Chapter 9
“Friends…”
“…”
“I don’t have any friends.”
“What?”
Heerim gave an awkward smile.
“I’ve never been to school, and I had to live quietly until I became an adult, so I couldn’t make any friends.”
“You lived quietly?”
When I asked again, Heerim smiled faintly. Wondering if he might have been abused in his childhood, I bit my dry lips. I had thought he was just a young master from a wealthy family, but perhaps that wasn’t the case.
“Actually, Hanyoung noona was against it, but I insisted on posting the part-time job ad. I wanted to make friends with people my age, even this way. That’s when I saw you, Mr. Jaeo. Like fate.”
“…”
Fate. That wasn’t a word that should be used between Heerim and me.
“I’m sorry. I’m being too pushy, aren’t I? I know you think our office is strange…”
Heerim’s expression, which had been happy while eating dessert just a moment ago, quickly turned gloomy. It was true that his uninhibited behavior was burdensome, despite his admirably pretty face. I also thought that the way he acted toward me might not be sincere.
“Are you going to quit the part-time job?”
“…”
Heerim looked at me with anxious eyes as I gave no answer. In my head, I was doing some calculations. If what Heerim said was true and he really had no ulterior motives, then this part-time job was essentially a sweet deal where I could get paid just by being friendly with Heerim. Having finished my mental calculations, I smiled at Heerim, crinkling my eyes just as he often did to me.
“No. You said you wanted to make friends. Let’s do it. Friend.”
I couldn’t help being materialistic. Humans are inherently calculating and selfish creatures. Whether Heerim’s behavior toward me was genuine or false didn’t matter to me. I just needed to receive the money they were paying.
“Ah, then…”
Heerim, whom I expected to be happy with my answer, looked at me cautiously as his lips moved.
“…can I call you Hyung?”
“Hyung?”
“Yes. Hyung. Actually, I’ve never called anyone ‘Mr. So-and-so’ before, so it feels awkward.”
“Is that all? Why are you being so hesitant about something so trivial? Sure. Call me Hyung.”
“Really?!”
Only then did Heerim’s expression brighten. I wondered if it was okay to be called so casually by a workplace senior, but well, there was nothing wrong with it. It was a company without formal ranks to begin with, and everyone was already calling each other ‘Hyung’ and ‘Noona’.
“Jaeo Hyung, please call me comfortably too. You can call me Heerim.”
“I’ll take it slow.”
Although I had agreed to be his friend, I was planning to quit this part-time job after three months. No matter how much they paid, I didn’t want to work long-term at an unstable place that operated so haphazardly. So there was no need to get close to Heerim and develop any unnecessary attachments. I only intended to go along with Heerim’s tempo as I had been doing.
Unaware of my true intentions, Heerim softly recited, “Jaeo Hyung…” Strangely enough, he looked as shy as the young client we had seen earlier.
After spending time at the cafe, it was soon approaching 5 o’clock. It was time to return to the school and wait for the pervert. Heerim, who had managed to finish all the desserts he ordered by himself, stood up with a satisfied face.
“But what if that pervert doesn’t show up today?”
“Then we can come tomorrow.”
“But there’s no guarantee he’ll come tomorrow either…”
“Then we have to come until he shows up. We accepted the request, after all.”
Heerim spoke quite seriously. I found this unexpected, because the “Earth Peace Research Institute” wasn’t created for profit, and in reality, none of them seemed serious about their work. So I had assumed this case would also be handled rather casually, but Heerim was taking it seriously. This unexpected side of him didn’t look bad.
After leaving the cafe, we headed toward the wall behind the gymnasium rather than the school’s main gate. Since going back into the school was impossible, we planned to wait at the spot where the flasher was said to appear.
“The wall is really high.”
Heerim said, jumping in place as if trying to measure the height of the wall. I had expected a low wall since the flasher supposedly appeared from this direction, but it was much higher than anticipated. Moreover, it wasn’t made of smooth bricks but rough cement, so it would probably hurt quite a bit if you brushed against it carelessly.
“He jumps over this just to show his thing?”
And it’s supposedly the size of a sea squirt.
I couldn’t understand a pervert who would climb this high wall with difficulty just to expose himself in front of high school girls. Well, I didn’t really need to understand the sexual desires of a pervert.
