There was a reason why Seo Eunho regarded school solely as a space for sleeping. It was because that was the only time he could sleep properly.
To be precise, until lunchtime was the time when Seo Eunho could sleep comfortably. From then until morning, he had part-time jobs continuously. So leaving school after lunchtime was an inevitable choice. Because Seo Eunho always needed money.
Since earning money occupied the top of his priorities, Seo Eunho generally had no interest in other people. He considered it a waste of useless energy.
So the conclusion of this long story is that Seo Eunho is a person who is desperate just to take care of himself, so he has absolutely no interest in someone’s secret that he happened to learn.
Even if Tae Shinwoo, who had established himself as an object of everyone’s admiration at school as a kind, mature, and friendly model student, was actually trash, it was a matter that had not the slightest relation to Seo Eunho.
The unfortunate thing was that even if Seo Eunho thought that way, the possibility that the other person would accept it at face value was nonexistent. Of course he would be uncomfortable and bothered by it.
“Phew……”
Thus, Seo Eunho understood to some extent that he was placed in a situation he didn’t want. He understood the reason why Tae Shinwoo appeared at his part-time job location, the reason why he approached step by step as soon as he hid his body in a corner of an alley to smoke a cigarette during a gap when there were no customers—he understood that much.
Seo Eunho had prepared words to answer him in advance. He would say he’d keep it a secret from everyone. Well, to roughly settle the situation since it was bothersome. Whether it was threats or persuasion, he planned to just let it pass.
However, making his mental preparation meaningless, Tae Shinwoo actually had nothing to say. Was he like this because he didn’t know how to say it? Should he wait a bit? Seo Eunho waited while thinking from the other person’s perspective, uncharacteristically.
It wasn’t for very long. Since he wasn’t someone he wanted to get involved with, thinking it would be nice if he spoke quickly and left, he ended up opening his mouth first.
“Want one?”
Seo Eunho held out his cigarette pack to Tae Shinwoo and asked. But Tae Shinwoo smiled and shook his head.
He doesn’t smoke? I thought he’d definitely smoke. Though Seo Eunho found it puzzling, he immediately put the cigarettes back in his pocket. It was a luxury item of sorts, so he had been regretting it anyway.
When Seo Eunho closed his mouth, silence continued again. It was quite a while even after he concentrated on smoking, thinking he’d say something eventually.
“Well, so what?”
In the end, Seo Eunho, who had been in silence until the cigarette burned out and he ground it out, asked with a face plastered with irritation.
He had tried not to open his mouth first and wait because he didn’t want to have a pointless argument, but what words were so difficult that he was occupying one side of this cramped alley?
What Tae Shinwoo had to say was obvious anyway. He would tell him not to talk about what he saw. Seo Eunho was ready to nod his head as soon as Tae Shinwoo finished speaking, so if he had just opened his mouth, the business would have been finished long ago.
“If you have something to say, hurry up and say it and leave. Do you have time to spare?”
It was a blunt question.
“……I don’t have time to spare.”
To that, Tae Shinwoo finally opened his mouth. What a precious voice it was. Absurd, Seo Eunho let out an empty laugh.
“Then use it sparingly.”
However, the laughter quickly disappeared, and a cold voice burst out as if even a very brief moment was precious. But Tae Shinwoo just looked at him with a subtle expression.
“If you have nothing to say, forget it.”
Seo Eunho, who had been standing receiving that gaze, abruptly shook his head and turned around. He had no idea what he was thinking, and there was no need to know. He had given him sufficient time to speak, so he had no further obligation to wait.
Seo Eunho strode out of the alley and returned straight to the convenience store. And when he reached out to open the door.
“I just came.”
Only then did Tae Shinwoo open his mouth.
“What?”
“I said I just came.”
He’d been standing there like a statue the whole time, and now he opens his mouth—when Seo Eunho asked back, finding it absurd, Tae Shinwoo went out of his way to repeat the same words kindly.
“I have nothing to say. I just came.”
When he crumpled his face at that, Tae Shinwoo immediately laughed. As if finding something so amusing, the subtle signs disappeared and he curved up the corners of his mouth softly, even laughing out loud.
Seo Eunho, who had been staring blankly at him, let out a “Ha” and laughed. Just because. It was utter bullshit. There was no point of contact between them in the first place, so how did “just because” make sense?
If Seo Eunho hadn’t coincidentally seen Tae Shinwoo that day, there was no point of contact between the two to the extent that he wouldn’t have even known about him.
“Okay, then. Since you just came, just go.”
Seo Eunho shook his head from side to side. The reason was obvious, but he didn’t know if he was being stubborn or what he was doing. In any case, he no longer felt it was worth dealing with him further.
However, whether or not Tae Shinwoo heard his words to leave, he boldly followed inside the convenience store. Then before he knew it, he stood squarely in front of Seo Eunho, who had entered the counter.
“What are you doing?”
His tone and posture naturally became crooked. A standoff whose meaning was unclear continued with the counter in between. How was this a person who had nothing to say? Before he could spit out his complaints with his mouth, very thankfully, Tae Shinwoo opened his mouth first.
“I have nothing to say, but I came because I was a bit curious.”
