He was going to be angry, but seeing tears already welling up in the brief moment of standing up, his mood suddenly improved. Are you so upset about not seeing me? The country bumpkin does have some honest charm. Lee Euishin decided to be gentle.
“…Why are you moving?”
It’s not really moving, but,
“My exile life is over.”
“Exile? Are you Jeong Yak-yong?”
Jeez. He laughed because it was funny.
Kwon Yunsu’s face gradually crumpled as if realizing the separation. Going to cry again? Lee Euishin looked intently at that face with anticipation.
“Study hard. Eat a lot and build up your stamina too. Don’t doze off.”
Let’s throw out some textbook phrases,
“You eat a lot too, don’t be a picky eater….”
Kwon Yunsu retorted very much like Kwon Yunsu and shed tears with a plop.
“Why are you crying?”
Lee Euishin asked excitedly.
“I wanted to buy you pizza….”
Huk huk. Kwon Yunsu finally covered his eyes.
“Why are you so sad……”
Lee Euishin said gently as if sighing.
“Kwon Yunsu, you can’t be like this.”
And riding the atmosphere, he smoothly grabbed the guy’s hand.
“…I was going to show you my savings bankbook too……”
Kwon Yunsu made a sound that completely shattered the mood.
“Class President, I was really thankful during the sports festival. For making me practice… thank you for not spreading rumors about my mom, and for giving me seafood pancakes, and hot dogs, and chicken nuggets, and also……”
Along with tears pouring down, Kwon Yunsu seemed ready to recite the shabby cafeteria menu forever. Lee Euishin felt like a mom who came grocery shopping with an annoying five-year-old.
“You’re noisy, stop crying already. …Should I at least buy you that?”
Without waiting for an answer, Lee Euishin entered the donut chain shop visible right in front and bought a gift box. He’d remembered the mention of grandpa’s donuts at lunchtime. But Kwon Yunsu, holding the box, showed no signs of easily stopping his tears. Lee Euishin had no choice but to sit him back down and open the donut box.
“Eat.”
“……”
“Who told you to get so one-sidedly attached?”
When he shot back meanly, Kwon Yunsu held up a donut with both hands and said ‘Because I like you…’ Because I like you. At this point, Lee Euishin gets angry and frustrated.
“Are you really hitting on me?”
He snatched away the donut in his hand and asked roughly.
“…Did it even work?”
Kwon Yunsu retorted with a sullen face and snatched the donut back.
“If it worked, why would I leave instead of living here?”
With a face where tears pooled again as if wronged, Kwon Yunsu chewed on the donut.
“Work my ass, I’m the one who fell. Who the hell are you….”
“……”
Lee Euishin became confused. He really doesn’t know. It seems like their personalities really don’t match with Kwon Yunsu.
After feeding him two donuts, Kwon Yunsu more or less stopped crying.
“I’ll take you home.”
“……”
“Wait for the car. Get up.”
Lee Euishin pulled Kwon Yunsu’s arm and headed to where the driver was waiting.
“Hello, Euishin’s father, I’m Euishin’s friend Kwon Yunsu.”
At Kwon Yunsu’s words as he got in the car, the driver’s face became dumbfounded and Lee Euishin quickly made eye signals.
“Uh… yeah.”
Kwon Yunsu didn’t say much in the car. You’re leaving, what use is holding onto someone who’s leaving anyway…. Anyone would think I’m his lover. Playing with people until the very end.
“Come visit Seoul.”
When the scenery outside the car window became familiar, Lee Euishin said, tossing it out.
“Will you feed me, clothe me, and let me sleep over?”
As the car entered the apartment complex, Kwon Yunsu asked.
“We’ll see.”
“……”
After arrogantly replying, he suddenly feels hurt inside. Why did he even come down to this countryside in the first place?
Kwon Yunsu got out of the car with a tearful face.
“Euishin-ah, take care.”
And he waved both hands holding the indoor shoes pouch and donut box as a farewell greeting.
As a performance to wrap up his exile life, it was completely inappropriate and shitty.
Thus Lee Euishin’s exile life ended.
Returning to the familiar city, he lived as he pleased, the same as before. If Kwon Yunsu comes to Seoul, how much of his true self should he reveal? Lee Euishin thought, looking around at the trashy bastards sprawled before him. It was the idiot from the next class who picked a fight, saying he’d become a gentleman after living in the countryside.
