“What do you mean because of me?”
“I’m saying you’ve never once considered my thoughts.”
“Huiseo…!”
At such a definitive statement, Yuwon called out to Huiseo in a tone that was beyond aggrieved and utterly dumbfounded. He’d thought things had been going well since that day he took Huiseo to the company. He never imagined things would suddenly go wrong like this. He was bewildered.
Moreover, to hear that the reason was because he’d never once considered his thoughts…
There couldn’t be a more absurd statement than that.
‘Where else would you find someone who thinks of you as much as I do!’
Yuwon sincerely thought so, but Huiseo’s attitude was resolute.
Huiseo thought that Yuwon’s actions had been consistently one-sided and forceful from the moment he transferred and they met in the classroom until now. The way he called him out, the way he made him accept his proposals—all of it.
And that wasn’t all.
“Deciding what’s right and wrong for me—those are all your judgments.”
Of course, if he said that, Yuwon might also feel somewhat, or perhaps even more, aggrieved.
Because to him, his words were naturally right, and if you grabbed anyone passing by and asked them, they would usually say his words were more correct. Even if they looked at it “objectively,” he had plenty of confidence.
But Huiseo was different.
Only Huiseo was different.
It became a problem because his thoughts, as the person involved, were different.
No matter how much you paved the road with asphalt and let him ride a flower carriage, no, even a sports car on it, it was all useless if the person involved had no intention. Wasn’t there an old saying, “Even being the governor of Pyeongan is nothing if you don’t want it”?
But Yuwon couldn’t easily accept it.
“…That’s nonsense.”
So Huiseo finally asked.
“If I say I don’t want to leave the palace? Can you do all the things you promised me?”
“……”
“And you still say you didn’t just push your own thoughts?”
Huiseo glared fiercely at Yuwon, who seemed to have lost his words for a moment.
You have to leave the palace. That’s the right thing.
This is a good thing, so you absolutely must accept it.
‘You have no choice, right?’
Pushed at him with such an attitude, Huiseo couldn’t stop the rebellious streak he’d hidden well inside himself while pretending to be docile from opening its eyes. No? I can do even better without something like that. He felt like talking back unnecessarily.
Something inside him that gleamed bright blue whispered.
‘What will you do for me?’
‘You think I can’t do it without you?’
Though his words about doing this and that for him surely came from good intentions, rather than being happy, Huiseo’s pride was hurt instead, wondering if that’s all he looked like to him. It might have been even more so because most of what Yuwon brought up was related to money.
That damn money.
Huiseo was quietly chewing on his lower lip.
“And in the first place, what kind of relationship do you and I have to go study abroad together?”
Perhaps that’s why Huiseo’s words, spat out even more sharply, made Yuwon, who had been listening silently, finally feel his heart drop with a thud.
“What are you to me? You’re not even a friend or anything.”
Huiseo’s question hurt quite a bit. He wanted to refute those harsh words, but he similarly couldn’t think of anything plausible to say.
Right. Not a friend or anything.
Because it was truly so, Yuwon unconsciously shrank back.
He could clearly see the line Huiseo was drawing.
From what he could guess, this might be the first time in Yuwon’s pampered life that he’d received such a cold rejection. And because it was none other than Huiseo, whom he admired endlessly, doing it, how could it not hurt?
Unlike his usual relaxed demeanor, he could see that Yuwon couldn’t even hide his hurt expression, but Huiseo had neither the time nor the mood to look after him.
“So let’s just forget this conversation and stop here.”
“No, Huiseo. Wait…!”
Then, as Huiseo finally tried to tie things up, Yuwon, who had suddenly come to his senses, grabbed Huiseo’s arm. No. That wouldn’t do. After coming this far. After how long it had taken. He couldn’t back down like this. His mind raced quickly, thinking he had to somehow persuade Huiseo.
‘…The imperial family? Should I try offering more money?’
Right, Huiseo is weak when it comes to the imperial family. Perhaps this situation was the result of some scheme by the imperial family.
‘Those people would be more than capable of doing that.’
Thinking that way seemed to explain Huiseo’s sudden change of heart, and Yuwon’s gaze darkened. At the same time, strength unconsciously entered into the arm he was holding onto.
The held arm began to ache sharply. Because of that, Huiseo’s eyes creased further and became sharper.
“…I told you not to touch me carelessly.”
“That’s not what’s important right now. Think again. You’re being too hasty right now.”
“…So my words sound like a joke to you.”
Realizing that Yuwon wasn’t listening to him, Huiseo clenched his molars with an audible grinding sound for a moment.
He had earnestly urged him not to lay a hand on Hwan, to only use his mouth. But actually facing an opponent who wouldn’t listen like this, he felt at a loss for how to deal with this with just words. No matter what, this guy clearly wouldn’t listen even if told a hundred times and would insist.