As I frowned, I could feel Heerim’s gaze on my wrinkled brow. Afraid he might reach out to touch me again, I took a step back. Only after I smoothed my frown and smiled awkwardly did Heerim look away.
“Hyung, how about we hide behind this?”
Heerim, looking around, pointed to a mid-sized car parked below the wall of a house across from us.
“Behind this car?”
“Yes. I think it would be good to hide behind this and then pounce on the flasher when he appears.”
“Do we really have to hide there?”
“There’s nowhere else to hide around here.”
“That’s true, but…”
As he said, there was nothing around us except thin street trees that seemed barely able to hide one person. The thought of crouching next to Heerim behind that car made me feel uncomfortable.
“Hyung, quickly. It’s almost five o’clock.”
At Heerim’s urging, I reluctantly hid behind the vehicle with him. The gap between the wall behind us and the car was only about one meter, so we had to practically fold our bodies to fit.
Time continued to pass, and there was no conversation between Heerim and me. I could have found something to talk about with Heerim if I wanted, but I didn’t particularly want to. Having crouched there for nearly 20 minutes, I was feeling increasingly skeptical.
Where am I… who am I… why am I doing this here?
The sight of two grown men crouching behind a car looked both strange and quite ridiculous. If a stranger saw us, we would certainly look as suspicious as the flasher. Especially Heerim, who was hiding his face, looked the most suspicious.
“Hey, Jaeo Hyung.”
“Yes?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to call you Hyung.”
What the…
Heerim lowered his head as if embarrassed. Because of Heerim’s awkward attitude like this, the discomfort I felt towards him intensified. I had decided to treat him like a friend, but I wondered if this was right.
“Urgh…”
To make matters worse, my knees were starting to hurt. If we continued like this, I might get a cramp.
“I’m just going to stand up for a moment.”
“Ah, okay.”
I was about to get up to do some light stretching.
“Ah, gasp!”
Inadvertently, my hand landed on Heerim’s thigh. As weight was applied under my palm, I felt firm muscle under my hand.
I couldn’t immediately remove my hand due to the unexpected sensation and just blinked my eyes. Belatedly, I felt Heerim’s shoulder next to me stiffening. Only then did I realize where my hand was.
“S-sorry!”
I removed my hand in alarm, but Heerim’s expression became increasingly serious.
“It was a mistake. Really.”
“…It’s okay.”
Only when I apologized again did Heerim’s expression soften, and he smiled awkwardly. Even so, he subtly rubbed the part where my hand had touched.
Aaaaargh. Why did I accidentally touch there of all places?!
I was so embarrassed that I wanted to scream if I could. But I tried my best not to show it and gazed at the wall with an outwardly calm expression.
How long do I have to stay here like this? My mind was filled only with the thought of wanting to escape.
“Um, Heerim.”
I was just about to make an excuse about going to the bathroom to leave the place for a while when Heerim suddenly raised his head.
“Wait. I just heard movement from the wall.”
“Just now?”
What movement?
I looked toward the wall following Heerim’s gaze. There was nothing there. Wondering if perhaps he had seen a cat, I even opened my eyes wide, but there was only the bright red evening glow hanging over the high wall.
“I don’t see anything?”
“Shh!”
Heerim placed his long hand over his mouth, silencing me. I nodded without understanding and continued to watch the wall. Soon after, I heard something moving loudly from the other side of the wall, and then a white hand briefly appeared over the top of the wall before disappearing.
“Gasp!”
I let out a startled breath without realizing it. Someone was clearly jumping from below the wall. Someone from inside the school was trying to climb over the wall. I thought it might be a student, but that couldn’t be. The height of the wall was much taller than the average height of a high school girl. It would be too difficult for an ordinary female student to climb. Besides, what reason would a student have to climb the wall when they could use the school gate?
“Heerim…”
Thinking that the pervert might have already roamed the school and was now escaping, I exchanged glances with Heerim. He seemed to think similarly as he nodded and quietly stood up.
We both walked towards the school wall, suppressing any sound. The plan was to catch the person as soon as they came down.
“Ughh.”
We heard a groan, suggesting the pervert had managed to grab the wall. Soon after, a silhouette loomed over my and Heerim’s heads. I reflexively looked up to see the pervert’s face.
“…?”
“…?!”
The moment I made eye contact with the pervert checking below the wall, I froze in place.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
