by his side. What with one thing and another, they were both so busy they couldn’t even see each other’s faces day after day.
He even thought that the guys in dramas weren’t human. How could they work and love at the same time? While going on dates diligently too.
At first, he thought the timing was good. From the day he started the part-time job, Seonwoo began to get busy. He even did a butt dance saying it was a revelation from God, but it turned out to be nothing less than the beginning of the road to hell.
Yoonjo, who kept telling himself he only had to do it three more times, chopsticked food with half-closed eyes. He was too busy constantly munching, not even noticing the rice grain stuck to the corner of his mouth.
“Yoonjo-ya.”
At Seonwoo’s quiet call, Yoonjo slightly raised his head.
“Yes.”
Yoonjo, who barely stopped a yawn from bursting out, gulped down what was in his mouth. It was the first time seeing Seonwoo in a while, but he absolutely couldn’t pull himself together. He was so, so sleepy.
“You seem to be coming in late at night too. Didn’t you say there are no classes the first week and it’s replaced with orientation? Where do you keep going out to, coming back late at night?”
Seonwoo was stroking his lips with his fingertips while resting his chin on his hand. He quietly looked at Yoonjo’s mumbling face. Though it was a gaze that seemed to be quietly observing, it looked sharp because of his characteristically keen-looking eyes.
“You must be very busy.”
“Yes… Three times, no… Anyway.”
Yoonjo, who blinked his eyes and barely chewed and swallowed his rice, covered his mouth with his hand and yawned. No matter how much he slept, he was sleep-deprived to the point of dying. Of all things, because it was an early class, it was twice as hard as usual. At least today he had a free period, which was fortunate. On weekdays, even the time he could split up was limited, so physically he was pushed to his limits.
“How about resting for today at least? Coming in late every night for a whole week… You must be tired.”
“Mm…”
Yoonjo, who blinked for a while and rolled his head to interpret Seonwoo’s meaning, soon moved his mouth. His eyelids were still half-closed.
“Actually, I go to the library…”
“When I went to the library last time, you weren’t there.”
It had happened just the other day. Seonwoo, who had time left over, came all the way to school, and at that time Yoonjo was constantly lifting and putting down packages. He was only able to reply 4 hours after Seonwoo sent a text saying he was waiting, and just thinking about that time made him dizzy.
“Actually, I’m studying for exams…”
“Exam prep from the beginning of the semester?”
As expected, to make excuses, one needed to be smart. A moment of regret passed by, but nevertheless, because his head wasn’t working well right now, Yoonjo added words ramblingly.
“Actually, I’m cramming… Studying… I need to get scholarships too, and I need to preview classes diligently… There’s also a general meeting for the start of semester coming up soon, but my pockets are empty, and if my pockets are empty, the nation’s coffers are empty… Then I also become empty… If there’s nothing to the point you can hear the sound of my brain rolling, I can’t even eat… Money… That thing… Huaam…”
As Yoonjo’s muttering grew longer, Seonwoo slightly narrowed his eyes. Not noticing that gaze, Yoonjo scooped up a big spoonful of rice and shoved it into his mouth. Both his cheeks puffed up fully.
Seonwoo, who had been tapping the table with his fingertips, briefly lowered his eyes. Looking at Yoonjo’s fingertips as if searching for something, he opened his mouth.
“Well, yeah. I’m going to be busy for a while too… We can both just work, I guess. It’ll be hard to see each other’s faces because we’re busy… but it’ll be okay.”
It was a rather gloomy voice. As soon as Yoonjo heard Seonwoo’s words, he opened his eyes wide as if he’d come to his senses. Everything else passed through his brain, but the words that Seonwoo would be busy remained clearly.
“Work? You, hyung? Why? Suddenly? When?”
As Yoonjo remembered, Seonwoo was an actor who no longer did activities. Even then, though he had re-debuted as a screenplay writer, after his first work he hadn’t put out anything. So Seonwoo’s statement was something surprising from Yoonjo’s standpoint.
“Mm… It’s a bit grandiose to call it work…”
Seonwoo hesitated uncharacteristically. It was because this was a bit ambiguous to call work. He had already written the new work for contract termination. If there was a problem, it was that he hadn’t brought it out into the world for a long time. He couldn’t just suddenly circulate it to film companies. Because Seonwoo had been hiding away for so long, it was also difficult to find investors.
The schedule that was coming up soon was the compromise point they’d found. It was a current affairs educational program that didn’t have many viewers but was quiet, like a restaurant tour, going down to the countryside and presenting dishes with that region’s specialty products. Because he had to show his face on camera at least once, it couldn’t be helped.
