#49
Although Saheon hyung’s figure soon disappeared, I blankly chased after the afterimage while holding the steering wheel. As I absent-mindedly watched people in uniforms identical to hyung’s and flight attendants going in and out of the building, I remembered the no parking or stopping zone sign and slowly started to move.
The things Saheon hyung said sounded very abrupt. It seemed even more so because he interspersed kisses in between. I unconsciously rubbed around my mouth with my index finger. It felt like the warm sensation of contact still remained.
In my mind, as I replayed the recent situation, it was already being manipulated to my liking. Would I be crazy to think I sensed jealousy in hyung’s tone? I had to try not to get my hopes up, shaking my head.
However, my reverie didn’t last long. My phone in my pocket vibrated, alerting me to an incoming call. I pulled out my phone, shifting my waist slightly towards the window.
The white phone that came out in my hand was from the same manufacturer as my previous one, but a different model, so it felt a bit unfamiliar. I had activated it last weekend when I was confined to bed thanks to Saheon hyung biting and sucking until my skin felt red.
Since Saheon hyung had handled the contract in my place while I was drained, I couldn’t quite remember the details about the contract period or fees, but it was convenient to have a phone again.
I checked who was calling. It was Choi Hyun-oh. After pressing the green icon, I switched to speakerphone and placed the phone next to the holder.
“Hello?”
“Hello? Cheongmyeong, are you on the 3300 bus coming now?”
I checked the time. Since most of my classes overlapped with Hyun-oh’s, we usually commuted together at this time.
“No. I’m driving today.”
“Car? Ah, it’s fucking cold. What car? Did you have a license?”
The icy wind whistled by, creating noise on the speaker. As I was changing lanes for a U-turn, a thought flashed by and I quickly returned the steering wheel to its original position.
“Yeah, I have a license. Oh, should I come pick you up?”
“Oh my, darling…”
Hyun-oh mumbled in a coquettish voice. Despite sniffling from the cold, his playful response made me chuckle softly.
“Are you at the bus stop?”
“Yeah. Should I go to the crosswalk to make it easier for you?”
“Yeah. Thanks for that. Oh, right. I’m not coming from the Magok area, so you should come to Exit 3.”
“Got it. Come quickly.”
Hyun-oh, with his voice full of nasal sounds, hung up. Soon after, I saw the familiar neighborhood. Just as I was thinking how much faster and more convenient it was to move around with a car, I spotted Hyun-oh bouncing up and down in his long padded jacket.
I slowed down and approached Hyun-oh. Even through the heavily tinted windows, he seemed to recognize my face as he approached, squinting his eyes. I unlocked the doors. As the door opened, the cold winter wind rushed into the warm interior.
Hyun-oh, who greeted me with a light wave of his hand, exclaimed in admiration as soon as he got into the passenger seat.
“Wow, you can even drive. That’s so cool.”
Hyun-oh exclaimed in admiration as soon as he got into the passenger seat. Even as he naturally pulled and fastened the seatbelt, his “wow, wow” sounds didn’t stop.
“Is this your brother’s car? Ah, it seems so. I think he came in this before.”
Hyun-oh looked around the car interior, turning his head this way and that. Even though it wasn’t my car, I felt strangely nervous. As I made a U-turn, I glanced around the interior and saw that it was spotless. Hyun-oh pulled the seat forward that had been pushed back.
As I drove steadily gaining speed, I suddenly wondered if I needed a navigation system, but it seemed I had memorized the route from taking the bus. I felt more at ease with the map forming in my head. Hyun-oh, who kept sniffling due to the cold, asked:
“By the way, is there any tissue or something here? My nose keeps running.”
“Tissue?”
While keeping my left hand on the steering wheel, I fumbled around the gear area with my right hand, confirming that it was clean without any items. I wondered if Saheon hyung was the type not to keep tissues in the car. Hyun-oh, who had turned his head towards the back seat, said:
“It doesn’t seem to be there on the rear window either.”
I tried to recall. Since I hadn’t had the need to use tissues in the car, nothing remained in my memory. I unnecessarily opened the compartment that had candies in it, and then spoke up as the glove box caught my peripheral vision.
“Maybe it’s in there?”
“Can I open it?”
