#15
Even while pouring energy drinks into his mouth, Taeseong’s words came to mind and made him feel sad for no reason. What he said about preparing in advance really wasn’t wrong. The problem was that no matter how much Bonoh prepared in advance, he couldn’t overcome the preparation built up through over 10 years of animation and otaku activities. I should have studied a bit more and gone to a different department. The sin of choosing the most familiar-looking department among those he could enter with his grades was this great.
As a result, seeing Taeseong’s face became much more difficult. Bonoh carefully entered the room and lay down when Taeseong would be sound asleep. When Bonoh barely woke up after sleeping, Taeseong was usually gone. Even when they occasionally woke up together in the morning, they were both busy preparing and leaving, so exchanging even a word was considered a lot.
Finally, the week-long exam period came to an end. Having slept at a level where he could barely close his eyes for days, Bonoh’s eyes were now almost half-closed. If he stumbled, he felt like he could just collapse and fall asleep right there even if he bumped into someone. As soon as he burst out of the lecture hall, he passed a classmate who was reciting answers and chanting entire Japanese history.
“Oh dear, someone save me.”
Bonoh, who ran straight to the dormitory, immediately lay on his bed and tried to sleep. As soon as he closed his eyes, sleep poured over him. He slept sprawled out without even covering himself with a blanket, and when he woke up, over 3 hours had passed. When he entered the dormitory and practically collapsed, when he woke up from sleep, and even after eating to satisfy the hunger that had overwhelmed him, Taeseong wasn’t in the dormitory room.
Normally he wouldn’t have known when Taeseong would come, but now Bonoh had a class schedule he’d obtained directly from Taeseong. Taeseong was living by taking more classes than others, as if showing off his good grades.
“He’s really impressive too.”
No matter how many times he looked at it, admiration came naturally. Anyway, Taeseong boasted a packed schedule until afternoon even on Friday. He won’t be back for several more hours. After sleeping to his heart’s content and waking up, he wasn’t sleepy anymore. Bonoh rolled around briefly while using his phone.
That’s when he was lying face down on the bed. He felt his body being pressed down as it made close contact with the bed. Though it was quite a novel thing, Bonoh realized he’d been holding back masturbation for a very long time. To have his mood become strange in an instant from just this kind of stimulation. Bonoh took out Taeseong’s schedule he’d briefly checked earlier once more. It would be a while before he finished all his classes and came back.
Just once… wouldn’t that be okay…? That guy also has the same thing attached, so he’d forgive this much. Bonoh decided to enjoy some steamy happy time before Taeseong arrived.
Bonoh brought his laptop to bed and familiarly entered a site with sexy glamorous noonas that he liked, or more precisely, had learned he should like. Quite a few interesting-looking videos had been uploaded while he hadn’t visited. As Bonoh scrolled down looking over the videos, his finger slipped. His finger pressed the touchpad on its own.
“Crazy.”
It really wasn’t on purpose. Looking at the feast of videos that had unfolded, even though no one was around, he felt like making such an excuse for no reason. …So this kind of thing was here too. On the page he’d entered, the glamorous noonas were nowhere to be found, and there were only men—a sturdy man, a pale-looking man, a man who was obviously well-endowed even from 500 meters away, anyway, men, men, only men.
“Do people like this kind of thing?”
Bonoh, who felt uncomfortable for no reason, tried to press the back button. That’s when he suddenly heard the sound of a door opening. Fuck! Bonoh practically jumped up while hugging his laptop. He should have closed it, but in his urgency, he did something stupid.
Something got pressed wrong and suddenly a preview of one video turned on, and a man’s moans could be heard. Bonoh frantically closed the laptop completely. While Bonoh was putting on a solo show, Taeseong, who had completely entered the room, had a disgusted expression. Could it be, was he caught?
Originally he should have attended two more classes, but both classes were canceled because they didn’t have midterm exams. It would have been a situation others would cheer about, but not Taeseong. Being such a planning-type person that he found spontaneous things unpleasant, having time suddenly free didn’t feel welcome at all. He thought about going for a drive after a long time, but it was awkward because of dinner time. Taeseong’s steps, which had been wandering briefly, soon headed toward the dormitory.
‘If I knew I’d face this situation, I would have just gone for a drive…’
Hearing some man’s groaning sound as soon as he opened the door, Taeseong doubted his ears. Seeing Bonoh’s obviously flustered face, he figured out what the situation was. Bonoh frantically closed the laptop screen and looked around nervously like a puppy that had caused trouble.
