12
It was obvious who he had called. Had he waited even a minute? Running through the glass door that opened with the wind, hair flying, was Lee Wuyong. Gu Wanjae practically treated Lee Wuyong like a servant among Choi Seonyeong, Lee Wuyong, and Choi Chan. While calling him the most annoying bastard, he made him do all sorts of tasks. He was also the one who seemed most comfortable among the three. Choi Seonyeong in particular had dropped out of school when he became a second-year. At least he wasn’t visible around the school.
“Oh, Wanjae. It’s been a while. Oh, Taein.”
Lee Wuyong, who had rushed over in a hurry, greeted Gu Wanjae first, then acknowledged me as well. An awkward smile appeared on Taein’s face.
“Hey, you clean this up.”
“Ah, yeah. Yeah.”
Lee Wuyong doesn’t look at me as menacingly as he did that day. Questions like how did you get involved with Gu Wanjae, what did you do with Gu Wanjae – he only asked those during the first semester of first year. Having seen Lee Wuyong’s fierce face that day, Taein knew how fake his current expression was. Still, he felt somewhat sorry for him. The punishment had been harsh for just running his mouth carelessly.
Gu Wanjae had already left his seat. Taein sat for a few more seconds before getting up.
“Lee Wuyong, don’t think about it too much.”
He felt like he should say something like this. Lee Wuyong was smiling while cleaning up the food trays, but responded with “Huh?” to Taein’s words. Taein said no, while also adding that he’d try to speak well so you can make up with Gu Wanjae. It was something he blurted out awkwardly because of the stares. Lee Wuyong just kept saying “Uh, uh.” Taein looked at Lee Wuyong like that and said “I’m going” as he completely left the area. Gu Wanjae had already completely exited the basement level and was nowhere to be seen.
“Ah, my stomach’s about to burst.”
It was a sushi restaurant that mainly did delivery, so there were only exactly two groups of customers including me and Gu Wanjae. Still, it had a conveyor belt and the chef wore a white hat, so it felt like eating proper sushi. The taste was actually pretty good too. Taein came out of the sushi restaurant saying his stomach was full. Gu Wanjae also said “Hey, let’s get some exercise,” making it obvious he had eaten a lot.
Taein, who had been walking a few steps ahead, turned around to look at what exercise Gu Wanjae was doing.
It wasn’t anything special – he was just doing jumping jacks intensely. If he bounces up that high, he might get indigestion.
“Hey, you’ll get indigestion.”
“In my life, never had, indigestion.”
His words were choppy from jumping. Even so, Gu Wanjae bounced quite high. Taein also pointlessly lifted his knees high while walking. It felt like it burned more calories than walking normally at least.
With Gu Wanjae doing jumping jacks behind him and me lifting my knees while walking, the distance between us gradually increased.
The thudding sounds of his jumping seemed to come from far away.
Taein went a bit further and looked back.
“Hey, are you okay?”
In the distance, Gu Wanjae had lifted up his shirt, exposing his stomach.
His body, muscular and toned unlike a typical high school student, looked even more impressive in the sunlight.
“What?”
“Are they back?”
Those weren’t abs that would disappear just from eating a lot of sushi. Taein watched Gu Wanjae flexing hard to make the shadows deeper, then turned away as if unimpressed. Earlier, while eating, they had been talking about going to karaoke. Since it was the same building, they just had to go around once and take the external stairs.
“I’m going ahead.”
“Hey, where are you going?”
“You said let’s go to karaoke.”
He had to speak louder than usual because of the distance.
“Look at this first before we go.”
“What do you keep telling me to look at?”
“I don’t know, so you have to look for me.”
Gu Wanjae roughly rolled up the hem of his shirt with his hands while approaching, then when the distance got closer, he bit the hem with his mouth.
“Are they back?”
“What’s been ‘back’ since earlier?”
Taein already had his foot on the stairs. He was only twisting his upper body to look at Gu Wanjae.
“Abs.”
“If they disappear from eating some sushi, are those really abs?”
Just as he said that and turned around, he heard the sound of someone running up behind him with big strides. Gu Wanjae approached at an even faster speed than Taein, who had stepped on two stairs at once, and put his hand on Taein’s stomach area.
“This bastard is jealous.”
“What the, fuck. Hey, let go.”
“Huh? Since he doesn’t have abs. Toward me who has them.”
Saying that, he touched Taein’s stomach in a pinching manner. Taein made sounds like “Ah, fuck, hey” while trying to push away Gu Wanjae’s hand, but his strength was too strong to do so. He could only endure the humiliation of having his soft belly touched while panting. It was also because it tickled.
“But it’s not the worst.”
