Going back home would have been the right thing to do. He couldn’t stay at Tae Shinwoo’s house anymore. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before his feelings were discovered.
Seo Eunho had this thought dozens of times a day. However, when he came to his senses, he was always at Tae Shinwoo’s house.
‘Let’s go.’
With just one word from Tae Shinwoo, he would unconsciously nod his head in agreement. No thoughts would come to him. In many ways, it was a spectacle.
Was there really a need to go back home?
Now he was even thinking such things. And for good reason—autumn was already passing. The year-end would arrive soon, and then the nine months they had originally agreed upon would be over.
Since Tae Shinwoo had asked for three more months’ worth of money on top of the amount for the period he would play with him, the time given to him was exactly nine months.
At some point, Seo Eunho started thinking of it not as time he had given to Tae Shinwoo, but as time he had received from him.
Anyway, he didn’t know how Tae Shinwoo would come out. He didn’t think he would immediately ignore him, but it was difficult to predict where that guy’s thoughts would jump to.
It didn’t seem like he would come out saying he’d buy more time.
He could guess that much. Even if he didn’t do that, Seo Eunho would continue trying to spend time with Tae Shinwoo, and Tae Shinwoo would know that too.
However, it seemed like he wouldn’t continue staying at Tae Shinwoo’s house. In fact, he should vacate this house even now, but couldn’t he think of it as being allowed until the contract period ended?
Even if it was a contract that was nothing but a loss for Tae Shinwoo, a contract was a contract. When time passed, Seo Eunho would have to work part-time again and return to his original life. He couldn’t keep receiving without doing anything.
Since when did he start caring about his conscience?
A sneer came out naturally.
In the end, he would have to go back home anyway. Whether by choice or not. So there was no need to leave Tae Shinwoo’s house already, right? Couldn’t he hide his feelings a little longer?
Even knowing it was a complacent thought, Seo Eunho finished his thinking that way every time.
“Should I buy this?”
“We don’t cook anything at home.”
“If we have it, we might do it someday.”
Because then he could spend time with Tae Shinwoo like this.
Seo Eunho was busy watching Tae Shinwoo, who was in the middle of the mart repeatedly picking things up and putting them down. The moment he thought he was acting exactly like someone who had come to a mart for the first time, Tae Shinwoo said he had only seen it in passing, and this was his first time actually coming inside.
He had first entered a convenience store on the street only a few months ago, so would a mart be any different? Still, it was newly fascinating.
Tae Shinwoo had a talent for making him feel distant the moment he thought they had gotten a bit closer.
“Or how about this?”
“…Why would you even need that?”
“For various reasons? Wouldn’t it be good to have?”
“Not at all.”
Even for a first time, still. Tae Shinwoo, having entered the mart, looked too happy. The sight of him picking up a small pot and then, not satisfied with it, taking out something like a large pot seemed childlike. Seo Eunho let out a sigh, but it was inevitable that laughter was mixed in between.
Anyway, his talent for spending money on unnecessary things was also excellent. There was no precedent of cooking anything at home. At first they mostly ordered food, and from one day on, someone started filling the refrigerator with food, so it was even more unnecessary.
Seo Eunho shook his head. Watching Tae Shinwoo looking at this and that and thinking he was cute—he was going crazy.
“Put it down unless you’re going to boil beef bone soup at home.”
“Should I try boiling it?”
“…Are you bored these days?”
Tae Shinwoo shrugged his shoulders and stood up. Tae Shinwoo didn’t deny it. In fact, it was a question that didn’t need denial. He had just asked in a roundabout way to stop talking nonsense.
But since the answer that it wasn’t so didn’t come back, he was a bit bothered. Was he really bored? Should he do something?
To care about such trivial things. Something must have happened to his head.
However, the reason Tae Shinwoo had approached him was simple amusement and interest. Him being bored was not a good sign. Shouldn’t he find things that the guy would find fun and do them? Natural pressure rose up.
“Then should I buy this?”
Well, even so, all he could do was follow behind Tae Shinwoo anyway.
“As a couple set.”
Tae Shinwoo grinned and shook the mugs. Whether it was a pot or whatever, they were all useless things. There was nothing lacking at Tae Shinwoo’s house. Cups were the same.
“……”
However, this time Seo Eunho couldn’t say anything.
“What color do you want?”
Couple set, how disgusting.
