“What?”
“Fuck, and…… and it was my closest friend……. In my one-room……. Ah, damn…….”
“Donghyuk-ah.”
“…….”
Lee Donghyuk shut his mouth again. His face clearly showed an ‘oops’ expression. Baek Iseon stopped pressing for a moment and comforted him with a kind smile.
“Donghyuk-ah……. That must have been really hard for you…….”
“……Hyung.”
Lee Donghyuk was quite moved by Baek Iseon’s comfort. Right, it was fucking hard and confusing. To think that his roommate, who he’d thought was his closest friend for over ten years, was rolling around in his one-room with a university sunbae. That day, Lee Donghyuk lost one friend and one sunbae. Fucking bastards. How much had the two of them been going at it without him knowing? In that space where he ate, slept, and lived without knowing anything. He felt like he could hear mocking laughter. Fuck…… disgusting…….
“Hyung……. I was really having a hard time……. How, how the fuck…….”
“So, you saw it yourself? Hyun Youngjae and…… your friend?”
“Yes……. *Hic*…….”
Tears flowed from Lee Donghyuk’s eyes. He must have suffered a lot emotionally. But to Baek Iseon, that was none of his concern. Now he knew everything he wanted to know.
“So what happened with your friend?”
“I don’t know, fuck……. I don’t even want to care. That filthy bastard…….”
“…….”
Baek Iseon’s eyes narrowed sharply. Suddenly, anxiety struck Lee Donghyuk. Something seemed to be going wrong. So he said in a slightly tense voice.
“Hyung……. You can’t tell anyone about this. I might really die of embarrassment…….”
“What?”
“……Hyung?”
“Haha, I’m joking. Donghyuk-ah, relax your face.”
“Hyung…… I, I’m not joking right now.”
Lee Donghyuk’s voice trembled thinly. The look in Baek Iseon’s eyes as he looked at him had cooled coldly. Until just a moment ago, he’d been comforting him with warm eyes. But now he felt like a completely different person.
“Well……. Yeah, I won’t tell anyone.”
“Hyung, than……!”
“It’s not interesting enough to go around talking about it anyway.”
“……What?”
“It’s boring, your story.”
Lee Donghyuk blinked his eyes. He didn’t understand what Baek Iseon was saying right now. He should have been the same type of person as him…….
“But you’re also a disgusting bastard. Aren’t you?”
“What……did you say?”
“Hahahaha! Isn’t it true? Two people fucked in front of your eyes, but only Hyun Youngjae is taking all your rage.”
“That’s, that’s because I cut ties with that bastard…….”
Lee Donghyuk intuited that he was getting fucked over right now. Something was going wrong. Baek Iseon wasn’t the kind of person he’d thought. He wasn’t the same type as him.
“Cut the bullshit. It’s just because Hyun Youngjae was easier to deal with, right?”
“Hyung……. Why are you suddenly like this?”
“Because you’re fucking disgusting.”
Having finished speaking, Baek Iseon stood up from his seat and left the shop without hesitation. Lee Donghyuk, left alone, could only blankly watch his retreating figure.
* * *
That dawn, Hyun Youngjae’s one-room doorbell rang. Hyun Youngjae, who had been sleeping, rubbed his drowsy eyes and got up. There was no one who would come visit. The only person who knew his place was just one person……. But there was no way he would come to his place at this hour. But once he’d thought of that name, it gave Hyun Youngjae a thread of hope, and Hyun Youngjae wasn’t patient enough to reject that. Hyun Youngjae rushed to the entrance and threw open the door without hesitation.
“Ju……!”
“Hyun Youngjae.”
“You, you……. Why are you…….”
But naturally, the person who came to see him wasn’t the person he’d hoped for. No, it was someone he loathed. Baek Iseon stood quietly at the door with his hands shoved in his pockets, looking down at him. His expression was calm. But his sunken gaze was like a beast of prey with its quarry right in front of it. Hyun Youngjae instinctively stepped back. His stumbling legs trembled like a newborn animal. As Hyun Youngjae retreated, Baek Iseon pushed the door open without hesitation and stepped into the entrance.
