WYK 4

After that, their drinking sessions continued. Moving from place to place, they were engrossed in their fun until the surroundings were enveloped in the soft light of dawn. When Jeong-yoon finally regained his senses, he found himself standing in front of his home refrigerator, opening it to gulp down water desperately, as if his throat was burning. It had only been a few hours since he fell asleep again.

Perhaps that’s why he lost track of time and got absorbed in drinking, causing him to forget about the departure time for the farming experience bus that was supposed to happen today.

– Where are you?!

The bright sunlight seeped through the curtains. Jeong-yoon glanced at his phone with a dazed expression, unsure whether he was still drunk or just sleepy. He could hear Min-soo’s impatient voice.

“… Huh?”

Jeong-yoon responded weakly. Min-soo let out an exasperated sound.

– The bus is about to leave, where are you? Why haven’t you come?!

“… Ah.”

– What ‘ah’? Something happened, isn’t it?

He replied with a voice that sounded quite confident, as if asking “Isn’t?” confirmed his suspicion. Jeong-yoon had been sleeping off the whole time.

“I… um… sorry.”

Jeong-yoon held his head in his hands and apologized over the phone. He was sure he had set an alarm, so why couldn’t he wake up? Was Mi-hee, who had been drinking with him until dawn, already on that bus? Meaningless questions floated around in his mind.

– I even gave you the Wind’s Shining Blade, you ungrateful bastard!

Min-soo’s cursing could be heard through the phone. Jeong-yoon put his phone a little away from his ear. Despite that, he continued to mutter apologies.

“I’m really sorry, seriously. I’m so sorry.”

– The bus is leaving now, so come as the last group.

“There’s a last group?”

He hadn’t heard about the last group. Jeong-yoon sat up at the edge of the bed.

– Yeah. He said he’s coming late and riding in his own car. Get a ride with him. Make sure to come, okay?

A private car. It’s a somewhat uncomfortable word to associate with a freshman in college. Some privileged kids might have been chauffeured around from the first day of school, but that’s not the case for most.

“Alright. But who’s in the last group?”

– Kang Chae-heon.

“…”

Kang Chae-heon. Upon hearing that name, Jeong-yoon froze while holding his phone. It was a moment when the drowsiness that was creeping in suddenly vanished completely.

Kang Chae-heon? Did he just say Kang Chae-heon? He wants me to ride with Kang Chae-heon? What’s going on? In the midst of trying to recover from the daze, Min-soo asked with a puzzled voice.

– Seo Jeong-yoon. Are you listening?

“Is Kang Chae-heon the latecomer? You said he wasn’t coming.”

– Yeah, I did, but he suddenly said he would come late. Anyway, come together. Contact Chae-heon and get a ride with him.

Jeong-yoon rubbed the back of his neck without answering. The idea of getting a ride from Chae-heon was strangely unrealistic and nerve-wracking, but more importantly…

“Then give me Kang Chae-heon’s number.”

– Huh?

“I don’t know Kang Chae-heon’s phone number.”

More importantly, he did not know Chae-heon’s phone number.

Min-soo was silent over the phone. It seemed that Jeong-yoon’s answer was unexpected. Min-soo was the first to break the short silence.

– You don’t know? Kang Chae-heon’s phone number?

“Yeah.”

– Even though you both went to the same high school and were in the same class?

“Yeah. I did.”

– Aren’t you two close?

He couldn’t answer that question. Were Kang Chae-heon and him close? The honest answer was ‘no.’

However, they might have seemed close. There was no way to tell in a crowd without paying attention to their interactions, and they always stuck together in awkward situations. Whether it was a coincidence or something else, it was the reality.

– Do you really not know Kang Chae-heon’s number?

“Yeah. If you give me Kang Chae-heon’s number, I’ll try to contact him.”

– The more I think about it, the stranger it gets. So, Chae-heon doesn’t know your number either? Really?

“Yeah, that’s right. Anyway, I need to take a shower, so I’ll hang up for now.”

– Got it. Contact Chae-heon and come together. Be sure to come. Remember the ‘Blade of Wind.

“Okay.”

After ending the call, Jeong-yoon held his phone and drifted into vague thoughts. It was quite strange when he thought about it. How could they not have each other’s numbers?

‘I don’t even know Kang Chae-heon’s number. Kang Chae-heon doesn’t know my number either. Isn’t that funny?’

They had known each other for years.

Chae-heon’s number may have been stored on his old phone. However, after losing that phone during his senior year of high school, his number was gone forever. He didn’t feel like asking him for the number, nor did he want to ask other people to give it to him. Since then, he hadn’t had any personal reasons to contact him, so he didn’t think about it. But Min-soo’s bewildered reaction was understandable.

How much time had passed while he sat there absentmindedly? Ding! A message arrived. It was Chae-heon’s number sent by Min-soo. Jeong-yoon saved Chae-heon’s number and then got lost in his ambiguous thoughts again. The source of his confusion was inexplicably the timing of making the call.

‘Take out the iron horn while it’s hot, should I call him now?’

