ASIAH 46

As soon as I sat down, Hyun Jaekyung poked me hard. It wasn’t just a poke; he formed a knife-hand and jabbed it vertically into my abdominal cavity below my ribs. A sound like keok escaped me, but the guy cruelly twisted the jabbing hand 90 degrees.

“What a sneaky bastard. You create this image of cleaning by yourself, and then as soon as I help, you don’t show up. And why’d you leave me on read? What the hell makes you so special?”

“Huh? No, I pulled an all-nighter so I was sleeping. …But you replied?”

Had Hyun Jaekyung also been asleep? Even though I had a good comeback like, “You ignored me too, didn’t you?”, like an idiot, I frantically pulled out my phone to check.

I used to check my phone often, even if I didn’t check my messages, but now that I no longer had information I needed to know quickly (anime), not looking at it much had become a habit. When I left in the morning, I was sleepy and not fully awake, and I only used my wristwatch to check the time, so I hadn’t looked at my phone.

In my messenger, there were about twenty notifications from my chat with Hyun Jaekyung. It seemed Hyun Jaekyung really had replied after waking up, as the messages had arrived a couple of hours ago.

Hyun Jaekyung

I’m a model, you’re a moron. Mic drop~!

What had I sent him? Ah… I’d been talking nonsense about his 8-head-tall proportions, and he took it well. Maybe feeling awkward that there was no reply after that, he had sporadically spouted things like, “What time are you going to clean today.”, “Should I pick you up from your place?”, “Why aren’t you coming? I’m bored”, “If you don’t show up, I’m going to snitch to Eunha noona that I cleaned all by myself because you threatened me. Everything up until now.”

I asked the one thing I was most curious about.

“Do you also get bothered when you don’t get a reply?”

“What?”

Hyun Jaekyung repeated, then looked at me in silence. Since he was looking directly into my eyes, I was irresistibly forced to meet his gaze. As we stayed like that, I gradually felt myself getting captivated by his stare; his eyes, holding the sunlight coming in from the window, were exceptionally clear.

It felt a little strange to be looking for so long, but it was also difficult to be the first to look away.

“Wooh hoo! What a great atmosphere?”

Just as things were starting to get awkward, Yeom Hyejin, who was passing by, pulled Hyun Jaekyung’s hood over his head. Hyun Jaekyung let out a sigh filled with what could have been either relief or annoyance and shot up from his seat.

“Ah, you’ll mess up my hair.”

“Are you guys having a staring contest? I can’t do that anymore because I have dry eye.”

“Then take a break from your contacts.”

“No, I think it’s from looking at my phone too much.”

“Then throw away your phone.”

“Our Jaekyung-seu, thinking everything he spouts is a valid point.”

Class started soon, so Hyun Jaekyung sat back down next to me. Even though it was a class I usually listened to diligently, I couldn’t absorb a single word. The sensation I had just felt, as if time had stopped, was so profoundly impressive that I needed to take some time to mull it over. If you want to create art, you have to accept things you feel in your daily life as inspiration and melt them into your work.

So, therefore… I spent the entire class thinking about Hyun Jaekyung’s eyes.

The all-night work session came around again, as if it never got old. The sales event was now truly just around the corner, so Hyun Jaekyung, who had said he would help me, was called to the department office and was nowhere to be seen. To be honest, for us, the university athletics festival was a bigger event than the Daedong Festival, so besides the sales event, no one was really that interested.

“Let’s go to the Film and Theater department’s booth to protect our eyesight!”

Although, guys like Yeom Hyejin were, of course, making a fuss.

There were also some people interested because a few famous singers were scheduled to come for the second day’s performance. Though, since our department had a lot of hipsters, there was a tendency to prefer indie bands and DJs that only they knew. I had to focus on the sales event, so outside of class, I didn’t even go to my club and just lived in the department workshop.

Alright, I’ve made enough silver wire. Cut it to the desired ring size, file both ends flat, and bend it into a circle. I place it on the ring mandrel, hammer it to shape it, apply borax, and solder on the cubic zirconia prong setting.

“Jooyoon, did you make all the settings yourself?”

“Ah, no. I bought them.”

Even with pre-made settings, I made mistakes with the heat and melted about three of them. After attaching the setting, you set the cubic zirconia, give it an acid bath, and then polish it. But it wasn’t easy because every time I used the acid, I would imagine myself suddenly falling over, getting doused in it, and my body melting away.

Like this, although I was practically a human ring factory these days, my skills were clumsy, so even the supposedly easy thin silver rings were unusually tricky. Still, all this trial and error would become nourishment for my growth.

My sales event work-mate, Kim Sanna, seemed to have found a bit of peace after shifting her focus to wire art. But this time, she seemed to be suffering under the pressure of having to create a truly beautiful sculpture, frequently leaving her seat, saying she needed to replenish her sugar.

The third time Kim Sanna left the workshop, Hyun Jaekyung, who happened to be coming in, suddenly said this.

“Isn’t annealing kinda hot?”

“What?”

“When you heat something hard, it changes however you want to mold it.”

People of the world, this is the guy who previously told me to detox my perverted brain. I thought he’d been acting pretty tame lately, but it seems he’s trying to start up his old ways again.

Still, it didn’t seem like he was trying to annoy me, so I guess I should be generous. But it gets hard again when it cools down, so isn’t that the opposite of being hot?

“…”

I pretended I didn’t hear him and organized my work. The polished, white silver ring looked better than I’d expected, and looking at it made me feel good. Hyun Jaekyung rested his chin on my shoulder and watched, then suddenly asked.

