The most painful times were the three meal periods each day. Morning was fine since many students either skipped or ate alone, but during lunch when everyone headed to the cafeteria together, it was painful to be exposed as utterly alone among the bustling crowd.
That’s why he would hide in places like this where others couldn’t see him, and only go to eat when lunchtime was almost over.
Sunmin stayed silent, finding it unfamiliar that Hanju had pushed his way into this gap.
“Hmm, wow… this isn’t a simple matter. You need expensive telescopes and everything. Does our school even have something like that?”
Hanju pushed up his glasses and flipped through the pages rapidly.
Just looking at him, it was clear Hanju was fired up. The fact that he had borrowed and was reading a book just from being invited to join the astronomy club showed his diligence. Of course, Sunmin already knew well that he was the diligent type from studying together in the same room throughout the exam period. (It was surprising, nonetheless, that his grades weren’t in the top tier.)
The times spent studying with friends through the night had felt like a dream-like, comfortable time for Sunmin. It felt like he had temporarily achieved the high school life he had dreamed of.
But once he left the dormitory and entered the classroom, reality unfolded again, and Sunmin accepted that gap too.
He had never imagined that the friendship secretly shared in the room would extend outside, like today. He had thought that would be a luxury…
Perhaps that’s why. Without realizing it, Sunmin blurted out a question without context.
“Are you… okay?”
“Hm?”
Hanju pushed up his glasses again. His bright, round eyes that looked like a great detective’s gazed at Sunmin.
Are you okay being seen with me, someone with bad rumors, by other kids?
But Hanju didn’t seem to understand the question itself. Not knowing whether he was doing this knowingly or unknowingly made it even harder to deal with him.
However, Hanju, who would never understand Sunmin’s delicate feelings even if his life depended on it, soon started chattering away by himself.
“I heard yesterday that Hakyoung asked Yumyeong to join too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. But Yumyeong said he won’t do it.”
“…Oh, really?”
“Obviously. The two of them fight to the death whenever they’re together… But actually, isn’t it strange how they click so well even though they hate each other? Should I say they’re on the same level?”
“Hmm… maybe they’re close.”
“Ah~ I get it. You definitely can’t call them close. But even though they’re going to fight to death, they keep picking fights with each other, it’s just like…”
In front of Hanju who was going on like that, Sunmin, who had been contemplating, quietly revealed the scene he had witnessed recently.
It was still something he couldn’t quite understand and found confusing.
“Actually, I saw something strange a while ago, and what it was…”
What Sunmin then revealed was surprising enough to make Hanju jump up from his seat.
“You saw Yumyeong taking Hakyoung’s money?!”
At Hanju’s words, Sunmin brought his index finger to his lips.
“Shh, someone might hear.”
“Haa, even if Shin Yumyeong’s personality is a bit unusual, he’s not that much of a disaster.”
“It might not have been taking. It just looked that way. At first I thought I must have seen wrong, but I saw something similar twice.”
Sunmin still had a face that found it hard to accept. Hanju reasoned.
“Then maybe instead of putting his hand in the jacket, he was straightening his clothes?”
“Then what was that yellow thing in Yumyeong’s hand?”
“Could it have been a ginkgo leaf?”
Before they knew it, the two had become absorbed in the conversation. You could see their effort to somehow interpret the incomprehensible situation positively.
As Sunmin had witnessed, Yumyeong’s extortion had been continuing quietly and subtly all along. The problem was that while these two appeared at first glance to have a relationship like a thug extorting money and his victim running errands, in reality they were closer to a hungry cat and a philanthropist who provided food for free.
Yumyeong would usually approach with a cheerful face, put his arm around Hakyoung’s shoulder, and brazenly extort cash or food. Occasionally, he would swagger like this and put on a threatening act.
“Hey, Ryu Hakyoung. You look like you’ve got money?”
Deliberately lowering his voice and tilting his head to imitate a thug.
“Look, look. Even your wallet reeks of luxury. Looks like you carry wads of cash around.”
Then he would stick his hand into Hakyoung’s chest without permission and rummage through his chest pocket. Startled by the sudden contact, Hakyoung recoiled backward.
“What is it this time?”
“So I can buy ramyeon. Want some too?”
Before he knew it, Yumyeong was grinning. Hakyoung let out an inaudible sigh through his lips and stood up from his seat.
Yumyeong, with his hands shoved in his pockets climbing the stairs, was humming. Hakyoung silently followed him from a few steps behind.
“What are you going to eat?”
“Anything.”
“I really hate when people say ‘anything’ about food.”
Yumyeong muttered as he inserted the thousand-won bill Hakyoung had given him into the vending machine. Hakyoung looked at the vending machine and replied as if to say what did it matter.
“There are only two types anyway. They taste the same too.”
