ETP Ch 16

It was past 1 AM, and the road was so deserted it felt chilling.

Hwang Yoohyun’s anxiety finally began to subside as the car sped along the empty road.

“Hey, Hwang Yoohyun. I’ve been thinking, you know?”

Sunjung, who had been glued to his phone screen, suddenly spoke.

“Thinking about what.”

“I think I’m certain about one thing.”

Uncharacteristically, Sunjung hesitated, not continuing his sentence.

The car stopped at a red light, and a frustrated Yoohyun turned to look at his friend.

“What are you trying to say?”

At Yoohyun’s prodding, Sunjung scratched his nose. He still seemed hesitant to speak.

“Aren’t you going to say it?”

“I will! But I feel like if I just blurt it out, you’ll kick me out of the car.”

“I won’t kick you out.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Yoohyun replied indifferently. Sunjung took his word for it. A man wouldn’t go back on his word, right?

“I think it’s pretty clear that Bokseung isn’t interested in you.”

Sunjung burst out laughing.

Honestly, who would have thought? Bokseung’s reaction to the undeniably attractive and desirable Hwang Yoohyun was bland, bordering on cold. Anyone who knew Hwang Yoohyun wouldn’t believe it.

As if his earlier hesitation had never existed, now that he’d started, Yoo Sunjung was busy teasing Hwang Yoohyun.

“I’ve seen you go to a PC bang just to catch a glimpse of your junior, Hwang Yoohyun, but I have yet to see you in a relationship.”

Seeing Yoohyun’s unexpectedly quiet reaction, Sunjung became even more emboldened, his tongue sharp.

“You know what? Bokseung is too good for you. Way too good.”

Just as Sunjung’s words flowed freely, the car, which had been speeding down the road, came to a sudden stop. It was an unfamiliar neighborhood. Sunjung’s eyes widened as he looked around.

Hwang Yoohyun, calmly turning on the hazard lights, said,

“Get out.”

It was more of a command than a request, making Sunjung jump.

“You said you wouldn’t kick me out! You said you wouldn’t go back on your word! You bastard!”

“When did I?”

“When? When?? When, you fucking—! You said it five minutes ago!”

Ignoring Yoo Sunjung’s ranting beside him, Hwang Yoohyun remained firm. Click, he unlocked the car doors. His face, for someone who had just gone back on his word, showed no sign of shame.

Exhausted from his one-sided shouting match, Sunjung turned to look at Yoohyun’s handsome and composed face. His shifting eyes seemed to ask, 

“Are you seriously making me leave?”

“Do you want me to drag you out?”

The implication was clear: get out now, or be forced out. Knowing his friend’s stubborn nature, Sunjung pouted and unbuckled his seatbelt.

Unwilling to leave just like that, Sunjung unleashed a string of childish curses that would make anyone cringe.

“I’m telling Bokseung everything. Just live alone forever, you impotent prick.”

Unfazed by Sunjung’s words, Hwang Yoohyun drove off as soon as his friend’s feet touched the ground. The sleek, long sedan, mirroring its owner, disappeared from Sunjung’s sight in an instant.

Exasperated, Sunjung sighed, “Huh, unbelievable!” and picked up his phone. He then called the 36th contact on his “Noona List.”

“Hey, Noona! Come pick me up!”

Luckily, Noona number 36 wasn’t asleep and immediately agreed. Sunjung waited, feeling the cool night air against his skin.

Even if Hwang Yoohyun abandoned him, he had plenty of noonas who would take him in, and the night was young.

As the calendar flipped to October, Seongyeon had become somewhat accustomed to living as Bokseung.

He still couldn’t understand more than half of the lectures, the vocabulary his classmates used was largely a mystery, and occasionally, some old-man grumbling would slip out, but he had at least reached a point where he wouldn’t do anything to arouse suspicion.

Seongyeon tried his best to maintain Bokseung’s grades, but he realized that, whether young or old, he had absolutely no aptitude for studying.

No matter how intelligent Kim Bokseung’s brain was, with Seongyeon at the helm, it was like casting pearls before swine.

The same was true now. Realizing that midterms were fast approaching, Seongyeon was studying his major subjects at the library before heading to his part-time job.

He’d heard that from the second semester of freshman year, they started taking a few specialized courses. Seongyeon was wrestling with one of those courses now.

Why were so many difficult words popping up? He figured it was because he was at a school with a lot of smart kids, but having to look up words at his age, regardless of whether he understood them intellectually, filled Seongyeon with a deep sense of self-deprecation.

Still, he couldn’t give up without trying, for Bokseung’s sake. So, he was painstakingly translating the textbook almost like it was an English textbook.

“Bokseung!”

Choi Jihoon, with a bouncy gait just like his, approached, his blond hair fluttering. At least he was aware enough to lower his voice in the library.

Seongyeon sighed inwardly before looking up. It was time to fully embody Kim Bokseung.

