– Sorry, but I think I need to go now.
– Right now?
It was just before Woojae was about to leave the house, led by Gye Sajun’s hand. At an exquisite moment, his phone rang. He only checked the caller without answering, then immediately said he had to go, which was puzzling, but Woojae figured he must have his reasons.
– Be careful going.
– I’ll give you your present at the dorm.
– I don’t need it, you bastard.
There was nothing to feel disappointed about. He just nodded. Gye Sajun looked back at him several times from the entrance, but Woojae didn’t bother to hold him back. There was no reason to.
Not long after, Nari called. It was a call to wish him happy birthday. He wanted to see his sister’s face and tried to visit her in front of her school, but she refused. It became a floating weekend. Since studying alone felt pointless, he eventually returned to the dorm early.
That was the first birthday he’d had since becoming an adult. It seemed no different from previous years, yet so much was different.
And on the night Woojae returned to the dorm, he had another dream of getting entangled with Gye Sajun. If there was something different about the dream he had this time, it was that he didn’t headbutt or swing his fists. Maybe that’s why the dream was long. Yet he didn’t dislike it. This was serious.
***
If there was something good about Seoul First University despite it being shitty, it was that first-year midterms ended within a week. It seemed questionable whether this kind of exam system was okay when it wasn’t even high school, but it was a possible schedule because the school created the entire timetable for freshmen.
Of course, that was from the school’s perspective—the students were losing their minds taking exams day after day. Thanks to that, the entire library was packed with students studying as if suffering from an illness.
“Fuuuck, I don’t want to do this……”
Jang Yeonju had long since thrown her pen to the side and was fiddling with her phone. And all that came out of her mouth was that she didn’t want to do it. And Woojae couldn’t understand Yeonju at all.
“What don’t you want to do when you’re not doing anything?”
“That bastard, he’s an inhuman bastard. Sojeong-ah, look at him. That bastard doesn’t understand the heart of ordinary people like that. Extraordinary bastard.”
It was absurd to be called extraordinary by a beta, the very symbol of ordinariness. Sojeong had earbuds in and was highlighting his book. So he obviously couldn’t have heard Jang Yeonju’s complaints, but maybe because he had a good personality, he just laughed “haha.” He’d bet he didn’t understand a thing.
Then a shadow fell over Woojae. Even without looking up, it was easy to know who the shadow’s owner was. He couldn’t smell pheromones or anything, but he had a nose. The familiar scent of body wash wafted over, as if he’d just taken a shower.
“I bought coffee.”
“Oh, thanks. Hey, but once exams are over, we’re going on MT. Totally exciting. I’m gonna drink so much.”
Jang Yeonju reached out and took her share of coffee. Woojae looked at Gye Sajun, who naturally sat next to him.
“Drink while you work.”
Woojae deliberately ignored Gye Sajun, who pushed the coffee right up to his hand. Heat was transmitted through the paper cup that touched the back of his hand. Feeling his throat somehow parched, he grabbed it and moistened his throat, but burned his tongue at a temperature hotter than expected. Did he bring lava?
“Is it good?”
Despite bringing it himself, he seemed unaware it was hot enough to burn all the way to the esophagus. His tongue stung so much he couldn’t tell the taste or anything. A faint sweet taste belatedly spread on the tip of his tongue. It was probably yujacha. Not wanting to appear weak over a mere tea, Woojae roughly nodded at Gye Sajun’s question.
“Yeah.”
“Coffee isn’t very good for you, so I bought tea.”
Gye Sajun, who rambled on about things he didn’t even ask, was really strange.
Back then, he’d said he’d give a birthday present when they got to the dorm, and sure enough, the guy handed over a pajama set just as he’d said. After refusing several times, he made a fuss and ended up getting caught about his birthday by Minwook too, becoming tired on both sides.
– I don’t need a birthday present.
– Just accept what I was going to give you anyway without complaining.
Gye Sajun spoke firmly to Woojae, who refused until the end, and Minwook signaled from behind to please just accept it. He later heard that Gye Sajun had first asked Minwook for advice, saying he wanted to give Woojae something. He was told the things that had been in the options were the kind that would make him fall backwards if he heard them, so don’t try to find out and just accept that nicely and move on.
– If I’d known it was your birthday, I would’ve bought a present too.
– It’s fine. If I receive presents, I have to prepare them too, but I’m not rich like you guys, so it’s just a burden.
Minwook returned in the evening with a slightly sullen face carrying a cake. He said a 2-page letter minimum would do for his birthday, then handed over daily necessities so he couldn’t refuse.
“Thanks.”
“Wow, you two are being lovey-dovey. What’s going on? Go Woojae is thanking Gye Sajun.”
