Chapter 12.
He couldn’t completely ignore it either, since there was nothing to do at home, and suddenly he remembered what Jihan had said about wanting to become close with him.
‘I haven’t thought about it, so couldn’t I consider it?’
Jeongwoo, who pondered even briefly, quickly came to a conclusion.
“We’re going to have fun, right? Jeongwoo, let’s hang out.”
Jihan couldn’t wait even that brief moment and kept pestering him. Jeongwoo, who was organizing his test papers and pen, answered.
“Okay.”
“Huh, huh?”
Jihan’s face, which had expected rejection and wasn’t even hoping for it, was bewilderment itself.
He had been worrying about what method to use to pester him next time. To think he’d slip in like this while his guard was down.
“As expected, handsome guys have different timing too.”
Jihan muttered without knowing what he was saying and briefly doubted his own ears. He wondered if he might have misheard due to his excited mood.
While thinking whether he should ask again, he agonized over what to do if he asked twice and got rejected.
“What are we going to do?”
Jeongwoo, who had finished packing his bag, asked as if he would stand up any moment.
Jihan, who had only thought about wanting to hang out with Jeongwoo but hadn’t thought about what to do, panicked for the second time.
Following that, the friends he had sent away earlier came to mind.
‘It was hard to forcibly peel them off when they clung to me wanting to hang out, but I need them at times like this. What did I do to hang out with the guys?’
He couldn’t think of anything. For Jihan, who normally didn’t go home after school and hanging out was routine. He was so flustered that nothing came to mind.
What he finally thought of was food. Originally, it’s the age when you’re hungriest no matter how much you eat. Jihan and his friends also liked eating, so there were times when they only looked for food all day.
‘Jeongwoo wouldn’t be different from the other guys, would he?’
While Jihan was thinking, his mouth spat out words without going through his brain.
“Should we eat lunch?”
“I ate lunch a while ago though.”
A contemptuous gaze turned toward Jihan.
“Then karaoke?”
“I hate noisy things.”
“Uh… PC room? Do you like games?”
“No.”
How firm. Dealing with Jeongwoo who was so firm, he’d now reached the point where it didn’t matter. Like how if you keep getting hit, your tolerance becomes solid.
Or not. It must have been Jihan’s imagination.
‘Is that all you can think of?’ The gaze that briefly met Jeongwoo’s seemed to say that.
He thought he’d gotten used to it, but reality was different. With the repeated rejections, Jihan’s mind started to go blank.
‘I can’t think of a good idea for what would be fun to do,’
Jeongwoo’s face became increasingly indifferent.
Jihan had never broken out in cold sweat in any situation. While Jeongwoo was watching without much thought, Jihan alone became anxious and cold sweat ran down his back.
What he pulled out as a last resort was a movie.
He had gone to see movies in a group with friends, but never just the two of them.
Karaoke was once in a while, and most of the time it was the PC room.
Jihan, who finished his days with games, finally reached movies because of Jeongwoo who disliked everything.
“Should we watch a movie?”
What if he rejects this time too? He chewed his lips anxiously. But the panic didn’t show outwardly.
Was that why? Jeongwoo cut off Jihan’s proposal with a nonchalant face, sharply.
“That’s also not really…”
Since he only talked about things he didn’t like, he unconsciously shook his head but hesitated at ‘movie.’
At the word movie, the head that had been shaking left and right finally nodded up and down.
With one nod from Jeongwoo, Jihan let out an internal cheer inside.
Jeongwoo, who couldn’t know that Jihan was happy enough to even do an internal dance inside, had already picked a movie he wanted to see.
‘A movie I wanted to see recently was released anyway.’
He remembered postponing it because the release date overlapped with the exam period. Thinking he could watch that, his so-so mood started to become excited.
Jeongwoo liked watching things.
So when he was young, he read books, and in middle school, he fell into movies. He watched all genres without discrimination.
Once he fell into something, he fell deeply without restraint, so at one point his future dream vaguely changed from writer to novelist. And then after that, from director to film director, becoming increasingly specific.
Now that he was a high school student, he had no dream, but he sometimes thought that if he got the chance later, it wouldn’t be bad to try one of the things he wanted to do when he was young.
‘In middle school, watching one movie after school ended was routine.’
After becoming a high school student, he watched maybe one movie a week or not even that.
Even on weekends, he couldn’t make time because of studying. He would remember his favorite director’s movies or series or things that seemed interesting and occasionally watch them like a reward.
For such a Jeongwoo, it was natural to be tempted by the word movie.
Since the exams were over, it was about time to watch one movie. Anyway, the timing overlapped appropriately.
In short, separate from becoming close, Jihan was just lucky.
“Let’s eat after watching the movie.”
Jeongwoo, who was putting his phone that was on the desk into his pocket, said.
“Sounds like a date course?”
Jihan answered with a mutter.
“Everyone hangs out like that.”
Though it was a mutter to himself, the absurd voice reached Jihan.
“How do you know everyone hangs out like that?”
“I have friends too, so why wouldn’t I know.”
“Ah, right. That’s true.”
Ah, right. That’s true? ‘That’s true?’ Jeongwoo asked if that counted as a response.
It looked like a question, but in reality, it wasn’t.
Because of Jeongwoo glaring at him with the momentum to kill him right away if he answered yes, Jihan could only let out an awkward laugh.
“You must have been on a lot of dates. Seeing how date course came out first.”
Jeongwoo, who had put on his bag, threw it out. If words also had physical form, Jihan would easily have a two-week medical certificate from being hit here and there. How scary it was to speak breaking each syllable. It felt like every word Jeongwoo said flew sharply and lodged in Jihan.