Actually, he had tried to handle this matter quietly by himself. It was also consideration for Yoonjo who was living his school life, but… seeing his behavior these past few days, he felt there was no need for that. Above all, you could tell from his completely cracked fingertips and injured fingers. Though he couldn’t know exactly what he was doing, at least it wasn’t studying.
Work that started in the evening and ended late at dawn… He wondered if he was going to clubs or something. Because he’d often seen cases of people going astray after becoming university students, it wasn’t an impossible assumption either. However, he’d never heard of getting injured hands from going to clubs. Then there was one possibility. It was a part-time job.
What could one do at night… What got caught in Seonwoo’s mind as he pondered was designated driver, restaurant dishwashing, and lastly, package loading and unloading part-time work. Among those, the one thing that could make his hands become that mess was the package part-time job alone. Restaurant dishwashing would give him eczema if anything, it wouldn’t crack like that.
“Just, since I came to Seoul, I’m going to try one thing. For the time being, it’ll be hard to see my face.”
Seonwoo, who showed an indifferent look, put down his spoon as if he’d finished eating. As always, his rice bowl was neatly emptied. It was quite different from Yoonjo, who had about half left because he ate slowly. Discovering that difference, Yoonjo barely chewed the rice and swallowed it, then neatly stored even the soup in his stomach.
Seonwoo, confirming Yoonjo’s hurrying appearance, slowly got up from his seat and put the dishes in the sink. Then he added casually.
“I don’t have a dedicated manager right now, but I can drive by myself so it’s okay.”
“Why don’t you have one? Don’t they all usually have them?”
“Since I haven’t been active for a long time, it’s natural. It’s lonely to go alone though. If you had time, I was going to ask you. Since you’re busy, it can’t be helped.”
While saying that, Seonwoo lightly fiddled with Yoonjo’s earlobe. Toward Yoonjo, who was quietly looking at him, Seonwoo beautifully folded his eyes in a curve.
To blatantly meddle saying whether to work or not, Seonwoo’s current position was just ambiguous. In the end, employing such petty tactics like this was the best he could do.
“I suppose it would be difficult?”
Along with his well-shaped eyes, his white skin entered Yoonjo’s view in turn. Lastly, his red lips stuck firmly in his sight. They were even drawing a soft arc. Yoonjo briefly moved his lips, then vigorously retorted.
“Let’s go right away! Though my driving is inexperienced, I’ve never had an accident yet! I don’t plan to have any in the future either. Though I’m a somewhat unreliable driver, I’ll serve you with my best effort, young master.”
“I have to keep you by my side today and tomorrow. Are you really okay with that?”
“Ah, of course. I just like being stuck right next to hyung… uh…”
Seonwoo reached out toward Yoonjo. Then he lightly cupped his cheek and lowered his head. At the distance that became close as if they might kiss, Yoonjo opened his eyes wide. As soon as he thought, ‘It’s suddenly becoming like this…?’, along with Seonwoo’s hot breath, a whisper reached his ear.
“You have a rice grain on your mouth. Is it a lunch box to eat at lunch?”
Yoonjo, who blankly watched Seonwoo immediately pull away, shouted creakily like a broken doll.
“A lunch box! Even my grandma doesn’t make jokes like that!”
Seonwoo, who reached out his hand again toward the huffing Yoonjo, lightly brushed the corner of his mouth. A single white rice grain was stuck to his fingertip. Taking it straight to his mouth, he slowly pushed it between his lips as if licking.
“That’s fortunate. If it had been a lunch box, I would have felt bad for stealing and eating it.”
His bright red tongue was glimpsed between his white teeth. Yoonjo turned his face bright red and clenched his fists tightly as if it was him who had entered his mouth. Taking a big breath, he trembled. Because his chest was slightly puffed up, the line of his muscles showed clearly through his thin shirt, subtly drawing attention.
Yoonjo, who immediately exhaled, made a flower platform under his chin, then stuttered.
“H-how about me as a lunch box?”
Now not just his face but even his neck was tinged red. Seonwoo quietly looked at Yoonjo, then burst into laughter. It wasn’t wrong—he was really cute.
“Where did you learn to say such things?”
“Wher-ever…”
“Yoonjo-ya.”
When Seonwoo lowered his head, his characteristic body scent came whooshing in. It was a cool yet clean fragrance. The distance became close enough for the fine hairs by his ear to sway.
When Seonwoo slightly opened his mouth, the sound of saliva thickening was heard clearly, as if engraved on his eardrums. Yoonjo tightly gripped his clothes and held his breath. He didn’t know why, but his eyes were also squeezed tightly shut.
“You’re too young, there’s nothing to eat.”
