Wooyeon fell asleep feeling good for the first time in a while. There were no nightmares, and he didn’t toss or turn or wake up in the middle of the night like usual. After slipping into a brief nap on the soft and warm sheets, he simply sank into the endless abyss of unconsciousness.
What woke Wooyeon from such a state was the vibrating sound near his head. Zing, zing—the vibrating sound resonated through the deep sleep Wooyeon was in. Initially, he tried to ignore it, but the vibrations persisted.
“Ugh….”
Wooyeon made a groaning sound, fumbling to grab his phone. Without checking the screen, he pressed it to his ear, and an overly cheerful voice echoed. It was a familiar call that Wooyeon couldn’t ignore.
―[Woo―yeon!]
Wooyeon, forgetting to respond, checked the screen. Above the name saved as ‘Danny,’ a number indicating 9 AM was displayed. Calling at such an early hour, his friend clearly had no idea what time it was in Korea.
[Danny… Do you know what time it is here now?]
-[Of course! Isn’t it 9 AM there?]
[I know, but did you have to call?]
Wooyeon rubbed his neck with a puzzled expression. After a few fake coughs, his voice improved slightly. However, his stiff eyelids still showed no sign of waking up.
―[You were sleeping? At this hour?]
[Usually, I’m asleep at…9 AM on Saturdays.]
Wooyeon mumbled a response, lowering the phone after putting it to his ear. With his eyes closed, it was the perfect environment to fall back asleep. If Danny hadn’t continued talking on the phone, Wooyeon might have dozed off again.
―[Wake up. I have important news.]
[Tell me… I’m listening.]
―[Liar.]
Though it was true, Wooyeon didn’t show it. After insisting it was real a couple of times, Danny finally spoke in a cheerful voice.
―[I’m coming to your country this summer.]
[…Summer?]
There were at least three months before summer came. It didn’t seem valuable enough to wake someone up from their sleep. Perhaps noticing Wooyeon’s lukewarm reaction, Danny grumbled in dissatisfaction.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
―[What’s wrong, not happy? I’m coming to see you.]
[Coming to see me? Not just for a trip?]
―[It’s a bit of both.]
[Let’s go with that.]
Wooyeon smiled faintly, agreeing to go along with it. Just like Wooyeon did earlier, this time Danny emphasized three times that it was indeed true.
―[Anyway, if I come, can you accommodate me?]
[At my place? Instead of booking a hotel?]
―[I want to experience staying in an ordinary Korean household.]
[Well, that’s… not difficult.]
Wooyeon’s house was far from an ‘ordinary household,’ but Danny had no way of knowing that. Wooyeon suggested that he should let him know once he reserved the flight.
―[Clear your schedule. Got it?]
[I’ll try…. I’m hanging up now. I’m sleepy.]
Before Daniel could respond, Wooyeon abruptly ended the call. He placed the phone face down and closed his eyes again, welcoming the drowsiness that gently enveloped him. However, this time, Wooyeon couldn’t fall asleep.
“Do you want to sleep more?”
“…”
A familiar voice shattered the drowsiness. It was different from the conversation Wooyeon had with Daniel on the phone. Feeling his mind clearing up, Wooyeon suddenly sat up.
“Sunbae…?”
Dohyun was standing in front of the door with his arms crossed. He wore a white undershirt with sportswear and a towel draped over his shoulders. Wooyeon, wide-eyed, looked around in confusion.
“…”
An unfamiliar ceiling, an unfamiliar bed, furniture he had never seen before, and Dohyun’s pheromones lingering in the air.
A series of events passed like a panorama. He drank the shot that Minjeong had given him, Dohyun left to smoke, and he even called Minjeong ‘Noona’ at one point.
“…!”
Wooyeon opened his mouth in shock, running a hand through his hair. He didn’t have to think very hard to understand the situation. He could also figure out why he was lying on Dohyun’s bed.
“Uh….”
His gaze wandered frantically around the room. Although he opened his mouth briefly, no words came out. When Wooyeon couldn’t find the words, Dohyun raised the corner of his mouth.
“Remember?”
Wooyeon couldn’t react immediately and shut his mouth. The sheet he was lying on felt as messy as his thoughts. Embarrassment, shame, and a bit of guilt – amidst these emotions, he managed to squeeze out one word.
“No.”
His pale face turned red up to his neck. Dohyun, seemingly helpless in the face of the blushing appearance, swept his hair back.
“Wash up. You need to sober up.”
