“What? I was actually scared stiff when you suggested a bet, but 190? Are you joking?”
“Yeah. 190 is impossible.”
Jingi nodded at Baek Jaehui’s words. Joo Unyoung tilted his head as if in deep thought for a moment.
“Hey, but his older brother is seriously tall, isn’t he?”
“Oh, oh, that’s true. Unyoung, are you banking on your genetics right now? That you’ll hit 190 by the time you’re a senior?”
“Even that 160-something kid’s brother is over 170.”
“Ah, shit. Baek Jaehui, that way you talk is hilarious.”
“Anyway, you want to bet on reaching 180? Honestly, isn’t 3cm something you can grow in no time? That puts us at a huge disadvantage.”
At the repeated teasing, Jingi doubled over, clutching his stomach with laughter.
Baek Jaehui grumbled about being at a disadvantage, and Joo Unyoung laughed along before adding, with a slight upturn of his lips:
“Then let’s set it to the end of the second semester. How about that?”
“Second semester? For real?”
“Yeah. Then it’s not an unfair bet, right?”
“Dude, finals are next week and summer break starts right after. Are you confident you’ll grow that much in two months?”
“That’s why I said let’s make it the second semester, so it’s fair for you guys!”
Baek Jaehui thought about it for a moment, then snapped his gaze toward Jingi, who had his arm around his shoulders.
Jingi, who had been wiping away tears of laughter, gave a light “Yeah, sure, okay,” agreeing easily.
In the end, Baek Jaehui twitched his lips and shouted cheerfully.
“Okay! Fine, let’s do that. If you don’t hit 190 by the end of the second semester, you lose.”
“Yeah.”
“Ah… my stomach hurts, this is too funny.”
“Choi Jingi, this is the first time I’ve ever seen you laugh like that.”
“I can’t help it, it’s funny.”
Jingi, who had buried his face in his hands for a moment, looked up with laughter still lingering on his face.
In the distance, the homeroom teacher was blowing his whistle.
They could hear him yelling through the megaphone, “If you’re finished eating, get over here!”
Baek Jaehui stood up first and pulled Jingi to his feet.
Go Yeol rose as well.
Joo Unyoung, who had been watching them quietly, fell in line.
And just like that, a lighthearted bet was made.
Baek Jaehui, who had his arm around Jingi’s shoulders, suddenly went, “Ah,” and turned his head back.
“Hey, but what are we betting, anyway?”
“Hmm… let’s just make it a wish. It’s not like there’s anything you’d specifically want, right?”
Buying something they wanted or treating each other to a meal meant nothing to them.
Baek Jaehui shrugged his shoulders, muttering, “I guess that’s true,” and turned away.
Baek Jaehui giggled, tugging on Jingi’s cheek—the same Jingi who was still hiding his smile behind his hand.
Joo Unyoung, who had finished gathering all the trash bags, lingered his gaze on Baek Jaehui for a moment before looking away.
He picked up a peach-flavored drink from the vending machine.
After popping the tab, he sat on the bench next to the large mascot statue.
He leaned his back against the statue and gulped the drink down.
The time he spent alone, after lying to the others that he was deep in contemplation, felt lonely.
There was no one at the entrance yet.
Since the building was quite large, it would take some time just to walk here.
The drink he’d gulped down out of thirst was already less than half full.
As he slumped his body against the statue, fatigue washed over him.
If this were his body from his past life, he might have already collapsed.
He’d ridden a bus from the morning, sat through a performance, and walked around a bit.
His body was certainly robust, but the mind of a twenty-two-year-old was feeling the wear.
Perhaps because he’d started working early, even though he was in his early twenties, Jingi had the mindset of a salaryman.
He was thinking thoughts like, ‘I want to walk around a little bit more and then just go to the hostel and rest.’
“Rode the bus, watched a show, ate food, and rode the bus again.”
He’d done a lot.
They said they were going to the hostel now—would he be okay if he slept soundly on the way?
Once they got to the hostel, he’d probably be dragged around by those three—well, specifically Baek Jaehui—and be busy playing.
Jingi straightened his posture and set the drink down beside him.
Making sure the staff member at the entrance wasn’t looking, he stretched his arms and legs and let out a long yawn.
He clenched his fists and stretched out, then spread his fingers and stretched even further.
It felt satisfying to have his stiff muscles loosen up. Jingi rotated his body a few more times and massaged his neck.
It was a habit he’d carried over from his previous life.
Once, back when he was working, he’d been picked on by his boss over something trivial and was feeling stressed, so he started stretching alone on the stairs.
He felt so embarrassed when a coworker, who was called the “Goddess” of the office, caught him doing that.
He was in the middle of patting his back when someone approached with heavy footsteps.
“Hey, hey! Were you here this whole time?”
A voice suddenly broke his quiet time.
As he finished his stretch and let out a yawn, Baek Jaehui came over and sat next to him with a giggle.
“Wow, you look so ugly when you yawn.”
“I’m still better looking than you.”
“Not true? I yawn super gracefully.”
“Whatever, go ahead and show me then.”
“Huuuaaaam!”
When Jingi glared at him bluntly, Baek Jaehui widened his eyes, opened his mouth slightly, and gave a playful yawn.
The way his large hand covered his mouth—the killing point—was just too much.
Jingi laughed and lightly swatted the back of Baek Jaehui’s head.
“What are you doing? Someone might think you’re filming a commercial.”
“I’m pretty enough to film one, honestly.”
Baek Jaehui gave a cheeky wink and pulled out the phone he was holding.
“More than that, look at this.”
