WYK 26

“Why.”

“Huh?”

“Why are you doing this?”

Somehow, his voice sounded intimidating.

Chae-heon turned his head when Jeong-yoon did not respond. His fierce gazes were soon directed at the unfamiliar man. The expression on his indifferent face was so cold that Jeong-yoon felt a shiver down his spine.

Kang Chae-heon must have had a previous life encounter with someone who resembled this and turned out to be an enemy. Jeong-yoon cautiously examined Chae-heon’s side profile. Chae-heon was still glaring intensely at the unfamiliar man.

In the end, Jeong-yoon explained himself to Chae-heon.

“This person asked me to give him Mi-hee’s number. But I couldn’t give it to him… for certain reasons. But why?”

He started talking incessantly and ended it halfway through. He didn’t know why he was making such excuses. It felt like being a child who had broken a vase and was about to get scolded by a teacher.

Chae-heon lowered his gaze again and stared at Jeong-yoon. However, Jeong-yoon avoided his gazes and only glanced at the unfamiliar man’s expression.

The man who had asked for Mi-hee’s contact info had his mouth slightly open. It was a face mixed with bewilderment and awkwardness. He seemed to want to express his discomfort, but Chae-heon’s actions were so confident and somehow threatening that, combined with his large build, he was left speechless.

Chae-heon soon straightened his tilted upper body. Chase-heon’s expression seemed to have relaxed as if he had roughly understood the situation through Jeong-yoon’s explanation. Sweeping his hand through his hair, Chae-heon turned to the unfamiliar man. A very friendly greeting followed.

“Hello.”

He flashed a warm smile that could melt even the coldest heart. The serious expression from before disappeared and Chae-heon now looked like the ‘kind Kang Chae-heon’ that Jeong-yoon had always known.

“Uh… Hello.”

Then the unfamiliar man also bowed in greeting. Chae-heon greeted him so shamelessly and naturally, causing the man to follow suit and bow his head.

“It was nice to meet you.”

Chae-heon spoke again casually.

After that, he left the place. He left with just two words: ‘Hello,’ ‘It was nice to meet you,’ and he was gone.

Chae-heon’s figure grew distant. With firm and steady steps, as always. The unfamiliar man and Jeong-yoon both looked at Chae-heon as he walked away with surprisingly similar expressions.

‘What’s this.’

Their faces were saying that.

The man asked Jeong-yoon.

“Is he your friend?”

“Well… for now, yes.”

Friend or not, they had exchanged numbers, had a few meals together, and even shared a ride a few times, so they were somewhat close. Not exactly close friends, though.

The man scratched the back of his neck and smiled awkwardly.

“He’s a bit… peculiar.”

Though he expressed it in a roundabout way, it meant that Chae-heon seemed like a strange person. For a brief moment, Jeong-yoon agreed with the unfamiliar man’s opinion. However, he decided to defend Chae-heon a bit. After all, he’s someone he likes.

“No, not really. He’s usually very kind. Smiles a lot. He’s a good guy.”

“…Ah… I see.”

Of course, the other person didn’t seem to believe it. Jeong-yoon felt slightly aggrieved. Really. Kang Chae-heon was as beautiful was as beautiful as autumn cosmos flowers when he smiled quietly.

Jeong-yoon held out his cell phone again. It was to change the topic.

“By the way, what did you say after 411?”

“Oh, right. Let me say it again. So…”

The man said the number again. Jeong-yoon nodded and pressed the number.

The man continued to show his student ID and kept smiling despite Jeong-yoon’s harshness. Even Kang Chae-heon’s unexpected appearance did not bother him. Contrary to first impressions, he might be a person with a surprisingly good personality. Erasing a bit of caution towards him, he saved the number. He entered ‘Library Guy’ for now because he didn’t know what else to call himself.

“My name is Park Tae-won.”

He introduced himself. Jeong-yoon discreetly erased the words ‘Library Guy’ and typed Park Tae Won.

“I’ll let my friend know. Don’t feel uncomfortable even if you don’t get a call. It’s just a friend’s decision.”

“Of course. I’m thankful for today’s conversation alone.”

The man laughed at his words. He roughly stuffed his phone into his pocket and left first, saying he would go inside to check.

It was a strangely tiring night.

***

The exams were over.

He studied at the library with Mi-hee while drinking coffee from the vending machine, looked around the library in vain to see if Chae-heon might come, and handed in the filled exam sheets- that was how he spent his time, and before he knew it, the semester had ended.

In conclusion, he had not seen Chae-heon at the library since then.

The faces in the study room were bright. It was a mix of relief that exams were over and the anticipation of the start of vacation. But he was not entirely happy. There was one reason. He couldn’t help but feel disappointed because he wouldn’t see Chae-heon during the vacation.

