# 5.
“I asked for four things, but we’ve been at this for over 10 minutes now, you know?”
At Jeongwoo’s reproachful words, Jihan drooped his straight eyebrows and made a sad face.
“My partner’s walls are too thick.”
At the word “partner,” Jeongwoo exhaled deeply.
Yes. He had thought it would only be for a month, but the homeroom teacher, claiming it was too much trouble, hadn’t changed their seating arrangement for over a month and a half.
If there was at least some mention of changing seats, he would have had some hope. But the teacher kept postponing it, saying that sitting in numerical order made it easier to call on students, so Jeongwoo had abandoned even the slightest hope.
Meeting that face every morning at the school gate, and then being tormented all day in the classroom. Every day of encountering Jihan was exhausting to the point where he was starting to hate coming to school.
Don’t they say animals and babies look prettiest when they’re asleep?
That saying was applicable to crazy people too.
At least when he was sleeping, he was quiet with his eyes closed, which made him somewhat tolerable. When he wasn’t sleeping, he was either playing games with his friends or chattering incessantly, making Jeongwoo thoroughly sick of him.
Judging by appearance alone, he might be grouped with animals and babies, but a crazy person is still a crazy person.
Actually, animals and babies who can’t read the room or move freely are better.
He doesn’t listen and never stays still for a moment. Jeongwoo’s sighs deepened with each passing day. So the nonexistent goodwill he had from the beginning only fell further, and he built a solid wall to prevent Jihan from approaching.
One day, he was so angry that he confronted Jihan, asking if it wasn’t enough that they had to see each other in the classroom all day—did they really have to meet at the school gate too?
That day, Jihan had been caught for improper attire again because he didn’t have a necktie. He said he couldn’t find his necktie no matter how much he looked. Jeongwoo had been kind enough to stay after school and find a spare necktie for him, but still, Jihan would come missing one item or another every day.
‘If he’d at least take care of what I gave him… No, I don’t even expect that much. Is it really that difficult to just answer the questions I ask and then go?’
Back then too, Jeongwoo had glared at Jihan who was slacking off right in front of him.
Another time, about a week after the new semester started, Jeongwoo, exhausted from dealing with Jihan, had tried to get a second-year student to catch him instead.
But unlike how he smiled at Jeongwoo, Jihan stood there with a serious expression, which scared the second-year student…
As a result, dealing with Jihan became Jeongwoo’s daily task.
After discovering that Jihan only smiled in front of Jeongwoo, the juniors unanimously said that senior seemed to like the disciplinary head. So Jeongwoo firmly stated that even if that were the case—though it wasn’t—he would absolutely never welcome it.
Whenever the juniors’ words popped into his mind, Jeongwoo still shuddered, continuing to dislike him.
He had been glaring at Jihan so much whenever he passed by that by Friday, his eyes would be strained.
“I don’t even study this intensely.”
Muttered Jeongwoo as he rubbed his stiff eyelids.
Sejong had asked him once before. If you dislike him so much, why not just let him go? It was common to give third-years a pass, so he could just pretend not to see him.
It wasn’t like Jeongwoo hadn’t considered that.
‘I’m tired of talking about demerits every time, of repeating the same questions.’
But human psychology is funny like that. He didn’t want to just let go someone who seemed to deliberately leave out one item each time, as if to show off. His resentment made him want to give demerits even for things that were perfectly fine, but he had held back—and now to just let him go?
Today, as usual, Jeongwoo scribbled down Jihan’s already-memorized grade, class, number, and name on the paper he was holding. Despite his nervous hand movements, Jihan smiled.
“Your handwriting really suits you, Jeongwoo.”
“If you’re going to talk nonsense, just hurry up and get out.”
“How can you say such harsh things? To your own partner?”
“Interfering with disciplinary committee work, 10 points.”
“Ah, fine. I’ll go in.”
