**Jeong Jiwon**
Seunghyun-ah, I’m really sorry about yesterday ㅠㅠ [9:01 AM]
**Jeong Jiwon**
If you have time tonight, want to meet up? I’m off today. I’ll buy you something delicious. [9:02 AM]
Seunghyun’s gaze was dry as he read the message Jiwon had sent this morning.
Jiwon had said he was having a company dinner for the first time in a while, but after only a few hours, he was whining drunk off his ass, begging to be picked up. Knowing this was Jiwon’s long-standing habit, Seunghyun had ignored all the incoming calls and eventually turned off his phone altogether—that had been yesterday.
Cleaning up after a drunk person didn’t suit Seunghyun’s temperament. It wasn’t like Jiwon didn’t have other people to take care of him. Besides, Seunghyun knew that once Jiwon sobered up in the morning, he’d apologize first, saying he was sorry. This time too, as expected, Jiwon was the one who contacted him first thing after arriving at work.
‘What should I do….’
While pondering how to reply, Seunghyun started walking.
Seunghyun was in the hallway of the Engineering Building where the Architecture Department was located. He had stopped by to grab his laptop before heading to his afternoon class. When Seunghyun arrived at the design studio, he tucked the phone he’d been holding into his back pocket.
“I heard rumors about that hyung—he’s complete fucking trash.”
That’s when his hand, reaching for the door, paused.
“Doesn’t matter if they’re seniors or juniors, looks like he was fucking around with everyone, right?”
Inside, someone was clearly being torn apart. Glancing up, Seunghyun saw the nameplate attached to the wall. 404. It was indeed the design studio assigned to him this semester.
Seunghyun stood in front of the door for a moment, deliberating. He knew that if he barged in and broke up this atmosphere, he’d receive unwelcoming looks.
‘How annoying….’
Through the slightly open gap in the door, he could see several people conversing inside. Three… no, four? Two wearing glasses, one without, and one with bright yellow hair. Seunghyun scanned the unfamiliar faces with an indifferent gaze.
“As soon as he got caught doing that shit, he apparently ran off to the military.”
“Crazy.”
The profanity, chewed out in shock, carried a subtle hint of laughter. The faces chattering and laughing without pause looked quite amused. Well, if there were enough things to dislike about someone, the act of disliking them could easily become entertainment. Seunghyun tilted his head slightly.
“That hyung is pathetic too. He must’ve wanted to come back from military leave and wash his reputation clean, but the rumors have already spread everywhere, so isn’t his department life fucked? How does he even show his face around?”
“He probably thought people would suck up to him again when he returned. Choi Jiwoo ran into him in the design studio earlier today and said he’s fucking handsome.”
“Yo. Fuck, of course! So many seniors got their minds blown by him—you think he’d be ugly?”
Just listening quietly made him feel strangely uneasy. At the inexplicable sense of déjà vu, Seunghyun found himself furrowing his brow without realizing it. He gripped the door, ready to cut things short and go in to retrieve the laptop he’d left behind. That’s when it happened.
“What’s his name?”
The man who had been sitting quietly in silence the whole time pulled out a brief question. The voice didn’t have any particularly distinguishing features, but the gentle tone that suddenly pierced his ears was somehow chillingly sharp.
Without realizing it, Seunghyun cast his gaze in the direction the voice came from. At the source of the sound was that conspicuously yellow head of hair.
Even though only his profile was visible, his broad shoulders and tall stature—at least a head taller than the others—couldn’t be hidden. It was a height that would suit a sports-related department better than Architecture. Just as Seunghyun became curious about the face that would match such a striking physique…
…Just now,
Did their eyes meet?
No way. To have noticed that he was behind the door, the gaze had touched and fallen away too fleetingly. The guy who had been chattering away with a flushed face at the sudden question that interrupted the conversation rolled his eyes for a moment.
“Kwon… Seunghyun, I think.”
