Both Taeon and Sunjeong had fixed schedules, so even though they lived in the same house, they couldn’t see each other’s faces for long.
When Taeon left the house in the morning to prepare for the cafe, Sunjeong was usually fast asleep, and when evening came and Taeon returned home, Sunjeong—who spent most of his time in the school’s reading room—wasn’t home.
For Taeon, who had secretly been looking forward to spending time together bustling about every day, it was honestly disappointing if he had to admit it.
But considering the circumstances that brought them to this house and the destinations that Taeon and Sunjeong each had to reach, it was honestly nothing more than absurd whining.
Whenever he entered the excessively large and luxurious apartment that Taeon had never once imagined he would live in, he always felt slightly out of place, but even this had become familiar before he knew it.
Every morning, Taeon woke up at 7 a.m., jogged along the nearby riverside, showered, then returned home and prepared a simple breakfast with the ingredients on hand.
When Sunjeong came out of his room stretching and yawning while Taeon was eating alone the toast and other foods he’d prepared including Sunjeong’s portion, that day was lucky.
Usually, he ate alone silently and went to work at the cafe. The cafe was moderately busy, but there was also room to do other things on the side.
With Juseong’s permission, Taeon memorized English vocabulary and studied reading comprehension whenever he had time.
After spending all day making coffee, plating desserts, doing dishes, and organizing supplies, he’d get off work and cook again. After getting off work, since Taeon also had to study, he would just heat up meal kits for both himself and Sunjeong’s portions.
After quickly eating dinner, Taeon would enter the burdensome-even-by-name “study slash dressing room” and sit at the large desk that Jinhyeok and Yoonwoo had supposedly used to study.
Receiving tutoring from Sunjeong for half a day on one of the weekend days and taking the inexpensive online lectures he’d chosen, it felt like his previously blocked study brain was opening up.
Now, when studying no longer felt like acquiring new knowledge but rather like reorganizing concepts he’d studied quite diligently in high school, his mock exam scores noticeably improved.
As he faithfully repeated this lifestyle, scores came out suggesting that with just a little more effort from here, admission to Hanguk University might surprisingly be possible.
If I get into Hanguk University, I’d become Sunjeong’s fellow alumnus, wouldn’t I.
When clearing his head, he’d think such thoughts while holding his mechanical pencil, but they were just idle thoughts. Whether he became Sunjeong’s fellow alumnus or not didn’t matter at all. Attending the same school as Sunjeong wouldn’t make him the same as Sunjeong. What mattered was just walking well on the path he’d chosen for himself.
When he thought like this, it felt both good and not good.
Taeon knew that this uncomfortable feeling was because greed was starting to grow inside his heart.
Watching Taeon with his face buried only in his Suneung prep workbook, Sunjeong clicked his tongue inwardly.
Taeon avoiding Sunjeong’s gaze wasn’t something that started just a day or two ago.
It was quite difficult to see his face in the morning or evening too.
When eating the simple foods like sandwiches or soups that Taeon had made and left, Sunjeong would laugh. Imagining Taeon making this food and then scurrying away, he couldn’t help but laugh.
So these days, Sunjeong deliberately came out of his room late in the morning.
He wasn’t the type without morning drowsiness, but he wasn’t exactly a heavy sleeper either. Enough that first period starting at 9 a.m. wasn’t difficult for him.
If it were still during the semester, Taeon might have been very troubled. Because Sunjeong would have been coming out of his room early in the morning the whole time. But now it was summer vacation, so Sunjeong didn’t need to prepare punctually early in the morning.
Sunjeong would wake up to the rustling sounds of Taeon preparing to go out, and heard the sounds of Taeon moving with quiet footsteps doing things like cooking.
When his playful side emerged and he deliberately came out stretching, Taeon would look at Sunjeong with a surprised expression as if he’d seen an intruder. He’d immediately compose his expression and speak to Sunjeong, but Sunjeong could clearly read the tension embedded even in that indifferent tone.
This kind of teasing was a small amusement in daily life, but it was a bit troublesome if he acted this way even when they had to face each other like now.
“Yoon Taeon.”
“Yeah.”
A face still only looking at the workbook. Sunjeong let out a hollow laugh.
“Why do you keep avoiding my gaze?”
At Sunjeong’s words, Taeon’s brow furrowed very slightly.
“……I didn’t avoid it though?”
Taeon’s voice that came back was rough. And yet his gaze trying to look directly at Sunjeong’s eyes wasn’t upright like before and wavered subtly, unlike the past.
