#023
Thanks to the paper posted saying other class students shouldn’t enter during exam period, Seungwoo stood blankly at the back door. Seungwoo was oddly good at following rules in strange situations.
Yechan sniffled and looked back at Seungwoo. Minho got up instead and said.
“What.”
“Not you, Seo Yechan.”
Seungwoo put his arm around Minho’s neck and bounced in place a few times before looking at Yechan.
I don’t want to get up. Eventually Yechan, who had gotten up from his seat, walked slowly toward Seungwoo.
As soon as Yechan reached him, Seungwoo suddenly held out a shopping bag.
“Jiwoon hyung told me to give this to you.”
Yechan took the shopping bag. The white shopping bag was quite heavy. Seungwoo ruffled Minho’s hair and said.
“I got called all the way to the third-year classroom because of this. Don’t I get anything?”
“What.”
“Payment for my trouble.”
“What do you want?”
“Um… pizza?”
“Okay. Then I’ll treat you to pizza next time. With the guys.”
“Yes!”
“Let’s go once your cold gets better first.”
“Yeah, okay, I’ll pray you get better soon.”
Seungwoo chuckled and hit Yechan’s back once before letting go of Minho. The noise must have been loud because the kids in the class who were focused on studying glanced toward the back door and gave them looks.
At the gazes directed at him, Seungwoo shrank his neck saying “eek.” He grinned saying that if he made any more noise, he’d get shot by the lasers from the studying kids and get hurt, then soon slid the back door closed and disappeared.
Yechan returned to his seat and opened the shopping bag. Everything was in there—from red ginseng to high-concentration vitamins, propolis spray, and even chocolate from the brand Yechan had given to Jiwoon before. The contents looked like he’d swept up everything that was supposed to be good for the body, making the corners of his mouth naturally lift.
“Look at this bastard grinning.”
Watching Yechan, Taehyun propped his chin up and clicked his tongue with a displeased face. Beside him, Minho sneakily looked inside the shopping bag.
“The chocolate looks delicious.”
“Oh, right. It does look delicious. Yechan-nim. Could you bestow one upon a pitiful exam student?”
As soon as he spotted the chocolate, Taehyun switched tactics and spoke respectfully with his hands clasped together. Yechan took out a piece of chocolate, put it in his own mouth, and pulled up his mask.
“I don’t have a talent for bestowing things.”
“Fuck, how can someone without a sunbae live with such sorrow.”
“I have jellies.”
Minho, who had been smacking his lips regretfully, took out a small bag of jellies from his pants pocket and waved it back and forth in front of Taehyun’s eyes. Taehyun tried to snatch the jellies but failed.
“Why are you only telling me this now?”
“It’s mine, so why should I tell you?”
“Give it here.”
“I don’t want to.”
With Minho and Taehyun quietly bickering behind him, Yechan opened his book. The chocolate melting smoothly in his mouth was both bitter and sweet. Just like the scent that came from Jiwoon.
Me: I received the gift from Han Seungwoo Â
Me: Thank you Â
Lee Jiwoon: If you’re grateful, a letter Â
Me: ? Â
Lee Jiwoon: Handwritten letter, 5 A4 pages Â
Me: ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ There’s no font size limit, right? Â
Lee Jiwoon: 10 point Â
Me: I shouldn’t have asked;Â Â
Me: I’m not confident, can you make it 30? Â
Lee Jiwoon: 20Â Â
Me: ã…‹ã…‹ Then how about 2 pages?? Â
Lee Jiwoon: Where’s Yechan’s conscience? Â
Me: ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ 3 pages Â
Lee Jiwoon: ㅇㅇ I’m being generous Â
Me: Good Â
Me: Thank you, hyung study hard too Â
Me: Try to raise your rank this time Â
Lee Jiwoon: Yes oppa Â
Me: ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ Ah hyung Â
Lee Jiwoon: ? Â
He wanted to kiss again. At Jiwoon’s message calling him oppa, the afterimage of that act came to mind.
Yechan stared at the messenger window for a moment, then turned off the screen. Yechan newly realized that his physical condition and desires were separate things.
* * *
He should have changed seats when he first started getting sick. The cold got worse.
Four days before finals, Yechan ended up taking a sick day. From the moment he woke up, he felt his condition wasn’t good, but by the time he stepped out the front door to go to school, his fever had gotten severe again.
His body was swaying and he absolutely couldn’t go to school, so Yechan got an IV at his mother’s hospital. After finishing the IV, Yechan got out of the hospital bed. His whole body felt sticky with sweat.
Taking the porridge his mother had prepared for him, he took a taxi home and it was already afternoon. Yechan ate the porridge roughly and took his medicine.
Then he slept like the dead. At this point, studying wasn’t the problem. If he didn’t recover quickly, he’d be like this even on exam day.
Yechan, who had been deep in sleep like that, suddenly opened his eyes to his phone ringing. Fumbling around to find his phone, Yechan pressed the call button.
“…Hello.”
His voice was completely hoarse from just waking up. Yechan cleared his throat. A familiar voice came from the other end of the phone.
—Yechan-ah. Are you okay?
“Ah, hyung… Yes. I’m okay.”
It was Yechan who hadn’t been able to contact him since sending a message in the morning saying he’d be absent because he had to go to the hospital. Perhaps because of that, Jiwoon’s voice over the phone was full of worry.
—Food?
“I ate… took medicine and slept.”
