#41
I stopped moving as I was rubbing my waist against a hard spot that felt foreign. My lips parted in bewilderment. I looked up at hyung blankly, forgetting to resist. Something firm pressed against my stomach between our tightly joined bodies.
I wondered if that size was even possible, but thinking back to yesterday, it didn’t seem impossible. A pleading moan escaped my slightly parted lips.
“…Ah, no…”
“What’s not allowed?”
I squirmed, trying to escape hyung’s embrace. Saheon hyung’s hot breath brushed my crown as he laughed. As I pushed him away, fluttering like a fish caught in a net, the arms holding me so tightly loosened.
I quickly sat up and fled the bed as if escaping from a knife-wielding robber. The disheveled blanket tangled around my legs. I heard Saheon hyung laughing and getting up behind me.
“Where are you trying to go?”
His voice was full of amusement, almost leisurely, but all I could think about was escaping from here. As I hurriedly tried to climb over the bed, I lost my balance and nearly rolled off onto the floor.
A firm hand from behind grabbed my waist. Held by both sides of my waist, I ended up lying back on the bed. My heart was pounding, perhaps because I had almost fallen from the quite high bed.
As I gasped for breath, hyung pulled me back into his embrace from behind and pressed his body against mine. I had chosen to replace the word that would remind me of last night’s lotion bottle, but somehow the substituted word seemed closer to the original meaning I wanted to express.
The thin fabric of the easily worn shorts made the hard object pressing directly against my buttocks all too apparent. I made a tearful face. My lower back tingled with tension.
“Hyung… No… Uh, no… No, I’m sorry…”
I started apologizing for no reason. It seemed they hadn’t put underwear on me before putting on the pants, as the feeling of skin against the lining was stark. Saheon hyung chuckled softly and lightly rubbed his weapon against my buttocks as if threatening me.
“If you do it, I’ll really die… Save me… Don’t…”
I whimpered in a hushed voice as if saying something that shouldn’t be heard. Saheon hyung’s hand, which had been holding me like restraints, slipped inside my loose top. The hand that had been wandering around my stomach area brushed against my smooth, hairless groin. My back shrank from the heat of his hot hand.
“Really… No, no, hyung… Hyung…”
Saheon hyung gently bit my earlobe. I shuddered as if shaking off a chill. Hyung’s lips, which had been nibbling on my earlobe, moved to my nape. Placing his lips on the line where my neck and shoulder met, he sucked hard on the skin. It didn’t hurt, but it made my hair stand on end.
“No… Hyung, I have school…”
“Who said you can’t go?”
It was hyung who had just told me not to go until a moment ago. Moreover, with something clearly erect pressing and rubbing against me from behind, I wasn’t young enough to not understand that blatant signal.
I turned around with wide eyes, but when his thing brushed between my buttocks, reminding me of a Pringles can, I startled and shook hyung off. Hyung let out a small groan as he was pushed away by the strong force.
I quickly got off the bed, seizing the opportunity. As soon as my feet touched the floor, an immense pain shot through my entire body. I cried out and collapsed on the spot. With a thud and quite a loud sound, my knees stung. The coldness of the floor chilled my legs.
“Are you okay?”
Saheon hyung asked, sounding quite alarmed. The presence I felt behind me came down and met my eyes. Saheon hyung, looking both dumbfounded and flustered, tensed the corners of his mouth. This made him look even more like he was trying to hold back laughter.
“I’m fine.”
I struggled to my feet, ignoring the tingling pain in my knees. I glanced down and quickly turned my head away as if I’d seen something I shouldn’t when I caught sight of hyung’s crotch area.
Moving a few steps almost on all fours, I quickly fled when I sensed hyung wasn’t trying to catch me. I felt like a rabbit being chased by a hunter. Judging by the sound of hyung laughing behind me, that’s probably exactly how I looked to him.
It was hard to move a finger with another muscle ache coming before my body had even healed. Although I was engulfed in pain that made me feel like my body might split in two from my sore lower half, I managed to finish getting ready to go out, probably due to my determination to go to school.
