GBAS 57

Jooin

What are you doing? 4:43 PM

“Hyung!”

Startled by the rare first text from Jooin, Hyunwoo’s eyes widened as he shot up from his spot. He was so surprised that even his hands were trembling.

‘Why, why is he asking what I’m doing?’

Does he want to meet right now? In the game? Outside? Or maybe…….

“……At his place?”

Remembering that unforgettable summer night, that heated moment, a blush crept onto Hyunwoo’s cheeks.

Ah, this isn’t the time for this.

Snapping back to his senses, Hyunwoo knelt and held his phone with both hands.

Tap, tap, tap. 

After typing a message, Hyunwoo read and re-read what he had written before pressing the send button.

I’m home 4:48 PM

After sending the message, Hyunwoo immediately ran to his closet.

Screech-! Screech-!

As he slid the closet doors wide open, neatly organized clothes, arranged in the order of the color wheel, were revealed.

“Ah, what color should I wear.”

He had only asked what he was doing, yet Hyunwoo was getting ahead of himself as if they had already made plans, like someone trying to squeeze kimchi juice from unripe kimchi.

Trying on this and that, Hyunwoo, who was deep in thought, picked up his phone again. In times like these, this was the best way.

Opening the horoscope app he had been neglecting lately, Hyunwoo, with a familiar touch, moved the screen to bring up the window he needed. After skipping the ad page, the page for today’s fortune appeared along with a graph for the week.

Even before scrolling down, Hyunwoo checked the two-digit score written in the largest font and muttered in a sunken voice.

“……Fifty, points.”

About half of the vitality that had filled Hyunwoo’s eyes faded away.

Today’s fortune for Mr. [Jeon Hyunwoo] is,

50 points

“A precarious situation is foreseen for today. …See more”

– – – – –

Lucky Item : Go board

Lucky Number : 0, 1

Lucky Color : Silver

Lucky Direction : Northeast

– – – – –

Be careful of this one thing! : Carrots

Hyunwoo, having read the same page from top to bottom about five times, muttered.

“Go board, 0 and 1, silver, northeast, and carrots.”

Okay.

Putting his phone down, Hyunwoo was just about to grab a silver item in front of him when his phone vibrated.

“Waah!”

Opening the screen to check Jooin’s message, Hyunwoo let out a sharp cry.

And for a good reason, because the content of the message was this.

Jooin

Can you talk on the phone? 4:57 PM

Yesyesyesyesyes!

It might not have been faster than light, but anyway, he sent a reply at the fastest speed he could muster. As if he had been waiting for a response, the number next to the message quickly disappeared.

At that moment, as he waited for the call with a pounding heart, Baek Jooin’s name appeared on the screen.

Putting the phone to his ear, Hyunwoo carefully opened his mouth.

“H-Hello?”

But the other side was silent. Why can’t I hear anything? It was when the bewildered Hyunwoo had called Jooin’s name about four or five times.

“……Baek Jooin!”

The muffled sound seemed to open up, and then Jooin’s voice came through.

[Oh, sorry. I was talking for a second. Hold on.]

Hearing Jooin’s voice over the phone had a distinctly different flavor than hearing it in the game.

[……I said wait. ……Yeah.]

Jooin, who seemed to have someone nearby, whispered something and then asked clearly into the receiver.

[Are you busy right now?]

“No? Not at all.”

[Your reply was late.]

I thought I replied right away, did I? Just as Hyunwoo was about to retrace the recent situation, another question was thrown at him.

[Do you have plans tonight?]

Is he really asking me to meet? Swallowing hard, Hyunwoo answered.

“Today, you mean today?”

[Yeah, today. Is it difficult?]

His heart pounded at the voice, which seemed to drag the end of the word a little, and somehow sound a bit disappointed. Hyunwoo shook his head and answered loudly.

“Nothing. I have nothing at all. I’m free for anything.”

[Then, do you want to meet today?]

“…….”

I didn’t expect this to happen. The corners of Hyunwoo’s mouth slowly crept up.

[If you can’t, then-.]

“No, I can. I can. Totally can. Of course, I can.”

Why is he so impatient? He had only answered, but he was already out of breath. He was on pins and needles with Jooin acting like a balloon that would fly away if he didn’t grab it quickly enough.