Seeing that state, regret washed over Taeseong. Should he have made a clause prohibiting pornography viewing in the ‘Room 309 Usage Rules’? Since it was such basic manners that it was embarrassing to even mention, he thought it would be done naturally without writing it separately, so he never dreamed such a situation would occur.
“It’s a misunderstanding! Ah, no, I pressed something wrong, so…”
“Mm, right.”
“So I wasn’t trying to watch gay stuff!”
Ah, so it wasn’t a man’s moans but ‘men’s’ moans. Taeseong’s expression became even more uncomfortable. He knew it was porn, but it happened so quickly he didn’t know it was gay porn.
“You watched gay porn… you’re saying.”
“……”
At Taeseong’s murmured words, Bonoh seemed to think ‘oh no’ and covered his mouth with his own hand. Bonoh’s flustered words were closer to confession than explanation.
***
Despite Taeseong’s address being Seoul, he ended up entering the dormitory because of his parents.
Taeseong had been a fussy child since he was young. As a baby, he wouldn’t sleep unless his parents held him in their arms. After coaxing and soothing him to finally fall asleep, if they laid him on the floor, he would cry and wake up as if he had sensors on his back.
Taeseong’s mother, Hyeyoung, visited a classmate of a neighbor who lived next to a friend of someone related by marriage eight times removed. This person claimed to be a childcare expert both by self and others’ accounts, but stuck out their tongue in front of Taeseong. It was the same even when visiting renowned childcare specialists. Taeseong’s parents tried all the sleep training methods they found through inquiries, but couldn’t find a sleep training method that worked for Taeseong until he grew to an age where he wouldn’t fuss about sleep.
Taeseong’s parents, who grew thinner day by day, agreed not to plan for a second child. Though they had been a couple planning patriotism through multiple children, their child planning ended with an only child because their first was Taeseong. Even if they were lucky enough to have a second child born as a legendary baby who was gentle and would sleep as soon as their back touched anything, they didn’t have confidence to handle it. Taeseong alone was overwhelming.
Taeseong’s fussiness didn’t stop at sleep troubles. When he reached the age for baby food, food troubles arose instead of sleep troubles. Though loud stomach rumbling sounds came from that small belly, he stubbornly refused to eat. The fortunate point was that Taeseong’s parents were financially well-off enough to hire famous chefs for their child’s baby food, and the unfortunate point was that even famous chefs failed to feed Taeseong.
The parents, whose hearts were breaking from worry about Taeseong not eating, took him for all kinds of examinations from health checkups to childcare consultations. While they couldn’t find a clear cause, the parents discovered that Taeseong only wanted to eat at set times.
There were two reasons why they realized this fact belatedly. One was that the meal times Taeseong insisted on were too precise, and the other was that Taeseong was still at an age where he couldn’t read clocks.
The parents, who thought they could breathe a little since Taeseong ate well without being picky as long as the time was right, fell into doubt again. This time, sociability was the problem. They had known since he was a baby that he had severe stranger anxiety, crying whenever he saw unfamiliar people, but they hadn’t expected him to lack social skills.
When they sent him to kindergarten, instead of mingling with peers, he only shot looks of contempt. Taeseong was a child who knew contempt before learning the word contempt.
“Taeseong, why don’t you play with the other kids? Your friends want to be close with Taeseong.”
“I don’t want to. They play in dirt and pick their noses without washing their hands.”
Who does this kid take after to be like this? That was the worry Taeseong’s parents had at the time. Considering both were of mild temperament, Taeseong was definitely extraordinary. There were no traumatic events in his growth process, and there were no problems with attachment relationships. In other words, there was no way to fix it either. Because it all meant it was innate. Due to the terrible difficulty of child-rearing, Taeseong’s parents became firm believers in the theory of original sin.
Once again, Taeseong underwent various tests. Wechsler intelligence test, multiple intelligence test, children and adolescent personality type test, child counseling, etc. The results weren’t much different from the Bayley infant development test he’d taken as a young child. His IQ (intelligence quotient) was on the high side, but his EQ (emotional quotient) was slightly below average. The parents patted their chests in relief that fortunately his MQ (moral quotient) wasn’t low.
Taeseong didn’t inherit their positive personality, but he faithfully inherited superior appearance genes. He even had a history of winning first place in a pretty baby contest. If he hadn’t had such a sensitive personality that disliked camera flashes, he might have been a kids’ model.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