He casually threw out a thank you as naturally as possible, but Jang Yeonju seized that gap to pick a fight. She was probably just doing that because she didn’t want to study anyway.
Woojae gripped the yujacha tightly in his hand. He was already juggling school life and part-time work, and now it was exam period, and because of his dreams he couldn’t rest comfortably even when sleeping, so his body wasn’t well. Today’s studying was almost done, so if he wanted to sleep even a little here, tea would be better than coffee.
The yujacha he was drinking after a long time was delicious. Now that he knew what it was, the scent felt even better, so he blew on it with his breath and took another sip.
“……But you said you bought coffee earlier.”
“What they’re drinking is coffee.”
At those words, Jang Yeonju muttered, ‘So we should get caffeine addiction? Hey, but does hot drinks make sense in this weather?’ Sojeong, perhaps not hearing properly because of his earbuds, just smiled again. Woojae only responded with his eyes to Jang Yeonju, who was glaring at him.
Just saying thanks caused a fuss, so if he opened his mouth any more, it was obvious she’d tease him outright. That crazy bastard was in heat from the smell of his soap, and he himself was having strange dreams in succession because of it, but that didn’t mean there was any reason for alpha Gye Sajun and beta him to become that kind of relationship.
In the first place, making such assumptions between ‘friends’ was absurd.
In the dreams he’d been having lately, the situation of their lips being just one step away from touching kept repeating. It took such a long time that it was rather frustrating that they didn’t touch all the way to the end.
Before his birthday, he’d woken up quickly because he used force without knowing it was a dream, but after that day, he couldn’t do that. Because of that, even when he slept, it didn’t feel like he’d slept. The Gye Sajun in his dreams stared intently at him, not bringing his lips any closer, just making eye contact. Would he have another one today? At this point, his head was complicated wondering if he should go find a shaman instead of a hospital. Then a low voice tinged with a bit of dissatisfaction pricked his ear.
“If you’re tired, why don’t you go sleep?”
Only then did Woojae realize that Gye Sajun was staring intently at his profile instead of his book.
“What?”
“Your complexion looks like a patient’s. Are you not sleeping at all and just studying?”
The gaze shooting from his pitch-black eyes pierced into his pupils. But it was quite an unfair question for him. He wasn’t getting sound sleep, but he was still keeping his sleep hours.
It’s because of you that even when I sleep, it doesn’t feel like I slept!
He felt like screaming. But right now, where they were sitting was the sacred library lobby full of students studying for exams. Even though Woojae had a shitty personality, he couldn’t make a loud noise.
“……I just haven’t been able to sleep lately.”
“That’s why I said it’s even better to exercise during exam periods. If your body is tired, you can fall asleep right away.”
“I said no.”
Because the exams were all held within a week, Woojae had postponed his self-defense lessons with Gye Sajun. He was too busy to have time for that.
Actually, he also hoped that if he put off practicing self-defense using exams as an excuse, those shitty dreams would stop too. The problem was that even if he avoided Gye Sajun in reality, he couldn’t avoid him in dreams.
According to what he’d tried over the past few days, it was really no use at all. Maybe he should get a talisman. He thought there was a fortune-telling place in a secluded spot in his home neighborhood alley, and he seriously wondered if he should go there first before MT or anything.
“Or go sleep at the dorm for a bit.”
Today’s studying was almost done, but it still wasn’t time to sleep yet. It was still too early to go to the dorm. And it felt like he was somehow being looked down on for his stamina, which didn’t feel good. Woojae acted cocky for no reason and said something he didn’t need to say.
“No need. Three hours of sleep a day is enough. Stop making a fuss.”
“Three hours?”
When preparing for college entrance exams and delivering newspapers and milk at dawn, he’d slept two hours at a time. Even then, he’d never heard that his complexion was bad, so he wondered how much more comfortable his body had become to show signs of being this tired.
Gye Sajun reacted very sensitively to Woojae’s words. Sojeong had his face buried in his book, but Jang Yeonju, who’d been watching this side with interest, mouthed ‘jackpot.’
“Follow me.”
“Wh-what!”
“Hurry, before I carry you on my shoulder.”
“Why are you suddenly like this?”
“If you can’t sleep, I’ll torment you until you can sleep, so follow me.”
Gye Sajun furrowed his beautifully handsome forehead and urged Woojae on. When he let out a groan at his roughly grabbed forearm, he felt the strength drain from the grip. Since the studying students were also giving them glances one by one, Woojae had no choice but to stop resisting and follow Gye Sajun out.
Torment? Was he planning to make him run around the field or something? Force him to sleep?
The place he arrived at, led by Gye Sajun’s hand, was none other than the gymnasium.
