# Chapter 7
Final exams approached along with the sudden freeloader who had appeared. Yeomin was leaving the dark campus after taking his first major exam.
Last night, Jiho had been so annoying that he couldn’t study properly. As a result, he woke up early this morning and now his eyes kept closing.
At this point, all he could think about was going home and taking a nap, forget about food.
Jiho’s classes must have ended much earlier, as he had already messaged saying he was at home.
‘He might not have gone to school at all…’
Jiho showed absolutely no interest in studying. Not that he seemed particularly interested in having fun either. The kid was really strange.
These days, Jiho’s only interest seemed to be… him. Yeomin shook his head vigorously after having this terrible thought for about two seconds.
“Let’s just go home and sleep…”
As he was trudging along, clearly drained from the exam, Yeomin’s phone rang. At first, he thought it was Jiho asking when he’d be home, but it was a call.
Buzz- Buzz-
The name on the screen was <Sundoli>.
‘Sigh. I’m on my way already.’
He didn’t even have the energy to answer the call, but he knew if he didn’t, it would keep ringing until he did.
From past experience, Yeomin had learned that answering right away was the least annoying option.
Yeomin answered with a tired face.
“I just finished my exam…”
– Ahhh! Help me, hyung!
A scream that could shatter eardrums blasted as soon as he answered. Yeomin was startled.
“What’s going on?”
– I’m dying, hyuuung. Save me…! Please!
At the desperate plea for rescue, Yeomin’s heart sank. In that moment, he imagined about thirty-five worst-case scenarios.
- Seol Jiho set the house on fire
- A burglar broke in
- The house collapsed
- Did the Ian Group come to capture Seol Jiho?
If he had to choose, he’d prefer option 4…
Before he knew it, Yeomin was running with his phone still in hand. Heading toward his semi-basement apartment where Jiho should be.
“I’m coming now!”
– Hurry, hyung…!
Yeomin ran without stopping up steep hills and stairs, not even realizing he was out of breath.
Arriving at his front door about five times faster than usual, Yeomin hastily punched in the door lock code. (Thankfully, the house hadn’t collapsed.)
And as soon as he flung the front door open, he saw:
“H-hyung!”
Jiho was clinging to the wall as if he were trying to be Spider-Man. Yeomin first surveyed the state of the room.
Nothing seemed to have been stolen, but the place was in such disarray it might as well have been ransacked.
And there was… Seol Jiho in a standoff with a cockroach. His eyes were brimming with tears.
Moreover, various household items had been thrown around as if to show traces of the battle, and the cockroach was trapped under a Lock & Lock container.
“I was lying down when it suddenly fell from the ceiling.”
Jiho whimpered.
Sigh…
Yeomin’s head throbbed.
“You son of a bitch! You caused all this fuss because of that?”
Yeomin was dumbfounded. You made such a fuss on the phone over a cockroach, making me run until my heart nearly burst? Yeomin’s insides were still churning.
“I really almost died.”
Jiho dashed over to Yeomin and hugged him tightly. Due to his overly large frame, Yeomin staggered backward.
“This crazy bastard, really… because of you, I—”
“Please get rid of it quickly.”
Living here, Yeomin had become quite familiar with bugs. He’d even had cockroaches crawl past his face while turning over in his sleep.
Of course, this one was quite large, so it was understandable that the young master would be terrified.
“Let me catch it first, you.”
Yeomin, putting on a brave face, very courageously pulled out some tissue. Then he quickly lifted the overturned bowl. With expert-like form, he wrapped the cockroach in tissue before it could move and headed straight to the bathroom.
As soon as he threw the tissue bundle into the toilet, he flushed it very swiftly, and the bug was sucked down along with the tissue.
1 KILL, SUCCESS!
While Yeomin was feeling proud of himself, Jiho hugged him from behind.
“Hyung, I was so scared… I really thought I was going to die.”
Yeomin was tempted to wrap him in tissue and flush him down the toilet too.
What good is having a decent build of at least 185cm if he’s just a kid trembling over one bug?
“How could it kill you?”
“I was scared to death. But why are you sweating so much? Don’t tell me, you ran here?”
Jiho abruptly wiped Yeomin’s sweaty forehead with his sleeve.
Yeomin turned his head slightly, uncomfortable.
‘I ran because I thought something had happened.’
He really thought his heart would burst. As the tension drained away, Yeomin slumped down on the floor.
My lifespan is getting shorter because of you. Shorter.
“This is all because of you, you know.”
“Hyung, you’re really too kind.”
The compliment of being ‘kind’ felt extremely awkward to Yeomin. He had never once thought of himself as kind.
“I thought a robber had broken in.”
The only thing worth stealing in this house was one thing: the watch Jiho had given him.
Despite knowing it was unlikely that a thief would target such a place, Yeomin had been most worried about losing that watch.
After checking the watch hidden in the closet and feeling relieved, Jiho looked at him with concern.
“Has hyung been living alone in such a rough place all this time?”
Alone and lonely? I’ve been living very comfortably, pleasantly, and peacefully by myself!
And though it’s a bit shabby, it’s not that rough of a place. Is it a rough place just because cockroaches appear?
Now that the cockroach was gone, Jiho seemed to have regained his confidence and continued to talk nonsense.
“This won’t do. I can’t let hyung live in such a dangerous place.”
