OL Ch 38

His heart dropped. Of all people, it was the person he least wanted to see. Hayun immediately went down the fence, but Choi Seonghan approached him in large strides. He also climbed over the fence, looked down at Hayun, and flicked his cigarette ash. He didn’t feel the heat, but specks flew in the air. Hayun shuddered involuntarily, and Seonghan grinned and greeted him.

“It’s been so long. It’s nice to see you like this.”

“Who is it?”

The friends who were with Seonghan grew curious at his greeting.

“You know, that person. The one with, uh, Baek Mookyeong.”

He stopped mid-sentence, but it was obvious what he was trying to say. The nuance was one thing, and he saw the hand gesture with a sexual meaning.

“Anyway, it was two years ago, in the first year, he lost his ability and went to a regular high school.”

“Oh, right, I remember. I thought he was dead back then.”

“Then why is he here today?”

Seonghan expressed his question to Hayun. He was also curious about that himself.

“No, it’s nothing.”

“Oh, come on. If we know, we might be able to help.”

The way they nudged each other and giggled didn’t seem like they would help. Seeing the obvious mockery, Hayun gritted his teeth. When he was about to turn away, pretending not to notice, Seonghan spotted the bouquet.

“Huh? A bouquet. Who are you congratulating? Baek Mookyeong?”

“…..”

Hayun hurriedly grabbed the bouquet. He was afraid that Choi Seonghan, a fire-type ability user, would burn the bouquet as a prank.

“Oh, you little… Hey, give it to me. I’ll deliver it for you.”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll take care of it.”

“I said give it to me.”

“Ah!“

Perhaps there was a telekinetic ability user, the bouquet soared into the air. He tried to snatch it, but Seonghan was faster. However, perhaps because he focused on grabbing it, he grabbed the top of the bouquet, crushing the flowers. He was about to get angry, but Seonghan beat him to it with an obnoxious look.

“Ha, seriously. But you’re really shameless.”

“…..”

“You should have stuck to your master. Running away alone without any loyalty. I guess you did it to survive, though. Now you’re clinging to him again to get some scraps, it doesn’t look good for a guy. That’s what I think! This is my personal opinion.”

Suddenly, his face flushed with heat. Hayun closed his mouth and swallowed. Even though he thought it was just a snide remark to provoke him like before, and that he should just ignore it like he did back then, it wasn’t as easy as he thought. Because he heard the words he least wanted to hear from someone he disliked.

Seonghan’s crude malice cut through Hayun’s fragile skin and stirred his insides.

“Should I call it crude? Or should I call it vulgar?”

Seonghan looked around Hayun’s bouquet and gave his opinion. Judging from his words, it was about the bouquet, but the way he acted, it seemed to be about both Hayun and the bouquet.

“Hey, wait a minute.”

Then one of the group checked his phone and nudged Seonghan’s side.

Seonghan glanced at the phone screen and then looked at Hayun.

“I’ll give this to him soon. There’s still time before the ceremony starts, so I’ll tell him to come see you, okay? Wait here.”

“Oh, Choi Seonghan. Doing a good deed today?”

The way they put their arms around each other’s shoulders and giggled as they walked away was ridiculous. He wanted to snatch the bouquet right away and throw punches and curses. But more than that, he thought about the purpose of coming here today.

“…Be sure! Be sure to give it to him. Be sure!”

Perhaps it was because Hayun’s words were unexpected, Choi Seonghan and his friends looked at each other with dumbfounded faces and burst into laughter.

“Okay, okay, I will.”

Seonghan waved the bouquet and greeted Hayun, then turned around. After entering the building, they poured out profanities and laughter, not caring how funny it was. Then the sound of a plastic container rattling could be heard.

Did he throw his bouquet in the trash can? Hayun put his hands on the fence and moved as if he would climb over it right away, but in the end, he couldn’t go over and went down the fence. His hands and knees, scraped by the fence, were white with dust.

Hayun felt like it wasn’t just dust but filth.

