JKA 40

“What are you trying to say, dragging this on for so long?”

“I intend to request a change in your assignment.”

1129 looked at 17 with a surprised expression at his sudden words, and at that sight, 17 was convinced.

“Return to the Decision Archive.”

“…”

“It seems this job doesn’t suit you.”

Buzz, buzz.

The cell phone in his pocket vibrated and lit up repeatedly. Jiwoon, who had been holed up in his blanket fort and had abruptly fallen asleep, pushed his eyelids open and fumbled in his pocket. Then, he took out his phone and checked it with a squint, and the name Hanbyeol caught his eye.

At this, Jiwoon threw off the blanket and sat up. The light that poured in was harsh because he had been burying his face in the blanket. In the end, he answered the phone with a raspy voice, unable to even open his eyes properly.

“Yeah…”

—Sorry, were you sleeping?

“Ah, uh, ju, just a moment.”

Jiwoon cleared his throat, briefly took the phone away from his ear to check the time, and was startled. It was 10 minutes before the start of the afternoon lecture he had to attend. The problem was that he had lain down in a fit of anger and fallen asleep, so he hadn’t set an alarm.

—You were dozing off on the bus, too. You must not have slept well.

“Yeah, I guess I was, because it was awkward.”

—I guess so. Ah, then it’ll be hard to get in without being noticed.

What was this about now? Jiwoon narrowed his brow. Where was he supposed to enter without being noticed? In the first place, he wasn’t a conspicuous person. If so, he couldn’t understand what he was talking about at all. So Jiwoon called out to Hanbyeol, who seemed to be muttering something in a troubled manner.

“Ha, Hanbyeol. What does that mean…”

—You know that thing, right? Cam-Ta.

“I know… th, that app.”

He was talking about an application called ‘Campus Time’ that only university students could use. It was a kind of community where all sorts of stories were posted, but Jiwoon only had the app and didn’t go in to look at it often. It was because stories that interested him didn’t really get posted.

—Sigh… It seems a story about you got posted there. Remember that day we talked, when you came out of your liberal arts class.

“Ah…”

It was the day Jiwoon had run away the moment he saw Hanbyeol, leading to an absurd chase. He had fallen then, so he wondered if a story about that had been posted. But Hanbyeol’s voice didn’t seem like he was talking about such a light incident. He continued after another deep sigh.

—It seems we stood out too much then. I really didn’t know it would turn out like this. Anyway, make sure to wear a hat when you come. And a mask if you can. No, wait, would wearing a mask and a hat make you stand out more?

Contrary to Jiwoon’s wish for a detailed explanation of what was going on, Hanbyeol just kept rambling on with things he couldn’t understand. In the end, Jiwoon, who had been listening quietly, cut Hanbyeol off mid-sentence.

“Wait, just tell me what was posted first.”

At those words, Hanbyeol seemed to come to his senses and opened his mouth, saying he was sorry.

—This… it might not be that serious, but I thought you’d feel burdened. It’s a story about you, about your face.

“Huh?”

—It’s a bit funny to say it all of a sudden. Anyway, everyone’s going crazy saying you’re handsome.

“…What are you talking about.”

Jiwoon was seriously waiting for Hanbyeol’s story. Had he caused some major trouble without knowing it, or had someone written a post about how his gloomy demeanor was suspicious? He had imagined all sorts of things, but what came out of Hanbyeol’s mouth was completely unexpected.

—At first, it was about you and me fighting in the hallway or something. Then people started asking who we were, what department we were in, and then it came to talking about your face. Anyway, it seems it ended up being about who you and I are.

“I, I don’t really get it. N, not you, but me?”

Since they had drawn quite a bit of attention, it was possible that people were asking in real time what they were doing, what department they were in. All sorts of things were posted on the Cam-Ta free board, so it was perfectly plausible. But there was a part that didn’t make sense. Why would a story about him being handsome suddenly come up?

“Isn’t that story about you…”

Jiwoon said in a disbelieving voice. You know it, I know it, everyone knows Hanbyeol is handsome, so if it were to become a topic of conversation, the main character should be Hanbyeol, not him. Thinking back to that moment, the hood he had been wearing had only been off for a moment, so this story made no sense at all. But Hanbyeol’s voice coming through was very firm.

—No, it’s you.

“…”

—I’m telling you, they asked me if it was you. I don’t know how they knew it was you, but they swarmed me… Anyway, so you’ve become the target.

“Ta, target?”

—You remember, right? The department club.

Hanbyeol lowered his voice to a whisper. He remembered. Just yesterday, he had told him that they kept pestering Hanbyeol to be an actor. Moreover, he had jokingly told him to be careful.

—They asked me for your contact info, so I ran away like crazy. Ah, there’s not much time left before class, I talked for too long. You really need to brace yourself when you come. Those sunbaes have completely lost their minds.

Hanbyeol warned him to be careful a few more times and then hung up. Jiwoon just held his phone and blinked with a blank expression. Even if he said to be careful, he couldn’t understand the situation that had occurred in the first place, so he had no idea what he was supposed to be careful about.

Deciding he needed to grasp the truth of the incident first, Jiwoon quickly opened the Cam-Ta app. But because it was a board where all sorts of stories were posted nonstop, it wasn’t easy to find the story about himself. He had no idea what keywords to search for, so it was truly like finding a needle in a haystack.

