“Hyung!”
―What, what’s wrong? Did something happen?
“The card hyung gave me can’t be used! It says the card has been stopped! I’m at the counter right now with a ton of food piled up…. What do I do? You told me to buy and eat everything, so I did, and now I’m in an embarrassing situation.”
―Ah…. Sorry, I didn’t think of that…. Wait a moment, I’ll unlock it right away.
“Huh? Wasn’t it originally a stopped card?”
―No, you can use it. It’s just… it seems to have been blocked because of a small payment just now.
“Small…? That’s not right though? I bought a ton? I picked out enough that I can’t leave the convenience store?”
―Mm, good job. I just unlocked it, so if you try again it’ll work.
“Oh… thank you…. But what kind of card gets blocked for making a small payment? Doesn’t it usually get blocked when you exceed the limit?”
―…Eat well and enjoy it. I’ll come pick you up later when you’re done.
“Hyung?”
As the call ended with him deflecting, Jeong Minha just went back, properly paid, and ate the food.
They were convenience store foods he’d once eaten to the point of being sick of them, but eating them like this for the first time in a while after living with Seo Sihan, he realized he’d been missing the taste of instant food.
‘Well…. It’s not like I’m buying other things, it’s food expenses so it should be okay, right? I’m going to pay it all back anyway.’
Though Seo Sihan had said anything was fine from the start, Jeong Minha, who had his own baseline of conscience, decided that day. He would spend as he wanted on food expenses. Rather than struggling from hunger, it seemed much better to eat well, train hard, succeed, and then pay it back.
Actually, after coming to like Seo Sihan, Jeong Minha had become even more uncomfortable spending money and had brought up part-time work recently. Wouldn’t it be better if I earned a little on my own too?
At those words, Seo Sihan had answered with only his mouth smiling. If you need money, tell me…. In the end, Jeong Minha gave up on his part-time job plans that day. The face of the hyung he liked was both beautiful and scary.
Anyway, having started using the card, Jeong Minha went around eating this and that while attending school. Thanks to that, Seo Sihan was also satisfied. He’d been curious about how Jeong Minha was spending his time while he was at the company, and after giving him the card, their daily lives were automatically shared.
6,000 won lump sum 04/09 10:35 XX University Cafeteria
4,800 won lump sum 04/09 13:16 Cafe
7,200 won lump sum 04/09 16:15 Convenience Store
Does he only go to eat during every break? It was such typical Minha behavior that laughter came naturally every time a notification arrived. However, by his standards, even this seemed like eating sparingly, so he resolved to take him somewhere better for dinner.
Of course, even just this made Jeong Minha satisfied. In the past, when he was suffering from debt, situations would arise where he’d be forced to diet because food expenses felt too wasteful. But now, though his conscience pricked him, he was happy that there were no major problems.
* * *
Just when he was about to spend peaceful daily life again, a real problem arose.
What is the flower language of cherry blossoms? Popcorn? Unrequited love?
“……”
That was none other than midterm exams.
“I don’t understand a single sentence……”
Jeong Minha was collapsed on the living room table. It was already next week for midterms. Even a promising genius shooting athlete couldn’t avoid school exams.
Trying to study in a room with the latest game consoles sparkling made it impossible to concentrate. So he’d come out to the living room.
If I’m here, won’t I naturally run into hyung as he passes by? Wanting to satisfy his own selfish desires, Jeong Minha had confidently sat down in front of the table with his textbooks and iPad, then collapsed onto the table after 10 minutes. That was his current state.
“What is this even saying……”
“What is?”
At the suddenly heard voice, Jeong Minha jerked his head up. It was Seo Sihan.
Why do you walk around without making footsteps? His heart pounded in a different sense than usual. As expected, hyung is great in every way but sometimes too scary. Do I really like hyung? Why do I keep feeling fear?
As he looked at Seo Sihan with suspicious eyes, Seo Sihan smiled with his eyes while his face showed a question mark. Wow, so pretty. Thinking again, I guess I do like him after all.
While Jeong Minha was having his own debate, Seo Sihan looked at the materials on the table and said.
“Studying for exams?”
“Ah, yes…. But I don’t understand what any of it means so I’m screwed.”
“This?”
“Yes.”
He’d brought all the assignments that had piled up from going to the selection match. They were all problem-solving assignments.
