The desperate scream Kwon Yunsu let out briefly echoed through a corner of the campus bustling with festival atmosphere. Kwon Yunsu, having his mouth covered by Ahn Shinwook and Song Taesu while going mmph in a frenzy, drew everyone’s sympathy even in his dazed state. Ahn Shinwook, who intuited that Kwon Yunsu’s share in the cause of this extreme terrorism was not small, felt his heart break even more. Lee Euishin wasn’t just a rude bastard but a crazy bastard he didn’t even want to associate with. What could be done about Kwon Yunsu’s fierce fate of being targeted by such a guy?
However, amidst everyone’s shock, only Kim Younghwan was calm.
“I came out at the crack of dawn, but I was too late. He must have struck in the middle of the night. Yunsu, did you sleep well yesterday?”
At cheerful Kim Younghwan’s question, Kwon Yunsu’s eyes, with his mouth blocked, grew moist. Aigoo, you fool. It was when Ahn Shinwook was looking around to throw him some tissues.
“Haiigo, it ended up like that after all.”
Through the wide-open door, Lee Eunsub came in clicking his tongue. Behind him, Shin Jaewoo was entering, and his expression wasn’t much different either.
Lee Eunsub smiled bitterly at Kim Younghwan and said,
“It’ll work out.”
Kim Younghwan nodded. While they were puzzled, Shin Jaewoo strode quickly to Kwon Yunsu.
“Yunsu, what’s wrong?”
“He’s in shock.”
Song Taesu answered, removing his hand from Kwon Yunsu’s mouth.
“Lee Euishin…!”
Seeing Kwon Yunsu heated up to the max, Shin Jaewoo opened his mouth. Kwon Yunsu trembling with anger had a different flavor to it. So he does get genuinely angry like this. Grinning, he cupped the guy’s cheeks.
“Euishin bailed. Face reality.”
Batting away Shin Jaewoo’s arms, Kwon Yunsu screamed into the air.
“I’m gonna kill Lee Euishiiiin—!”
Then Kim Younghwan, who’d been talking about something with Lee Eunsub, laughed uproariously and retorted.
“No, you can’t kill him.”
“Ugh, hyung, you think this is funny?”
When Song Taesu grumbled in disbelief, Kim Younghwan, who’d pushed the panel that had become a rag along with the cart into a corner, looked around at everyone and said.
“Hey, Euishin wrote it with his own hand. That he’ll compensate. Aren’t you guys curious how much a kid with his own car at twenty who drives a foreign car will give for damage compensation?”
“Whoa.”
“…So you stayed still even knowing this would happen?”
Even Lee Eunsub asked in disbelief at those words. Kim Younghwan smiled leisurely and shook his head.
“No, I didn’t know ‘this’ would happen. Who would’ve known that crazy bastard would pull that shit with a chainsaw the day before? But a few days ago I went to the Jungdong headquarters to report our flyers, and I heard Euishin came asking if there were any leftover water balloon throwing panels. Isn’t he a really scary bastard? Like some Sleeping Beauty’s spinning wheel, trying to wipe out the seed.”
“Fuck, what a son of a bitch, seriously what kind of bastard is he!”
Kwon Yunsu threw another fit.
“So even though I thought something would definitely happen… I didn’t know he’d have this much initiative. He’s formidable, Euishin is.”
“That bad bastard…! Did I feed him all that food to do shit like this…!”
“…Hey, give Yunsu some water. Anyway, I did think he might not show up at all. But Euishin’s not the type to just obediently say ‘I won’t come out’ when you grab him by the scruff and shake him, like ‘you’re deceiving everyone right now.’ There’s no method.”
“Still, we survived thanks to hyung.”
Shin Jaewoo, who’d been watching Kwon Yunsu and smiling, picked up the thread. Then he explained to Song Taesu and Ahn Shinwook, who were spacing out wondering what all this was about.
“I’ve been getting up early to go swimming lately. This morning I got a call from Eunsub hyung, and when I answered he asked me to come quickly.”
“So what did you do?”
“Went to the neighboring school and borrowed a panel. Younghwan knows a hyung who’s the president of a large central club.”
“Ah…”
“Whoa.”
