#7
In the end, Bonoh gave up and headed to the bathroom to wash up. In his current mood, Bonoh felt like he might commit another one of the top 3 worst acts he’d ever done in his life. That would be dipping his hyung’s toothbrush in toilet water. Though his conscience had pricked him and he’d secretly thrown away that toothbrush shortly after, seeing his hyung rage about someone throwing away his stuff without permission made him regret not just leaving it alone.
Bonoh looked over the sink area. There was only one toothbrush there—his own. Taeseong didn’t keep his toothbrush in the bathroom, which was crawling with germs and humid. He could probably find Taeseong’s toothbrush if he searched through his desk or belongings, but he didn’t want to go that far. Moreover, the sensitive Taeseong would definitely notice if Bonoh had touched his things.
Bonoh gave up and squeezed a long line of toothpaste onto his toothbrush. He decided to keep his toothbrush on his desk after brushing and started brushing his teeth. He was worried that just as he had such thoughts, Taeseong might have similar ideas.
***
Bonoh trudged wearily toward the dormitory. His plan was to stay in the dormitory after afternoon classes and then go out drinking at night. The professor for his afternoon class had so much to say that he talked for 3 hours straight without even giving a break. If he’d cut out the personal stories that no one found interesting, class would have ended much earlier.
Despite oversleeping, he felt unusually tired. Bonoh wanted to quickly get up to his dormitory room and rest. He prayed the elevator would be on the first floor. The dormitory elevator was excessively slow, and with so many people using it, if you missed it once, you often had to wait a long time for the next one. As he turned the corner, he could see the elevator.
“Wait, hold on!”
As Bonoh had hoped, the elevator was on the first floor, but it was just about to close. Bonoh desperately reached out his hand and shouted, putting all his hopes into “Please stop.”
-The doors are closing.
However, the situation flowed opposite to Bonoh’s wishes. The person in the elevator was Taeseong, and Bonoh could see him repeatedly pressing a button. Was it the open button? But seeing that the door didn’t open, he realized it was the close button.
Hey, you crazy bastard!
Bonoh roared internally. Through the narrowing gap between the doors, he could see Taeseong’s face. The sight of him smiling with one corner of his mouth twisted up was so handsome it made him even more furious.
Having missed the elevator, Bonoh opened the emergency exit and ran up the stairs. Anger blazed fiercely, suddenly energizing his body that had been drooping with fatigue. That bastard really pushed it too far. He felt like he had to grab Taeseong right now and pour out all this anger.
Running up two steps at a time, he reached the third floor quickly. It was fortunate that it was only the third floor, accessible by stairs when in a hurry. As he opened the emergency exit door on the third floor, the elevator doors opened at just the right moment. To arrive at the same time as the elevator! Bonoh couldn’t tell if he’d demonstrated superhuman strength or if the elevator was just too slow.
“Huff, hah, haah…”
Bonoh was panting heavily. His sweat-soaked shirt stuck to his back. He was so exhausted he felt like drool might flow. Though Taeseong spotted such a Bonoh, he didn’t even glance at him and headed toward their room. Bonoh followed behind him. Already tired, his legs felt heavy from running up the stairs.
“Stop right there. You son of a, huff, huck… bitch.”
Taeseong didn’t care. He neither hurried nor slowed his pace, acting as if Bonoh didn’t exist. Then he opened the door and went in. Just as Bonoh was about to follow him in, the door closed right in front of his nose. He almost crashed into it.
“Wow… Has he completely lost it?”
Bonoh rummaged through his pockets, quickly pulled out his card key, and immediately opened the door.
The casual loafers Taeseong wore were large but sleek, wrapping well around feet that didn’t look clumsy. Seeing how perfectly they fit, they seemed to be custom-made shoes. Beneath their soles, Bonoh’s sneakers, slippers, and other shoes left carelessly in the entryway were crushed. Taeseong calmly and smoothly took off his loafers and opened the shoe cabinet with its mirror, placing them inside.
As the shoe cabinet opened, Bonoh’s reflection appeared in the attached mirror. Bonoh came face to face with his own expression colored by shock. When the shoe cabinet closed, Taeseong’s back view was visible.
…What is this? Is he possessed by an evil spirit?
Bonoh, who had intended to grab Taeseong and confront him, lost his fighting spirit. He was so shocked that he was struck speechless and all strength drained from his body. Bonoh squeezed out his remaining energy to take off his shoes and enter the room. He could see Taeseong going into the bathroom to wash his hands.
