The convenience store they’d arrived at before they knew it was quiet. To begin with, on weekends, students at this school were busy leaving campus and returning home, and the convenience store inside the dormitory hit rock bottom in usage even on weekdays. Gye Sajun, who naturally took a seat at a table, bought a bunch of snacks that didn’t even suit him. As soon as Woojae started his shift, he scanned the barcodes of what that bastard had bought and clicked his tongue.
“Do you have time to spare?”
“Not really.”
“Then you should stop talking.”
“What about you? What are you going to do after your part-time job ends?”
There wouldn’t be any customers anyway, so Woojae decided to have a conversation with Gye Sajun who was talking to him. In the first place, it was ridiculous to calmly organize his thoughts about him with the person in question right in front of his eyes.
“When it’s over, I have to study.”
“Why don’t you make some time?”
“What time?”
“I said I’d teach you self-defense. I kept waiting, but you had no opening so I couldn’t say anything. What I ordered also just arrived yesterday.”
Ah, that day’s conversation. Woojae looked at Gye Sajun bringing up a topic he’d been strangely avoiding and instead closed his mouth. By the way, what on earth was this talk about an order? It was an answer that would never come out from pondering alone.
“Order? What order?”
“Since you’re learning anyway, it’s better to do it properly equipped.”
If you’re going to talk, talk properly. But Gye Sajun ended with those words and lowered his gaze to the book he’d brought. Since a customer burst in right after, Woojae couldn’t ask again either, and that conversation ended. It was that evening when Woojae properly understood the meaning of what Gye Sajun had said.
***
As soon as his part-time job ended, Woojae, who ended up eating dinner courtesy of Gye Sajun, had to be led by that bastard’s hand straight to the gym.
The gym on Saturday evening was completely devoid of people. Gye Sajun scanned his student ID as if familiar and opened a closed door inside. Inside the cold iron door was a spacious room with thick mattresses laid on the floor. It was wide enough to be a bit embarrassing to call it a room, though.
“Where is this?”
“It’s a shared space. Anyone who joins the central athletics club can use it.”
Looking closely, it seemed there was a changing room and even a shower room. Just how much money did this school have? Woojae examined the interior and pursed his lips.
“I’m going to change clothes now, do you want to change separately? You can use the changing room.”
“What’s the big deal between guys?”
Watching Gye Sajun suddenly act modest, Woojae frowned. But once he’d answered roughly, he regretted it a little. Because he was a bit reluctant to see that bastard’s bare body.
“You use the changing room.”
Even so, he didn’t want to go into the changing room alone. Wouldn’t it feel like he was reluctant to show his bare body to that bastard? Between guys. This was a matter of pride.
“Don’t say ridiculous things. Other people besides me can open and close the door here.”
“…….”
“Follow me in.”
Gye Sajun snapped at him as if suddenly getting angry, then sighed and led Woojae inside. He couldn’t tell what had made that bastard angry, but Woojae was in the position of learning anyway, so he followed without complaint.
“Are you wearing a t-shirt or something underneath?”
The changing room wasn’t narrow either, and a question suddenly flew at Woojae who was scanning the lined-up cabinets. Woojae flapped the hoodie he’d put on right after waking up and washing in the morning once with his hand to check and answered.
“I’m not wearing anything.”
“……Damn it.”
“Did you just curse?”
Gye Sajun, who’d muttered lowly, took off the sweatshirt he was wearing while staring at Woojae. A black t-shirt clung to his robust physique, showing its contours as they were. Gye Sajun didn’t stop there and took off that shirt too, showing his bare body, and handed what he’d taken off to Woojae.
“Wear mine.”
“Why?”
“When you wear a dobok, the front flap opens easily. You must wear underwear inside. There’s no spare right now, so wear mine at least.”
Then what about you? Woojae received the bundle of clothes Gye Sajun held out, keeping the question that didn’t make it out of his mouth to himself. Because he thought that if he argued more here, he’d only lengthen the time facing that bastard’s bare skin.
Only then did he realize that what he’d said about ordering earlier was about the dobok. The white dobok that seemed to fit him better than Gye Sajun’s build was clearly brand new no matter how you looked at it. It was uncomfortable to keep being indebted, but at this point where they’d come this far, it seemed ridiculous to make an issue of it.
Absurdly, that bastard’s t-shirt smelled good. A good smell from a big male bastard. The cloth with warmth remaining draped appropriately over Woojae’s white body. Since he was changing with his back turned, only the soft rustling sound of cloth quietly lingered. When he roughly put on the dobok pants and top and turned around, Gye Sajun in a jet-black dobok with a blue belt tied around it was looking at him.
It was an excellent appearance, believable even if you said he’d been ripped straight out of a sports pictorial. He’d tried earnestly to find that bastard’s flaws but it ended in failure. Rather, it was closer to being annoying.
