#42
Yoo Do-jin burst into laughter at Choi Hyun-oh’s choice of words. He laughed so hard that he nearly rolled on the floor, causing several classmates sitting in the lecture hall to turn around. I covered my gaping mouth with my hand and looked at Choi Hyun-oh.
I was surprised to find out that what I thought would be moral education based on the course name was actually sex education, and on top of that, they were talking about practical exercises. My head was spinning.
“We’ll be late. Let’s go in for now.”
Yoo Do-jin led us with a face still full of laughter. Choi Hyun-oh was grumbling with a grim expression. I followed behind, feeling dazed.
As we entered the lecture hall, I could see the interior more clearly. As I had guessed from the backs of the students, the ratio of men was overwhelming. If men were 7, women would be 3. I settled in a spot near the back and looked around the lecture hall once more, changing my mind.
It seemed more like an 8 to 2 ratio, or even 9 to 1. Yoo Do-jin sat me in the middle, perhaps to avoid Choi Hyun-oh’s fist, who was clearly upset. He chuckled softly at the sulking Choi Hyun-oh.
“You’re enjoying it, but acting upset.”
“Do you want to die?”
Choi Hyun-oh mumbled in a weak voice, as if he had no energy left to speak. I hunched my shoulders stiffly, feeling like someone stuck in an uncomfortable middle seat. Yoo Do-jin pushed his round, innocent-looking glasses up his nose and whispered softly.
“Choi is sulking.”
“I am not.”
Somehow hearing that quiet voice, Choi Hyun-oh responded sharply. I felt like breaking into a cold sweat, caught in the crossfire of their tension with me as a shield. Yoo Do-jin leaned towards me, resting his chin on his hand, and continued speaking softly with a grin.
“Can’t you see your friend is flustered?”
Choi Hyun-oh glanced at me from the corner of his eye, then folded his arms and turned his head completely in the opposite direction. Whether it was because he was in front of a close friend or because of the reason he called me “altang,” his reaction was more aggressive than usual.
The silent quarrel between the two ended when the professor entered to start the lecture. I, stuck in the middle, inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Looks like we’ve got a bunch of lonely people here?”
As the professor threw out a frivolous joke, awkward laughter filled the lecture hall. I laughed clumsily along with the others, then pressed my lips shut, wondering what this was all about.
Free from the embarrassment and nerve-wracking tension, I was able to think about other things. Of course, my first thought was why Choi Hyun-oh had reacted so heatedly.
Friends I had known since school days used to listen attentively with lecherous smiles, perhaps due to the connotation of “sex education.” Even I, as my shock subsided, found myself thinking that sex education might be better than a moral education class. But Choi Hyun-oh’s reaction seemed somehow intense.
My confusion grew as I listened to the course overview. Throughout the explanation that there would be no attendance checks, no midterm or final exams, and that reports would suffice, I couldn’t shake the thought that this was truly an “easy A” class.
It was clear that Choi Hyun-oh, who had first suggested taking this class, must have known about these details. I glanced at Choi Hyun-oh, who was sitting with his lips tightly pressed together.
“Oh, and…”
The professor, who had been cheerfully explaining the overview, grinned. Laughter erupted from the students sitting in the front rows. I became even more bewildered by their laughter in a situation that didn’t seem funny at all.
“There might be some students who’ve just joined through course adjustment, but we already paired up last week. I usually don’t take attendance in electives, but we should know who’s paired with whom.”
I naturally looked at Choi Hyun-oh at the mention of pairing up. Choi Hyun-oh was still staring straight ahead with a stiff expression.
Soon after, the professor started calling out the names of newly added students. It was a small number, not even six, including me and Choi Hyun-oh.
“When you leave after the lecture, please submit who you’ve paired up with at the front.”
I looked at Choi Hyun-oh and nudged his arm lightly. Although I hadn’t hit him hard, Choi Hyun-oh flinched as if he’d been struck with a stick. He opened his eyes wide like a rabbit for a moment before returning to his usual demeanor.
“What?”
“That pairing thing. Want to do it together?”
I proposed first. Choi Hyun-oh nodded with a grimace. From behind, Yoo Do-jin muttered teasingly with a grin.
“Looks good, doesn’t it? I’m so jealous it hurts.”
“Please choose your partner carefully. You’ll be dating them for the entire semester.”
Before I could ask what Yoo Do-jin meant, the professor provided the answer. For a few seconds, I heard it with my ears but couldn’t comprehend it in my mind. I raised my eyebrows and looked towards Choi Hyun-oh. However he interpreted my gaze, he continued staring at the platform.
“I mentioned that midterm and final would be replaced with reports, right? The report should be 4 pages including photos and title, detailing how you followed a planned date course. For midterm, do it with your partner, and for the final, you can do it with someone else. Since I’m not taking attendance, I’ll grade the reports strictly.”
Without realizing it, my mouth had gradually opened. Date, planning a course, whole semester, partner, Saheon hyung, A+, what to do. Strange words spun dizzily in my head.
For me, who considered dating as something done with a potential marriage partner in mind, dating was a step taken before marriage. My mind went blank, overloaded with the realization that what I thought was gender education turned out to be sex education, and the essential content of sex education was actually a dating class.
With my head spinning from these unexpected revelations, I submitted that I had paired up with Choi Hyun-oh and trudged down, clutching my bag strap tightly. The thought occupying the largest part of my mind was Saheon hyung.
Throughout the journey back, Choi Hyun-oh remained silent with a stiff face. It seemed both of us were shocked. Only Yoo Do-jin, sandwiched between us, kept making frivolous jokes, chuckling.
As I continued to worry whether it was okay to date so casually even for a school assignment, I suddenly noticed that my stomach was starting to hurt a little.