Jeong-yoon stared at the crowd filling the large table. There was what he always referred to as ‘Kang Chae-heon and the kids.’

Chae-heon looked refreshing today as well. Always in neat clothes and a tidy appearance. It wasn’t just today; even during the exam period, he seemed like a greenbelt pristine area. Perhaps due to his style of studying in advance, there were no instances of staying up late during exams or the like. Maybe he believed that good sleep leads to better results.

Perhaps because of this, Chae-heon never lost his neatness throughout the exam period. Look at him right now. Kang Chae-heon was sitting there quietly and smiling kindly while drinking his coffee with glazed eyes.

The juniors gathered around Chae-heon were carefully asking him various questions.

“Sunbae, did you do well on the exam?”

“I did well.”

“Sunbae, are you going to the end-of-semester party today?”

“we’ll see.”

“What are your plans for the vacation? Sunbae, you won’t be doing part-time jobs, right?”

“I won’t.”

Chae-heon answered in a short but kind voice. The juniors seemed to find it challenging to approach him, yet they stayed close without crossing the line. Jeong-yoon felt a bit envious. How much thought must he have to worry about in order to casually talk to Chae-heon?

It was most likely more than just personality differences. The more Jeong-yoon liked Chae-heon, the higher the potential pain from his rejection. That fear made him always hesitant in his actions, like a coward hiding behind a thin shell.

A short-haired junior sitting next to Chae-heon spoke.

“Sunbae, we’re planning an English study session this time. Would you like to join?”

“No.”

Chae-heon decisively rejected this time as well, with a smiling face. Despite the junior’s disappointment, they didn’t insist further. Everyone knew that Chae-heon’s rejection was indeed a rejection. His demeanor was always pleasant, his opinions were clear, and his actions were consistently decisive.

One returning student stretched out his upper body toward them.

“Can I join that study session too?”

He was a guy known for picking only freshmen and sending personal and annoying messages. To put it bluntly, he was infamous for being a troublesome blacklist. After exchanging strange glances with each other, the juniors quickly put on stern smiles.

“We decided to have it with just the girls. Sorry.”

“You asked Chae-heon to do it together.”

“Chae-heon Sunbae is good at English, and his home is close to school.”

“My TOEFL scores are decent too, and my home is just a few subway stops away.”

“Oh… still… sorry.”

The man had a disapproving expression on his face but didn’t linger any longer. Chae-heon, who was listening smiled and said, “Stop it, hyung.”

As Jeong-yoon watched the scene, bitter laughs and sighs came out of his mouth at the same time. It was too much to watch such a vividly displayed harsh human relationship from a third person’s perspective. And it seems he wasn’t the only one feeling those emotions. Min-soo, who was next to Jeong-yoon, tapped his forearm.

“Hey, Seo Jeong-yoon.”

“What.”

“If I suffer humiliation like that next to Kang Chae-heon later, you have to do whatever it takes to save me, okay?”

“How am I supposed to save you?”

“Even if you have to hit me on the back of the head to shut me up. Just make me stop if I’m embarrassing myself!”

“I can still hit you on the back of the head right now. Just saying.”

Min-soo’s eyes narrowed in response to Jeong-yoon’s words, but he quickly relaxed them. Jeong-yoon looked at Min-soo’s round head and then asked him.

“Next semester is your last semester, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you decided on where to get a job? Some seniors start looking before the second semester.”

Min-soo replied as if it were nothing important.

“I’m going to join my dad’s company.”

What? Were you also born with a golden spoon? Was your pacifier even made of gold? For some reason, Jeong-yoon felt unfairly treated. Why were there so many people born with a gold spoon around him? He wondered what the source of Min-soo’s adorable and confident demeanor, which reminded him of a country puppy. It turned out to be money. Jeong-yoon wanted to ask where his father’s company was but somehow found it bothersome and decided not to ask.

Min-soo chuckled and tapped Jeong-yoon.

“If you can’t find a job, tell me, okay? Even though our company is small, the welfare is top-notch.”

“Okay. Wow, I’m excited. Long live Kim Min-soo.”

“It’s close to your house too, since it’s in Pangyo.”

“Oh, that’s nice.”

Jeong-yoon responded in a pitchless voice. Anyway, he was currently in his second year. Since there was quite a bit of time left before he could get a job, what Min-soo said felt like it was just someone else’s business. Jeong-yoon said as he dusted off his clothes.

“But I have to go to a bigger company. I want to make our mom proud. The son of the lady next door joined Hyeon-jeong Group.”

Chae-heon lifted his head at Jeong-yoon’s words. Jeong-yoon spoke hesitantly, sensing his stare, and then became silent as he turned his head away. Chae-heon turned his head again. His gaze seemed distant.

Anyway, it was now vacation.