Jun-wan rushed out of the lab just like that. It was the moment when the sample he’d been painstakingly analyzing became useless in an instant.
At that time, Yu-shin was passing through the hallway. His steps were particularly slow.
I’m not disappointed. He’d guessed they might not be able to meet. Coming in person was his own decision, and he’d directly confirmed with his own eyes the busily running research lab.
The unfamiliar building is just fascinating. The atmosphere was quite different from the university district he’d visited before. The people visible all looked haggard with fatigue, and not one person was chattering loudly. Graduate school seems to be a place that makes people desolate, just like the rumors.
While taking slow steps, someone grabbed Yu-shin’s arm from behind and pulled hard. His body turned automatically at the rough force.
“Kim Yu-shin.”
Jun-wan let out a ragged breath. He’d just run from the lab to here. His complexion was pale, and cold sweat was even forming on his forehead.
“What happened?”
“Ah… Well…”
Yu-shin, equally startled, didn’t know what to say and just opened and closed his lips.
The appearance of the famous same-sex couple together stopped passersby. The stares openly watching were stinging. Jun-wan glared fiercely, but the tenacious curiosity showed no signs of subsiding.
This will only make us a spectacle. Jun-wan furrowed his brow and pulled Yu-shin’s wrist. He opened any door at random and pushed Yu-shin inside.
As soon as he closed the door, a musty smell rose. The space originally used as a seminar room was in terrible shape. As emergency duty continued day after day, even the seminar room was being used as a duty room.
On a cot that someone had brought in, clothes were piled in layers, and on the long table were dozens of disposable coffee cups that had been drunk and abandoned. At the sight no different from a pigsty, Jun-wan bit his lower lip hard. Even though I didn’t mess it up, he didn’t like showing Yu-shin this scene.
First, he ventilated. I only hope the musty old smell will clear a little. The rushing wind hit his face. Jun-wan carelessly swept back his disheveled bangs and turned around. Facing Yu-shin, who stood without knowing why, his taut nerves relaxed with a snap.
“Didn’t I tell you to send it by courier?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know I’d be a disturbance.”
Silence flowed. Jun-wan rubbed his temples. I didn’t mean to blame him, but even to his own ears, his tone was blaming Yu-shin.
“It’s not that… I mean it wasn’t important enough for Kim Yu-shin to come in person.”
“I have free time. I have nothing to do, so what does it matter?”
“……”
“I just wanted to take care of it myself. I was also curious how you were doing.”
Yu-shin looked around. The dirty seminar room isn’t really a flaw. Rather, it was proof that he was living frantically busy.
His wandering gaze reached Jun-wan. He, met at the research lab, was somehow different.
It’s not simply because I haven’t seen him in a while. His appearance leaning crookedly against the window frame in a white coat that came down to his thighs had something intellectual about it.
It really hits me that he’s a researcher. Even though his roughened skin, disheveled hair, and pitch-black under-eye shadows looked haggard with fatigue from every angle, combined with Jun-wan’s facial features, they created quite a decadent atmosphere.
Not knowing it was rude, he stared up at Jun-wan intently. The man who already looked sensitive gradually hardened his expression. Yu-shin deliberately smiled more warmly.
“Jun-wan. This is the first time I’ve seen you with dark circles.”
Jun-wan let out a long sigh and wiped around his eyes with his palm. That won’t brighten under his eyes.
“It’s natural when there’s no time to sleep.”
“I’m not teasing you. Rather, you look sexy.”
What is he saying?
Jun-wan’s palm was stuck to his lower face without moving. His half-revealed face clearly showed bewilderment.
“Are you still half asleep?”
“I woke up ages ago, what sleep talk?”
“You’re saying that in your right mind?”
Yu-shin shrugged his shoulders. When someone gives a compliment, just accept it—why twist it?
A laugh suddenly came out. I guess I missed these conversations that clash like rough stones.
“When will you be done being busy?”
“I don’t know. Whether it’ll be tomorrow or a week from now.”
“Can’t you commute? Did the professor tell you not to go home?”