Though he wasn’t actually hit, Jihan, who was trembling as if he’d been beaten, raised his voice. He shook his head, denying even what he’d said himself.
“No?! It’s not? I didn’t say date?”
“What kind of date would high schoolers go on.”
But only Jeongwoo’s indifference and snort returned. Even when Jeongwoo had crossed half the classroom, Jihan couldn’t even think of standing up.
“Aren’t you going?”
“Huh?”
“If you’re not going, go home or something.”
Because of Jeongwoo who looked like he would really go home at this rate, Jihan quickly stood up and ran to Jeongwoo’s side.
Jihan, who even linked arms thinking he might run away, received Jeongwoo’s sharp glare, but didn’t release his arm.
“I’m going to make today a commemoration day. It’s finally a commemorative day of the background check, no, becoming close with you, Jeongwoo.”
Jihan said with a joyful voice. At the momentum that seemed like he might even draw a heart with a red pen on the calendar, Jeongwoo frowned.
The imagination spread with wings, continuing to the image of him hugging the calendar while laughing like a pervert.
Not only that, but there wasn’t just one or two things he wanted to point out about his words. He wasn’t a background check, and he certainly hadn’t become close with Jihan. So commemoration day or whatever was meaningless.
“It’s not, so don’t do that.”
“Hm? Don’t what?”
“We’re not close, so don’t do commemoration day or whatever.”
He poured cold water on Jihan, who was happy thinking they’d finally become close after his efforts.
But it didn’t work at all on Jihan, who was already excited and in a good mood.
“Hey, it’s just the mood! I’ll pay for everything today.”
“……”
“Just trust hyung and follow me, Jeongwoo.”
Jeongwoo, knowing he wasn’t listening to his words, sighed and followed Jihan. There was no point saying anything here; it would only hurt his own feelings.
Jeongwoo, who knew him as self-centered and thinking whatever was good for himself, decided to think about other things.
He remembered that his favorite series and the movie he wanted to see had overlapping release dates this time, and fell into the dilemma of what to watch.
Jihan was happy in his own way that Jeongwoo didn’t say anything, and Jeongwoo was happy in his own way, lost in pleasant contemplation.
Anyway, it was good time for both of them.
Until before watching the movie.
***
What Jeongwoo chose was the movie he’d wanted to see from before.
They even bought popcorn and cola and had just entered the theater when he made such a fuss about it being like a date.
It was so bad that people looked at them strangely. At first, he pretended not to know him and stayed far away, but he kept following him around, so he scolded him to please just stay still, but it didn’t reach Jihan who had plugged his ears.
In the end, until they entered the theater, only Jihan was full of smiles and Jeongwoo moved following him with a coldly stiff face, holding popcorn in one hand.
As theaters do, commercials rolled through, and only after a while did the movie start.
Jeongwoo hugged the container of popcorn with an excited heart after a long time.
***
The movie’s ending credits rolled up and lights turned on one by one. Jeongwoo, who stretched, muttered.
“That was fun.”
Unlike when entering, Jeongwoo’s expression after the movie ended was bright. The movie was more interesting than expected. Since it was more than he expected, he praised himself for choosing well.
Plus, since it was a weekday afternoon and there weren’t many people, it was good watching it as if they’d rented the entire theater.
“There weren’t many people today, so it was good, right?”
Jihan asked as if reading Jeongwoo’s thoughts.
A smile filled the face of Jihan, who had already come out of the theater and even thrown away the trash that was in Jeongwoo’s hand.
“Yeah. But why does your face look so pale.”
“Fun…, it’s because it was so fun.”
“……”
“……”
After Jihan’s stuttering voice, wordless silence passed between them.
“You don’t even like blood spattering, what fun.”
“It’s not? It was fun though?”
Jihan, whose face had gone pale, insisted that he watched it enjoyably. Looking at him like that, Jeongwoo nodded roughly with a face that said he didn’t believe him.
Though it wasn’t horror, due to the genre characteristics, blood did appear frequently. It was a noir with many humans who were more monstrous than monsters.
He had been curious since it was a movie notorious for being brutal, but he witnessed several times how Jihan kept flinching beside him and making strange sounds of surprise. Later, he even confirmed that he tightly closed his eyes every time blood splattered.
When the poster from the start clearly advertised ‘I’m a noir movie.’ If he disliked it, he should have said so. Since he liked movies, he would have watched even an animated movie that kids watch if suggested.
Jeongwoo couldn’t concentrate and missed many scenes because he kept being distracted by the side.
It was so bad that he roughly watched and passed over scenes thinking he’d have to watch it alone once more next time. Since he liked watching what he’d seen again and it was fun, watching it twice was nothing.
He thought next time he should watch an animated movie considering his taste.
Since it would be summer soon, most of the movies being released would be horror, and when he was like that even with just blood appearing, wouldn’t he be even more unable to watch horror movies?
Jeongwoo, who had been thinking that far, shook his head.
‘What kind of nonsense am I thinking. What next. Why would I watch a movie with this person again.’
It would be the first and last time, and just as he was thinking it was his fault for not being considerate and was about to leave the theater.
“Should we come see this next time?”
Jihan, who had somehow calmed down and regained his original complexion, pointed to a movie being released in summer. The commercial playing consecutively was a horror movie.
Jihan very naturally made the next appointment, but Jeongwoo didn’t notice. He was surprised by the fact itself that Jihan, who couldn’t even watch blood spattering, pointed to a scary movie, one where a ghost jumped out from the poster.
“Can you watch horror movies?”
Jeongwoo, whose eyes widened, asked.
Looking at such Jeongwoo, Jihan’s eyes also widened.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
