Since the break started, Yumyeong had been living an oddly regular life. The number one contributor to this was naturally Ryu Hakyoung.
After sleeping soundly in the same room, when he naturally opened his eyes with the morning roll call, he would be led by his hand to go eat breakfast. During the semester, skipping breakfast was as natural as breathing, but now he was shoving breakfast into his mouth even while rubbing his eyes.
“Here, drink.”
Around when he finished his meal, Hakyoung personally opened the banana milk that came with the meal for him. Yumyeong frowned and said.
“I was going to save it and drink it later.”
“If you want to drink it again later, I’ll buy it for you.”
“…”
At those words, Yumyeong took the milk without complaint. The strongly sweet flavored drink went down his throat in an instant.
It was also Hakyoung who brought water for two people when he came with his meal tray and sat down, and it was also Hakyoung who brought utensils or tissues when he forgot and left them behind. After briefly feeling unfamiliar since no one had ever taken care of him like this, Yumyeong instantly adapted to the excessively convenient situation.
The moment he drank the milk in one go and let out a small burp, he made eye contact with Hakyoung. Rather than being disgusted by the somewhat off-putting act, he made eye contact for a suspiciously long time. The handsome guy’s quietly sparkling eyes felt burdensome, so he thought about picking his nose in front of him, but decided against it.
Why is he staring like that? At a face that hasn’t even been washed yet.
“Are you originally like this?”
“…?”
It seemed he didn’t understand, so Yumyeong scratched his head for a moment. Come to think of it, he’d once gotten angry seeing him lend his jacket to Heeun, and even then Hakyoung had shamelessly said with his own mouth, ‘I’m originally affectionate.’ This might be his nature.
“Shouldn’t you be a bit more careful about your conduct when you look like you do?”
With his chin propped up, Hakyoung only blinked slowly.
That’s exactly the problem. He has no particular meaning, but a hundred people get caught…
Yumyeong imagined about a hundred human-shaped moths flying at Hakyoung. With that face, even if he just exuded coldness, there would be plenty of people following him, but since he was even affectionate once close, he’d never run out of lovers in his lifetime.
“Can Lee Sunmin really not fall for this?”
At the unexpected name that came from Yumyeong’s mouth, Hakyoung finally flinched.
“What?”
The voice asking had no particular emotion in it. It was just a dry “What?” as if confirming what he’d just heard. Somehow it felt a bit awkward to ask again, so Yumyeong just changed the subject.
“Hey, you’ve dated a lot, haven’t you?”
Hakyoung just blinked again without answering.
“In America… did you also date foreigners?”
“…”
“How are foreigners?”
Yumyeong looked out the window for no reason and just slapped his own thigh. However, Hakyoung didn’t answer what was asked and only said nonsensical things.
“They speak English.”
“…Is that funny?”
“Hmm, but why are you curious about that?”
“You change the subject when you don’t want to answer.”
“I’m curious why you’re curious.”
When the seriously asking voice brushed past his ear, goosebumps rose again. Yumyeong made a dying face and poked at the cold rice for no reason. He hoped Hakyoung hadn’t noticed that the ear scratched by that low voice had gotten hot.
“…You’re killing my appetite.”
After saying that, it was his own side that inwardly flinched.
That was too much.
He sneakily raised his eyes to check his face, but even at the somewhat harsh words, Hakyoung’s complexion didn’t change. He just picked up his meal tray and stood up first, as if knowing he was full. Somehow relieved by the attitude of cleanly backing off without digging in further, Yumyeong also awkwardly followed behind him.
It was when they got close to the tray return area. His phone in his pocket vibrated.
“Wait…”
Yumyeong stopped and fumbled in his pants pocket. With a meal tray in one hand, he took out his phone and checked the screen. The unsaved number somehow looked familiar.
“Hello?”
And as soon as he heard the voice on the other end of the line, Yumyeong realized who it was.
His father’s secretary.
“Uh, yes… I’m at school right now.”
Hakyoung, who had arrived at the tray return area first, turned around to look at Yumyeong, who had stopped without following him.
“Today? Yes, going out should be possible…”
He was only receiving a call, but Yumyeong’s face was stiffly tense. Hakyoung was very bothered by Yumyeong’s hardened face.
***
Yumyeong, who had left the dormitory saying he had family matters, didn’t show himself until even before evening roll call started that day.
[Coming late?]
[I’m eating dinner first]
[Is it an overnight stay? You didn’t apply though]
[Should I apply for you?]
[Is something wrong?]
