“Who came in here?”
The flustered Sangho immediately got up from that spot and started running to the opposite side of the hallway. It seemed to be a student who’d been practicing late and was about to leave. Then the man, who’d been dumbfounded in that spot, started chasing Sangho at tremendous speed. Sangho fled in horror at the man chasing him terrifyingly, but before long, he was caught helplessly by the man who lunged and grabbed him.
CRASH!
When Sangho, caught in an instant, was pinned under the man, the man pressed Sangho’s face with his large hand to prevent him from escaping. Rough hands firmly pressed his mouth and cheeks, and both hands were restrained, pressed down by the massive man’s body. When the man quickly fumbled in his pocket and shone his phone flashlight, Sangho’s face was revealed, sniffling with a terrified expression. Then the man flinched considerably flustered.
“Hic, hiiic…”
“Ah, ah. S-sorry, um. I, I thought someone had infiltrated.”
It was Han Kyungoh.
Sangho grabbed his pounding heart and tried hard to take deep breaths. The sensation of the massive body covering him was vivid, making his body tremble on its own. Han Kyungoh, who usually didn’t seem to change expressions easily, subtly wrinkled his eyebrows with an extremely troubled face.
“…Sometimes, there are people who infiltrate. I’m really sorry.”
“Yes…”
Kyungoh stood up and reached out his hand to Sangho. Sangho glanced once at the calloused, rough hand, then grabbed that hand and stood up. Sangho, who patted the pants that became a mess with dust from rolling on the floor, glanced at Kyungoh, who was awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. Considering they’d briefly encountered each other when he slept in the athletic storage last time too, he must have stayed late at the gymnasium for individual training.
It’s dangerous. If we run into each other this often, rumors that I sleep in the athletic storage might spread. Then the Center Director…
Of course, Kyungoh didn’t seem like someone who would spread such rumors, but since Sangho had met a student at the gymnasium, he thought it would be difficult to go into the athletic storage and sleep just like that. It can’t be helped, but today I should go back to my studio apartment and sleep even a little, then ride the public bicycle to work, he thought.
“I, I also had something I left behind. Then I’ll be going…”
Thud.
Kyungoh grabbed Sangho, who was turning around to leave the gymnasium just like that. When Sangho looked back with a surprised face at the suddenly grabbed wrist, Kyungoh spoke with an expressionless face.
“You can sleep here. I won’t tell anyone.”
At Kyungoh’s words, Sangho’s eyes widened. When Sangho was silent for a moment with shaking pupils, Kyungoh grabbed Sangho’s wrist just like that and started walking with big strides. Before long, Kyungoh came dragging Sangho to the front of the athletic storage. Sangho gulped while looking at the broad back of Kyungoh walking ahead with extreme tension.
He saw me then.
He recalled a few weeks ago when he’d first slept trembling in the athletic storage. He’d thought he’d passed by without seeing him then, but Kyungoh had just pretended not to see him. When they’d run into each other at the gymnasium lobby the next day and Kyungoh stared intently at him, he seemed to have been thinking about why Sangho secretly slept in the athletic storage.
When Sangho bit his lower lip at the embarrassing emotion, Kyungoh added in an indifferent tone.
“I’m also secretly doing evening training. Let’s both pretend not to know.”
At Kyungoh’s words, Sangho blinked again. Kyungoh, who’d already opened the athletic storage, glanced at the electric heater and sleeping bag placed inside. Sangho vaguely realized that Kyungoh had brought those too.
“…”
“Use the sleeping bag.”
Kyungoh left those words and turned around. Sangho, left alone in the athletic storage, stared for a long while at the back of Kyungoh disappearing into the darkness. When Kyungoh, who’d been walking with big strides without looking back, disappeared from view, only then did Sangho breathe a sigh of relief.
“Hah… He doesn’t seem like a bad kid.”
Sangho turned his head and stared blankly at the sleeping bag and electric heater Kyungoh had left. Sangho, who closed the athletic storage door, busily laid out the mattress and spread the sleeping bag on top. When he turned on the electric heater weakly and entered inside the sleeping bag, cozy down feathers warmly enveloped his body.
Somehow it seemed like the inside of the sleeping bag smelled like well-dried sunshine. As his heart became somehow comfortable, his body started to loosen drowsily. Sangho unknowingly rubbed his face against the inner surface of the sleeping bag and made a pleasant sound.
“Mmm…”
That day, Sangho dreamed of taking a nap under warm sunlight.
* * *
― Beep, clocking in.
