‘Choi Yuwon, that bastard.’
Does he want to monopolize Huiseo? After being so indulgent lately, he’s getting too uppity, Hwan ground his teeth and came down. Now that he’d noticed this dirty trick, he had no intention of leaving that hateful bastard alone.
But when he returned to the classroom, that guy was nowhere to be seen.
It was strange.
After finishing all the exams and completing the curriculum, arts and physical education classes usually gave self-study time, and Hwan had been briefly called away during that time. So the other guys should naturally be in the classroom. Of course, that guy being gone was no problem at all, but the fact that Huiseo had disappeared along with him was indeed a big problem.
To Hwan.
Flames of jealousy flared up in his two eyes.
‘Where the hell did that bastard take Huiseo?’
He headed straight to the bathroom, but it was quiet and empty. Where else could there be? Like commemorating shaking off the surveillance of the bodyguard who had been attached to him for the past few days, Hwan diligently wandered around various places in the school alone.
Finally, he reached a corner of the building where there were stairs leading to the rooftop.
Though it led to the rooftop, the building’s roof was always locked due to safety concerns, so not many people came all the way here. In that sense, it was the perfect place for skipping class. Thinking that, when he approached, sure enough, he could hear the murmur of voices.
Among them, Hwan amazingly didn’t miss hearing Huiseo’s voice.
‘Found them.’
However, the satisfaction was brief. Thinking that only Yuwon and Huiseo were alone in such a secluded place made him needlessly anxious. It was the moment when Hwan tried to hurry toward them to separate the two as quickly as possible.
He heard an unsettling phrase that stopped his steps.
“I should have told you not to do it if you didn’t want your lips torn off.”
…Lips?
Though he heard a bewildering word, Hwan was soon somewhat relieved by Huiseo’s sharp voice.
Hearing that voice, Hwan let out a small laugh like a sigh. Even though he seemed to be pretending not to know, in reality he was steadily and coldly rejecting him. Lips being torn off, how scary. It was the moment when Hwan, whose thoughts had momentarily gone numb, was joking around like that.
Yuwon’s words, countering Huiseo’s earlier warning, finally made Hwan’s expression harden stiffly.
“If I’d known it would be like this, I should have just asked you to let me kiss you as the price for cleaning things up back then.”
Hwan’s hand against the wall trembled.
‘…What the hell is he saying?’
Though it wasn’t studying, it felt like his brain was refusing to accept it. Did he hear correctly? Is this reality right now? What? Price? Let him what? While confused Hwan was clutching his head, Huiseo answered in quite an annoyed tone. And the conversation continued.
“If I’d known you’d be this annoying, I might have thought that would be better too.”
“Our thoughts align for once. How about it, then shall we try it?”
“…If you’re planning to do it once and disappear forever, I’ll think about it.”
Hearing Huiseo’s answer, this time Yuwon’s face immediately hardened.
One could think it was sarcasm to reject Yuwon’s proposal. But to Yuwon, who couldn’t not notice that Huiseo was obviously thinking of getting rid of him these days, it sounded a little different.
‘Take it and get lost, is that it?’
Perhaps Huiseo was hoping Yuwon would really do that.
“…Why? Is this also because of that Lee Hwan guy? Because that guy keeps begging you to get rid of me?”
Yuwon’s voice as he asked was clearly emotionally hurt and twisted for anyone to hear.
Yuwon truly couldn’t understand. How could one be so blindly devoted—he’d been amazed all along, but lately he was even angrier and couldn’t stand it.
‘What the hell is that guy that you’d go this far?’
Even while knowing that what he was holding as a weakness was precisely that aspect of Huiseo, Yuwon found it newly difficult to bear.
“How about this instead of disappearing? Whether it’s that Lee Hwan guy’s problems or imperial family problems, I’ll help with everything you ask.”
Saying that, Yuwon pressed his arm against the wall behind Huiseo, intimidatingly trapping Huiseo within it. So his words seemed to mean that with those conditions, he wanted to rub lips together right now, whether it be a peck or a kiss. Dumbfounded, Huiseo was looking up at Yuwon sharply.
Having warned him several times already, it was clear he was thinking about whether to really tear off those cocky lips this time.
“So stay still.”
Even though he couldn’t not know that, Yuwon’s head came down toward Huiseo fearlessly.
