#14
When he was frantic because of Taeseong, he hadn’t even thought about being hungry. But once things settled down a bit, he gradually started feeling hungry. The dormitory dinner service had long since closed its shutters. Ordering food was problematic because of Taeseong. Being fussy about cleanliness in the dormitory was one thing, but he felt bad about eating something delicious by himself while leaving his roommate who had gone to the emergency room with stomach cramps.
That’s when he thought of the convenience store. Triangle kimbap, soft-boiled eggs, lunch boxes, or at least bread. Instead of greasy food that would be tempting just from the smell, wouldn’t it be okay to eat things like that? Should I try to persuade him to let it slide just once? Bonoh was about to convince Taeseong when Taeseong spoke first.
“Driver. You’ll see a convenience store soon, I’ll get off there.”
The taxi that was supposed to go right up to the dormitory stopped in front of the convenience store. In the meantime, Bonoh, who had searched for foods you could eat after stomach cramps, just swallowed his saliva. You should rather not eat anything and empty your stomach a bit, drink water or ion drinks, eat white porridge. They were all terribly unappetizing. Taeseong’s body would need tremendous basic metabolism even just to breathe.
“Can I buy something and eat it in the room?”
“Sure.”
“You even took me to the emergency room, huh?”
“I said it’s fine.”
“…Cup noodles too?”
“Hah, fuck. Keep it reasonable.”
“Okay.”
At the mention of cup noodles, Taeseong’s eyes contorted sharply. Look, look, there’s no end to it. I’m making a big effort to try to get along well, but you won’t cooperate? Even without him saying anything, it seemed like Taeseong’s inner thoughts were all revealed in his expression.
Since Bonoh also had a conscience, he had no intention of making food smells while leaving a patient who had just come back from the emergency room with stomach pain. Since he agreed so easily, I just asked just in case. Embarrassed, Bonoh scratched the back of his head and turned around saying he’d just go in briefly and come out. He belatedly added that he’d come out quickly.
But did Joo Taeseong really need to wait? The dormitory was right in front anyway, and there was no need to go in together. He only thought of this after going in.
He chose bread that seemed like it wouldn’t smell much and headed toward the drinks. While Bonoh was contemplating whether to drink soda, he noticed the ion drinks nearby. The phrase he had searched earlier flashed through his mind. Ion drinks after stomach cramps… I should give this to Taeseong.
Bonoh picked up one cola and one ion drink. Thinking it was because of him that Taeseong collapsed, Bonoh’s heart was still fluttering. He didn’t want to experience such a thing again. His life was still ahead of him, and he was scared he might end up in prison.
After paying, Bonoh put the bag on his wrist and was walking out with rhythm when he made eye contact with Taeseong, who was standing with his arms crossed, almost glaring at the convenience store entrance. Bonoh stopped his previously bouncing feet and tried his best to make a solemn expression while taking out the ion drink from the bag.
“Drink this.”
“……?”
“You probably didn’t eat anything either. You can’t eat a meal right away, but ion drinks should be okay.”
“…Yeah. Thanks.”
“It’s nothing much.”
Although Taeseong answered with a reluctant expression, Bonoh felt quite good. Walking in step with Taeseong’s pace, Bonoh brought up the topic of study guides he had mentioned earlier.
“Send me your schedule to my phone. So I can get study guides.”
Even if there were study guides, they would probably be all multiple choice and short answer questions, and ultimately what determined the scores were the essay questions that College of Liberal Arts professors loved. Setting aside that point, Taeseong didn’t need study guides.
“I don’t need them.”
“They’d be quite useful once you have them, wouldn’t they?”
“People who slack off during lectures and only make a fuss when exam period comes would need them.”
Only Bonoh, who would chug energy drinks and stay up all night when exam period came, briefly shut his mouth tight. What Taeseong said was truly by-the-book and endlessly correct, making it impossible to argue back.
However, Bonoh resented Taeseong for not acknowledging his concern and only spitting out cold words. He even got sick from stress! It was something he thought of to help reduce stress, but when Taeseong rejected it, his energy just drained. A disappointed sound naturally flowed out.
“You, you’re not doing this because you got some medicine and feel a bit better now. They said it was stress-related. But does stress disappear overnight? No way. What if it relapses? Shouldn’t you be careful?”
“Sigh. I’ll send you my schedule, so do whatever you want.”
Although the sigh was quite irritating, Bonoh ultimately obtained Taeseong’s schedule.
As soon as they arrived at the room, Taeseong sat at his desk. Bonoh fidgeted restlessly while glancing at what Taeseong was doing. He was about to tell the patient what he was doing and to rest quickly.
