His usually neat appearance was disheveled, and his hair, which he must have continuously swept back to suppress his anger, was untidily messed up.
“You came?”
Jae-young stood up from his seat with a bright smile. As soon as he stood up, Sa Gong-hyun, who had approached within arm’s reach, suddenly grabbed him by the collar.
“…Ugh!”
A groan escaped uncontrollably because his grip was quite rough. He barely straightened his crumpled expression and struggled to look up at Sa Gong-hyun. When their eyes met, he heard a voice without inflection.
“What are you trying to do with me?”
Sa Gong-hyun’s eyes, thoroughly filled with anger, were fierce as if they would pierce through his face.
Jae-young swallowed heavily and raised his hands to button Sa Gong-hyun’s top buttons one by one. The fiery gaze followed Jae-young’s hands down and quickly came back up.
“You seem really angry.”
Unable to contain his saturated anger, he gripped Jae-young’s collar even tighter. But it wasn’t enough to cut off his voice, so this much was something he could laugh off.
“When dawn breaks… shall we go car racing? The loser grants a wish.”
“After making me rush all the way here, that’s all you have to say?”
Since Sa Gong-hyun would overlook things that were more intense than this, Jae-young didn’t mind and continued to straighten his collar.
“By the way, my wish is for Hyun-ssi to overlook this incident. Don’t touch the guys who were watching me today either, and as for Cha Seung-kwon… stop looking for him now.”
“…”
From his face, which seemed completely at a loss for words, it was clearly visible how baffling he found this situation. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand. After all, he himself thought the same way about himself.
“I met Seung-kwon hyung today.”
“…”
“I’m on my way back after refusing to board a ship with him. After all that trouble of refusing and coming here, you’re not going to kill me, are you?”
He smiled broadly while slipping in a joke. When his dry laugh dropped from the top of his head, Jae-young gently lowered his eyelids.
“Why did you lie?”
“…”
“Were you afraid I might run away with Cha Seung-kwon?”
Jae-young raised his eyes a little higher. There was no hint of a smile, and it felt somewhat heavily weighted.
“Honestly, I’m still not sure. Whether what I’m doing now is right.”
His lips moved continuously.
“That’s why I need certainty. Not that damn reasonable doubt I always had to keep in mind… but certainty.”
“…Do Jae-young.”
“I came back because I thought I might figure it out if I stayed with Hyun-ssi a little longer.”
Why was someone who never showed a drop of mercy so generous to him? Why did he want to wait and see a bit more, tied down by emotions he couldn’t even be certain of?
It was a story with an obvious ending. Neither Sa Gong-hyun nor himself were particularly mature people, and they would have to rack their brains over unfamiliar emotions.
Nevertheless, he turned back. Jae-young wasn’t the type to get scared and run away from emotions he couldn’t foresee. He just decided to give it a try.
The hand gripping his collar gradually loosened.
“I hate complications, so I’m just trying to follow my heart.”
“…”
“You said it yourself, Hyun-ssi. That I’m your comfort and peace. Why you thought that way, why you still think that way, why I kept… wanting to return to Hyun-ssi. I want to know.”
“…”
“I want to start anew. If that’s okay with Hyun-ssi.”
He could feel a dull throbbing in his chest area. It was faster than usual, but without the uneasy feeling he had experienced before.
“You can’t trust me, right?”
“…”
“I understand. If you really can’t trust me, tie me up and lock me away.”
“…You.”
“If you want, I’ll give you one of my arms, Hyun-ssi.”
Jae-young took his hand and pulled it down. He held their hands together so that he could grab his wrist, and applied pressure.
“It was really only for a short time, but without what I always wore, it felt really empty. Can I get it back when I return home?”
“…”
“…Please trust me one last time, even if it means being deceived.”
Suddenly, he felt an urge to pull him by the waist and kiss him.
“Will you do that for me?”
However, to show the sincerity of his resolve, Jae-young decided to suppress that impulse for a moment.
Just for one minute.
#Side Story – Even the Unripe Apricot Gets a Taste
Bang!
A gunshot that seemed to split his eardrum rang out. Jae-young blinked his eyes simultaneously with the bullet being fired.
His arm, which had gone through so many firings that he couldn’t gauge how many times it had been, gradually began to droop. Since he couldn’t aim properly, his concentration was scattered, and fatigue accumulated in his body.
Jae-young took a long breath and aimed at the target once more. At that moment, a figure approached from behind and almost embraced him from behind, overlapping their hands.
“You’re pulling the trigger all the way, that’s why the muzzle is getting skewed.”
A familiar voice was heard right next to his ear. Naturally, tension built in his shoulders. Just as his head stiffened, the hand that had followed into the trigger guard began to pull the trigger.
Bang!
Another shot was fired. His body, which had completely absorbed the recoil, was pushed back. A firm chest touched his back. Jae-young swallowed his breath and focused all his nerves on what was behind him.
“You need to concentrate.”
There was clearly space remaining at the back of the trigger. However, he who did not pull it all the way gradually released the strength in his index finger. And then another shot followed.
Bang!
Jae-young, who stiffened his body with the gunshot, held his breath for quite a while.
“When the hammer starts to rise, stop pulling and absorb the recoil with your body. You can’t overcome the recoil standing so stiffly like that.”
“…”
“You need to get used to this sensation.”
Bang!
In a moment of carelessness, the trigger was pulled again. The fired bullet hit the target’s head precisely. This was the third successful hit.
“…Haah.”
A belated sigh escaped. Jae-young silently blinked and relaxed his grip on the gun.
The movement of pulling and releasing the trigger was smooth. There was no tension, no impatience. Like a child who knew nothing of the fear of guns shooting a BB gun, there was no concern whatsoever.
The gun that left Jae-young’s hand was still wrapped in Sa Gong-hyun’s. Getting to know Sa Gong-hyun like this always gave him a peculiar feeling.
Well, apart from the peculiarity, complaints about why he had to undergo this training occasionally bubbled up. Jae-young pouted as he took off his ear protection. He even made a show of dusting off his hands.
“My arm hurts.”
“That’s a problem solved by building muscle.”
“Am I entering some shooting competition?”
“It’s a bit late for that.”
While he was complaining, the gun Sa Gong-hyun had put down was caught in the fixing device and floated in the air. Jae-young turned to face Sa Gong-hyun.
“I’m asking if there’s really a need to learn shooting even if it means building muscle.”
“Do Jae-young should at least know how to protect himself.”
“I think you’re misunderstanding something. South Korea is a country where gun possession is prohibited. Even if someone gave me one illegally, I have no intention of using it.”
“Anyone would think you’re a law-abiding citizen.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
