Boo Thang
The time I habitually checked my phone was 11:30. I burst out laughing.
> Seo Heejin
> I want to eat lunch with you, hyung… 11:30
>> You can’t today, I told you. Team lunch gathering 11:30
I’m pretty sure I clearly told him I couldn’t today. Seo Heejin, who never listens to me, started whining as usual.
At my curt reply, Seo Heejin sent all kinds of sulking emoticons.
A sulking cat, a sulking rabbit, a sulking puppy.
Emoticons filled with sulky expressions poured in at such a rapid pace I couldn’t even reply.
Just how many emoticons does he have? Plus, every single one was so cute it didn’t suit Seo Heejin at all, making me chuckle.
If only I hadn’t told him in advance, I might have felt at least a little sorry. But the fact that our team was having a lunch gathering today was something I’d mentioned to Seo Heejin days ago, so it was just funny—not even a speck of guilt arose.
At the endlessly pouring emoticons, I peeked my head up and looked over at Seo Heejin’s seat. Seeing Seo Heejin sitting there with his usual expressionless, serious face, my quiet laughter suddenly burst out.
Is he seriously sending these cute emoticons with that grave expression right now? It seemed I had a long, long way to go to keep up with Seo Heejin’s thought process.
>> Let’s go to the convenience store together this afternoon. I really can’t do lunch today 11:31
After sending the message, I glanced toward Seo Heejin and our eyes met. Seo Heejin must have felt me looking because he made a pitiful “hing” expression. Ah, I shouldn’t be doing this. Seo Heejin drooping like a puppy in the rain looked so pitiful I kept laughing.
Even after we came back from the team lunch, Seo Heejin kept whining, but in the end, he got dragged to another meeting right when it was time for me to go to the convenience store. Thanks to that, I was able to sit in front of the convenience store alone with a light heart.
Whether Seo Heejin was there or not, what did it matter—as I was enjoying my alone time, Seo Heejin kept intruding into my thoughts. Seriously, this bastard was exhausting whether he was next to me or not.
Thinking about Seo Heejin, I couldn’t help but laugh.
After establishing our relationship as one where we like each other—that is, we have sex but aren’t dating—my displeasure toward Seo Heejin gradually subsided. Maybe it’s because we’ve been stuck together for so long. The truth was, it was a bit disappointing not having him chattering away next to me.
Seo Heejin was really a pervert. What was so great about the stubble that had just started growing rough that he wouldn’t let go of my dick all weekend, biting it, sucking it… He rubbed his face against it contentedly until I kicked him away and told him to get lost.
If it hadn’t been for that fresh—no, that face smiling like he had some scheme in mind—I would have kicked him away from the start.
It was my fault for handing over my cock without saying anything because his pretty smile was strangely cute.
As the days of sleeping at Seo Heejin’s place usually, and occasionally at my place continued like this, our belongings naturally accumulated at each other’s homes.
Needless to say, Seo Heejin had prepared two toothbrushes as if it were obvious, and my studio apartment also accumulated household items for two. Every time Seo Heejin came to my place, he’d arrange the two toothbrushes to face each other like they were kissing, and it was my job to forcibly turn them back-to-back.
My refrigerator also no longer stayed completely empty thanks to Seo Heejin. At first, he diligently brought over side dishes, but soon realized that I wouldn’t touch anything—side dishes or whatever—unless it could be heated and eaten in one go, so rice balls for single servings started piling up in the fridge. Naturally, my meals, which had consisted of convenience store lunch boxes, shifted to focusing on consuming the rice balls Seo Heejin had stocked.
On weekends, he clung to me with serious persistence. Usually, we’d go over to each other’s place on Friday, roll around mindlessly until Saturday, and then get coaxed into spending Sunday doing “something” together—days like that increased.
The thought “If we’re even going on dates, aren’t we actually dating and not just fuck buddies?” did cross my mind, but since Seo Heejin wouldn’t listen to me at all, arguing about it would just waste my breath.
What did we do last Sunday? Ah, the racetrack. We went to the racetrack together.
He acted like he was going to drop me off at home nicely, so I casually threw on Seo Heejin’s hoodie and came out, but the place we actually arrived at was in front of the racetrack.
I fell for Seo Heejin’s provocation as he waved betting tickets around and ran into the racetrack. The sight of two men in black clothes analyzing racehorses and cheering with bloodshot eyes must have looked like young guys falling into gambling.
It was a mistake that I couldn’t contain my joy when I, who had only been losing, bet big on the last race and won, and bought Seo Heejin dinner.