“Here.”
Taeseong, who had been sitting at his desk, handed Bonoh a piece of paper.
“What’s this?”
“Rules to follow from now on. If we’re going to fight without fighting, there needs to be clear standards. I wrote it hastily so there are only a few things, and I’ll gradually add subsidiary ones. If you have anything you want, tell me.”
Only a few things? Gradually add subsidiary ones? As soon as Bonoh received the paper, he let out a chuckle. In that brief time, Taeseong had been diligent enough to write neat handwriting densely packed. At the top of the paper was written largely ‘Room 309 Usage Rules,’ and below that, detailed items were written as neatly as if drawn with a ruler.
<Room 309 Usage Rules>
- Basic Rules
1) Respect common sense appropriate for communal living and be considerate of others.
2) Do not bring outsiders to the room. However, staff who come for dormitory inspections are exceptions.
- Morning Wake-up
1) Set alarms to ring at most twice only.
2) Do not let one alarm ring for more than 10 minutes. If it rings longer, the other person may turn it off arbitrarily.
3) No matter how urgent the morning is, do not cause commotion.
- Meals
1) Eating inside the dormitory building should only be done in the cafeteria or lounge in principle.
2) Non-smelling snacks (examples: chocolate, candies, crackers, etc.) can be eaten in the room with the other person’s permission.
â‘ After eating snacks, immediately clean up traces such as spilled crumbs and wrappers.
- Rest
1) Rest quietly with consideration for the other person.
â‘ Wearing earphones is mandatory when listening to music or watching videos.
â‘¡ Make phone calls outside.
2) Do not play music or sing when using the bathroom.
â‘ Do not clap in the bathroom! (Attention required)
- Cleaning
â‹®
â‹®
“…Lights out at 23:00?! No, wait, who arbitrarily decides that?”
The more Bonoh read the rules Taeseong had written, the more absurd it became. What is this? I definitely finished my military service. Is this the military or civilian life? This was all because of having Joo Taeseong as a roommate. What kind of thing is this? Is the Political Science and Diplomacy Department originally like this?
“That’s why I wrote it at the bottom there. The lights-out time can be changed after consultation.”
“No, this isn’t the military, who sets a lights-out time! Besides, I originally go to bed late…!”
“Fix your living habits this time. Since you sleep late, you can’t wake up every morning and rush out frantically.”
His anger was gradually rising. Bonoh could be certain. Just as Kim Bonoh of the Japanese Literature Department couldn’t speak Japanese, Joo Taeseong had absolutely no qualifications for the Political Science and Diplomacy Department. Joo Taeseong was close to being a dictator.
“If someone like that becomes a politician later, the country will be ruined…”
“Politician? Me?”
“If you graduate from Political Science and Diplomacy, what else would you become if not a politician?”
“Then if you graduate from Japanese Literature, do you become Japanese?”
“Argh…!”
Bonoh bit his lower lip in frustration and glared at Taeseong. For all that, Taeseong just snorted.
In the end, room 309’s lights-out time was set for 12:30 AM. It was exactly the middle between Taeseong’s proposed 11 PM and Bonoh’s proposed 2 AM. The other items in the ‘Room 309 Usage Rules’ were overshadowed by the presence of the lights-out time and didn’t even catch his eye.
Bonoh changed his mind about Taeseong lacking qualifications for Political Science and Diplomacy. Taeseong, who had maintained most of the rules with a slight concession, was a born negotiator.
That night, the two residents of room 309 each turned toward the wall in their respective beds, tossing and turning while thinking they had gotten stuck with the wrong person.
If you think of the youngest position, you’d expect them to grow up spoiled and loved, but Bonoh had developed his intuition early, being overwhelmed by his hot-tempered hyung and noona. Thanks to that, he was able to get through military life without major difficulties. It wasn’t that Bonoh lacked routine, but he was the type to do things without complaint when someone forcibly made him do them.
Bonoh kept the rules Taeseong had set in his own way. To do so, he had to stay away from alcohol. Since it was exam period, the frequency of calls to drink also decreased.
If someone asked Taeseong how he studied for the college entrance exam, he would definitely say, ‘I thoroughly did preview and review and studied mainly from textbooks.’ He still strictly kept the bedtime fixed at 12:30, and Bonoh, following suit and acting like Taeseong, realized he would end up making a mess of things at this rate. Letting Taeseong sleep soundly at that time, and with the curfew lifted during exam period, Bonoh began practically living in the library.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