Saheon hyung kept muttering complaints the whole time he drove me to school. It took about 20 minutes by car from hyung’s house to school, and Saheon hyung muttered things like ‘Where are you going when you’re not feeling well’, ‘You should rest when you’re sick’, ‘You should study while resting too’, ‘When I was a freshman, I used to play all the time’ throughout the drive.
I glared at hyung with fierce eyes as the very person responsible for my physical condition annoyingly muttered to himself. Perhaps my glare was effective, as Saheon hyung ended his monologue by grumbling something that was partly true, saying ‘It’s not like I played all the time because of discipline, but I did play quite a bit’.
The school gate in the afternoon was less crowded than in the morning. With my bag slung in front, I had to reluctantly lift my body that had been leaning against the warm seat. Hyung, who was twitching his lips around as if displeased, reached out and opened the ashtray compartment.
Saheon hyung, a non-smoker, usually filled it with small, sweet snacks like candy instead of cigarette butts. After handing me a handful, hyung put a strawberry-flavored candy in his mouth and looked at me while chewing the candy intensely, making a crunching sound.
For a while, the sound of candy being crunched echoed. I returned his displeased gaze with an equally displeased, mischievous look, but when our eyes met, I quietly lowered my gaze. I was still a bit scared after all.
But even after I averted my gaze, Saheon hyung kept staring at me with eyes that looked like he might devour me at any moment, until what was in his mouth was gone. I muttered as if making an excuse.
“…I have school…”
Saheon hyung, who had been silent for a moment, let out a heavy sigh. Sensing the mood had lightened, I glanced towards hyung. He was stirring the compartment containing candy with his finger. With each movement of his finger, the colorful candies were precariously pushed around.
“Put this on.”
What hyung held out was a band-aid. I took it reflexively and fiddled with the edge of the wrapper as I asked.
“Where?”
“Here.”
Saheon hyung’s hand touched my neck. I lowered my chin to look at where hyung’s hand had touched, but it wasn’t a place within my field of vision.
In the end, I lowered the car mirror to check my neck. A shrill scream followed immediately.
“Th-this, what is…”
My neck was covered in reddish marks. Most of them were in areas that would be covered by clothes, but there were also marks that were blatantly visible and some that would be perilously close to showing if I bent over.
I gaped stupidly for a moment before looking at hyung with eyes full of resentment. Saheon hyung was smiling innocently as if he knew nothing. I quickly tore open the band-aid and stuck it on my neck. The band-aid with weak adhesive stuck precariously.
I pressed down on the band-aid firmly with my palm. The heat from my hand wouldn’t actually strengthen the adhesive, but I felt uneasy if I didn’t do at least this much.
After finishing applying the band-aid while glaring fiercely at hyung, I ignored his tactless whispered request for a kiss and slammed the car door shut. The sound was so loud that I worried the window might break, and my shoulders involuntarily flinched.
I wondered if I should have said it was because of the wind, even now. But when I saw Saheon hyung blowing a playful hand kiss with his index and middle fingers together, I chose to leave conspicuously after contorting my face into a fierce expression.
As I was aimlessly walking towards the building where the new liberal arts class would be held, I spotted Choi Hyun-oh smoking. Standing on the frozen grass field beside the building, Hyun-oh’s eyes widened as he raised his hand high.
“Lee Cheongmyeong!”
I quickened my pace slightly to approach Hyun-oh. Hiding the half-finished cigarette behind his back, Hyun-oh spoke as if scolding me.
“Why didn’t you come in the morning!”
“I overslept.”
I answered with an awkward smile. Suddenly, I became very conscious of the band-aid stuck on my nape. Hyun-oh chattered as if nagging.
“I wanted to text you, but I couldn’t because you still don’t have a phone. Geez, you overslept? My hyung marked you present. Since you didn’t get caught, buy me a meal.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
I pressed down on the band-aid on my nape for no reason. Knowing that I wasn’t marked absent thanks to Hyun-oh, I felt relieved. Just then, I heard a small “Oh” sound from the side. Only then did I realize that someone else was standing next to Hyun-oh.
