41.
#It Doesn’t Feel Like Someone Else’s Problem
As the morning broadcast ended, monitoring sheets were placed in front of the freshmen, just like yesterday. However, today, everyone was able to fill out the sheets more easily, having mentally prepared themselves in advance.
After Dawoon submitted his monitoring sheet and left the broadcasting club room, Na-eun hurriedly followed him out.
“Let’s go together.”
Even though there was no need to rush since they didn’t have a first-period class today, Na-eun followed Dawoon with quick steps.
“Talk to me for a moment.”
Upon reaching the first-floor lobby, Na-eun grabbed Dawoon’s arm and dragged him towards the cafeteria. She gestured towards the menu board, asking what he wanted to eat, but he shook his head, saying he was fine.
“Something happened between you and Senior Choi Yu-na, right?”
While waiting for her drink order, Na-eun asked with narrowed eyes.
“What could have happened?”
“I mean, it’s different.”
“What is?”
“I can’t put my finger on it, but the atmosphere is different. The senior is similar to yesterday, but you’ve changed.”
Na-eun looked Dawoon up and down, finding him very suspicious.
“Did you two meet separately again yesterday?”
“No.”
“Then why did you suddenly become friendly?”
She pointed out the change in Dawoon’s attitude.
“Nothing has changed.”
From his own perspective, nothing particularly had changed. He hadn’t even spoken more than a few words with Choi Yu-na while in the broadcasting club room.
“No, you’ve definitely changed. The boundaries have blurred a bit, I mean.”
Dawoon felt a bit stung by Na-eun’s grumbling. It was true that after talking with Choi Yu-na this morning, his view of her had changed. It wasn’t the kind of emotion Na-eun was thinking of, but the distance he felt towards Choi Yu-na had indeed lessened.
A sense of kinship. If he had to put a name to his current feelings, that would be the closest.
“Don’t tell me the senior is your type?”
Why did everyone try to link men and women romantically just because of their genders? He was getting tired of similar situations repeating themselves.
“I’ve never thought of her that way, type or whatever. Stop trying to link us like that. It’s disrespectful to the senior.”
He wondered if such misunderstandings would be more uncomfortable for Choi Yu-na, being a woman, than for himself. Remembering her words about not wanting to be a burden to anyone, he felt concerned. His tone was a bit cold, hoping Na-eun wouldn’t misunderstand and spread strange rumors.
“Are you angry?”
Na-eun carefully asked, rolling her eyes to look at Dawoon’s face. Dawoon took a deep breath and shook his head. It seemed his image in her eyes was quite prickly. Given what had built up over time, it was understandable.
“I’m not angry, but I don’t want strange rumors spreading about the senior and me.”
It wouldn’t be good for either of them. Both were in positions where even small rumors could snowball into bigger situations, more so than Na-eun might think.
“I’m sorry. I won’t link you two anymore.”
Na-eun apologized immediately. Even though he said he wasn’t angry, she still kept an eye on Dawoon’s mood.
“I just… thought maybe you were dating the senior…”
Her mumbling voice gradually faded. She was now looking down at the floor with her head bowed.
‘What does it matter to you whether I date the senior or not?’
He swallowed the foolish question on the tip of his tongue. No one wore their emotions on their sleeve as much as Kim Na-eun. This honesty was also one of her strengths. Sometimes it was troublesome because she was too straightforward, but at least there was no need to suspect her of having ulterior motives.
“I’ll apologize for making you eat with the senior instead of me yesterday.”
Wanting to change the subject, he deliberately brought up yesterday’s incident. Na-eun looked up and waved her hands, saying there was no need to apologize.
“It wasn’t as uncomfortable as I thought. Yu-na unnie is indeed a nice person.”
Come to think of it, Na-eun had been calling Choi Yu-na “unnie” instead of “senior” for a while now. Yesterday, he thought she was just pretending to be close, but seeing her call her “unnie” even when Choi Yu-na wasn’t around, it seemed they had become quite friendly.
“She does seem like a good person, but…”
Na-eun frowned and trailed off. Wondering if there was a problem, Dawoon quietly waited for her to continue.
“But why does she feel so cold?”
Na-eun had said something similar yesterday. Dawoon wondered what that meant. He didn’t like judging someone based on just a feeling, especially without any solid evidence.
“Isn’t that prejudice?”
“Prejudice?”
Na-eun blinked.
“You know, when you think ‘this person must be like this’ without actually experiencing it yourself.”
Somehow, it ended up sounding like he was taking Choi Yu-na’s side. That seemed to displease Na-eun, who puffed up her cheeks. Still, she didn’t argue back. It seemed that Choi Yu-na hadn’t actually done anything wrong to her; it was just a feeling.