It was that moment. There was a hand that roughly grabbed Yuwon’s shoulder even before Huiseo, who had been waiting for an opportunity.
“You crazy bastard!”
Before he could grasp the situation, a lightning-like fist struck down on Yuwon’s face. Due to that, at the sight of Yuwon immediately crashing down with a thud—no, actually at the fact that the person who swung the fist to make that happen was Hwan, Huiseo cried out.
“Hwan-ah!”
***
He’d thought it was resolved too easily.
Choi Yuwon was absolutely not that kind of guy.
Why had he cleaned things up so readily? Did he have some other scheme? Huiseo might have pressed him down with logic and charisma this time too. Or perhaps even he, being human, had some guilty conscience.
‘Well, in any case, it’s fortunate that it was resolved.’
That’s what Hwan had naively thought alone.
But reality was indeed this dismal.
The fact that Choi Yuwon had been confidently establishing his place between them all this time was the beginning of the price. And it was a false peace created because Huiseo had endured all such awkward situations and unreasonable demands. He had been avoiding blame at the price of Huiseo.
Not knowing that, he had been childishly complaining and griping from within that peace.
Realizing this only now, Hwan felt the impulse to strike even his own face with the fist he’d just swung. How could this be? How could it be like this? Idiot bastard. Stupid bastard.
‘Because of you.’
Unable to bear the weight of reality crashing down on his head, Hwan’s breathing became rough.
Huiseo, seeing that scene, also felt an unbearably great anger in that moment.
Just until recently, there had been noise about whether someone hit someone or not. They’d barely managed to clean that up, really barely, even threatening Yuwon desperately. Still, that really wasn’t something Hwan had done. It was a false accusation. He believed, understood, and so didn’t get angry.
But the situation now was quite different from then.
Irrefutably, this absurd situation had unfolded right before his eyes.
If this matter leaked out like before, the incident they’d worked so hard to clean up could also flare up again in an instant like embers not quite extinguished, with people thinking ‘maybe.’ Imagining that, Huiseo felt his vision turn yellow.
Of course, it must have been because he thought Huiseo was being subjected to terrible treatment.
But if he really thought of him, he shouldn’t have done this.
‘…You shouldn’t have done this. Really.’
Because of the single word ‘violence,’ what hardships had the imperial family gone through these past few days? Seeing that and still coming out like this meant he hadn’t learned any lesson or reflection from it.
How could he think to swing his fist?
“You’re a prince…”
Right? Was that something that could crumble so easily?
“Lee Hwan!”
Seized by a sense of betrayal and anger toward Hwan for the first time in his life, Huiseo shouted with bloodshot eyes.
Hwan was naturally aggrieved by Huiseo’s reaction.
He felt hurt.
He was bewildered that Huiseo was getting this angry at him. It was that guy who treated you that way. Are you doing this because I hit that guy? Are you taking Choi Yuwon’s side in front of me? He felt equally betrayed.
Imperial image? Dignity?
If that was only maintained in this kind of way, what use was it?
Hwan wanted to strike his past self who had naively thought it fortunate that the matter was resolved. Imperial family, prince—right now those words were too disgusting to bear. The trembling in his hands wouldn’t stop.
If it was Huiseo, there was no way he wouldn’t notice Hwan being so shaken.
However, Huiseo’s hand reached out first toward the fallen Yuwon, not him. Only after urgently supporting him up did Huiseo turn his gaze toward Hwan. But those eyes were, contrary to Hwan’s expectations, utterly heartless and firm.
“Apologize. Right now.”
Words that could almost sound like an order.
It would be presumptuous if called presumptuous, but for Huiseo it was something that couldn’t be helped. He wasn’t in a state where enough reason remained to explain gently. Whatever the circumstances, the fist had already been thrown and flown, and a person was hit. In the worst case, if Yuwon stood up saying he’d sue, it would be a disaster.
In Huiseo’s mind, various difficult matters that the imperial family and Hwan would face were tangling chaotically.
So he thought that if he at least apologized now, perhaps it would be taken into consideration a little even if the matter really grew later. Huiseo, trying to clean up this situation somehow, was looking that far ahead.
However, Hwan didn’t appreciate Huiseo’s feelings even a bit and stubbornly refused.
