For that reason, Hwan had to set out alone.
Unlike before when he would whine and pout in front of all those people saying Huiseo wasn’t there, from leaving Gyeongbokgung Palace, arriving at the royal shrine, passing through the outer gate, to reaching the main hall—he didn’t cause any trouble and stayed docile.
The imperial family elders, who’d been secretly anxious even after giving permission, were puzzled but on the other hand thought “So he can do it if he tries” and were proud of Hwan.
However, in reality, rather than having matured overnight, it was more accurate to say he’d been in a daze ever since leaving Huiseo’s room. He could follow along with ancestral rites he’d done countless times as a member of the imperial family even with his eyes closed.
Thus, Hwan’s mind as he moved mechanically was continuously complicated only with thoughts of Huiseo. He didn’t know how things had come to this.
‘Is becoming a third-year student soon originally like this?’
He couldn’t guess at all what kind of change of heart had occurred inside Huiseo.
He thought in various directions, but the most plausible seemed to be his earlier guess that there might be some difficult exam he was preparing for separately. If Huiseo had some new goal or something, it made some sense.
What on earth could it be?
‘A guy who could pick and choose any university in the country if he put his mind to it…’
Hwan, who’d been thinking, suddenly flinched in surprise and raised his head with a start.
‘…Wait, in the country?’
Why am I now assuming it will naturally be in the country?
‘What if… the place Huiseo wants is overseas?’
At the not-impossible story, Hwan’s heart fell with a loud thud.
It was absurd. Just imagining Huiseo going to university without him made his chest tingle and he felt so anxious he could go crazy, but thinking he might get on a plane and go far away, his breath caught. He’d come home during breaks, but even that wasn’t comforting.
‘I can’t be apart that long.’
Hwan bit his lower lip tight, feeling as if tears might trickle out.
‘…But there’s no justification to stop him.’
That was unbearably miserable, so it took quite a while for his body, which had prostrated to bow, to come back up.
***
Excluding those few minor points, he thought he’d done fairly well without it showing much, but to others’ eyes, it seemed that wasn’t the case.
People, especially those who called themselves his fans, more easily noticed Hwan’s shaken appearance.
<Hwan broken without Huiseo1.gif>
<Hwan broken without Huiseo2.gif>
<Hwan broken without Huiseo3.gif>
[Not jpg?ㅋㅋㅋ]
[It’s not just Huiseo missing but his soul too?]
[Is it just me seeing his eyes look moist?]
[They fought this time for sure (devious)]
[Wasn’t there talk last time when he didn’t come that Huiseo was sick?]
[↳Right, Hwan briefly mentioned it in passing in an interview]
[No they fought (pleased)]
[↳Someone stop this person]
[↳You like them fighting? Why that expression;]
[↳Thinking of them making up crying and begging is delicious tho]
[↳Ew that’s too pervert-like; But I don’t hate such people]
People found Hwan’s rare appearance strange while also finding it fascinating and enjoyable. He was dying inside with boiling guts, yet they were enjoying it. Even the people of “HwanHui’s Garden” whom he’d trusted were doing so, so for Hwan it was outrageous.
‘These people really.’
He thought they might just be perverts rather than friends.
Not knowing Hwan’s feelings, people were later even having debates about whether they’d really fought or not.
[No think about it, there’s no reason for him to be that out of it except for Huiseo?]
[Still, the two fighting makes no sense. I know because I have a palace staff acquaintance—these two are more real inside the palace. They hug and cling to each other like crazy]
[↳No proof so what?]
[↳If she proves it she’ll get firedㅠㅠ]
[But they were on good terms until recently, right? It was Huiseo who made the egg ghost at the farm, there was even proof of that]
[Then what’s the reason they’re sulking like that now?]
Both sides’ positions were evenly matched.
Around the time they were quite noisy with a debate they couldn’t settle, Hwan was in any case eating dinner together with Huiseo as promised, as a reward for coming back well without causing trouble.
On the table received at Hwan’s quarters, plain vegetables and pancakes were modestly laid out as if announcing there’d been ancestral rites today. Unlike Huiseo, who was eating with a calm face before them, Hwan kept gauging his mood and just picking at his food.
‘…Surely it’s not really like that, right?’
If he was that concerned, he could just ask directly, but he couldn’t readily do so, fearing the answer that would come. Because of that, unable to speak and just groaning in pain, eventually Huiseo, who noticed first and clicked his tongue softly, had no choice but to ask:
“…What’s wrong? Are you sick somewhere?”
“……”
Being asked like that made Hwan feel as if tears would burst out.
Because of that, when he even put down his chopsticks and bit his lower lip tight, Huiseo’s eyes widened.
