#6
Not knowing when Bonoh would return, the fact that Taeseong had to listen to that song alone for about an hour was also unexpected.
After enduring it like that, Bonoh finally returned to the room. Taeseong carefully observed Bonoh’s expression as he entered the room, being careful not to let it show. He hoped displeasure would frost over Bonoh’s face as he took off his shoes and entered. He was waiting for irritated words telling him to be quiet to burst out.
“Huh?”
Bonoh tilted his head as if recalling the sound of the music.
“……”
The corners of Taeseong’s mouth slowly rose. It was finally a sign that the effect was about to appear. But he waited patiently. He needed a bigger reaction.
“Carnival Corpse? It’s been a while.”
Fuck, what?
It was Taeseong whose face contorted. He hadn’t expected Bonoh’s reaction to be like this at all. Taeseong hesitated while trying to turn off the music. Bonoh had just entered the room and hadn’t even been exposed to the music for 10 minutes.
If he turned it off now, the hour of suffering would all be for nothing. Taeseong gritted his teeth and began to endure the noise. Bonoh also had to listen forcibly for at least an hour like himself. Or at least until Kim Bonoh got irritated and begged him to turn it off.
If he left it on for another hour, he himself would end up listening for 2 hours, but these points weren’t important issues for Taeseong at the moment.
But there was something he had overlooked. If someone could listen to music from a genre as unpopular as death metal and immediately guess whose music it was, it meant they were already familiar with that sound.
Bonoh’s older brother, Suoh, had severely suffered from eighth-grader syndrome. The fortunate thing was that the direction he went astray was music. When everything in the world felt absurd to Suoh, instead of smoking cigarettes or stealing money from passersby, he fell into hardcore punk and metal music.
The two genres of resisting authoritarianism and being absorbed in inner anguish were religion to Suoh at the time. When he came home, he would take off his school uniform and change into torn pants and a t-shirt with skulls drawn on it.
Suoh would play music loudly enough to shake the house until he fell asleep, but his parents didn’t stop him. It was better to endure the sound of songs for a few hours than to smell cigarettes on their eighth-grade son’s clothes. Thanks to that, young Bonoh at the time also heard metal sounds to the point where his ears felt stuffy.
Suoh even got a Bluetooth speaker to play songs. As if that wasn’t enough, he brought young Bonoh, who was still young and therefore the easiest target, to his room. Then he made him listen, saying he would teach him about the world in advance. Bonoh played on the bed with his hyung until the mattress springs broke, not even knowing what it was.
Suoh’s eighth-grader syndrome lasted exactly one year, but during that time Bonoh had absorbed even death metal by ear. At the time, Bonoh was just happy that his hyung was playing with him, and the music he heard then remained as fragments of good memories.
Compared to such a Suoh, Taeseong was very well-behaved. Moreover, hearing death metal after a long time, Bonoh even felt a kind of nostalgia. What Bonoh found hard to bear wasn’t the metal sound, but that he couldn’t jump around to it.
Bonoh lightly tapped his thigh with his fingertips. His toes swayed to the beat, and when the music reached its climax, he even lightly shrugged his shoulders. Getting even more excited, he slightly shook his head and eventually humming popped out.
“……”
Taeseong looked at Bonoh with an incredulous face. The music was still sharply grating on his nerves, but Kim Bonoh was actually enjoying it.
Finally, Taeseong quietly turned off the music. It was 1 hour and 47 minutes after Bonoh had entered the room. Including the time he had played it before, Taeseong had been exposed to metal sounds for a total of 2 hours and 47 minutes.
“Ah, don’t turn it off…”
Bonoh muttered regretfully. His expression still held the lingering effects of the music. At that moment, all the strength drained from Taeseong’s body.
What had he been doing until now? A sense of doubt washed over him about what he had endured that noise for.
Taeseong put down his phone and sighed deeply. The room became quiet when the music stopped, but a dull residual sound still remained in Taeseong’s ears. The tinnitus that remained stickily in his ears tormented Taeseong.
But more annoying than that residual sound was Kim Bonoh, who was casually fiddling with his phone again beside him. Seeing him tap the screen reminded him of how he had been keeping rhythm with his fingertips just moments before. Finally, Taeseong collapsed onto his bed and pulled the blanket up to the top of his head.
That night, Taeseong couldn’t fall asleep, consumed by anger toward Bonoh. Time passed and dawn broke, but Taeseong’s eyes still wouldn’t close.