The school Jeong Minha attended was a physical education college in name only, but was actually a department that focused on sports-related theory. So Jeong Minha had also been admitted through his regular grades, not as a physical education special admissions student. It was the result of his coach roughly submitting applications saying he’d take care of everything while Minha was busy preparing for the Olympics. At the time, Jeong Minha hadn’t given much thought to university admission, so he just did whatever the coach told him to.
“I think I came to the wrong school. For physical education students, doesn’t it make no sense that math, English, and information technology liberal arts are required……”
They were all first-year courses, but Jeong Minha was only taking them now. During his first semester of first year, he’d barely gone to school because of Olympic preparations.
The school, never expecting a national team candidate to actually enroll in such a nominal physical education program, hadn’t prepared a credit substitution system for this. In the end, Jeong Minha, who had gone to training, received F’s in his first semester courses for insufficient attendance.
Right after being scammed, he didn’t even come from the second semester onward, taking a leave of absence, and after returning to school, he first took that year’s major courses. Honestly, it was much better to take sports theory than those required liberal arts courses.
As a result of putting it off and off, in his fourth year he was studying high school-level subjects again.
“3 times the square root of 3?”
“What?”
Jeong Minha, who’d been spacing out, looked at the book after hearing Seo Sihan’s words. It was an applied problem explained in three long lines, making him feel dazed again.
‘Don’t tell me he just solved this? No way, it’s not a problem you could solve that quickly with mental math……’
Immediately after, Jeong Minha, who checked the answer key in the back of the textbook, was greatly surprised.
“Wh-what, it’s the right answer?! How did you know?!”
“The formula is right here next to it though?”
“If you could solve everything just by knowing the formula, the world would be overflowing with math geniuses by now.”
And Jeong Minha realized. That Seo Sihan was surprisingly smart…….
“Hyung, please…. If you’re not busy, could you help me?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. What should I help with?”
“These solutions. Earlier the answer key only had the answers written…. I have to submit the solutions as an assignment.”
“Got it. Then which problems….”
“All of them……”
“……”
After that, Seo Sihan diligently gave Jeong Minha 1-on-1 tutoring. He perfectly explained college math, college physics, and even basic computer Python.
How do you know all of this, hyung? Jeong Minha couldn’t keep his mouth closed the whole time. Looking carefully, Seo Sihan didn’t know everything either, so he read the theoretical explanations written in the books in between. And immediately understood and solved them. That was even more amazing.
Still, at least for the last English course, he explained it right away. That was because Seo Sihan was more comfortable with English.
“So if you interpret it this way, the answer is….”
Seo Sihan was reading the book when he turned his head toward Jeong Minha, who was listening beside him.
“……”
And then he suddenly averted his gaze while speaking.
“Hyung?”
“……”
“Why? I’m listening well though? I don’t understand everything, but I’m listening hard in my own way….”
“Mm….”
Just when he was about to feel sorry, thinking he’d turned his head because he was frustrated, Jeong Minha hesitated when he met Seo Sihan’s face again.
Seo Sihan’s ears and cheeks were slightly red.
“It’s not that… Minha, you were so cool… I got a little flustered.”
Jeong Minha coughed as if choking even though he hadn’t drunk water.
Flus, flust…… what? What does this mean right now? What is he trying to do? Is it the meaning I’m thinking of? Didn’t this hyung’s Korean patch get installed weird?!
“Wh-what was…?”
“…So this answer is….”
Seo Sihan lowered his gaze back to the book. Though he usually blurted out embarrassingly sincere words honestly, right now he was actually avoiding answering.
Jeong Minha was dumbfounded. What exactly got him flustered? Whether Seo Sihan was explaining the English passage or not, it didn’t register in his ears. He recalled the actions he’d done just before.
He’d just naturally gotten a more serious expression because he didn’t understand, and since hyung was explaining hard, he kept looking at hyung’s face, and it was hard to sit so he’d propped his chin with one hand, and it was hot so he’d swept back his hair while slightly flapping his short-sleeved shirt, that was all…….
“……!”
Don’t tell me… that was cool just now? To the point of being flustering?
Even thinking it himself, it was hard to believe because it was so absurd. However, since Seo Sihan usually seemed to like it most when he was shooting, he definitely seemed to like that kind of appearance.
But unlike usual, the fact that he’d avoided answering the question of why he got flustered seemed a bit different.
Even though hyung was explaining hard right now, Jeong Minha was full of other thoughts.
So, this unrequited love, I was planning to keep it as my feelings alone…….
But maybe…….
Is there… a possibility?
