For a moment, as if his head had stopped, he couldn’t think of anything. Could this be called a hangover too? To the point such a pointless thought occurred to him, Seongjo wasn’t accustomed to this situation. A situation where someone’s presence paralyzed his thinking.
Seongjo just stared at the other person without even being aware that his eyes had slightly creased.
There were many things he’d wanted to say if he met the note’s owner. He was full of curiosities about him. If he had to pick the biggest question, it would still be ‘So what kind of person are you?’ How old are you, he’d guessed as far as that they were a student at the same school, but exactly what department.
Next, he wanted to ask why they’d disappeared from the library from a certain point on. What they were thinking when they continued to leave drinks and notes at his seat—he wanted to know that part even more than the fundamental reason.
But when he actually faced someone who said they were that note’s owner, the only thing that came to mind was the current situation. In other words, Seongjo’s head was full of only the one note he’d just discovered.
Wasn’t it the first among the notes he’d received from him to contain only kind content?
Having finished thinking that far, Seongjo barely opened his mouth and asked as if tossing it out.
“I thought you didn’t like me?”
He hadn’t intended to give off this nuance. To Seongjo’s own ears, his words now gave off an atmosphere like a sulking child deliberately being prickly. That said, he had no intention of correcting the words he’d let out.
Seongjo left his arm resting on his knee and propped his chin on it. When he looked up at the other person with a deliberately crooked gaze, he moved his lips with a flustered face.
“Um… why?”
Was he really asking because he didn’t know? Seongjo laughed lightly as if it was absurd and answered.
“When you only wrote insults in the notes all this time?”
Of course, Seongjo himself didn’t think it had been purely malicious either. Rather, it was something that couldn’t continue without goodwill. But in any case, it was true that the notes had mostly contained critical words. If Seongjo had been someone oblivious, it wouldn’t have been strange if he’d thoroughly misunderstood that he was hated by the note’s counterpart.
Actually, the reason for saying this wasn’t because he wrote bad content, but because he stopped writing.
He looked at Seongjo and smiled gently before answering.
“It wasn’t only dislike.”
Hearing those words, he didn’t feel bad. No, rather it was closer to feeling good. Not even ‘I didn’t dislike you’ but ‘It wasn’t only dislike.’ In other words, it meant he did dislike him, yet hearing that cleared his pent-up feelings as if they were draining away—what was that about?
“You criticized me going to the library, didn’t you?”
He maintained a crooked tone outwardly. He looked troubled as he smoothed his own hair and made excuses again.
“That was, uh… it seemed like you were just hanging out where others were studying because it’s a building you put up?”
Listening to his explanation that it just felt that way, Seongjo burst into brief laughter. For an excuse, isn’t that just an insult?
“Wow, that’s harsh.”
“Haha… I’m joking.”
He said it with a laugh, but it felt like it wasn’t completely a joke. But he liked it because it felt honest. Rather, if he’d been restless apologizing or denying it, it would definitely have been disappointing.
Seongjo tilted his head slightly while still propping his chin. The next question came from Seongjo whose face was tilted as if puzzled.
“But, who are you?”
It was the fundamental question finally coming out. Hearing those words, he blinked with a strange expression. What was it, that disappointed-looking face… Could they have already been acquainted? But it was a face he had no memory of at all.
Seongjo was originally the type who didn’t remember people well if he felt they weren’t very important. So there was a possibility they really were someone he knew. For the first time, Seongjo felt faintly sorry toward someone he couldn’t remember.
“I’m your classmate though.”
Soon he answered with a laugh. At those words, Seongjo furrowed his brow in confusion.
“What? I’ve never seen you before.”
No matter how much he forgot people who weren’t important, he was confident he’d remember a classmate’s face. Even if not completely, at least enough to recall their existence.
“Isn’t it because you’re too uninterested in your surroundings? We even take classes together. Two of them, I think.”
At his words while shrugging his shoulders, Seongjo retraced his memories once more. Still nothing came to mind, leaving him only feeling awkward.
