An angry Lee Euishin who was quite familiar, occasionally cute, but generally made him frown. Rubbing his drowsy eyes, Kwon Yunsu opened his eyes. The bright living room lights and Shin Jaewoo smiling faintly below, and beyond that was Lee Euishin. Even at a glance, it was an ominously fierce face. Kwon Yunsu quickly sat up. Unable to stand up all at once, Shin Jaewoo supported his waist.
Looking around at the guys clapping and whistling toward the homeowner who finally returned, Kwon Yunsu raised his hand high.
“I, I called them.”
Beyond his vision mixed with alcohol and sleep, he saw something unfamiliar in Lee Euishin’s hand.
“I told them to come. The exam’s over too, …Euishin-ah, they caught the scammers.”
What, what are you holding…?
Beer cans and snack bags, leftover food and plates dirty with sauce, a drinking session with all sorts of smells mixed, and the stuffy living room air.
In that, Lee Euishin looking this way with a tall body and cold face was truly disparate. The feeling of the clean-freak owner desperately enduring his house getting messy because of a pretty puppy he dotes on. Recalling that expression he heard before closing his eyes, Kwon Yunsu felt embarrassed. I messed up the house too much… The cake box in his hand increasingly caught his eye.
“I’ll clean it all up. …Why did you come now? What were you doing that made you late?”
“Take your hand off.”
“…Huh?”
Lee Euishin wasn’t looking at him. Gesturing with his chin at Shin Jaewoo, who had his hand on his shoulder beyond his back, the guy spoke again.
“I said take your hand off, fucker.”
“……”
“……”
At that single phrase, Song Taesu’s clowning singing “Cake, it’s cake─” and Kim Younghwan’s laughter, and Lee Eunsub and Ahn Shinwook’s interjections containing awkwardness and mischief all stopped abruptly. Kwon Yunsu, whose sleep had fled, bolted upright.
“I told them to come, really. The guys did nothing wrong.”
“That bastard better not catch my eye because nothing good will come of it, so I told him to fuck off on his own. Did you pass that along?”
“……”
“I asked if you passed it along, Kwon Yunsu.”
It was the first time he felt Lee Euishin’s anger was truly difficult to handle.
“You told me to come early, so it would be normal to throw a fit asking where I was holed up, but strangely there was no contact. Was it for this?”
…It was the first time, and that was the beginning.
“To call in all these outsiders and play around?”
At the words blatantly claiming his territory, Shin Jaewoo and Ahn Shinwook’s faces immediately turned red, and Kim Younghwan and Lee Eunsub, whose intuition wasn’t completely terrible, also slowly changed complexion. Only the dim Song Taesu had a timidly shrunken face.
And Kwon Yunsu, at the eye of the storm, couldn’t take his eyes off Lee Euishin’s fierce face. I don’t want to fight. I really hate you being angry, Euishin-ah. Why am I so inconsiderate? …How can I avoid disappointing you?
“S-sorry.”
He barely opened his heavy mouth.
“Sorry, Euishin-ah.”
Kwon Yunsu apologized with a serious face.
“……”
Now it was Lee Euishin who became dazed at what he’d heard.
What is he saying right now? Sorry. He’s sorry? ……Is that what you should be saying right now?
When I’m about to treat you like my country boy, no, like my bitch in front of those bastards?
“I’ll clean it all…”
“Kwon Yunsu.”
Lee Euishin laughed. What am I doing right now? So absurd that sighs and laughter came simultaneously. If I don’t laugh, how can I express this fucking feeling? Myself receiving such treatment at the end of such anticipation, really…
“Stop treating me like an idiot.”
Why did I have to fall for a bastard like that and suffer like this?
Lee Euishin turned around. His whole body seemed to scream with rage and tension that had risen to just before explosion. Suddenly he noticed the sweat in his damp palm and the box he’d been holding in it. What was I so happy about with this kind of thing…
─Thud!
What his gaze reached last was the cake box thrown on the floor revealing its crushed contents, and Kwon Yunsu’s dazed face.
The moment he opened the front door, Lee Euishin realized exactly what he’d been doing.
This was an unrequited love without excess.
***
‘Kwon Yunsu.’
