# 10.
“How long are you going to stay? A week? A month?”
“Just for today…”
“One week.”
Jihan cut off Jeongwoo’s words.
Jeongwoo thought he was only coming along for today, but a week?
“Ten thousand won per day.”
Jihan readily handed over cash—a large sum for a student to carry around.
The treasurer said the seat was already prepared, so just follow Jeongwoo, and then went back to being absorbed in his mobile game.
The transaction had already been completed. Jeongwoo, who had been blankly watching the two, turned around with a face that had given up on everything.
With slumped shoulders, he headed to Room B. Jeongwoo, now faced with spending a week at the study room with Jihan, regretted giving in to him.
‘Seeing him at school and now at the study room too. This is the worst.’
Standing in front of the door marked “Room B,” Jeongwoo called out to Jihan before opening it.
“Excuse me.”
Jihan, who seemed to be visiting a study room for the first time, was busy looking around and only responded with an “Hmm?”
What was there to see in a corridor with nothing to look at? Unable to understand, Jeongwoo just said what he wanted to say.
“Surely you’re not planning to come until the exams are over?”
“I’m coming even after they’re over. I paid 70,000 won.”
“……”
“Why?”
Jihan’s gaze fell on the silent Jeongwoo.
“Do you really have to ask? I thought you were only coming for today.”
“Ah, are you so happy at the thought of being with me?”
“Are you crazy?”
“I was thinking of continuing if you like it. Even after the exams. With you.”
Jeongwoo was shocked at those words. Tightly closing his mouth that kept falling open, Jeongwoo turned his back without a word and went inside.
He always insisted on studying at the study room during exam periods because he concentrated better in a quiet, dark atmosphere. For the first time, he seriously considered moving to the library.
But even that consideration couldn’t ease his troubled mind.
“So this is what a study room looks like. This is my first time at one.”
Not seeing Jeongwoo’s expression, only the carefree Jihan was excited. Forgetting that a study room was a place for studying, his steps were light with the thought of being with Jeongwoo.
Jeongwoo, who entered first and sat down familiarly, showed Jihan to his seat.
As the treasurer had said, the seat had been cleared, with all the post-it notes that had been stuck everywhere and the books that had filled the space now gone. Realizing that Jihan would sit next to him as he looked at the clean seat, Jeongwoo issued a warning.
“I’m going to study now, so be quiet.”
Fortunately, there were other people filling the seats.
‘Surely he wouldn’t make noise with so many people around?’
Jeongwoo, who had been viewing Jihan as a troublemaking elementary schooler despite him being an adult by age, decided to clear his mind and focus on studying.
Having quickly finished preparing to study, Jeongwoo soon began to concentrate.
In the dark study room, only the sounds of rustling papers and breathing could be heard.
Jihan, who hadn’t taken anything out, quietly stared at Jeongwoo’s back and round head as he concentrated. Jihan, who just smiled quietly, stared intently for a while, thinking even his back view was handsome.
It was strange that the usually bustling Jihan was being so quiet, but it allowed Jeongwoo to focus comfortably on his studies.
Or rather, that was what he was trying to do.
Not long after, he heard rustling sounds. Added to that was the noise of fabric rubbing against something as Jihan moved.
Jeongwoo, who couldn’t concentrate because of the increasingly distracting and annoying seat next to him, held back from saying anything.
Though his hand holding the pen tensed up, he swallowed the words that had risen to the tip of his tongue. He knew Jihan would only get noisier if he showed any interest.
After alternating between quietness and noisiness—
At some point, it became quiet.
‘Why is it quiet? Did he leave? It hasn’t been that long since we arrived. Is he actually studying? Is he finally getting serious about studying? Really?’
While thinking this, Jeongwoo—who believed it couldn’t be the case—lifted his head, which had been lowered until now, and glanced to the side. Jihan, who was lying down and hugging his bag, wasn’t moving, as if he had fallen asleep.
‘That’s more like it.’
