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“Ah, why is he suddenly saying he can’t make it now?”
When I had completed the faces of three rabbits while having pink-colored fantasies, the class president grumbled irritably. I leaned my upper body over and blatantly peered at his phone screen. One of our classmates was sending a bunch of crying emojis in a row. The class president replied that it was okay and exited the chat window. He moved his finger to swipe down the screen and found and pressed Woogyun’s name.
“Can’t be helped. After all, to Jang Woogyun…”
“I’ll! I’ll get one person.”
I covered the class president’s screen with my palm and spoke as if shouting. The class president raised his head and looked at me.
“You? I already asked almost everyone in our department and there was no one available. Since it’s today, it’s sudden too…”
“No. I can get someone. Just trust me.”
I patted the class president’s shoulder and spoke in a firm voice. I even turned off his phone screen so he couldn’t send a message to Woogyun. He glanced down at me to confirm my determination and answered, “Go ahead then.” I asked him about the group date time and location. I nodded, and just then I straightened my posture as I saw the professor entering the lecture hall.
I listened to the class diligently. I took notes and also wrote down the assignments properly. And as soon as class ended, I grabbed my bag and burst out of the lecture hall. I ran and ran. My destination was the smoking room on the rooftop of our department building.
I went out to the outdoor smoking area beyond the wide-open iron door. While organizing the breath that had calmed down a bit during the elevator ride, I stood on my tiptoes and looked around. In the distance, I saw Cha Geonhyeok sitting on the flowerbed in front of the fence. I approached him directly. Fortunately, there were no people from our department nearby.
“Hey, Cha Geonhyeok.”
At my call, Cha Geonhyeok lifted his head that had been tilted diagonally down. He raised his eyebrows.
“What.”
“What are you doing this evening?”
I asked recklessly. Cha Geonhyeok, looking at me while bringing the cigarette to his mouth, puffed out smoke. I didn’t know where the wind was coming from, but the smoke all rushed toward my face. I dispersed the cigarette smoke with my hand. Cha Geonhyeok laughed through his nose.
“Wasn’t yesterday enough?”
“What are you talking about. It’s not like that.”
Even though it really wasn’t like that, I felt strangely guilty and looked around. The number of times I had initiated sex first could be counted on one hand, but anyway, he and I were in a relationship where we had sex about once a week.
“If it’s not like that, why are you asking about my schedule?”
“Can’t I just ask?”
“What is it.”
“Ah, just! What are you doing this evening!”
I snapped at Cha Geonhyeok, who was far from kindness—very, extremely far—with a sharp voice. Contrary to expectations, Cha Geonhyeok, who didn’t disturb his expression one bit, flicked ash into the ashtray.
“Nothing much.”
Fortunately, Cha Geonhyeok didn’t ignore my snapping and gave me an answer. Having confirmed that his schedule was free, I grinned widely and sat down next to him.
“Then let’s go to a group date with me.”
I even linked arms with him in case Cha Geonhyeok might run away. Cha Geonhyeok, who switched the cigarette to his other hand, shook off his arm as if annoyed.
“Not going.”
“Ah, let’s go.”
After one rejection, I became a bit timid and grabbed the hem of his clothes instead of his arm. Cha Geonhyeok shook his head.
“What group date. Am I going there to meet women?”
If there were guys coming out, that would be different. The latter part flowed out even smaller. Both Cha Geonhyeok and I were gay. Since we weren’t going to date girlfriends, there was absolutely no reason to go to a group date. Knowing this well, I needed to be more honest. I grabbed Cha Geonhyeok’s ear and pulled it. He cursed, “Ah, fuck.” I whispered into his ear.
“If you don’t go, Gyun will go.”
Cha Geonhyeok swatted my hand away. He rubbed his ear that had turned red from being grabbed and looked down at me. A sneer hung at the corner of his mouth.
“You’re doing this because you’re worried your Gyun might hit it off with a girl at the group date?”
More precisely, I wanted to prevent him from going to the group date at all, but anyway, since it was correct, I nodded with a solemn face. A pathetic energy appeared in Cha Geonhyeok’s eyes. He shook his head shallowly and smoked his cigarette.
Cha Geonhyeok knew I liked Woogyun. On the day we first slept together, he asked me as I groaned until the afternoon of the next day from the aftereffects of our first sex. Is the Gyun you mentioned Jang Woogyun from our department? Thinking what else was there to hide, I answered honestly that yes, I liked Woogyun. Only after saying everything did I go “Oh no.” So I grabbed the hair of him who was biting a cigarette and questioned whether he would spread rumors. Gripping my wrist, he said no with an absurd expression.
“If I was going to spread rumors, I wouldn’t have slept with you.”