“Hyung’s really amazing.”
Exclamations flowed out simultaneously from Song Taesu, Ahn Shinwook, and Kwon Yunsu. Especially Kwon Yunsu had the face of someone who’d come back to life. Thinking of the past few days when he’d been excited singing about wanting to go to Europe, it was no wonder.
“Let’s grab what we need and go out. Euishin may have crossed the water, but we still have to do what we have to do. Water balloon throwing is still a basic moneymaker. Cheap stress relief, straight to the point.”
At Kim Younghwan’s words, everyone picked up the money box they’d worked hard to prepare, standby chairs, trumpets, spare clothes and such, and stood up. With that bastard’s face plastered everywhere for promotion, but the main character himself absent…
“Let’s tear down the flyers as we go. We’ll get reported for false advertising.”
Saying that, Kim Younghwan spread out the promotional poster to hang in front of the booth on the desk and flipped the paper over. Then he picked up a pen and wrote in large letters.
「Lee Euishin Bailed」
By that point, even Ahn Shinwook and Song Taesu were snickering. It was a mess. But it was a strangely fun mess.
“Come on, let’s do a high five and go out. One, two, three—”
“Fighting!”
“Europe!”
“Camp Nou!”
“Eradicate Lee Euishin!!!”
As expected, they were soccer idiots who each shouted only what they wanted to say.
* * *
“Should I throw?”
“Yes, throw it!”
“Really throw?”
“Yes!”
“Oh my, you’re too pretty, I can’t throw it.”
“……Throw it, please!”
Kwon Yunsu squeezed his eyes shut. And beyond his closed eyes, an innocent question was heard.
“But why isn’t that person here?”
“…He’s crazy so he ran away!”
Thwack!
“I was hoping to get a look at the crazy guy’s face.”
At the shock striking his face, Kwon Yunsu bit his lips. Mid-May, the weather was getting hot, but this damn water balloon was indeed not to be taken lightly. At least he didn’t feel bad getting hit by people squealing with excitement.
“Excuse me! Can I try hitting this one? I really want to get properly smashed.”
While blinking his stinging eyes where water had gotten in, Shin Jaewoo, who’d been sticking his head out from the side, shouted loudly. And the hand he felt behind his back. Whenever he shivered from the cold, the guy reached out and brushed his back. Kwon Yunsu was genuinely moved. It was deep camaraderie that couldn’t be found in a certain bastard.
Though they’d torn down all the flyers, there was nothing they could do about the rumors already spread. Everyone who came asked about Lee Euishin’s whereabouts, and later Song Taesu stuck the poster to his body and became a human flyer, guarding the front of the booth. Of the people who came to the booth with expectant faces, only one or two out of ten actually held a balloon in their hands. As Kim Younghwan said, regardless of false advertising, customers continued steadily, but there was no line forming while waiting for the previous turn. Kwon Yunsu felt bitter regret for letting the devil Lee Euishin into the sacred soccer club. He would never forgive him.
“Yunsu, you get out.”
“…I’m fine.”
“Hey, you got hit ten times. I counted them all. Hurry and get out, hyung’s coming.”
Kwon Yunsu quickly said toward Kim Younghwan who was approaching with the money box.
“Hyung, I’m still okay so go exchange the money. Aren’t we out of coins? Tell Shinwook to guard the money box and hurry back.”
“Yunsu.”
“What.”
“You’re cold.”
Kwon Yunsu avoided Shin Jaewoo’s gaze staring straight at him. What could he do when this made him feel at ease?
“I’m getting hit for that crazy bastard’s share and planning to pay him back double later. I’ve got good stamina so don’t worry about it.”
“Why are you taking responsibility for his share?”
In the distance, Ahn Shinwook, who’d received the money box from Kim Younghwan, was approaching with three male students all bundled up. All three were no ordinary size. Taking a deep breath with a huff, Kwon Yunsu replied quietly.
“Why? …He’s my landlord.”
Crazy landlord. Insane landlord. You asked if I wanted to go with you. I said yes. If you didn’t want to, then don’t, why make people expect things and then disappoint them like this? You said you’d go with me…!
“Welcome! We’ll knock you out in one shot!”
