Wednesday afternoon, I stared blankly at my phone, half-listening to a lecture that was more tedious than ever.
Kang Sehyun: [Coming today?]
A name that still felt unfamiliar floated on the screen.
Name: Kang Sehyun.
Same age as me.
Different university. Residence: downtown.
Quiet and blunt personality.
Big temperature difference in how he treats people he likes versus dislikes.
Doesn’t even make acquaintances easily, but the only people he’s close with are the hyungs from our school.
Good at studying. Has a girlfriend in New York.
Has money but works at the yacht club sometimes because he’s bored.
This was definitely all I knew about Kang Sehyun before meeting him.
And, a few things I learned after meeting him—
First, he’s a smoker, but doesn’t drink.
That day, while eating pizza, a proper drinking session broke out. Except for Gijae hyung, who said he doesn’t drink much anyway, the other four poured beer down their throats like wild horses let loose, and at the end they started mixing vodka and cranberry juice with nachos as snacks. It didn’t take long for all that alcohol on the table to disappear.
While the drinking continued past 4 AM, Kang Sehyun never drank, except for when he stepped out twice to smoke cigarettes. For the same reason as me.
‘You’re not drinking?’
‘Not old enough.’
‘But usually people drink anyway if it’s there, don’t they?’
‘Not really into it. Every time you drink, you’re committing a crime, right?’
Surprisingly principled. I was thinking that when the same question came back to me.
‘What about you.’
‘…Me too.’
Second, he has a cleanliness obsession.
At first, when he brought beer for the hyungs while they were playing cards, I thought he was the type who takes good care of others, contrary to his appearance. Similarly, when the drunk hyungs collapsed one by one and he kindly helped them to their rooms, I thought it was for the same reason. But as it turned out, bringing new beers was just a process to clear away the empty bottles on the table, and supporting the hyungs to their rooms was also to clean up the messy living room as quickly as possible.
‘You’re cleaning now?’
‘Yeah.’
‘I’ll help.’
‘It’s fine. I’ll be done soon.’
Each time someone disappeared into a room, the cleared space became as neat as before in just 5 minutes after the drinking session ended.
And finally, the third thing—maybe he’s giving me special treatment.
‘Your number.’
After everyone fell asleep, when we were smoking together, Kang Sehyun held out his phone to me.
‘I’ll contact you.’
I thought it was just a polite thing to say like everyone does, but I didn’t expect to hear from him the very next day. I also didn’t expect those messages to keep coming without stopping.
I couldn’t understand what the hyungs had said.
That Kang Sehyun is picky. That’s why he doesn’t make friends, let alone acquaintances.
Yet that same person approached me very warmly after seeing me just once.
Could the hyungs have lied to me?
If not, I could only see it as him really giving me special treatment.
Thinking it all over again, the Kang Sehyun I’d newly discovered was really not the person I’d expected at all.
Principled, diligent, and friendly.
Rather, I’d have to say he was the complete opposite of the personality I’d expected.
Me: [What’s today?]
As soon as I sent a reply to the message that arrived a moment ago, an answer came in almost a minute. Instead of a long reply, it was a short message: ‘Group chat.’
Since that day, I had one more group chat. Amazingly, the members were exactly the same. Except for one person—Kang Sehyun had been added.
Seo Gihyun: [Today ㅇ]
Im Jungwoo: [ㅇㅇ]
Park Junsung: [what today]
Seo Gihyun: [hyᅟᅧngjin;h]
Park Junsung: [what lol]
Jang Gijae: [?]
Seo Gihyun: [fuck wait]
Seo Gihyun: [today]
Seo Gihyun: [let’s hang out]
Park Junsung: [what so sudden]
Jang Gijae: [we hang out every day]
Seo Gihyun: [fuck next week I gotta study hard]
Seo Gihyun: [study]
Seo Gihyun: [you guys are all gonna disappear]
Im Jungwoo: [exams are next week why today it’s not even the weekend]
Seo Gihyun: [suddenly feel so fucking wronged]
Seo Gihyun: [gotta start hanging out from today]
Seo Gihyun: [Sehyun you come too Sungha too]
Seo Gihyun: [let’s eat hot dogs]
Im Jungwoo: [from what I see that bastard just wants to eat hot dogs]
Jason: [ss nah it’s because of the game]
The chaotic messages that anyone could tell were sent during class continued after that. It was Kihyun hyung’s plea to hang out one more day in preparation for getting busy next week because of exams starting the week after next, and the main point was that while they’re at it, he wants to eat hot dogs and play the new game that came out.
