ASIAH 29

“Ah, I want to get closer to Jooyoon, but I think Jooyoon totally hates me. Don’t you think so?”

Hyun Jaekyung attempted to put an arm around Jooyoon’s shoulders with a deliberately cheerful tone. He hid an observant gaze behind his playful smile. The reaction he received was quite cold, but he didn’t let his expression falter. In fact, a few seconds later, he even pressed a little closer, feigning a pitiful look by furrowing his brows.

“Jooyoon, Yoon-ah.”

Jooyoon’s eyes were hidden by thick-rimmed, large glasses and a messily styled mop of hair. However, it was clear from his tense mouth that he was expressing very blatant displeasure. Hyun Jaekyung inwardly clicked his tongue but acted as if he were being childishly affectionate.

“I really worked up the courage for this. In my hometown, you’d get murdered for calling someone so cutesily.”

“Hah…”

They’re practically in a relationship. Thinking this self-deprecatingly, he pressed his body even closer, and Jooyoon moved away as if he were going crazy with dislike.

“Haha, I guess I must really stink.”

You lose if you show you’re embarrassed. It was fortunate that some nearby classmates laughed and played along. If he had been treated like this when he was alone, his feelings would have been quite hurt. Hyun Jaekyung pushed away a classmate who was burying his nose in his stomach and glared at the back of Jooyoon’s head.

‘That bastard…’

Hyun Jaekyung is always the center of the group. Perhaps because of his slick appearance, he wasn’t the type to seem approachable, but once his expressionless face broke, the other person would usually relax. He was used to creating the atmosphere he wanted, and if someone crossed the line thinking he was being casual, he didn’t just let it slide.

Even if he acted foolishly to make others laugh or lower their guard, everything had to be his intention.

‘I’ll be the one to rip off that bastard’s mask.’

Hyun Jaekyung considered himself to be someone whose outside and inside were relatively consistent. He rarely pretended to like something he disliked, and he rarely pretended to dislike something he liked. Due to his personality, if he disliked something, he would end up giving a sarcastic remark, even if he had to disguise it as a joke.

But even within a group without a hierarchy, there are people who show a two-faced nature.

It was obvious that if it weren’t for someone like Hyun Jaekyung, no one would ever know about Jooyoon’s gloomy and dirty habits. The guy acted like an outsider, like he was detached from everything, like he was uninterested, and then tormented Hyun Jaekyung where others couldn’t see. He seemed to be trying to break Hyun Jaekyung’s mental state by singling him out, all while keeping his own intentions carefully hidden.

‘Why? Does he want to be the one in power or something? Even in college? What’s so good about that?’

The way he acts like nothing happened, and the ‘what’s with this guy?’ expression he makes every time I can’t stand it anymore and poke him—that’s already part of it. Thinking about Jooyoon’s indifference made his mood sink, and he was about to get depressed by the fact that his emotions were being swayed by someone else.

His rock-bottom mood only improved slightly after he went through his endless list of friends and set up plans for drinks. Whatever that annoying classmate was doing, Hyun Jaekyung was a cheerful, handsome, and cool guy.

…The beginning of this seemingly one-sided ill-fated relationship was the orientation.

❊

“Ah, you live on your own? You’ll save money on motels then.”

Hyun Jaekyung chuckled and rested his chin on Jooyoon’s shoulder. He had already gotten to know a fifth of his classmates before the entrance ceremony, so at the orientation, he went around melting the awkward atmosphere. He would join any group to lead a toast or play a drinking game, and the last table he arrived at was one where only guys were sitting.

It was almost time for the first round to end, but the table in the corner was strangely quiet. The big, dark, bespectacled guy sitting at the very edge, even in that corner, was a person who brought the mood down just by his existence.

“……”

He lacked the social skills to even know how to smile to break the ice when talking to someone for the first time, and predictably, he was even dressed in ‘engineering student fashion.’ In the design college, where more than half the students had their own firm fashion philosophy, he actually stood out. It wouldn’t be Hyun Jaekyung if he let this pass without teasing him.

But that bespectacled guy… Jooyoon, was annoyed but never embarrassed or intimidated. Beyond not being daunted at all, he was ignoring him.

This kind of reaction was new to Hyun Jaekyung, and it was also funny that he was acting that way, all things considered. It was also puzzling how he could be so calm while never refusing a drink when offered. Just then, another classmate, who couldn’t stand Jooyoon’s lack of reaction, responded.

“Where do you live, Jaekyung?”

“I’m in the dorms. I applied because they said they give you food, but I think I made a mistake.”

“Why? It seems like it would be great for getting to 9 AM classes.”

“Does a midnight curfew make sense? That’s the time to have the most fun.”

Just then, Ha Wonjong from the next table chimed in. He was a classmate he had met before the entrance ceremony, and they had hung out together more times than he could count on one hand.

“Isn’t the dorm door open if you come back on the first bus anyway?”

“Wonjong, you really get it. So, is everyone here a current high school graduate?”

“I took a year off to study for the entrance exam.”

“Ah, hyung Sungsoo, you look so young I almost forgot.”

When Hyun Jaekyung smoothly glossed over it, Jang Sungsoo received it with a smile.

“Why are you suddenly sorting out the family tree?”

“Earlier, among the second-year sunbaes at that table over there, there was one who was born in March of an early-admission year. I was also born in March, so it felt strange.”