As a condition for his early return, Lee Euishin ranked first in the entire school. Since it’s a brain made by slathering money on it, he should occasionally give his parents some sense of reward. Anyway, by the end of the semester when performance assessments are added, his rank will slide down smoothly.
Before winter came, there were several incidents that warranted disciplinary action.
And with the first snow, winter came.
When the end of the semester comes, everything becomes boring. Vacations where he had to be half-confined or go abroad were even more shitty.
A new semester started. It became spring, even more shitty than winter, but……
Kwon Yunsu didn’t contact him.
He didn’t come visit Seoul either.
Only after the new semester started did Lee Euishin realize that Kwon Yunsu was gradually forgetting him beyond the shitty lunch menu, cafeteria worse than convenience stores, the damn Baek Seunghyun, Kim Wonwoo, Lee Jihoon, convenience stores, soccer, mom, noona, dad, and so on. A fifteen-year-old boy’s affection, or perhaps loyalty, was only that much.
Fucking bastard. Half-witted country bumpkin bastard. Where’d that ‘Class President, Class President’ sobbing go? I fed you so much and you forget me? I even did that shitty class president job without complaint. I even made your desired soccer championship happen. When you’re so ugly. You bastard!
During the first semester of 9th grade, Lee Euishin’s parents’ tears never dried. Soccer, pizza, and their grandparents’ house became forbidden words in Lee Euishin’s home. When asked why after skipping school for over a week, Lee Euishin said it was because he didn’t want to eat school lunch. At this point, one becomes curious. Who really ‘fell’ for whom?
Two years later, at eighteen, Lee Euishin embarks on his second exile.
**2. A Beautiful Sea**
‘First time seeing a transfer student? Why swarm all the way to the staff room making a fuss so tackily? Here’s the transfer student. He’s from Seoul, studies well, and will introduce himself for the rest. Now, Euishin-ah.’
Following the homeroom teacher’s gesture, Lee Euishin stepped forward to the teacher’s podium. He took a few steps, stopped, and lightly exhaled. Until he opened his mouth again to speak, Lee Euishin’s gaze didn’t waver. Because from the moment he entered the classroom, he’d been looking at only one place.
‘I’m Lee Euishin. I lived nearby briefly when I was in 8th grade. Please take care of me.’
‘Uh…?’
Huh? …That country bumpkin bastard not even worth dog shit, just ‘huh’?
Lee Euishin glared at Kwon Yunsu, who was blankly opening his mouth and only mouthing ‘I think I know that kid?’, with murderous intent for a moment.
Round eyes with faint inner double eyelids, a prominent nose bridge, lips that change shape nicely whenever he chews on something, a round head with the back sticking up like a puppy that rolled around in a field all day. Except for his skin being a bit paler, perhaps from not getting sun, he was the same. No, it’s been three years since seeing him after his growth spurt peak, so to that extent…… he’s small. He’s small, fuck. His head and frame are the same. Eating junk food all the time makes you like that, you bastard. Is mom still not back?
Lee Euishin, wanting to smash something, barely restrained himself and withdrew his gaze. Though his eyes unconsciously landed there, he had absolutely no intention of acknowledging him first, even if it killed him.
‘Don’t test the pecking order or anything, just get along and study. Class president, greetings!’
As soon as Lee Euishin sat down, the homeroom teacher hurriedly had them greet. When he glanced sideways, Kwon Yunsu had turned his head following his movements and was looking this way with questioning and admiring eyes. When the guy was at his most energetic, that is, it was good that he’d processed the transfer during homeroom.
When greetings ended, Lee Euishin strode out of the classroom before anyone could even speak to him. From behind, along with the sound of ‘Are you ditching right now?’, someone’s hurried footsteps approached. Without looking back, he went straight through the hallway and stairs and outside. Though he hurriedly put on shoes and approached with pattering steps, there were no words pulling him back. Lee Euishin coolly exited the school gate. Turning left in front of the school gate, he rounded the corner and entered a quiet street. There were still no words. He almost got pissed off for a moment, but Lee Euishin gritted his teeth and headed to the park.
‘…….’
Fuck.
