Min-ho, as if he’d been waiting for the chance, grumbled with a sheepish smile under the group’s scolding.
“Seriously, why not just say that in the group chat? What’s with the private talk?”
“Seo Jae-ha actually listens really well. You should try it sometime.”
“That sounds like a customer review. ‘The owner is so kind—five stars~.’”
Playful and sly as always, Min-ho had a way of steering the conversation, and laughter burst out again.
What’s so surprising about that?
“Go ahead then.”
“Wow, this is seriously irritating—but why do I feel weirdly happy about it?”
“Oppa, you honestly like Jae-ha oppa more than anyone else.”
“For real.”
Soon enough, the target of teasing shifted. Free from the spotlight, Jae-ha leaned back in his chair, fingers brushing his phone in his pocket. Normally, he would’ve pulled it out to check, but this time he hesitated. If there was a reason behind this unplanned digital detox, it was definitely…
“Sunbae, are you, by any chance, stringing people along?”
Even Jae-ha, who usually let things roll off him, had been rattled by that one. What stung more was that Hae-hyun hadn’t said it as a joke—he’d genuinely asked.
Stringing people along? If you want to date, you date. Why the hell would I do that?
That was what Jae-ha thought, but every time he opened his unread messages, he could almost hear Hae-hyun’s voice in his head. Even sending a meaningless reply made him second-guess himself. Before long, the whole process grew so tedious that he just stopped checking messages altogether.
“So, what’ve you been up to lately? Been busy?”
Once the table settled down from another round of teasing, Cheong-hee asked again. Since Jae-ha had been answering drinking invites the day after the invite was sent, there was clearly some leftover resentment. Jae-ha just shrugged lightly.
“No, not really… My dog keeps getting in the way whenever I try to use my phone.”
That wasn’t a lie. The oversized mutt that loved sprawling across his bed had recently taken to sneaking up behind him whenever he opened his phone—especially the messaging app—and glaring at the screen. He kept insisting Jae-ha “be careful,” though with what, he had no idea. Thanks to that, aside from those so-called ethical concerns about “stringing people along,” Jae-ha had hardly touched his phone at home.
“Dog? You’ve always had one?”
“No, I just… sort of picked one up a few days ago.”
“What, you found a stray? Hyung, you do that kind of thing?”
“What do you take me for?”
Annoyed at his junior’s genuinely surprised tone, Jae-ha jabbed him in the ribs until the kid laughed it off as a joke. In the meantime, another junior leaned forward, eyes shining.
“That must be adorable. Can you show us a picture?”
That set everyone off—now they were all clamoring to see. Unfortunately, there weren’t any photos, and there was no way to take one. Hae-hyun hadn’t once turned into a dog since the day he’d first followed Jae-ha.
When he admitted he didn’t have any, the disappointment around the table was obvious. One girl who’d asked about the breed quickly realized Jae-ha knew nothing about dogs and launched into stories about her own. She shoved her phone at him, showing album after album of a fluffy white Maltese.
“Cute.”
“Right? And she’s super affectionate.”
“What? Let me see too!”
“That reminds me of Bada—my family’s dog back home. Cutest thing ever. Wanna see?”
Before long, even more people jumped in, and the room turned into an impromptu pet show-and-tell. Since Jae-ha wasn’t much of an animal person, he just nodded along politely—until a knock at the door caught his attention. The delivery had arrived.
The man carrying the food carrier had a knack for drawing every eye the moment he entered. Soon, the lounge was filled with the smell of Chinese food.
“By the way, I heard there’s a new bar near the station.”
“Really? Where?”
“You know the alley next to Exit 3? There’s—”
For a moment, the arrival of food brought quiet, but soon the chatter returned. While everyone dug in, Jae-ha quickly polished off his black bean noodles and stood.
“Hyung, where you going?”
“Bathroom.”
No matter how rowdy things were, someone always noticed when Jae-ha moved. This time was no exception. At his answer, the junior who’d asked jumped up as well.
“Oh, me too.”
They left together, heading down the hallway now crowded with students fresh from class.
“Hyung, you ordered jjajangmyeon?”
“Yeah.”
“You must really like it. I got the fried rice—it’s actually really good here.”
“Yeah? I’ll try it next time.”
“Want a bite when we get back? You should taste it.”
Jae-ha hadn’t realized before, since they’d only seen each other in passing, but this junior was quite the talker. He answered absently, just about to step into the restroom, when a familiar voice called out.
“Oh, sunbae?”
Jae-ha turned, spotting a tall, broad-shouldered figure. His face showed faint surprise.
“What are you doing here?”
