“What?”
“I don’t mind.”
“Why the fuck would I buy you food?”
It was absurd enough to make him scoff. But the request to be treated to a meal was at least a situation that could occur within Woojae’s understanding. After all, Minwook had also said that he should buy Gye Sajun a meal. Besides, he’d started off that way too.
“You just said you’d buy me some.”
“……Fine, then I’ll buy it and give it to you, so fuck off. I’m hungry too, so I need to eat something.”
“I said let’s eat together—do you have trouble hearing? I’m speaking loudly.”
This is driving me crazy. Watching Gye Sajun, who showed no signs of backing down at all, Woojae lowered his head. He had a mountain of things he wanted to ask, but the desire to bury it all was greater. After agonizing, Woojae decided to make a deal.
“If we just eat together…… will you let bygones be bygones?”
Including that humiliating washing, that is. But Gye Sajun didn’t give the answer Woojae wanted.
“We’ll see.”
“Fuck……”
Woojae ran his bone-dry palm over his face. No matter how much he threw a fit, he couldn’t beat this opponent. Would you get anywhere getting angry at a blockhead? Woojae picked up the coat he’d tossed aside and looked for his wallet.
“Get out. Let’s go out and eat whatever, or whatever. Fuck, do whatever you want.”
“You said you have to eat that.”
Gye Sajun pointed with his finger at the lunch box and such on his desk. Even if he’d made up his mind to buy Gye Sajun food after conceding ten thousand times, he couldn’t feed him discarded food. It definitely wouldn’t kill him and there’d be no problem, but it was by no means a meal worthy of serving to someone. What does this bastard take me for?
“Stop your bullshit and let’s go.”
“Why? I’m going to eat that.”
He wasn’t some whining kid, but Gye Sajun showed no signs of backing down. Woojae’s eyelashes trembled irritably.
“Ah, is this fucker really crazy……”
“First time I’ve heard that.”
“Ah, yes yes. I’m sure you would say that.”
There seemed to be no sign of getting through to him at all. Yeah, it’s good for me since I’m saving money. Let’s think positively. Woojae turned his body toward the chair. Gye Sajun was standing in front of the door.
“Aren’t you coming in? You said you’d eat.”
“Then…… excuse me.”
Gye Sajun, who had left his shoes at the entrance, looked for indoor slippers with his eyes. Minwook’s slippers were scattered around the entrance.
“Wear those.”
“Tell him thanks.”
Woojae thought his polite manner was even more irritating, but when he turned his head sharply, he couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Even Minwook didn’t have small feet, but Gye Sajun’s huge feet overflowing in the slippers studded with flashy decorations were funny. Pink of all colors.
“Kheuk…… Are you Gulliver?”
“Then are you guys Lilliputians?”
“This bastard!”
He can’t not get in a word. So fucking annoying. Woojae glared at Gye Sajun with a fed-up expression. Gye Sajun walked over step by step and pulled out Minwook’s chair to sit facing Woojae. Sitting face to face with Gye Sajun felt strange. Even as he roughly handed over the lunch box spread out on the desk, honestly, he was skeptical.
“You can really eat this?”
“Why can’t I eat what you’re eating?”
“……Hey, this is cheap stuff.”
Honestly, it wasn’t cheap. Maybe because it was a convenience store on campus where rich kids went, the quality and price were a bit different from ordinary convenience store lunch boxes. But still, it was a convenience store lunch box in the end, so he wondered if that famous young master of Gyesu Group could eat something like this. Woojae pointed to the packaging with the honest name “Pork Bulgogi Lunch Box.”
“Have you ever eaten something like this?”
“……Yeah. Bulgogi. I know it. I’ve eaten it.”
“Fuck, not that. At a convenience store.”
“……I’ve eaten it.”
“Don’t bullshit me.”
Watching Gye Sajun awkwardly removing the plastic wrapping, Woojae snorted. Gye Sajun was examining the lunch box with a serious expression throughout. Even while Woojae quickly demolished a tuna mayo triangle kimbap.
“Do you eat it with your hands?”
“What the fuck are you saying, crazy bastard. Is this India? Don’t you see the wooden chopsticks attached to the side? Are your eyes decorative?”
“Ah.”
The way he stupidly tore open the chopsticks looked foolish. The chopsticks split messily—it was ridiculous. On the other hand, Woojae split his chopsticks perfectly. When it comes to wooden chopsticks, if you hit them on the floor a few times, they split cleanly in half. It was a tip that Gye Sajun, who wasn’t a commoner, wouldn’t know in a lifetime. Maybe he didn’t need to know.
“There’s no bigger idiot.”
“No matter how I think about it, your mouth is the problem.”
