Reason
Kwon Sungha
On Wednesday, which came around again, I now had something I was very curious about.
What exactly is the reason?
“It’s a bit cold here.”
The reason why you’re here right now.
“I’ll go order and come back.”
Kang Sehyun appeared with a neat appearance even on this night. While someone was wearing a cap and even pulling a hood over it to hide their haggard face, he alone revealed his handsome face and entered the donut shop. Then he brazenly pushed the next table over, put down his bag, and asked.
“Want another cup of coffee? Or something else.”
Kang Sehyun, who glanced at my spot, pointed with his chin at the tray placed on one side. Only bread crumbs remained on the piece of paper whose contents had long since disappeared.
“Coffee and a croissant. Ask them to microwave the croissant for just 10 seconds.”
I made a shameless request. Although 1/3 of the completely cold coffee still remained, I wanted to drink something hot, and perhaps because I’d used my brain too much, I was quickly hungry again even after eating an entire piece of bread a little while ago. I could have gone and ordered myself, but I didn’t want to get up when I’d just barely gained momentum and raised my concentration.
Next week was the exam. As Kihyun hyung said, when this week came, everyone went into hiding. The group chat room where hundreds of messages would go up every day became silent as a mouse, and they didn’t even suggest eating lunch together. There was only one time when a message came from Kihyun hyung saying he’d be at the library so come anytime if I wanted to study, but that was it.
As exam period approached, the atmosphere of the entire campus changed considerably. Both the students attending lectures and the professors teaching—everyone’s eyes changed. There were many buildings with lights on until late in the evening, and the library, which had been operating 24 hours since last week, was crowded with many students until dawn.
On Monday, I pulled an all-nighter at the library the hyungs recommended. Everyone there fought their heavy eyelids and overcame sleep. Perhaps because of the atmosphere, it was good for concentrating, but the problem was that it was too hard to find a seat.
Fortunately, the hyungs who had secured seats first saved a seat for me since I finished late, but the seat fight was so fierce that even stepping away briefly to smoke would draw attention, so I didn’t want to ask them to save a seat for me today. That’s how I found this donut shop near campus.
There were several 24-hour cafes near campus, but most places that served food even at dawn would be difficult to stay in for a long time. If not that, the somewhat decent places were already filled with students who had found them like ghosts.
After getting rejected at three places and just as I was about to go home, I was lucky enough to discover this place. I came in to buy something to drink because I was tired, and I liked the quieter-than-expected atmosphere and clean tables. Except for the fact that the interior was a bit cold, everything was fine, so after I settled in, several students came late at night. As if they had used this secret-like space before, they all came in with thick major textbooks tucked under their arms and studied quietly.
Thud.
When I heard a presence and raised my head, Kang Sehyun sat exactly diagonal from me. His large hands set down coffee and bread in front of me.
“Thanks.”
I took a sip of coffee. The savory butter scent tickled my nose, but right now, studying took priority over hunger. I couldn’t even take my eyes off the book and was looking at the same page for a long time when a blunt voice came from in front—thunk.
“Eat it while it’s warm.”
Wow.
The concentration I’d barely managed to raise scattered here and there at just one word. I’d felt it before, but he really has a nice voice. When he speaks such sweet words with that nice voice, what does it matter what his tone is like?
To think I’m now even fluttering over a man—it should be quite shocking, but when I thought that the person was Kang Sehyun, I could somehow understand it.
In the end, I took my eyes off the book and picked up the piping hot croissant. While I filled my empty stomach, Kang Sehyun started looking at the book he’d brought. After completely ruining my concentration.
I openly admired his handsome face from the front. We’d sat next to each other before, but we’d never faced each other like this. How irritating he looked sitting crookedly with his chin propped up. I wondered if Kang Sehyun was grateful to the parents who gave him that face.
“What.”
Kang Sehyun, who felt my gaze, raised his eyes while keeping his head in place.
“Just wondering what you’re studying.”
“Probably similar to you.”
Kang Sehyun, who said that, turned his gaze away again.
Actually, I already knew that Kang Sehyun’s major was in business. I couldn’t ask why he suddenly came here in response to the question of why I was looking, so I just said something that came to mind at the moment.
Why exactly did Kang Sehyun come all the way here at 11:30 at night?
