***
When the orientation for the last lecture on the second day of the semester ended, it was 4 PM.
The first-floor lobby was bustling with students pouring out. Woojae headed toward the elevator to stop by the department office. The bulletin board was filled without gaps with club recruitment notices for freshmen. Woojae didn’t have time to participate in clubs anyway, and it seemed like no one would welcome him even if he joined, so he only scanned it once with his eyes.
Others supposedly dream of the romance of university life, but his own life was utterly bleak. He didn’t feel wronged about it. University was just a primary goal—Woojae’s dreams were in a place much farther and higher.
“Wait.”
Just before the elevator doors closed, a large hand roughly blocked the closing doors. The handsome hand with prominent blood vessels belonged to Gye Sajun. The moment Woojae confirmed the owner of the hand, his face crumpled terribly. He had the destructive thought of wanting to forcibly press the close button to break those fingers, but it remained just imagination. Woojae didn’t have the settlement money to compensate for those expensive hands.
“……”
“……”
The elevator was spacious, but there were only two people. Silence filled the space between the two frames. Woojae glanced at Gye Sajun, who got on the elevator but didn’t even press a button.
“I’m going to the same floor as you.”
An answer came back even though he hadn’t asked. Woojae didn’t respond to those words. The impression hadn’t been good from their first meeting. Moreover, from the moment he became certain that he had participated in ostracizing him, his favorability—which was already rock bottom—broke through the floor and entered the inner core.
The guy had notified him about the schedule, but no contact came from the student council. Not even up to this moment. In such a situation, Gye Sajun’s attitude couldn’t help but feel like mockery to Woojae. Like ‘I told you’ or something like that.
“Do you know the meeting is tomorrow?”
It was an out-of-the-blue question. He hadn’t even received any contact from the student council about the schedule happening tomorrow. In such a situation, how could he not be angry when that bastard was unofficially informing him of the schedule as if doing him a favor?
With a stupid ding, the elevator arrived at the destination, the 5th floor. Woojae got off the elevator with an indifferent expression like someone who hadn’t heard anything and crossed the corridor. The sound of footsteps following thump thump grated on his nerves, but he didn’t care.
“Why are you irritated?”
“……”
“I even apologized. I think you should be grateful that I’m treating you well.”
The department office was right in front of him. Woojae’s not-so-great patience quickly ran out.
“……Apologize? Grateful?”
“Yeah.”
“Ya, fuck. Don’t talk to me. That’s the one thing I want.”
“Why are you so irritated? I’m not following you. It’s just that the place I have business is the same.”
“Ha.”
Apologize? Grateful? Irritated? Woojae was dumbfounded. He went back over the irresponsible and rude words Gye Sajun had spat out. Gye Sajun narrowed his thick eyebrows and took another step closer to Woojae.
“And there’s something I want to ask—”
And at that moment, the door to the department office opened.
“Oh, it’s Sajun and Woojae. Did you two come together?”
“……Teaching Assistant-nim.”
“Hello.”
Unlike the flustered Woojae, Gye Sajun greeted Teaching Assistant Im in a calm tone. Since he couldn’t humiliate Gye Sajun, the freshman representative, in front of the teaching assistant, Woojae also forcibly unclenched his tightly clenched fist. His pale fingertips tingled.
“Right, right. Get along well. You’re friends in the same department.”
“I intend to.”
Get along well with what? Intend to what? Woojae looked at Gye Sajun answering shamelessly as if it were absurd. He was astounded that he said such things after showing hostile feelings toward him just moments ago. It was really hard to endure.
“Oh my, but Woojae is really diligent. You could slack off a bit this week.”
The words fell on him. Woojae hurriedly smiled brightly at Teaching Assistant Im.
“You seemed busy. I came to help.”
“No, it’s okay. Since you’re here, want to have coffee with Sajun? We got some cookies.”
Yesterday she looked busy without a moment to spare, and she said casual speech was awkward. Woojae grumbled at Teaching Assistant Im inwardly, but that was ultimately just words kept inside. Teaching Assistant Im was openly showing favorable feelings toward Gye Sajun over Woojae’s shoulder.
“Thank you.”
“Go inside and talk, you two. Woojae, make Sajun some coffee. You saw how to use it yesterday, right? I’m going to go down to the administration office for a bit.”
Teaching Assistant Im left the corridor, leaving behind Gye Sajun answering neatly. Woojae stood frozen like a rock and lamented at the first task given to him. Why do I have to make coffee for that guy? He really felt like he’d become a servant.
“Coffee, weak.”
Gye Sajun, who had entered the room at some point, said to Woojae. He wanted to just bolt to the dormitory, but he recalled Teaching Assistant Im’s words that she’d be back soon.