The single ramyeon vending machine in the dormitory had only two types—Yukgaejang and Shin Ramyun. The first row had only four Yukgaejang, and the bottom row had only four Shin Ramyun. Hakyoung didn’t feel the value in distinguishing the difference between those spicy, salty, stimulating flavors.
“They’re clearly different!”
But Yumyeong protested as if that was nonsense and tapped the Yukgaejang button twice with the back of his hand. Soon the sound of ramyeon rolling out was heard.
“Let’s eat here.”
Yumyeong got wooden chopsticks and settled in the lounge. While waiting for it to cook, Hakyoung peeled the paper off the wooden chopsticks and carefully split them in two.
Snap!
But as always, he failed again.
Seeing Hakyoung’s chopsticks that always split asymmetrically at the ends, Yumyeong smirked and said.
“You’re really showing you’ve never done this.”
Hakyoung didn’t respond. Because what Yumyeong said was true.
This was the first time he had eaten ramyeon and carbonated drinks, which he would eat maybe once or twice a year, this frequently. Since childhood, Hakyoung had been a child who caused much worry due to health issues, and as a result, he was raised under strict management. For such a Hakyoung, all these unhealthy environments he was exposed to during dormitory life felt very refreshing.
Compared to this, Yumyeong’s palate could be called indulgent. He didn’t consider health at all and just focused on pleasing his tongue.
“Eating this stuff often is bad for your health.”
“Nagging again.”
“It’s obvious. If even this sounds like nagging, you should reflect on yourself.”
Yumyeong shook his head as if he didn’t want to hear more and peeled off the top of the ramyeon.
“How can you live just eating cafeteria food?”
Then he soon buried his nose in the small cup ramyeon. Hakyoung’s eyes, which had been nagging just moments ago, had already softened and were unconsciously watching Yumyeong eat well.
Like this, Yumyeong would often get food from Hakyoung under the guise of “extortion.” Even knowing everything, Hakyoung would silently hand over his wallet to him. Yumyeong was always hungry because he had no money to buy snacks or late-night food, and once he knew that, he couldn’t bring himself to be stingy.
Moreover, recently Hakyoung learned the reason why Yumyeong had been walking around in just a shirt facing the bitter cold of early spring.
Unlike what he had thought—that he must have lost it somewhere—Yumyeong’s winter uniform jacket was hanging neatly in his closet. When he felt curious about what he happened to discover and slightly lifted it with his hand, he immediately saw that the lining was torn in a long line from the sleeve to the waist.
This was why he couldn’t wear it. He didn’t know when it had been torn, but it felt strange that instead of buying a new one, he had just put it in the closet and never taken it out.
Come to think of it, when he was severely ill, he had also not gone to the hospital and instead used that money to buy pizza. Hakyoung remembered that the blue bruise on Yumyeong’s ankle had lasted quite a long time. Even seeing him run and walk fine with his own eyes, Hakyoung’s heart was only troubled.
“Aren’t you eating? It’ll get soggy.”
“I’ll eat slowly.”
“If you don’t want to eat it, give it to me.”
Hakyoung silently took a big chopstick-full of ramyeon and transferred it to Yumyeong’s bowl. It was almost half. After giving it to him, their eyes met. Yumyeong grinned as if pleased with what he’d done. The moment he saw that smile, Hakyoung reflexively lowered his eyes.
Strangely, the current Yumyeong seemed just like an orphan with no one to take care of him.
Of course, that couldn’t be true. His father, and even his grandfather, were all famous politicians. He didn’t seem to reveal it much at school, so except for some, no one seemed to know, but Hakyoung had known this fact from the beginning.
Yumyeong’s home, which he had often visited in childhood, was a grand mansion located on the prime land of Namsan where luxury hotels stood front and back. In the serene mansion situated at the end of a dead-end alley where ordinary people’s passage was almost blocked, in the garden lush with climbing roses, the two had often spent time together.
He remembered that the young Yumyeong enjoyed everything that could be enjoyed there, and at the same time received private lessons so packed that there was nothing he hadn’t tried. Even he, who had many restrictions due to language issues, would want to do things together when he saw what Yumyeong was doing. Moreover, unlike himself who would give up at the slightest difficulty, Yumyeong tackled even things he disliked with determination and was generally an excellent student in all fields. Hakyoung had greatly admired and liked Yumyeong from that time.
But what on earth had happened after that…
“Hanju said he’ll do the astronomy club.”
Yumyeong suddenly spoke to Hakyoung, who was lost in thought.
“Ah… I see.”
Hakyoung stirred his uninteresting ramyeon and replied half-heartedly.
“You said you need four people, right? Did you get them?”
“Yes.”
Hakyoung nodded quietly. At the fact that four people had gathered even without him, Yumyeong raised his eyebrows and replied, “I knew it.”
“See, I told you people would line up if you asked them. Why did you even come to someone like me who has no interest—”
To the grumbling Yumyeong, Hakyoung quietly replied.
“Because I wanted to do it together.”