“What now.”
He frowned, thinking it was another unfunny thing like before, but then he saw a familiar rabbit character.
As one of his eyebrows shot up, the photo began to move, and he saw himself sitting next to it, stretching his arms and legs while squeezing his eyes shut.
“Hey, hey….”
In the video, he was wriggling his long limbs as if it were staged.
The moment he spread his palms, his feet—clad in neat canvas sneakers—wiggled and pointed straight up.
The video, which frankly looked like he was trying to be cute as he stretched his arms and legs out, stopped at seven seconds. It ended the moment he opened his eyes.
“Hey! Delete that, now.”
“Nope? How could I delete such a precious video of the cool, charismatic Choi Jingi of Hankook High stretching so cutely?”
“Ah, damn it! I have a reputation, too! Why are you filming me secretly, you pervert!”
No matter what, he was the main lead—or he had been the main lead—and he couldn’t let an image like this be immortalized.
Jingi gritted his teeth and threw a punch, but he staggered when the guy dodged it easily.
“A pervert! Big brother, that’s so mean. Jaehui just… wanted to keep a… life-shot… of his friend….”
Baek Jaehui blinked his eyes rapidly with an expression that didn’t fit him at all and pouted his lips.
Jingi seized the chance to snatch the phone, but it was locked with biometric security.
“Ah, seriously!”
“Ooooh. It’s locked. What are you gonna do, Jingi?”
He had planned to shove the screen in his face if it were facial recognition.
Jingi bit his lip in frustration and grabbed Baek Jaehui’s wrist.
“Hey, open it right now.”
“Nope. And it’s no use deleting it anyway.”
“Why.”
“It’s set to auto-upload to the Drive. Hehe.”
After giving Baek Jaehui’s back a hard slap—the same back that was pouting—Jingi watched as the guy laughed and scurried away.
‘What is there to laugh about?!’
Jingi stomped after him.
The guy, who was running out toward the museum, saw the homeroom teacher standing in front and immediately turned back, wrapping his arms tightly around Jingi’s shoulders.
“Hey, it’s the teacher. Let’s go back in.”
“Shit, open it, I said!”
“Shh, shh. If they know we came out here, your homeroom teacher is going to be super pissed.”
“Ah, seriously!”
As they went back inside, the staff member glanced at the two of them, perhaps wondering if they’d just been to the bathroom.
Jingi averted his eyes, worried he’d say something, but the employee just sat back down and did other work with a bored expression.
‘Wow, that job looks like a sweet gig… I want to do that, too.’
“Hey, isn’t that your drink?”
“Uh? Oh.”
The drink he’d left behind all alone looked lonely.
Baek Jaehui, who had been ahead, snatched it up.
“Mind if I have a sip?”
“Yeah.”
He sat back down and racked his brain for a way to open the phone, but after several failed fingerprint attempts, a window popped up asking for the password.
“Hey, what’s the password.”
“Like I’d tell you that?”
“Ah, just unlock it. Why won’t you delete it?”
“Jingi… let this big brother tell you something. Only the photos and videos will remain.”
‘That’s exactly why I don’t want it to remain!’
When he glared at him with his eyes narrowed, Baek Jaehui crushed the can, as if he’d finished the rest of it in one go.
Then, he flopped down on the bench and threw his head back while making a strange sound.
“Uuuuugghh…”
“Hey, delete it.”
“Delete it?”
Baek Jaehui twitched his eyebrows with a delinquent-like expression on his face, his lips curling.
The piercings in his left ear jangled softly.
Jingi stared at the phone screen before sighing.
“……Please delete it. Are you happy now?”
“Sigh. Fine, whatever.”
The guy shrugged, sighed as if he were doing him a grand favor, and unlocked the phone.
Jingi watched closely to make sure he was really deleting it, and he saw Baek Jaehui go into the Drive app and delete the auto-uploaded video right in front of his eyes.
“You really deleted it.”
“Would I fake it?”
“Knowing you, I figured you might.”
After taking the can and tossing it into the recycling bin, Jingi sat back down on the bench.
Concerned about Baek Jaehui, he turned his head and let out a yawn, which brought a few tears to the corners of his eyes.
As he blinked several times and tilted his head onto his left shoulder with a grumpy expression, Baek Jaehui pulled him toward himself and offered his shoulder.
Not that it made much of a difference, since they were about the same height.
“You heard that, right? That thing.”
“That thing?”
“The alcohol, the drinking thing.”
Baek Jaehui whispered, checking to make sure the staff member wasn’t looking.
He even glanced toward the entrance just in case the teacher came by.
‘Sometimes he really acts like a high schooler.’
‘……Wait, no, he really IS a high schooler.’
Jingi looked up, his expression grumpy, and replied.
“I heard.”
“Just consider your liver dead for the next two days.”
“Ah, I don’t want to.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
‘Why bother with this when I’ll have to drink things I hate against my will once I enter the workforce?’
Come to think of it, he had thought it looked cool when adults drank back when he was a high schooler, too.
Though, of course, after drinking some alcohol he’d gotten while working a part-time job, it tasted so bitter and harsh that he’d wiped that thought right out of his mind.
“Can you handle it?”
“Handle what?”
“I get pretty wild when I’m drunk.”
With that, Jingi gave a relaxed, adult smile, reached across the bench, and put his arm around his shoulders.
As he leaned in slowly, the guy tensed up in a way that wasn’t like him at all.
When their eyes locked, the guy’s fierce, angular face began to turn increasingly red.
“Wh-what is it?”
The guy gulped and his lips trembled.