Once I noticed the sensation, it intensified quickly. It didn’t feel like indigestion or food poisoning. Feeling like I had been in the cold for too long, I rubbed my hands over my padded jacket.
“Ah, I need to get some cigarettes.”
Choi Hyun-oh, who had been silently walking down the slope, spoke for the first time upon spotting a convenience store. His eyes met mine briefly before he awkwardly averted his gaze and quickly entered the store.
With all my attention focused on the new assignment and the strange stomach pain, another thought wedged its way into my mind. Of course, it was about how Choi Hyun-oh must have known the course content, yet he seemed displeased about being paired with me despite being the one who first suggested we take the class together.
I felt a little hurt. Choi Hyun-oh might have a serious attitude towards dating like me, but I wished he wouldn’t show his displeasure so openly. As I stared at the convenience store door with a face somewhere between sullen and peculiar, Yoo Do-jin spoke to me.
“Cheongmyeong, you didn’t know what this class was about when you came, right?”
“…Ah, yes. I mean, yeah.”
Belatedly remembering that he had told me to speak casually, I quickly corrected myself. We naturally followed Choi Hyun-oh into the convenience store. Perhaps due to the warm air inside, Yoo Do-jin’s glasses fogged up. He took them off and blew on them to clear the mist.
When he had his glasses on, I thought he had a rather gentle and neat impression, but without them, his exposed eyes were quite sharp. After the mist cleared from his round glasses, he put them back on and whispered, almost into my ear.
“He came for that, you know. The dating.”
Hearing Yoo Do-jin’s words, my hypothesis became even clearer. Yoo Do-jin continued speaking, barely moving his lips.
“There’s no attendance check, and you only need to submit reports, right? And for the final report, you can do it with someone else. Many people who take this class have partners and sign up to enjoy dates while taking the class.”
“Ah…”
Not knowing how to react, I made an ambiguous sound and glanced at Choi Hyun-oh. He was waiting in line to buy cigarettes.
“Some people also take it hoping they might find someone while doing the assignments. And you know, they said you can do the final with someone else. That’s an excuse to go on a date, you see.”
The more I listened to Yoo Do-jin, the more I realized that the essence of this elective was indeed a dating class. My internal moral compass painfully clashed with this realization.
“I bet he came because of that girl in your department. You know, the pretty one.”
The playful words continued. I took my eyes off Choi Hyun-oh’s back and looked at Yoo Do-jin. Up close, his athletic build and tall stature were quite intimidating.
When thinking of the pretty girl in our department, only one person came to mind. Min Iseo. My face showed a bit of surprise. I thought I had noticed it first, being quick-witted, but it seemed even Yoo Do-jin, whom I had just met today, knew that Choi Hyun-oh liked Min Iseo.
“I told him she had signed up for the class too. I didn’t think he’d actually believe me. He always falls for it.”
“…Ah, I see…”
“He’s a bit of an idiot… I always have to help him out.”
Something about this didn’t quite add up, but I vaguely agreed. This wasn’t just teasing; it was more like childish bickering. Yoo Do-jin, who had added quietly, “That dummy…,” got an earful from Choi Hyun-oh when he returned after buying cigarettes.
“What did you just say?”
“I said you’re slow-witted.”
Choi Hyun-oh and Yoo Do-jin bickered all the way to the bus stop. Half of their words were mixed with curses, like high school classmates, but after Yoo Do-jin nearly got hit by a car that suddenly cut in while he was walking on the road side, he yelled, “That bastard trying to get himself killed! You walk on the inside!” which showed that their relationship wasn’t entirely bad.
The pointless squabble between the two would flare up and then die down instantly. Just moments ago they were bickering, but after about 3 seconds of silence, the topic had changed to going out for drinks. It was an impressive speed.
However, I wasn’t in the condition to go drinking due to the stomachache I had noticed earlier. In the end, the conversation fizzled out with promises to drink next time, and Yoo Do-jin returned to his one-room apartment near the school where he was living alone.
Only Choi Hyun-oh and I were left. Just as an awkward silence seemed to settle in, Choi Hyun-oh spoke first.
“I’m sorry.”
“…For what?”
“I didn’t know it would be like this either… I asked you to do it together without knowing properly.”
Having just heard from Yoo Do-jin about how Choi Hyun-oh was disappointed that Min Iseo wasn’t there, I naturally missed the timing to respond. In the meantime, Choi Hyun-oh finished his apology-like statement.
“Instead, I’ll carry you through the assignments. Just trust me and follow along.”
Choi Hyun-oh had returned to his usual playful self. Seeing him grin, showing his snow-white teeth, I was inclined to think that maybe Yoo Do-jin had been mistaken.
Once back to normal, Choi Hyun-oh started grumbling about Yoo Do-jin as usual. It was a relief that the atmosphere had returned to its original state.
Since it only took 20 minutes to get home from the bus stop in front of the school, I quickly walked up the hill as soon as I got off the bus, writhing with the abdominal pain that had been building up since Choi Hyun-oh got off.
It felt like my intestines were twisting, but strangely, I didn’t feel the need to use the bathroom. It seemed like I should take some medicine as soon as I got home.
Quickly walking along the sidewalk and almost running at the end, I reached home, swiftly entered the door lock password, and went inside. I could hear the humming noise of a vacuum cleaner from inside the house, probably Saheon hyung cleaning.
As I entered the living room, I saw hyung vacuuming under the sofa. Saheon hyung, who spotted me, turned off the vacuum cleaner. Even in comfortable workout clothes, vacuuming at home, he looked handsome.
“You’re back? But why do you look so dazed?”
“Ah, my stomach is a bit… Do we have any medicine?”
“Medicine? What kind of medicine? Birth control pills?”