Since he was about to get annoyed and tell him to get lost, the timing was good. It was something he could just ignore, but Seo Eunho unconsciously asked back.
“Curious?”
“Yeah. You didn’t tell anyone.”
The words that came back to that were ambiguous. Tae Shinwoo shrugged.
“What you saw that day. I thought you’d naturally go around blabbering everywhere. Because that’s what people usually do.”
Because he had cut off the beginning and end and started, Seo Eunho, who only now understood what he was talking about, answered with a twitch of his eyebrows in bewilderment.
“I don’t know why I should tell them.”
It was a tone that genuinely didn’t know why he should do such a thing.
“I have no intention of saying anything in the future either, so you don’t need to worry unnecessarily.”
Seo Eunho went out of his way to add on. There was an expectation that Tae Shinwoo might accept it and leave.
However, Tae Shinwoo rather tilted his head as if he’d heard something strange.
“Worry?”
Without needing to think whether he had misunderstood, Tae Shinwoo went out of his way to ask again. Seo Eunho thought his attitude was strange but answered calmly.
“Yeah. I’ll keep my mouth shut, so stop worrying and go.”
He’d wanted to say this from earlier. That what Tae Shinwoo worried about wouldn’t happen. Seo Eunho had no intention of going around talking about what he saw to create trouble.
So, that he had coincidentally encountered Tae Shinwoo while working his part-time job. That he was in a group with people wearing jet-black suits. That they were beating someone screaming desperately to near death. That Tae Shinwoo, in the middle of them, was just watching without blinking an eye. He had no intention of talking about any of it.
They shouldn’t have run into each other. Seo Eunho regretted it a bit now. Even though the strangeness of Tae Shinwoo standing blankly, eyes cast down and corners of his mouth raised, looking down at a scene splattered with blood was so curious, he should have turned away. But he hadn’t done that, and before long, he caught Tae Shinwoo’s eye.
‘……Oh.’
The words he muttered while looking straight at him were vivid in his ears. And then Tae Shinwoo’s face, laughing as if delighted, as if he’d discovered something fun.
“Why would you do that?”
So Seo Eunho immediately knew that Tae Shinwoo’s expression now was no different from back then. Seo Eunho just twitched his eyebrows without any answer. He had a premonition that somehow the situation wouldn’t go the way he wanted.
“No one would believe your words anyway. Why would you think I’d worry about that?”
At the utterly arrogant words, Seo Eunho didn’t answer. Tae Shinwoo continued with a smile.
“Maybe if you had been the one to do it.”
Who would even imagine I’d do that?
He felt exactly as if Tae Shinwoo was saying that. No, really, unlike just moments before, his face tinged with coldness was saying exactly that.
“……That’s right.”
Because he had no intention of talking about Tae Shinwoo from the beginning, he hadn’t realized the reality. Seo Eunho only now agreed with Tae Shinwoo’s words. Who would believe his words? Tae Shinwoo had nothing at all to worry about.
“You’re right.”
It was laughably embarrassing that he’d thought he’d let everything pass, whether threats or persuasion. Seo Eunho laughed incredulously and soon hardened his face.
“Then you have no business here. Go, don’t bother me anymore.”
“No. I said my business. I’m curious.”
“About what?”
“Why didn’t you say anything? Didn’t you want to talk about it?”
It almost seemed like he was reproaching him for not speaking. Sparkling eyes desperately chased after him, wanting to satisfy his curiosity.
This bastard’s crazy, isn’t he?
Seo Eunho defined briefly and slowly opened his lips.
“Why should I tell you that?”
“Because you did something different from my image, and there are more than enough people to talk about it.”
It was a quite plausible reason. However, Seo Eunho shook his head. Tae Shinwoo was overlooking one thing.
“But I’m not interested in you?”
Tae Shinwoo twitched his eyebrows. Seo Eunho kindly added on.
“Whatever you do doesn’t generate any interest in me. So I don’t feel like blabbering about it to anyone either.”
“……”
“I’m not included among the people who want to talk about you.”
Why should he spread Tae Shinwoo’s story to others? Even if he pretended to be a model student at school, received good grades, hung out with many friends, and monopolized the teachers’ love, but outside he was someone who beat people nearly to death while laughing—what did that have to do with him?
“Ah…… That’s right.”
Tae Shinwoo nodded as if he understood his words. Seo Eunho didn’t say anything. Now that the purpose of his visit had been resolved, he thought it would be nice if he’d go back already. It was because the boss didn’t like him bringing acquaintances to the convenience store and spending a long time. In Tae Shinwoo’s case, it was all the more unfair because he wasn’t even someone he had brought.
“Right. You’re not interested in me.”
But the idle talk showed no signs of ending.
“Though it wouldn’t be bad to have some.”
“Why. Do you want attention?”
Seo Eunho asked in a quarrelsome tone. He knew that Tae Shinwoo, who was already receiving tremendous attention from many people, couldn’t want such a thing. Seo Eunho was merely trying to hurt Tae Shinwoo’s feelings so he could leave quickly.
“A little?”
However, Seo Eunho was immediately at a loss for words. It was because Tae Shinwoo answered quite shamelessly.
“Actually, I’m interested in you.”
