# 4.
“Did you save my number?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Why should I?”
“Jeongwoo, I didn’t think you’d be so cold-hearted.”
Jihan kept talking even though he must have known better.
Was Jeongwoo caught in Jihan’s trap? What happened to telling him not to talk to him? Jeongwoo tossed back brief responses to Jihan’s questions, but at least he answered properly. Of course, he didn’t even look in his direction.
“But why are you speaking formally to me?”
Jeongwoo ignored the question about formal speech, even though until now he’d been responding well enough, if not enthusiastically.
Jihan propped his chin on his hand and observed Jeongwoo closely.
No matter how he looked at him, his eyes kept returning to that handsome face. Scanning from Jeongwoo’s straight eyebrows to the perfect bridge of his nose, Jihan let out an admiring sigh.
“You’re really handsome.”
“If you’re going to say useless things, just keep your mouth shut.”
“How is a compliment useless?”
“Unwanted compliments aren’t compliments at all.”
“You answer everything else so well, so why do you ignore the formal speech question?”
Jihan tilted his head but didn’t bring up formal speech again, saying it was fine since Jeongwoo wasn’t ignoring everything, just that one thing.
In the midst of their meaningless conversation—
“One, two, three. Kwon Jeongwoo and Moon Jihan, both of you be quiet. Moon Jihan, sit up properly.”
The teacher who was counting desks suddenly singled out the two of them.
“And so, for the new students…! Finally, I’d like to say one thing…!”
The students, who had been half-listening to the principal’s “final words” for the past ten minutes, all turned to look at them.
Jeongwoo mumbled that he knew this would happen and bowed his head deeply. He’d been uneasy about how Jihan, who wasn’t paying attention to those around him, was getting louder and louder.
Called out by name and warned, Jeongwoo pressed his lips tightly together.
Jihan, watching from the side as Jeongwoo pursed his lips as if refusing to answer any more, giggled.
“You look really cute like that.”
First, he called someone he just met today handsome.
Now he’s calling him cute.
Is he teasing? Jeongwoo frowned as the compliments didn’t sound like compliments to him.
He gave Jihan a sideways glance to signal him to stop, but Jihan just laughed like a madman. Reminding himself that there was no reasoning with a crazy person, Jeongwoo ignored him.
Only the principal was satisfied with the long, boring speech. The entrance and opening ceremonies ended with the principal’s satisfied smile.
Students who had been watching the homeroom teacher’s reactions one by one sprawled across their desks. They grumbled that the speech had been long at the closing ceremony too, and this time was no exception. Some even yawned, saying the principal’s voice was great for insomnia and they should have recorded it to listen to before bed.
“The temporary class president will be student number one. Clean up the screen yourselves. You’re third-years, so you can handle that much, right?”
The homeroom teacher, stretching his stiff body, left the classroom after telling them to prepare for class.
The students giggled, saying the teacher must have been getting restless just sitting there, then loudly complained about why they had to do everything themselves.
When the teacher who had left came back in, they all froze and pretended to be diligently cleaning up.
With everyone gathering with their close friends and chatting, Jihan’s friends approached him too.
But strangely, when normally Jihan would have been the first to suggest going to the school store or out to the hallway, he quietly waved his hand, telling them to go without him.
It was weird for him to suddenly tell them to leave when the Jihan his friends knew would whine about being bored if he had no one to talk to.
“Hyung?”
“I’m a bit busy today, so you guys go play without me.”
“You’re not going to the school store?”
“I’m going to make a new friend. Ah, hurry up and go.”
After chasing away his persistent friends, Jihan turned his body completely toward Jeongwoo.
Jeongwoo, who was about to go to his friends, suddenly found his path blocked.
“Move, please.”
“Let’s hang out.”
What kind of attitude is this, sending away all the friends who came to play with him, then asking someone else to hang out?
When Jeongwoo shook his head in refusal, Jihan blocked even the small gap with his arm.
