FIRST 25

Actually, rather than feeling relieved, it felt more like an empty hollowness.

Did I throw it away for nothing?…

What is this feeling?

Lee Pilwoo stared for a long time at the door through which Seo Kyuwon had stormed out after throwing a full-blown tantrum; he soon turned his head away and slapped his own cheek with his hand.

Who cares. Let’s not worry about it.

──★ ˙🍓 ̟ !!

Seo Kyuwon did not appear before Lee Pilwoo for over a week.

At first, Pilwoo thought, “I guess he’s really sulking,” but after two or three days passed, he reached a point where his head would reflexively whip toward the back door of the empty classroom whenever someone simply opened it.

It wasn’t that he missed Seo Kyuwon. However, because the guy he used to run into—strangely often—at the snack shop, in the hallways, the cafeteria, the music room, and the gym was nowhere to be seen, he felt strange.

Whether he was hiding below the surface on purpose or not, during that weekend when Seo Kyuwon didn’t show so much as a single strand of hair, Lee Pilwoo impulsively created an Instagram account.

Contemplating for a moment when prompted to create an ID, Lee Pilwoo had no intention of sharing the account with anyone, so he closed his eyes and hit the keyboard randomly.

‘alkjsjdfq2’.

The thought briefly crossed his mind of whether he would be able to remember this ID later, but Lee Pilwoo pressed the confirm button, thinking, “Eh, whatever.” Well, it wasn’t like he’d ever need to log in again.

Having created the account, the first thing Lee Pilwoo did was search for Seo Kyuwon’s account. He was just curious. He wondered exactly how hard the guy worked on social media that he’d fly into such a rage telling someone else to make an ID, only to sulk so grandly when things didn’t go his way.

Somehow, Seo Kyuwon’s account popped up just by typing his name. Wondering, “Is it this one?” Lee Pilwoo clicked on it and became certain it was Seo Kyuwon after seeing the profile picture.

Lee Pilwoo’s eyes widened as he browsed Seo Kyuwon’s account. For a mere ordinary high school student, Seo Kyuwon had over 50,000 followers. It didn’t even look like he had posted many photos.

Are followers the people who have friended Seo Kyuwon? The people Seo Kyuwon friended were only about 100. How did over 50,000 people find out and follow Seo Kyuwon?

While puzzled for a moment, Lee Pilwoo looked at the photos Seo Kyuwon had posted one by one. There were hardly any photos showing just his face. Most were taken from a distance or were shots taken by others.

Wondering why there were so many comments, he took a peek; most were just saying he was handsome. Among them were languages of unknown origin.

“What’s with the foreigners? How did they find him, anyway?”

Lee Pilwoo glanced at the photos again. Even from another man’s perspective, he was definitely handsome. Honestly, he had to admit it.

If he could choose his face when being reborn, Lee Pilwoo wanted to try being born with Seo Kyuwon’s face once. If his own face gave the impression of being lightly drawn with a pencil, Seo Kyuwon’s was glamorous, as if drawn elaborately with a thick pen. It was the kind of art style Lee Pilwoo often saw in comic books.

The artistic license that Lee Pilwoo would dismiss whenever he saw a comic book, thinking, “How can a person’s eyes be this big? That’s impossible,” surprisingly applied to Seo Kyuwon as well.

Lee Pilwoo scrolled down with his hand, looking at the photos Seo Kyuwon had uploaded.

A video of him running in the park with a puppy. I guess he has a puppy. Ah, the puppy is cute. I wish he’d post more puppy photos.

A photo taken with a snowboard tucked under his arm against the snowy backdrop of a ski resort. He really is handsome. It was amazing that his face didn’t get overshadowed even though he was wearing quite flashy ski gear.

A video of him running with his hood pulled up to avoid a sudden rain shower while walking the puppy. Lee Pilwoo unknowingly replayed the video several times—the one where he ran while curving his eyes into a smile and holding the puppy tightly in his arms.

“Ah, this video is kind of cu—.”

While looking at the photos and videos, Lee Pilwoo intended to swipe back but accidentally double-clicked the photo and ended up pressing the heart.

“Ah!”

Lee Pilwoo jumped up from his bed and hurriedly canceled the heart. Goosebumps erupted at the unthinkable mistake.

“Ah, am I crazy?!”

Surely the notification won’t go through immediately, right? Since I canceled it so fast? You can let 3 seconds slide, can’t you?

But a message flew in instantly.

Seo Kyuwon > kyuwon2

Lolololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololol

It was Seo Kyuwon.

Ah, do you just do Instagram all day?! How do you see it this fast?

Cold sweat ran down his entire body from the panic. Should I delete the account right now? Lee Pilwoo frantically searched for how to delete an account. Even in that moment, messages flew in without rest.

Lolololololololol Ah, anyone can see this is Lee Pilwoo.

