YHP 6

Jeong-in had gone in on his own, but that wasn’t the same case for leaving. In fact, Choi Hyun-wook had planned to return to the office at an appropriate time, but when he heard that Jeong-in had opened his eyes, he rushed over and spent a whole week with Jeong-in under the pretext of absolute stability. 

He insisted that school could wait and that Jeong-in needed more rest, even threatening to keep Jeong-in locked up if necessary. Ju-young, who looked like a corpse after an all-night shoot, stopped Hyun-wook from threatening to confine Jeong-in. Hyun-wook strongly objected to the suggestion that Jeong-in was a grown-up adult who could take care of himself, retorting, “Is that why he was brought in half-dead?”

In the end, Jeong-in was only able to leave after making a blood oath never to get caught in the rain again.

After returning to his room for the first time in a long time, Jeong-in packed a few clothes into a suitcase in the chilly house.

Today, he planned to find a place near campus first. However, since he was naturally uninterested in material possessions, there wasn’t much for him to take even though he had decided to move to a new place.

As he picked up the light suitcase and was about to leave the house, his wrist caught his eye in the full-length mirror.

‘If I really don’t want to stand out, I shouldn’t be wearing this.”

Remembering what Hyo-jun had said, Jeong-in stepped back into the closet. He looked at the watch winders busily turning and then picked up a watch from a reasonably unassuming brand.

That said, Jeong-in wasn’t exactly sure if it was a suitable brand. So, he called Hyo-jun.

“Hey, What kind of watch should I wear?”

–Well… do you have an Apple Watch?

The sound of gunfire echoed in the background, suggesting he was in the middle of a game.

“…I don’t.”

Then, in a voice that sounded annoyed, Hyo-jun listed a few brands and vaguely suggested a range.

After hanging up, Jeong-in searched for brands that Hyo-jun mentioned. There were no suitable ones among the automatics, but luckily, in a section with only quartz models, he found a platinum watch from a jewelry brand that his aunt had gifted to him some time ago.

“Hm…”

Jeong-in compared it next to the watch on his wrist. No matter how he looked at it, the leather band seemed much more subdued than the platinum, but he decided to follow Hyo-jun’s advice for now. He neatly put the watch he had been wearing into the showcase and slipped the new one onto his wrist. The sapphire crown somehow felt burdensome.

“…”

In the end, he just took the watch off.

Jeong-in left the house carrying his light suitcase. Several cars were neatly parked in the private garage. He considered taking the sedan his uncle had given him, but since he had luggage today, he decided to take the compact SUV instead.

After roughly shoving his bag into the back seat, he headed toward campus. The roads were still a mess, and the school was just as busy and hectic as it had been a week ago. With the medical note for his proof of absence tucked into a file, he stepped through the door closest to the building, and he immediately saw a real estate agency right in front of him. The broker, who had been busy since morning, smiled at Jeong-in.

“Are you here to see a room?”

“Yes.”

“It might be a bit difficult to meet all your conditions since most places are taken now, but you can sit down for now.”

The map covering the entire wall was quite complex. Soon, a warm cup of hot cocoa was placed in front of him.

“What kind of room are you looking for? How much are you willing to spend on rent or deposit? What condition is acceptable to you? If you tell me, I can find you something good.”

“If possible, I’d prefer to buy. Are there any properties for sale among the multi-family buildings near the TH building?”

“Pardon?”

The agent glanced up at Jeong-in. He thought he had misheard him.

“The condition doesn’t really matter, and if the contract can be signed right away, I can offer more than the asking price.”

He had already received permission from the adults. Both of his fathers, who had spent their lives focused on real estate, seemed to have a good evaluation of the buildings around the school, or more precisely, of the land itself.

When Jeong-in mentioned he was looking for a place in this area, his fathers accepted without any hesitation. Above all, what captured their attention was the fact that the distance between the building where Jeong-in mainly attended classes and the neighborhood he was looking at was barely a five-minute walk.

Jeong-in began to recite exactly what his fathers had said: “If there are people already living there, we can cover not only the prepaid rent, but also the difference in deposit for the new place and all moving expenses. It doesn’t matter if its an older building. I’d appreciate a location as close to the TH Building as possible.”

“Well, I think I might need to discuss this with the adults…”

The hesitation in the agent’s voice likely stemmed from Jeong-in’s obviously young age. It wasn’t entirely surprising. Jeong-in pulled out his wallet and quickly looked at the row of business cards neatly arranged inside.

