EAR Ch 10

If he had at least dated a girlfriend, it felt like there would be a targetable gap… Moreover, Oh Seungpyo seemed to have a personality with even fewer hidden sides than Jaemin had expected. Despite being in different classes, perhaps because they hung out close together playing basketball, soccer, games, and the like, the kids knew a lot about Oh Seungpyo.

Which girls he had flings with back in middle school, which kids he still contacted frequently, also that after school he spent time mainly playing games or exercising, but after coming to high school he spent a bit more time studying than in the past, even the facts of which college his biological older brother attended, that he frequently acted drunkenly, and the name of the major corporation his father supplied tuna to.

Conclusion: Oh Seungpyo is a person with severe self-expression and self-ostentation. That was about the extent of the newly learned facts, and it was not a particularly good sign for Jaemin. If he had nothing hidden from others, catching a targetable weakness would be just as hard to find.

‘If only I could look into his cell phone too, I’d be able to find something.’

Having finished his daily routine just like usual and returned home late at night, Jaemin put Oh Seungpyo’s cell phone deep inside his desk drawer. As long as he couldn’t break the security, having it was merely useless scrap metal. However, thinking of that obnoxious attitude, his desire to hand it back obediently vanished like smoke.

From exerting effort in a useless place, only his bedtime became later than usual. Lying on the bed with his eyes closed, the words he had heard during the day suddenly brushed past Jaemin’s mind.

‘I used to do it too. Nowadays I don’t do it because it’s bothersome.’

Right. They said Oh Seungpyo also had social media.

If he had a personality that liked self-ostentation, even if he had temporarily put it off because it was bothersome, he wouldn’t have deleted the account.

Jaemin turned on his cell phone while lying down. The nagging he had heard until his ears wore out—telling him not to fool around on his cell phone—reflexively came to mind, but right now was an emergency situation.

He connected to a social media platform frequented by many peers. Although it was a platform where Jaemin didn’t have an ID, finding the accounts of his classmates wasn’t difficult. Entering the account of the kid he had eaten lunch with today and examining the friend list, he was easily able to find Oh Seungpyo’s account as expected.

Though he said he didn’t do it nowadays because it was bothersome, the most recent post was already about half a year ago. Half a year ago, so… summer. A short video of him playing basketball at an outdoor basketball court that looked like somewhere in a riverside park, not at school, was uploaded.

[Wow, Oh Seungpyo, hey-!]

Having reflexively played the video, Jaemin was startled by the cheering resounding in the quiet room and quickly pressed the mute button. Hurriedly putting the cell phone inside the blanket and holding his breath, he waited for a reaction outside the door, but fortunately, no sound could be heard, as if his parents had also fallen asleep.

Reducing the volume as much as possible, he played the video again. Toward Oh Seungpyo, who shot from afar and succeeded in a goal, the kids were shouting excitedly. It seemed to be the goal deciding victory.

In the post below the video, only a hand-shape emoticon making a V sign was entered. Jaemin scrolled down the screen to see the comments.

Why isn’t your phone working? Type even this and contact me please

Why haven’t you logged in lately, did you quit?

Oh Seung is same as ever

Since you’re out, basketball is no fun

Why did Oh Seungpyo go to an all-boys high school, stupid!

Who shot this for you? Looks fucking cool

The video was already from half a year ago, but comments had been posted up until just yesterday. They were all comments with no particular substance, simply for sharing friendship or greeting.

The photos posted below it were also mostly taken pretending to be extremely cool or taken smiling excitedly. Below a photo taken with two drinks loaded with whipped cream and even plenty of chocolate syrup on top, it was full of nothing but trivial jokes.

Whipped cream fully charged

Why two cups??? Who did you go with

└Older brother…

Is this by any chance mint chocolate? Severing friendship starting today

└Who are you?

Did you like this kind of stuff

└If you’re a man, it’s whipped cream topping

There was also a photo taken wearing a school uniform. Seeing ‘high school uniform’ written in February, it seemed to be a photo taken before entrance. It was a face looking in a good mood. To Oh Seungpyo, entering high school seemed to have been a purely joyful thing.