Although it wasn’t my car, I nodded for now. As I took my hand off the candy compartment that I had opened as if offering him some, Hyun-oh naturally picked up a grape-flavored candy. Unwrapping it in one go and popping it into his mouth, Hyun-oh opened the glove box while chewing.
As Hyun-oh’s hand gripped the handle, a memory suddenly flashed by. It was probably the first time I rode in hyung’s car. I remembered Saheon hyung urgently stopping me when I tried to open the glove box in the passenger seat.
“Wait…!”
But Hyun-oh had already opened the glove box.
“Ah, here it is. My allergies were about to suffocate me.”
What his hand pulled out from inside was a tissue pack like the ones they used to give out at gas stations when we were kids. Hyun-oh pulled out a few sheets, turned his head to the opposite side, and blew his nose loudly. He must have been holding it in for quite a while, as the sound of him blowing his nose echoed for a long time. Meanwhile, I quickly scanned the inside of the open glove box.
There was nothing inside. Just an empty black space. I quickly tried to recall my hazy memory. I thought I had heard something like a lotion bottle rolling around back then. With a confused expression, I peered a bit further inside, then suddenly realized I was about to run a yellow light and stopped abruptly.
Soon, the light turned red. Despite the not-so-smooth driving, Hyun-oh was still busy blowing his nose. After using about three tissues, Hyun-oh hid the crumpled, mucus-filled tissues in his fist. After putting the travel tissue pack back in its place, Hyun-oh unnecessarily wiped the tip of his nose with the crumpled tissue and then placed the used tissues in the cup holder.
“I’ll leave this here for a moment. I’ll throw it away when we get out.”
“Okay.”
By now, the intersection in front of the school was starting to come into view. The distance that didn’t take long even by bus was reached even faster by car. As I slowly drove towards the main gate, I asked:
“Where’s the parking lot?”
“If you go through the main gate and keep going that way, you’ll find it.”
I followed Hyun-oh’s directions towards the parking lot. The parking lot was relatively empty. It seemed that professors had more use for it than college students who drove. After perfectly executing a reverse park into an appropriate empty spot, I felt proud as Hyun-oh applauded.
“Our Cheongmyeong is a good driver. Best driver!”
With an embarrassed smile, I grabbed my bag from the back and got out of the car. Hyun-oh, with his hands thrust into his pockets, kept showering me with praise.
“Thanks to you, we arrived comfortably. What time is it now? Usually, we’d be climbing that hill by now.”
I agreed with that sentiment. Our steps towards the lecture hall were more leisurely than usual. Hyun-oh, with his shoulders hunched against the biting wind, said:
“I’m grateful, so hyung will buy you a meal. No, want to have a beer?”
“But I brought the car?”
“We can drink in front of your house.”
“Okay, sounds good.”
“Hello?”
Just then, a cheerful voice came from behind. We both turned around at the familiar voice. We saw Min Iseo, her cheeks flushed red from the cold. I reflexively checked Hyun-oh’s expression.
“Ah, hello.”
Hyun-oh’s Adam’s apple moved, perhaps out of surprise. He seemed a bit unnatural. Hearing me greet her, Hyun-oh belatedly opened his mouth.
“Hi, Iseo.”
His voice suddenly seemed to have become low and serious. I, who had been thinking I should help Hyun-oh and Min Iseo get together, quickly realized this was an opportunity.
“Me, me. I left something in the car. You guys go ahead! See you later!”
I quickly returned to the parking lot before the two could respond. Having become familiar with the campus geography, though not as much as Hyun-oh, I was exploring a route to the lecture building, even if it meant taking a bit of a detour.
I could see the gym building behind the alley near the parking lot, so I thought I could find my way if I just got out that way. I started climbing up towards the gym through the alley that was still frozen due to the shade.
However, I wasn’t alone in the alley towards the gym. A group smoking cigarettes, wearing long padded jackets with the school logo, was already there. As I was about to pass by, awkwardly asking for permission in the already narrow path, I spotted a familiar face.
“Oh, Cheongmyeong!”
“Hello… sir.”
Not recognizing him at first because he wasn’t wearing glasses, I soon realized that the person greeting me was Yoo Do-jin hyung. I had thought his eyes looked sharp even behind round glasses, but without the glasses that softened his impression, he gave off an aura that made it difficult to easily approach him. He seemed to be in a similar department as Hyun-oh, whom I had initially mistaken for a troublemaker based on first impressions.