There were no replies to all the messages sent sporadically at intervals of several hours. There was no response to the calls made in between either.
Thinking of Yumyeong who had left with a hardened expression saying “family matters,” all kinds of thoughts came to mind. Perhaps his family had been in a serious accident, or maybe something had happened to Yumyeong.
He was worried and couldn’t stand it.
Hakyoung went down to the first floor of the dormitory holding his phone. The supervisor’s room he glanced at before leaving through the entrance door was empty. If he went out to look for him now, he too might be late for roll call. While considering a bit whether to venture out accepting this or wait for the supervisor teacher, Hakyoung tried calling one more time as a last attempt. However, Yumyeong’s phone power had been turned off at some point.
Without hesitation, he left the lively dormitory building and stepped into the dusky campus.
After leaving the school gate, Hakyoung glanced once at the dark path leading toward the hiking trail, then walked in the opposite direction. It was toward downtown. The streetlight illuminating brightly under his feet along the school wall gradually decreased in number as he approached the small stream.
Perhaps the stream had swollen from the rain that had poured down recently, the sound of water rushing below the bridge could be heard. He’d heard that when this stream was completely dried up, sometimes students from other schools would commit delinquent acts under the bridge. Just in case, he leaned over to look below, but there were no signs of people.
Hakyoung moved his steps again. Old local buses rattled by on the road with few cars. Cars that were clearly from outside enjoyed nighttime racing and flashed past like arrows.
The surroundings were pitch dark, and there was no guarantee anywhere that he could find him, but strangely, unlike when he sat still waiting for Yumyeong, he didn’t feel incredibly anxious. With each step he took, he somehow felt he would definitely meet him.
Before long, Hakyoung’s premonition came true.
In the distance, a person could be seen at the bus stop. At the empty bus stop with no cars or people, Yumyeong was sitting alone.
Hakyoung silently approached him slowly. However, even until he got very close, Yumyeong seemed not to even sense a person’s presence with his blank face.
It was a face he’d seen before. A face full of many words in his eyes but that seemed like it ultimately wouldn’t spit out anything.
Hakyoung stared at Yumyeong’s profile that couldn’t usually be seen well.
“Ah.”
Only after seeing the long shadow cast before him did Yumyeong barely notice Hakyoung and raise his head.
As soon as their eyes met, Yumyeong smiled. Those black eyes were rippling oddly.
“How did you know to come?”
“Where you are is obvious.”
Yumyeong chuckled.
“That’s funny.”
“If not me, who would look for you?”
“…”
Without responding, Yumyeong turned his gaze away. Like before, he just kept his mouth shut while looking at the empty farmland with nothing there.
Hakyoung stood there for a while, just repeatedly clenching and unclenching his innocent fists while waiting for Yumyeong to get up. He didn’t urge him saying roll call would start soon either. However, since he showed no signs of getting up at all, he rather sat down beside him himself.
Even after that, it was a long while before Yumyeong’s lips slowly opened.
“Hey… want me to tell you something amazing?”
“…”
“I got a place to live on my own. Awesome, right?”
Hakyoung turned his head to look at Yumyeong’s profile.
“I wanted to be independent and live alone someday… fix up a cool place, not be interfered with by anyone. I thought I could do that maybe when I became a college student, but I’m still a high school student and I’ve already achieved that dream.”
“Did they let you become independent?”
“Yeah.”
The face where expression had disappeared at some point and the words didn’t match, making it puzzling. Instead of probing further, Hakyoung waited for Yumyeong to tell him directly.
However, Yumyeong brushed off his pants and stood up from that spot, then briefly said, “Let’s go.” Hakyoung silently followed behind him.
With each of Yumyeong’s steps, the sound of dragging slippers could be heard. Come to think of it, it seemed he’d gone out wearing those. Even though it had been quite a long outing. There were too many strange points from beginning to end.
“Huh.”
Like that, as soon as they entered the campus, Yumyeong suddenly stopped. He’d only now noticed the light of the dormitory that had dimmed with lights-out.
“Hey, what time is it?”
At that moment, Hakyoung’s phone started ringing frantically.
Yumyeong, who had been fumbling around his body looking for his own phone, only then realized it was turned off and seemed quite flustered. Hakyoung quietly answered the phone behind Yumyeong like that.
“Hello.”
—You bastards, where are you! Where did both of you go!
The supervisor’s yelling voice could be heard from beyond the receiver. Unlike Hakyoung who only frowned slightly, Yumyeong muttered something about being screwed and ran inside frantically while wearing his slippers.
“…We’re coming in now.”