As Jeongwoo watched Jihan’s reluctant, trudging figure walk away, he gripped his pen so hard it seemed like it might break.
‘He’ll have his name tag on in the classroom.’
As Jeongwoo had predicted, when he sat down, Jihan’s chest displayed a name tag.
Recently, as if to tease Jeongwoo, Jihan would pass through the school gate missing one item, but when they met in the classroom, he would be properly dressed. As if he had never been caught for improper attire.
Usually, students wore everything properly at the gate and then became more casual in the classroom, but Jihan was the opposite.
Things that were missing when passing through the gate would be flaunted or fluttered at Jeongwoo once he entered the classroom.
If this wasn’t teasing, what was it?
‘That’s why I resent him more. If he just stayed put, we could at least be neutral.’
Jeongwoo gritted his teeth, vowing that one day he would catch him doing something major and give him a bombshell of demerits. He would make him pay properly for all the torment.
As if pleased by this attention, Jihan beamed with a wide smile.
“Jeongwoo, Jeongwoo,” or “Hey, interrogator!” Changing only the words he called him, Jihan continued to engage.
Whether he wanted a response or not, Jihan would talk incessantly by himself even when Jeongwoo ignored him.
Before class started, Jihan’s friends had come over, inviting him to play. Though he was just lying on his desk doing nothing, he made the unreasonable excuse that he was busy, and then acted like someone desperate to talk to Jeongwoo.
Then, even though he must have heard his friends whisper, “Why is that hyung suddenly acting like that?” he pretended not to hear and smiled at Jeongwoo.
“Why are you so quiet today?”
Jihan’s friends came and went for the fourth time, muttering that their hyung had been acting strange lately. Agreeing with this assessment, Jeongwoo changed his consistently ignoring attitude and looked at him.
He had just lowered his gaze slightly, but when their eyes met, Jihan smiled brightly like a child with candy in front of him. If the person in front of him had really been a cute child, Jeongwoo might have smiled back.
Knowing that this was a crazy person who enjoyed tormenting people minding their own business, Jeongwoo unconsciously hardened his lips that had started to curl upward.
Seeing Jeongwoo’s face, which had momentarily softened, become rigid again, Jihan made a sad face.
“You won’t even answer me once.”
He pouted with lips protruding like a chick’s beak.
To be honest, his pretense of being cute suited him quite well. The problem was that Jihan himself seemed to know this too.
Even Jeongwoo, who kept his distance, had nearly fallen for it more than once or twice against his own will.
But the person beside him was a crazy person. Not just an ordinary crazy person, but an enormously crazy one who tormented him every morning!
The reason his cute act suited him was not because of his usual behavior but due to his outwardly pretty appearance. His pale skin also played a significant part.
Jeongwoo, who had almost been entranced by his appearance while spacing out, widened his eyes, deciding he needed to be more alert.
He had only put a little force into opening his eyes, but his already intense gaze deepened. The slight crease in his brow enhanced Jeongwoo’s handsome features. His strong facial features became even more charismatic with the slightly frowning expression.
But Jeongwoo didn’t know.
That Jihan liked his face like this.
Each time, Jeongwoo made this face while disciplining himself not to be entranced by Jihan’s face.
If he had known, he would never have made such an expression.
Having already figured out this aspect of Jeongwoo’s personality, Jihan just smiled silently.
“Don’t smile.”
“Why?”
Jihan tilted his head while remaining in his hunched position.
Jeongwoo, who had nearly fallen defenseless to the sudden cute attack, frowned even more. Simultaneously, his handsome features deepened further.
“You’re really handsome, Jeongwoo.”
“Don’t say things like that either.”
At these words that came out sincerely, Jeongwoo turned his head away as if he couldn’t bear to look.
Jihan, who had giggled softly, didn’t ask why this time. In response to the small laugh, Jeongwoo muttered.
“Because it’s annoying.”
Somehow hearing the quiet voice, Jihan clutched his heart. While making an “ugh!” sound, his face was still smiling. As if the situation was enjoyable.
