Baek Seunghoon was confused by the attitude where he couldn’t tell how much was sincere and how much was a joke. Kim Hoyoung couldn’t even carelessly intervene and was holding his breath far away. He seemed to have neither the ability nor the will to mediate.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to wipe?”
Cha Dobum tapped his back. To someone who didn’t know better, it would look like he was encouraging him.
Baek Seunghoon squeezed his eyes shut. As if to avoid the numerous gazes pouring on him. Then he got on his knees and bowed his head toward the spot glistening with saliva.
Silent sighs poured out in the classroom. But no one took their eyes off Baek Seunghoon. Eventually, Baek Seunghoon licked the floor with his face buried in front of Cha Ihyun’s slippers.
“Good boy, Seongjun.”
Only Cha Dobum was smiling. It was true that Cha Ihyun disliked Baek Seunghoon, but this scene was uncomfortable. The nape of Baek Seunghoon’s neck, whose shoulders were trembling, was bright red.
“Let’s see. Wow, it’s shiny. Seongjun, you have a talent for cleaning.”
Cha Dobum cruelly demanded a response to his praise. Baek Seunghoon stiffly turned his head and smiled. Cha Ihyun could read the pathetic pride that he must not lose his smile even at this moment.
Cha Dobum was one thing, but Baek Seunghoon was truly hopeless too. The pity he’d felt also disappeared completely, so Cha Ihyun just resumed the sweeping he’d stopped. He wanted to get away from these idiots quickly. But then Cha Dobum snatched away the broom and threw it straight to Kim Hoyoung.
“Come on, let’s clean together since we’re friends.”
Kim Hoyoung, who caught the broom, immediately started sweeping the floor. Cha Dobum, who returned to his seat, slung his bag and Cha Ihyun’s bag on both shoulders.
“Let’s go, princess.”
Since he just left carrying someone else’s bag, Cha Ihyun had no choice but to follow behind him.
“Hey, what if you get stabbed later for acting like that?”
“Stabbed? What stabbing?”
“Even if not a real knife. I’m saying all that stuff will come back to you later.”
Cha Dobum picked his ear with his pinky finger. Nagging automatically burst out at the thoughtless-looking back.
“Live nicely. Even so, you don’t need to go that far with kids you’re close with.”
“I’m not close with those guys though?”
“You hung out together quite a bit. Even went to Gyeonggi Province.”
“That was just going to play basketball.”
At this point, he was more worried about Cha Dobum’s social skills than himself. Normally, he wouldn’t have cared whether Cha Dobum did that or not, but strangely, nagging lingered at his lips.
The Cha Dobum he’d observed these past few days was just a bit strange, but not a bad guy. And he was family… too.
Someone had to tell Cha Dobum what was right. Right now, he could live however he wanted within the fence called school, but he couldn’t suppress others with the logic of power forever. Just as he was about to seriously say something, Cha Dobum’s phone rang.
Seeing the vibration continue for a while, it seemed to be a call. Cha Dobum checked the screen and immediately answered the phone.
“Yeah.”
—Cha Dobum, why haven’t you come lately? I’m kind of hurt?
It was a woman’s voice. More words followed, but he couldn’t hear well. Cha Ihyun pretended not to be interested while closing the distance with Cha Dobum. The laughter heard from beyond the receiver belonged not to one person but to two or three.
“I’m busy.”
—High schoolers aren’t that busy. Come by since you’re bored. Will you come tomorrow?
“Didn’t noona tell me not to skip school?”
Noona? Cha Ihyun, whose ears perked up, quickly followed behind Cha Dobum. Judging from the phone conversation, it seemed he met those noonas often.
A rumor following Cha Dobum suddenly crossed his mind. What was it? Was it a company employee who drove a foreign car, or a current idol? Anyway, to summarize the rumor he’d vaguely heard in one sentence, it was that his women changed every day.
Wasn’t going to play basketball with Baek Seunghoon and Kim Hoyoung actually because of girls’ high school students? The louder the laughter of the woman on the phone became, the more reasonable suspicion arose.
‘This pathetic bastard.’
Cha Dobum answered vaguely a few times and then hung up. Cha Ihyun, who had been staring at that back, hit his back hard.
“Ah!”
“How many points did you get on this mock exam?”
Cha Dobum was more dumbfounded by the sudden talk about the mock exam than being hit on the back. Even in the midst of that, he carefully recalled the memory and answered.
“The highest I got was 12 points, I think?”