“No, well… even yesterday and before I went to the military, I don’t remember seeing you.”
“I transferred majors.”
At those words, Seongjo finally nodded going “Ah.” If that was the case, it was natural he had no memory. Rather, it felt strange that he was hurt. Still, the other person was the very owner of those notes toward whom Seongjo held considerable goodwill, so he didn’t say that.
“Yesterday, um… I don’t usually go out to those kinds of things all the time. And when I saw yesterday, the situation was already all over?”
Saying that, he shivered slightly as if shuddering, perhaps recalling yesterday’s scene. The sight of the devastated bar from yesterday also flashed through Seongjo’s mind. Seongjo, who burst into soft laughter, chimed in.
“Ah, that’s true.”
Of course, the main cause of that situation had been Seongjo himself. That wasn’t something Seongjo had wanted to happen, and it was other people who’d urged him to drink. So he kept his mouth shut and didn’t show it. Instead, as if changing the subject, he picked up the hangover remedy that had the Post-it attached. Even checking again, it was still a brand he’d never seen before.
“Do you drink this hangover remedy? I’ve never seen it before in my life?”
While examining the label, Seongjo laughed lightly once more.
“The name is shit. Why are your drink picks always like this?”
At that, the other person showed an awkward expression. He was laughing, but his face seemed a bit dissatisfied.
“No, well… I bought it because they had it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, and Pineapple Peach or Guava Orange are drinks that secretly have a cult following…”
At the content added somewhat timidly, Seongjo’s laughter deepened further. Even so, Seongjo observed the other person inconspicuously.
The actual owner of the notes, unlike the cynical note contents, seemed shy and a bit timid. There were many people in the world who became brave relying on anonymity, so it was possible.
Unlike when they didn’t know each other’s identities, now that they knew they were classmates, it wasn’t strange that their speech changed from formal to casual. But separate from that, he did want to confirm for certain whether this male student really was the person who wrote those notes. There would be no reason to lie about it, but it was strange to believe everything based on one word.
A student from the same department who could bring him to the department room.
The strange cynicism of saying ‘it seemed like you were showing off because it’s a building you put up.’
He even remembered the drinks Seongjo had complaints about, and seemed to have prepared words to argue about them in advance.
Seongjo, having reached a conclusion, asked with relaxed eyes while smiling slightly.
“Yeah, sure. Let’s say you’re right about everything.”
“It’s not ‘let’s say,’ it’s…”
“So, what’s your name?”
He, who’d been about to refute something, closed his mouth. Seongjo playfully wiggled one foot and nodded. As if to say hurry up and answer.
What was the reason for that strange expression? Was he newly hurt by the fact that Seongjo didn’t know his name? But since he didn’t know of his existence, he would have already guessed he wouldn’t know his name. Above all, it didn’t look like a displeased expression. Seongjo added.
“Since I’ve received this much help from you, I should do something. Right? I need to know your name to repay you.”
“…Ah, I’m…”
There was a moment’s hesitation before the answer came. With an expression that was either embarrassed or hesitant, he looked at Seongjo then soon smiled broadly and answered.
“Jo Yeongbeom.”
Just from exchanging names, a subtle atmosphere circulated for a brief moment. Seongjo casually rolled the other person’s name around in his mouth once.
“Really? Jo Yeongbeom?”
Yeongbeom nodded. With an awkward expression added to his strangely naive-looking appearance, he couldn’t look more clumsy. Seongjo called out with a light laugh.
“So then, Yeongbeom-ah.”
“Hm?”
“Why did you touch my head when I was sleeping?”
It was the only memory remaining from his heavily drunk state. Someone had brought him here, laid him down in place, and then… lightly smoothed his hair. The gentle stroking touch felt too meaningful to say it was simply brushing his hair aside.
He could see Yeongbeom’s face instantly turning red. Seongjo’s smile deepened even more. It was because right then he felt a premonition that he’d be entangled with this man for a very long time.