Kwon Seunghyun. The yellow-haired guy rolled the name around in his mouth once, as if chewing it over.
Fuck this shit. Seunghyun barely swallowed the curse at his own name suddenly being thrown out. The back of his head went numb in an instant. Because there were so many various scandals in the department, he hadn’t expected that rumors about him from his return after two years would still be circulating. Anyway, now that his name had come up, there was no need to watch any longer. He pushed the door he’d been gripping to the side.
With the sound of the door sliding open, the gazes of those inside instantly pierced through. The silence that fell, as if they hadn’t expected anyone to enter, was thick with bewilderment. Ignoring the eyes clinging to him, Seunghyun took a step into the design studio.
“Slut.”
That’s when the awkwardly flowing stillness broke. The voice continuing the conversation that had briefly cut off was chilling. Seunghyun, who had been approaching the laptop placed on the design studio desk, paused and looked up.
‘Slut?’
The moment he reflexively raised his head, his eyes met with the owner of the voice. It was that yellow-haired guy from before.
Between distinct features, the eyes looking at him were sharp. Despite it being their first meeting, the unfriendly gaze made Seunghyun raise his eyebrows. It wasn’t exactly glaring, but the strangely cocky look in those eyes was almost like…
‘Wait, me?’
It wasn’t “wait.” Even with just that brief standoff, he could tell who that remark was directed at. Seunghyun swallowed the laugh that almost burst out and slowly looked over the person staring at him.
His hair, dyed a bright yellow—whether bleached or not—was disheveled. Because of his thick bone structure, Seunghyun hadn’t noticed from afar, but looking closely, there were quite youthful aspects to him.
However, the straight eyebrows visible between the hair hanging down over his forehead looked stubborn, and while his round pupils were clear, his eye shape was sharp, making him not look docile at all. And below that, his crookedly pressed lips. He had a face worth looking at, as good as his physique… but his utterly rude gaze perfectly ruined his first impression.
Looking at those punk-like eyes watching him, Seunghyun realized the reason for the vague irritation he’d felt even before entering the design studio.
“……”
The other person knew who he was. He’d noticed and said it on purpose. Even while making eye contact. Seunghyun’s eyes narrowed slightly.
‘Ha… Who the fuck is calling who a slut. He’s the one who looks more like a slut.’
A sneer pooled in his mouth, but Seunghyun faced the other person indifferently. Before long, he could feel the people around the yellow-haired guy rolling their eyes, reading the atmosphere.
As the strange standoff lengthened, they seemed to gradually sense something was off. Withdrawing his gaze from scrutinizing the other person in the increasingly unsettled atmosphere, Seunghyun picked up the laptop. He shoved it into his bag as if stuffing it and silently turned around. He could feel a persistent gaze flying at his back as he left the design studio.
It was absurd, but Seunghyun wasn’t stupid enough to go back and argue or make excuses. If he grabbed someone younger than him over that, he’d only look more ridiculous. Thanks to this, at least he now knew that these kinds of back-talk were still circulating, and well… it was too bothersome to deal with anyway.
“Slut….”
It wasn’t that he’d never heard such words before, but this was the first time someone had said it openly to his face. The vocabulary rolling around in his mouth was vulgar, and Seunghyun let out a hollow laugh.
He was used to hearing things like this behind his back. Even before his leave of absence, he’d heard that he’d been running a harem in the department, messing around with juniors and seniors alike without distinction. Rumors tend to get distorted, but he hadn’t known that in the few years he was gone, those back-talks had grown to this extent. Especially not in such a filthy direction.
The lifespan of the rumors, which he’d thought would have died down while he wasn’t showing his face at school, was persistently long. To think they’d still be following his ass even after returning from military service. He almost wondered if there had been so few juicy rumors to chew on that people were still talking about him.
Or had this return from leave dragged the stale rumors back to the surface? That could be it. There were several possibilities, but he wasn’t curious about which one was the correct answer.
