“Hey, bring some snacks over.”
“You go to my room and get them yourself.”
“Aaaah, I don’t want to move.”
“You think I want to?”
When he adamantly refused from the comfort of the air conditioning, the guy rolling around on the carpet eventually pulled himself up.
Soon after, Baek Jaehui returned with three bags of snacks and sprawled back out on the carpet.
He turned on the TV, flipped through the channels, and ripped open a bag of chips.
“If you eat that many sweets, you’re gonna get diabetes.”
“I’m still young, it’s fine.”
“You’ll hit a wall before you know it.”
“Damn, what a curse.”
Once he cooled down, Jingi headed to the sofa, where Go Yeol was already sitting.
Go Yeol raised an eyebrow; he looked sulky, as if wondering how Jingi could dare come sit next to him after betraying him earlier.
Jingi slowly made his way to the corner of the long, rectangular sofa and sat down, stretching his legs out.
It bothered him that Go Yeol kept acting like this whenever he had a chance to forget about it.
While glancing at Go Yeol, Jingi spotted Joo Unyoung coming from the kitchen with juice and four cups.
“Oh, was there juice in the fridge?”
“Hm? Yeah. It’s orange juice. Do you want something else?”
“What do you have?”
“Aloe, grape, cola? There’s water, too.”
“Then just orange!”
Joo Unyoung really was the gem of this story.
And so was Choi Jingi, the character he’d possessed.
As the main couple, the kind and delicate Joo Unyoung and the quietly affectionate, strong Choi Jingi made a pretty good pair.
Of course, once he entered the story, he’d learned a few things.
Choi Jingi, who he thought was perfect, wasn’t a very good son at home, and Joo Unyoung, who he thought was just innocent and lovely, was actually a high schooler with an attachment disorder.
There is no one as perfect as a storybook character.
And people are human precisely because they are flawed.
“Here you go, Jingi.”
“Thank you. Oh, you added ice?”
“Yeah. From the dispenser.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Joo Unyoung filled all four cups and sat down demurely next to Jingi.
Then, he tilted his head slightly and rested his cheek on Jingi’s shoulder.
On TV, a frustrating love story was playing—the kind that makes you feel like you’ve just eaten ten dry sweet potatoes without water.
The MCs were shaking their heads, sighing and saying, “Just break up.”
No matter what the story was, they probably reacted the same way, claiming, “This is the worst thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Jaehui, what’s the next schedule?”
“Look it up yourself.”
“My phone is charging.”
When Joo Unyoung gestured toward his room, Baek Jaehui twisted his body around.
“Aaaah, seriously. It’s such a hassle… wait a sec.”
He grumbled, but he was obedient.
Jingi watched him look up the schedule on his phone, leaning in from his nearly reclined position.
“Hey, and seriously, stop calling me that—fuck, it’s so cringey.”
“What? Jaehui? This?”
“Yeah. You don’t usually do that, so it gives me goosebumps when you do it out of nowhere.”
“Fine, I won’t do it. Happy?”
“Yeah.”
Joo Unyoung let out a faint laugh at Baek Jaehui’s complaining.
It was true; guys didn’t usually call each other’s names in such honey-dripping voices.
Especially since Baek Jaehui hung out with rougher kids, it was even more out of character.
Jingi thought about “Jingi,” a name he’d become so accustomed to because Joo Unyoung said it so often.
It wasn’t actually that bad to him.
That was just Joo Unyoung’s personality, and he had no intention of asking him to change it.
Baek Jaehui was quiet for a moment while scrolling through his gallery, then he hissed in annoyance and opened his SNS app.
It seemed he couldn’t find the schedule in his photos and was going to check what the others had posted.
Baek Jaehui suddenly sat up and stared intensely at the screen.
“Fuck. What is this?”
“What?”
“No, my notifications are about to blow up… wait.”
Jingi peeked over and saw the ‘N’ symbol for new notifications in the top right corner.
He even saw a ‘+99’ indicator.
Jingi marveled at his own keen eyesight for a second, then figured the guy must have a lot of friends and just waited for him to find the timetable.
“We rest until 6:30, eat, and then go to the venue by 8.”
“The venue?”
“Yeah, something about… kids doing performances and recreation stuff. There’s an outdoor stage around here.”
It wasn’t even 6 o’clock yet. Jingi smacked his lips and idly watched TV while picking at the snacks Baek Jaehui had laid out.
The others were the same.
They spent the time trading curses whenever a funny or frustrating scene came on.
Before long, Joo Unyoung got up and suggested they head out; the time was exactly 6:20.
They left Baek Jaehui, who complained he wanted to lie down more, but he scrambled to follow them out anyway.
The performance venue they found after asking a staff member was much bigger than expected.
The stage was huge—enough for dozens of people to play a game—and the seats were made of high-quality wood rather than cheap plastic.
The four of them chose seats toward the back in the area their homeroom teacher had designated.
They sat in the order of Go Yeol, Choi Jingi, Joo Unyoung, and Baek Jaehui.
