“Hey, hey, Do Won-hyeok. Why are you suddenly chugging like that?”
Kang Yubin nudged Won-hyeok’s arm while watching him toss back a shot of soju in one go. Won-hyeok was famous even in the English Department for having a high alcohol tolerance, but even at drinking gatherings like this, he always controlled himself and never tried to cross a certain line. His classmates even joked sometimes, asking if self-restraint was his top-ranked skill too.
“I’ve been pretty stressed lately.”
“Right? For me, just being alive is stressful.”
“Kim Sun-woo, shut up. Seriously, is something going on?”
When Yubin asked with concern, Won-hyeok let out a faint laugh and casually glanced at the very culprit behind that something going on. Kang Han-gyeom, awkwardly exchanging conversation while wedged in among the other classmates, would shyly smile every now and then whenever his eyes met Won-hyeok’s.
He wanted to bring him over right away, but no matter what he did, his actions always stood out. So if he tried to force Han-gyeom to stay glued to his side, there would definitely be people who found it strange. It was already hard enough these days to act normal because of Kang Han-gyeom, and if his true nature slipped out at a moment like this, that would be a problem.
“No, I’m telling you, what matters is what’s on the inside.”
“You can’t ignore outward factors either. There’s a reason the phrase ‘ideal type’ exists.”
Just then, at the central table where Won-hyeok was sitting, two of his classmates started arguing over something pointless. At a glance, they already looked pleasantly drunk. But Won-hyeok was too busy keeping watch over Han-gyeom to be annoyed by the noisy idiots. Seeing him smile now and then, maybe a little more relaxed than before, irritated him immensely.
“Hey, what do you guys think? When you look at a person, what matters more?”
“These days, the ones who have it together on the outside are usually more mature on the inside too.”
At Kang Yubin’s words, several people let out appreciative noises and gave him thumbs-ups, saying he had a point. Won-hyeok, however, didn’t agree with that opinion, so he didn’t react much.
“What about you, Won-hyeok?”
As the question made its rounds, it eventually landed on Won-hyeok too.
“I don’t know. I think what’s inside is important, but it’s probably hard to completely ignore what’s on the outside.”
The moment those words left his mouth, the entire table suddenly fell silent, like a mouse had died. Won-hyeok, who had been about to throw back more soju, paused in surprise even himself.
“Come to think of it, Do Won-hyeok, I’ve never heard what your ideal type is.”
Breaking through the silence, Kang Yubin casually threw out the exact sort of question that suited the situation. Then Kim Sun-woo very naturally picked up the baton and asked Won-hyeok what his ideal type was.
He was used to that kind of question, so he was about to say, as usual, that he didn’t really have one—but dozens of eyes were all fixed on him. The sight of them, eyes practically reddened with curiosity like they were dying to know, made the veins stand out on the back of the hand he had lowered under the table. If he gave some ordinary, standard answer here, how many irritating jabs would they throw at him this time?
He was just about to brush it off with some plausible nonsense when, among all those countless stares, he felt one especially fervent gaze burning into him. Exaggerating just a little, it felt like his profile might catch fire. When he turned his head, his eyes met Han-gyeom’s. Han-gyeom was staring right at him, radiating curiosity with his whole body.
“……Someone with pale skin and pretty eyes.”
The moment Won-hyeok’s dry, matter-of-fact answer fell out, silence settled over the table once again. Then a few seconds later, Kang Yubin, Kim Sun-woo, and the others laughed as if that had been unexpected. Of course, they also teased him, asking if even Do Won-hyeok couldn’t help having a thing for pretty people.
As the atmosphere heated back up into noisy chatter, Han-gyeom thought quietly to himself in the gap between it all.
I’m totally the opposite of sunbae’s ideal type.
Well, it only made sense that someone impressive would want someone equally impressive. Just looking at Won-hyeok’s face alone made his heart stop, didn’t it? Thinking that, he absently fiddled with his bangs.
Starting with Won-hyeok’s answer, the conversation shifted into everyone taking turns talking about their own “ideal type.” Some said height was important, while others started saying slightly embarrassing things about being attracted to specific body parts. In the middle of all that, Han-gyeom was quietly sipping his orange Fanta when, out of nowhere, a sunbae in front of him tapped the table.
“Then what about our junior here? What’s your ideal type?”
“Huh? M-me?”
One by one, the upperclassmen wearing mischievous expressions turned their eyes toward Han-gyeom. At their persistent prodding, asking what kind of person kids these days liked, Han-gyeom swallowed hard.
Ideal type. He’d never once thought about something like that in his life, so what was he supposed to say?
But before he could sink too deeply into anxious thought, his overloaded mind suddenly cleared, and one idea came to him. Maybe the person you liked was, in itself, your ideal type.
If it came to Won-hyeok’s traits, he could list over a hundred right here and now, but if he got too specific, people might figure it out. So he had to pick just one thing.
“I… like handsome people.”
Pffft.
The moment Han-gyeom finished speaking, the sound of someone spraying something out came from beside him.
“What the hell, Do Won-hyeok, are you drunk?”
Kim Sun-woo frowned and brushed the splattered soju off his clothes.
“Sorry, it just went down the wrong pipe all of a sudden.”
At the words I like handsome people, Won-hyeok had spectacularly sprayed the soju he’d been holding in his mouth. He wasn’t a spray bottle, and this was the first time in his life he’d ever spit something out from his mouth like that. While meticulously wiping down the table, Won-hyeok appeared to think something over, then abruptly stood up as if he’d reached a decision.
“My stomach doesn’t feel good, so I’m heading out first.”