If I think about it simply, he came to study. But why bother?
Thinking about the situation a little while ago, this question couldn’t help but automatically come up. Because when we contacted each other a little while ago, Kang Sehyun was definitely at school.
Kang Sehyun: [Where?]
Me: [Near campus. You?]
Kang Sehyun: [School]
Me: [You can’t still not be done. You studying for exams too?]
Kang Sehyun: [Yeah]
Kang Sehyun: [The hyungs said they’re at the library]
Me: [There were too many people so I just came to a cafe near campus]
Kang Sehyun: [I’ll go that way]
Kang Sehyun: [Address]
Kang Sehyun came 40 minutes after I sent him the address.
From our university to Kang Sehyun’s house only takes 15 minutes, but from there to Kang Sehyun’s university takes another 15 minutes. So it takes 30 minutes total, meaning he left almost immediately after receiving the address from me. It’s not a place on the way to his house, and I couldn’t understand why he bothered to come all the way here, which is in the completely opposite direction from the school he attends.
Isn’t it even annoying? It doesn’t seem like he needs someone to study with either.
While I was having these various thoughts, my stomach became full while my two hands became empty before I knew it. It meant break time was over, and now it was time to gather my scattered concentration again.
About an hour passed, and as dawn came, my eyelids became heavy. I’d pulled an all-nighter on Monday and even worked yesterday, so it would be strange not to be tired. Feeling dazed, I shook my head from side to side. I felt like I had to somehow chase away sleep right now. Should I go smoke a cigarette?
“Want to smoke one?”
Surprisingly, the person who said that was Kang Sehyun. For a moment, I thought I had said it.
“Let’s go out and come back to wake ourselves up. You can see from outside anyway, so just take the important stuff. Leave what you were doing.”
I took only my phone and wallet and went outside. When I breathed in the cold dawn air, I felt like my head cleared a bit.
“Is your exam next week too?”
Come to think of it, I realized I hadn’t asked the most important question and asked. Because I was always with the hyungs, I occasionally forgot that Kang Sehyun was at a different university.
“Yeah. It starts next week and ends the week after.”
“That’s long. Usually it all ends in one week.”
“I have one the Tuesday after that.”
“I see.”
“You.”
Is he asking when I finish?
“I’m next Friday. The other classes are packed on Monday and Tuesday, but one is on Friday.”
“You’ll have a rough weekend.”
Right now, the problem wasn’t the weekend but tomorrow and Friday right away. At least there are no classes on the weekend, which is fortunate, but tomorrow is a day when I have both class and work. If I can just endure two days, I can get some sleep Saturday morning and study all day Sunday, but I’m worried about those two days before that.
Was pulling an all-nighter overdoing it after all?
I’m not the type to sleep much, so I was confident it would be fine, but I’d been struggling even today from just pulling one all-nighter on Monday.
‘You know that assignments are starting to pile up and midterm exam period is coming soon, right?’
‘I know.’
‘Working, studying, and then coming to school from that far place the next day will be hard too.’
‘Can’t be helped.’
‘If it’s really hard, sleep at the dorm. I’ll let you sleep in my room anytime. Not just during exam period, but anytime.’
Should I have asked to let me sleep over in advance?
For some reason, I had the sudden thought that in this state, pulling an all-nighter until today would be too much. At most, I felt like I could endure two or three hours, but if I left then and arrived home at 4 or 5 in the morning, I wouldn’t be able to sleep properly and would have to come back to school again. When I had that thought, I remembered Kihyun hyung’s sweet proposal even more.
I thought about asking hyung belatedly, but the clock was pointing to one. It was too late to send a message.
In the end, there were two methods to choose from. Endure here until the end no matter what, or park the car in the school parking lot and sleep in it.
“How long are you going to do this?”
Kang Sehyun, who asked that, didn’t look tired at all unlike me.
“I don’t know. I have to do at least two or three more hours for now.”
“Then let’s change locations.”
“To where?”
It was a place I’d found with difficulty after going around struggling, but I had no regrets. Since Kang Sehyun probably knew this area better than me, it didn’t matter if we moved to wherever he suggested. I thought it would definitely be better than here. But a completely unexpected place came out of Kang Sehyun’s mouth.
“My house.”
