NCBF Ch 10

Yuwon, who moved his steps while watching Hyun Gyujin holding down the button so the door wouldn’t close, took a deep breath in and let it out. Yesterday’s incident was a dream, and this right now was reality. That meant he couldn’t ruin his reality over something like a dream that held no power. Yuwon nodded his head while holding the bag straps slung over his shoulders with both hands.

“What are you doing, by yourself. What are you nodding like that for.”

The voice echoed near his ear. The moment Yuwon, taken by surprise, reflexively turned his head, his nose tip brushed against Hyun Gyujin, who was approaching to rest his chin on Yuwon’s shoulder.

Yuwon, startled, pulled his body sharply away. Hyun Gyujin, who was likewise surprised, also took a step back.

“Ah, you scared me.”

“Wh-What the! You startled me.”

“Isn’t it because you turned around suddenly.”

“That’s because you spoke strangely in… in my ear.”

“Then who told you to mutter to yourself.”

If he was lucky, their noses touched, but if the angle had been slightly, really just slightly different, it was a big accident where their lips could have touched. Yuwon didn’t retort further, firmly shut his mouth, got off the elevator, and exited the apartment’s main entrance.

“Hey, is that something to pout about?”

“I’m not pouting. I’m just going to school.”

“It’s not like we kissed or anything, what’s the big deal. And what if it was a kiss anyway. You kissed me every day when you were little.”

“That’s…!”

Yuwon, who turned his head around while looking back to refute, lost his will to refute seeing Hyun Gyujin grinning wide. Also, because what Hyun Gyujin said was true, he didn’t have much to say in particular. Thanks to his mom and dad teaching him at home that kissing is what you do when you like someone, Yuwon used to kiss Hyun Gyujin really often too. When Hyun Gyujin shared snacks, he kissed him to say thank you, and when playing together was fun, he kissed him too. Only later, after hearing a slightly more detailed explanation from his mom about what a kiss meant, did he stop kissing.

“Anyway… don’t do things like earlier all of a sudden. I was startled when you did that at school yesterday too….”

“At school?”

“…After homeroom ended.”

“I don’t remember.”

Hyun Gyujin didn’t even remember it, yet he was caring about it all by himself like this and feeling uncomfortable…. Somehow his pride was a bit hurt. If he only knew how it came to be like this, and what was going to happen with this in the future, at least he would feel relieved, but because nothing was visible clearly, he felt so suffocated.

“Got it. I’ll be careful. Why are you acting scary. Ah, give me your bag.”

Before he could say he was fine, the bag was slung over Hyun Gyujin’s shoulder. In the place where the bag strap disappeared, an arm was set, and below the shoulder, a hand hung down. Yuwon, who glanced at Hyun Gyujin’s dangling hand, bit down hard on the inside of his lip again. Yesterday, this hand had touched places like his face and the back of his neck. In reality and in his dreams.

“…”

The feeling of going inside his T-shirt and tightly gripping his waist was still vivid. Because of that, a strange thing happened for no reason, and to calm that sensation down, he really had to stay curled up for a long time. Yuwon pinched the back of Hyun Gyujin’s hand, which was playfully kneading his cheek, without causing pain.

“Got it, got it.”

Hyun Gyujin, who let go of the hand kneading his cheek, pressed down on Yuwon’s head with his palm this time.

“Don’t do that, my height will get shorter.”

“You were short to begin with.”

“It’s because you kept pressing down on it since we were little.”

“You missed out on growing because you were spacing out. Missing the timing because you were spacing out even at moments when you should grow tall.”

“Sheesh….”

“Look at you throwing a temper. I’m scared.”

Yuwon, who pulled down Hyun Gyujin’s hand pressing on his head, lightly arranged his flattened hair. Seeing Yuwon becoming even more disheveled the more he did that, looking like a dandelion seed, Hyun Gyujin burst into laughter.

“Why?”

“You look like you’re gonna fly away with your hair.”

Hyun Gyujin’s hand came back up over his head. This time, an affectionate touch stripped of playfulness followed. Yuwon secretly captured in his eyes Hyun Gyujin’s face, which was engrossed in slowly stroking and arranging his hair.

“…”

The sound of his bangs swaying in the cold morning wind, his school uniform shirt that always had a few buttons undone over his T-shirt, and his good scent that smelled even stronger today were all reasons for his trembling. Very minor and obvious things that he had never attached any meaning to until now had begun to be seen by both eyes and heard by both ears since yesterday, carrying meaning in everything.

