Gentle Giant Chapter 57
When he was spending time meaningfully before the lecture with his conversation with Jiyoon, it happened. With not much time left before the lecture started, Minjun and Sujeong, who entered the lecture hall with other friends, recognized the two and approached them.
“Hello, sunbae! Hi Jiyoon too!”
“Hello.”
“Yes! Hello, sunbaes!”
Unlike Minjun, who gave simple greetings to Dain and Jiyoon and went to his friends in the front, Sujeong took a seat next to Dain.
When Dain looked at Sujeong with puzzled eyes, he said with an indifferent face.
“Where should we do the data research at 3 o’clock later?”
“Ah! Yes, yes. Data research…… Um, shall we start by looking for references in the library reference room?”
“The central library?”
“Mm, yes! I think that’s where there will be the most materials.”
“Then let’s meet at the library after the lecture ends.”
“Yes.”
Having finished what he wanted to say, Sujeong sat in the seat next to Dain and took out his tablet and writing materials as if he was going to prepare for class in earnest.
‘Oh, he’s not going to another seat.’
Dain, who had been blankly watching his actions, also finished preparing for class.
“Ah, sunbae, did you decide to do data research with Kim Sujeong sunbae today?”
Jiyoon asked, having heard the conversation between the two.
“Yeah. I think it would be better to research quickly and pass it on to you.”
“Yes yes! I don’t have any other assignment meetings next week yet! I’d be grateful if you could send it as quickly as possible!”
“Yeah! I’ll try to send it within next week.”
“I trust you!”
Jiyoon gave a thumbs up toward Dain. When Dain was wondering whether he should also raise his thumb following her, the professor happened to enter through the front door. Because of that, he had no choice but to lower his thumb that had been hesitating whether to raise it or not.
Dain, who attended lectures without being bored in the morning thanks to Jiyoon and in the afternoon thanks to Dohyeon, walked quickly toward the central library at the bottom of the hill as soon as it ended.
Since he didn’t often use libraries other than the one near the humanities building, it was difficult to find the reference room in the central library. There were also several reference rooms, so he was troubled about which one would have the most materials.
While he was worrying in front of the central library’s floor-by-floor guide, he heard a voice calling Dain from behind.
“Jung Dain sunbae.”
“Ah.”
Dain quickly turned around to look at Sujeong. He also seemed quite flustered seeing that the reference rooms were divided into several places.
As a result of the two carefully examining the guide, the criterion for dividing the reference rooms was the type of materials. Fortunately, there was only one reference room made up of books, so it didn’t seem like it would be too difficult to examine references.
Dain, who let out a short sigh of relief inwardly, moved his steps toward Reference Room 1 on the 3rd floor together with Sujeong.
While going up the stairs, Dain naturally led Sujeong toward the railing side. He thought it would be safer to go while holding the railing. Sujeong himself showed no particular reaction even while watching Dain gradually move to the side.
The two people who arrived at the reference room first agreed to search for all the books they needed to find and bring them all at once while going around the stacks.
They wrote classification numbers on memo paper and looked for books mainly in the 300s section of the stacks.
Although it was a university library, since it was a campus of one of the largest sizes in Korea, especially a university with a long history, they could find almost any materials.
The problem was that since there were so many books, the height of the stacks was also quite high. Especially for the books at the very top, a person of average height would need to bring a small step stool to barely reach them.
Fortunately, both Dain and Sujeong were taller than average people, and although they had to stand on their tiptoes, they could grab books if they stretched their hands.
“308…… Ah.”
When Sujeong first found a book and was about to reach for it.
“I, I’ll do it!”
Dain, who had been looking for other books from behind, suddenly jumped forward and stopped Sujeong. Dain, who insisted he would do it and pushed Sujeong to the side, struggled but took out the book by himself until the end.
Sujeong’s head tilted slightly at the thought of why he would go to such lengths.
“I could do it……”
“It’s, it’s dangerous! I should do things like this!”
“What?”
“There are many books in low places too…… I’ll take out the ones up high.”
Dain said while pointing to the bookshelf next to them. Sujeong nodded, but something felt unsettling.
Since both people took out all the books, more than 10 volumes, in a short time without getting lost, now they just needed to move them to the desk.
Dain, who checked the list and the books they had taken out once more, held out two books to Sujeong.
“Here, please carry these, Sujeong hoobae.”
“……These?”
“Yes? Yes. Huk, are two books perhaps too heavy? Then…… just this one?”
Sujeong’s question meant it wasn’t too many but too few, but Dain, who misunderstood it differently, handed Sujeong only the thinner of the two books.
“No, that’s not what I meant……”
“Then, would you like to go sit down first? I’ll bring everything.”
“Jung Dain sunbae?”
“Yes……?”
“It’s fine to split them in half and carry them.”