At the very bottom, I saw Kang Sehyun’s short message saying he got it. Judging by the time stamp, it seemed like after he replied that he’d come, he sent me a separate message because I hadn’t answered.
Is he looking out for me in his own way?
I stared at the message asking if I was coming today, then sent a message to the chat with everyone.
Me: [I’ll buy the hot dogs]
After sending the message to the chat, I hesitated about whether I should also reply to Kang Sehyun’s separate message, then sent a brief reply.
Me: [Going]
Was that too curt?
While briefly regretting it, a new message popped up on my phone, which I’d set to silent. It was a quick reply, as if he’d been waiting.
Kang Sehyun: [What time around]
Me: [Has to be after 5:30. Around 6?]
Kang Sehyun: [Got it.]
Kang Sehyun: [(emoticon)]
Ugh.
I let out a silent scream inside.
Come to think of it, this was Kang Sehyun’s most unexpected trait.
Fourth, he uses emoticons that don’t suit him at all.
Looking at the problematic character on the screen, my expression automatically soured. It was an emoticon of a cute male character with a big head spinning round and round in circles above his head.
To think he paid money for something like this. No, other people can buy them, but it really wasn’t for Kang Sehyun.
Why on earth something like this.
As I was thinking this, the lecture had long since been pushed to the back of my mind. The exam was just 2 weeks away, but nothing was going into my head.
Time felt particularly slow today.
* * *
I took the bus and got off at the same place as last time. There were unusually many people getting off, so I stood in line at the back just looking at people’s heads, and only when I passed the stairs and stepped on the ground could I see the face of the person who came to meet me.
“You’re late.”
Kang Sehyun, wearing a simple round-neck t-shirt and jeans, had on a short blue jumper jacket that showed off his tall height well. Even though he was dressed almost the same as me, he looked much better than me, and I felt like I’d lost a bet I didn’t even make.
“When did you get here?”
“Just now too. When I called Kihyun hyung, he said you were arriving soon, so let’s go up together.”
Perhaps because we’d been exchanging messages until just a few hours ago, meeting again wasn’t awkward at all.
“Do you always run this late?”
“Ah, me?”
“Yeah. Does your last lecture end late?”
“Mondays and Wednesdays I have a lot of classes. I packed them on purpose. Because of work.”
“Ah—I see.”
Kang Sehyun nodded with an indifferent expression. And when I said we had to go buy hot dogs, he took the lead and walked to the back of the building. For some reason, there were far more people standing in line today than last time.
“How many should we buy?”
“Seven.”
“Will that be enough?”
“Even if they think it’s delicious, everyone said it’s greasy so they don’t eat more than one.”
“That’s not what I mean—other people might come too.”
Last time, the people who were supposed to meet were only four people: Kihyun hyung, his roommate, and me, but because of people who suddenly dropped by in between, even the eight hot dogs we’d prepared weren’t enough. Today too, more people than the actual number who planned to gather might come.
Of course, there was no reason I had to buy for those people too, but I hoped to avoid the awkward situation where someone came and only we were eating.
“Who’s coming. It’s only us.”
“Only us are supposed to meet, but other people come and go so much.”
“That’s never happened once.”
Well, that’s strange.
Naturally, what Kang Sehyun, who’d been there several times, said was more credible than me, who’d only been once. Even so, I remembered the hyungs laughing and saying that’s how it is here, so I was left with some inexplicable doubt.
[You there in the back, will you order?]
In the end, I ordered 7 hot dogs with an uneasy feeling. The Latino truck owner put sausages on warm buns, piled on the onions sizzling on the griddle, and quickly wrapped up 7 of them. Kang Sehyun, who was waiting right in front, swiftly took the paper bag for me.
“But why are you buying the hot dogs?”
“When I came last time, Kihyun hyung bought them. And when I went to your place, I didn’t buy anything either. I felt bad.”
Everyone said it was fine, but I still felt uncomfortable. I wanted to lighten the burden of only receiving, both during the last dorm visit and at the recent gathering.
“Hmm… You’re nice.”
It’s not about being nice, it’s natural though.
Hearing that I was nice over hot dogs that cost only $2.50 each made my conscience sting somewhere. Even though I kept trying not to think about it, perhaps because the first impression was so strong, every time I saw Kang Sehyun, those three bills I received came to mind.
I need to erase it. Quickly.
