23
“Yeah, yeah. The noonas said they wanted to see Taein. Taein said it was good too. So just for a bit.”
“Huh, what?”
“And here, he-here, he wasn’t caught here. You don’t get caught here.”
It seemed like he was saying they weren’t caught in a crackdown. Taein was watching the two of them with his body pressed against the back of the sofa. Scared Lee Wuyong and intimidating Gu Wanjae. And Kang Taein being passed back and forth in their mouths. Gu Wanjae seemed to have heard something completely unexpected, and even after Lee Wuyong had fully explained his position, he just stood there frozen in place. Then he raised his hand high, saying “Fuck, you bastard.”
“Hey hey, Wanjae!”
“Stop fucking around. Shit.”
Gu Wanjae only made a motion to hit before turning around and looked at Taein with his eyes cast down. Taein lightly scratched his cheek and got up from the sofa. It seemed like Gu Wanjae needed a proper explanation first. Lee Wuyong had spoken so badly that there was a high possibility Gu Wanjae had misunderstood. What kind of way was that to talk. Feeling absurd, Taein also ran his hand through his hair and came out of the room. Gu Wanjae came out walking in a crooked posture with his hands in both pants pockets.
“……”
“Hey, that bastard talks really weird.”
“……”
Gu Wanjae didn’t speak and just looked at Taein with his eyes narrowed.
“Why are you looking at me like that. You don’t actually believe it, do you?”
“I don’t believe it, but I can see you followed him all the way here.”
“Ha, hey. It’s not like that.”
“Then how should I understand it?”
“Haah… Shit. This isn’t the place to talk about it. Let’s go. First.”
Taein glanced into the room and made eye contact with Lee Wuyong. As soon as their eyes met, Lee Wuyong nodded and pointed upward with his hand, indicating it was okay to leave. It seemed he thought that with Gu Wanjae here, having fun was out of the question.
“Hey, let’s go.”
“Ha….”
He could hear sighing and hollow laughter from behind, but he pretended not to hear it for now. Even after coming outside and going up, Taein didn’t hastily make excuses. He was thinking about how to explain it.
“Hey, aren’t you going to say anything?”
Gu Wanjae, who had completely come up, spoke while lightly pushing Taein’s shoulder as if he couldn’t stand it anymore.
“No, it’s not like that. It’s not like that… Lee Wuyong keeps talking about girls.”
“……”
“I thought I should follow him once so that bastard wouldn’t think strangely about me.”
“……”
“You know too, don’t you? Where would I have the mental capacity for that?”
“Even if you’re out of it, you can still meet girls, why not.”
“…How am I supposed to meet girls right now.”
“Right. That’s what I don’t understand either.”
“Hey, it’s absolutely not like that. I wasn’t trying to meet girls either. I just followed Lee Wuyong once for show. He keeps talking about girls, and if I don’t react, that bastard might suspect me. You think that way too, that’s why you told me to avoid Lee Wuyong.”
“But you came to meet girls with Lee Wuyong? Hey, that doesn’t fucking add up.”
“No, that’s because only Lee Wuyong said that to me….”
“Why did you accept it in the first place?”
“What?”
“Looks like you became pretty close with Lee Wuyong at school.”
“Hey, it’s not like that.”
“Did you hit it off pretty well?”
“Not at all. No.”
“What right do I have to say anything about you making friends?”
“……”
After hearing Gu Wanjae say he had no right, somehow the strength left his body. Taein had been making detailed excuses, but at those words he just quietly looked at Gu Wanjae. Then why am I telling you? The words he wanted to say hit the end of his throat but couldn’t come out.
“Don’t you have anything to say?”
“……”
“Don’t you have anything to say, Kang Taein.”
“…Something…. I think I must really look strange in your eyes. It’s a misunderstanding. Anyway, it’s a misunderstanding.”
“……”
“I don’t like girls.”
“……”
“That doesn’t mean I like guys, I just don’t like anyone.”
“……”
“Fuck….”
The more Taein talked, the more the situation seemed to get tangled, so at the end he made a “shit” sound and grabbed his forehead. He stayed with his head deeply bowed for several minutes. In front of him, Gu Wanjae also didn’t move and was looking at Taein’s head.
“If….”
The voice that broke the long silence flowed out from Taein who was covering his face.
“What?”
“…body…”
“What did you say?”
Gu Wanjae, who had been standing crookedly, put his ear forward at the sound that came out as if squeezed. He kept asking “What?”
“…if we’re one body….”
The moment Taein raised his head, his eyes met with Gu Wanjae who had come close to his nose.
