ASIAH 48

“Hey you meat tank, if you have a complaint, say it with words…”

“I’m sorry.”

I thought I was having fun playing basketball for the first time in a while, but I guess not. Even in my own opinion, the sharpness I had felt earlier hadn’t softened at all. If this continued, I might end up taking my anger out on the club members. Usually, if the frustration from practice for the university athletics festival was 100 percent, at the club it seemed to be about 70 percent.

I wonder if I should be doing Muay Thai instead of basketball, but that’s just a figure of speech. I really need to find some fun new anime.

Then again, this stifling feeling itself is almost entirely because of Hyun Jaekyung, so it has nothing to do with exercise. If it did, martial arts fighters with rules would always be steeped in frustration. Hmm… do those people end up in mixed martial arts? And if they still can’t find an outlet there, they might participate in illegal underground fighting rings that often appear in comics.

Alright, I’m just going to ditch everything and go on a blind date.

I don’t mean I’m actually going, but that I won’t do things like being a ‘person who wants a girlfriend but won’t go on blind dates’. I should hurry home and watch a round of new anime releases.

I changed my clothes, still soaked in sweat, and was about to head home when I saw excited college students roaming all over campus. I was in a bad mood, and all the guys enjoying the not-so-special Daedong Festival just felt annoying. The nasty attitude I caught from Hyun Jaekyung is really working hard.

As I was leaving the back gate, I wondered if there were any department announcements and checked my phone, only to see that messages had piled up for some reason. But when I checked, most of them were from Hyun Jaekyung. He ignored me when I needed a reply, but it seemed he had sent them while I was busy playing basketball.

What the hell? Even his timing is so arbitrary! My heart suddenly started pounding, and after taking a quick deep breath, I opened the chat window.

Hyun Jaekyung

Where are you? Heard you closed your booth as soon as it opened.

Hyun Jaekyung

Wanna get some dongdongju?

Hyun Jaekyung

Jootaku, what are you doing that you’re not looking?

Hyun Jaekyung

If you ignore me till the end, your nose hair will grow to be ten meters long and you’ll walk with your nose hair.

Hyun Jaekyung

Can you handle being the Nose Hair Captain until graduation?

Haha, this elementary school kid. The moment I reconfirmed his level, the irritation that had built up so much melted away in an instant. There’s no need to fight seriously with such a childish guy, and no need to get angry. No one would seriously consider marrying a guy like this.

When I called, Hyun Jaekyung picked up immediately.

-Jooyoon, where are you?

“You ignored me when I was looking for you?”

-You said you’d buy me a drink. Can’t miss an opportunity like this.

“Where are you?”

-I thought you’d be in the department office, so I came to the department office.

“Where are we going to drink?”

-Where should we go? Ah, if only selling alcohol wasn’t banned, we could’ve just gone anywhere.

“Hmm… I’ve seen some places that let you bring your own alcohol. And from the posters, it seems some places have rented out nearby pubs. But you don’t really like the snacks they sell at places like that, do you?”

-Huh? I don’t?

“Aren’t they all super filling… Where should we go to satisfy the palate of the gourmet Hyun Jaekyung?”

-Wow, you must have gotten rich selling rings. Are you saying you’d even say okay if I suggested a whiskey bar?

“I don’t know the taste of whiskey.”

It was strange, but Hyun Jaekyung’s voice through the phone had a different charm than when I heard it in person, so even though we weren’t having a particularly interesting conversation, I kept smiling. Hyun Jaekyung, who had been chuckling, suddenly fell silent, and even though the surroundings were noisy, only the sound of his quiet breathing came through clearly.

After waiting for a while, a low voice flowed from the other end.

-Wanna come to my room?

“Your room? The dorm?”

-I don’t have a roommate, so it’s spacious. I put in a two-person table, but it was kind of a hassle to bring someone over to eat, so I haven’t used it yet.

So that means I’m the first person he’s invited? Is this what it feels like to be the emperor’s final pick in a story about concubine infighting?