Won-hyeok asked the classmate whose birthday it was for understanding as well. While listening to everyone’s concern, he gathered up his things, but instead of heading straight out of the restaurant, he walked over to the table beside them.
“Han-gyeom, didn’t you say you have a first-period class tomorrow?”
“Huh? I start in the afternoon tomorrow—”
“…Be quiet and get up. You said you were tired from studying so much. Let’s go out together.”
Won-hyeok said it with a deep smile on his face. Han-gyeom tilted his head but still obediently followed what he said for now. Thankfully, no one seemed to have any intention of keeping a junior around that late, and they simply waved coolly at Han-gyeom, telling him to get home safely.
Even until the moment he stepped outside, Han-gyeom kept bowing his head politely to the upperclassmen in farewell.
“Um, this is the first time since starting college that I’ve talked this much with people from my department above me.”
The moment they got outside, he hurried over to Won-hyeok’s side as he walked.
“I’ll take you home.”
Han-gyeom was about to reflexively say that it was okay, but his sudden greed to stay with Won-hyeok a little longer made him miss the timing. And so, before he knew it, the two of them were already walking side by side toward Han-gyeom’s one-room building.
“Han-gyeom, do you like handsome people?”
Had they gotten about halfway there? Won-hyeok, who had been thinking deeply about something with a rather serious face, suddenly asked.
“Yes. Is there anyone who doesn’t like handsome people?”
“……Then do you like me just because I’m handsome?”
“Of course.”
Han-gyeom answered confidently. Maybe it was because they were walking side by side, both facing forward. Because of that, Han-gyeom failed to notice the cold expression that settled over Won-hyeok’s face. He was simply absorbed in the thought that the moon hanging in the night sky looked even more beautiful because he was with sunbae.
“So you like me because I’m handsome, that’s it?”
What the hell, Won-hyeok muttered quietly. Han-gyeom hadn’t heard the words that followed, and after pondering the question for a moment, he slowly shook his head.
“That’s not exactly right.”
“You’re the one who said it. What’s not right about it?”
“Being handsome is just one of a lot of reasons! I just like you, sunbae. There are tons of other reasons too.”
In the distance, Han-gyeom’s one-room building was starting to come into view. Just like any other day, the streetlights still looked weak, and tonight—already well past 10 p.m.—felt especially dark.
Like stars pricked into the black night sky, Han-gyeom’s excited voice cut through the gloomy alleyway. The footsteps of Won-hyeok, standing where that voice had reached, gradually slowed and then came to a stop.
“Sunbae?”
Sensing the footsteps that had been beside him falling behind, Han-gyeom also stopped in his tracks.
“You’re kind of… pissing me off.”
Han-gyeom flinched. Because of the dim streetlights, he couldn’t see what kind of expression Won-hyeok was making, but the atmosphere was bad. There was no way that could really be it, and yet for some reason it felt as though the temperature around them had suddenly dropped.
“We’re here. You must be tired, so hurry inside.”
Leaving behind only those words, Won-hyeok turned his body and leisurely disappeared out of the alley. Han-gyeom stayed frozen in place, agonizing over what to do. Should he go after him? Should he stop him? He kept thinking and thinking, but in the end, once he confirmed Won-hyeok had vanished from sight, he weakly turned his steps toward home.
“Is sunbae angry?”
After entering his apartment, Han-gyeom let the bag hanging from his shoulder drop to the floor with a thud.
Pissing me off.
That definitely wasn’t a good phrase. But even so, he couldn’t immediately think of anything he might’ve done to make sunbae angry.
What was it? What did I do wrong? Han-gyeom put his brain to work with even more concentration than he used while studying for exams. After about ten minutes of agonizing in place, he came up with a few possible theories. One of them was that he’d inserted himself into that dinner gathering without telling Sunbae first. Because he had to look after him, Won-hyeok hadn’t really been able to join the conversations with the other upperclassmen in the middle of it all.
“If not that… then maybe I let it show without realizing it, that I’m dating sunbae?”
That was another possibility. But to avoid exactly that, he’d deliberately sat far away from him. To completely block off any chance of it showing. Not only that, when talking about his ideal type, he’d answered as vaguely as possible so that no one could specifically identify Won-hyeok.
“I don’t know.”
It really was hard to understand another person’s heart down to the smallest detail. In the end, Han-gyeom clutched his overloaded head and collapsed onto the floor. No matter what, it did seem like he had hurt sunbae’s feelings, so he felt like he definitely needed to apologize first the next time he saw him. Feeling lonely over the sight of Won-hyeok’s back as he’d simply walked away, Han-gyeom nevertheless dragged his tired body into the bathroom.
He was about to take off his clothes to wash up when his gaze suddenly caught on his reflection in the mirror. Round glasses and bangs covering almost all of his eyes. It was the face he always saw, so why did it look especially different today?
Someone with pale skin and pretty eyes.
After hearing Won-hyeok describe his ideal type, the other sunbaes had said it too. That in the end, he was just another guy who cared about looks. It couldn’t become known to people around them that he was dating Won-hyeok, but even so, shouldn’t he at least become someone who suited Won-hyeok a little?
Unlike Won-hyeok, who always shone no matter what he did, he himself was dull, and outwardly there wasn’t even a single thing worth looking at.
Of course, just because he wanted to dress himself up didn’t mean he actually knew how, and he was aware that he could never match the ideal type Won-hyeok had described.
“…Maybe I should at least cut my hair a little shorter?”
Han-gyeom absently touched his bangs as he looked into the mirror.
