11
In the meantime, a new message arrived from Gu Wanjae.
[You! Aren’t even a friend] [Gu Wanjae]
Taein replied to that message. He wrote this:
[If not a friend, then what?]
[Should we cut ties?]
He didn’t know if friends actually cut ties in real life. But Taein, who had never had friends, thought that a ‘cutting ties’ process was necessary to break a friendship. Because there are times when naturally growing distant or silently turning away isn’t possible. At the message that was thrown out like a joke, Gu Wanjae couldn’t hide his obvious excitement.
[Shibal, you bastard, is that something a person says??] [Gu Wanjae]
Taein also thought it was a shocking message for Gu Wanjae to receive. He immediately wrote below:
[It’s a joke. Are you coming to school today?]
A reply came to that message after a 3-minute interval.
[Mind your own business] [Gu Wanjae]
It was a message that somehow seemed haughty. Taein didn’t even notice that dawn had broken while exchanging messages with Gu Wanjae. Light began to shine behind Taein, who had been sitting alone in the dim classroom. Only after receiving the message telling him to mind his own business did Taein place his phone with a thunk on the desk. If he was told to mind his own business, then he should. Pretending to go along with Gu Wanjae’s words, he didn’t write any more messages. Gu Wanjae also didn’t send any replies after that.
Was it because he woke up too early? Taein only slept throughout class time. Even though Taein usually kept his eyes open even when not listening to class, today even that was too much for him. As soon as class started, his body slumped and sleep poured down like rain. He only properly came to his senses well after lunch time.
He vaguely heard the bell ring, but when he tried to sleep for 10 more minutes, over 30 minutes had passed.
He was hungry and needed to eat.
If he went now, he should be able to eat right away. Taein left the classroom in a half-awake state and headed to the basement.
As expected, there wasn’t much of a line in the basement. Still, a few first-years were standing there, so waiting time was necessary.
Taein, standing at the very back, either looked at the floor or checked his phone. Gu Wanjae hadn’t sent any other messages until lunchtime. Only ‘Mind your own business’ decorated the top. Even looking at it now, it seemed haughty. Taein looked at that message and let out a hollow laugh by himself.
“Sunbae-nim.”
At that moment, a head coming forward made Taein lift his head up.
“Hello.”
“Ah.”
It was someone greeting Gu Wanjae. Since he was always with Gu Wanjae when he occasionally came to school, it seemed he had become familiar with his face. Taein responded awkwardly.
“Hello.”
“Would you like to stand in front of us?”
Even saying ‘us,’ they seemed to be students he didn’t know. The guy who had grown his hair strangely and swept it back looked even more like a delinquent than Gu Wanjae. Taein didn’t particularly want to go in quickly, so he said no and even gestured with his hand. At that reaction, the junior said “Ah, yes,” and stepped back.
How long had he been standing there?
He could see the junior who had been waiting in front looking upward.
“Sunbae-nim, hello.”
Looking in the direction where he bowed his head 90 degrees, Gu Wanjae was coming down the stairs. How long had it been since he came to school? Gu Wanjae kept being absent, submitting reasons, then continuing to be absent and making up reasons, just barely avoiding getting kicked out of school. When asked if he wanted to quit, Gu Wanjae just said “Uh.” Even so, he occasionally came to school.
Gu Wanjae, with an annoyed expression, gestured to the junior. Though he received greetings from many guys, Gu Wanjae actually hated that kind of treatment. One day he had said menacingly to a junior trying to look good, “Why are you acting like you know me? Why are you greeting me?” He hadn’t done that to this guy yet, it seemed.
Taein looked at Gu Wanjae then turned his gaze forward.
He wanted to talk to him, but seeing Gu Wanjae in person made him feel slightly awkward.
Anyway, he hadn’t seen him for a few days, and he had made Gu Wanjae sulk. He hadn’t replied separately to the last message this morning telling him to mind his own business either. He was probably really pissed off. With that thought, he wondered if he had gone too far.
Gu Wanjae just stood quietly behind until Taein entered the cafeteria.
Since lunch was almost over, no one was standing behind Gu Wanjae.
When Taein, who had entered first, was receiving rice and side dishes, Gu Wanjae also held a tray next to him and received rice.
When he took a seat at a table with no one else, Gu Wanjae also placed his tray with a thunk in the seat across from Taein.
