HYUNG 2

Twenty-two. When was I twenty-two? Of course, I was twenty-two three years ago, but I couldn’t remember it well, as if it were the distant past. What was I doing back then? Ah, I think I was in the United States.

“I’m not that young.”

I personally like being told I’m young. The guy didn’t seem to like it, as his expression wasn’t great. Well, I suppose when you’re actually young, you don’t really like being told you’re young. I handed the drink that had come out in the meantime to the boy, who was looking sullen.

“Drink up.”

As the cold object was pressed into his hand, his face, with eyes wide open in surprise, looked even younger. When I chuckled without realizing it, the tips of his ears flushed red.

“I knew it, Hyung, you…”

“Let’s go. It’s hot.”

I walked ahead. The guy, who followed behind with quick, pitter-patter steps, stood beside me and kept glancing at me while fidgeting with his lips.

“Do you have something to say?”

“…Well, Hyung. There’s still some time left until class… Can’t we go for a walk? …Walking is good for preventing diabetes, and, and…!”

“Sure. Let’s do it, the walk.”

I wonder if that was something to hesitate so much about before saying. Am I difficult to be around? Am I a scary senior? There’s a three-year age difference, but at most, I’m only a senior by one class year. On top of that, I’m a fossil who just returned to school this semester and doesn’t know anyone.

As if a walk were really a big deal, the guy beamed at me as I nodded. With his eyes curving into circles and the corners of his mouth lifting up, he looked like he didn’t have a single sharp edge to him. Where did I really see him? There’s no way I wouldn’t remember a face like this. Because he looks exactly like someone I’d want to draw.

With his wavy hair that looked as if he’d gotten a perm, his appearance looked like something out of a statue of David or an ancient Greek sculpture. Perhaps he had put effort into it since it was the start of the semester; his hair was well-styled, and he was wearing a white Oxford shirt, brown chino pants, and a beige checkered jacket. It was a standard outfit, but perhaps because everything was well-ironed, he looked like an office worker with something important ahead of him. His long limbs made him look particularly stylish, too. His shoulders were quite broad as well. As I kept watching him, he looked exactly like… if he had been born in the Renaissance era, he would have become a muse for countless painters and sculptors and given birth to all sorts of masterpieces.

“Hyung… Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re really handsome. Or should I say pretty? Beautiful?”

Even though I could see the guy was nervous, I didn’t stop and continued to examine his face. Wow, this guy’s eyelashes are incredibly thick and long, too.

“Am I… beautiful?”

“Yeah. It seems so. Is it embarrassing?”

“No…”

Judging by his bright red face, he seemed quite embarrassed, but the guy just shook his head. Beautiful. Since it’s an expression that seems like it belongs in a book, it’s actually funny to me, the one who said it.

“Hyung is… beautiful too…!”

“Right. Thanks.”

He’s a very kind kid. Repaying a compliment with a compliment. Hearing the word “beautiful” directly is even funnier. As I chuckled, the guy frowned slightly and said it again. Hyung, you’re really, truly beautiful, he said. When I didn’t answer and just laughed louder, the guy raised his voice as if he were frustrated.

“Hyung, really! I said you’re incredibly beautiful! Out of everyone I’ve seen so far! You’re the most beautiful!”

“Hey. People are watching.”

It was loud enough that people walking by turned around in surprise. Even while shrinking his shoulders and covering his mouth, the guy kept mumbling as if he still had lingering regrets.

“Really… You are beautiful…”

“Okay, okay. Thanks. For saying I’m beautiful.”

When I patted his back a few times, the guy shrank his body even more. Does he hate being touched? Since we aren’t that close, it might be unpleasant to have someone touching him like that. I mouthed a small “sorry.” The guy shook his head back and forth. His face was still beet red. It makes sense. Since he had been shouting that some male senior was beautiful in the middle of a building.

“Let’s just get going. If we want to walk and then go back in, we have to leave now.”

“Okaay…”

I finally took a sip of the drink I ordered and moved my feet toward the exit. Wow, even after returning after a long time, this Oreo shake taste is the same. This sweet taste with sugar dumped into it. It felt like my mind would snap awake if I drank this after chugging coffee with four shots in it while exhausted from assignments.