“You’re really hopeless.”
“That’s 4 points higher than last year though.”
Cha Ihyun let out a long sigh. It seemed he’d ruined not only his social skills but also had no thoughts about his future.
“What are you really trying to become?”
“What, suddenly?”
“Do you know you’ll be an adult next year? What the hell have you been doing all this time?”
“Exactly. All I’ve done at this age is hang Cha Ihyun’s laundry. What can I do, I’ll just finish taking care of Cha Ihyun.”
Despite trying to give advice, Cha Dobum didn’t seem to have any intention of listening seriously. He suddenly pushed his face close.
“But why are you suddenly giving loving nagging?”
“Who said it’s love? It’s because you’re pathetic. Anyway, just graduate safely. The homeroom teacher even asked me where you go in the afternoons. Where the hell do you wander around?”
“Are you curious where I go?”
“No, I’m not saying I’m curious—”
“Want to come?”
Cha Dobum grinned.
“To see where I wander around so much.”
“……”
Normally, he would have ignored it. But he was a little curious too. Whether he really went around meeting women, or if he was actually doing something.
Eventually, Cha Ihyun, unable to overcome his curiosity, nodded.
***
The place they arrived at after turning off the road home was a snack bar that was falling apart.
The store located by closed railroad tracks had A4 papers with ’24 Hours’ written on them stuck all over. The inside had a ceiling so low it seemed like it would collapse at any moment, you had to scoop your own ordered food, and even the tables had tissues that stuck to them no matter how much you wiped. Cha Ihyun, who gave up wiping, irritably threw the tissue.
“Don’t tell me you skipped class to come here?”
“There’s a course. I have to fill your stomach here once before going to the place we need to go.”
Cha Ihyun’s face crumpled at the food Cha Dobum brought over in abundance. It was sundae. At the fishy smell, Cha Ihyun put down his toothpick.
“Not eating? The sundae here is fantastic.”
“Why would you eat something so disgusting? Do you know that’s pig intestines?”
“I know, of course. Ah.”
Cha Dobum pushed a small piece of sundae into Cha Ihyun’s mouth. Cha Ihyun’s expression soured. Just holding it in his mouth seemed to turn his stomach.
“Just chew it once. Spit it out if you don’t like it.”
Cha Dobum giggled with his palm spread out. Of course, he planned to spit it out right away. But at the salty taste felt by his tongue, his jaw moved unconsciously.
“…?”
He chewed once more. Unlike the smell, the taste wasn’t fishy. The unfamiliar texture also felt chewy before he knew it.
“One more?”
Cha Ihyun didn’t say anything. But it was Cha Dobum who knew that meaning better than anyone. When he picked up another small piece of sundae, Cha Ihyun lowered his gaze and opened his mouth.
“My my, you eat well.”
“……”
“Our princess, you know that’s pig intestines you’re eating, right?”
Cha Ihyun glared, but Cha Dobum grinned and presented a new piece of sundae to his lips. Cha Ihyun, who awkwardly accepted it again, looked around for no reason. The store walls were full of visitors’ graffiti. As he was looking at the densely packed post-its, Cha Dobum suddenly picked up the pen on the table and started writing something.
His gaze naturally went there. But looking closely, it seemed he was drawing rather than writing. While he was pretending not to be interested and glancing over, Cha Dobum put down the pen. Then he stuck the finished product in the center of the wall.
It seemed to be a drawing of a person. The ‘person’ with a mouth inflated like a balloon was wearing a crown on their head, and their eyes had eyelash-like things drawn sticking out like fly legs.
“It’s fucking identical.”
Cha Ihyun coldly became serious. He would have let it go up to that point, but above that ‘person’ was a speech bubble that read ‘Aahng♥’. Below the drawing was also terrible handwriting that read ‘X month X day, the day Cha Ihyun first tasted sundae’.
“What’s really wrong with you?”
As if pleased by making him exasperated, Cha Dobum’s dimples became clearly horizontal. Cha Ihyun reached out to tear it off. But Cha Dobum made the first move and stuck the post-it higher up. Cha Ihyun, who looked helplessly at the paper that almost touched the ceiling, just decided to lose interest.
“Are there wet wipes here?”
As soon as the words ended, Cha Dobum got up and searched the store. But the tissue holders placed on each table were all empty. Since the owner had also left their seat, he who had been at a loss exclaimed as if he remembered.
“Look in my wallet there. There should be one I got this morning.”