Sujeong took exactly half of the books placed next to Dain. Since he was an adult male, 5 or 6 books were a weight he could carry without difficulty.
However, from the moment the books moved to Sujeong’s hands, Dain became restless and circled around Sujeong.
Honestly bothered by Dain’s bustling movements, Sujeong pretended not to see such a Dain and quickened his steps.
Dain, who missed the timing to take the books back from Sujeong’s hands, eventually headed to the desk dejectedly while carrying the remaining books.
Fortunately, the books they found contained many theories and cases that could be used for the assignment.
The two people, who finished their data research while comparing with papers they could find on the internet, decided to divide parts and organize materials over the weekend.
When they finished organizing everything, it was just time for the reference room to close, so the two stood up from their seats, returned the books, and came out of the library.
Now the time when the sun set had become quite early. The stairs outside the library were hard to see because of the dark sky.
Dain quickly turned on his phone to illuminate the stairs and said to Sujeong.
“I’ll light the stairs, so please go down carefully.”
“Thank…… you?”
“Yes yes, carefully carefully.”
Dain treated Sujeong as if he were caring for something very small and precious.
When you think about it, Sujeong was 2-3 cm taller than Dain and had a similar build. The more Sujeong saw it, the more he wondered why he had such an attitude.
“……Is he a pushover?”
Sujeong, surprised by unconsciously muttering to himself, glanced at Dain.
However, Dain, who must have heard that, didn’t show any sign of being offended at all and was just concentrating on illuminating the dark stairs.
Like a thirsty person digging a well, Sujeong stopped right there. This was because Dain’s behavior, which had been subtly getting on his nerves since they met at the library earlier, now felt quite unpleasant.
When Sujeong, who had been moving his steps following Dain’s phone flashlight, suddenly stopped walking, Dain opened his eyes wide and looked back. With an expression asking if there was something uncomfortable.
“Jung Dain sunbae?”
“Yes?”
“May I ask the reason?”
“What…… reason?”
Sujeong, who had stopped, approached right up to Dain’s nose and asked.
“The reason you treat me this way. Do I look so weak to Jung Dain sunbae that I might break if I bump into something? Or am I really a pushover?”
It was a tone that anyone else would have been sufficiently offended by. At the words that came straight without beating around the bush, Dain drew in his breath.
He thought he was quietly taking care of him from behind without it being noticeable or offensive…… but it seemed like it was all useless.
Dain didn’t intend it, but after hearing that Sujeong was a carrier, he naturally thought he should pay attention to him. And he had just expressed that thought through actions.
But he was upset that he was caught so easily, and he was upset that he couldn’t think of appropriate words to make excuses without saying that he knew Sujeong was a carrier.
“Sunbae? Please say something?”
When Dain became like a mute who ate honey, but a very frightened mute, Sujeong frowned as if frustrated.
Seeing his increasingly harsh expression, Dain, who thought he had to say something, desperately blurted out whatever came out without going through his head.
“So…… I, I originally take good care of others. Yes. Right……? But I’m not a pushover. That…… Sujeong hoobae gives me the feeling that I should cherish you more, that kind of feeling……”
“Me?”
“Ah…… Huu……”
It was a total disaster. He takes good care of others but isn’t a pushover, but still wants to cherish you more. Just hearing it, it was no different from a complete love confession.
Neither Dain, who was saying it, nor Sujeong, who was listening, felt that way, but if someone nearby heard it, it would sound like quite a passionate love confession.
“Hyung, what are you saying right now?”
Especially to Juho, who was Dain’s boyfriend.
Juho grabbed Dain’s shoulder and pulled him back. In the process, he didn’t forget to glare at Sujeong as if he would kill him.
Sujeong, who had suddenly become the other party in an affair he never had, could only make an incredulous expression.
After receiving contact from Dain that he was at the central library and running all the way to meet him even a little faster, what?
‘Sujeong hoobae gives me the feeling that I should cherish you more……?’
What kind of bullshit is this?
Juho, who barely loosened his fist that was automatically clenching and turned around, looked at Dain.
Because of Juho’s sudden appearance, Dain completely forgot what he had been saying. He just liked that the tension melted away from seeing Juho’s face at exactly this timing.
“Hyung?”
“Mm-hm, Juho. Welcome. Did work go well?”
“Yes. Work went well. But what about you, hyung?”
“Huh?”
“You just said something to that dog bastard…… no, to that Kim Sujeong.”
Juho barely kept the curse that was about to come out on his tongue.
Dain made a dull response of ‘Ah!’ to Juho’s words, then whispered small enough to reach only Juho’s ear.
“Ah, no, Sujeong hoobae is a carrier…… So, carrier beast-men can carry life, and because of that, they’re precious in themselves, so we should cherish and be considerate of them. Right?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