I moved my feet toward a different college building instead of the fine arts building. The fine arts building was in the most secluded spot, so it wasn’t good for walking. As I walked quietly along the path planted with tall sycamore trees, it finally felt real that I had returned to school. Now I’ll have to do nothing but assignments until I die. It looks like I’ll be doing overnight work every day and smelling nothing but the scent of oil in the workshop. That scent that feels like your lungs will rot instantly if you smell it for even one second.

“You have something stuck here.”

I looked at the guy who had been quietly following behind. There was a bit of white cream stuck on the chin of the guy who had opened the drink lid and taken a bite of the whipped cream. I tapped my own chin a few times to let him know, but the guy kept rubbing only the wrong spots.

“No, here.”

Feeling frustrated, I reached out and wiped it for him instead. His skin is incredibly soft. I was momentarily surprised at the inappropriate timing and then remembered too late. Ah, I thought he didn’t really like being touched. It was like that earlier, and it was like that now. No one had even raised a fist, yet seeing him flinch his shoulders and squeeze his eyes shut made me feel a bit sorry.

“I just wanted to wipe the cream off. Did it make you feel bad? Sorry.”

“It didn’t…! Make me feel bad. It doesn’t make me feel bad…”

Liar. You look like you feel very bad. Your face turned bright red again. Unless one is holding back anger, a person’s face couldn’t possibly turn that red. I took another sip of the drink and asked, borrowing the strength of the sugar.

“Am I difficult to be around? No, I just thought that since I’m quite a bit older and just returned to school, it might be difficult for juniors.”

I had intended to attend school quietly to avoid being called a “oldie,” but I became cautious thinking I might have acted exactly like the people I hated back when I was a freshman. But the guy suddenly shouted as if he were angry.

“Hyung, you’re not that old. You’re not! What’s so much about a three-year difference? They say even a four-year difference, which is one year more than three, is an age gap where you don’t even need to check for marital compatibility. And what’s so old about twenty-five? It’s not old at all!”

I don’t think the saying about a four-year difference being perfect for compatibility is supposed to be used here, but I’m just grateful he’s denying it so fervently. Objectively, I know twenty-five is a young age, but I meant it was old by university student standards; was this really something to get so worked up about? I made a gesture of lowering my palms. It meant for him to calm down. With his face still beet red, the guy swallowed hard, took a sip of his drink, and then said in a much calmer voice.

“And… Hyung doing skinship… I don’t hate it, but… I think the progress is too fast, so that’s why, a little…”

The guy’s words were buried by someone else’s shout.

“Oh, Ham Dowon!”

“…Ah.”

The expression on the guy, who had been mumbling with his lips, changed when he discovered someone waving from far away. Suddenly pulling down the corners of his mouth that had been lifted, the guy stared at the other person expressionlessly. Since he had been smiling slightly and his eyes would crinkle softly every time our gazes met, I thought he was someone who smiled a lot by nature. When his mouth suddenly hardened and a slight wrinkle formed between his brows, he transformed into quite a cold and chilly impression.

“Hey, Ham Dowon! Aren’t you taking your major?”

A man with a short, stout, and slightly chubby build tapped the guy’s arm. The guy frowned slightly as if he were displeased.

“I’m only taking double major classes this term.”

“Ah, what’s your double major?”

“Department of Plastic Arts.”

“The fine arts college? Why the fine arts college?”

“Do I have to tell you that too?”

“Ah… Well, I guess not. Anyway, see you later.”

The man tapped the guy’s back a few times without any tact and then waved his hand as he walked away. The guy did not wave back.

By the way, I finally found out this guy’s name. Ham Dowon. It’s a nice name. It suited him perfectly. But I couldn’t act like it was the first time I was hearing it. I beamed as if I had known it for a long time.

“Ah, Dowon-ah. You were from a different department. I thought you were a junior from our department.”

I thought his face was unfamiliar for a reason; no matter how much I just returned to school, there are faces you see coming and going, so there was no way I could be this ignorant. But the guy had an expression as if to say, “What are you talking about?”

“Hyung, you’re joking, right?”

“What?”