CBR 17

When Kim Dojun turned away as if he had no further business, Jaewon turned serious and caught hold of him.

“If you’ve heard the circumstances, you should act like it never happened and fix this. The kids are misunderstanding our relationship as hot and dirty. At this rate, they’ll say we’re in the middle of a divorce lawsuit.”

“Is that any of my business?”

“How can you say something so irresponsible?”

Shocked by the unexpected remark, Jaewon looked up at Kim Dojun blankly. Watching him with a pathetic gaze, Kim Dojun took out his phone and shoved it in front of Jaewon’s eyes. On the screen, a text message window was visible, on the verge of exploding from being in a state of saturation.

Lee Yongchul: Kim Dojun I heard u meet guys these days~ if u had a spectrum u should’ve said so u bastard I didn’t know and was gonna set u up with a girl for no reason~~~ contact me if u get interested in girls again~

Kim Myunghwan: What do I lack compared to that bastard?

Kang Heewon: Oppa~ my friend wants me to introduce you. She’s not just throwing herself at anyone, she’s the prettiest girl at our academy and super popular. If you’re interested, I’ll give you her number~

‘Is a world without prejudice like this really okay?’

Jaewon grew serious. The tightly packed text was shouting Born This Way without exception. Skipping the stages of understanding and acceptance, those who immediately embarked on their operation didn’t even give him a chance to explain the rumor. Looking at the serenades endlessly flying into the text box gave him vertigo.

“How about it. Don’t you think it’s you who ruined the life of an innocent youth?”

Looking down coldly at Jaewon, who had become a mute who ate honey, Kim Dojun interrogated him. His tone suggested that if he had a mouth, he should try speaking. Though he felt like everyone was overly enthusiastic for his life to be ruined, he felt that if he raised a question here, he would be kicked like a shuttlecock on the night of the First Full Moon. Jaewon tried hard to shake off his uneasy feeling and clenched both fists tightly.

“I’ll take responsibility.”

“That goes without saying.”

For Jaewon, who usually lived as distant from the word responsibility as oil and water, these were words uttered after a big resolution, but Kim Dojun replied as if it were nothing new. Standing with his arms crossed, he looked down at Jaewon with arrogant eyes.

“How are you going to take responsibility?”

“First…”

“Say it in one sentence according to the 5Ws and 1H. If possible, don’t speak. Because the more I listen, the more pissed off I get.”

“…”

He felt a strong impulse to rebel against the unfair language, but that wasn’t what was important right now. Subduing his fiercely surging rebellious disposition, Jaewon calmly continued his words.

“As soon as possible, hold a press conference in the broadcasting room regarding the rumors to clarify our innocence. Because we are nothing to each other.”

“Human beings will surely believe that. Are you naive, or are you stupid?”

Even though he had devised the most efficient method possible, Kim Dojun sneered as if it was out of the question. The thoroughly uncooperative appearance was enough to shake up Jaewon, who was already anxious.

“Why wouldn’t they believe it! It doesn’t make any sense!”

“Because whether it makes sense or not, people believe what they want to believe.”

Though his tone was detached as if stating an absolute, unchangeable fact, Kim Dojun’s gaze alone was sharp. But there was no way such a thing would enter Jaewon’s eyes, which could see nothing right now. He felt like his chest was about to burst at the out-of-body style of speaking that a politician might employ. Clutching his head where the blood had rushed, Jaewon asked in a trembling voice.

“Right now… you’re speaking as if it’s someone else’s business, but what on earth is the reason? They say you and I are in love, you bastard.”

“As long as it’s not me, it’s fine, so I don’t know why I have to explain it to others one by one.”

It was a reaction completely opposite to how he had interrogated him for the responsibility of the situation by showing him the texts. For some reason, he seemed not to care at all no matter how the situation unfolded. His emotionless eyes were closer to enjoying Jaewon’s reaction. It was clear that from the very beginning, he didn’t even have expectations that Jaewon would resolve anything.

“No, I can’t! Damn it! I hate it! Absolutely not!”

“What?”

Finally exploding, Jaewon lost his mind and shouted hysterically. How could he lose a peerless handsome man he had finally found, a face of miracles that would never come again! He wanted to avoid the situation where he delisted a blue-chip stock he had barely found with his own hands before even investing in it. A fox-like lottery and a rabbit-like 2 billion won were waiting for him in reality, so with things twisting up creatively, he felt like he was going crazy.