‘I should have just kept it. No, it’s better this way. He might actually give it to him. Mookyeong wouldn’t have come down anyway.’

“…..”

If Mookyeong didn’t come down, he had no choice but to ask anyone he ran into. It was just that the anyone was a bit unfortunately Choi Seonghan.

‘Let’s not think deeply. I just came to congratulate Mookyeong today.’

If he thought about it a little more, he felt like he would burst into tears. Hayun shook his head and paced around. Just in case Mookyeong came down, as Choi Seonghan said.

But even as time passed, Mookyeong didn’t show even a hair.

‘It’s Choi Seonghan who’s weird. He might be too busy to come.’

He must be so busy that he didn’t even have time to check his phone.

Hayun decided to think so. How long had he been pacing around like that? The graduation ceremony ended, and people started coming out one by one.

Hayun hurriedly moved to the front gate. Then he hesitated and bought another bouquet, emptying his remaining money. Since it had been left out for a while, it was cheap, but it didn’t look very good. The flowers seemed a bit wilted too. But given his wallet situation, he had no choice.

He forced his body, which had been outside for a long time and was cold, to move and diligently looked beyond the school gate. He was afraid that Mookyeong would come out while he took his eyes off it for even a moment, or that he wouldn’t see the people pointing fingers at him.

Despite his desperate efforts, Mookyeong didn’t come out soon, and eventually, some people who recognized Hayun came up and greeted him. It was such a small neighborhood that a little over two years couldn’t erase Hayun.

Those who approached him asked why he left the school without saying goodbye, that they were worried, and that it was good to see him alive and well. They also asked how he had been, what happened that day, and why he and Mookyeong fell out.

Hayun even suspected for a moment that they had come after matching their repertoire. But the questions were within the range he had already expected, so he managed to answer them.

Even though his heart pounded and anxiety churned in his stomach every time people who recognized him pointed at him or approached him, he somehow managed. He felt like he had used up three years’ worth of social skills in advance.

‘Come out quickly. Please come out quickly.’

How long had he been muttering to himself anxiously while scanning the crowd? He saw a familiar head. Hayun jumped up and down in place and called Mookyeong.

“Mookyeong-ah!”

Maybe he didn’t hear him. Mookyeong didn’t react at all.

“Baek Mookyeong! Here, here!”

Mookyeong stopped for a moment, then spotted Hayun and turned around completely. Seeing him heading towards the back gate, Hayun’s eyes widened.

“Hey, hey!”

Hayun grumbled for a moment, then ran through the crowd towards the back gate. Unlike Mookyeong, who could just cross the field, it was quite a distance.

“Baek Mookyeong!”

He gritted his teeth and ran until he could taste blood in his throat, for the first time in a long time. Perhaps because he had been held up by people he knew, Mookyeong was just stepping out of the back gate. Finally catching up to Mookyeong, Hayun grabbed his sleeve.

“Let go.”

“Mookyeong-ah, just, just a moment. Let me catch my breath.”

“Let go if you don’t want to get hurt outside.”

“Ah, really. This. Take this.”

“…..”

“Choi, whew. I asked Choi Seonghan to give it to you, but he didn’t, did he?”

“…..”

Hayun smiled at Mookyeong and congratulated him. Perhaps it was because he had been anxious and nervous the whole time. He felt awkward making a facial expression.

“Mookyeong-ah, congratulations on your graduation.”

Despite the congratulations, Mookyeong’s expression was cold. When Hayun handed him the bouquet without a care, he didn’t even move his hand. While Hayun was grabbing the falling bouquet, Mookyeong passed him by.

“Mookyeong-ah!”

Hayun hurriedly caught up to Mookyeong’s steps. If it weren’t for the line of cars leaving the school after the graduation ceremony, he would have lost Mookyeong long ago.

“Hey, let’s take a picture before you go. Huh?”

“No.”

“Still. Huh? It’s your graduation.”

Hayun pleaded, but Mookyeong consistently ignored him. Whenever he tried to stop his steps, he would pull away. His expression kept hardening because he kept getting choked up. Just as his eyes were about to get hot, another parent intervened.

