“…You…”
“……”
“Are you perhaps….”
Kwon Yunsu stopped speaking.
…Is he being shy? About the process of his first relationship being revealed in detail to the friend he lives with.
Just as he had drawn a firm line saying he hated talking about family, if this was also an area I couldn’t look into….
“Ah, bathroom.”
Kwon Yunsu hurried to the bathroom.
If it’s not my place, …I should just take a shower.
First, I need to clear my head, eat, and then think. No, let’s not think about it. Awkwardness is bad. It’s strange to persistently pry when he doesn’t want to talk about it. Romance can be embarrassing. Considering what Euishin has done for me until now…….
“…….”
I was just too greedy.
Kwon Yunsu washed his body enthusiastically. Realizing he’d washed his hair with body cleanser, he washed his hair again. After finishing a shower that took twice as long as usual, when he came out, only the sound of the TV left on at low volume was floating around the living room.
***
He turned the radio volume up to maximum. The majestic orchestra filling the car interior was reaching its climax. Euishin leaned his head against the driver’s seat. It took quite some time for the disgusting smells ingrained in his body to dissipate.
It was a pathetic taste, but when stress reached its peak, he would seek out classical music. Listening to classical-style orchestras that were grand yet didn’t lose restraint made him feel absurdly exasperated yet humiliatingly calmed. It was his mother who had made him learn classical music. Born as the cherished daughter of a wealthy family running a resort business, wife of a local dignitary who was a famous cultural foundation chairman and museum director—his mother was the person Euishin found most awkward in the world.
He had somewhat overcome differences in disposition and high expectations. Seeing his mother happy in front of luxurious items was sometimes cute, and he himself had such aspects too. Though she would add remarks like it’s not the very top prestigious university, seeing her brag here and there about her son who entered a top-ranked university and started difficult studies, she seemed to have let go of her opposition to his career path as well. He would be able to smoothly break away in the future too.
The problem was days like today. What kind of childish deal was that to pull on a twenty-year-old son?
Last night, seeing the suit set delivered out of nowhere, Euishin immediately called his mother. Because you’re the only one who would do something like this.
[You know tomorrow’s the day the car comes out, right? Come pick Mom up. Just show your face at the tea gathering and we’ll go.]
‘In exchange for giving me the car, you want me to be a figurehead once? Wearing this?’
At the blatant sarcasm, the breathing on the other end of the phone grew louder.
[Why do you talk like that?]
‘Then a driver? Can I drop you off about 100 meters away from the gathering place?’
Euishin asked leisurely. If you don’t come out honestly, I can’t give you what you want.
[No. Go inside and greet Mom’s friends nicely. Mom wants to brag about you.]
‘I don’t want to.’
[Euishin.]
‘I still don’t want to.’
[Are you really going to be like this? That car—your father tried to talk me out of it saying it’s too pretentious, but Mom insisted it was to boost your morale and got it for you. You said with your own mouth that if I let you stay at that high school, you’d be filial for life!]
‘…….’
[The clothes I sent, I had them newly tailored by that tailor you said you liked before. You’d grown about 2cm more, right? I told them that too. How wonderful it’ll be when my son escorts Mom inside. The ladies will be shocked, right?]
What good does it do me if those ladies are shocked, it’s not like they’re Kwon Yunsu. If I wear that, how much will Kwon Yunsu tease me… No, he can’t tease me. It’s a matter of pride. I need to shock him into flipping over.
‘I’ll go.’
Euishin answered readily. And immediately attached a condition.
‘But not the car.’
Why would Mom ride in it first? Euishin snorted and hung up the phone.
He’d thought about it simply, but to conclude, it was the worst day.
He stopped by his family home in the morning and went together to his mother’s appointment location, and
‘Oh my, is this that son who entered as top student?’
‘Hohoho, our Euishin.’
Listening to unfunny conversations while pretending to greet them and escaping—that part was fine.
[You were at the family home? I sent Driver Shin, so come this way. Everyone’s gathered. Your grandfather says he wants to see your face after a long time. Sorry for it being so sudden.]
Sorry for it being so sudden.
I should correct myself. The most awkward person in the world is Father.
