Gentle Giant Chapter 5
“Am I screwed…?”
Game over floated around in Dain’s head. Just as his face was gradually contorting and tears were forming in his eyes, a call came from Juho.
“H-hello?”
-Hyung!!!
“Uh, uhh? Juho, really, the way I look is just so…”
Just as Dain was about to say “I look scary enough to slaughter a cow,” Juho’s urgent exclamation cut off his voice.
-Hyung, you’re really cute?!?! And here I thought you looked so scary!
“Huh?”
-What, hyung, that thing about people being scared of you was a lie, right?
Flustered by Juho’s words, Dain hurriedly looked at the screen. He wondered if he had mistakenly sent a cute cat photo he had saved.
But naturally, the screen showed Dain’s face with a completely stiff expression that had been sent.
“Juho, you saw my face properly, right…?”
-Yes! I saw it properly! Oh geez, I even forgot to reply. Your face was so cute I kept staring at it, hyung.
“R-really? Me? My face?”
-That’s what I’m saying! Hyung, maybe people don’t hate you, but they tease you because you’re too cute? I think that might be it?
“……”
Unlike usual, Juho continued talking at length while excited.
On the other hand, Dain had nothing to say. Was his friend actually not kind and gentle, but rather lacking somewhere?
Dain, who had inadvertently thought something rude about Juho, quickly shook his head.
No, that could be it! The kid might be a bit lacking! Yeah, even if he’s lacking, he’s kind, so that’s why he’s being friends with me like this!
Dain, who tried hard to think positively, mumbled his thanks and ended the call.
* * *
And after that, Juho kept pestering him for photos yesterday and today too.
Yesterday he got by with the excuse of being tired, but today he wondered what he should do.
-Hyuuung. I want to see hyung’s face again! Please??
Juho coaxed Dain again, stretching out his words.
Even his younger brother who’s still in high school has never called him hyung with such a cute tone!
Honestly, Dain felt good that Juho was being so affectionate even after seeing his face. Holding back his foolishly pounding heart, Dain groaned.
“Th-then I’ll go home and take a photo to send you. I’ll be home in 5 minutes.”
-Really? Yes yes! I’ll wait! Hyung, get home safely!
“Mmhm. Got it.”
Today too, Dain took a selfie with a stern expression under the fluorescent light and sent it. And this time, a reply came immediately after sending the photo.
[Juho: Cute today too, hyung ^.^*│7:37 AM]
[7:37 AM│^^;;;???]
[Juho: I set hyung’s photo as my message background ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ│7:39 AM]
[Juho: (Photo)│7:40 AM]
In the photo Juho sent, his own face was spread as large as a door across the screen with their exchanged messages floating on top.
“Aaaah!!!”
Startled by seeing that photo, Dain threw his phone onto the bed.
Th-this is weird!! No matter how he thought about it, Juho really had no eye for this stuff. No, does he really have bad eyesight…? Like wearing glasses with really high prescription… Huh?
Then a thought suddenly crossed his mind. Come to think of it, he had never seen Juho’s face.
I-I’m curious…?
Even thinking about Juho’s face, nothing particular came to mind. Usually Juho didn’t talk much about himself unless Dain asked, and since Dain’s face was his complex, he wasn’t particularly interested in other people’s appearances, so he hadn’t been curious.
But now he was incredibly curious about his face.
First, if he could say someone’s face was cute(!!) after seeing it… maybe Juho also wasn’t confident about his face…?
With a “hmm” sound, Dain fell into contemplation about whether to ask for a photo or not. And in the short time of less than 10 seconds of pondering, a conclusion was reached.
Let’s ask him to send a photo.
“Whatever, I don’t care! I’m curious too!!”
He knew that he wasn’t in any position to evaluate other people’s faces. Whether fat or thin, short, or even bald, it would be fine. He just wanted to see Juho’s face too.
Dain fumbled to pick up the phone he had thrown onto the bed, opened the message window, and began typing on the keyboard.
Worried that asking directly to show a photo might upset him, he rewrote the message several times before sending it.
[7:44 AM│Juho. I want to see your face too… if it’s okay, could you send me just one photo??]
[Juho: Me?│7:46 AM]
[7:47 AM│Mmhm! Since only I’m showing my face, it’s a bit embarrassing…]
[Juho: Hmm, just a moment!│7:50 AM]
Fortunately, Juho didn’t seem particularly upset.