The handwriting on the sales event tags was probably done by the girl he was on a date-like thing with earlier. That’s why he bought her a cup of coffee at the bakery! Even if not, there are probably about 7 billion people who would write for him, so it’s stranger to worry about every single one.

And in the midst of all that, the fact that he’s not going anywhere and is going to drink with me, really.

…That’s some incredible friendship.

More than anything, the fact that he contacted me before the night got too deep made me feel so damn good. I have no idea why the fact that someone else kicked away an opportunity to meet someone and have sex makes me so happy. Yes, the duty of a student is to cultivate knowledge and character. Though I don’t know since when that’s been the duty.

Hyun Jaekyung whispered in a low voice, as if sharing a secret.

-We can just have a quiet drink… and you can sleep over.

“What should I buy?”

-We’ll order everything for delivery, so just pay with the money you made from the rings today. How about wine?

“Wine? I don’t know the taste.”

-Since you drink dongdongju well, shouldn’t something sweet be fine?

“Oh, then I think I’ll like it. I’ll go straight to your room.”

-Oya~.

Oya…? Like a yakuza oyabun? Most of what I couldn’t understand was probably dialect, and if I pointed it out, he’d treat me like an idiot, so I’ll just pretend I understood.

It’s a strange fact, but don’t I not usually drink sweet alcohol? A moment ago, the three words dongdongju that came out of Hyun Jaekyung’s mouth made my mouth water, and I wanted to storm into his room right away, so I quickly ended the call. And the fact that Hyun Jaekyung would be thinking about my taste and worrying about what kind of alcohol to buy was a little… nice.

I turned right around and started walking with long strides, but as the dormitory came into view, I drastically shortened my pace. It seemed likely that Hyun Jaekyung, coming from the department office, would be later than me, and it would be awkward to rush there and wait for him before the owner of the room arrived. And since I’m an outsider, it’s more convenient to go in when Hyun Jaekyung opens the main door for me.

But while I was loitering, Hyun Jaekyung didn’t come. Just when I was starting to think something was strange, I got a call from him.

-Are you coming? If you’re not here yet, just pick up the drinks and food.

“…Are you in your room?”

-Yeah, you said you were coming right away but you’re late.

“Ah, I’ll be there soon.”

He got there that fast? Did he sprint or something? Well, Hyun Jaekyung also has long strides… Maybe he wanted to go first and tidy up a bit. It seems he placed the delivery order as soon as our call ended.

As I was standing around cluelessly, the delivery motorcycle arrived. I gave them Hyun Jaekyung’s room number and received it for him. Seeing the heavy wine bottle wrapped in bubble wrap inside the plastic bag, it seemed like he had ordered everything from one place. I don’t usually order delivery at my place since I mostly eat instant rice with side dishes I’ve bought, so I didn’t know you could do this.

But while I was fumbling to take out my wallet, the delivery driver coolly disappeared on his motorcycle. I guess I can just wire the money to Hyun Jaekyung later.

Since people were coming and going, it wasn’t difficult to get inside the building. Was the last time I came here to deliver Eunha noona’s citron tea? Back then, I really didn’t want to come, so I even intentionally took the long way around. I never imagined a day would come when I’d be visiting this place in a cheerful mood.

Just as the room I was looking for came into view, the door suddenly opened.

“Hurry up and come.”

“Uh, oh.”

I thought our timing just happened to overlap, but it seemed he had come out after hearing my footsteps. Being welcomed by none other than Hyun Jaekyung continued to feel strange.

And it was also my first time seeing the inside of this room. When he called me over in the beginning of the semester, whether he was pretending to be drunk or something, he always left me abandoned in front of this door or outside the dorm entrance. It seems Hyun Jaekyung had a minimum of a conscience, seeing as how he would hold on to me with a frightening grip until I took him home, but would let go at some point.

