“…….”
I don’t know. I can’t take it back anyway, so I just went with the mindset of pushing through. But this was the first time I’d ever asked someone on a date, and the other person was Joel Gomez. My words came out rambling, and then even random things popped out. It was a truly messy date proposal. It was obvious I’d be rejected. What would I do if he rejected me? Then how should I raise the Romance Index…?
“Sure.”
“……What?”
I was too busy racking my brain to hear properly. There was also the fact that I couldn’t believe what I heard was right. When I blinked with wide eyes, Joel twisted up just one corner of his mouth with a smirk.
“Let’s do it, a date. You think I don’t know you’re a guy-crazy gay bastard? I’ll do some charity work, thinking of it as saving a pitiful guy.”
“…….”
Look at how he talks. But then why did he say yes? It’s not like there’s been any change in favorability… I really can’t understand this guy. Even though I found a way to raise the Romance Index, I was dumbfounded.
NEW!
The Romance Index has increased by 5%!
NEW!
The Queer Index has increased by 5%!
NEW!
The Rotten Pineapple Index has increased by 2%!
NEW!
You have completed the quest!
<Follow the Thump-Thump Rapidly Beating Heart!>
Try raising the Romance Index by 5%!
Romance Index 5% increase [5/5]
【※Reward: Rotten Pineapple Index 5% increase※】
【Rotten Pineapple】
Current [58]%
◈ High-Teen: 100%
◈ Romance: 28%
◈ Queer: 23%
While the system was frantically displaying status windows, I heard another ding! sound.
<First Date with Joel Gomez!>
You bravely asked Bluedale High School’s hot guy Joel Gomez on his first date!
To successfully and romantically wrap up your heart-fluttering first date, please raise Joel Gomez’s favorability by 3♥ or more! (Only applies during the date)
Joel Gomez’s favorability increase [0/3]
Reward: Joel Gomez’s favorability 15♥
Ah, a quest even opened up. Even the system had confirmed the date with Joel with a ‘No backing out now. Bang bang!’
It all happened so frantically, in an instant, that I was bewildered. I’m going on a date with Joel… My first date is with Joel Gomez… And that Joel Gomez actually accepted my date proposal…! Everything from one to ten was strange.
“What’s with that stupid look?”
“……But why… did you think earlier that me being here was a date?”
I don’t understand this strange feeling either. I don’t even know why I have a ‘stupid’ look on my face. I just rubbed my forehead for no reason and quickly changed the subject. Joel shrugged his shoulders.
“Don’t you know? This is a date spot. Isn’t this a place where couples come to do weird things in secluded spots? No CCTV, few employees, large space, everything hidden by bookshelves.”
“…….”
“If not, why do you think such a big, run-down used bookstore is still in business?”
Joel let out a small sneer.
I had no idea. No, who does that kind of thing in a used bookstore! Suddenly, touching Sat-chan’s book felt really disgusting.
“When are you… giving me the book?”
“My shift ends soon, so wait.”
“Okay…….”
Joel checked the time briefly and spoke in a firm voice. I sent Bryan off first, then sat crouched on a small wooden stool in the bookstore, blankly recalling what had just happened. So, I asked Joel on a date, and Joel said yes, and also, also Joel was going to give me a book, and I needed it, so just…!
“…….”
For some reason I don’t know, the more I thought about it, the hotter my face got, so I folded my body like an old flip phone. After being like that for a while, blood rushed to my head and my thoughts naturally stopped. I sneakily raised my head and looked at Joel sitting at the register reading a book. Joel was still reading Connie Willis’s 『Blackout』.
***
Before I knew it, when the sun had set, an employee came to replace Joel. It was a woman with extremely long hair who was very thin. Joel closed the book he was reading, got up from his seat, and stretched widely. Then he jerked his chin toward me sitting on the stool.
“Get up.”
“……Okay.”
Since the suddenly decided date with Joel still had me bewildered, I nodded with a literally ‘stupid’ face. A very familiar sneer came back. I guess he thinks I’m being stupid again. I don’t know why he accepted the date when he acts like that.
For some reason feeling embarrassed and ashamed, I inwardly grumbled for no reason while following Joel out. Joel’s hand holding the book dangled in the air.