“You hate it?”

“Pardon?”

At the words that flew in suddenly, Jaewon asked back with a clueless expression. The laughter on Kim Dojun’s face had completely vanished, leaving it stiff and cold. At that moment, goosebumps eerily crept up his spine. Jaewon was extremely familiar with this sensation. The exact same sensation he felt right before clicking a mine while playing Minesweeper…!

“You say interesting things. Why do you hate it?”

“No, well, that’s because we’re men…”

“Unbelievable. Who are you to reject me?”

Kim Dojun already seemed unable to hear anything. He tilted his head with an incredulous laugh and swept his hair up. Pitch-black rage was burning in his fiercely slit eyes. At the same time an insane anxiety swept over him, Jaewon’s body temperature began to drop rapidly.

‘Fuck, this isn’t it?’

The situation was flowing in a strange direction. Jaewon tried desperately to deny it, but the thought that he was fucked crowded darkly into his head. With a pale, blanched face, he took faltering steps backward.

“D-Don’t do this. We’re a relationship that can’t be.”

“Honestly, I was going to ignore it because it was a pain in the ass. It’s not like it’s my first or second time seeing guys like you who approach me and stab me in the back.”

“You’re doing very well. If you keep ignoring me like that from now on, nothing could be better.”

“But I changed my mind.”

“No, fuck! Dear God!”

Jaewon cried out and fell to his knees, but Kim Dojun didn’t care in the slightest.

“Because I got interested.”

The moment he said it with an expression that wasn’t interested at all, deja vu pierced through Jaewon’s body. Looking at his eyes boiling with stubbornness, he recalled a passage from a book he had read in the not-so-distant past. Jaewon began shaking his head wildly like a crazy person.

“Please, anything but those words…!”

“You’re the first bastard to reject me.”

A whisper more terrifying than Black Monday burrowed into his ears. Jaewon, who stopped breathing for a moment, collapsed like a person who had squandered his kidneys on baccarat.

Before long, a blood-curdling wail echoed over the chillingly blue sky.

“Was I the first? Damn it, no!!”

∞ ∞ ∞

That life never goes according to plan is a simple truth that one can know just by looking at a real-time order book window. However, reality is still in a state where numerous retail investors bet their entire fortunes on target stocks only to be deboned like Majang-dong pigs. Groundless optimism that ‘I will be different’, the naivety of not knowing that high-end information has no way of reaching my ears, and the laziness of not preparing for variables are the reasons, which are endlessly repeating in the economic history of mankind. How on earth can humans be so consistently foolish? Deeply realizing this time-honored stupidity, Jaewon looked mournfully at the crowd that had gathered darkly. Just as sparrows never pass by a mill, there was no way students becoming stained with the madness of entrance exams would miss this scandal of the century. Jaewon wanted to avoid the crowd that rushed in front of Class 3 of the 2nd grade to clarify the factual relationship, but Kim Dojun wouldn’t let him go. For whatever reason, he was keeping Jaewon by his side for all to see.

“Dojun-hyung! Look over here!”

“Ah, don’t push!”

“Hyung, wave your hand just once!”

“Please look slightly to the left!”

Flashes went off from all directions, and a shower of shutter sounds followed. The sight of students scrambling to shove their phones right in front of Kim Dojun’s face was reminiscent of a parliamentary hearing. Having lost his ability to cope, Jaewon spectated the situation. Even he, who had always drawn attention for his brilliant brain and outstanding appearance, had only received this level of attention when he got a perfect score on the CSAT. On the other hand, Kim Dojun looked extremely familiar with this unrealistic situation. Smiling like a provincial governor standing in front of a ballot box, he was waving his hand. As Kim Dojun’s popularity was felt, Jaewon grew haggard.

Then, all of a sudden, Kim Dojun pulled Jaewon’s shoulder. Jaewon, who had been making a deathly face like an eunuch who had received poison, gasped. At the grip strength that felt like it would burst his upper arm, he opened his eyes wide enough for his eyeballs to pop out.

“Argh.”

“Smile. Don’t ruin the mood.”