Even while being grabbed by the collar and shaken vigorously, he kept smiling, so he must be happy. Bad bastard. Total mean bastard. After shaking him cheerfully for a while, Lee Euishin swatted Kwon Yunsu’s arm away and grabbed his hand to pull him along.
“This direction is definitely wrong. Why would there be food or professors on the agriculture campus grounds?”
“…”
“Think about it. Aren’t there kids who take the class with you?”
“A few classmates.”
“Want to go to the department room?”
“No… the club room.”
Lee Euishin’s smile stopped dead.
“Why there?!”
Lee Euishin, who had plenty of reclusive tendencies, most disapproved of all his social activities, especially club activities. Kwon Yunsu didn’t even have the energy to snap back and replied weakly.
“Eunsub hyung’s alumnus took that liberal arts class when they were a freshman. I was going to ask hyung to ask them for me. Whether it’s better to go straight to the professor’s office or send an email first. If I submit it past the deadline without asking for understanding, they might just delete it without reading it.”
Kwon Yunsu had already seen two people suffer that terrifying treatment. Why are there so many petty and fastidious people among university professors?
“Lee Euishin, you should at least go to the school cafeteria. I don’t have the energy to eat.”
“…”
Lee Euishin glared at Kwon Yunsu with a sullen face. Despite being a cosmic handsome guy a whole hand span taller than himself, when you looked at him at times like this, he was exactly like a spiteful kid.
“Then how about you buy some bread and follow me? While we’re at it, take a tour of our club and broaden your horizons.”
“How is a bread crumb supposed to be a meal… Come here.”
Always has to have things his own way to be satisfied.
Staggering along as Lee Euishin pulled him by the hand, they arrived at a lunchbox shop known for its outstanding side dish quality. Sitting on a fountain bench eating lunchboxes, smelling the slowly loosening spring air, watching birds fly around, thinking about the professor, thinking about how far he’d written his report then stopping, listening to Lee Euishin’s nagging, watching with a stupid face as Lee Euishin gave a tactless reply of “We’re eating right now” to a girl who came up saying “Excuse me…”, drinking the hovenia tea Lee Euishin threw him, he wobbled his way to the club room.
Among these sharp kids who took good care of themselves, he felt like he alone had become an idiot.
“Hello.”
Kwon Yunsu’s first impression of touring his club room was nothing special.
‘What a mess.’
Bookshelves crammed into every direction without any empty space, countless bound documents and complete sets jammed into them, old equipment and miscellaneous items that seemed pointless to attempt repairing, bundles of banners, computers, old fabric sofas that didn’t make you want to sit on them at all, library chairs and desks clearly picked up from storage. And dust piled up everywhere. Lee Euishin was certain. No matter how few girls there are in engineering, there definitely hadn’t been a single female member in this club’s history. What on earth does Kwon Yunsu find so great about this place that he burns with longing for it day in and day out when he can’t come?
“Yunsu-ya.”
The first one to speak was a guy lounging on a single sofa. The four backs of heads on the three-seater sofa turned toward the wall didn’t budge.
“Hey, why are you here?”
“I dropped by because I was bored.”
When he stood up, he was pretty tall. Unless you were on a sports team, it was rare to find someone whose gaze roughly matched his own. His looks were passable enough, but his smile was kind of foxlike and annoying…
“I was thinking about you.”
…That bastard?
Lee Euishin’s mood immediately turned to shit. The airheaded Kwon Yunsu passed by that guy while making dying sounds.
“Ugh… I’m screwed.”
“Why?”
“I forgot to submit my report by midnight. I started it last Wednesday or something and stopped, so I can’t even submit it right now.”
“Why’d you do that… Your friend?”
“Yeah. Hey, sit down.”
Only after the conversation had gone that far did the four guys who’d been fired up about their console game turn around.
“Kwon Yunsu’s here?”
“Did the idol eat?”
“Hey, come in for me and play just a bit. I have to do homework.”
“I’m here. I ate, and I can’t do that right now. Eunsub hyung!”