At the offer to take a picture, Hayun grabbed Mookyeong’s sleeve. But he quickly let go when he saw his distorted expression. Only when he hid his hand behind his back did the stinging gaze disappear.

“Just one. Just one picture. Then I really won’t hold you back. It’s not right to have no graduation picture, no matter what. Huh?”

Hayun clung to him desperately. He felt like if he didn’t get this one thing, it would really be over.

“Yeah, what’s one picture? Stand close to the school over there. I’m good at taking pictures.”

Hayun glanced at Mookyeong. Perhaps because he couldn’t be as harsh to a parent as he was to him, Mookyeong let out a short sigh. As he straightened up, Hayun quickly took out the digital camera he had prepared.

“Stand a little closer. You don’t look very close.”

Encouraged by the parent’s words, Hayun moved closer to the side. He casually offered the bouquet, but Mookyeong glared at Hayun with cold eyes.

In the end, Hayun held the bouquet. Instead, he tilted the bouquet towards Mookyeong.

“I’m taking it! Okay, one, two!”

“Thank you.”

Mookyeong bowed and then took the camera himself. It was obvious that he took the camera quickly to prevent more pictures from being taken, rather than out of courtesy. Hayun turned on his phone camera in the meantime.

“Mookyeong-ah, Mookyeong-ah!”

He quickly took a picture when Mookyeong looked back at him. Mookyeong quickly moved away, so he couldn’t take more, but he was still happy with this. Hayun chattered as he caught the camera that was floating towards him.

“I don’t know how time passed so quickly. Look how two years passed in the blink of an eye. Another two years will pass in the next blink, right? Don’t you think so?”

“…..”

How was the graduation ceremony, did he receive a medal? Who did he take pictures with, was he lonely because he wasn’t there? Whether Mookyeong answered or not, Hayun kept talking. Perhaps it was annoying, Mookyeong suddenly stopped walking and stopped Hayun.

“Shut up. Unless you want your jaw to fly off.”

“Why are you saying such harsh things?”

“I told you to shut up.”

“…..”

At the fierce look, Hayun shut his mouth tightly. He rolled his eyes and took out his phone to type a message.

[Don’t you want to go eat jajangmyeon?]

Mookyeong looked disgusted when he checked the message. Instead of saying anything, he turned around and hailed a taxi. Hayun tried to get in the taxi too, but Mookyeong pushed his chest.

“…..”

While Hayun was pushed back, Mookyeong closed the taxi door, and the car immediately drove off.

And the traffic lights were so cooperative. It disappeared in the blink of an eye, and he couldn’t even chase it with his eyes.

Left alone, Hayun rubbed the chest that Mookyeong had pushed and let out a long sigh. His neck was stiff because he had been on edge the whole time.

“…It’s a good thing I didn’t have any money anyway.”

The graduation ceremony that he had been agonizing over for months was finally over. He felt a little relieved.

“It’s a really good thing.”

Hayun slowly wiped his face and went back to school. He hid the camera and bag in a nearby subway station and sat on a bench to calm his trembling legs.

What was so great about just attending the graduation ceremony and taking one picture that he was so tired?

What did he even do?

“…..”

Hayun’s legs started to tremble even more, and he hit them with his fist. But that didn’t stop his legs from trembling.

He tried to calm his breathing and his mind, but the trembling spread to them too. When he realized that his breath was shaking uncontrollably, round water stains began to appear on his pants.

It wasn’t like he got hit or heard something he couldn’t bear to hear. They exchanged words just as he had expected. He couldn’t even give a reason why he was so tired. He just wanted to vent his frustration and anger somewhere, but the reasons were too trivial.

There were just too many trivial things. They piled up and reached the weight his eyelids could bear. So as soon as a trivial reason touched it, it poured out.

But it wasn’t a big deal.

Because it happened from time to time.

As always, after pouring out a little, he would be fine as if nothing had happened.