‘Act like an adult, Go Woojae. Remember Kim Minjun, that shitty bastard from when you worked part-time before.’
Woojae recalled Kim Minjun, a fellow part-time worker he’d worked with two years ago. He picked fights with Woojae over every little thing, stepped on his feet pretending it was a mistake whenever he got the chance, and even pinned his own mistakes on Woojae. Compared to that guy, Gye Sajun is a gentleman, right? He treated me like staff, participated when the student council and classmates ostracized me, subtly avoided responsibility, and is still mocking me now, but still.
‘Fail. The more I think about it, the more pissed I get. No, of course what’s happening now pisses me off more than old events. Fuck.’
Woojae clenched his jaw tight enough to break it and followed Gye Sajun inside. His back as he naturally opened the door and entered, as if he knew about the room inside the office, was terribly irritating. Thump—the large frame occupied the center of the sofa and sat down. Woojae was in a position where he had to attend to him like a serving employee. No, it would be more accurate to correct that to ‘like a servant.’ At least employees get paid.
“……”
After constantly talking to him, once he actually sat down, Gye Sajun kept his mouth shut tight. Even the sight of him sitting in an upright posture staring into space was annoying. Why doesn’t he sit sprawled out comfortably? What the hell is that about? Woojae roughly made coffee with rough movements. Teaching Assistant Im had shown him how to make drip coffee, but he didn’t want to put such effort in for Gye Sajun. He carelessly made instant black coffee so the granules floated around, then shoved it in front of Gye Sajun.
“Drink.”
Drink it and die. And get lost from in front of me. Woojae forcibly swallowed down his sincerity that couldn’t become sound. Whether Gye Sajun knew of Woojae’s hostility or not, he only received the hot coffee cup. Even the way he put it down after taking one sip was irritating.
“You seem to hate me.”
“What?”
Why are you saying something so fucking obvious? Woojae spat out his sincerity only inwardly again.
“It means the feeling is mutual.”
Gye Sajun looked at Woojae and continued briefly. I suppose so. Woojae’s eyebrows crumpled at the gaze whose depths he couldn’t read.
“Do you remember what I said? The opening general meeting.”
I remember. As if he’d eavesdropped on their conversation, he’d thrown the information and passed by.
“I wondered if you didn’t hear it then.”
“I remember. You keep talking to me because of that? So fucking weird. Ya, if you’re the freshman representative, is that everything? That’s the student council’s job.”
“The student council isn’t contacting you, are they?”
Woojae lost his words at the fastball hitting the top of his head.
“Ah, right. You guys handle that among yourselves. I’ll just study.”
He hadn’t expected anything in the first place. Woojae spoke as if sneering, suppressing his grievance. It was a humiliating feeling. So now he’s going to save poor me? That hurt his pride in its own way. Woojae judged that if he continued to be alone with Gye Sajun like this, he’d probably resort to violence. Just as he picked up his bag and was about to step outside the door,
“Come with me.”
A voice so low it rang in his ears was heard. Gye Sajun was drinking coffee very elegantly.
“Because there’s something I want to confirm.”
***
Despite it being March, snow fell as if it were natural. Since flowers had bloomed, he thought spring had come, but the belated spring cold snap pierced through Woojae’s thin coat. The flower petals dampened by snowflakes weren’t much different from Woojae’s state. This is probably this year’s last snow, right? Woojae looked at the falling snowflakes with an indifferent face. It was because he was worried about his younger sibling. He quickened his steps, thinking he should call before going to bed.
“Ah, it’s cold……”
I need to hurry inside. The tip of Woojae’s nose froze bright red. The white steam spreading between his lips looked like cigarette smoke. Although the days had gotten longer compared to midwinter, he thought that it getting dusky so quickly meant they still hadn’t escaped winter’s dominion. As Woojae entered the dormitory, he released some strength from his body that had been hunched up.
“Student Woojae, you need to take the package that came.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Just before getting on the elevator, the security guard stopped Woojae. It seemed the daily necessities he’d ordered had all arrived. Woojae wasn’t well-off enough to use the laundry service in the basement, so he needed more daily necessities than others. The result had led to a feast of packages.
The contents of the boxes were roughly detergent, fabric softener, laundry soap, cup ramen bought cheap on sale, instant rice, toilet paper, facial soap, and such. Woojae hugged four boxes and precariously got on the elevator. The weight wasn’t that heavy, but because of the bulk, it blocked his view. He could have put them down briefly to press the button, but since more people got on, there wasn’t much space to put the packages down. The moment Woojae adjusted his posture uncomfortably and reached out his hand, the ‘7th floor’ button was pressed. It seemed someone who got on first had pressed it.