Hyun Jaekyung snatched the plastic bag I was holding and set everything up on the table in the middle of the room. It was too cramped for two big guys to be bumping into each other, so I stood off to the side in a corner and looked around the room. It looked quite comfortable for one person to use. There was a bunk bed, and on the lower bunk, a comforter was bulging up.

“Isn’t your roommate in there?”

“Huh? Ah, mind your own business.”

“How can I mind my own business? It’s not like it’s a light I can just turn off.”

Snicker. Hyun Jaekyung, who was putting something like a funnel into the mouth of the wine bottle, glared this way. I waved my hands in dismissal and went to stand next to the lump on the bed. For a thin summer comforter, it was too round and quite high, so even though I was being cautious, I couldn’t resist opening it.

“Ooht.”

“Ah! I told you not to look, I worked so hard to stack that… I even applied fluid dynamics, damn it.”

Does it have anything to do with fluid dynamics? Then did the flow of air caused by me lifting the comforter cause a landslide of the various junk he had piled up? Something even fell with a loud noise and slid all the way to the other end. I crawled around on the floor, picking up the things that had fallen, and finally managed to cover it with the comforter again.

As I was about to crawl out on all fours, Hyun Jaekyung placed the sole of his foot on my back. Instead of muttering a complaint, I grabbed his ankle in a surprise attack. Hyun Jaekyung lost his balance for a moment and wobbled, and seeing that, I thought, oops, and spread my arms.

But Hyun Jaekyung grabbed the bedpost and did a narrow double step. Then, with a fluid motion, he lightly kicked my shoulder. This isn’t what I was expecting. I thought he’d fall into my arms…

“Wanna die?”

He was the one who stepped on my back first! Even though he’s gotten a bit better, that damn double-standard stubbornness of his hasn’t changed. But it was also true that I had made a series of mistakes after coming to someone else’s room, so I felt a little sheepish.

“…You sure cleaned in a very old-school cheerful comic book style. You should have just shoved it into the built-in closet.”

“What’re you blabbering about, otaku? The closet’s fully booked, there’s no room. Now come and sit.”

“Yeah, yeah… Still, you even cleaned up to treat me like a guest, thanks.”

“Whatever.”

The guy pouted his lips, but instead of looking upset, he actually seemed a bit excited. I got excited along with him and gathered up the packaging trash that Hyun Jaekyung had torn open.

“Let’s toast first.”

“Cheers-.”

The wine he had ordered considering my taste was sweet and delicious. I do drink sweet alcohol well!

When I used to get it from home, it was so bitter I wondered why people drank it, but I guess there’s this kind of wine too. My taste is strange too; it’s not that I just hate sweet things, but I’m picky about what I eat and what I don’t. The side dishes were also plentiful, from a cheese platter that Hyun Jaekyung would like, to boiled pork slices.

“Hyun Jaekyung, how did you, a college student, develop a taste for wine? You were even talking about a whiskey bar.”

“That’s what happens when you rummage through your dad’s wine cellar and liquor cabinet.”

That’s some killer patricide… I barely managed not to point out Hyun Jaekyung’s way of speaking.

“You seemed to be good at mixing cocktails too. I don’t know much about it, but… the one you mixed at the MT was delicious.”

“Are you trying to act cute so I’ll make you another one?”

“No…”

Hyun Jaekyung feigned indifference as he dismantled the canapé he had just made. Was it a mistake to bring up the MT? Actually, whenever we were alone since the MT, we had acted as if it was an unwritten rule not to talk about that incident. It’s a bit embarrassing to bring up all the apologizing again, and there’s no need to.

Besides, my memory of it is a bit spotty, so I was hesitant to bring it up again anyway.

After putting the separated cracker, cheese, and ham into his mouth in that order, Hyun Jaekyung drained the rest of his wine. When I immediately refilled his glass, the guy swirled it as if he were tasting something from <The Drops of God>, then, with his eyes fixed on the sloshing liquid, he hesitantly opened his mouth.

“Since we’re on the topic. That, at the MT.”

“…Yeah.”

“Thanks for drinking all of that insane bomb shot by yourself.”