Bokseung, with his bright face, smiled and waved.

Jihoon, sitting across from Bokseung, felt his fingers twitching as he looked at his cute, round friend. If it wasn’t rude, he’d love to pinch and stretch those chubby cheeks, but that would probably be considered rude.

He didn’t show it, but every time Jihoon saw Bokseung, he internally debated the merits of pulling his cheeks.

“What are you doing here? I’ve been looking all over for you. You left your phone on silent and tucked away in your bag again, didn’t you?”

Jihoon pulled out the empty chair next to Bokseung and sat down. Seeing that Jihoon wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon, Seongyeon retrieved his phone from his bag.

Just as Jihoon had said, Seongyeon had left Bokseung’s phone on silent and tucked away in his bag.

As he’d expected at the beginning of the semester, he and the “Beagle Trio” were completely incompatible. Being around them drained his energy, so he tried to avoid them as much as possible, often leading to him neglecting his phone.

Seongyeon widened his eyes dramatically and furrowed his brows in an inverted V. It was an expression of genuine surprise and apology for not checking his phone.

It was a performance a million miles away from the usual Seongyeon, so he felt a shiver down his spine as he faked it, but he had no choice. This was Kim Bokseung’s usual role amongst the Beagle Trio.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t see your messages.”

Bokseung looked at the group chat with over 200 unread messages, a weary expression on his face.

They saw each other every day, so what could they possibly have to talk about so much? The Beagle Trio’s group chat accumulated hundreds of messages a day. He’d occasionally check and clear them, but they’d pile up again in no time.

The stamina of 20-year-olds was not to be underestimated.

“You used to reply before the break, but now you’re completely ignoring us?”

Jihoon put on a hurt expression. Even before, Bokseung hadn’t felt like a true soulmate, but lately, his lack of interest was even more apparent.

“No, it’s not that. My concentration hasn’t been the same since the accident, and I can’t study if my phone is nearby… I didn’t mean to ignore you. I’m sorry.”

Seeing Bokseung explain in a soft voice, the lingering feeling of hurt dissipated.

Jihoon clenched his fingers, fighting the urge to reach for Bokseung’s cheeks, and continued.

His complaint had been a setup. He knew that if he went straight to the point, Bokseung would definitely refuse.

“Why are you apologizing so much? It’s okay, I was just a little bummed. We should’ve been more considerate of you being stressed after the accident.”

Bokseung tilted his head at Jihoon’s words.

This was very different from Jihoon’s usual reaction. Normally, he’d whine about being upset and threaten to sulk if they didn’t eat together, making everyone around him anxious.

Why was he acting so normal?

Seongyeon, suppressing his suspicious gaze, stared intently at Jihoon. Jihoon, focusing his gaze about an inch away from Bokseung’s brown eyes, gave an awkward laugh before speaking.

“Uh, you know our school festival is the day after tomorrow, right?”

“Festival?”

Of course, he didn’t.

Seongyeon had lived a life completely detached from festivals. He’d never bothered with them, figuring they were places for couples, and he didn’t want to go alone. This was the same Seongyeon who had never set foot on the Yeouido cherry blossom path, a place seemingly every Korean had visited.

He had no desire to participate in a university festival, which would be, at best, energetic, and at worst, a chaotic mess.

“I have work, so I don’t think I can join you. Sorry.”

Thankfully, he had his part-time job at the PC bang the day after tomorrow.

Seongyeon put on his best apologetic face, but inwardly, he was sighing with relief. He was already looking forward to a quiet day at the PC bang while everyone else was at the festival.

However.

“Come on, Bokseung, of course I know your work schedule! Don’t worry, the festival is two days long! You don’t work the next day, right? Let’s go together then!”

At Jihoon’s cheerful suggestion, Bokseung’s apologetic expression froze.

What? The festival is two days long?

He hadn’t even known there was a festival, so naturally, he wouldn’t know how long it lasted.

Feeling somewhat wronged by Jihoon’s insistence, Seongyeon slowly rolled his eyes. But no matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn’t come up with a decent excuse. The disconnect between the hardware and software was truly significant.

The real Bokseung would have easily come up with a good excuse, but his already frozen mind couldn’t manage it.

Seongyeon quickly replaced his troubled expression with a shy smile. No matter what he felt inside, he couldn’t just ruin Bokseung’s relationships.

“Really? That’s great, we can hang out for a day.”

It was a textbook answer straight out of a “How to Make Friends” guide.

Apparently satisfied with the response, Jihoon’s eyes began to sparkle as brightly as his hair.

“Our classes end early that day too, so we can have lunch, hang out at a cafe, and then check out the festival in the evening! I’m so excited, aren’t you?”

Seongyeon screamed internally at the already finalized itinerary.

He could already picture it without having to experience it firsthand: his drained, lifeless soul sprawled on the floor after being completely depleted of energy.