If Hwan had whined a lot like usual, Huiseo would probably have appropriately admonished him and moved on. But unexpectedly, when he conversely shut his mouth like that, he couldn’t help but feel something was amiss.
“Hwan-ah.”
At Huiseo’s such call, Hwan’s aggrieved heart finally overflowed the dam and burst out.
“Really? You’re going to study abroad? Like… going to Harvard or somewhere?”
“What?”
At the conversation suddenly jumping in a strange direction, Huiseo quietly blinked his eyes.
‘Suddenly why Harvard?’
Though not saying it aloud, he was looking exactly with that expression, when Hwan, who’d been rolling his eyes, even sniffled and asked:
“…It’s not?”
“No, I don’t even know why such talk suddenly came up.”
“…Then why are you studying?”
“……”
As Hwan finally asked that, Huiseo paused briefly. But soon, as if he were a saint or something, he muttered quite stuffy talk:
“…Where is there a reason for studying?”
Of course it was a hundred percent correct, and Hwan knew that Huiseo would naturally think that way normally. However, Huiseo’s recently noticeably changed attitude made Hwan unable to accept those words at face value as “I see.”
It was rather stranger for such hurried studying to have no reason.
“Do I not know you?”
At those words, Huiseo stared at Hwan for a moment.
Seeing that now there was no sign of sniffling but rather forceful breathing, it seemed he wouldn’t let it pass with a half-hearted excuse. Thus Huiseo ran his hand through his hair and let out a deep sigh. Though he wondered what this was in the middle of eating, it was after that when Huiseo opened his mouth.
“We made that 60-point bet before, right?”
“…Huh? Y-yeah.”
At the “bet” talk suddenly coming up again, Hwan flinched nervously. He briefly had the terrible thought that maybe he’d have to exceed some score on the upcoming second semester midterm to be told. But contrary to his worry, Huiseo obediently, though unexpectedly for Hwan, told him:
“Mine’s similar. To get what I want.”
“…What do you want? Who are you making a bet with?”
“…That’s still a secret. Because it’s not certain.”
Saying that, Huiseo slightly lowered his head. Because it was a vague story that told nothing in detail.
However, even just that much, Hwan’s face after hearing was much better.
It was incomparable to when he couldn’t hear anything and was alone driving all sorts of bad imaginations. At least it wasn’t something like getting on a plane and going far to study abroad, which Hwan had assumed as the worst case, right? He breathed a sigh of relief.
He decided to be satisfied with hearing that answer for now.
“…Okay. Then I should help too.”
At Hwan’s resolute words after suddenly changing his attitude, Huiseo also seemed to feel better and burst into a chuckle.
“How?”
He asked like that as if genuinely curious.
In fact, that made sense. Unlike Huiseo when Hwan set his mind to studying, he couldn’t smoothly tell him problems he didn’t know. Maybe it meant causing less trouble or whining less? That would be somewhat plausible.
‘That would definitely be helpful.’
Huiseo was also thinking so when it happened.
But soon Hwan’s grave answer was also strange:
“I’ll stay by your side.”
At that absurd answer, Huiseo was briefly puzzled and just blinked again.
He was answering as if he’d resolved something tremendously grave, but he couldn’t tell at all how that was different from usual. So Hwan carefully added one more line after that:
“Quietly.”
“……”
“Like a dead mouse.”
It was quite a big resolution.
“…Just let me stay beside you.”
At Hwan’s words, which had ultimately turned into a pathetic request, Huiseo ended up laughing out loud.
Though it seemed to be from exasperation, in any case, it was a day when the two’s subtle atmosphere seemed to have loosened a bit thanks to that laughter.
***
Thus, the short but eventful summer vacation ended.
And so Hwan and Huiseo returned to school for the second semester.
In the meantime, the palace was truly in utter chaos preparing for the Crown Prince’s wedding ceremony. It was no exaggeration to say it had been turned upside down due to the sudden decision without any prior notice and the tight schedule that resulted. Though they were people accustomed to events, cries that this wasn’t right were endlessly heard from everywhere.
It wasn’t only the palace that had become noisy.
‘The partner is someone from which group.’
Everywhere people whispered about that story.
Especially those who liked to gossip about the imperial family not only openly measured and judged the two people, but also poured out much criticism after seeing through the essence of this marriage where money changed hands.
Whenever such talk was heard, Huiseo always made a slightly gloomy face.
Now was the same.
In the car heading to school, on the morning radio current affairs program they’d turned on as always, talk of Kang’s marriage came up. As panelists debated this and that and gradually even statements crossing the line came out, Huiseo’s eyes sank coldly.