He should have said that, but he missed the timing. Seo Eunho kept silent and then said blue. Tae Shinwoo nodded and immediately put the mugs in the cart that had been empty.
They circled the large mart several times, but the only items they actually checked out were blue and black mugs.
***
How nice would it be if only good things always happened?
Seo Eunho’s life was generally composed of unwanted events. It had become much more peaceful since meeting Tae Shinwoo, but annoying things were still happening.
For example, like this.
“Isn’t this Seo Eunho?”
“Seo Eunho?”
“That one who used to hang around with Jang Hoyoung. Come to think of it, they’re not stuck together these days.”
A very absurd thing like getting into a quarrel while walking down the street.
There were definitely people who never experienced such things. Seo Eunho had them particularly often. It happened even more after briefly hanging around with Kim Junseong and Jang Hoyoung.
It was a somewhat unfair thing to say. Because it was wrong to say he hung around with them. He just exchanged some words with those guys at school, and the times he went around with them outside could be counted on one hand.
Even those times, it was because when he left school early for his part-time job, those guys would follow him out saying they were going to play. Thinking about it, more quarrels happened when he was with those guys. Most of the time they were faces the two of them knew.
What kind of things were they doing going around?
He had thought so then, and he thought the same now. To think he had to get involved in such annoying things again because of guys he didn’t even talk to anymore.
“Ah, I remember. Isn’t this that kid? The bastard who ditched those two bastards and ran away alone.”
“Fuck, right. He seemed cocky relying on Jang Hoyoung, but I remember being confused when he ran off.”
“Me too. He stuttered and then took off running.”
The two guys standing in front of him kept giggling. Seo Eunho felt the extreme fatigue he had forgotten about recently living.
Perhaps because he had gotten used to Tae Shinwoo’s neat black hair, even the hairstyles of the two guys in front of him looked disgusting. Whether it was the guy who had shaved his head or the guy who had bleached it bright yellow. It was clear they had worked hard to paste “thug” on their foreheads and walk around.
Really didn’t want to associate with them. Was there nothing that fun in the world? Why did they pick fights with people who were just standing still? He was curious yet not curious.
Seo Eunho didn’t hide his annoyed expression and walked past them, ignoring them. Fortunately, Tae Shinwoo wasn’t by his side. If he had run into these guys in front of Tae Shinwoo, it would have been a bit embarrassing.
“Where are you going? We’re talking to you.”
“Hey. This is good. Honestly, if we’ve run into each other this much, we’re friends, right?”
“Fuck, he says friends.”
The sound of them giggling among themselves about what was so funny was unpleasant to hear. Seo Eunho looked down expressionlessly at his arm that had been tightly grabbed.
“Friends help each other, right? We were actually going to the PC bang, but well, turns out we left our wallets behind. If you have money, lend us some.”
Annoying.
Seo Eunho expressed what he was thinking as it was by sighing.
See. He did something he didn’t usually do for no reason. For once, when Tae Shinwoo said he had to go home early, the thought that he should go get some clothes to wear since the season had changed while rolling around alone at home became the root of the problem.
Anyway, even if he called them clothes, there were only two or three outfits, and he hardly ever went out, so what would he do bringing them? He should have just stayed holed up at home and slept.
It was too late to regret now. Seo Eunho shook off the guy’s hand in one go and finally opened his mouth.
“Move.”
With guys like these, it was better not to react to each one. It might be better to just give them money.
However, Seo Eunho didn’t have money to give as charity. When push came to shove, he was the one who would steal it, so who was giving money to whom?
But Seo Eunho’s words just seemed funny to those guys. Judging there was no need to associate with them any longer, Seo Eunho just pushed through between the guys blocking his way.
His own build wasn’t small either, so pushing the two guys aside with his shoulder and walking wasn’t that difficult.
“Ah!”
As soon as their shoulders collided hard, the yellow-haired one grabbed his arm with a highly exaggerated voice.
“Oh my. Pushing people around.”
“Wow. Didn’t your shoulder get dislocated?”
“It’s dislocated, it is. I should get hospital fees. Ow, it hurts.”
They were really acting crazy.
Seo Eunho just ignored whatever they said. If they got pissed off on their own like that and raised their hands, he could just get hit. No need to respond and even less need to fight.