“Nothing else is a problem?”
“……There is.”
He’d just taken a big mouthful of cold rice with his chopsticks when an unexpected criticism came. That there was a problem with him. Woojae quickly pushed the rice to one side of his mouth and asked. Gye Sajun’s gaze touched Woojae’s puffed cheek.
“What is it, fuck.”
“I won’t tell you.”
“What kind of bastard is this?”
“I’m getting used to the cursing after hearing it so much.”
Gye Sajun answered blandly. Woojae gave up on interrogating him. And so the two men’s strange shared meal continued. Gye Sajun surprisingly finished his meal without incident, and rather, the one who had trouble was Woojae. It was because the meal with someone he disliked was fucking uncomfortable when he wasn’t feeling well either.
***
Certainly, even on Friday, Minwook had been excited about going out to play as soon as the weekend came.
– I knew this would happen.
– Huk, Uncle……!
However, as soon as he left the school’s main gate, he was kidnapped by his uncle who’d received his mother’s orders, and had to be dragged to his family home. Minwook’s resistance was meaningless in front of his muscular uncle who weighed over 100kg.
– How’s school?
– How’s the dorm?
– How’s your roommate?
Everyone threw questions about Minwook’s school life and dorm life as if they’d been waiting. His family was naturally talkative. Buried in a flood of questions no different from bombardment, he missed the ill-tempered Go Woojae to that extent.
His father showed enthusiastic favor as soon as he heard that the famous beta student was his dorm roommate.
– He’s your roommate?
– Yes.
– How is he?
– He seems like a tough kid.
It was a concise description he’d spat out negatively for no reason out of spite, but it seemed to please his father. His father even urged Minwook to definitely invite Woojae to their home. In the end, Minwook chose to return earlier than planned with the excuse that he had to go back quickly to study.
And so he hurried back and entered the dorm room, and what he saw as soon as he opened the door was the back of that great roommate. Woojae was someone who was strangely fun to tease. It was even more so because he acted like an old man despite being the same age.
Minwook recalled Woojae’s appearance from last week when he’d returned home drunk at dawn. To be precise, on Gye Sajun’s back.
– ……Huk, what?
– I thought he’d make a fuss if I took him to my room.
– Ah, no. It’s okay.
He’d lied to Woojae that Gye Sajun had come in with his face covered in vomit. In reality, it had just gotten on his clothes a bit, but somehow he’d wanted to tease him then. The way he’d turned pale with shock was so funny that he’d added various things to this and that, but now he didn’t remember well.
What fun thing could have happened all weekend? I should surprise him. He approached stealthily with a mischievous expression, when,
“Yeah, oppa, I passed all the part-time jobs this time. How’s school for you? Is it okay? Is it manageable? How are your friends?”
At the unexpectedly gentle voice that reached his ears, he ended up dry heaving. Though he’d only seen him for a few days, the roommate he knew was not a person capable of making that kind of voice. But what filled his vision was Go Woojae lovingly clutching a phone that could be called a piece of junk.
“What, is it a girlfriend? Oppa? Crazy, is she a minor?”
When Minwook asked in rapid succession with an expression close to shock, Woojae sent him his characteristic irritated look.
“Shut up…… No, it’s my roommate, oppa. Huh? You know. I’m not cursing. I’m speaking nicely.”
The restless attitude was really unfamiliar. Not cursing? You? Minwook frowned as if he’d seen something he shouldn’t have, watching Woojae frantically denying it.
“Yeah, okay. Make sure to eat your meals properly. I’ll come home at the end of the month. Let’s eat something delicious.”
The moment the call ended, a roll of toilet paper struck Minwook’s face. It was fortunate it was toilet paper—if it had been a book, he definitely would have lost a tooth.
“Hey, why are you throwing things!”
Actually, the intention to correct that last week’s talk had been a joke evaporated. Seeing the furious Woojae huffing and puffing made him want to tease him more.
“Interrupting someone’s phone call, what the fuck!”
“Is it a girlfriend? Something going on? What, so fucking petty. Go Woojae…… They say a gentle cat climbs on the stove first.”
“What girlfriend, it’s my younger sister!”
He didn’t have a girlfriend yet either, so seeing Go Woojae having that kind of call made him momentarily resentful. But disappointingly, the answer came back that the identity of the person on the call was his younger sister. Minwook stammered with a stupid expression.
“Y-younger sister? A younger sister?”
“Yeah.”
“Hey, don’t scam me. I have a younger sister too, you know? That kind of conversation between siblings is an impossible territory, customer.”
Minwook had three younger sisters in total. That kind of call with a sibling was an impossible realm. To Minwook, who denied it full of conviction, Woojae only asked back with a rather interesting expression.