“Ah, write down what you need for the price captions. I’ll go have them made.”

“Price tags too? Aren’t you busy setting up the booth?”

“That’s pretty much done, so now we just have to set up our individual displays and put up the price tags, and we’ll be finished.”

“Alright, I’ll get it to you right away. Thanks.”

“…The department is doing it for us.”

The guy, who would normally take credit for something even if the department was doing it, was being strangely modest. Meanwhile, the spot where his chin had touched was tingling as if it had a cramp, and it was bugging me. To escape that sensation, I thought about what to do for the captions.

“Can they do a handwritten font? I want to go for a more handmade vibe.”

“Well, they do look like you just banged them out, so I guess you have to pretend it’s a concept.”

“You’re pretty blunt, aren’t you…? Ah, your birthstone is aquamarine, right?”

When I placed the water-colored cubic zirconia ring on Hyun Jaekyung’s palm, it blended perfectly with his skin tone and shone brilliantly. He really is the best hand mannequin. The guy, slightly flustered, held his palm out awkwardly and replied.

“Why would you memorize something like that?”

“If there were no such thing as birthstones, I probably wouldn’t have any rings to sell at the event. The concept of a birthstone is what makes the product feel special. It’s not like I can make high jewelry, and it’s not like college students can afford it, so silver birthstone rings are just right.”

“That’s a really long way of saying ‘sales tactic’…”

To be honest, while I was rambling on, I was curious if that aquamarine-colored cubic zirconia ring would fit on Hyun Jaekyung’s little finger. I wanted to try putting it on him, but then the atmosphere from a few days ago, when Hyun Jaekyung put his signet ring on my hand during our all-nighter, suddenly came flooding back. The color of Hyun Jaekyung’s eyes as he watched me right before class also came to mind.

Thinking that far, I became strangely anxious and immediately snatched back the ring I had given him.

“What, weren’t you giving it to me? You said this is my birthstone, hand it over.”

“I’m selling it, so pay up.”

“How much is it…? No, you’re making such a big deal out of it. When I make something truly awesome, I’m going to give one to all our classmates except you. Look forward to it.”

“Yeah, yeah, come back tomorrow and buy it fair and square. Like you said before, I’d also be grateful if you brought a horde of girls and caused a sold-out frenzy.”

“…”

“Then I’ll buy you cheese bread with the money I make from the rings.”

“Who do you think you’re calling a cheese pig, you cheapskate bastard!”

Hyun Jaekyung yelled and stormed out of the workshop. He said he wouldn’t wear rings with stones, and said something about the chief of the forty thieves, but did his eyes glaze over just because it was free?

In the past, I would have just clicked my tongue and thought, that’s another crazy bastard I can’t deal with, but now it’s so routine that it doesn’t even bother me. That level of reaction wasn’t even him being seriously angry. Without feeling any particular burden, I sent Hyun Jaekyung the caption information.

The long-awaited day of the Daedong Festival was clear with no rain forecast, and the breeze was cool. I put all six of the hand mannequins I had finished on the booth table, then took all but one back down. It felt like a voodoo doctor’s house.

As I secured a dark-colored velvet cloth over the default tablecloth, I looked at Hyun Jaekyung in the distance. He was going around all the booths regardless of year and was helping Kim Sanna a lot in particular. Right now, he was sawing a plank for her.

Since when was he so altruistic?

Well, still, the sight of his palms in red cotton work gloves was new. The fact that he looked like someone who would only seek out easy jobs but didn’t was also unexpected. The very fact that Hyun Jaekyung was wearing those kinds of gloves felt like a strange fetish photoshoot. If he were wearing denim overalls, he might have looked less like a worker and more like a rookie idol.

While I was lost in thought, Hyun Jaekyung, who had been far away, had approached before I knew it. Then he dumped something onto my table.

“What’s this?”

“Price tags and captions. You arrange them yourself. Hey! Why is there only one of my hands?”

“What? Hand?”

“The plaster one.”

Ah, that startled me. I thought he meant he’d injured one of his hands while sawing. I sighed and answered.

“If I put them all up, it would look like a final boss battle skill in a video game.”

“What’s that, you otaku bastard… Right, I have some jewelry display lights, should I bring them?”

“That’d be nice, but is it really necessary?”

“Yours are silver, so if you don’t turn on a light, they’ll just absorb all the blue from the tent canopy. I’ll bring my cable reel and organize the wires for you and everything.”

“Ah, then thanks…”

Hyun Jaekyung, who was being incredibly kind today, busily disappeared somewhere. So that meant he wasn’t just being kind to Kim Sanna.

With a slightly lighter heart, I looked at the tags Hyun Jaekyung had left. The prices were written in a round, cute handwriting. There was also a product description that heavily emphasized the fact that they were handmade by a student from the Metal Arts and Crafts Department. Judging by the ink pattern, this was truly handwritten.

It was clearly a girl’s handwriting, trying to look cute, but the one who brought it was Hyun Jaekyung. Thinking that far, my mood soured a bit. At that moment, Hyun Jaekyung came back and briskly installed the lights.

“Hey, Hyun Jaekyung. There’s no way you wrote this, right? If this is your handwriting, it’d be really creepy.”

Perhaps because he had been bending over until just now, his face was red as if blood had rushed to it. It was indeed a good thing I asked for the lights; under the blue tent, even Hyun Jaekyung’s skin didn’t look its proper color. His cheeks, which should have been the color of a ripe peach, looked gloomy.