Unlike his materialistic and simple mother, his father was fundamentally a respectable person. He knew well what his son hated and why, subtly considerated that while simultaneously trying to incorporate him into his own order, making it more burdensome.
When he was young, he could command both father and mother by the tip of his nose and do as he pleased, but he’d passed that age now. Because he wanted to live as he desired, it was harder to ignore them. Euishin knew that as he aged, he would become more compliant. Though his perverse temperament wouldn’t go anywhere, he would attend family gatherings once a season, meet people who were introduced to him, and maintain an appropriate level so his position wouldn’t become cheap.
Thinking about having to use his brain in complicated ways suddenly made him want to see Kwon Yunsu. Food, soccer, studying, Mom, Dad, Noona, friends. Kwon Yunsu’s world made up of simple and clear colors.
‘…Going on a date?’
Recalling Kwon Yunsu who had carefully asked that this morning, Euishin smiled. That was clearly an expression defending against hurt. He hadn’t wanted to let on that his heart had become bewildered by this side that didn’t show its hand.
Blind date? He’d parted ways with that dance major woman whose face he couldn’t even remember before even lunch that day, but the results were quite satisfactory. He had drawn out confusion from Kwon Yunsu.
Can I ask? Why won’t you tell me? Am I not allowed to know? How much can you tell me?
If he’d known he could draw out this much with just one blind date and ambiguous silence, he should have been meeting women since high school. The effort paid off. It wasn’t like I did completely useless things. I thought he couldn’t do any push and pull at all, but that guy even blushed….
‘Ah, bathroom.’
And ran away.
“Fuck….”
So fucking cute.
His paternal grandfather’s slow speech wrapped in years and history and authority, his father’s stubbornness gently supporting it, his cousins’ wariness and unwanted goodwill. All of those things washed away.
Thinking of how his face with lingering sleepiness had instantly turned blank, then red, then sullen, Euishin lightly traced below over his pants. The guilt that had barely existed to begin with melted away with a tingle, and above it, the savagely surging desire was increasingly taking concrete form.
I want to have sex with you, Kwon Yunsu.
I want to strip you naked, stick it in your hole, and make you come messily.
I wish you’d tremble from getting turned on just from me grabbing your wrist.
I’m sorry—no, I’m not sorry at all.
“…….”
Shaking off his roughening breath, he started the car.
It was time to return home where Kwon Yunsu was waiting.
“…This crazy dog bastard……!”
And exactly 40 minutes later, seeing the memo placed in the middle of the living room, Euishin roughly threw off his clothes.
「Euishin-ah, I’m going to the fishing club MT following Song Taesu and Shin Jaewoo. I’ll catch lots of fish. Have fun on your date.」
What, you dog bastard? MT? Without sending a single text worrying about your master’s date, you drew this and left? Sleeping over again? With Shin Jaewoo?!
“You’re really dead….”
Euishin stretched out his trembling hands and grabbed the jacket he’d just thrown, the car keys, and his phone. Looking at his watch, it was 5 minutes before 11 PM. Whether you’re catching or devouring some fish at some waterside right now…,
“Where are you?”
Wherever that was, he naturally planned to go catch him.
[Where are you?]
When the call came from Euishin, Kwon Yunsu was lying down exhausted.
The members of the alcohol-loving club disguised as a fishing club had looked at the ocean for exactly 30 minutes with their eyes only, then immediately entered the guesthouse and started a drinking session, looking like they were going to pull an all-nighter. He hadn’t even seen fishing equipment. All that came out of the chartered bus’s luggage compartment was an enormous amount of alcohol, alcohol, and alcohol.
‘…What is this?’
‘What about fishing equipment?’
‘It’s probably stuffed away somewhere in the dongbang. It’s originally like this.’
After accepting drinks for hours without understanding and carefully figuring it out, Song Taesu’s words were very accurate.
Originally like this. The fishing club was a club created with drinking and entertainment as its thorough goal, led mainly by fourth-year students with severe job-hunting stress, and though discipline was very chaotic, it was famous for planning incredible MTs. Regardless of major or year, if you had the heart and money, they’d accept anyone as a guest member, but because it was such a heavy drinking place, female students didn’t come near it. No wonder the MT fee was expensive.