“You crazy bastard. You’re more dangerous than the cockroach.”
‘At least the cockroach doesn’t suddenly rub my lips when it’s drunk.’
Yeomin swallowed those words that had caught in his throat.
“I’ll protect hyung from now on.”
You can’t even catch a cockroach with your own hands, yet you’re showing off. Feeling drained, Yeomin just thought to himself while leaning limply against Jiho’s shoulder.
Jiho carefully wrapped his arm around Yeomin’s shoulders.
“Thank you for running here today. You always save me, hyung.”
“What do you mean, save…”
“Someday, I’ll definitely be the one to save you, hyung.”
The affectionate whisper in his ear was unbearably ticklish.
‘You save me? I don’t expect that.’
Yeomin decided to consider this a proper workout in the moonlight, thanks to someone.
* * *
After all that commotion, as soon as they lay down to sleep at night, Jiho started whining again, afraid that more bugs might appear.
Seol Jiho was really driving him crazy. This guy is Satan.
“Can’t hyung come up here too?”
Until now, Jiho had always slept on the mattress while Yeomin slept on the hard floor.
But now he was suddenly asking Yeomin to come up on the mattress and sleep together. Was he serious?
Yeomin rejected him.
“It’s already cramped with just you lying there, how are two men supposed to fit?”
“We can lie very close together. Hyung is small, after all.”
“Hey, I’m not small!”
“Okay. Let’s say so.”
It’s not something to “say so” about—I’m really not small! It’s just that you’re excessively tall!
“I’ll stick to the wall as much as possible.”
Yeomin knew that if he didn’t give in, this guy would keep pestering him endlessly.
“What if another bug suddenly falls from the ceiling?”
“That would happen even if we lie together.”
“Still, it’s psychologically comforting to have someone next to you.”
Is it? For me, it’s more stressful. I’m already at maximum stress.
…In the end, Yeomin surrendered and climbed onto the mattress, hugging a cushion. He did this because he knew Jiho wouldn’t stop otherwise.
As expected, when he lay down next to Jiho, it was so cramped their shoulders touched. If he didn’t pay attention, their lower bodies would probably touch too.
“See? It’s cramped. I’ll just go back down…”
“Move a bit more this way. There’s room.”
There’s room? Maybe enough for a cat to lie down.
Yeomin ignored Jiho’s words and chose to lie on his side. He thought it was a decent solution, but then Jiho also turned on his side…
“Hey. Do you want to die? Don’t get so close.”
Having someone behind his back felt very unfamiliar. The feeling of Jiho’s body touching his backside was utterly uncomfortable. This position was extremely humiliating.
“Hyung smells nice. Did you spray perfume?”
Would I? Would a luxury item like perfume exist in this house? It’s just the smell of the 1,000 won Althrang soap from the mart.
Yeomin didn’t even bother to respond, but Jiho kept chattering on his own.
“Hyung seems to have a lot of body heat.”
“Shut up and sleep.”
“…Yes, sir.”
“…”
“But hyung…”
Jiho was still conversing with the back of Yeomin’s head.
‘I’m really going to sleep now. I didn’t get enough sleep, and now I’m exhausted from running. I’m ignoring you. I can’t hear you.’
As Yeomin stubbornly closed his eyes, pretending to sleep, Jiho asked:
“Do I have to keep pretending not to know you at school?”
“…”
“Until when?”
Until now, although they had often—no, frequently—encountered each other at school, they had never acknowledged knowing each other.
They had never properly exchanged words before, so it was natural.
If people in their department found out that Seol Jiho and Joo Yeomin knew each other, wouldn’t they all flip out?
“Why are you suddenly asking that?”
Yeomin answered without moving.
Actually, Jiho was the one who ignored him more at school. In fact, Yeomin had thought that a reasonable level of conversation or greeting wouldn’t be so bad.
But because Jiho treated him like he was invisible every time they met, Yeomin always felt bad when encountering him at school.
‘Does this bastard have a split personality?’
After all that, what’s the purpose of saying this now?
“I want to greet you at school too. But you don’t seem to like it.”
“Aren’t you the one using me?”
He should have maintained his composure. But when he unconsciously turned around and snapped, Jiho looked puzzled.
Although he immediately regretted bringing it up, Yeomin couldn’t control his mouth.
“You need someone to keep you from being bored while you stay here, but you don’t really need me at school, right?”
“That’s not true. How could that be?”
“I don’t really need you either.”
“…Hyung.”
“It’s fine if you’re using me, but don’t whine about how I’m avoiding you or whatever. It’s annoying to hear.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the room fell silent. It was rare for Jiho to be quiet, but he didn’t say anything more.
On the other hand, Yeomin felt better after saying everything he wanted to say.
‘Right. You’d find it tiresome to be seen with a shabby senior, and I’d be annoyed being compared to you when associated with you.’
Staying as strangers at school was the best option for both Jiho and Yeomin.
Just as he was thinking that, an arm wrapped around his waist like a snake. Startled by the sudden constricting feeling, Yeomin turned around.
“What are you—”
“Using you? Me, using hyung?”
“…”
“I’m actually curious why you think that way.”
Unlike his usual childish tone, this was different. It was strangely more disrespectful and mocking.
Yeomin realized: Yes, this is what he’s really like. This is his true self.