“Hang out with me. We’re desk partners now.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“You’re so prickly. Sit down quickly, Jeongwoo.”
Seeing that Jihan had no intention of moving, Jeongwoo sighed and sat down.
Hyewoon, who had been training since morning, had promised to go to the school store with him during break time because he was hungry. They had made the promise before changing seats. Sejong and Hyewoon, who had been waiting for Jeongwoo at the back door, saw him seemingly getting along well with Jihan and headed to the school store by themselves.
Of course, it only looked like they were getting along well from their perspective; Jeongwoo’s inner state was anything but pleasant.
“Excuse me.”
“Won’t you call me hyung?”
Disappointment filled Jihan’s face after being called “excuse me.” As if he had expected to be called “hyung.”
“I was too shocked earlier to say anything, but about your violation of school rules today.”
Thinking this was as good a time as any since he’d been caught, Jeongwoo was about to discuss penalty points.
Watching Jihan, who had expected something and was disappointed when Jeongwoo had no intention of fulfilling that expectation, Jeongwoo decided to just say what he needed to say.
“No tie and name tag, shirt not worn properly, and you were wearing a piercing, right? I’ll overlook the hair dye for now. So that’s 1 point for improper attire, 1 point each for missing name tag and tie, and 2 points for the piercing.”
His tone implied he was being generous.
He wasn’t even out of breath, didn’t pant or slur his words. True to his neat appearance, Jeongwoo’s pronunciation was precise. His face didn’t even turn red. Jihan, looking at him curiously, asked:
“Aren’t missing name tags and ties included in improper attire?”
“Usually, that’s how it’s done.”
As if finally finding something to say, Jihan clapped his hands together and said:
“Right? But you separated them all? That’s abuse of power.”
He looked happier to have something to refute than feeling wronged.
His joy was so obvious that Jeongwoo shook his head, wondering why that was something to be happy about. His gaze, clearly showing he couldn’t understand Jihan, was very apparent.
Jeongwoo clicked his tongue and bluntly said:
“You were just too much. That’s a total of 5 penalty points.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Jihan slumped over the desk as if he’d been waiting for this.
Seeing him sprawled there lifelessly, Jeongwoo wondered if 5 points was too harsh and considered reducing it by 1 point. But since he was already overlooking the hair dye, the decision wasn’t easy.
For the disciplinary committee head, famous for being merciless, to be agonizing over something like this—up until now, he’d never let anyone off the hook even once. But then again, he’d never added extra points for non-existent infractions either.
He was going to give the full 5 points, but the sight of the usually smiling Jihan looking dejected kept bothering him.
Uncharacteristically conscious of Jihan, Jeongwoo decided to reduce it by 1 point. With the thought that he would never let him off again next time.
“If it’s too much, maybe 1 point could be—”
“‘You’ this, ‘you’ that. You’re so cold.”
A cold gaze that said ‘That’s what you were upset about?’ pierced the back of Jihan’s head as he sprawled carelessly.
If penalty points exceeded 20, it meant school service. It was a mistake to try to be considerate thinking that was the issue.
Jeongwoo, learning for the first time that consideration doesn’t work on crazy people, didn’t withdraw his cold gaze. Instead, his eyes grew even colder as Jihan muttered in a small voice.
“You’re really not going to call me hyung?”
Pleading, trembling eyes looked at Jeongwoo. He looked like a pitiful cat from some cartoon.
But Jeongwoo wasn’t one to give in easily. If he were easily swayed, he wouldn’t have been the disciplinary committee head for so long.
Looking at Jihan with contemptuous eyes, Jeongwoo coldly turned away, saying it was always about being called “hyung” with him.
‘A person who should be grateful I’m not calling him a crazy person to his face is so greedy.’
Jeongwoo clicked his tongue like an adult looking at a childish kid and took out his first-period textbook.
Though he could endlessly hear the whining voice asking him to call Jihan “hyung,” this time he successfully ignored it without giving in.