Generally, if a fight happened because of a quarrel, only he would lose. At least those guys had a high possibility of having parents who would come running when things happened. The best method for him, who had no guardian, was to just ignore them.
“When people are talking to you, why do you keep ignoring us with no manners, you fuck?”
Generally, then the other party would get even more excited.
Seo Eunho quietly looked at the other party who was getting excited without fail. Whether he lost focus there, the short-haired guy suddenly raised his hand.
Perhaps because he had faced this type so many times, he wasn’t even surprised.
“Eek!”
Let’s just get hit and report them.
He was thinking that and staying still when absurdly, the guys couldn’t even lay a fingertip on Seo Eunho. Instead, they screamed and tumbled on the street.
Flustered by the unexpected development, Seo Eunho’s gaze moved quickly. He didn’t know when he had appeared, but Tae Shinwoo was already standing right in front of him. He had clearly said he was going home. Why was he here?
“Why are you here—”
“Why are you just standing still?”
Seo Eunho’s curiosity regrettably couldn’t come out completely. It was because Tae Shinwoo asked first in a voice slightly more agitated than usual.
“Because it’s annoying if things get big.”
So he answered first. Not only was his voice different, but his face was also extremely irritated and crumpled up, so he felt like he should make excuses first. That didn’t smooth out Tae Shinwoo’s expression though.
“You son of a bitch…!”
“If you stay still, things won’t get big?”
“Usually?”
“Like hell.”
The moment Tae Shinwoo answered sarcastically, the yellow-haired one who had jumped up fell to the ground again after being hit by long legs. How did he know like a ghost again when he was looking at him but they came rushing?
Plus, how hard did he hit them that both guys couldn’t get their bearings after just one hit each? They got up but couldn’t rush over and were just glaring at them. It must hurt like hell. It looked like it.
“It’s better to receive money for thugs than to pay it.”
Seo Eunho thought indifferently and spoke plainly. In fact, if possible, he was of the principle not to fight, but even if a problem arose, it seemed like Tae Shinwoo could pass through safely, and it didn’t seem like he would lose to those guys, so he could act nonchalant.
“Money is always the problem.”
Tae Shinwoo said with a laugh. Strangely, he didn’t look happy. In the meantime, as if testing the waters, the guys stood facing Tae Shinwoo. They seemed to be thinking whether to charge more or run away.
Seo Eunho stood quietly and observed them. Just run away. It wasn’t like he was taking sides, but somehow he felt like shouting that for them.
“Don’t just stand still from now on, then.”
Tae Shinwoo caught his gaze that had briefly wandered away. When he turned his head, Tae Shinwoo was looking straight at him. It was really leisurely of him to take his eyes off them in a situation where he didn’t know how the guys in front would come out. Seo Eunho tilted his head as if telling him to look ahead, but Tae Shinwoo didn’t care at all.
“You shi—, ahh!”
“Just beat them up. You can even kill them.”
It seemed to be an extension of the words not to just stand still. Seo Eunho didn’t react at all to Tae Shinwoo’s words. It wasn’t the timing to react. Regrettably, the two guys who seemed to have finally made up their minds to charge threw their entire bodies toward Tae Shinwoo at once.
How cowardly, charging together. Seo Eunho thought so and flinched. He didn’t care if he got hit, but he didn’t want Tae Shinwoo to get hit. So if push came to shove, he was thinking of helping.
However, the moment he confirmed with his own two eyes Tae Shinwoo grabbing the yellow hair of the guy who rushed over first and lightly swinging him toward the baldy as if his face were a weapon, Seo Eunho stopped moving. It was because he realized there was no need for him to step in.
“I have a lot of money to pay for thugs and I have backing too.”
“……”
“So trust me and just do whatever you want.”
Seo Eunho’s lips twisted. Laughter came out naturally. A person’s face was being turned into a mess before his eyes, yet laughter came out. He had thought of Tae Shinwoo as a psychopath, but it seemed he wasn’t normal either.
However, it was the first time he heard the words to trust him and do whatever he wanted, and because it came from Tae Shinwoo’s mouth, he was so willing that he couldn’t help but laugh.
Tae Shinwoo faced Seo Eunho and pushed the yellow-haired one toward him as if throwing him. Seo Eunho lifted his foot as if he had been waiting. The guy who was kicked with a thud tumbled on the ground without even being able to scream. Seo Eunho was still smiling.