As if he found my breathless reply funny, a faint laugh came from over the receiver. Shortly after, Jooin spoke.

[I’ll text you the address.]

“Okay.”

[See you later.]

The call ended without delay, but Jooin’s last words floated around in Hyunwoo’s ears. Hyunwoo dropped the hand holding the phone and beamed at his reflection in the mirror.

Then he shouted.

“Ha. Today’s fortune, 50 points? Don’t make me laugh. Today is my-!”

Hyunwoo, who was confidently raising both hands, spotted something and gasped as if he had seen a ghost.

Go board, 0 and 1, silver, northeast, and carrots. Go board, 0 and 1, silver, northeast, and carrots.

“…….”

Hyunwoo, who was reciting today’s keywords in his head, dropped what he was holding with a thud.

👾🎮

It was bothersome enough already, but seeing it with his own eyes made it even more uncomfortable.

“Wow, this is seriously insane.”

“I know, right. How can you even choose.”

“When I posted this on my Insta story, Oh Hyungsik asked me if I got a job at a company.”

“Oh Hyungsik did? That’s hilarious.”

Three men, huddled together on a single-person sofa, were grinning while holding a stack of printouts. They were engaged in a meaningless debate, saying things like, “Is this one good?”, “What about that one?”, “I like them all.” And behind them stood Baek Jooin.

Just then, the practice room door opened and someone walked in.

“Hey, Jooin! What the hell happened?”

The man, who spoke in a friendly tone, slung an arm around Jooin’s neck and shook him gently.

When the man pretended to use force, Jooin laughed and poked his solar plexus with his elbow, speaking as if annoyed.

“Ah, get off me.”

“Don’t want to. Keke.”

The sight of their enviably close relationship left him speechless.

What is this feeling? Envy? Jealousy? Annoyance? Anger?

Whatever the name of the emotion, it was there. To the point of making his stomach churn.

Hyunwoo, sitting alone in the middle of a wide three-seater sofa, clenched the fists resting on his knees. The skin around the rings on his knuckles turned white.

One of the men gathered on the sofa chattered in an excited voice.

“So, so. What did that bastard Oh Hyungsik say?”

This was Baek Jooin’s neighborhood, where his house was. And this was the underground practice room used by Baek Jooin’s band, Girina.

Located on the second basement floor of a seven-story building, the unique musty smell common to basement commercial buildings faintly floated in the air.

First, let’s examine the walls.

The soundproofing materials attached to each wall were of different types. On some parts, there were dark-colored sponges with a wave pattern, and on others, there were wrinkled paper egg cartons. Seeing that even the same sponges and egg cartons had slightly different colors, it was presumed that they were installed at different times.

On the floor, there were a bunch of strange carpets that looked like they hadn’t been washed in who knows how long. Some were so black that it was impossible to guess their original color, suggesting they had been layered one on top of another, much like wallpapering over old wallpaper in an old house.

The thing he was sitting on was a black leather sofa that, at a glance, looked older than him. Its surface, having lost all its luster due to lack of care, was rough and extremely dry.

The person who had guided him here said this was the best seat in the practice room. He seemed to be right; when he lifted his head, he could see the instruments set up in their respective sections beyond the knee-high sofa table.

From the far left, there was a guitar, a bass, drums, another guitar, and finally, a keyboard.

Now, let’s match the players to their instruments in reverse order.

The person who played the keyboard with a jet-black body and red accents was the man sitting on the right wing of the sofa. His name was Im Jihwan. It turned out he was a composition major at the same university’s music school as him.

The three guitars set up next to it belonged to the man called the band’s frontman. The frontman was sitting on the corner of the sofa table. As the person who took up the most screen time in every video he watched to find Jooin, his face was the most familiar. His name was Yoon Suchan, and his position in the band was rhythm guitar, which enriched the melody, and vocals. He had naturally assumed he would be a music major, but his major was, unexpectedly, creative writing.

Next was the instrument that took up the most space, the drums. The acrylic drum shield surrounding the instrument was impressive. The drummer of this band was the shortest man among them, Han Taeil, who was sitting in the middle of that sofa. He was also said to be attending the practical music department at the same university.

It was certain that the guitar on the far left was Jooin’s.

“…….”

Hyunwoo’s gaze fell upon the four-stringed instrument standing between the guitar and the drums.