Unlike Hyun-oh, who had hidden his cigarette behind his back, the new person was holding his cigarette up to shoulder height, looking at me with curious eyes. He seemed to be Hyun-oh’s friend.
Unlike Hyun-oh, who looked quite rough with his bleached yellow hair and piercings, the stranger was closer to neat. His black gym clothes, round glasses, and untouched black hair made him look even more tidy.
Judging by his athletic build typical of sports players, visible even over his padded jacket, Hyun-oh’s friend seemed to be majoring in something related to physical education. As the stranger and I looked at each other with exploring eyes, Hyun-oh slapped his friend’s shoulder with a thud.
“Hey, you bastard. Is that how you look at someone you’re meeting for the first time without any manners?”
“Fuck, that really hurts, asshole!”
But the impression of looking neat and tidy was shattered the moment he opened his mouth. Cursing just as much as Hyun-oh with a face that had looked gentle and clean, Hyun-oh’s friend looked like he was about to grab Hyun-oh by the collar.
I blankly watched the two fighting as if they were used to it even in front of a stranger. Hyun-oh, who had thrown away the cigarette he had hidden behind his back and stepped on it to put it out, introduced his friend savagely.
“This is the asshole who made me take that fucking Schrödinger class.”
“I’m Yoo Do-jin.”
The newly introduced friend greeted me, lightly ignoring the barking Hyun-oh. I nodded blankly before realizing I hadn’t said my name and opened my mouth.
“I’m Lee Cheongmyeong… um… right?”
I had naturally answered in informal speech, but then remembered that Hyun-oh had said he was older. I belatedly added “right?”, but it had already become awkward formal speech long ago. I gave a sheepish smile.
“Call me hyung. I’m this idiot’s friend, so you can speak casually.”
“Stop calling me an idiot, you bastard!”
Hyun-oh raised his fist once again. Despite the quite fierce thudding sounds, Do-jin hyung didn’t even blink. I wondered for a moment if having a lot of muscles meant you couldn’t feel pain.
“It’s stupid that you really believed it, idiot.”
“Go to hell, fuck.”
“Anyway, I changed it to this. You should be grateful to me.”
Do-jin hyung grinned as he put out his cigarette. Surprisingly, Hyun-oh just grumbled without giving a proper answer. As both smokers finished smoking, our steps naturally headed inside the building. The inside of the newly constructed building was very warm.
I followed the two as they made their way to the lecture hall in the basement. The two walked so close that their shoulders almost touched, but neither thought to fall back.
I recalled Hyun-oh once saying they had been friends since childhood. Perhaps that’s why, although they seemed to bicker on the surface, the two appeared to get along well. And my observation was shattered the moment we arrived at the door of the lecture hall that occupied the entire basement floor.
“…Hey, fuck, Yoo Do-jin. Do you want to die?”
Hyun-oh muttered in a low voice. Judging by his trembling fists, he seemed to want to grab Do-jin by the collar. Do-jin hyung laughed out loud, bending over with laughter. Not having seen the situation inside the lecture hall yet, I looked at the two with a puzzled expression.
“Fuck, it’s a sausage fest. A sausage fest! Boiling hot!”
“Idiot. Who did you think would be taking sex education?”
Do-jin hyung cackled as if he was about to choke. Still unable to grasp the situation, I muttered blankly while looking at Hyun-oh.
“…Sex education?”
Beyond the door that Hyun-oh had been blocking, a scene unfolded where even from the back, it was clear that everyone was male. Do-jin hyung, still laughing, kindly added an explanation.
“Yeah. Until last year, it was just ‘Sex Education for Korea City University Students’, but they said the lecture name was too explicit, so it was changed to ‘Gender Education for Korea City University Students’.”
As I listened to hyung’s reply, which seemed thoroughly amused, I had to gape at the unexpected sex education. But what really angered Hyun-oh was for a different reason. Do-jin hyung added mischievously with a sly smile.
“Do we have to do practical exercises here too?”
“…What kind of… exercises?”
My trembling voice seemed to go unheard as Hyun-oh grumbled quite fiercely.
“Fuck, what kind of sex education practical exercises are we supposed to do with a bunch of guys.”