Looking around further, there were no stories that seemed particularly meaningful. He only wasted time. Just as he was about to turn off the cell phone, a photo caught his eye. It was identical to the sea photo that had been on Oh Seungpyo’s cell phone lock screen.

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean

Wow, where is this?

└Took it on Dad’s ship lol

Jaemin turned off the cell phone. When he set aside the cell phone—whose screen had turned black—onto the nightstand, only the photo of the deep blue sea with rolling waves remained in his field of vision like an afterimage.

If it was the sea, he had been a few times, but the sea set as Oh Seungpyo’s phone lock screen was somehow different. Even though it was merely a still photo, the texture of the waves was vivid, and since it gave a feeling of only the sea being in all directions, no wonder it didn’t look like a photo taken at an ordinary beach.

There was a sea photo on Jaemin’s cell phone as well. It was a photo his older sister had taken and sent when she went on a European trip last year. She said it was a photo taken in Greece, and Jaemin had saved the photo because he definitely wanted to go later when he went to college.

Now it would soon be the 2nd year. Probably this year would be tougher than last year, and next year—the 3rd year—would be even tougher than this year. Still, it was a process everyone else also went through. If he endured well for just two years, Ryu Jaemin could also become an adult, enjoy campus life, go on solo trips, and live on his own moving out of the house.

To do that, he had to settle the matter with Oh Seungpyo before vacation ended.

Showdown

“You still don’t have a phone?”

“Didn’t you say you’re buying a new one? Aren’t you buying it?”

Oh Seungpyo’s friends were now moving past being puzzled and slowly starting to get annoyed.

Several days had passed since Seungpyo’s cell phone went missing. Even if they wanted to play a round of games together, there had to be contact, but as the way to contact the guy who was always the main pillar disappeared, the friends’ inconvenience was no joke.

The most puzzling thing was the attitude of Oh Seungpyo, who acted strangely relaxed while claiming he lost his cell phone. Didn’t he say he hadn’t even tried placing a single call yet, as if he had no mind to look for it, and didn’t he say he would wait because the person who picked it up might come to return it? Even though he said he could just buy a new one if he couldn’t find it, he didn’t seem to have any intention of buying a new cell phone either.

Despite Seungpyo’s dissuasion telling him not to call, one kid stubbornly attempted a phone call, but only a recorded mechanical voice returned saying the phone was turned off. No matter how much they thought about it, it was time for everyone, including the party concerned, to admit that Oh Seungpyo’s cell phone had gone permanently missing.

Without contributing a single cent, one couldn’t tell someone else to buy or not buy an expensive cell phone, but the kids hanging out together, without exception, wished for Oh Seungpyo to prepare a new cell phone quickly. However, Seungpyo was still nonchalant.

“I’m studying hard these days, you know. Do you guys know the term digital detox? Living without a phone seems pretty decent in its own way, too.”

“So you’re continuously not buying it? You’re going to buy it anyway.”

“They say a new model is coming out next month. If I’m going to buy it anyway, I’m thinking of waiting a bit and buying that one.”

“Then you’ll have to wait about two weeks, right?”

As the topic naturally shifted to the specifications of the upcoming new cell phone model, Seungpyo was able to be free for a moment from the nagging to prepare a cell phone quickly.

While leaning his body against the backrest and playing around, gently rocking his chair back and forth with a clatter, the classroom door opened and Class 2 kids walked in. Since English was a moving class, kids from several classes mixed together in one place to take the lesson.

Ryu Jaemin, who walked in mixed with the Class 2 kids, looked around the classroom, then took an empty seat familiarly with the friends who came along with him and prepared for class. In the meantime, Jaemin didn’t look toward Seungpyo’s side even once.

Seungpyo, who had been quiet throughout while the kids chattered about the new cell phone coming out, suddenly raised his voice slightly and said something unrelated.

“I have an unused spare phone, too.”

“Huh? A spare phone? Then you can just activate that one and use it.”