Sangho stepped into the gym lobby as the cheerful sound of the entrance door rang out. Whenever he slept in the sports storage room, he always felt stiff and tired somewhere, as if his fatigue hadn’t fully dissipated. But this time, he felt refreshed, just like when he’d slept in Wonha’s studio. He hadn’t woken up even once last night—the combination of the warm electric heater and the cozy down sleeping bag was the best.
I want to ask what fabric softener he uses.
Sangho’s semi-basement room always had a musty smell. Even before possessing ‘Sangho,’ the semi-basement room had been torture during summer with swarming cockroaches and the smell of incompletely dried laundry. Since the lease would expire in a few months anyway, maybe he should raise his budget a bit and look for a second-floor studio. Then I can hang my blanket out in the sunlight to dry it thoroughly too. A faint smile appeared on Sangho’s face.
Thankfully, cleaning the first floor was as easy as yesterday. All the items were still well organized, and the lunchbox trash was perfectly sorted for recycling. This alone made the work significantly easier. With an excited expression, Sangho cleaned the first floor, then headed to the trash area carrying a garbage bag.
After dumping the bag in the trash area, Sangho thought he had time to spare, so he might as well smoke a cigarette before going back in. Hiding his body appropriately in a corner, Sangho lit a cigarette and inhaled the smoke deeply. This was the first break he’d had since being assigned to the indoor gym. He closed his eyes and continued to inhale the smoke, then exhaled it in a long stream.
By then, the wrestling team students had finished stretching and were running for their morning jog. Hastily stubbing out his cigarette, Sangho exhaled—hoo, hoo—dispersing the smoke, then quickly moved his steps to clean the second floor of the gym. The athletes lined up in two rows passed by Sangho without even pretending to notice him, but Kyungoh, who was leading the athletes from the front, glanced at Sangho and subtly lifted the corners of his mouth.
“Ugh, damn. Today it’s just the smell of sweat everywhere.”
“That’s why I told you to wash up before going around.”
“You wanna die?”
The freshmen following at the very back still ran while bickering with each other.
Did the trash smell stick to me?
Sangho sniffed his own clothes with a somewhat guilty conscience. Only a faint cigarette smell came from them. Sangho shrugged his shoulders once and went back inside the gym.
After finishing cleaning up to the fourth floor, Sangho finally organized the messy sports storage room and came out. There was still an hour left until quitting time. Having found leisure for the first time in a while, Sangho thought about having lunch at the faculty cafeteria before leaving. Without the Center Director’s surveillance, the cleaning supervisors would let workers rest appropriately hidden in some corner of a school building for about 30 minutes or an hour if work finished early.
“Oh, Lee Sangho!”
Wondering if the Academic Affairs office mop storage room might be empty, Sangho was startled by the Center Director’s voice. His heart pounded as if he’d been caught planning to slack off. The Center Director asked Sangho in the same affable voice as yesterday.
“So, did you get the autograph?”
“Ah, yes.”
At Sangho’s answer, the Center Director’s eyes lit up and curved into long crescents. Although the unpleasant expression was somehow distasteful, Sangho didn’t say anything particular and took the autograph book out of his bag.
The Center Director quickly snatched the autograph book and checked Wonha’s autographs written inside. After flipping through a few pages with a grinning smile, the Center Director said as if bestowing a favor:
“I didn’t know you were really that close? I heard actor Jang Wonha doesn’t give autographs easily except at fan signing events. How close are you?”
“Just… enough to have meals together.”
“Ah, it’s lunchtime by the way. Has Mr. Lee Sangho eaten?”
“No, but it’s okay.”
“Let’s eat together, shall we? This is also part of workplace relationships.”
The Center Director raised his eyebrows as he spoke. If Sangho refused, it seemed he would throw another harsh tantrum. Sangho nodded and followed the Center Director out.
The hour spent eating with the Center Director was truly torture. He was curious about so many things—Sangho’s family, his background, and even whether he’d ever dated a girlfriend. What he was most curious about was how Sangho could be so close with Wonha. Since Sangho couldn’t properly answer as much as the Center Director wanted anyway, he had no choice but to respond vaguely.
Then the Center Director, seemingly quite pleased with Sangho’s docile responses, began to complain that being stuck in the Facilities Management Center was quite unfair treatment, and that he should at least be the general team leader of the Academic Affairs office. According to the Center Director, his major was also Korea University Administration, and he’d started working in the Academic Affairs office since his student days, but due to a sudden false accusation, he’d been demoted to ‘this kind of’ Facilities Management Center. Sangho recalled in his head the rumor that the Center Director had been separated from Academic Affairs office staff due to workplace bullying. However, he said nothing particular and just listened silently.