On the other hand, Bonoh was sleeping so deeply that he wouldn’t notice minor noises. Taeseong had to listen to the sound of Bonoh occasionally tossing and turning while staring at the ceiling without being able to close his eyes.
At that moment, something suddenly came to mind. It was the content of Bonoh’s phone call with his friend before he fell asleep. Despite having a roommate, Kim Bonoh had chattered away without restraint. Thanks to that, Taeseong naturally learned that Bonoh had a first-period class today as well.
Taeseong’s eyes sank coldly.
He got up from his bed and approached Bonoh. The blanket that had been pulled up to his chest had fallen under the bed, probably kicked off while sleeping. Bonoh, who was breathing evenly with soft snoring sounds, looked very harmless and gentle, unlike when he was awake. Because of that, Taeseong hesitated but steeled his resolve.
Kim Bonoh, you brought this on yourself. Who told you to take phone calls in the room?
Taeseong and Bonoh were using mobile phones from the same company, though different models. One of the things that came to mind when thinking of that company’s mobile phones was the AI assistant Sherry. Sherry was capable. If you called “Sherry,” it would recognize your voice and fulfill your requests. For example.
“Sherry.”
-Yes.
“Turn off all alarms.”
-All alarms have been turned off.
…things like that. Bonoh’s Sherry excellently recognized Taeseong’s voice and answered that it would do so. A smile born from satisfaction appeared on Taeseong’s face as he looked down at Bonoh’s deeply sleeping face. Taeseong pretended to be kind-hearted and picked up the blanket that had fallen under the bed. Then he covered Bonoh’s face completely.
Bonoh wouldn’t be able to wake up without knowing morning had come. At the thought of not having to hear the alarm sounds that would ring endlessly at about 10-minute intervals, Taeseong felt euphoric. The tension in his body was released. He didn’t resist the sleep that came belatedly. It seemed like he would be able to sleep deeply for the first time in a while.
“Shit, that’s strange. I definitely set 10 alarms before sleeping.”
Bonoh tilted his head in puzzlement. He had definitely set alarms to go to his first-period class before sleeping, but he hadn’t heard them. Bonoh, who had woken up on his own, squinted at the sunlight coming through the window. His body was suspiciously light, as if he had slept for a long time. When his thoughts reached that point, Bonoh hurriedly checked the time. Lunch had long passed.
Taeseong had already left. Bonoh couldn’t blame Taeseong for not waking him up. Since Bonoh had never shared his schedule, he thought Taeseong didn’t know he had a first-period class.
“…Did I turn it off while half-asleep?”
Bonoh could only think that way. The class he had already missed couldn’t be helped. From the 4th absence onwards, it was an F grade, so he had 3 chances. He had used up one of them, but still had 2 left.
Bonoh grabbed his hungry stomach. As his sleepiness faded, he became hungry. Having missed lunch, it was natural for hunger to strike. Bonoh looked over his desk. Before going out, he planned to satisfy his hunger with potato chips. Fortunately, there were potato chips left over from the day before.
“Huh, where are they?”
However, the potato chips he had left on his desk had completely disappeared. They had a strong cheese flavor and were salty, which Bonoh enjoyed eating. However, he sometimes got tired of eating them and would leave them to eat later. Fortunately, Bonoh knew how to enjoy even soggy potato chips.
“I ate them yesterday and left them as they were.”
To be precise, it was two days ago, not yesterday. Bonoh had sucked on his fingers covered with cheese-flavored seasoning and left them on his desk to eat later. Since he didn’t mind them getting soggy, he had left the bag open. But the snacks had disappeared without legs to walk away.
Bonoh looked under his desk and suddenly thought of one possibility. Did Joo Taeseong throw them away? No, he definitely threw them away. Taeseong had warned him every time Bonoh noisily crunched potato chips that it was loud. Bonoh had no choice but to dissolve the potato chips in his mouth. However, even with earplugs on, he threw contemptuous glances every time Bonoh sucked on his seasoning-covered fingers.
Moreover, he had told him not to make food smells in the room, and before sleeping, he even glared at a corner of Bonoh’s desk. Now that he thought about it, that gaze seemed to have been directed at the potato chips. Seeing that Taeseong’s trash can was empty, he must have thrown them away along with the potato chips.
“Damn, there was still half left! What a waste to throw away food like that.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