‘Stop treating me like an idiot.’
‘Kwon Yunsu.’
‘Stop treating me like…’
Trapped in those endlessly replaying words, Kwon Yunsu sat blankly.
After desperate pleas, the club members returned to their respective homes leaving the thoroughly messed up house, and Kwon Yunsu cleaned inside the house with sluggish hands. He separated and threw out the trash, washed dishes, and swept and wiped the living room floor until it shined. Enduring his fading consciousness, he also cleaned up the thrown cake box and contents. After moving his body for a while, sitting there ventilating, his stomach strangely churned and his heart pounded. And his mind kept blurring… no, becoming clear.
Euishin left the house.
Though it was just briefly leaving in anger, though he’d seen him furiously angry and sarcastic to the point of being sick of it, Kwon Yunsu was shocked to a degree that surprised even himself.
Did I treat you like that?
Euishin-ah, what did I… something… no,
…Was I hurting you by doing nothing?
It wasn’t bringing other guys without permission, or messing up the house with all sorts of smells. A different reason—Lee Euishin was hurt because of himself being utterly petty, cowardly, and inconsiderate.
‘Stop treating me like an idiot.’
That was definitely a suffering face. Looking at him with such hurt eyes, the guy turned his back. …For you to make that face. Euishin-ah, I made you so…
“……”
The agitation didn’t easily settle. Strangely feeling cold and trembling, Kwon Yunsu finally threw up everything he’d eaten all evening.
“Urp! Ugggh… Cough…!”
After brushing his teeth and washing his face, coming out after washing his body with hot water, it was 2 AM. Lee Euishin still hadn’t returned, and he didn’t have the courage to call.
It was an eventful, tiring day, but his mind was clear. And his head, with the intoxication subsided, was ringing bells loudly to wake him up.
This cozy and comfortable life could no longer be maintained.
A lodger who doesn’t even pay rent yet noisily calls guests and acts like the owner—even shamelessness has limits.
Looking at his room with the lights on, it felt more unfamiliar than usual. Seeing the books and writing materials he wouldn’t need for a while since all exams were over, he suddenly thought he should go down to his family home and stay for a while during vacation. Because his father would be alone the whole time.
While he was at it, he gathered clothes, daily necessities, and a few books—there wasn’t much luggage. Yet his hands kept moving endlessly. What am I doing right now? Out of embarrassment, out of guilt, perhaps out of fear… Because I did something, or because I did nothing. Which is the way to avoid a fight? Sighing, he moved his hands mechanically.
“…What are you doing?”
The reason he didn’t notice the presence at the doorway was probably because his head was complicated with all sorts of thoughts. Kwon Yunsu, who had been sitting on the floor reaching for the underwear drawer, turned his head.
“You’re back?”
When he asked with an awkward smile, Lee Euishin strode over and grabbed his arm.
“…!”
Was he always this strong? At the grip strength strong enough to make his wrist ache, Kwon Yunsu staggered but still stood up.
“What are you doing, fuck!”
Packing. If he said that, would his cheek fly the next moment? Kwon Yunsu clamped his mouth shut. In fact, he couldn’t even make eye contact. Even the atmosphere was different from usual. Was he always this scary? The moment he raised his head with difficulty, his body was roughly shaken.
“You’re leaving? You think you can leave? You think you can back out now?! Should I break your legs and tie you up?! Why are you reading my mood, fuck!!!”
And he was thrown roughly. When he came to his senses, Lee Euishin was making a scene, kicking and throwing against the wall the things he’d neatly organized. When he heard a ripping sound and looked back, it was his blood-red Man City uniform being torn. Ahh! His vision went dizzy and Kwon Yunsu rushed at him.
“Eu, Euishin… Hey!”
He wasn’t the type to be stopped even if you tried, but still, there were things to give up on—watching his entire fortune becoming rags before his eyes was horrifying enough to make him want to faint.
“Ah!”
Only when he got accidentally hit by a wildly swung arm and made a cowardly sound did Lee Euishin turn around. Glaring fiercely at the forehead he’d hit and breathing roughly, the guy really looked like a mad dog. Lee Euishin, with extremely glistening eyes, reached out his hand, and
“…!”