Now that I heard it, that was true. By sleeping with me, Cha Geonhyeok had essentially come out as well. So I easily let him go. And in fact, Cha Geonhyeok didn’t show any signs in front of our classmates or in front of Woogyun. Neither signs of having slept with me nor signs that I had feelings for Woogyun. He was trustworthy. So after that day, I made Cha Geonhyeok my secret diary.
“It’s annoying though.”
But my secret diary wasn’t much help to me. I grabbed his sleeve and shook it.
“Let’s go together. I’ll pay. Just go and drink delicious alcohol, okay? And play some fun games, okay?”
“That’s why I’m saying it’s annoying.”
I slammed down the wrist of Cha Geonhyeok who was consistently uncooperative. He stopped his arm in mid-air and flicked out the cigarette with an indifferent expression. The short butt drew a parabola and landed inside the ashtray. Cha Geonhyeok got up.
“I’ll grant you one wish.”
My heart grew urgent at his attitude of trying to leave, so I blurted out the words. He, who had stuffed his hands into his pockets, looked down at me. I looked up energetically at him with his crooked expression and held up my pinky finger. Cha Geonhyeok opened his mouth.
“Anything?”
“Of course, within reason.”
He, who had been staring down at my face, moved his gaze to my pinky finger held up straight. His hand came out of his pocket.
“Don’t pretend later that you never made a promise.”
“Hey, what do you take me for.”
I smiled brightly and hooked pinky fingers with Cha Geonhyeok. A victory song rang in my ears.
There were minor twists and turns, but anyway, I succeeded in “Operation Rescue Gyun from Group Date.” Now what remained was to get through the group date well one way or another. But that wasn’t as easy as I thought.
“Hey, fuck. Is this why you asked me to come with you?”
Cha Geonhyeok, who plopped down on the sofa, gripped my knee tightly and asked. I barely opened my eyes that kept trying to close and swayed my upper body as I placed my elbow on the dirty table. I barely managed to rest my chin and looked at Cha Geonhyeok blearily. Cha Geonhyeok pulled out a hangover remedy from somewhere like a magician. He twisted off the cap and held it out to me. I blinked.
The women who appeared at the 4-on-4 group date were all heavy drinkers. How could they drink without their face color changing at all—do they have five livers? The thought naturally came to mind as they all, every single one of them, drank well. In the end, the first to pass out was Classmate 1 whose drinking capacity was one bottle of soju, and next was me.
Fortunately, Classmate 2 could hold his liquor well. With good sociability, he was currently playing darts in a corner of the bar with the others except for two women who had gone to the bathroom. It was fortunate that Classmate 2 was there. Without him, this group date would have surely ended with the men’s disgrace.
“Drink it.”
Cha Geonhyeok, the last surviving man who had escaped disgrace somewhat along with Classmate 2, was currently taking care of me. Though not as unconscious as me, he was drunk too. When was it that he happily drank the free alcohol—he cursed several times with a disgusted expression when the women started to push harder. The women said he was cute seeing that. We definitely said we were the same age, but maybe they’re actually noonas. At that time I had that thought while lying face down on the table.
“Open your mouth before I pour it on your face.”
At Cha Geonhyeok’s threat, I opened my mouth with a blank face. Cha Geonhyeok grabbed the back of my head to tilt it back. *Gulp, gulp.* I swallowed the medicine filling my mouth.
“What did you buy? Is there ice cream too?”
Woman 1, who had come back from the bathroom, asked while rummaging through the convenience store plastic bag on the table. I unconsciously turned my head toward her and ended up drooling the medicine down the corner of my mouth. Cha Geonhyeok, who cursed crudely, “Ah, fuck,” wiped the corner of my mouth with his palm.
“There’s no ice cream, so stop rummaging.”
“There is though?”
“There is?”
Cha Geonhyeok, who asked back quickly, frowned and rummaged through the plastic bag with Woman 1. Ice cream was caught in his hand and came out. Cha Geonhyeok glared at the ice cream with an expression that said “Why is this here?” Does he have a habit of buying ice cream when he’s drunk or something? It was somehow funny, so I giggled. Cha Geonhyeok *thwacked* my head with the ice cream.
“Why are you hitting the kid like that?”
“Right. Where is there to hit that you’re hitting him?”
“Shut up and eat your ice cream.”
Cha Geonhyeok, who placed the ice cream in my hand, spoke while peeling the wrapper off his own ice cream. The two women scrunched up their noses and burst into laughter.
“He’s got no manners, but why is he so cute?”
“Right?”
“Oh, the kids are playing darts? I want to do it too!”
Woman 1, who held a Melona in her hand, walked away with a gait that had no hint of intoxication. What remained at the table was one woman and three men. Of the three men, one had completely passed out, another was eating ice cream, and the remaining one—that is, me—was pressing down on the ice cream wrapped in its shell. In this state… a Screwbar?