Having heard so much chattering, he could tell who was who right away. The guy with big eyes at the very end looking down on Kwon Yunsu was Song Taesu, the one waving his hand leisurely like an old man was the club manager, the one with an absurdly tall sitting height who looked like a playboy was Ahn Shinwook, and the person who was waving at Kwon Yunsu then discovered him and pushed up his glasses would be Lee Eunsub, the least troublesome among them.
“Yunsu’s friend?”
“Wow… he’s insanely handsome.”
“It’s like my eyes are brightening!”
“Is he maybe in electrical engineering?”
“That’s right.”
Kwon Yunsu answered for him.
“Ah, I heard about that. That’s him, the Northern European god. They say a legendary one came in among the freshmen there, someone whose face you rarely get to see…”
“Yes, this is my one and only friend in life, the face genius engineering freshman Lee Euishin. But he doesn’t like soccer. Still, I brought him to try to recruit him. He has no social skills, so if he says something offensive during conversation, please curse at me instead.”
Kwon Yunsu introduced Lee Euishin like that and wobbled over to squat in front of the guy with glasses.
“Eunsub hyung, you said you had that friend back then. I just came from liberal arts English and I forgot about the report…”
Lee Euishin received the gazes of the remaining guys all at once and didn’t say anything. This was the timing when he should say something sociable, even for Kwon Yunsu’s sake, but he was in a terribly foul mood because of the bastard openly making an interested face between himself and Kwon Yunsu. Lee Euishin replied shortly.
“I’ll just watch quietly and then leave.”
And he pulled over a folding chair near the door and sat down. Kwon Yunsu was listening intently to Lee Eunsub’s phone call.
“If you’re thinking about it while watching, sign the leftover club application form there before you go. If you drop by just once a week, you’d contribute to the club’s revival.”
“Wow, seeing a celebrity here like this. I should brag about it. So you’re the one who Kwon Yunsu sticks to all the time when there’s nothing special going on.”
A wrinkle formed between Lee Euishin’s brows. Sticks together when there’s nothing special? Does all his department life stuff, plays all he wants at the club, and the leftover scraps are my territory? As he glared fiercely at Kwon Yunsu, he felt that guy staring intently this way. Lee Euishin turned his gaze to the dusty bookshelf and replied indifferently.
“We live together.”
“Whoa, really? You were roommates.”
Being with me is the most special thing for that kid, fuck. Who the hell does he think…
“Ah, so you’re the landlord.”
“…”
What deflated his mood that had been about to swell with pride was that guy. When he turned around, that annoyingly pretty face was still smiling with interest. Could it be…
“Did you enjoy the fish-shaped pastries? He bought me a bag too.”
“…Are you Shin Jaewoo?”
The guy nodded.
“I heard you’re Kim Wonwoo’s high school friend.”
“You know him? Ah, then you’re…”
“I was class president when Kim Wonwoo was vice president.”
“Middle school friends then. It’s been a long time since you’ve known each other.”
Why is it? Every single thing this bastard says rubs him the wrong way.
“Was Yunsu like that back then too?”
“…”
“Liking to eat, liking to eat with others even more, liking people so he’s friendly everywhere he goes.”
Stopping the motion of running his fingertips over the bookshelf’s dust, Lee Euishin stared at Shin Jaewoo. That unfamiliar look he used to throw at the guys who hung around the puppy-like Kwon Yunsu during high school.
“…He was stupid back then too.”
He replied coolly as if blunt, then turned his gaze away.
Insufferable as hell. Because the guy had seen properly. Kwon Yunsu who likes to eat and likes people. Giggling and hanging out together, watching people talk about things, sharing and receiving yummy food. The things Kwon Yunsu likes. The bastard who thinks everyone in the world is like him. Easily readable even to these riffraff…
“Lee Euishin, are you developing social skills?”
And Kwon Yunsu approached with a much better face. Lee Euishin, still sitting on the folding chair, just lifted his chin to look up at the country bumpkin anew.