“Did you come by bike?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s walking distance, so push it. Put this in your bag.”
I caught the book Joel threw at me, 『Blackout』, put it in my bag, and nodded. Joel, who had been looking around the parking lot, had already found my bicycle and was standing next to it.
“Why don’t you ride that one?”
“Which one?”
“The one I fixed for you.”
Joel asked while I was unlocking the bicycle lock. The bicycle I rode today was hyung’s, the one with a black body. I wrapped the unlocked bicycle lock around one corner of the body.
“I rode that one. This is what I came on today.”
“That one, does it roll well?”
Thump, thump. Joel, who was suddenly looking at the used bookstore’s sign while hitting the back of his neck, threw out a question. That one? Ah, is he talking about the one he fixed? I gripped the bicycle handlebars tightly with both hands and nodded.
“The one you fixed? Yeah. It rolled well.”
“Then that’s fine.”
Joel walked toward one direction on his own without giving me any signal. I hurriedly followed behind him while pushing the bicycle. We didn’t walk side by side. It was a situation where I was following Joel who was walking ahead.
Since it was a dark night and a remote place, there were no people passing by on the road, nor any cars. Tap, tap, tap, trudge, trudge, trudge. There was only the sound of Joel’s footsteps kicking the ground hard with his heels, my somehow cautious footsteps, and the faint noise made by the smoothly rolling bicycle oiled.
“……Since when have you worked there?”
Joel’s broad back blocking the front wasn’t frustrating. Strangely, it felt like he was blocking to protect me instead. Though that couldn’t be.
I quietly watched his hands tucked in his pants pockets and his elbows that swayed slightly as he walked, then asked. Joel and the used bookstore really didn’t match, so I didn’t expect to run into him there. As an employee at that.
“Three months ago.”
Joel glanced back at me once and answered obediently.
“Why there specifically? Aren’t there other better workplaces?”
“Where do you think there are common workplaces that pay you just to guard your post with nothing to do like that? Huh?”
“That’s true…….”
All Joel had been doing while working was reading books.
“Is the book you were reading fun?”
“Why would I read it if it wasn’t fun?”
“Right…….”
At the curt answer, I had nothing to say. I kept my lips tightly shut as we walked toward Joel’s house. It was a trailer village with trailers lined up in a row.
“Wait.”
Joel stopped in front of his trailer, left those words, opened the door, and went inside. I stood outside awkwardly, tapping the sunshade pole for no reason and looking around. Then I made eye contact with some man looking out from inside a trailer, so I quickly lowered my gaze.
Just when I thought it would be okay now and raised my eyes. But the man kept looking in my direction. When he made eye contact with me, he even smiled strangely. His eyes were red like someone heavily addicted to drugs or alcohol…!
“What are you doing.”
“Ah.”
I blinked at the hot sensation suddenly covering my eyes. It was Joel’s palm. My eyelashes must have tickled his skin. Only after pulling my head to turn it toward him did Joel remove his hand from my eyes.
But that didn’t mean I was completely free. This time, because of the hand firmly pressing down on the back of my head, I had no choice but to bury my forehead in Joel’s shoulder. He had taken off the denim jacket he always wore, and the white cotton T-shirt that smelled slightly of sweat touched my skin.
Firm muscles and thump thump thump! The sound of a vigorously beating heart, warm body temperature—all of it was felt simultaneously. My heartbeat quickened embarrassingly. It was like someone was enthusiastically pounding on it as if my chest was a drum. I, I… must have been really startled. That must be it. Otherwise there’s no way I’d be like this.
“What, what is it?”
“Stay still for a second.”
Joel, who had been hugging me like that, firmly pressing down on my head, finally removed his hand after a while. Then he clicked his tongue and said while rummaging through his pocket again.
“This won’t work. I’ll load your bike, so take my car and go.”
“It’s not that late yet, so I can go back…….”
“Don’t make me say it twice. My mouth hurts.”
What Joel took out of his pocket was car keys. Joel threatened me with his usual fierce face as always, then walked toward his car on his own. And he opened the back seat door and shoved my bicycle inside.