Yu-shin’s question was purely innocent. It was a question he could ask because he didn’t know the nature of research that needed to be monitored overnight. Jun-wan let out a big sigh. A faint headache washed over him due to the insomnia that had continued for days.
“When there’s not even enough time to sleep, what commuting?”
“Aren’t they working you too hard? No matter how urgent the situation is, they should guarantee basic requirements.”
“Research work is originally like that.”
“Park Jun-wan. There’s no such thing as ‘originally like that.’ This is very wrong.”
Yu-shin unusually picked at each word clearly. We should protest to the professor, he got excited as if it were his own matter.
Jun-wan pressed his temples while squinting one eye. Answering everything one by one made his head throb.
“Let’s stop. You won’t understand even if I explain anyway.”
“Are you looking down on me right now?”
“Kim Yu-shin, you have no work experience.”
“What are you talking about? I have a job too.”
“I’ve never seen you draw since we got married.”
“So what?”
“Without effort or a sense of calling, can you call yourself an artist? Normally, that’s called a nice-sounding pretense.”
Yu-shin’s mouth opened halfway.
It felt like being hit on the back of the head without warning. It was the first time in his life hearing such words. It’s so absurd, a bitter laugh came out. Jun-wan was talking like this because he didn’t know about him.
Just then, a buzzing vibration sound was heard. The source of the sound was Jun-wan’s lab coat pocket. Jun-wan, who took out his phone, looked at the name on the screen and narrowed his eyes thinly. Someone’s looking for him again.
Yu-shin let out a small sigh. I should have sent it by courier, acting out of character trying to provide support ultimately caused this trouble.
“I’ll go.”
He turned and walked to the door. Just as he grabbed the doorknob and was about to turn it, Jun-wan approached and pushed the slightly opened door closed. He firmly pressed the door with his palm while answering the phone.
“Yeah, I’ll be away for just ten more minutes. Make up something appropriate for the professor. I don’t know, say I went to sleep.”
“……”
Yu-shin’s gaze turned upward. The man standing guard like a gatekeeper was also looking down at Yu-shin while talking to someone else. Complex emotions that couldn’t be expressed in words were contained in their mingling gazes.
“I can’t go right now.”
Jun-wan hammered the point once more and hung up. His sigh tickled Yu-shin’s forehead.
“I’ll call you a taxi.”
“……”
“Take it home.”
Yu-shin knew how to call a taxi by himself. But he nodded as if yielding. This is Jun-wan’s reconciliation signal. The man who didn’t know how to apologize and only spoke sharply was trying hard to correct the atmosphere that had cooled.
A little later, a taxi arrived in front of the research center. As soon as the car stopped, Jun-wan opened the back seat door. Is this really the person who came to see me off?—there was no trace of a smile on his face.
Yu-shin got in the car. He had an attitude accustomed to being escorted. With a slightly sullen face, he looked out the window. Seen from outside, Jun-wan’s dark circles are even darker in color.
“…Go in. You’re busy.”
“Text me when you arrive.”
Jun-wan slipped the taxi driver a tip. He even added words asking him to drive safely. Yu-shin watched the scene while holding tight to his seatbelt.
Jun-wan closed the car door for him and took steps without lingering. He didn’t have the leisure to watch the taxi leave.
He moved his long legs diligently. Unlike his composed expression, the researcher ID pinned to his chest swayed breathlessly. Although I hate being rushed, since the professor was looking for him, there was no choice. After catching his breath once in front of the lab, he threw open the door. A savory smell wafted from inside.
“Oh, Jun-wan. We were waiting and started eating first.”
The professor raised his chopsticks in welcome. On the long circular table, lunch boxes were piled high. The researchers sitting around the table all had bulging cheeks.
“Sunbae! Why are you only coming now?”
“Thank you for the meal! Thank you!”
What on earth is this? He didn’t understand. Jun-wan was grabbed by a junior and forcibly dragged. Even squeezed among the researchers, his face showed he couldn’t understand.
“What’s with the lunch boxes?”
“You didn’t know? They were prepared at home.”
The professor tapped the lunch box containers with chopsticks. Abalone, eel—all the food contained inside was expensive and precious health food.