Why is seeing the other person’s face so nerve-wracking? Dain’s mouth went completely dry from nervousness.
How long had he waited while watching the minutes pass by one by one? Finally, a notification that a message had arrived appeared on his phone.
“Wow, it’s here!”
Huff, huff. He calmed his increasingly short breaths and looked at the message Juho sent. And he unconsciously let out an exclamation.
“Amazing…”
In the photo he sent was the face of a boy who looked completely different from what he had expected.
Dain stared intensely at the photo, unable to close his mouth.
His bright brown hair was slightly curly, flowing in the wind, and his white face reflected the sunlight with a glossy shine.
He had an expression of biting his lip slightly as if a bit shy, and those lips were red like cherries, looking moist even just from the photo.
His straight nose bridge and the tip of his nose looked slightly sharp, but rather that sharp nose tip helped distinguish that the person in the photo was a boy, not a girl.
However, what caught Dain’s gaze and wouldn’t let go were his eyes. Golden-colored pupils that reminded him of luxuriously shining gold. Even knowing he was looking at the camera and not at himself, it felt like making direct eye contact with him.
Dain, who had been dazed for a moment, realized.
Ah, I get it. This must be one of those famous idols these days.
Maybe because he didn’t usually watch TV, it was a face he’d never seen in his life, but there was no way an ordinary person could look like this.
Dain nodded his head. He probably didn’t want to send his real face. Dain could understand that feeling 100%, no, 1,000%.
Still, he quickly saved the photo he sent. It seemed like a face that would be good to look at over and over when real life got tough.
Then he quickly made a phone call.
-Yes, hyung.
“Juho. I’m really okay.”
-Huh? With what?
“Well, I… I’m also ugly so it’s really okay… I really asked for a photo because I was curious about your face and wanted to see it. Not someone else’s photo…”
Unable to directly ask if he had stolen it, he beat around the bush to ask Juho to send his face.
Juho, who seemed not to understand Dain’s words and had been silent for a while, suddenly burst into loud laughter.
-Hyung! Are you saying I used someone else’s photo instead of my own right now?! Hahaha!
“Uh, well, surely… n-no? Is this really you? You’re not an idol??”
-Wow! Hyung, do I look that handsome?? An idol, I’ve never heard that before!
“Y-you’re lying!”
-It’s true though. Oh, of course that photo is from when I was in high school. Now I’ve grown bigger than then, and I don’t take photos at all. If you can’t believe it, should we video call??
“Video calls are not allowed!! S-sorry! I said that because the photo was so handsome!”
Dain’s entire body turned red. Of course being called handsome was better than being called ugly, but to directly ask if he was an idol. He was so embarrassed he wanted to hang up quickly.
However, Juho, who was pleased by Dain’s rude compliment(?), was going on about how hyung was cuter, how he was happy that hyung liked him, and so on.
“Juho!!”
-Yes??
“H-hyung is sleepy now so I should sleep! I’ll contact you again later?? Okay??”
-Huh, already? Why? Can’t we talk a bit more before sleeping?
“Yeah, I’m a bit tired today. I suddenly got tired.”
-Hmm, got it. Hyung must be tired from staying up all night, right? I kept you on the phone too long. Then I’ll contact you later. Sleep well.
“Mmhm, you have a delicious dinner too.”
Frantically pressing the call end button, a groaning sound finally escaped from Dain’s mouth. He was so embarrassed and mortified.
On one hand, he thought it might be fraud for someone so kind with such a good personality to be handsome too.
Moreover, he couldn’t believe that people around him would just leave such a guy alone.
Juho sent messages saying he was bored because he had no friends whenever he had a chance, and when Dain received those messages, he felt relieved that there was a friend in the same situation as him and thought it was fortunate that at least he was there for him.
If it had been Korea, Juho probably would have been incredibly popular. He thought Americans must have very different standards for judging people.
He was judging the standards of people living in America based on just one photo Juho had sent.
Rolling around on the bed while thinking such thoughts that had grown so much, Dain picked up the phone he had placed beside him and turned on the screen. Juho’s saved photo appeared brightly.
“What a cute cheese cat.”
This time too, the bright brown hair and shining golden pupils caught his eye first.
Dain’s lips were slowly curving upward as he pressed his finger on Juho’s face that filled the screen.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
