Seo Juhan’s eyes narrowed as he climbed the stairs.
He made eye contact with a guy standing on the landing. The guy seemed slightly startled too.
At this point, the annex building felt like a dungeon. It seemed like monsters were hiding everywhere and appearing at just the right moments.
“…What are you doing here?”
Seo Juhan asked with suspicious eyes.
It was one of the gang that had dominated the cafeteria during lunch. The guy reminded him of a gorilla because of his upturned nose.
“Ah~ I lost something here.”
The gorilla guy spoke nonchalantly while taking out his phone from his pocket.
“What did you lose?”
“My phone.”
The guy answered while rapidly tapping the phone screen with his thumb.
Seo Juhan was dumbfounded watching him. His IQ seemed similar to a gorilla’s too. He appeared unable to say anything except what was visible to his eyes.
“…Isn’t it class time right now?”
“Uh~”
The gorilla drew out the end of “uh” and made his own excuse.
“They gave us self-study time since finals aren’t far off.”
What does being given self-study time have to do with standing here?
No, before discussing finals, they hadn’t even taken the June mock exam yet.
It was far too obvious to be fooled by, but it was too bothersome to nitpick. He racked his brain on how to make the guy disappear from his sight quickly and asked.
“Tell me your phone number. I’ll try calling it.”
“…My phone is turned off.”
The guy faithfully continued his initial lie.
“We barely have classes in the annex building. Are you sure you lost it here?”
Seo Juhan’s eyes gleamed with suspicion.
“Yes. I’m sure.”
The gorilla answered without batting an eye.
“…Where do you think you lost it? Where was the last place you had your phone?”
“Somewhere around here.”
Annoyance clearly showed in his blunt answer.
Eventually, fed up, Seo Juhan calmly glared at him as if to say stop lying and get lost.
The guy took his eyes off his phone and finally looked at Seo Juhan. Then he gestured with his chin toward the upper floor and said.
“Please go up. I’ll look a bit more before I go. It’s probably not on the upper floor.”
“…Really?”
Seo Juhan’s voice was reluctant.
“Yes. I’ll take a quick look around the lower floor and go to the classroom.”
“…Fine, then.”
Seo Juhan added as if resigned.
“When you find it, go to the classroom right away.”
“Yes.”
The gorilla at least had some social instincts, answering properly every time.
Seo Juhan only moved his steps to the upper floor after the guy completely disappeared from sight.
The hallway was only piled with dust. Even though it was the top floor, it was dark due to the shade from the small mountain blocking the sunlight.
Finally, he was alone.
Even in that desolate and gloomy silence, Seo Juhan felt at peace.
He relieved himself in the bathroom and came out shaking the water off his hands. He wandered the hallway, peering through the windows of special rooms to see if there was a place to rest.
What must have originally been an art room was filled with broken plaster busts. True to being a staple of horror movies, it even gave off a somewhat dangerous atmosphere. If you just splashed some dark red paint on the walls, it would be no less than any horror film.
He passed by the special rooms looking around, but it wasn’t easy to find a place to actually lie down and rest.
There should definitely be a separate teachers’ lounge, so why isn’t there one here?
He was continuing his idle thoughts while enjoying the distant tranquility.
“Ugh!”
His nape was suddenly grabbed without him realizing.
“Wh-what!”
An urgent voice burst out.
Seo Juhan instinctively grabbed the doorframe to avoid being dragged. He put in enough force that his fingertips turned white.
“What do you mean what? It’s me.”
A low rumble was heard by his ear. It was a voice mixed with the despicable laughter he’d heard before.
Goosebumps rose all over Seo Juhan’s body.
“Ugh.”
The hand that lost its grip on the doorframe flailed in the air. The lifeline fell away futilely. His legs were dragged back.
“N-no, l-let this go!”
Seo Juhan screamed in alarm.
His face turned white as if he’d given his back to a serial killer. He put his weight on his heels to somehow hold out and flailed his arms recklessly, but it was useless. His legs crossed like chopsticks as he barely touched the ground.
“Why did you come here? Looking for me?”
A leisurely voice came from behind.
“Me? Wh-what! Am I crazy?”
Seo Juhan used all his strength but was helpless. He couldn’t even properly resist and was just dragged like a rag.
“No? Did you come to play?”
“Let go!”
He was astounded by the stark difference in strength that made him wonder if they were even the same species.
“Like when you slacked off in the infirmary last time?”
“I said let this go!”
His face grew hot. It was only because blood wasn’t flowing to his neck.
“I said let go!”
Seo Juhan didn’t keep his limbs still as if struggling. In the process, something touched his fingertips and things crashed down loudly. A clamorous noise of metal colliding rang out.
“Oops.”