Hwan’s question somehow echoed in his ears.
Then should I just keep taking it?
Had it been too much of a pipe dream? His mouth tasted bitter.
‘…No, I just can’t hit him, right?’
Then, with a thought that suddenly occurred to him, Huiseo’s expression changed considerably, and after making up his mind, he raised his free hand and reached out toward Yuwon. At the hand suddenly approaching without warning, Yuwon seemed startled for a moment, but what Huiseo’s hand grabbed was none other than Yuwon’s necktie.
‘Necktie?’
It was before the situation could even be assessed.
Huiseo wound the red necktie caught in his hand and yanked it hard.
“……!”
Then Yuwon’s face, his eyes wide open in shock, swooped close right in front of Huiseo’s nose. In contrast, Huiseo faced him with a cold expression without batting an eye and opened his mouth.
“Let go.”
Huiseo exhaled those utterly cold and composed words along with his hot breath.
Huiseo’s breath tickled the tip of Yuwon’s nose.
It was that close a distance. If Hwan had seen the sight of the tense Yuwon even swallowing his saliva once, he probably would have fainted and fallen backward right then and there. In any case, overwhelmed by Huiseo’s momentum, Yuwon hesitated and let go of Huiseo’s arm.
‘I should have done this from the start.’
Huiseo smiled with satisfaction, finally raising the corners of his mouth. Even so, he didn’t forget another warning.
“I’ll say it again, don’t force me to do this or that.”
“…Y-yeah.”
“Just now you were scheming to throw money at the imperial family again, weren’t you?”
At the question that seemed to see right through his mind, Yuwon showed a guilty expression. Though it was only a brief waver, it was naturally impossible to hide it from Huiseo, who was watching from right in front of his nose.
Then Huiseo, who chuckled briefly, this time flicked Yuwon’s cheek with his now-free hand.
It probably wouldn’t hurt.
“Don’t throw money around. It’s off-putting.”
But it would feel bad.
Huiseo thought so.
As if to prove it, Yuwon, cupping his cheek, was looking at Huiseo with wavering eyes for quite a while.
***
After that, Yuwon seemed quiet for quite some time.
Huiseo’s attitude had been excessively—no, in this case perhaps “appropriately”—cold. Looking at him sitting quietly in his seat at the back of the classroom, he seemed somewhat deflated, but also conversely seemed to be pondering something deeply.
As long as it wasn’t scheming some new mischief, it was fortunate for the time being from Hwan and Huiseo’s standpoint.
Though he didn’t know how things would turn out later, he could let out a sigh of relief for now.
Taking advantage of his quiet period, Huiseo intended to try a certain “operation.” Calling it an operation made it sound unnecessarily grandiose, but it was nothing other than trying to create a “good opportunity” for Hwan to interact with other friends, as he had separately thought about earlier.
If there was something he regretted somewhat after going through this incident, it was the fact that Hwan had only stuck with him all this time. If he’d had interactions with other friends too, he wouldn’t have been so helplessly victimized like this. So though it was late, he wanted to try pushing for it now.
‘If we make an effort, things might change going forward.’
Thus, what Huiseo chose after much consideration was the “Seoul City High School Club Soccer Tournament.”
Club? Soccer tournament?
One might think it a bit unexpected.
After all, Hwan hadn’t been doing club activities, and it wouldn’t seem like suddenly going out to something like that would improve things with the kids in class.
However, Huiseo thought nothing could be more perfect than this.
First of all, it passed the test just by being a physical field where Hwan could be active. On top of that, the fact that it was a club event that wasn’t even nationwide also seemed like it would appropriately reduce the burden, which pleased him greatly.
Having coincidentally overheard in the faculty office that they were in trouble because a player got injured before the tournament, Huiseo immediately ran to the homeroom teacher and asked to put Hwan in that spot. He didn’t think Hwan’s skills were lacking, but he didn’t dream of immediately becoming a replacement player.
“Even as a reserve is fine, even as a general helper is fine. Please let us help.”
For Hwan, doing something together with kids his age was more important than competing in the tournament right now. Huiseo’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.
But the homeroom teacher, who would usually readily grant this level of request, unexpectedly set a “condition” for Huiseo this time. While saying it wouldn’t be difficult to do so, he drew it out.
“But Huiseo, you know we have the science olympiad coming up soon, right?”
When he talked about the soccer tournament, he unexpectedly got a response about the science olympiad. Actually, it was impossible not to know what that meant. Though Huiseo’s name was on the banner in front of the school gate even now, the homeroom teacher thought it was time to replace it with a new version.
Huiseo answered without even a hint of hesitation.
“I’ll go.”
“Among physics, chemistry, biology, earth science…”
“All of them.”
“Deal.”
Many words weren’t needed.
At Huiseo’s such spirited answer, the corners of the homeroom teacher’s mouth lifted excitedly.