“I told you to speak casually. What brings you here? Isn’t your building over there at the end?”
Yoo Do-jin hyung threw away his half-smoked cigarette and ground it out with the sole of his shoe. I suddenly wondered if it was okay for an athlete to smoke, but I answered honestly.
“Hyun-oh was with someone he has a crush on, so I left them alone and came this way… I mean, I came.”
“Is that so?”
Yoo Do-jin hyung’s eyes sparkled mischievously. After roughly shaking his hands as if to get rid of the cigarette smell, he put his arm around my shoulders.
“Let’s go tease them.”
“What?”
I left them alone so they could get closer…. Words like these rose to my throat, but they didn’t come out of my mouth. Someone who looked like his classmate shouted from behind.
“Where are you going!”
“To catch them!”
Yoo Do-jin hyung’s pace was quite fast. Even I, who thought I wouldn’t lose to anyone in terms of physical strength, was panting by the time we reached the building.
Just as hyung and I arrived in front of the Cheolmae Hall, Min Iseo and Hyun-oh were coming up the hill, laughing happily. We clearly took the long way around, yet somehow we arrived at about the same time.
“Hey!”
Yoo Do-jin hyung shouted loudly, pointing at Hyun-oh. His voice was so loud that my ears next to him felt deafened.
“Didn’t I tell you not to vouch for her!”
“What the hell is this crazy bastard saying…”
Hyun-oh cursed, seemingly truly bewildered, right next to the person he had a crush on. Min Iseo burst into clear laughter. Walking about three hand-spans apart from Hyun-oh, Min Iseo took another step away and said:
“I’ll go up first. You two talk. Oh, Cheongmyeong, want to come up with me?”
I was about to agree without much thought, but quickly changed my mind due to Yoo Do-jin hyung firmly gripping my shoulder. No matter how close we were as classmates, it didn’t seem right to disappear alone with the person Hyun-oh liked.
“Uh, that… Ah, no. I’ll come up with Hyun-oh. You go ahead.”
“Alright. Come quickly.”
Min Iseo responded lightly and went into the building first. Contrary to my expectation that Hyun-oh would immediately lunge at Yoo Do-jin hyung once the three of us were left alone, Hyun-oh only took out a cigarette pack from his pocket.
“What did you talk about?”
“Why do you need to know?”
Hyun-oh retorted quite cynically as he shielded the end of the cigarette with his hand and lit it. Yoo Do-jin hyung exaggeratedly tilted his head towards me and met my eyes. Just as I was wondering why he was doing that, Yoo Do-jin hyung, with his sharp eyes half-closed in a smile, grinned mischievously and spoke in an affected manner:
“Looks like it didn’t go well, huh?”
“That’s disgustingly nasal. Fucking bastard.”
Hyun-oh muttered, blowing out a puff of grayish smoke. The pronunciation closer to “yeong” than “yong” definitely gave the impression of deliberately acting cute. Yoo Do-jin hyung continued to speak playfully while patting my shoulder that he was holding onto.
“It’s because hyung’s heart hurts so much. When you get rejected, hyung’s heart hurts. Right, Cheongmyeong?”
As hyung was still speaking with his head tilted sharply towards me, even his breath touched my skin. Hyun-oh raised his hand threateningly, as if he wanted to burn him with his cigarette.
“Whether she doesn’t notice when I’m showing signs, or pretends not to notice. That makes my heart hurt so, so much, right?”
“Huh? Oh, right…”
I vaguely agreed, then trailed off as a face suddenly came to mind.
Kwon Saheon.
But Yoo Do-jin hyung, who couldn’t know my inner thoughts, still spoke to Hyun-oh in a teasing tone:
“Did you hear that, Choi Hyun-oh?”
Hyun-oh was looking at Yoo Do-jin hyung with an exaggeratedly contemptuous expression. Hyung, who had removed his arm from around my shoulders without hesitation, said:
“Don’t give your all and end up being used and thrown away.”
“…Iseo’s not that kind of person.”
“Oh, were we talking about our Min Iseo?”
Yoo Do-jin hyung responded sarcastically, but I, who had been thinking of ‘someone’ in my mind, muttered absentmindedly without even being aware of what I was saying:
“Use and throw away…?”
