#64
He shook his head from side to side as if he didn’t have the strength to speak. Even while dripping with sweat from his forehead, he only tightened his arms around Hajun more.
What did I do to deserve this? Seeing Imun’s smile gradually fading, Hajun felt anxious. He needed to make things easier for him. Even if reaching the handle was difficult, it seemed possible to somehow hold onto Imun’s body.
One, two, three! After timing the bounce of the ride, he used the momentum to stand on tiptoe. The moment he barely managed to wrap his arms around Imun’s neck, as if in response, the waist grip tightened even more.
“Haa, haa.” Imun’s rough breathing echoed endlessly in his ear. The body scent mixed with sweat had been sharply filling his nostrils for a while now. His face flushed hot again, but for a different reason than before. Silently burying his head in Imun’s shoulder, he desperately prayed in his mind for the ride to break down.
After what felt like hours but was just a few minutes, the machine started turning slowly again. Thanks to sticking to Imun like a barnacle and persisting tenaciously, it seemed the DJ had lost interest.
After shaking off the other members one by one like ears of rice, the ride finally stopped its ferocious movements.
Finally, it’s over! Quickly climbing down from Imun’s embrace, he staggered off the ride. While concentrating on steadying his trembling legs against his will, the DJ’s farewell followed from behind.
[For your perseverance, passion, Mr. Imun, I applaud your friendship!]
Hearing the DJ’s sarcastic comment until the end, Hajun wanted to hit someone for the first time in his life.
*
The aftereffects of the first ride were so powerful that he didn’t dare attempt any other rides. I should avoid looking at tambourines for a while. After sending the members who were tempting him to join ahead, he settled with Imun in the rest area.
Imun also seemed quite exhausted, no less than himself. After checking his complexion as he sat silently, Hajun thoroughly scanned their surroundings.
Every ride boasted a dizzying sense of freefall. The only rides that seemed tolerable were those meant for younger ages.
There’s nothing Imun could ride. Even after gathering himself mentally and physically, it seemed they would have to guard the bench together. Though it was disappointing not to enjoy the amusement park he’d visited after such a long time, the advantage of spending leisurely time with Imun more than made up for it.
Is this what it’s like to be so comfortable with someone that words aren’t necessary? For some reason, he couldn’t help but smile foolishly simply because the person beside him was Imun. While munching on popcorn and enjoying the languid afternoon sunlight, Imun put a straw in a cola and offered it to him.
“You must be thirsty. Have some of this.”
“Oh, thanks. Um… is your arm okay? It must have been difficult earlier…”
“Haha, my shoulder is a bit sore.”
Watching Imun rotate his shoulder playfully, Hajun just kept sipping the cola. Ah, how embarrassing. After making multiple promises to start exercising as soon as he returned to Japan, he gently spat out the straw in his mouth.
Imun’s hand that had given him the drink held nothing. Earlier, he had also randomly handed him popcorn, as if he found pleasure in feeding Hajun something.
By the way, why did he really buy me popcorn? Of course, Hajun had briefly gazed at the popcorn in passersby’s hands. But he wondered if Imun had noticed that, since he probably hadn’t been focusing solely on him. He passed the cola back to Imun’s hand, which was still busy people-watching.
“This, for me to drink?”
“Yeah. You should wet your throat too.”
“Ah… I’ll just go buy my own.”
“This seems like it’ll be left over, just have some. Or is it because I was drinking from it?”
“Haha, of course not. You’re right. I wonder why I hesitated?”
The way he moved his Adam’s apple while facing off with the cola looked like someone about to make a big decision. As Imun vacillated, hesitating to put the straw in his mouth, it was so frustrating that Hajun sharply seized the moment when his mouth opened.
“There you go. Now drink.”
After slipping the straw between Imun’s lips, Hajun belatedly realized what he’d done and checked on him. Is he hurt? Fortunately, he only showed signs of being flustered and didn’t seem to have any problems. Hajun scratched his head while watching Imun concentrate on drinking the cola with his head down.
*
About an hour later, the members all returned together, having apparently ridden all the worthwhile rides.
“The Viking here is the most famous, aren’t you going to ride that either?”
The ride Saha was pointing at was clearly swinging over 90 degrees. “Oh, you guys have fun.” When he flatly rejected the invitation, Saha and Sura exchanged wordless glances. The way they smiled at each other reminded him of the time they had pressured him to drink.
“Let me borrow Imun hyung!”
“Let’s go ride the Viking!”
