ASIAH 37

At that point, Hyun Jaekyung’s mind was only filled with thoughts like, ‘You son of a bitch, you bastard!’ After lashing out at him in that state, Jooyoon suddenly became serious and, with the attitude of giving a piece of advice to a pathetic soul, practically scolded him.

What did he say? That he didn’t want to stoop to my level, that I should stop acting tough, that I was a shallow person. That he himself hadn’t disliked Hyun Jaekyung this much before, but now he reeeeaaaally hated him.

He was the one who pulled the shitty stunt first, but he blamed others until the very end. That bastard would consistently act nice and pretend he didn’t know, so only the one who got screwed over had to live with this shitty feeling.

No, he didn’t even need to pretend. Because he really wasn’t interested.

It was a hypothesis I had considered several times, but confirming it as fact dealt a considerable blow. Hyun Jaekyung pushed Jooyoon away with only a tenth of his emotion and closed the door.

‘Let’s just drop these feelings.’

Thinking that, he then immediately challenged himself.

‘Drop what?’

Drop what… right, let’s drop being swayed. Hyun Jaekyung was the type to play with others, not a person who swayed back and forth like a reed. He really wanted to avoid becoming such a pathetic bastard with no backbone or grit.

When he started going to school again, he pretended to be doing as perfectly fine as possible. His appetite, already small, had diminished even more, but at school, he was cheerful and got along smoothly with everyone. Everyone loved Hyun Jaekyung, except for socially inept weirdos like Jooyoon.

Hyun Jaekyung enjoyed the attention and affection given to him and tried to forget the unpleasant things. Like that, there were times when he would be walking with girls on campus and run into Jooyoon, who was walking alone.

‘Look, you bastard. This is how many people like me! It doesn’t matter if you hate me.’

But Jooyoon didn’t even look his way, let alone acknowledge him. It would have been strange if he had acted friendly there, but for some reason, it made me feel even worse.

I also stopped the scheme of bringing him drinks while pretending to be an anonymous girl. Jooyoon didn’t even show up at the basketball court much in the first place, and I didn’t want to see that guy showing off his shining, handsome face.

‘So it’s the confidence that comes from that handsome face, I see.’

The cluelessness and indifference peculiar to a guy who doesn’t get hung up on people was all too easy for Hyun Jaekyung to understand, and even that fact angered him.

But as the athletic festival drew near, he was chosen as a basketball player along with that guy. Hyun Jaekyung was curious how Jooyoon would approach the basketball game and whether the other kids would recognize the connection between Jooyoon and the handsome guy from the basketball court. To be honest, he had wanted to play with him at least once.

That this kind of opportunity would come only after he’d given up on the crush—which hadn’t been big enough to be conscious of, but had existed—was more laughable than surprising.

However, Jooyoon, as if he had made up his mind, got hit on the side of his head with a basketball right from the start and collapsed. It was to the point where I wondered if there could be another guy who hated participating in department activities so much that he would even resort to slapstick comedy.

Hyun Jaekyung looked down at Jooyoon and, pretending it was a mistake, kicked him with a loud thud. Jooyoon paid it no mind, as if he didn’t even know it was on purpose. When Jang Seongsu, who seemed to have witnessed it, stared at him, Hyun Jaekyung gently pushed Jang Seongsu’s shoulder.

“I thought Seongsu hyung was a good guy, but you saved Jooyoon’s life.”

“What… what? You wanted him dead?”

“Haha.”

“Why are you so hell-bent on getting him?”

“Just give me the ball.”

Throughout the entire game, Jooyoon truly put his all into pretending he was bad at basketball. From the perspective of someone who knew his real skills, every single moment was laughable. So, I tried catching the ball from a distance and, pretending to shoot a 3-pointer, deliberately aimed for Jooyoon’s face.

Apart from the grudge, I thought that if I shattered his glasses in this place, I could at least expose one of his secrets.

‘Is it true that hitting a guy with glasses in the face is attempted murder?’

But even when the opportunity arose, it wasn’t easy to go through with it. For starters, hitting his face while pretending it was an accident wasn’t easy. If I succeeded, I would have to pretend to be genuinely sorry because of all the eyes on us, but the fact that I would probably burst out laughing was also a problem.

Also, as I played the game, scoring even one more shot gradually became a higher priority than getting revenge.

And if I messed up that bastard’s face, wouldn’t I be ruining the small joy of the girls who loved ‘Joshua of the Basketball Court’? If a broken lens poked him in the eye, it could become a really big deal. So…

‘Let’s not do it now.’

There were more than enough opportunities to mess with him. Besides, I also started to wonder if I had been mistaken in thinking that ‘Joshua of the Basketball Court’ was Jooyoon. But I had been 100 percent sure every time at the basketball court, so there was no need to doubt myself over such a trivial thing.

During a short break, Hyun Jaekyung got some water from Yeom Hyejin, who was watching.

“I should’ve worn a wristband or a headband. My eyes are stinging.”

“Borrow Sanna’s headband.”

“Not that kind, you punk.”

The wide headband Kim Sanna was wearing had a Burberry check design. Hyun Jaekyung snorted and then reflexively looked toward Jooyoon. It seemed he had sweated quite a bit, even though all he’d done was stand there awkwardly and swing his arms. His somewhat longish hair was stuck to his face, but he didn’t seem to have any intention of wiping or pushing it back.

‘Is living a double life that much fun?’