“You’re not avoiding my eyes, you say, right now.”
“I’m not though? I’m completely the same as usual though?”
Now a completely shameless voice.
Right, I see……
Sunjeong propped his chin and quietly looked at Taeon. This time, he clearly saw Taeon flinch.
“Yoon Taeon, you’re saying you’re not avoiding my eyes right now.”
“Yeah, I’m not avoiding them.”
Sunjeong, who had been quietly watching Taeon still lowering his gaze at an ambiguous angle, grinned and extended his hand to Taeon.
“What are you doing.”
Sunjeong’s small hand grabbed Taeon’s chin without hurting him.
Taeon thought that even if this hand grabbed hard, his chin probably wouldn’t hurt. At the same time, he was just confused because he couldn’t understand at all the mind of Sunjeong who was gripping his chin like this right now.
“What are you doing, Go Sunjeong.”
“Where in the world is there a person whose chin is grabbed but who doesn’t make eye contact. Are you disrespecting me right now?”
Disrespecting him, what nonsense.
At Sunjeong’s words, Taeon raised his gaze in indignation. But Taeon could only let out a sigh like a lament. The moment he met Sunjeong’s large eyes, he felt an inexplicable slight fever in his heart again.
Now he could even know the order. The large amplitude heartbeat that came after the slight fever.
“……I can teach you even without making eye contact.”
Having said this, Taeon felt pathetic and scowled.
Thanks to Taeon’s natural appearance and physique, he hadn’t shrunk in front of others since his secondary sexual characteristics began. It was partly because of his indifferent nature toward others, but also because of conscious effort.
If all he had was his own body and mind, it seemed like he could protect himself well and survive by being stiff and not bending to anyone.
But right now, at this moment, unable to properly meet Sunjeong’s eyes.
“If you’re like this from one kiss, there’d be chaos if we actually kissed.”
Taeon, who had been feeling confused by his own appearance, snapped to attention at Sunjeong’s words.
A kiss, what is he saying right now.
Of course, it wasn’t that he hadn’t kissed Sunjeong……
“First, let’s say you can’t look at me right now can’t be helped, solve the problem first. You often get that type of passage wrong, and there’s always at least one question like that on the Suneung, so you can’t miss it.”
Taeon found it absurd that Sunjeong, who had thrown out words that confused people’s hearts like kiss and such, was now making him solve problems.
And yet, he obediently buried his face in the workbook as told.
Because this side was much more comfortable than looking at Sunjeong’s face right now.
Taeon’s mind, which had been confused in front of the strange energy he felt when looking at Sunjeong, was neatly composed before long.
It was because of Sunjeong’s words, none other.
‘Yoon Taeon, looking at you studying right now……’
Taeon knew what kind of words would follow from Sunjeong.
As always, he’d worry about Taeon. The lifestyle of studying by day and night—waking up early in the morning to exercise and manage his stamina, working at the cafe all day, and studying late at night—couldn’t help but look pitiful in Sunjeong’s eyes.
Especially on weekends, aside from the time receiving tutoring from Sunjeong, he only studied at his desk the whole time, so it couldn’t help but look even more pitiful.
Well, should I set aside a day and go out with Sunjeong or something.
It was in an instant that Sunjeong’s reprimand fell on Taeon’s ears as he was thinking this.
“You look like someone who wants to study for the Suneung for life.”
“……Huh? What?”
“Looking at you right now, it’s no different from briefly studying in your spare time. Weekdays and weekends.”
“……”
“You study moderately and then fall asleep moderately. No matter how much you’re not starting from zero and have good basic grades, I don’t think this is right.”
“……”
Taeon, who was doing his best in his own way, felt a lump in his throat but couldn’t help but acknowledge Sunjeong’s words.
Taeon studied only a fixed amount. Even at the cafe, he could have concentrated more on studying during gaps when there were no customers, but once he’d memorized English vocabulary enough, he’d create other unnecessary work at the cafe to do.
Even after returning home, once midnight came, he’d unconditionally lie down in bed to sleep even if he hadn’t finished his studies. Even if he occasionally studied in a dazed mood with lowered concentration while thinking other thoughts, he didn’t make up for it with more studying.
At least on weekends he concentrated cleanly only on studying, but even this, he was taking it easy in his own way.
It wasn’t that Taeon didn’t have reasons.
TL/N:
Suneung – Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (the college entrance exam)