“If I’ve said this much, shouldn’t you understand a little…?”
“What?”
“…Never mind. I guess I’m only saying things that don’t get through. Sorry.”
For words he had mustered courage to say, they were childish. Taein never thought he would directly say Gu Wanjae’s “one body” talk with his own mouth at a time like this. The moment he said it, and the moment he turned around, he felt more embarrassed. Though they were words said with emotion welling up, they were words that no one could understand. Even if he explained cleverly it wouldn’t be enough, yet he was frustrated and said “if we’re one body, shouldn’t you understand?” He had spouted such nonsense. Taein made all kinds of faces as he escaped from the alley.
Taein moved his steps by retracing the path he had come. Since he didn’t know the geography well, he had to find his way like that.
Still, he had been holding onto the main road before entering the alley, so the main road was visible soon enough.
Taein went near the roadway and looked for a bus stop. With many cars passing by, his first impression was that it was noisy.
Then, someone tapped his arm.
Looking to the side, Gu Wanjae was standing there.
“……”
“Didn’t I tell you to take a taxi?”
“…It’s not school.”
It seemed like he had continuously chased after him from behind as he escaped from the alley. Taein pointlessly said it wasn’t school and tapped the ground with his shoe.
“…is right.”
He spoke quietly so his voice was buried by the vehicles. Taein looked up at him properly and asked back.
“What?”
“I said you’re right.”
Gu Wanjae jutted his chin out as if pointing at Taein and said he was right.
Taein immediately lowered his eyes down to Gu Wanjae’s waist. Then he looked at the roadway, the opposite lane, and the sidewalk across the street in turn. He felt embarrassed because he seemed to know what he had said that Gu Wanjae was agreeing with.
“We’re one body but I fucking asked so much.”
“No, that kind of thing is….”
Taein mumbled his words while looking ahead.
“I fucking insisted we were one body like that.”
“……”
“And fucking made a fuss saying I didn’t understand.”
“……”
“Kang Taein.”
“…Yeah.”
Taein answered while only looking ahead.
“Now I understand.”
“……”
“But if you tell me a bit more, I’ll understand more.”
“……”
“Will you? Will you tell me when we get home?”
“…Yeah.”
Still keeping his gaze ahead, Taein also gave a response. Actually, he wasn’t really sulking. Leaving that place was largely due to embarrassment. When they got home, he was planning to make excuses that weren’t really excuses again. That was his honest feeling. In the midst of all this, he only felt grateful toward Gu Wanjae who had come looking for him first. Both of them had strong pride, but Gu Wanjae always yielded a step as a friend. He could feel that sentiment now too.
Gu Wanjae caught a taxi in front.
He opened the passenger door first, then gestured with his eyes for Taein to get in the back seat.
Taein, who had been standing awkwardly on the sidewalk, also headed to the taxi’s back seat at that look.
It took about 10 minutes to get to the officetel. If the officetel was on the left from the school’s perspective, the university district was on the right. Still, since the distance wasn’t that far apart, they could arrive at the officetel in 10 minutes. Taein, who got out first, waited for Gu Wanjae at the building’s main entrance and pressed the password.
“What are you eating for lunch?”
As soon as they got on the elevator, Gu Wanjae asked that first. Taein hesitated and answered around the time the elevator door was about to open.
“You said you wanted to eat it. Something like hangover soup.”
“Ah, right.”
Even though it was something he had said, it seemed like he had forgotten. Taein looked at Gu Wanjae who was going out to the hallway first and asked what he was going to do.
“Either eat now and come back.”
“Never mind, let’s rest a bit first.”
Gu Wanjae shook his head and looked for the house first. Looking at him now, he seemed a bit tired too. Had he come all the way there in that condition? How did he know, anyway? Taein belatedly became curious about how Gu Wanjae had come all the way there.
“Who did you hear it from, by the way?”
Taein asked toward Gu Wanjae who was sprawled out on the sofa.
“Oh, Choi Chan.”
“Ah….”
The three of them had been together in the morning. Though he had left midway, he would have roughly known about the appointment between Lee Wuyong and him. And he strangely conveyed that to Gu Wanjae. Anyway, Choi Chan would have completely lost affection for Lee Wuyong. There was a high possibility he had excitedly passed it on to Gu Wanjae. Understanding this series of events, Taein leaned against the kitchen table and told him the rest of the story.
“Gu Wanjae, I’m really not interested in girls.”
“Then.”
“Huh?”
“What about guys. Are you not interested in guys either?”
Gu Wanjae asked this with his arm over his forehead. He seemed to be asking just out of curiosity. There was no emotion in his words.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