I could have approached him under the pretext of wiping his sweat and forcibly revealed his face. But I didn’t even want to touch that detestable guy who had recently exploded and told me he hated me multiple times. Just looking at him made me recall even the sunlight pouring into the lobby that day, so only bad memories piled up.

Hyun Jaekyung pulled up the hem of his t-shirt and wiped his face and the area around his neck. It was partly because the sweat was bothering him, but ever since his dancing days, taking off his shirt was no different from fan service telling people to scream, so he did it to show off to the onlookers. When Yeom Hyejin jeered playfully, Hyun Jaekyung flapped his shirt wildly in her direction to give her a better view of his abs.

‘Hm?’

But then he felt that familiar gaze. He was receiving the attention of many people, but strangely, he could immediately recognize Jooyoon’s. And that was probably because that bastard stared at people as if he were licking them.

By the time Hyun Jaekyung, who had frozen as if bound by the gaze, looked back, Jooyoon was already looking elsewhere.

‘Does he look at someone he doesn’t even want to speak to like that?’

He was slightly confused but didn’t want to think about it deeply. Maybe it was just Hyun Jaekyung, who had been wronged, reacting sensitively.

The only thing that was certain was the fact that Jooyoon was a infuriating bastard.

❊

It was the day we ended up going to a mountain instead of having class due to Professor Kang’s whim. If he hadn’t drunk the night before, Hyun Jaekyung would have had no problem climbing the mountain behind the school as part of his morning exercise, so he wasn’t reluctant about the sudden hike. Although, true to a person who had recently been relieving stress by shopping for clothes, he was in new clothes from head to toe. But he wasn’t wearing heels, so he thought it would be fine.

His chattering classmates all started panting from the very beginning and fell behind. Hyun Jaekyung climbed the mountain at his own pace and then spotted Jooyoon, who had started early, up ahead. As he followed him for a while, keeping his presence hidden, he even thought that it was a good thing he had dressed up today.

Because I don’t want to feel inferior.

In the midst of that, wasn’t that goody-two-shoes Jooyoon at it again, picking up trash even on the mountainside? Hyun Jaekyung was plagued by the impulse to snatch that trash bag and kick it so that it would explode over Jooyoon’s head.

‘Hmm.’

But as the two of them were hiking alone while he was feeling irritated, an idea came to mind.

When Jooyoon seemed to be slowing down, Hyun Jaekyung would stick close and pressure him. At a fork in the road, he cleared the way for the path that led as far as possible from the original destination, Guun Peak. Then, trying not to smile, he spoke.

“Hey, Jooyoon. I’m telling you this because I’m a nice guy… you have to go to Cheonha Peak to take the picture.”

Cheonha Peak, my ass. Professor Kang isn’t an idiot. I needed to speak to him casually, but who knows why my voice was cracking and making a fuss. When I first thought of it, I wondered if I wasn’t a genius, but now that I’d said it, it was a blatant lie even to myself.

But today’s strangely softened Jooyoon fell for it beautifully.

‘If it were me, I would have at least asked another classmate.’

Of course, it was probably because I had cornered him after considering all the possibilities. I had been paying attention only to Jooyoon’s state the entire time we were hiking, and strangely, I felt like I knew what he wanted. He seemed to want to rest soon, so as soon as I sat on a boulder, Jooyoon followed as if attached by a magnet and sat down beside me.

Hyun Jaekyung put the plastic bottle to his lips, drank a few sips of water, and then turned to Jooyoon, who was looking his way with a longing gaze. Seeing his hand awkwardly extended, it seemed he didn’t want to receive the bottle with the hand he’d been picking up trash with.

‘I don’t mind.’

Of course, I had the composure to accommodate the clean-freak psycho. Jooyoon’s teeth were white and his alignment was even. His eyes, glimpsed through the glass-like lenses, were slightly closed as if savoring the welcome moisture.

‘Ah.’

I was so lost in thought that I failed to notice he was signaling that he was done drinking. A drop of water rolled down Jooyoon’s sharp jaw and distinct Adam’s apple. Then, at the two words he heard, “Thank you,” Hyun Jaekyung flinched in surprise. Even though he thought he’d had enough to drink earlier, his throat was dry again.

As I drank the rest, I remembered that Jooyoon’s lips had also just touched this spot.

‘You indirectly kissed a guy you hate so much. Serves you right, you bastard.’

Before, I would have made a point of saying that out loud to ruin the guy’s mood. But I didn’t want to be the one to act friendly first. The illusion that the spot where his lips had touched the bottle was tingling was also bothering me, so I didn’t have the余裕 to do something like that.

As we headed towards Cheonha Peak, I found myself looking around for trash as well. I kindly pointed out what I found, but he nagged me, saying, “Don’t you have hands?” which sparked a feeling of rebellion. When I poked at him, Jooyoon eventually couldn’t hide his annoyance.

“The most disgusting act is gently placing the tissue you used on top of an overflowing trash can.”

He said it so seriously that for a moment I thought it was some kind of metaphor. So I tried to reply in a way that was meaningful in its own right, but I was just treated like an idiot. Belatedly realizing it had no special meaning, I felt a little embarrassed beyond just being dumbfounded.

But watching the nameless flowers or the cat we encountered while climbing the mountain wasn’t bad. Jooyoon also went along with it obediently, so my heart slowly began to soften.

Then again, every moment of the climb past Guun Peak to Cheonha Peak, Jooyoon was being screwed over by Hyun Jaekyung, so it would have been strange if my mood didn’t improve.

How could one’s heart be on such a rollercoaster? Lately, consoling myself was harder than waiting on my most ill-tempered ex-girlfriend.