Maybe it was because it was summer, but even though evening was approaching, the sun was still bright.
‘A talent show? When did they have time to prepare for all that?’
The homeroom teacher must have made the announcement back before he’d gotten used to the possession.
The outfits of the kids running toward the back of the stage were far from ordinary.
There were guys wearing stockings and others with bizarre makeup, clearly planning to cross-dress and dance.
“Unyoung, you would’ve looked pretty if you’d cross-dressed too.”
“Me? Hmm… I guess so. The kids actually kept telling me to do it.”
“They did?”
“Yeah. There’s a cross-dressing contest at the end. Five people from each class have to go out, and they’ve been pestering me for days. Don’t you remember?”
Jingi just laughed aimlessly.
He thought he vaguely remembered some guys trying to talk to Joo Unyoung, but he wasn’t sure.
“Why didn’t you do it? You would’ve taken first place.”
“You want me to do it?”
“Hm? No, I mean… just, it would’ve suited you, that’s all.”
If he didn’t want to, what could he do?
Jingi brushed his cheek and leaned back against the seat. Students were arriving one by one.
Even if the call time was 6:30, it would take a while for everyone to gather.
“True, if you’d gone out there, I would’ve lost.”
“Baek Jaehui, are you going out there?”
“Yeah. Our class decided by vote. Everyone was making a fuss saying they didn’t want to.”
“……Are there actually people who wanted to do it?”
“Apparently. Anyway, I have to go later.”
Jingi scanned Baek Jaehui up and down with a disgusted expression.
Baek Jaehui was somewhat pretty, so if he dressed up well, it would probably suit him.
But the very fact that he was doing it was… strange.
Oddly enough, when he imagined Joo Unyoung doing it, he only thought about how pretty he’d be.
“What are you wearing?”
“Can you wipe that look off your face? Fuck.”
“Thinking about you doing it makes me feel so nauseous…”
“This guy really! Hey, why don’t you act like you do when you’re with Joo Unyoung, shit.”
“Is he the same as you?”
They bickered, trading curses with Joo Unyoung in the middle.
Jingi cursed him to come in last, and Baek Jaehui shouted back, “Then you do it instead!”
When they kept fighting, Joo Unyoung began to break them up, looking uncomfortable.
As they argued over such useless topics, all the students eventually gathered.
Class 2’s homeroom teacher stepped onto the stage, microphone in hand, waving his arms to tell everyone to be quiet.
The first day of the school trip was maturing just like that.
After watching a few performances and some quiz segments in between, the sun began to set, staining the sky with an orange hue.
Jingi spent a long time laughing at the bizarre performances during his very first school trip.
The high school boys who came to enjoy the trip were like clowns doing strange dances.
They rolled across the stage in ridiculous outfits and played suggestive songs that were embarrassing to even hear.
For some reason, the students in the audience roared with laughter, shouting and cheering.
There were even dance moves that occasionally mimicked sexual acts.
Maybe today was an exception to everything, as even the teachers watched and laughed.
Would these kids regret doing such dances later in life?
Jingi felt a mix of pity and mockery, letting out faint laughs.
During the break after the first act, the teachers handed out one pizza for every two students.
Jingi ate with Go Yeol, which was awkward.
The guy who had confessed didn’t seem to care at all, but Jingi felt like he was going to choke on his food because he was so self-conscious.
When the second act began and the sky had grown dark, Joo Unyoung tapped Jingi’s arm.
“Jingi, I’m going to the bathroom. Want to come with me?”
“Oh? Oh, sure. Yeah.”
He almost asked ‘Why?’ for a second.
Jingi stood up to follow Joo Unyoung.
A performance had just finished, so they had to move quickly.
That was when a cold hand grabbed his wrist tightly.
He turned around to see Go Yeol staring straight at him.
“……Why?”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to the bathroom… why?”
He looked at Joo Unyoung’s retreating back, then tried to push Go Yeol’s hand away, conscious of the students in the back rows watching them.
But even though he pushed with considerable force, it wouldn’t budge.
Go Yeol kept looking up at him silently while gripping his wrist until it stung.
“What’s wrong? What is it?”
Even though Jingi urged him, feeling flustered, it was the same.
Go Yeol kept his lips pressed shut and wouldn’t let go.
He knew Joo Unyoung had spoken, so he knew it wasn’t a lie that they were going to the bathroom.
Yet, he didn’t know why he wouldn’t let go.
“Yeol, seriously!”
“……Go ahead.”
When Jingi finally lost his temper, Go Yeol’s grip loosened.
Watching the students heading to the stage, Jingi hunched his shoulders and quickly bolted toward the back.
With Baek Jaehui already off to prepare for his act, three chairs were empty.
Go Yeol looked down at the seat next to him and buried his face in his hands.
His calloused palms were freezing cold.
Go Yeol looked down at his own palms, his expression dark.
Like when he’d exerted himself through all the sets, his palms were trembling minutely.
Recalling the look on Jingi’s face when he’d pushed his hand away, Go Yeol hung his head in silence.
