“The morning sun~ is so bright~ the wind~ blowing~ is refreshing~ ha~ yeah~”
The day was particularly refreshing today. The news said the weather would warm up soon, and it seemed like today was exactly that day. Yoonjo walked down the street humming. When he raised his head, bright sunlight seeped through the leaves. Yoonjo, who had been standing still in that spot as if photosynthesizing, suddenly stomped his feet. A few passing students looked at him strangely, but Yoonjo, consumed by the happiness virus, didn’t care at all.
Yoonjo, who touched his nape for no reason, giggled and laughed again. It was because he naturally thought of Seonwoo, who had been with him until just before. Then he naturally recalled what happened this morning.
‘This is jealousy, right?’
‘What do you think?’
Seonwoo, who said that, grabbed Yoonjo’s hand and raised it, then rubbed his face against the palm. That action alone was as good as an answer. A silly laugh crept up. He felt so good. It felt like if he ran with all his might like this, he could fly into the sky.
Yoonjo, who entered the quiet lecture hall, found a seat in a corner and sat down. He immediately grabbed his phone and moved his hands quickly.
「I entered the lecture hall. What about you, hyung?」 8:42am
「I’m about to go. Ah, do you happen to be busy this evening?」 8:32am
「Nope, not at all!」 8:32am
「I’ll pick you up on time. You finish at 2 today too, right?」 8:32am
The answer came back quickly, as if Seonwoo was also looking at his phone. Yoonjo sent a rabbit emoticon drawing a heart above its head and a bear emoticon in succession, then added.
「Yes! That’s right, 2 o’clock haha What’s your schedule like today, hyung?」 8:33am
Still feeling unsatisfied, he sent another emoticon and this time too an answer came back. Seonwoo also sent an emoticon. Since he’d never seen him use emoticons, Yoonjo looked at the screen quietly. Then he let out a giggling laugh.
In the message Seonwoo sent, there was a rabbit with perked ears hopping. Its cheeks were flushed, and its mouth was cutely open. It was an emoticon just like Ki Seonwoo. He wanted to see Seonwoo again, but Yoonjo patted his chest and put strength in his feet.
Holding the wish for class to end quickly, he moved his fingers. The read receipt showed, but no answer came from Seonwoo. After some thought, Yoonjo took a picture of his lecture hall with his phone camera and sent the photo he took to Seonwoo. There was no particular reason. He just wanted to share every situation with Seonwoo.
“You came early, Yoonjo-ya. But what are you doing?”
Just as he sent the photo and was about to send a message, Huiwon sat down in the seat next to him. Yoonjo, who turned off the screen, asked back pretending nothing was wrong.
“Game… I was playing a bit? You came early too?”
“Early. It’s 5 minutes before class starts.”
“What are you talking about… it’s almost 30 minutes before…”
Huh, I came… Surprisingly, the time now was 55 minutes. When he looked around, he saw students sitting in every seat. It was surprising since it had definitely been a quiet lecture hall until just a moment ago. It felt like someone had plucked out his time, cut it in half, and returned it.
“Uh-um….”
As he awkwardly smiled and only fiddled with his phone, Huiwon asked with an indifferent face.
“Are you dating someone these days?”
“Huh? Uh uh…. Huh?”
It was ambiguous whether to say yes or no. If it were up to him, he wanted to go around shouting throughout the whole neighborhood. ‘Ki Seonwoo is my man! We’ve decided to grow old together!’ while doing so.
The reason he didn’t was simply for Seonwoo’s sake. Even if he himself, an ordinary person with nothing to worry about, was fine, Seonwoo definitely wouldn’t be.
He said they should go down to the countryside together once his current work was finished, but even so, the interest attached to Seonwoo wouldn’t decrease.
In fact, didn’t photos pop up as soon as Seonwoo showed his face in Cheongdam? That was also proof that both the media and the public were interested in the person called Ki Seonwoo.
Yoonjo, who had been rolling his eyes around, giggled and stretched his arms as if half-lying on the desk.
“No-o. I’m not.”
At the clumsy denial, Huiwon went “Hmm,” and nodded his head. It clearly seemed like he was just letting it pass. Yoonjo, who had been tapping the desk with his fingertips, slightly leaned his body toward Huiwon and only lifted his eyes slightly upward. Because of his black pupils, his gaze looked pitiful.
“But why? Why did you think I was dating?”
“Do you remember when I told you before to live alone?”
He remembered it so clearly it was vivid. That would be so since it was one of the topics of conversation he had with Seonwoo this morning. Yoonjo slowly nodded his head. Then Huiwon responded with an indifferent air.
“You do that kind of thing, so I told you to live alone.”
“What kind of thing are you talking about?”
Yoonjo’s face slightly crumpled and a furrow formed between his brows. At the same time, his lips also protruded faintly. Huiwon stared intently at his slightly swollen-looking lips and responded.
“Just, this and that.”
“What is it? What? What is it?”
Yoonjo poked Huiwon’s hand repeatedly and soon poked his side too. Even so, no answer came back, so Yoonjo’s face crumpled a bit more.
Seonghyeon, who came rushing into the lecture hall 2 minutes before class started, asked Yoonjo why he was like that, but there was no one anywhere to answer him.
***
“We’ll end today’s class here. And submit the plan within 2 weeks and submit the execution report related to it before the final exam. Then let’s see each other next week.”
When he came to his senses, class had ended. Yoonjo unconsciously looked back and forth between the notebook with not a single word written and the blackboard. Because the class proceeded with PPT, the blackboard was nothing but clean, just like Yoonjo’s notebook.
“I’m screwed….”
While he was only thinking of Seonwoo, class had completely ended. Yoonjo looked at his friends packing their things and asked carefully.
“Did you happen to hear what kind of plan it is? I was distracted for a moment and didn’t hear….”