Jeongwoo nodded as if in resignation. Thinking it was better for him to sleep, he looked back at his workbook.
‘Now I can study in peace.’
Since it was exam season, the previously empty seats had all filled up.
When everyone except Jihan was focused on studying, Jihan, who had been sleeping for three straight hours, quietly got up and stretched.
When he made a strange sound like “uggh,” people gave him warning glances. It was amazing how identical all their glares were, despite wearing different school uniforms.
Jihan apologized with a casual nod and looked at Jeongwoo. How focused he was. Normally, Jeongwoo would have been the first to react to the noise he made, but he continued to look only at his workbook.
Seeing Jeongwoo more concentrated than when he was at school, Jihan quietly went outside.
Jeongwoo, who hadn’t even noticed him leaving, only looked up much later when he felt a hand poking his back repeatedly.
As he turned his stiff neck to look to the side, Jihan was gesturing for him to come out.
Thinking that Jihan must have just woken up after sleeping like the dead, without making a sound, Jeongwoo decided to follow him for a short break.
The place Jihan took him to was a lounge set up on one side.
It was located deep inside, and even Jeongwoo had only discovered it a year after starting to use this study room.
Other study rooms supposedly introduced their facilities when you first visited, but the treasurer was extremely lazy.
The treasurer, who referred to his space as a “small prison with only opening doors,” found it bothersome to even leave that space. So much so that he would postpone his own duties.
For the same reason, Jeongwoo only found out about the lounge when he became friends with the treasurer a year later.
It was a lounge that had taken him a year to discover. Inwardly impressed that Jihan had already found the lounge, Jeongwoo heard him muttering as they entered.
“I was going to eat inside, but they told me there’s a different place for eating.”
“What are you going to eat… What is all this?”
Jeongwoo, who had been responding reflexively, couldn’t help but be surprised at the tteokbokki and other snacks that filled an entire table in the lounge.
The smell of tteokbokki was so strong in the not-so-small space that even the window, which was usually so difficult to open that Jeongwoo thought it was just for decoration, was wide open.
Jihan pressed down on Jeongwoo’s shoulders to seat him in a chair and handed him wooden chopsticks.
“What is this, I’m asking?”
“Tteokbokki and fried snacks.”
“Who’s asking about that? You weren’t planning to eat this inside, were you?”
At Jeongwoo’s words, Jihan opened his eyes wide as if to ask what was wrong with that.
He actually seemed to think it was Jeongwoo and the treasurer who were strange for saying it wasn’t allowed.
“I was going to eat at our seats. But the treasurer said that’s not allowed and showed me this place.”
Normally, people tried to avoid foods with strong smells in places like study rooms or libraries. When they needed to eat, they ate outside and then came back in.
Some people even went for walks outside to get rid of the smell and as a short break, before coming back in. It was a form of consideration for others.
Jihan, who had never been to such a place before, wouldn’t have known this.
“Who eats tteokbokki while studying in a study room?”
Jeongwoo muttered, holding his forehead.
As if finally understanding, Jihan, who was opening the chopsticks, let out an “Ahh” and burst into laughter.
“You haven’t had dinner. Did you know it’s already dark outside?”
“I was planning to eat that when I got home later…”
Jeongwoo’s words were cut off by a piece of rice cake suddenly entering his mouth.
When Jeongwoo glared at him because it was hot and spicy, Jihan kept saying, “Isn’t it delicious?”
It was ridiculous that while he had unceremoniously shoved food into Jeongwoo’s mouth, Jihan was blowing on his own food to cool it down before eating.
After cooling his burning mouth with cold water, Jeongwoo diligently ate the tteokbokki, considering the effort it took to buy it. All while pretending not to see Jihan’s fond gaze on him.
‘When I was concentrating, I didn’t even know I was hungry…’
Now that he was having this not-quite-conversation with Jihan, he realized he was indeed very hungry, to the point where he wondered how he hadn’t noticed before.