Seeing Jeongwoo not even glancing his way and only looking at his textbook, Jihan eventually gave up and fell asleep as soon as class started.
He slept soundly without making a sound or tossing and turning, and didn’t wake up until lunchtime.
Jeongwoo, who had unintentionally gotten entangled with a crazy person from the first day, was worried about the coming year.
He prayed that they would only sit like this for a month, just one month, and sometimes missed parts of the lessons because of it.
***
Mid-April, exactly a month and a half since school started.
Jeongwoo was still standing at the school gate. Having arrived earlier than his juniors, he had already finished all preparations.
Though they weren’t late, the juniors who saw Jeongwoo standing at the front hurried over to quickly finish their preparations and lined up in a row.
It seemed like another peaceful day was beginning. Except for Jeongwoo, who was watching one person entering through the school gate.
“Excuse me.”
The person Jeongwoo stopped was Jihan. Jihan, who hadn’t changed at all in over a month, was still caught by Jeongwoo for improper attire.
“You don’t have a name tag. Grade, class, number, name, please.”
“You still haven’t memorized it?”
“Grade, class, number, name.”
Jeongwoo repeated with his head tilted defiantly. His threatening manner of speaking, pausing after each word, made the juniors standing next to him slink away, watching nervously.
“Just memorize it already, identity inspector.”
“……”
“Fine, fine. Zero-one-zero-four-five-seven.”
He was grinning mischievously as if he couldn’t help it.
“Joking around adds 10 penalty points.”
Jeongwoo cut him off firmly, not listening any further. His voice was gruff, with no expression on his face.
When Jeongwoo picked up his pen as if about to write down the 10 points, suggesting he should take it easy, Jihan hurriedly grabbed his hand.
“Ten points is too much.”
“Don’t you think getting caught every day is too much?”
“Don’t you think it’s too much to keep checking my identity when we’re desk partners?”
Jihan mimicked Jeongwoo’s speech pattern.
As if he wanted to imitate the cold gaze too, Jihan narrowed his eyes and even folded his arms. He was the one acting up, yet he was pretending to be upset.
“I’ve told you so many times it’s not an identity check.”
Jeongwoo let out a hollow laugh at how ridiculous Jihan looked. When Jihan’s eyes widened in surprise at the sound of laughter, Jeongwoo immediately wiped the expression from his face.
“Huh? You just spoke informally to me, right, Jeongwoo?”
“I was talking to myself.”
“Ah, come on.”
Whether he knew Jeongwoo was suppressing his anger or not, Jihan beamed with joy.
He looked ready to clap his hands. But faced with Jeongwoo’s iron wall, his face deflated, and he pouted his lips. His disappointment was evident.
“You know how much time you waste every morning, don’t you?”
“Waste? I’m just happily spending time with my desk partner. Isn’t it nice to talk with me from the morning?”
“No, it’s not.”
Jeongwoo cut off Jihan, who was trying to be cute by tilting his head and acting aegyo.
“Tsk. This doesn’t work either.”
While everyone was dying to hang out with the fun and smooth-talking Jihan, Jeongwoo stubbornly refused to come around.
Of course, before knowing Jihan’s personality, many people approached him just for his striking appearance.
Always popular due to his looks and personality, Jihan enjoyed mingling with people and wanted to be comfortable and casual with many people.
Though he knew it was greedy, he wanted the same with his desk partner, Jeongwoo.
But the wall Jeongwoo had built up simply wouldn’t crumble.
It was so robust and solid that despite his continuous efforts to break it down, not even a small crack appeared.
By now, he should have been tired, but Jihan, seemingly inexhaustible, kept pushing. Each time, he had to face contemptuous gazes like now.
For Jihan, constantly approaching Jeongwoo to become friends was a daily routine, while Jeongwoo reinforced his wall to push Jihan away. After all, he had absolutely no intention of becoming friends with him.
Not knowing Jeongwoo’s feelings, only Jihan continued to approach without getting tired.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