He fumbled with the smooth screen and swallowed hard. It was such a simple action, but pressing the call button felt incredibly difficult.

“Ugh, I’ll do it later.”

He was quick to give up.

Jeong-yoon decided to start with a shower first. If he washed away the tension with hot water, he thought it would be easier to press the call button. However, even while undressing and taking a shower, he couldn’t stop worrying about what to say at first.

Was unrequited love really this difficult? Jeong-yoon let out a deep sigh.

After the shower, he made excuses about needing to dry his wet hair. After drying his hair, he made excuses about needing to eat a meal. After the meal, he came up with an excuse about needing to brush his teeth and continued postponing the call. Eventually, he found himself muttering to himself with his phone in front of him.

“Hi, it’s me, Jeong-yoon. Are you having a good weekend?”

That was too pretentious. Tsk, he clicked his tongue.

“I’m Jeong-yoon, and I missed the farm trip bus. I heard you’re going to catch up, so let’s go together. Ah… What am I saying.”

Why was he so lost in endless hesitation over a simple phone call? What could this call possibly mean?

Jeong-yoon was absorbed in self-contemplation. Was this how timid he became when falling in love? Look at himself now. He seemed like he was pondering the most significant lines of his life just to ask for a ride.

After realizing this about himself, he suddenly felt embarrassed and impulsively pressed the call button. Of course, he immediately regretted it, but it was too late; the call had already connected.

Ring, the call tone rang once.

– Hello.

A strangely familiar low voice came through the phone. Jeong-yoon wasn’t mentally prepared yet.

Why did you pick up so quickly? And why ‘hello’? Flustered, Jeong-yoon blurted out words that were neither a greeting nor an introduction.

“Huh? You picked up the call so quickly?”

– …

“…”

An awkward silence passed between them. It was only natural. How unexpected was Jeong-yoon’s previous remark? He knew that he would most likely get a cold reaction or a confused response after calling someone out of the blue and saying, “You picked up the call so quickly.”

Jeong-yoon mustered up the courage to try to reverse the conversation that had gone astray.

“Kang Chae-heon, right? Sorry, I didn’t even greet you properly. I’m Jeong-yoon. I got your number from Min-soo and called you.”

– Yeah.

“…”

The answer that came back was really short and blunt. Moreover, a nonchalant “yeah” as a reaction. Jeong-yoon wondered if Min-soo had explained the situation in advance.

“Did you hear it from Min-soo?”

“What?”

Guess not. He answered so shortly about that topic. Jeong-yoon gripped his phone tightly.

“No, never mind. I heard you’re going to join the farming experience today?”

– Yeah.

“Then let’s go together.”

– Why?

Jeong-yoon felt a bit embarrassed when the short question “why” came to him.

‘What do you mean why? Of course, because I missed the bus, so I thought we could go together. I wondered if Kang Chae-heon would show such a blunt reaction when someone else asked him for a ride. You’re so kind to other people, but why are you so cold to me?’ Having such silly thoughts, Jeong-yoon rambled on in an awkward tone, trying to come up with an explanation.

“I overslept last night and missed the bus. It’s not like I stayed up late playing games and overslept; I don’t play games until late every day. Anyway, I didn’t hear the alarm, and you said you’re going with the second group, so I called you.”

Unknowingly, he kept rambling on with chatty words. ‘Stop it. Please, just stop blabbering,’ He thought to himself, but he couldn’t help it. The mixture of nervousness and excitement resulted in a chaotic mess, leading to the worst outcome.

Jeong-yoon sighed softly in response to the silence on the other end of the call.

“If it’s inconvenient, I can just take the bus…”

– No, I’ll pick you up around 6 PM in front of your house.

But unexpectedly, the answer came back saying that Kang Chae-heon would come to pick him up. Jeong-yoon’s hardened expression softened slightly.

“No. I’m getting a ride, so I’ll go to where you are.”

– It’s okay. I’ll go to your place.

“Well, thank you for that. Then give me a call about 15 minutes before you arrive. My number is…”

– I know your number.

The conversation abruptly stopped. But at this point, his unfriendly attitude didn’t surprise him anymore. He had always been like this. Well, he was the one who called him, so it was only natural that his number appeared. He was stating the obvious.

“Okay, got it. See you later then.”

Jeong-yoon said the final goodbye in an awkward voice. However, Chae-heon hung up the phone without saying anything like ‘sure’ or ‘see you later.’

“…”

Jeong-yoon had a moment of self reflect. Why do I blabber so much with meaningless words? Why do I become timid and faltering only in front of Kang Chae-heon? Is it inevitable for me to behave emotionally like this?

If it were Min-soo, and not Chae-heon in the same situation, he would have said, “Come pick me up!” with enthusiasm. However, since the other guy was Chae-heon, it was the best he could do to pretend he wasn’t nervous and let out a stiff tone.

“Ugh, I’m such an… idiot.”

Jeong-yoon cursed himself and collapsed on the bed after sending Chae-heon a text message with his home address. The scent of fabric softener wafted through the air from the freshly laundered duvet.