It couldn’t be. Recalling what Choi Yu-na had said to him this morning, it didn’t seem like she would act carelessly towards others, even juniors. Even the smallest incident, if blown out of proportion and turned into a rumor, could tarnish her grandfather’s name as the ruling party’s floor leader, and she was very well aware of how burdensome and uncomfortable that would be.
“I just don’t like it. I don’t like that you’re defending her like this.”
Unable to find a suitable response, Na-eun threw a childish tantrum.
Just don’t like it. Those words made Dawoon’s stomach churn. He was aware that a significant part of Na-eun’s antipathy towards Choi Yu-na was because of him. Nevertheless, he felt uncomfortable. He kept thinking about Choi Yu-na, feeling sorry for her being disliked despite doing nothing wrong, and it didn’t feel like someone else’s problem.
***
“What’s the occasion? Did the sun rise in the west today?”
Ui-hyeon joked as he sat across from Dawoon. He was surprised that Dawoon had contacted him first, and even more shocked that the meeting place was a bar near the university’s back gate.
“Jeong Dawoon, I didn’t know you could drink.”
Right after high school graduation, there were a few times when the boys got together to drink, but Dawoon never joined. So Ui-hyeon had even asked if maybe his brother was preventing him from going out.
“Just felt like having a drink on someone else’s tab.”
“You mean you called me out to buy you drinks? Hey, if you called me out, you should be the one paying.”
Dawoon just smirked at Ui-hyeon’s words. He didn’t care who paid. He just felt stuffy and needed someone to vent to. Ui-hyeon was the easiest target, but now that they were face to face, he wasn’t sure how to start. He thought maybe after some drinks, he’d be able to speak more candidly.
“What’s with that face?”
Ui-hyeon asked after taking a sip of the beer he had ordered in advance, finally getting a good look at Dawoon’s face. Feeling self-conscious about how he must look, Dawoon rubbed his cheek with one hand.
“You’ve never been the smiley type, but today you look absolutely rotten.”
Ui-hyeon’s blunt expression made Dawoon laugh.
“Don’t laugh if that’s how you’re going to do it.”
Unlike Dawoon, Ui-hyeon became more serious and threw some of the dried snacks he was eating at Dawoon.
“What’s wrong with how I laugh?”
“It’s like you’re detached from everything in the world? You’re not living your second life or anything, so why do you look so indifferent to everything?”
The casually thrown words stung.
“If I were you, I’d think life would be enjoyable. No money worries, probably smart, good looks, and a decent enough personality. I wonder what could possibly be the problem. Just study moderately, date, enjoy what you want to enjoy. Can’t you just live like that?”
Dawoon smiled bitterly at Ui-hyeon’s words. So that’s how others saw Jeong Dawoon’s life.
“Well, you do have an overprotective brother, but other families have strict parents too, right?”
The latter part of his statement was referring to his own parents. For parents raising two sons, they had quite a strict curfew and were quite stringent, worried their sons might get into trouble somewhere. So Ui-hyeon always grumbled about his parents.
To Ui-hyeon, Jeong Hayun was like those parents to Dawoon. Dawoon agreed with his statement to some extent.
But parents would never do what happened last night.
“Your brother…”
He opened his mouth but couldn’t continue. He licked his lips, biting them inward.
Does your brother teach you things like masturbation too?
He couldn’t bring himself to say those words. He didn’t know if all brothers were like that, or if Hayun was strange. If it was normal between brothers due to their closeness, that would be fine, but if Ui-hyeon’s brother wasn’t like that, if it was just Hayun, he felt he shouldn’t carelessly mention it to Ui-hyeon.
“What about my brother? Why did you stop mid-sentence?”
“…It’s nothing.”
He shook his head and downed his beer, refilling the empty glass.
“What’s with the anticlimactic response? Don’t tell me you fought with your brother?”
Since Dawoon had mentioned his brother, Ui-hyeon asked if there was a problem with him. Then, as if finding his own thought amusing, he muttered, “Can Jeong Hayun and Jeong Dawoon even fight?” while frowning. The seven-year age gap was significant, but due to Jeong Hayun’s position as the heir to the Haedo Group, the practical difference felt even greater. So it seemed unlikely that they would have common sibling quarrels.
“It’s not like that.”
If only it were a fight, it wouldn’t be this troubling. Thinking about last night made his chest tight.
“Jeong Dawoon?”
Hearing a familiar voice, Ui-hyeon turned around and tilted his head at the person’s face, then frowned.
“The person who spilled her drink and offered her card!”
At his description, Choi Yu-na wore a blank expression before bursting into laughter.