“Fucking unlucky.”
“I can’t tell why you’re angry again. Come here. I’ll tie the belt for you.”
Gye Sajun, who was gesturing while holding a white belt, had a bad expression. Feeling uncomfortable at that bastard’s attitude of continuously frowning without being able to make eye contact, Woojae threw out a rebuke jokingly for no reason.
“How many years have you been learning to still be at a blue belt?”
“5 years.”
Are you stupid? What did you do for 5 years? Woojae, who roughly thought of it similarly to taekwondo, seriously looked down on Gye Sajun. Even neighborhood kids walked around with black belts. And it was much later that he learned that jiu-jitsu, which he was trying to teach him, was a martial art where advancing in rank was difficult.
Gye Sajun told him to loosen up his body lightly and taught him simple warm-up exercises. Woojae moved his body as that bastard taught him, doing his best in his own way. Gye Sajun’s expression watching such a Woojae seemed somewhat uncomfortable somewhere, yet also looked unbothered. How he could do two things simultaneously was unknowable. Eventually, from Woojae’s mouth that had been quite uncomfortable, a rather disagreeable voice popped out.
“Are you sick somewhere?”
“……No.”
Gye Sajun, who had achieved only a blue belt over the long period of 5 years, was doing the splits in front of Woojae, revealing a flexible body that didn’t match his build. That’s possible? At a movement he couldn’t readily imitate, Woojae spoke as if finding fault for no reason.
“Are you a mollusk?”
“That’s a unique way to compliment flexibility.”
Fucking bastard. Woojae blamed Gye Sajun inwardly. Gye Sajun, who let out a deep sigh, strode closer and pushed his foot between Woojae’s legs, which were spread about 90 degrees at most.
“Wh-what are you doing!”
“This is all spread out? Spread more.”
“Aaaaah!”
Gye Sajun grabbed and pulled both of Woojae’s arms and spread his own legs too while pushing Woojae’s legs apart steadily. The overwhelming screams bursting through his teeth contained the pain he was feeling exactly as it was. However, Gye Sajun was merciless. Like a wicked yoga instructor, he only split Woojae’s legs.
“Such exaggeration for barely touching.”
“Barely? What are your standards? How is this barely! And exaggeration! It hurts!”
“Are you serious? That’s all? Are you the stick insect?”
“Who are you calling an insect!”
“You compared me to a squid or octopus.”
“But at least those are edible— Aaaaah!”
His body, stiff as could be, wouldn’t move according to Gye Sajun’s will. Eventually, Woojae’s back became strangely bent like a shrimp, and only groaning sounds kept bursting between his lips.
“This shouldn’t be happening.”
Gye Sajun was making an expression of “this is strange” like a grandfather beating a computer that wasn’t working properly.
“Aaaaah!! Stop! Stop! Fuck! You crazy bastard!!”
After that too, Woojae, who was semi-forcibly stretched, had to collapse on the floor in a tattered state in a short time. It hurt enough for the strange feeling he’d felt looking at that bastard to evaporate instantly.
“Get up.”
“Ugh, it hurts. Fuuuck…….”
“Get up and grab my collar here.”
Woojae sprang up from his spot at the welcome words he’d heard, leaving the pain behind. Since he could legally grab Gye Sajun’s collar, there was no reason to refuse. Even if he collapsed and died, he had to do at least this before dying. And when Woojae grabbed Gye Sajun’s collar with both hands as if seizing it, that bastard burst into laughter.
“Only one hand here. Left hand, grab the clothes near my elbow here.”
“Really……. Why are you grabbing too?”
Woojae, who had one side of his collar grabbed as well, asked as if puzzled. The sight of him gripping the collar in the same manner as if it were a mirror was quite funny.
“This way you won’t get hurt. I’ll teach you simple things first, so listen well.”
“Fuck.”
“Lift your right foot and put it against my pelvis.”
Woojae lifted his foot according to Gye Sajun’s coaching and propped it against that bastard’s lower body area. Subtly squishy flesh brushed his sole.
“Urk.”
“L-like this?”
When he stumbled a few times in the awkward position, Gye Sajun grabbed Woojae’s ankle and fixed it in a higher position. Now he was openly making an uncomfortable expression.
“A bit higher than there.”
Gye Sajun took his hand off Woojae’s ankle with slightly furrowed eyes. When Gye Sajun’s palm, hot compared to his own body temperature, left, a chill was felt on his ankle.
“Pull the hand grabbing the collar while pushing with your foot. And lie back.”
“Back?”
“Yeah.”
Woojae recalled what Gye Sajun had just said, pulled the collar, pushed that bastard’s pelvis as if kicking with his foot, and lay back. Perhaps because he pulled and kicked harder than expected, Gye Sajun fell almost embracing him onto his body. The moment his back touched the soft mattress, he suddenly thought something was strange.