Excluding his youngest uncle, who was probably on vacation somewhere in the Mediterranean, there were four options left: his eldest uncle, aunt, and his two fathers.

“…”

Ruling out Jeong-hoon, who still wasn’t keen on Jeong-in living on his own, he tried imagining contacting his uncle or aunt first. All Jeong-in needed was a small building, but he asked them for this, they would probably move to purchase all the surrounding properties as well.

“Please contact this person. It’s my father.”

He pulled out the business card of his younger father, Won-kyung, who was the more practical one among them. Whether the agent’s earlier caution was a bluff or not, his expression immediately brightened upon receiving the card with the title of Construction Company Branch Manager printed on it.

“I’ll look into it right away. I think I can find something quickly among the older buildings. Could you stop by again in the afternoon?”

“Alright, I will.”

Jeong-in walked out of the real estate office and walked along the campus. He took a moment to stare at the posters featuring deer were plastered on the wall, then blended into the crowd entering the lecture hall.

He sat like a statue through the second lecture, and when he briefly dozed off, he found that the faces of the people around him had changed. This time, it was the very subject he had left midway through when he suddenly felt ill. On the screen was the same poorly designed PPT.

Jeong-in looked around. As with previous lectures, he planned to ask whoever sat next to him if attendance had been taken last week, and if so, he’d turn in the medical note he had brought. Soon, the clock approached the hour, and students began to gather and fill the seats. Confirming that someone had sat down next to him, Jeong-in turned to them.

“Excuse me.”

“Ugh.”

The person immediately planted their face on the desk upon sitting down. Startled by the thud, Jeong-in scooted a bit away from him.

The student seemed strange. His hair was disheveled like a bird’s nest, and he looked as if he had just woken up. On the other hand, given their complete lack of movement, he also seemed like someone who might be sick.

What am I supposed to do about this? Jeong-in thought, bewildered. The student who had his forehead on the desk robotically turned his head to look at Jeong-in. His entire face was swollen like a carp. With his swollen eyes, he said, “You’re really handsome. You must feel happy every time you look in the mirror every morning, right?”

“Excuse me?”

Then, another guy sitting next to him slapped his back.

“Oh, come on, seriously? Aren’t you embarrassed? I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”

He apologized profusely to Jeong-in while covering the carp-faced student’s mouth as if he was truly mortified. However, the carp-faced student went even further and extended his hand toward Jeong-in.

“I’m Go Su-hak… If you like drinking, would you consider joining our club?”

“Oh, I’m really sorry. Truly. This bastard… I mean, this guy hasn’t sobered up yet.”

Now that he mentioned it, Jeong-in noticed the smell of alcohol coming from the carp-faced student. The brown-eyed student, who seemed relatively sober, had a mixed expression of anger and embarrassment on his face.

What did liking alcohol have to do with joining a club? What kind of nonsensical connection was that? Jeong-in couldn’t make sense of it, so he pondered for a moment before speaking again. Either way, these people were his only option to ask right now.

“Um, excuse me.”

“By any chance, was attendance taken last week?”

“No,” the brown-eyed student answered and then turned his attention back to his friend.

The guy had once again planted his face on the desk.

“…Can’t even make soup out of this mess.”

Cursing under his breath, the guy shoved a small cushion between the other student’s forehead and the desk. Watching this made Jeong-in want to laugh, so he struggled to compose himself and open his book. Soon, the professor arrived.

“Yoon Seon-hyeong.”

“Here.”

“Go Su-hak.”

“Heeh…”

As people in the large lecture hall began raising their hands here and there, the strange guys sitting next to Jeong-in also lifted their hands. It seemed like the professor planned to call out attendance for the first official class, meticulously calling out each name written on the several pages of the attendance sheet.

Before long, Jeong-in’s name was called.

“Choi Jeong-in.”

“Here.”

“Yu Ho-jin.”

“Here.”

A voice that sounded familiar had come from behind.

As Jeong-in was about to turn around to see who it was, he suddenly heard a tapping sound next to him. It was the neatly dressed, brown-eyed young man. For some reason, he was puncturing a piece of paper at regular intervals.

There seemed to be a system to what he was doing, so Jeong-in quietly watched and realized he was creating Braille. His hands moved incredibly fast and skillfully, as if he had been doing this for a long time. While he observed the dots forming like magic, Jeong-in eventually turned back to face forward.

Unbeknownst to him, Yu Ho-jin was staring intently in his direction.