Bonoh just collapsed face-down on his bed. Taeseong was definitely not someone he could win against in a fight. Now Bonoh wanted to go not just to his own place but even to his home in Jeju Island. Rather than being with that handsome devil, it would be much better to be with his hyung who told him to bring water and his noona who told him to make ramen.
Filled with indignation, instead of waving a white flag, Bonoh took paper and a pen from his bag. Since he hadn’t organized his bag, the syllabus handouts he’d received during orientation were rolling around on the floor, crumpled. The pen was also thrown in haphazardly without a pencil case, so Bonoh had to rummage through his bag for a while to find a red pen instead of a black one.
Placing the back of the syllabus on his bed, Bonoh pressed the back of the knock-type red pen to extend the tip. Then he wrote roughly without hesitation.
Joo Taeseong Joo Taeseong Joo Taeseong Joo Taeseong
After writing Taeseong’s name four times in red, some life finally returned to Bonoh’s face.
***
Taeseong sniffled his dry nose. His eyes stung and itched, making him blink constantly. His bloodshot eyes clearly showed he was suffering from an allergic reaction. Every time he breathed in, his throat felt scratchy, and light sneezes kept bursting out.
It was because of dust. Taeseong had a dust allergy. The reason he cleaned diligently wasn’t only due to an obsession with not being able to stand dirty things. Since he got this kind of reaction after just a few hours in dust, it was best to clean before it could accumulate in the first place. Perhaps his lifelong aversion to and avoidance of dirty things had caused the allergy.
It had already been a week since such a Taeseong had deliberately not cleaned. Bonoh hadn’t noticed, but in fact, Taeseong had executed 27 of the 38 plans he’d devised to torment Bonoh.
One of them was not cleaning. When Bonoh neglected cleaning, Taeseong had also given up. Go ahead and wallow in a dust den. He believed that Bonoh, who hadn’t known because someone had been cleaning, would also realize how terrible it was if left alone.
But once again, it was Taeseong who was suffering. The dormitory room became dirty after just two days without cleaning. Dust settling on the mini-fridge, unidentifiable crumbs rolling around on the floor, dust clumps stuck to the window frame. Taeseong was on the verge of going crazy.
Everywhere his eyes went, he could clearly see things becoming filthy. The dirty things were so visible that he wanted to close his eyes instead. The fact that those dust particles were currently attacking him was especially horrifying. His eyes became bloodshot and his throat grew scratchy.
“Haah, fuck…”
He wondered if he had to go this far, but that made him even more unable to give up. If he gave up here, not only would he lose, but all his suffering up to this point would be for nothing.
That’s when it happened. Taeseong sensed Bonoh moving and held his breath. Bonoh, who slowly got up from his bed, hesitated as soon as his feet touched the floor. Then he slowly lifted one foot to examine the sole.
Bonoh put his foot back on the floor and slowly began looking around. Watching such a Bonoh, Taeseong quietly raised the corner of his mouth. Finally, Bonoh opened his mouth.
“…You didn’t clean?”
“Since you weren’t doing it, I didn’t either.”
Taeseong shot back sharply as if he’d been waiting for this. Bonoh’s expression changed subtly. Taeseong didn’t miss that change. He’ll surely tremble, right? Or he might laugh hollowly while frowning. Either way was fine. Kim Bonoh would soon realize that this room was in an unbearable state anyway.
“Finally we’re on the same page.”
“…What?”
Taeseong frowned. Regardless of what expression Taeseong made, Bonoh didn’t care at all and shrugged his shoulders as he continued speaking.
“Ah, I was being considerate all this time, but this is great! You didn’t seem like the type, but Joo Taeseong, you also worked hard at first but eventually gave up. This is more comfortable, right?”
“……”
At that moment, Taeseong’s mind went blank. For the past week, he’d endured dust while fighting allergies. It was all because of his single-minded determination to make Kim Bonoh surrender amid unbearable filth. But all that time had been wasted.
What was even more unbearable was being treated as the same type as Kim Bonoh. Taeseong felt like his blood was flowing backward. He gritted his teeth, suppressing the anger rising to the top of his head.
It was Taeseong’s complete defeat. Most of the 27 plans had gone this way. Kim Bonoh was a stronger opponent than expected. Is this why they say to live virtuously? While trying to torment Kim Bonoh, Taeseong himself was on the verge of dying first.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