“……”
Even after sitting right across from him, there were no words. Taein stared at Gu Wanjae sitting in front of him, then finally opened his mouth first. Because he was completely demanding to be talked to.
“Hey.”
Gu Wanjae lifted his head while stuffing plain rice into his mouth. His expression was displeased.
“What are you doing…?”
After quickly eating a bite, Gu Wanjae answered.
“Eating.”
“……”
When Taein had no reaction, Gu Wanjae just picked up his spoon again. It seemed he needed to speak before that rice went into his mouth again. Taein threw words at Gu Wanjae, who was scooping up a big spoonful of plain rice.
“Gu Wanjae.”
At being called, Gu Wanjae stopped scooping rice and only lifted his eyes.
“Were you that hurt by it?”
At the lightly thrown words, Gu Wanjae’s brow furrowed sharply first. Just looking at his expression, it seemed like he might throw that big spoonful of rice at him. Surprisingly, he just shook the rice-covered spoon into the soup with a thunk. Then Gu Wanjae began to speak.
“You bastard. You did wrong and now you’re treating someone else like they’re being weird?”
“What did I do.”
“What? How can you say that?”
“…Hah, hey…”
“What.”
“It’s nice for me to sleep at your house. But you know? I had things to take and things to tell the teacher about. So I went for those reasons too. It wasn’t that I was uncomfortable with you or uncomfortable with your house. Going back to the facility was just a bit bothersome, so. That’s why I said that to you.”
It was half right, half wrong. The biggest reason was that he felt burdened staying in the empty house without Gu Wanjae, so he returned to the facility. Even at those words, Gu Wanjae scrunched up his face with all his might. His eyes went white with strain.
“You’re talking shit.”
“How is this talking shit.”
“It is shit. Hey. What did you say to me? Didn’t you say something about someone else’s house?”
“That was just the word choice. And, saying someone else’s house wasn’t about drawing lines with you.”
“What.”
“Just literally someone else. Look at you. Are that teacher and I the same person? Or are that guy and I the same person? He’s him and I’m me, right? Just that meaning of ‘someone else.’ You’re Gu Wanjae, and I’m Kang Taein. Just that meaning.”
He explained ‘others and himself’ by pointing at each person with his finger. Gu Wanjae didn’t like those words either, shaking his head the entire time Taein was speaking. His expression remained rotten throughout.
“Hey.”
Gu Wanjae, who was about to say something more, cut off Taein’s words and struck the table with his chopsticks, saying:
“Are we the same as that?”
“What?”
“That bastard and you are others, right. But.”
“But?”
“Aren’t you and I friends?”
“No, we are friends.”
“If we’re friends, shibal, aren’t we basically one body?”
He spoke too loudly, which was embarrassing. Taein fortunately took comfort in the noisy surroundings and the small number of students. His voice had been that loud.
“Hey… speak quietly.”
Gu Wanjae seemed like his anger hadn’t subsided, as he looked at the ceiling with a “Whew,” then put his eyes back on Taein.
“What is friendship, what is loyalty?”
“What?”
“What is that?”
“…What is it.”
Instead of the answer he was thinking of, Taein just asked Gu Wanjae back. In times like this, it was obvious that whatever he said wouldn’t work at all. Gu Wanjae paused for a few seconds, then spoke as if this was the only truth in the world.
“Friendship is being able to die if told to die.”
“……”
“If you’d sacrifice your life, aren’t you one body?”
“…That’s.”
“Huh? Isn’t it?”
“…Yeah. I got it.”
“It’s not about getting it, it’s right or wrong.”
“Ah, yeah. It’s right.”
Taein answered as if he had no choice. Gu Wanjae seemed somewhat satisfied with finally getting his way. His completely distorted face could be seen gradually relaxing. He also stopped just mindlessly scooping plain rice and started poking at the Vienna sausage and green onion kimchi.
How many minutes had passed like that? Gu Wanjae was quietly pretending to eat when he suddenly brought up this:
“Hey, want to eat sushi?”
There was a good sushi restaurant near the officetel, but it didn’t seem like he meant to go all the way there. There was also a small sushi place in the karaoke building near school. Taein figured it was probably there and gave a whatever response.
At Taein’s reaction, Gu Wanjae picked up his phone.
“Hey, come to the cafeteria.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