A light, dull sound like cardboard boxes collapsing overlapped.
“You’ll get hurt at this rate.”
The sound of tongue-clicking stabbed at his ear.
“Aah! Let go right now!”
The tone pretending to be concerned made him shudder. Seo Juhan stomped his feet more violently. In the process, one slipper flew off.
“Let this g-ngh!”
His body that lost balance tilted. He was about to fall on his own.
It was just before he sat down hard. His forearm was grabbed and the world spun around.
“Unngh…”
His face was buried somewhere and Seo Juhan’s nose bridge was crushed. It was a cushion that was elastic yet not very soft. Like high-density filling that sinks when pressed but has strong resistance, it was stiff.
At the same time, his back was wrapped around. It was heavy like carrying a sack of rice up to his shoulders.
“…”
Seo Juhan was leaning crookedly against a frame a span larger than himself. A solid upper body supported him instead of his mismatched legs. The arm binding him like restraints was a bonus.
In that position, Seo Juhan blinked.
It was a sudden embrace. As he stayed dazed like that, a familiar smell suddenly hit his nose. It was a warm body scent. The characteristic flesh scent was mixed with subtle sweat and hormones.
It was a time when they’d sweat at midday but couldn’t turn on the air conditioner yet. It was a naturally spreading body odor.
It was also a scent engraved in Seo Juhan’s most intimate place that wouldn’t be forgotten until he died. A fragrance that would float around in the back of his memory before suddenly surfacing.
The particles touching his nose raised red warning lights telling him he should run away. On the other hand, they also instinctively made somewhere hot and ticklish.
Fuck…
“Get away!”
Seo Juhan let out a startled cry at his absurd physical reaction and jerked his whole body. He pushed the chest away with his palms.
“After you fell on your own.”
Above Juhan’s crown, giggling laughter came.
“I said get away!”
Seo Juhan struggled while actually hitting with his fists. But no matter how much of a ruckus he made, he couldn’t escape from the guy’s embrace. He didn’t budge at all as if wearing armor. The forearm around his shoulders weighed a thousand pounds.
“You moth…”
His breath swelled and sweat formed in his armpits. The more he struggled, the more exhausted Juhan became.
“…erfucker.”
Finally, the intensity of his resistance gradually weakened and then stopped completely.
The distance was close enough that it wouldn’t be awkward to describe as stuck together. It was close enough that even heartbeats could be transmitted.
Thump thump.
The drum sound rang in Juhan’s eardrums. It was difficult to discern whose the source of this noise was.
Go Un, who had been staring at the now-quiet brown crown, spoke leisurely.
“Just come. You’re stretching out your clothes.”
“Bullshit…”
Seo Juhan’s teeth chattered at the tone as if actually worrying about him. It sounded like mocking that he was the only one thinking strange thoughts right now.
“Come here.”
But that was a needless concern. Go Un’s patience wasn’t very long.
“Hey! Let go!”
Seo Juhan, with his arm grabbed, was dragged along with a flushed face. He moved as Go Un pushed when pushed and pulled when pulled. Each time he stamped his feet, the cold rising from the wooden floor pierced through his socks. He was forcibly dragged along inside without being able to do anything.
“Ugh.”
The swaying Seo Juhan leaned his upper body forward and stood propped against something.
Smooth yet hard fabric touched his palm. His thighs were blocked by something like a table edge.
His vision that had been like an earthquake returned. A huge blue-colored object filled his view.
“What is this… again?”
Why is there a pool table here?
He couldn’t even guess the reason. He blinked several times but it was definitely a pool table.
Colorful balls were placed on top. A few were rolling to the other side.
Only then did he come to his senses.
Seo Juhan felt sweat flowing down his temple and rolled his eyes.
There wasn’t just one or two bright blue pool tables, making it seem like he’d come to a billiard hall. And beyond the low temporary partitions, ping-pong tables could also be seen. In one corner, there was even a dart board and karaoke equipment.
Other than that, there were metal cabinets and a large standing air conditioner that felt aged. It seemed to be a club activity space.
“Hmm.”
The figure that wrapped around Seo Juhan from behind buried his nose in his nape and inhaled deeply.
Juhan’s brown eyes that had reached the treadmill wavered.
As soon as he regained his sense of space, his body stiffened. He felt warm body temperature along his back. His body grew hot but his mind was cold. It felt like he’d been doused with ice-cold water so cold his spine chilled.
“Mm.”
Go Un acted as if savoring the sweet body scent before furrowing one eyebrow.
“…Teacher, you smoke too?”
It was a suspicious question.
“…Am I you?”
Seo Juhan snapped while hiding his trembling insides.
“Then it must be some other bastard’s smell.”
Goosebumps rose at the low rumble.