“I have no intention of letting you sleep over! Get in!”
“…….”
“5, 4, 3!”
Only when Joel’s fingers held up in the air folded one by one did I slowly move my body. I got into the passenger seat of Joel’s car and glanced back at the bicycle squeezed in the back seat. Like he said before, is he trying to take me home because this neighborhood is dangerous? I’m a ‘naive and stupid bourgeois young master’ just like that bastard said…
“Put on your seatbelt.”
Joel, sitting in the driver’s seat, said in a somewhat irritated tone, and I nodded while quickly pulling the belt. But maybe because it was dark inside the car, I couldn’t see well where to insert the buckle.
Clatter, clatter! I kept fumbling when suddenly Joel’s hand covered the back of my hand and guided the seatbelt buckle to the right place. Click! When it fastened with that sound, Joel’s lips twitched.
“Stupid.”
“…….”
At words I couldn’t refute, I kept my lips tightly shut. With that silence, Joel’s car rushed toward my house.
“Thanks. For taking me home.”
And when we arrived in front of my house, I mumbled while quickly unbuckling my seatbelt and getting out. And for some reason my face was burning hot so I was rushing to go inside when I heard “Hey!” calling me.
When he called “Hey!” again loudly, I quickly turned back and approached Joel’s car. I stuck my face through the open passenger window and cautiously asked back.
“……What.”
“Aren’t you taking your bike?”
“Ah.”
Right, the bicycle. Even though it was squeezed in the back seat like that, I forgot about its existence.
“And give me the book too, stupid.”
“……You’re right.”
I really must be stupid like Joel says. While Joel opened the back seat door and took out the bicycle for me (I tried to help but only heard him say it was annoying so get lost), I fidgeted with the handle of the paper bag Joel had given me. It was very light, but inside it contained an old comic book worth over 1.1 billion won in Korean currency.
“Go.”
After setting up the bicycle in our yard, Joel said. I straightened the handlebars and was about to move the bicycle to the garage. I expected to hear the loud vroom! of Joel’s car exhaust now. But no sound came. When I turned back puzzled, I made eye contact with Joel.
“…….”
“…….”
When… did he come all the way here? I blinked my eyes wide open, a little surprised. Joel scratched the back of his neck, twisted his lips for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“……You decide the date and time.”
“What?”
“You said let’s date.”
As if saying ‘Don’t tell me you were just talking nonsense?’, Joel looked down at me with his brow slightly furrowed. Right. The date. It felt like heat was rising to my face again.
“Yeah. I’ll decide. ……The date and time for the date…….”
I mumbled with lowered eyes and unclear pronunciation. My voice sounded too strange. Just when I thought I’d hear him call me stupid again, I heard a chuckle.
“Do that.”
When I sneakily raised my eyes, I saw Joel’s face with the corners of his mouth slightly raised. It wasn’t the usual sneer. It was just a smile. Joel lightly ruffled my crown with his big hand, then turned around and ran to his car.
I quietly stared at the spot where Joel’s car had been parked, long after Joel drove his car and disappeared from in front of my house. When I was thinking that the front of the house being empty felt strange for some reason, I heard “July? Are you here?” looking for me from inside the house.
“I’m here!”
“Dinner?”
“Not yet! I’ll come in soon!”
I hurriedly pushed the bicycle into the garage and went inside the house. I felt warm warmth and the smell of delicious food. Hyung, who was coming down the stairs, discovered me and opened his eyes wide.
“Why is your face so red?”
“……I must have pedaled the bicycle too hard.”
My face is red? Is that so… I pressed my cheek with the back of my hand. It was hot. It really is…
“You must have had a really hard time. Even the tips of your ears are bright red.”
“Yeah…….”
Right. Because I pedaled the bicycle too hard. I had a really hard time.
Both the bicycle and I were just comfortably transported by Joel’s car, but I tried to deceive even myself with a pointless lie. Of course, since I’m not really stupid, I wasn’t deceived.
All day long my insides churned and my heart went thump, thump. It was truly a strange thing. So much so that I realized only very belatedly the fact that the first edition of 『One-Eyed Jack』 issue #1 that I’d been searching for had come into my hands.
