#55
“When are you leaving?”
After chewing on his lips for a while, Noah deliberately avoided Derik’s gaze and lowered his head. He noticed the leftover skewers.
“Soon?”
“Why?”
“Family business.”
The skewers looked appetizing in the soft light emanating from the shops illuminating the dark night. They weren’t just visually appealing—they were truly delicious when eaten.
Come to think of it, street food was always delicious. In the middle of winter, things like bungeoppang, tteokbokki, and fish cakes were good, and in summer, slushies and ice cream were great. It seemed the taste was maximized when eaten standing or while walking around, rather than sitting inside somewhere.
And this place was like that too.
Late at night. Walking among many people, holding skewers in one hand, while repeatedly holding and releasing Derik’s hand with the other. Although they spent more time with their hands apart because Derik kept buying things despite already holding skewers in one hand, they naturally held hands whenever his hands were free.
Noah wasn’t sure who initiated it first, him or Derik. Since holding hands in the garden, though it had been a short time, the act felt as natural as if they’d been doing it all along.
His hand was much bigger than Noah’s, rougher, with calluses, and thick at every knuckle. Above all, it was warm like holding a hand warmer.
Noah felt embarrassed about his hand still being intertwined with Derik’s and tried to subtly pull it away, but Derik tightened his grip, making it impossible.
“You’re lying.”
At first, Noah was surprised by the sudden announcement that Derik was leaving the academy, but then he found it ridiculous when the reason given was “family business.”
Unlike Noah, who was from the northern region at the top of the empire, Derik was from the southern region at the bottom. Noah’s home, which was always winter, and Derik’s home, which was always summer, were at opposite ends of the continent.
According to what he’d learned in geography class, using the most common means of transportation here—the carriage—it would take over three months to travel that distance. From the capital, Feyrn, they could quickly travel to their respective homes with just one warp, but to visit each other’s homes, they would have to transit through the capital Feyrn, making it a very long journey.
So if Derik left the academy now, they wouldn’t be able to meet easily in the future…
As his thoughts reached this point, a hollow laugh escaped Noah’s lips.
First love, my ass.
He had grown up in a nouveau riche family without receiving any love, then was suddenly transmigrated. Before he could adapt to this world he’d suddenly fallen into, Lucas had pushed him, and due to the circumstances, he’d ended up marrying someone for whom he had developed somewhat positive feelings twice, but it ultimately ended in disaster.
Noah quickly shook his head as he briefly recalled those who had run away saying they disliked him.
After that, through another regression, he became a three-year-old baby and reached his current state. At least this time, he had grown up receiving enough love from his parents and was enjoying a normal academy life.
Derik, who stuck with him like a best friend, was the most comfortable person for him. He was taciturn, anticipated what Noah wanted before he asked, and was pleasing to look at.
At some point, Noah would feel proud whenever Derik treated him differently from others. When Noah ate pasta, Derik would scold him, saying he needed to eat meat to grow well, and Noah would deliberately choose noodle dishes for lunch just to hear that.
But now… he wouldn’t be able to do that anymore. The idea that there would be no one beside him caring about what he ate.
Derik had helped a lot with assignments for the same subjects, but now he wouldn’t be able to do that, and he wouldn’t be able to see Derik take off his shirt and wash his face with cold water after difficult training in the training grounds.
Honestly, Noah wasn’t certain about his feelings of liking Derik.
He wasn’t sure if it was because of puberty, or if he was just swayed by the fact that most kids said they liked Derik. You’d have to have genuinely liked someone a lot to know.
While he could easily imagine marriage with Raymond, marriage with Derik was something he couldn’t even begin to visualize.
Moreover, a few days ago, kids suddenly started saying embarrassing things like “Do you like Derik? Do you like Raymond?” and earlier in the dormitory room, Raymond had scared the life out of him, making him even more confused.
A silent struggle continued between Noah, who was trying to pull his hand away with his head down, and Derik, who was refusing to let go.
“Why are you upset?”
At Derik’s question, which seemed oblivious, Noah now felt like crying. This wasn’t about emotions like liking or disliking.
“Well, should I be happy?”
“It’s not something to be happy or unhappy about.”
When Noah looked up again, Derik’s face, instead of the bright smile he had just seen, showed no emotion, as usual.
There were moments when Noah couldn’t understand Derik, and this was exactly one of those times.
They had been together like brothers, like friends, for almost 7 years, and now they were going to be apart, yet he wasn’t sad? Not upset? Even if it was unavoidable due to family business, it would be natural to feel some regret or some emotion.