It was funny sitting alone thinking about Seo Heejin, and I didn’t have time to spare since I had third-year employee training from Wednesday through Friday. I had to handle in advance all the work I wouldn’t be able to do during the training period.
In the end, after just thinking about Seo Heejin the whole time, I had no choice but to groan and force my heavy butt up to return to the office.
***
On the morning of the training, the bus departing from headquarters was quiet. All the colleagues working in the metropolitan area had gathered, but there weren’t that many. Since fewer than twenty people boarded a 40-seat bus, it was natural for each person to take up two seats.
Even so.
“Heejin-ah―!”
Even so, was it arrogance to think Seo Heejin would sit near me?
At the very least, I thought he’d sit in the seat behind or in front of me, so I deliberately sat where the front, back, and side seats were all empty. But Seo Heejin, at the voice calling him, gave me just a glance of eye contact and scurried straight to the very back seat.
I was the one who told him not to make it obvious, and I had plenty of people who’d hang out with me even if it wasn’t Seo Heejin.
It wasn’t really a problem, but suddenly the back of my head started throbbing dully. And somehow, a faint spark of competition ignited in my heart. Ah, so this is how you’re going to play it. Then I have no choice but to pretend not to know you either.
Childish, but when we arrived at the training center, I was the first to sit far away from Seo Heejin.
The practice of taking tests every year during training like we were college students had disappeared now that we’d matured a bit.
This training felt like—this is the last education you’ll receive as publicly hired employees, this is the end of gathering everyone on the company’s dime, so have fun. The relaxed training content had break times twice as long as last year.
I followed the colleagues who smoked outside for no reason, and on the way back in, I glanced to see what Seo Heejin was doing—he was surrounded by female colleagues. Oh my, my poor colleagues. They’re being so nice to him without knowing what a perverted psycho Seo Heejin is.
If it weren’t related to me, I would’ve warned them right away to be careful.
“Jeong Yunwoo, you little bastard―”
As I walked worrying about my colleagues, my chest was suddenly grabbed tight.
“Have you stopped working out lately?”
The hand that grabbed my chest kneaded and massaged my muscle. It was Kicheol hyung, who I’d become close with during new employee training when we used the rooms right next to each other.
He was assigned to the Busan branch so we don’t meet often now, but during training, we were companions who sweated together every night. We were both super into building muscle at the time, so we’d put on a show together every night.
The muscle in hyung’s grip seemed to move a bit softly, so I felt my own chest too. My muscle definitely seemed to have decreased.
Was it because I eat well thanks to Seo Heejin but don’t have time to work out? I could understand why Kicheol hyung was asking if I’d stopped working out.
“Wow, hyung. I think I really did lose muscle.”
“Right? It’s soft, isn’t it?”
“Even so, it’s not as bad as yours, hyung.”
When I twisted the hand that had been kneading my chest and grabbed hyung’s plump chest tightly, he made a weird “kyaa!” sound.
“Hey, this is sexual harassment!”
Crazy bastard. He groped me first. Finding it absurd, I kneaded harder, and Kicheol hyung plopped down on the spot, even kicking his legs while bursting into giggles.
“Song Ki-ya, grab Kicheol hyung’s hands.”
Song Ki, who was sitting next to hyung, joined in tormenting him, when suddenly someone grabbed my waist tightly, and I was forced to stand up straight.
What the. I turned around in surprise and Seo Heejin was standing there. He was smiling with his eyes, but to my eyes, which had now gained the ability to tell whether Seo Heejin was in a good or bad mood, what I saw was unpleasant enough to make my skin crawl. He’d been ignoring me this whole time.
“What?”
“Sorry for interrupting. I have something to talk about with Kicheol hyung.”
His tone wasn’t sorry at all. Has Seo Heejin decided to stop managing his image now?
“Hyung, the sales expense data I requested before. When are you going to give it to me?”
At Seo Heejin’s words, I looked at Kicheol hyung and his expression darkened rapidly.
“Seo Heejin, talking about work all the way here……”
“You haven’t been answering my calls lately, hyung― That was supposed to be compiled by last week.”
Seo Heejin spoke cutely, dragging out his words. Ah, surely I’m not the only one who thinks this is cute.
“Hey, hey. I’ll definitely do it tonight and give it to you. Stop glaring at me like that.”
Seo Heejin was ruthless for bringing up work when we came here for training, and Kicheol hyung was a bad guy for saying he’d do it tonight when he had no intention of doing it.
The situation of standing like a wall between Seo Heejin and Kicheol hyung was awkward, so when I twisted my body to leave, the hand on my waist gripped even tighter.
“Seo Heejin, that hurts.”