It was a body with some lean muscle, but the frame itself wasn’t big like Gu Wanjae’s. Taein didn’t like how his upper belly would stick out slightly whenever he ate. Especially when someone with a good body like Gu Wanjae touched his weak spot teasingly like this. Gu Wanjae evaluated Taein’s body as if he were something special, then let him go.
“What do you mean ‘not the worst,’ you bastard. Fuck.”
“It’s a compliment.”
“Get lost, fuck.”
Saying that, Taein went up to the karaoke first. Gu Wanjae followed behind, responding to the “get lost” with “Get lost? You’re telling me to get lost?” Such exchanges continued until they opened the karaoke door.
“Oh, Wanjae’s friend. Oh, Wanjae too.”
The counter guy acknowledged the regular Gu Wanjae. Now Taein was part of the set too. Gu Wanjae said “Room 2” from behind, mentioning the room number they usually went to. Taein headed straight to room 2 as if he knew it too.
“You told me to get lost. Should I really get lost?”
Gu Wanjae said this toward Taein, who had sat down first.
Taein just looked at Gu Wanjae with a displeased expression. When no answer came from Taein, Gu Wanjae said “Oh, oh, got it” and pressed a familiar number. Taein was at the point of memorizing that number too.
Soon the accompaniment started, and a voice that he could never get used to no matter how many times he heard it echoed through the speakers.
*What should I do.*
*How should I handle this.*
It was “Confession,” the number one karaoke avoidance song.
Gu Wanjae didn’t sing this song because he wanted to. It was solely to torment Taein. To punish him, he would emphasize his husky voice even more to make tiger-like sounds. The lyrics were also quite something, so Taein always suffered when listening to “Confession.” It was the same now.
“Hey, I get it. Stop.”
He surrendered by tapping the table, but Gu Wanjae sang a few more verses.
Taein couldn’t stand it anymore and picked up the other microphone.
“I said I understand. I’m sorry.”
Honestly, he didn’t really know what he was sorry for. For telling him to get lost? He was the one who touched my belly and teased me. That’s what he thought inside, but listening to “Confession” was worse, so he had to give in. Taein pulled over the remote control and looked for the cancel button. When he pressed “CANCEL” written in thick black letters, only Gu Wanjae was left shouting “please forgive me” without accompaniment. *Yongseohae, juseyo-u.*
“What the hell, ah, no fucking manners.”
Realizing belatedly that the accompaniment had stopped, Gu Wanjae turned around with a smiling face. He only said his manners sucked, but his face was filled with satisfaction that he had won again today.
“Don’t smile.”
“Now you won’t let me smile either.”
“You said if we’re friends, we’re like one body. If I don’t smile, you shouldn’t smile either.”
“Wouldn’t it work if you just smiled?”
“At least pretend you can’t.”
Taein shrugged one shoulder and made a motion like he was going to throw a punch. Gu Wanjae sat on the side sofa and loudly said “He’s going to beat up his friend” for me to hear. Taein just kept saying “Ah-oh” several times, and finally even threw a punch at Gu Wanjae with a thud. Even when the punch landed on his arm with a thud, Gu Wanjae just said “Fucking bastard” but was still smiling.
Taein also laughed along with that smile. He started laughing absurdly, but as he laughed, his mood improved.
Unlike a few hours earlier when he had appeared sulking, Gu Wanjae was now laughing with his head thrown back.
What was so good about it?
While thinking that he and Gu Wanjae were like idiots, Taein couldn’t stop laughing either.
He kept laughing.
He hadn’t known before, but there were days when he laughed so hard his stomach hurt. Whenever Taein was like that, he found it amazing that Gu Wanjae was next to him. He wasn’t someone who tried to be funny, but strangely, every time he laughed until his stomach was about to burst, Gu Wanjae was by his side.
Was this possible because they were friends like one body?
Taein, who had somehow come to agree with Gu Wanjae’s view of friendship, happily savored this moment.
Eighteen – it was a good time for life to change.
After that, Taein ate and slept at Gu Wanjae’s house whenever possible. He didn’t want to create unnecessary trouble, and anyway, even if he went to the facility, he probably wouldn’t have his own bed. Sometimes when he went to get his things, he wanted to just sleep there because it was bothersome, but each time he couldn’t sleep in his original bed because of the waiting list. There was also an unfamiliar feeling because of the new younger kids who had come in.
Anyway, when he trudged out like that, the only place to go was Gu Wanjae’s house.
When he called and said “I think I got kicked out,” Gu Wanjae would say he knew it would happen, that it was bothersome, but still told him to come home quickly. Then he’d say he was somewhere in Jeolla Province. “The women here have nice skin, I’ll show you next time you come along,” he’d say, offering unwanted things like surprise gifts.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