What do I seriously do about myself?

Along with the question that still couldn’t find an answer. Yuwon really wanted to cry.

∞ ∞ ∞

While he was doing his academy homework, a chair in front of him dragged with a clatter. Yuwon raised his head and looked alternately at Kim Junjae and Choi Haeyoung, who were sitting in front of him. They were in the same class, and although they talked often because of Hyun Gyujin, they were kids who felt more like ‘Hyun Gyujin’s friends’ rather than his own friends.

“Hyun Gyujin got dragged off to the faculty office.”

“Why?”

“Got caught for his piercing.”

“Ah…. He didn’t have it on in the morning though.”

“He got caught right after putting it on. Literally in a minute. Fucking hilarious, seriously.”

Yuwon, looking at the two who were laughing when the kid was dragged off to the faculty office to get scolded, read the problem again and checked the answer. He had hardly ever been together with just these two without Hyun Gyujin, so honestly it was a bit awkward.

“Did you say you and Hyun were kindergarten friends?”

“No, I heard they knew each other before that. They said they even did prenatal care together.”

“What. So only Hyun didn’t get any prenatal care effect. If they did the same prenatal care, shouldn’t the two be similar?”

Yuwon, who checked the answer to the last problem, closed the workbook and looked at Kim Junjae again. He felt glances directed toward this side from around him. At any rate, since there were kids who belonged to the group that messed around and himself who didn’t, it seemed he looked as if he were caught in a troubling situation.

“There are a lot of things similar between Hyun Gyujin and me.”

“Really? It fucking looks like there’s zero.”

“Really? Does it look like that?”

“Yeah. Starting from your personalities, they’re fucking different. I’m curious how a kid like you can keep hanging out with a kid like Hyun.”

“Hyun Gyujin is kind.”

Yuwon, looking alternately at Choi Haeyoung and Kim Junjae who became blank for a moment at his answer, tilted his head looking at the two who suddenly burst into laughter. He couldn’t really understand why they were laughing since earlier or what on earth they were curious about.

“Hyun Gyujin is kind? Ah, well. Because he treats you well. So why does he treat you well? Spacey-Yuwon, do you study at school and then tie up Hyun Gyujin and beat him when you go home?”

“Ah, fuck. You crazy bastard. Hilarious as hell. I can’t fucking imagine it.”

Yuwon thought that although Hyun Gyujin had a lot of playfulness, he was a quite warm and affectionate friend. Of course, he also knew that he was the only one in the whole school who thought of Hyun Gyujin that way. In other people’s eyes, he would look like a kid who was more rowdy, abrasive, and scary than Kim Junjae or Choi Haeyoung in front of his eyes right now. Because even Kim Junjae and Choi Haeyoung, who were known as kids who messed around quite a bit, couldn’t talk back to Hyun Gyujin at important moments.

Not only that, but even kids who actually wielded violence and acted like thugs didn’t mess with Hyun Gyujin. It was because of that ‘PE equipment room incident’ that happened not long after entering school.

The beginning of that incident was very simple. For the reason that he didn’t bow his head and greet bad-natured 2nd-year seniors politely, Hyun Gyujin was called to the PE equipment room after school. Unlike what they expected—thinking that if he faced a multi-versus-one situation like that, he would naturally bow his head—Hyun Gyujin stood with his head held stiffly high the entire time, and as expected, profanity and violence began to fly around.

However, those seniors didn’t know that Hyun Gyujin liked learning sports since he was young, mastering everything from Taekwondo to Kendo, boxing, and Jiu-Jitsu. It meant that dealing with punks who just acted rowdy and swung fists to overpower with strength was no trouble at all.

On that day, Hyun Gyujin easily subdued just two people and waited for the next, but no one rushed in, so he said he just left the equipment room leisurely. Ever since then, Hyun Gyujin was known among them as a psycho, and he didn’t get involved in any fights.

The only person who could hit, scold, and push away such a Hyun Gyujin was Yuwon. To Yuwon, it was not a difficult or special thing at all, but to everyone except Yuwon, it couldn’t help but feel truly fascinating.

“Spacey-Yuwon, you go to academy today, right.”

“Yeah. How did you know?”

“Hyun Gyujin calls us only on days you go to academy. Saying let’s play games until it’s time for your academy to end. We’re your stand-ins.”