“Oh… I thought only those born in January or February could be early-admission. So what do you call them?”

“What do you mean, they’re sunbaes for now, of course. It’s not like I call you by your first name, hyung. I plan to get friendly with them quickly and mess up the hierarchy.”

“Good grief, your personality really is something else.”

Jang Sungsoo clicked his tongue. Hyun Jaekyung, who had his back to him, suddenly asked Jooyoon.

“When’s your birthday?”

“January.”

“Early-admission? Or are you the same age as the upperclassmen who were early-admission?”

“…Early-admission.”

“Then this bastard is almost a year younger than me, isn’t he? He’s a baby with a face that doesn’t show it. Wait, is it okay for you to drink? Oops, I’ll say it quietly.”

“……”

“Why were you late for the orientation? Did you eat some snacks?”

“It just happened. No.”

“What about dinner? Should we order more snacks? You must be hungry.”

Hyun Jaekyung’s words seemed affectionate at a glance, but because of his flippant attitude, it looked like he was teasing him no matter how you looked at it. Eventually, Jooyoon asked stiffly.

“Why?”

“Because you get drunk faster on an empty stomach. You don’t look like you can handle your alcohol.”

“……”

It was the first time the corners of Jooyoon’s mouth had turned up. He smirked as if he had been met with a ridiculous provocation.

“I don’t get drunk at all. I’m probably the best drinker here. Better than you.”

“Jooyoon ran in, said he was thirsty, and chugged a pitcher of beer right off the bat.”

“…Does all of that even fit in his stomach?”

“We ate all the snacks before he got here. He saw the empty snacks, said he was hungry, and drank a couple of bottles of soju too.”

Hyun Jaekyung narrowed his eyes and scanned Jooyoon. If he had drunk that much, most guys would have been wasted by now, but he looked perfectly fine, which was very strange. No matter how well he could drink, it seemed unlikely that he could drink more than him, who had been drinking since before the ink on his ID card was dry.

Hyun Jaekyung suddenly felt a childish sense of competition and wanted to see Jooyoon get really embarrassed.

After moving to a second bar, Hyun Jaekyung smiled apologetically at the tables that were calling for him and sat down next to Jooyoon. Thanks to a few others who followed Hyun Jaekyung, the gender ratio was also balanced. Hearing that Jooyoon’s drinking capacity was impressive, they agreed to the attempt to get him drunk. Hyun Jaekyung even ordered strong liquor with his own money and secretly mixed it into Jooyoon’s glass.

“Hey, this is delicious… but it hits you hard.”

The classmates who got caught in the crossfire during the drinking game scattered, saying they needed to sober up a bit. His efforts paid off, as Jooyoon became relatively talkative, so Hyun Jaekyung thought the finish line was in sight.

“My parents liked Hong Kong movies and met in a fan club. So I was named after Chow Yun-fat from <A Better Tomorrow>, and my older sister…”

“You have an older sister? Is she pretty? I like older women.”

Even though it was a question that could be offensive, Jooyoon, with his lips loosely relaxed, was just calm.

“Ah… we’re twins. My sister’s name was taken from Joey Wong, but with a slight compromise, it’s Jooyoung. Since my parents are like that, you could say I have a golden spoon as an otaku, but the genre is a bit different.”

“Huh?”

What was he talking about? Hyun Jaekyung glossed over what he didn’t understand with a smile.

His only goal was to get Jooyoon drunk anyway, and it was going very smoothly as he gulped down the mixed drinks, saying they were delicious. Jooyoon didn’t even take a break, chatting away in between, nor did he drink any water. He was just sucking it down like a hippo that had found an oasis after experiencing a dry season.

A normal person would have been blackout drunk by now, but other than being a little excited, nothing had changed. In fact, it seemed like Hyun Jaekyung, who was playing along, was in more danger.

‘He’s drinking a ton… There’s no way he’s not getting drunk.’

On top of that, Jooyoon kept doing strange things, whether it was because of his drunken habits or because that’s just how he was. Whenever someone spilled a drink, he would jump up, find the bar’s mop, and neatly clean it up, repeating this several times.

The lighting was dim, everyone was drunk, and Jooyoon had a strangely faint presence for his size. Thanks to that, no one other than Hyun Jaekyung paid any attention to his bizarre behavior.

‘It’s not like it’s completely without results, is it? If I just get him to drink a little more…’

Actually, forget Jooyoon, his own stomach was so full that he didn’t want to put anything else in it. Hyun Jaekyung headed to the bathroom to walk a bit and empty his bladder. But Jooyoon, who must have followed him at some point, came into the bathroom stall with him.

Whether he was staring at him dumbfounded or not, he stomped down the overflowing trash can and even used a pair of tongs from who knows where to clean up the scattered trash. Watching him go to the next stall and do the same thing, Hyun Jaekyung hid his bewilderment and asked.

“…Is your bladder okay? After drinking all that?”

“I told you, I don’t get drunk.”

‘Drunk people always say that, so why does he look fine? No, his actions are weird, but he’s been like that since earlier, so I’m confused.’

Whatever the case, a male classmate’s bizarre behavior was none of Hyun Jaekyung’s business. After forcing himself to ignore Jooyoon and finishing his business, he was just pulling up his pants and had just washed his hands.

Suddenly, a pair of strong arms wrapped around his waist, and his body was lifted up in a flash.

“What…”

On top of that, he could feel the front of someone else’s pelvic bone against his butt.