—What did they say at the hospital?
“Just a cold. I got an IV and came back. I’m okay now.”
—Still have a fever?
“No. I really got better. Hyung, you don’t need to worry. My mother will come home soon anyway.”
Yechan sat up with his phone against his ear. When he turned his head and twisted his upper body around, he could definitely feel his condition had improved compared to earlier.
Yechan rubbed his eyes and checked the time. 11 PM. It was the time when third-year evening study session ended.
“Hyung, where are you?”
—On my way home.
Car sounds could be heard beyond Jiwoon’s voice. Yechan, imagining Jiwoon walking alone through the night streets, asked.
“Did you study hard?”
—Yes, oppa.
“Good job.”
—I know.
“Don’t overdo it too much.”
—Yeah. You don’t overdo it either.
“I couldn’t study today. What if I fail the exam?”
—Don’t worry in advance. If you fail, you can do well next time.
If there’s a problem, you solve it. Right now your problem is the cold. The exam comes after that. Jiwoon’s firm additional words made Yechan’s heart feel at ease.
He was pleased that Jiwoon’s priorities were the same as his own. Somehow feeling understood, his sensitive nerves gradually calmed down.
Yechan lay back down while listening to the sounds coming from his phone. He seemed to be getting a bit sleepy. In the dark room, all he could hear was Jiwoon’s voice.
Yechan opened his mouth as thoughts came to his mind.
“It’s nice talking with hyung because I don’t feel lonely.”
—Were you lonely?
“A little.”
Jiwoon didn’t answer. From far away beyond the receiver, a honking sound could be heard.
“I’ve been used to being alone since I was little. I think I sometimes thought I was lonely.”
—No fun either.
“Right. Hyung knows everything.”
—Yeah, I know everything.
Yechan closed his eyes, laughing. In the dark field of vision, he pictured Jiwoon’s face during their phone call.
“Thank you for understanding me.”
—You’re grateful for everything.
“Still.”
Yechan’s voice gradually became sleepy. At Yechan’s increasingly quiet voice, Jiwoon told him to sleep well and comforted him before hanging up.
Making weak sounds unlike himself, he must really be sick. Jiwoon looked up. A few stars twinkled in the moonless night sky.
I hope Seo Yechan gets better quickly. Jiwoon muttered briefly and walked through the summer night streets.
* * *
The finals that started as soon as July began ended today. On the last day, after finishing all subjects including the last exam, the school was complete chaos—half fearful anticipation about the results, half relief that it was over. It was a hectic Friday.
“Seo Yechan, how many did you get wrong?”
After finishing cleaning while waiting for the closing ceremony, Taehyun poked Yechan’s back.
“Why.”
“There’s a kid in class 1 who got four wrong total. All 1-point questions too.”
“…Are you sure?”
“Yeah. They say he went through the grading twice. Even his guesses were all right. Seeing him bragging about doing well all around the neighborhood, it seems certain?”
Yechan got five wrong. Unless something unexpected happened, it seemed like first place had flown away. He might not even get second place depending on the point distribution.
Yechan gritted his teeth. The cold that had been bothering him the whole time and only completely disappeared on the second day of the two-day finals had ultimately dealt him a fatal blow.
Yechan clenched his fist tightly then released it. He was angry at himself for not managing his health properly.
“Hey, hey. But you were sick.”
Seeing Yechan’s distorted expression, Taehyun tried to console him. Minho held out a worm-shaped jelly to Yechan, having opened it at some point.
I’m pissed off. Taking one of them, Yechan chewed the jelly with a fierce expression.
And by the time he finished swallowing the jelly, all his energy drained at the thought that the situation was already over.
I can do well next time. Yechan comforted himself, recalling Jiwoon’s words he’d heard before. Of course, even so, he couldn’t easily smooth his expression due to the rising irritation.
“Yechan-ah. Want to go to the PC room?”
Minho, who had been fidgeting, changed the subject. While Taehyun teased Minho saying he’d ruin his ranked games again today, Yechan shook his head saying he wouldn’t go.
Since he got two wrong in math, he had to do error correction notes. At Yechan’s answer, Minho nodded and handed all the remaining worm jellies to Yechan.
Yechan stuffed his mouth full of jellies and chewed hard.
* * *
It was Jiwoon who had promised to do error correction notes with Yechan after the exam ended. He spotted Yechan coming down the stairs.
His completely stiff expression and listless, trudging walk didn’t look good. Jiwoon pulled out his earphones and started walking beside Yechan.
“Don’t ask if I did well on the exam. I failed.”
“Huh?”
“I think my rank will probably drop.”
Yechan dry-washed his face with both hands. Jiwoon unwrapped a candy and pressed it to Yechan’s lips.
Yechan took the candy and crunched it with his teeth.
“What rank do you think you’ll get?”
“2nd or 3rd? Could be 4th. I don’t know.”
“You can make up for that level. Just keep getting first place from next time.”
“I know, I know but… I feel too cornered. Ah…”
“Don’t think things like you have no leeway, just think you got more motivated.”
“Hmm…”
“Do it with poison in your heart.”
“Whew… I’ll try.”
“For now, since you worked hard today, let’s eat something delicious and go over the wrong answers. You can’t go back to the day before the exam anyway. You have to recharge now to study hard again.”
Jiwoon patted Yechan’s back. At the calm and rational words, the heat that had rushed to Yechan’s head subsided a little.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