If they had been at each other’s throats, maybe it would be different. Such a situation might be refreshing…
But after building so many memories together, seeing Derik act as if he had no emotions made Noah’s heart ache. Derik seemed just like Aeongi, who always acted like he would be by Noah’s side, then quietly disappeared, only to reappear when it suited him.
But Aeongi is an animal.
You’re a person, and moreover, you’re my best friend.
Setting aside feelings of affection for now, there were countless emotions one could feel when a best friend who had been attached to you like a limb suddenly announced they were leaving. At the very least, resentment for not being told in advance was one of them.
“Are you happy about leaving the academy?”
“I told you. Since it’s family business, I’m accepting it. It’s not something to be happy or unhappy about…”
“Wow, I’m thrilled. I feel really great. There won’t be someone walking slightly ahead of me every day, blocking all the sunlight. No one to wake me up diligently when I want to oversleep and skip class, making me attend morning lectures. What else? Anyway, it feels completely great, like a toothache that’s finally gone. Plus, with you and your scary expression always beside me, kids who wanted to confess to me couldn’t do it, but with you gone, I’ll receive confessions and become a total insider. Wow! I’m so happy. I’m dying of happiness.”
Noah cut off the end of Derik’s sentence and just blurted out whatever came to mind. And the moment he applied force to his hand, Derik, who had been holding it tightly until just now, relaxed his grip.
As the cold night air touched his hand that had suddenly been freed into the air, Noah quickly made a fist.
“You have Raymond.”
“What about Raymond?”
“Even without me, you have Raymond by your side.”
Noah wanted to shout ‘Raymond and you are not the same!’ but he pressed his lips together and turned away.
Really, why is my life like this?
“I want soju with Saewookkang. No soju, no Saewookkang, no Han River. This is the worst, really.”
Instead of soju with Saewookkang, Noah pulled out a vegetable from the now completely cold skewer he was holding and chewed it noisily.
This worked out well. If Noah’s lips had acted on their own and said something like ‘I think I like you’ before Derik spoke, he would have died of shame on the spot. At least he hadn’t made such a terrible mistake, so should he be grateful for that?
“Do you dislike me leaving the academy?”
“No. I’m happy about it.”
Noah heard Derik’s voice from behind, but he just kept walking toward the academy.
They say it’s better to take your punishment early, so should he just barge into the dormitory master’s room? Boldly announcing, ‘I went out without permission.’ That would cause a commotion. The Dean and his parents would be contacted immediately. Perhaps this would be a good opportunity for him to quit the academy too.
“We can see each other anytime with warping.”
“What did I say?”
“You looked upset.”
“So when exactly are you leaving? Tell me clearly.”
Though it wasn’t his intention, Noah’s lips drooped, and while he was responding to each of Derik’s statements, his tone wasn’t pleasant.
“After this semester ends?”
As soon as Derik finished speaking, Noah whirled around and extended both arms toward him. Grabbing the soft collar of Derik’s shirt happened in an instant.
“Hey, you~!!”
Noah’s clear voice rang out loudly, and people’s gazes turned toward their scuffle, but Noah didn’t care about any of that.
“It’s only been 2 weeks since this semester started!!”
That was true. The time he could spend with Derik, whom he thought would leave either tomorrow or within a week, was actually more than four months—almost an entire semester.
“Why! Why are you angry?”
“You crazy… I thought you were leaving tomorrow or in a few days, you jerk!”
“Noah.”
“Wow, I can’t even hit you. Are you playing with me?”
Clearly, Noah was grabbing Derik’s collar and shaking him, but to others, it looked like Noah was holding Derik’s collar and throwing a tantrum.
“Honestly, you didn’t like me leaving, right?”
“Not at all. Leave right now. Get lost!”
Noah released the collar he was holding and pushed Derik away as hard as he could at Derik’s smiling face, but it was Noah, not Derik, who stumbled backward.
“Noah.”
“No~ah.”
“Our Noah, do you like this hyung?”
“Are you really crazy? Why would I like you? And why are you my hyung?”
“I am your hyung.”
“Tell me your birthday! When’s your birthday?”
“Me? …I don’t know.”
“What kind of idiot doesn’t know their own birthday!”
A deep smile hung at the corners of Derik’s mouth as he leisurely followed Noah, who was walking quickly toward the academy. Honestly, though he didn’t want to admit it, it was Raymond who definitely had an abundance of information about humans in many aspects.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