“Whoa~ what’s gotten into Ji Yoon that he spaced out during class.”
“Yoonjo’s probably distracted right now.”
Huiwon, who responded casually as if brushing it off, left a message saying he had to go quickly because he had another class. When only he and Seonghyeon were left, Yoonjo tightly grabbed Seonghyeon’s hand and asked.
“Could you possibly… tell me?”
Looking at Yoonjo with sparkling eyes, Seonghyeon crumpled his face unusually.
“If you lick my toes, I’ll tell you.”
“Instead of toes, how about I throw a fist?”
“You really have a tendency to try to solve everything with violence.”
“Basically, I’m a non-violence advocate.”
“Yeah, right.”
Seonghyeon, who grumbled, lifted his phone, moved his hand, then gestured with his head.
“I sent it, so just look at that.”
“You take notes on your phone?”
“I took notes on a pad, that’s just organized. Anyway, look at that and I’m leaving first. Hey, but what’s with the turtleneck in this summer weather. Aren’t you hot?”
Yoonjo unconsciously covered the place with marks with his hand and changed the subject.
“Well… anyway. What about lunch?”
“My girlfriend has a free period today so we’re eating together. Didn’t I tell you?”
Yoonjo, who thought carefully, let out a short “Ah.” A message had come. The problem was he roughly checked it and moved on. Yoonjo, who had been moving his mouth around, let out a deep sigh and nodded his head.
“Got it. I’ll just go to the department room and eat something suitable. See you tomorrow.”
“Uh yeah…. And the plan… never mind. You’ll do well on your own. Then I’m going first. See you tomorrow!”
Whether he received a call from his girlfriend, Seonghyeon, who hastily put his phone to his ear, left the lecture hall.
Yoonjo, left alone and isolated, packed his things slowly. Then he lifted his phone to check the content he received from Seonghyeon and burst into laughter.
He’d sent one photo of the lecture hall and couldn’t respond, but right below that Seonwoo had sent a photo.
In the photo, a sign that read ‘JN Team Entertainment’ could be seen, and right below it, fingers spread in a V shape could be seen. It must be Seonwoo’s fingers. Because fingers so white and straight didn’t exist in the world.
「Don’t want to workㅜ」 10:11am
“Ah…. I miss hyung.”
Yoonjo, who took a finger heart with the empty lecture hall as the background, sent the photo. No answer came back. He said all the work was done, but it seemed there was still some finishing left.
Yoonjo, who packed his bag and checked the message Seonghyeon sent, rubbed his lips in difficulty.
[Gamsungdom] – Literature Understanding and Exploration assignment, investigate means by which humans can be made to reveal their true nature and submit a plan to confirm this. Total bullshitㅗ 11:03am
Where in the world did such means exist? Continuing his thoughts, Yoonjo, who bought a cup of ramen from a nearby store and entered the department room, discovered prior visitors. Not just one or two. There seemed to be at least four sunbaes.
“Hello, sunbaes!”
Yoonjo, who smiled good-naturedly, put water on the coffee pot and opened the cup ramen lid. One sunbae sitting near the door looked at Yoonjo’s lunch and scolded him.
“You’re at the height of growing, will ramen be enough?”
“Ey… I’m done after just one more class. I can eat when I go home.”
“Home? Don’t you live in the dorm?”
“This semester, regrettably~, that’s how it turned out. It was fun sharing a room with hyungs last semester, but it’s really unfortunate. What about you, noona?”
“I live alone nearby. I was wondering why I haven’t been seeing you much at school lately.”
Instead of answering, Yoonjo, who giggled, poured in the soup. He immediately took a picture and sent it to Seonwoo. He still hadn’t read it, but an answer would come later.
Yoonjo, who was waiting for the water to boil while tapping his feet, looked at his phone and checked the message from Seonghyeon again. No matter how much he thought about it, no answer came at all.
“Oh… Ji Yoonjo. Looking at your mouth, seems like something annoying happened?”
“No. Not at all.”
Yoonjo, who was silent for a moment, rolled his eyes around and opened his mouth.
“Actually, I’m taking Literature Understanding and Exploration, and they’re telling us to investigate means by which humans can be made to reveal their true nature and submit a plan to confirm it. And it’s due by next week. Why would they make us do this when it’s understanding literature?”
Yoonjo, who spat out his words rapidly, waited for an answer while looking at the sunbaes who were silent for a moment. The sunbaes burst into laughter before long. They laughed for a while, smacking each other’s backs, and when the laughter finally subsided, they each said a word.
“As expected… no one can follow Yoonjo.”
“That’s what I’m saying. His character is really unmatched.”
“So freaking funny, really. Anyway, that’s an assignment they recycle every year. The professor does that every day he doesn’t want to teach. Mine was a haunted house. That was a real direct hit. Everyone probably does something like that.”
“Isn’t that too cliché? I did an abandoned house experience. Even just going to Yangpyeong area, there are tons of abandoned houses.”
“You guys are all so ordinary. Mine was a roller coaster. You know, the one that plunges vertically. The kid who went with me swore every curse word. It was so freaking funny. I heard there was also a kid who went mountain hiking. The new student who accompanied them abandoned everything in the middle and ran away. Isn’t this like a department head bullying a new employee?”
Listening carefully to the sunbaes’ words one by one, he poured water into the cup ramen. Even until the noodles were fully cooked, the sunbaes’ chatter didn’t stop.
Yoonjo nodded his head here and there in agreement, and before he knew it, the small cup of ramen had revealed its bottom. Even then, Yoonjo remained squeezed among the sunbaes. Yoonjo, who held his position until class started, left the department room when the time came.
It was after he had stored haunted house, abandoned house, roller coaster, and mountain hiking in his head several times.