Lolololololololol Seo Kyuwon caught Lee Pilwoo making an Insta, right?

The heart press was damn adorable.

Just how far down did you go to look at my photos?

Lolol Ah, damn, those are really old photos. lolol

Mr. Lee Pilwoo, just how far down are you going to look at my photos?

Lolololololololol

How on earth did he know it was me?

His mind went blank. It was an ID completely unrelated to his name, and he hadn’t written ‘Lee Pilwoo’ anywhere. There were so many people following him. Rather, Seo Kyuwon, who was certain this ID was Lee Pilwoo, was the strange one.

Therefore, Lee Pilwoo decided to be shameless.

I’m not Lee Pilwoo though.

However, there was no way Seo Kyuwon would fall for that easily.

Lolololololololololololololololol Lolololololololololololololololol Lolololololololololololololololol Yup, I got it, Pilwoo-ya ^^

No, how on earth are you so certain!

After mocking him through messages for a long while, Seo Kyuwon finally followed Lee Pilwoo’s account.

“Ah, please don’t follow me.”

Lee Pilwoo felt so burdened by the fact that Seo Kyuwon’s following count had increased from 124 to 125.

Pilwoo, who had searched for account deletion methods all night, intended to delete the account in the middle of the night without anyone knowing, but then just left it because it was a hassle.

“Hyung, do you actually have a bit of a cute side?”

I should have just gotten rid of it, though.

The next morning, Seo Kyuwon, who had rushed to the classroom, teased him while clutching his stomach and laughing.

“Our Pilwoo said he wouldn’t make one because it’s a hassle, but then as soon as I stopped visiting, you made an account immediately because you were worried, right?”

“I didn’t make it because of you.”

“I didn’t even say you made the ID because of me, but you’re just spilling everything, saying you made it because of me?”

“When did I say I made it because of you?”

“Right now, your face is completely red because you got caught making it because of me, right?”

When talking to Seo Kyuwon, he strangely felt like he was constantly getting swept up. So when he kept his mouth shut and didn’t react, Seo Kyuwon got excited and fooled around even more.

“Right now, your face is totally red and you’ve shut your mouth completely because you got caught making it because of me, right?”

“Ha…. Stop it.”

The problem was that the unpredictable Seo Kyuwon, who was like a bouncy ball you couldn’t get a handle on, was starting to look cute in Lee Pilwoo’s eyes.

For example, when he suddenly said things like this via message:

Seo Kyuwon > kyuwon2

Hyung, I’m going to post a photo on Insta soon, so stand by.

Why are you telling me this?

Did you think before speaking?

Think a bit before you speak.

And turn on your DM notifications ㅡㅡ Seriously, you’re the slowest to reply among everyone I know.

My neck is going to crane off from waiting;

But I put it back on, it’s fine.

Who is the one who needs to think before speaking right now to be saying such things so shamelessly?

When he laughed because it was so absurd, Seo Kyuwon immediately sent a message.

Ah ㅡㅡ!!!!!! I’m posting a photo now, so hyung, be the first to press the heart on my photo ㅡㅡ I’m letting you know so you can definitely be number one. 1111111

He didn’t even have intentions of pressing the heart, so what kind of nonsense was this?

Looking at Seo Kyuwon’s message, Lee Pilwoo tilted his head and barely moved his fingertips to write a reply.

Why should I?

The moment he thought, “He’s going to flip out,” as expected, Seo Kyuwon flared up like a Chihuahua whose tail had been stepped on.

Lol Lol Ha Lol, playing hard to get again. I already know you’re going to press it anyway. Ah, looking at it now, Lee Pilwoo made his ID exactly like mine. Kind of cute? lol

In a fit of irritation, Lee Pilwoo wanted to say, “I didn’t make it like yours, I just made it by hitting the keyboard!” but he just left it because he didn’t want to become equally childish.

Anyway, since he was a guy who thought whatever he liked, it didn’t seem like he would listen even if Pilwoo told him.

──★ ˙🍓 ̟ !!

As the days they spent together increased, Lee Pilwoo became more and more concerned about Seo Kyuwon.

Like how he would go out of his way to tell Lee Pilwoo first whenever he posted a photo of himself on Instagram. And then, if Lee Pilwoo didn’t press the heart first, he would come running immediately to get annoyed.

Like this:

‘No, why aren’t you pressing the heart! I even told you beforehand! I’m going to post it again, so hyung, press the heart first!’

And then, if he pressed the heart first again, for whatever reason, he would immediately call and laugh his head off because he was so happy.

‘Ah, hyung! Don’t you like me too much?’

He seemed like the type who would just hang out with friends and have nothing to do with studying, but surprisingly, his grades were good.

Like how he would suggest going to a study cafe together during exam periods and then concentrate so hard he wouldn’t even notice if someone spoke to him.

‘Hyung, I’m going now.’