This was the business building—no reason for Sports Science major Hae-hyun to be around. Hae-hyun just shrugged.
“Came for a liberal arts class. What about you?”
“Having lunch in the lounge.”
“What’d you eat?”
“Jjajangmyeon.”
“You had that yesterday too.”
Right—last night, at Hae-hyun’s suggestion, they’d ordered Chinese. He’d devoured a large bowl with extra noodles by himself, so most of the sweet-and-sour pork had ended up in his stomach too.
“Jjajangmyeon’s good.”
Though Jae-ha’s tastes could be fickle, when something caught his fancy, he clung to it hard. Right now, he could’ve eaten it for several meals straight.
“Then should we have jjajangmyeon again for dinner?”
The dead-serious tone made Jae-ha chuckle. For all his massive build, his temporary roommate often came out with things that were unexpectedly cute.
“You just made a weird face. What was that?”
“What?”
“Why do you look so smugly annoying?”
“Did you just call me annoying, to my face?”
Grinning, Jae-ha waved him off, telling him to get to class already. The junior beside him, awkwardly forced to eavesdrop on this private exchange, was starting to get on his nerves anyway. But instead of leaving, Hae-hyun stepped closer.
Without warning, his hand shot up, brushing against the corner of Jae-ha’s mouth.
“…What the—?”
Even Jae-ha, usually oblivious to touch, flinched in surprise. At his puzzled voice, Hae-hyun flipped his thumb to show him.
“No matter how good it is, you can’t walk around with sauce on your face.”
It was jjajang sauce. When had that gotten there? Wiping it off as if that were his only business, Hae-hyun waved and finally left.
“……”
His mouth was clean now, but Jae-ha couldn’t shake the unsettled feeling. This weirdly familiar yet unfamiliar sensation… what the hell was it? He thought briefly but found no answer.
“Hyung, you know that guy? He’s not in our department, right?”
“Uh… yeah, just someone I happened to meet.”
“Knew it. You’re such a social butterfly. You guys seemed really close.”
The junior kept sneaking glances down the hall, fascinated by the mysterious man who’d appeared out of nowhere just to tidy up his senior. Jae-ha, too, found himself staring at the retreating figure before shaking it off and moving on.
“Not really. Just a junior I know.”
Whatever. Nothing to dwell on.
“Seo Jae-ha, let’s go drink!”
Back from the restroom, Jae-ha shook the water from his hands and opened the lounge door—only to be greeted by a chorus of voices. The junior behind him peeked in curiously.
“Out of nowhere?”
“No, oppa, there’s this new place someone found. We gotta check it out.”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s been a while since we drank together, hasn’t it?”
“No, unni, that’s not true—we literally drank the other day.”
“Jae-ha wasn’t there!”
“Fair point. Seo Jae-ha, your attendance rate’s been slipping.”
After tossing a jab at Jae-ha, they went back to gossiping among themselves, then turned their attention to him again. The debate continued even as Jae-ha and his junior sat down.
“Alright, let’s keep it simple—just three rounds.”
“Hyung, since when is three rounds ‘simple’?”
“If we leave now, we’ll be done before ten, even with three.”
It was only one in the afternoon.
“What, right now? I just texted Ji-woo—she wants to come too.”
“Can’t we wait until around five?”
“Yeah, let’s hold off. Shin Hyung-jun said he’s coming too.”
Clearly, someone had already spread the word. Fast as always.
The business department was unusually close-knit, and with so many party-loving personalities, drinking sessions were frequent. But surprisingly, Jae-ha didn’t attend many. He was invited constantly, but he rarely gave a definite answer, preferring to decide on the spot. That made his presence now feel like a rare chance people didn’t want to miss.
“Come on, Jae-ha, join us.”
“It’s been ages since you drank with us!”
“Yeah, oppa, don’t be mean~.”
“I’ve got class until six today.”
Even that vague deflection didn’t deter the persuasion.
“Eh, just come after.”
“Exactly, we’ll go ahead first.”
Now that he thought about it, it had been nearly two weeks since he’d last joined them. Considering he got invitations almost twice a day, that was impressive.
And of course, the reason was the “dog” occupying his apartment. At first, it had felt like having a guest, so he’d avoided coming home tipsy. But lately… it was all thanks to that damned “stringing people along” comment.
If he came home late, he could already picture the sulky guy whining—asking if he’d been out leading people on, or accusing him of spending the night somewhere else. Just imagining it killed any mood to go out.
“……”
Actually, when Jae-ha thought about it… wasn’t this ridiculous? Stringing people along was one thing, but why the hell should it matter to him if Jae-ha stayed out overnight? He just comes and goes whenever he wants.