“Get, get out……. Right now!”
Hyun Youngjae shouted. But Baek Iseon brazenly closed the front door and locked it. The door lock clicked shut with a cheerful notification sound. Hyun Youngjae’s body flinched. He approached Hyun Youngjae step by step without saying anything. Along with the sound of footsteps, shoe prints were left clearly on the cleanly wiped floor. Hyun Youngjae’s body, which had been backing away, hit the wall. There was nowhere left to retreat.
“You, you, how did you find my place…….”
“That’s not what you’re curious about, is it?”
Baek Iseon leaned down low and whispered to Hyun Youngjae. He was smiling.
“Get lost…….”
“We have things to talk about, don’t we?”
“Ngh…… no, we don’t……!”
“Hmm……. Really?”
“Get lost, Baek Iseon!”
Hyun Youngjae raised his trembling arms and pushed Baek Iseon with all his strength. But he didn’t budge.
“Ahahaha!”
“…….”
Suddenly he threw his head back and started laughing loudly. Soon, in an instant, that laughter stopped abruptly. Baek Iseon leaned forward and grabbed Hyun Youngjae by the collar. Hyun Youngjae struggled to get free, but no strength entered his body.
“You struck first.”
“Kheuk……!”
Hyun Youngjae felt intense pain in his abdomen. From the severe pain, his knees involuntarily buckled to the floor. His whole body trembled. Saliva leaked from the corners of his mouth and wet the floor.
“Fu, fuck……. Baek Iseon…….”
“Get up.”
Even if he wanted to get up, no strength entered his weak legs. He tried several times to force himself up, but he kept collapsing back to the floor. Just as he tried once more to prop himself up on his arms, Baek Iseon suddenly kicked his arm.
“Aaah!”
“Haha.”
As Hyun Youngjae collapsed to the floor screaming in pain, Baek Iseon laughed quietly as if amused. Hyun Youngjae gritted his teeth tightly and got up again. He was seething. Baek Iseon. This was Baek Iseon’s true nature. That appearance of beating people and laughing as if it was nothing. But everyone except him didn’t notice. They were even fooled by that impressive shell and had favorable feelings toward him.
“Fucking bastard…….”
Hyun Youngjae raised his head while panting. Baek Iseon and Hyun Youngjae’s eyes met. The mutual loathing tangled together in the air.
“Youngjae-ya, that’s why you shouldn’t covet what belongs to others. Hm?”
“Because I knew you were this kind of bastard!”
Hyun Youngjae’s shouting voice held conviction. Although Hyun Youngjae had done terrible things to Jang Juwon, he always felt some guilt about it. But even so, he thought it was for the best. Even if it’s hard right now, if they keep their distance, someday he’ll be able to forget Baek Iseon. And when that time comes, he thought Jang Juwon would understand his intentions too. But for Baek Iseon to come directly. That was unexpected. Jang Juwon must have tattled to him. It was surprising that he confided in him about himself without thinking of the consequences, but he never imagined Baek Iseon would directly get involved in this matter. Could it be, Baek Iseon too…….
“What kind of bastard am I? I’m curious.”
“You’re too arrogant…….”
“Ha, what?”
“You fucking…… you think you’re so great?”
“…….”
“You don’t do anything and people like you on their own!”
“…….”
“When you’re really just looking down on them…….”
Hyun Youngjae’s voice was now close to sobbing. Baek Iseon listened to him without saying a word until he was finished. And the conclusion he reached was that it was absurd.
“Is that all?”
“……What?”
“I’m asking if that’s all.”
“I, I……”
“You’re right. When I see a person like you, I find it so funny I could die. But…… after hearing what you had to say, I think I’m a better person than you.”
“What……!”
Hyun Youngjae jerked his head up. Baek Iseon sneered at him to the fullest and said.
“Hyun Youngjae, you petty threatened a kid who did nothing wrong……”