After looking at the board for a long time, Jiwoon finally gave up and looked up. Was Hanbyeol playing a joke on him? Thinking about it, it seemed possible. Nothing had happened the very next day, so for it to become a hot topic today and for them to swarm him seemed a bit illogical.

Was he just making a silly joke? Since they had gotten closer, couldn’t that be the case? Since he had mentioned it as a joke at night, he might just be teasing him for fun. Thinking this, Jiwoon felt it was both absurd and funny, so he first got up, quickly washed his face and brushed his teeth, and changed his clothes.

Since he had woken up 10 minutes before class and had even been on the phone with Hanbyeol, being late was a given. So Jiwoon finished getting ready at a leisurely pace and picked up his bag. Then, as he was about to leave his studio, he stopped, took off his shoes again, went back inside, and put on a hat. At that moment, the clothing rack full of clothes caught his eye, and he thought of 1129, but he deliberately erased the thought and turned around.

‘Thanks to that, I’m not having other thoughts.’

Jiwoon muttered to himself and left the house. He probably hadn’t made the joke knowing this, but thanks to Hanbyeol, he was glad he could think less about 1129. If he hadn’t been woken up by Hanbyeol’s call, all sorts of thoughts would have spiraled, starting from the fact that 1129 wasn’t home.

Jiwoon quietly entered through the back door of the lecture hall where class had already started and was able to sit in the very back seat without any incident, making Hanbyeol’s worries seem baseless. It might have been because the lecture was already in progress, but the few department students who had looked back quickly turned to the front without any particular expression.

Jiwoon was convinced that Hanbyeol had made a funny joke. Why would there be such a fuss over this face? If they really did ask Hanbyeol all sorts of things, it wouldn’t have been because he was handsome, but to ask what was going on between the two of them, if they had been fighting. Jiwoon just thought that Hanbyeol had exaggerated it to tease him.

However, as Jiwoon was trying his best to concentrate on the lecture, around the time it was ending, he suddenly became curious as to why Hanbyeol would make such a joke. After thinking about it for a moment, Jiwoon ended up starting to dig through the posts on the app. After repeatedly searching with various words, Jiwoon suddenly discovered a post with an unusually large number of comments and a catchy title.

‘Isn’t this my building?’

Jiwoon thought as he clicked on the post. The title clearly had the name of the building he lived in, ‘Paradise Villa,’ written on it.

Anonymous
04/01 19:25
My studio landlord told me not to pay rent
Says some scholarship came in, does anyone know what bullshit this is

👍 36 🗨 22 ⭐ 168

Anonymous1
Midterms are definitely not far off
04/01 19:27 👍 7

Anonymous (OP)
Seriously it’s Paradise Villa is there anyone living nearby?
04/01 19:27

Anonymous1
They’d be in paradise you moron;
04/01 19:28

Anonymous (OP)
Not paying rent is heaven on earth so it eases my guilt
04/01 19:28

Anonymous1
The midterm talent that spreads like a plague
04/01 19:31

Anonymous2
There’s still a lot of time left, don’t give up. They won’t refund your rent even if you drop out.
04/01 19:28 👍 1

Anonymous (OP)
No I’m serious
04/01 19:29

Anonymous2
You think it’s easy to get on the hot posts list?
04/01 19:31

Anonymous (OP)
Please is there seriously no one living in Paradise Villa? They said only the 456th floors get it
04/01 19:31 👍 11

Anonymous3
They’re using a 456-story building as a studio apartment? How much money are they raking in lolololololololololololol
04/01 19:32

Anonymous4
At that height there’s no oxygen so you don’t need rent. A true paradise.
04/01 19:33

Anonymous5
Landlord: The oxygen is a waste so get out! OP: U_U What kind of scholarship is this?
04/01 19:34

Anonymous (OP)
It’s the 4th, 5th, and 6th floors you crazy bastards are having a field day
04/01 19:34

Anonymous6
Oxygen disqualification scholarship
04/01 19:35

Anonymous7
The name of the world’s tallest something is Paradise Villa? This is a real talent lol
04/01 19:36

Anonymous8
This is real I got an exemption
04/01 19:42 👍 11

Anonymous (OP)
From the military?
04/01 19:43

Anonymous8
You wanna fight?
04/01 19:44

Anonymous (OP)
Ah finally found someoneㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠDo you know what scholarship it is?
04/01 19:47

Anonymous8
I don’t know about the scholarship but I was originally planning to move out but they told me not to pay rent so I’m not leaving The sex sounds were so fucking bad I was on the verge of a mental breakdown but I’ve suddenly become calm They said they’d pay for moving expenses if I wanted but thinking about it it seems like something I can just endure
04/01 19:52

Anonymous4
?
04/01 19:53

Anonymous9
?
04/01 19:53

Paradise Villa, 4th floor, 5th floor, 6th floor. Each word somehow seemed to be closing in on Jiwoon. And then, the moment he deciphered the initialisms for ‘sex sounds,’ Jiwoon’s head shot up, his face pale. It was the moment suspicion turned into certainty. This was definitely about him. The one living on the 5th floor of Paradise Villa, the lewd noise-maker, was none other than Myeong Jiwoon.