Although Jeongwoo studied because he found it enjoyable, that didn’t mean he was completely free from the pressure of exams.
Moreover, being a senior in high school, as the exams approached, he became more sensitive and devoted to studying.
At times like these, it wasn’t about studying for enjoyment but about studying for survival, because he needed to do well on the exams.
And good scores, good rankings—these were all what his parents wanted, so he couldn’t be at ease. While they didn’t force him to get good grades, that didn’t mean there wasn’t any pressure.
Jeongwoo planned his study schedule for later while eating.
Since the smell had been tempting when they passed the snack shop earlier, most of what Jihan had bought went into Jeongwoo’s mouth.
Jihan, who watched fondly as Jeongwoo ate, despite having bought it himself, even took the initiative to clean up.
“I’ll do it.”
“You must be tired from studying. Rest a little.”
The nuance was a bit like a supportive husband saying, ‘You must be tired from work? I’ll do the housework, you rest.’ It felt a bit awkward, but not wanting to move, Jeongwoo just nodded.
He didn’t see the need to step up and move when Jihan was offering to do everything.
After Jihan quickly finished cleaning up, they were about to go back in.
“Identity inspector, go in first.”
After escorting Jeongwoo to the front of Room B, Jihan turned back down the corridor. On his way out, he even chatted with the treasurer.
“Where is he going again? What’s this, did they become friends already?”
Sticking out his tongue at the inexplicable sociability, Jeongwoo entered the room, watching the two who seemed somewhat similar.
‘Come to think of it, this guy went out again. When he sits still, he sleeps, and when he can’t move, he gets antsy and goes out. Doesn’t he feel like he’s wasting the money he paid?’
Concluding that it was because he didn’t want to study and couldn’t sit still for even a moment, Jeongwoo dismissed the thought.
To implement the plan he had made while eating, Jeongwoo closed the workbook he had been looking at earlier and took out a different one.
How much time had passed?
The door opened and closed silently.
Despite the quiet, stealthy entry, the rustling sound of a bag was quite loud. People glanced around, but Jihan didn’t see them as he was only looking ahead.
He went straight to Jeongwoo and poured the contents of the bag onto the desk.
Thud, thud-thud-thud. With dull sounds, all kinds of snacks poured out.
From chocolate bars to wrapped candies, lollipops, chocolate bars—the variety was extensive.
“Ahem!”
“Hmm! Hmm!”
At the noisy sounds, clearing of throats could be heard from around them. It was a warning to be quiet.
Jihan nodded vaguely in apology, though it was hard to see in the dark.
Jeongwoo felt like he was going crazy with the stares of people glancing their way.
Normally, Jeongwoo wouldn’t bother others or care about people’s reactions, but for some reason, today he was especially conscious of the stares.
“You know you need sugar when studying, right? Eat while you work.”
Whether he knew Jeongwoo’s feelings or not, Jihan whispered such things.
At that moment, one of the people who couldn’t take it anymore stood up. From Jeongwoo’s seated position, he could clearly see the person’s expression. Recognizing the male student who was letting out snorting breaths through his nose, Jeongwoo tightly closed his eyes.
This student, known for being sensitive and demanding, was one of the study room users whom even the treasurer was desperate to kick out.
In summer, he would make the unreasonable request to turn off the air conditioner because the sound bothered him, and in winter, he would ask for the heater to be turned on because he was cold, but then make a fuss about the noise when it was turned on.
After going through various rooms, this student had settled in this one and would give dirty looks as if ready to kill someone if they so much as coughed once.
Since Jeongwoo usually kept to himself, he had never had a run-in with this student, but today, as long as he was with Jihan, it seemed inevitable that they would clash at least once… and it appeared that time was now.
“Excuse me.”
The student, pushing up the glasses that had slid down the bridge of his nose, approached and tapped Jihan’s shoulder. Jihan turned around at the touch of the hand, which had some force behind it due to the emotion behind it.
Jihan’s smiling face stiffened slightly.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