These pranksters! Before he could stop them, the two grabbed Imun’s arms. “Ah, you guys, really!” Imun struggled as he was dragged along, then stopped resisting. He must have been conscious of the camera following right beside him.
Not resisting at all and just blinking his dark eyes, he looked like a calf being sold at a cattle market. While watching the situation anxiously, Hajun saw Imun move his lips.
‘It’s okay, hyung.’
What do you mean it’s okay?! He couldn’t help but let out a laugh of disbelief. Even if the three members were in on it together, he found it hard to just stand by and watch Imun like this. Just as he was about to get up to follow Imun, who had started eye-smiling as if to reassure him, Rai grabbed his shoulder.
“Don’t worry. Imun is fine with this much. The hospital also said he should consistently adapt to fear. If he really disliked it, he wouldn’t have let himself be dragged away in the first place.”
“Really? Did the hospital actually say that?”
This was the same person who trembled in fear even while playing a mere VR game. Unable to easily believe such words, he shot Rai a suspicious look, and Rai jerked his chin toward Imun.
“Imun seems fine, doesn’t he?”
“Where exactly are you looking?”
He’s not fine at all! Imun was still being dragged away pitifully with his pale face. Thoughts of treatment or whatever aside, he just felt the need to be by Imun’s side. He pushed Rai’s arm away and ran to Imun.
Until the queue for the ride disappeared, Imun kept repeating that he was fine. Unable to break his stubbornness, Hajun at least got them on the middle of the Viking, which looked less scary.
Imun’s knuckles were completely bloodless from how tightly he was gripping the ride’s handles. If you’re going to be like this, why ride it at all? When Hajun silently placed his hand over Imun’s, Imun looked up in surprise.
“Later, I’ll make them cry their eyes out for this.”
The way Imun just blushed at the ears without answering seemed to be a positive response. Hajun squeezed the trembling hand even more firmly and gave him a reassuring smile. If he could provide even a little sense of security to Imun, just as Imun had done for him, that would be enough.
*
After having lunch at a famous clam grill restaurant, they all took advantage of the break to stroll along the beach.
The midday sea sparkled so brightly that it was almost blinding to look at. Creating a hand visor to barely secure his vision, Hajun took a deep breath full of the sea scent.
It had been several years since he’d last visited the sea. Just as he was finishing praising himself for having made a good decision to appear on the show for various reasons—
“Imun…?”
Imun, who should have been beside him, was nowhere to be seen. Flustered, he looked around in all directions and finally spotted him walking far behind.
Gazing at the waves with a melancholy look in his eyes, Imun was like a well-painted picture. “What are you doing? Come on.” Hajun lightly gestured toward himself, but Imun only smiled faintly.
It seemed that since Imun had also mentioned it had been a long time since he’d seen the sea, he had many different emotions. To let him enjoy his personal time, Hajun tactfully left Imun alone and turned his attention to the two noisy troublemakers.
Saha and Sura were at the front of the group, playing mischievously and giggling. Seeing them playing so casually, as if they had no memory of making Imun suffer a few hours ago, made his blood boil.
How should I pay back this debt? After staring intently at the sea like Imun for a moment, Hajun raised the corners of his mouth fully.
To execute the plan, it seemed best to first recruit Rai, who was closest. He carefully approached him and whispered his thoughts. “So, are you in?” While exchanging excited glances with Rai, who had taken the bait without questioning—
“Include me too.”
The owner of the familiar voice hugged him from behind. After not coming when called, the way he casually rested his chin on Hajun’s shoulder was rather bewildering.
“Seo Imun, you again…!” Before he could fully turn around, Imun quickly stepped back. With his palms raised like someone surrendering to the police and his eyes wide open, he seemed quite surprised himself.
“This is really becoming a habit, I think. I’m really sorry.”
“Seriously, why act like it’s a new thing now. Anyway, just wait a bit.”
“For what?”
“You’ll see.” According to his plan, he still needed a few more hands. He lightly ruffled Imun’s hair and continued to recruit the three friends of the members.
*
“Kim Jaeyeon. Did you just hit me?”
“Why do you keep picking unnecessary fights?”
Rai and Liji started arguing, raising their voices. After several exchanges of harsh words blaming each other, the atmosphere became tense with hands about to be raised, and the faces of the two targets darkened.
At Sura’s questioning look of “Why on earth are they doing this?” Hajun shook his head. Fortunately, his awkward acting seemed to have worked, as Sura sighed and stepped between the two.
“Hey, why are you guys suddenly acting like this?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
