Chapter 08
He stared blankly at the message for a moment. Then, instead of replying, he called.
He didn’t even think that this was something he would never normally do.
“What do you mean by that?”
—What do you mean? I meant exactly what I texted.
“Really?”
—Yeah. Really.
“If you’re joking, I’ll seriously kill you.”
Even though he had been drunk, it was still hard to believe he would have done something like that.
But what if… just in case… what if it was true?
—No, I’m serious.
Hyunoh’s voice sounded more honest than ever.
Did I really get drunk and kiss Sunbae Dohan?
Really?
This is crazy.
Crazy. Crazy. Crazy.
Crazy!
—Are you at school?
“No, at home.”
—Don’t you have class?
Only then did he remember that he had class today. And of all days, it was a morning class.
He pulled the phone away from his ear and checked the time. The sun was already high in the sky. He was definitely late.
Even if he rushed to school right now without washing and still smelling like alcohol, the class would already be over.
I’m screwed…
But what was done was done.
‘It can’t be helped.’
Since his attendance was already ruined, he decided he would just buy the lecture notes on the campus app later with a coffee gift card.
After quickly calculating everything, Yeonjae made a decision.
He would skip class for the first time in his life.
He was about to say he wouldn’t go to school—
—Want some hangover soup?
Hyunoh’s offer came faster than his answer.
He met Hyunoh at a gukbap restaurant in front of the school.
There was bean sprout soup at home that his mom had made, but he thought it would be better to hear the full story directly from Hyunoh.
Maybe he remembered that Yeonjae couldn’t eat sundae, because this time Hyunoh brought him to a bean sprout gukbap place.
‘Bean sprouts everywhere,’ Yeonjae thought to himself.
It was already past lunch time when they sat down. There were some people at other tables, but not many.
“You seem to know every gukbap place near school,” Yeonjae said after Hyunoh finished ordering as soon as they sat down.
“Well, I live alone.”
“Aren’t you from Seoul?”
“Half right.”
Why only half? Yeonjae wondered, but didn’t ask more. If his family home was in Seoul and he still lived alone, his family must be well-off.
“Wait.”
“What.”
“We’re not going to run into Sunbae Dohan around here, right?”
“Well, it’s in front of school. We might.”
“What? Then I’m going home.”
“Don’t tell me it’s because of the kiss?”
“Ah, stop.”
Yeonjae put his finger to his lips to quiet him.
“If you think about all the effort I put in, getting up and leaving now wouldn’t be very nice.”
Feeling guilty, Yeonjae silently picked up his spoon.
Unlike Yeonjae, who looked half-dead, Hyunoh looked cheerful as always.
“You remember, right? Yesterday I kept going out to smoke on purpose so you two could be alone.”
He grumbled that his lungs still felt ruined because of it.
“Anyway. Let’s see. I called you out today because I came up with another brilliant idea. Now that you’ve even had drinks together, we should move on to the next chapter.”
“Next chapter?”
“First, let me hear the progress report. Did anything happen yesterday?”
“…No.”
“At least you exchanged numbers, right?”
Yeonjae pressed his lips together.
“Don’t tell me you really did nothing?”
“…Yeah.”
“Wow. Even if I set the table for you, you still can’t eat.”
“I’m really sorry. You went through all that trouble.”
Yeonjae bowed his head so low it almost touched the table.
“I know you worked hard to make that chance. It’s not easy to bring someone you barely know to a promise meant for just the two of you.”
It had been a spot made on purpose. Even between close friends, it wouldn’t have been easy.
He had no excuse.
“And I got drunk and made a huge mistake.”
“Hey. You’re really going to cry at this rate.”
“How am I supposed to face Sunbae Dohan again? He must think I’m awful now. I haven’t even properly started yet.”
Yeonjae’s face looked miserable as he spoke.
Hyunoh said calmly,
“Lift your head. Anyone would think someone died.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“And that was a lie.”
“…What?”
He didn’t understand at first.
Not that it was hard to understand.
It was just that, deep down, Yeonjae had believed Hyunoh wasn’t that kind of bad person.
“The part about you kissing him. It was a lie.”
But what he finally understood was absurd.
“No, you seriously….”
His voice dropped. His emotions moved faster than his intention.
He felt absurd. Speechless. And most of all, disappointed.
“…Why would you lie about that?”
To Hyunoh.
“Wasn’t it funny?”
Hyunoh answered lightly, as if Yeonjae was the only one taking this seriously.
“Funny?”
“Nothing happened. Oh, right. I couldn’t let Lee Dohan take care of a drunk guy, so I put you in a taxi and sent you home. There was something that happened, but… anyway, you don’t need to thank me that much. You’re buying the gukbap today. Got it?”
Hyunoh didn’t care about Yeonjae’s stiff expression.
He kept joking as if it was natural, lifted his spoon toward the boiling bean sprout gukbap—
“Ah, it’s hot!”
He quickly put it down again, gulping cold water as if he had burned his mouth.
While Hyunoh made a scene, Yeonjae stayed still.
He didn’t even pretend to lift his spoon. His hands were folded under the table.
Only then did Hyunoh glance at him.
“Aren’t you going to eat? It’s not like we’re holding a memorial.”
Yeonjae didn’t answer.
Maybe sensing something was wrong, Hyunoh slowly put his spoon down.
Silence passed between them. At the nearby tables, people chatted casually, finished their bowls, and left.
The air of early summer—somewhere between spring dust and summer humidity—felt heavy. If you closed your eyes and opened them again, it would already be summer.
Yeonjae slowly opened his mouth.
“Excuse me.”
Hyunoh was someone who could make anything feel light.
Yeonjae thought this would be the same.
He would probably make some useless joke and brush off Yeonjae’s feelings again.
“Are you mad?”
Just as expected.
Not completely brushing it off, but not apologizing either.
“Hey. Are you really mad?”
When Yeonjae didn’t answer, Hyunoh asked again.
It was easy to guess. When Hyunoh acted like this, most people probably gave in to his pace, even if they were upset. Handsome and humorous, people were usually generous with him.
“….”
When Yeonjae stayed silent, Hyunoh finally put down his spoon and looked at his face.
“Hey, it was just a joke.”
Even if things became awkward between them from now on, he had to say what he needed to say.
After organizing his thoughts, Yeonjae spoke.
“You might find it funny watching me make a fool of myself like this.”
As he said that, his eyes were not on Hyunoh, but out the restaurant window. College students in matching school jackets were laughing brightly in Daehak-ro.
It was a fresh, lively laugh.
“I’m serious.”
For a moment, Hyunoh looked flustered. As if he had never imagined Yeonjae would get angry over such a small joke.
“Don’t make me a joke.”
With that, Yeonjae grabbed his bag and stood up.