“Gah! Hyung is hurt, Jeongwoo.”
“Yes, sure.”
‘Don’t feed the crazy person.’ Jeongwoo ended the conversation, recalling a line he had once seen in a romance novel Hyewoon was reading.
Why that line from the book came to mind now.
Why, of all people, his partner had to be a crazy person.
Feeling sorry for his situation, Jeongwoo opened his textbook with a sigh.
Just as he opened the book, the subject teacher entered, and Jihan closed his eyes as soon as he saw the teacher’s shadow. Class time was his sleeping time.
“Sleep well, Jeongwoo.”
“That’s what I should say to you.”
Jihan, who was lying down facing Jeongwoo, spoke with his eyes closed.
‘Telling me to sleep well during class time.’
And it was just the morning, with the first period just starting. Jeongwoo, finding it absurd, glanced sideways at Jihan.
“Are you going to wish me good night?”
“No.”
“Hmm, I’ll dream of you.”
As the class began, Jeongwoo focused on the lesson as if nothing had happened, and Jihan fell asleep without tossing once. Until 10 minutes before lunch.
***
In the bustling cafeteria at lunchtime, Jeongwoo, who had come down alone, habitually headed for a corner seat.
Having seen many students eating in groups, Jeongwoo had long since discovered that there were often single seats available in the corners.
Hyewoon, since enrollment, had been eating lunch during class time due to his privilege as a sports scholarship student. This was because of training that immediately followed.
Sejong, who never lost his position as the top student in school, was essentially the teachers’ errand boy. Because of this, he was often called by teachers before lunch, and today too, he was called before the end of class, making him eat a bit later.
Jeongwoo, who had been in the same class as the two in his second year, had become used to eating lunch alone.
Although he was a bit prickly and indifferent, he was generally a sociable type, so in his second year, he wasn’t completely without friends to eat with.
But after becoming a third-year, Jeongwoo’s classes had all been separated from those friends, so he now always ate lunch alone.
If he had been a first-year, it might have bothered him quite a bit, but for him as a third-year, eating lunch alone was now nothing.
“Interrogator! Why are you eating alone?”
In truth, he wanted to eat quietly by himself and quickly go back to the classroom. He wished no one would disturb his mealtime.
But it wasn’t like Jihan to leave Jeongwoo alone.
At the irritating voice calling him “interrogator,” the sausage side dish he was about to put in his mouth fell onto his rice.
Sure enough, standing in front was Jihan holding a tray. He was pulling out a chair, about to set his tray down and sit across from him.
“Go somewhere else.”
“Why? You looked lonely eating by yourself, so I left my friends to come here.”
“I don’t need that, so please go.”
Several eyes were glaring at Jeongwoo from the opposite table. Faced with these pointed gazes, Jeongwoo didn’t avoid them but looked back indifferently.
Judging by their whispering, they were obviously cursing him.
Jeongwoo, who had no intention of taking Jihan away from his friends, nor even the slightest desire to do so, felt somewhat wronged.
Every time Jihan clung to him first, yet those stares directed at him as if he had stolen someone’s girlfriend were unpleasant.
“I’ve already sat down.”
“Then you can just get up.”
“Today’s side dish is sausage. Do you like sausage?”
Jihan asked. He deliberately pretended not to hear Jeongwoo who kept trying to send him to another seat.
It wasn’t only Jeongwoo who ignored Jihan’s words. Because Jeongwoo kept drawing lines, Jihan also occasionally ignored what Jeongwoo said. Very occasionally.
But it was less like ignoring and more like smiling as if he hadn’t heard anything and changing the subject.
Jihan, who had speared a sausage with his chopsticks, waved his hand in front of Jeongwoo. With his head lowered at this childish behavior that even elementary schoolers wouldn’t do, Jeongwoo put the sausage that had fallen on his rice into his mouth.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