Saying this, Dohyun left the room. Only Wooyeon was left alone on the messy bed, covering his head with his hands, and let out a silent scream. He couldn’t bring himself to face Dohyun.
***
Once Wooyeon regained his composure, he immediately headed home. The midterm exams were over, and there was a group project to be done. Plus, he felt awkward seeing Dohyun’s face. Despite Dohyun urging him to eat breakfast before he left, Wooyeon declined with various excuses. Observing Wooyeon’s response, Dohyun smiled a little mischievously.
After returning home, Wooyeon quickly washed up and shook off any lingering thoughts. Making mistakes while intoxicated and not remembering them during an MT party was one thing, but waking up on Dohyun’s bed was another. A mix of joy for having visited the teacher’s house and regret for not avoiding alcohol clashed in his mind. The overwhelming sense of embarrassment made it impossible for him to lift his head.
“…I need to pull myself together.”
Wooyeon forced himself to clear his mind and left the bathroom. Although his thoughts were still tangled, now wasn’t the time to dwell on them. Since Dohyun didn’t mention anything specific, he had to focus on what needed to be done.
First, he checked the project group chat. Since the day of the idea meeting, the chat had been silent, and only Wooyeon’s notes on the meeting were posted. Despite leaving his email address with a request to send the PPT, he didn’t expect to receive a reply.
‘I need to find the materials first.’
With the assignment presentation for the liberal arts class only five days away, there was already a tight schedule for preparations. The chances of receiving the PPT within the remaining five days were close to zero. As if to prove this, there were no read receipts in the group chat, and no one seemed to respond.
Well, this situation wasn’t entirely unfamiliar. Even during middle school, Wooyeon often took on group assignments alone. From researching materials to creating the PPT and delivering the presentation, even if the group wasn’t particularly cooperative, the students who ignored Wooyeon under Junseong’s watchful eyes were apparent.
Aware that it was Wooyeon’s work, the teacher pretended not to know and divided the scores among everyone. Rather than facing complaints from other students, sacrificing the relatively quiet Wooyeon seemed like a better option to the teacher. In reality, Wooyeon completed the performance assessment without any objections, making it an outwardly peaceful outcome.
‘I’ll just do it alone.’
Wooyeon’s hand holding the mouse moved busily. He outlined the structure, found various materials, and created a neat template. Thanks to making all sorts of PPTs throughout middle school, he could create one almost effortlessly. Given the tight schedule, implementing any inventions might be challenging, but if he presented it well, he could at least secure a B.
To say he didn’t feel wronged would be a lie, but unexpected as it was, this wasn’t entirely unforeseen. Since the first group presentation, Wooyeon had a gut feeling that he would eventually have to do everything alone. Therefore, he didn’t actively assert himself and refrained from scolding the unenthusiastic team members.
‘I was a bit curious about the teacher’s house, though…’
While clicking the mouse, thoughts of Dohyun came to Wooyeon’s mind. It was his first time visiting Dohyun’s house, but he had hurriedly escaped without even taking a look around. It seemed like Dohyun had bought food, but Wooyeon hadn’t eaten anything. More importantly, he wondered where Dohyun had slept after putting him on the bed.
His thoughts lingered on what could have happened before he woke up in the morning. Wooyeon suddenly blushed and shook his head in embarrassment. To think he was behaving like a master, blushing and even making phone calls as if he were in charge. If he were Dohyun, he would probably have been very surprised.
Zing, zing—
Around five hours later, Wooyeon received a phone call. Startled, he grabbed his phone, which had been casually placed nearby. He thought it might be the teacher, but the screen displayed a name he wasn’t familiar with.
“Why would this person call?”
This person was a member of Wooyeon’s group with the last name ‘Kwon.’ He was the one who had spoken up at the cafe, mentioning they didn’t have any ideas. Although they exchanged numbers to create a group chat, they had never contacted each other. For some reason, an ominous feeling crept up on Wooyeon.
***
Monday morning.
Wooyeon headed to the club room early. The weather wasn’t too bad, but his eyes felt stiff from staring at the laptop for a long time.
Fatigue, irritation, and stress. In his mind, a mix of various emotions coexisted with persistent discomfort.
‘Oh, Wooyeon… did you get the PPT?’
Two days ago, the member who’d called Wooyeon began talking cautiously. The matter was simple, but Wooyeon’s feelings upon hearing the content were far from straightforward. As the member spoke, Wooyeon felt himself sinking further into a pit of despair.
‘Well, you see, last Wednesday, we met to create the PPT without you.’
Up to that point, Wooyeon could make some sense of the situation. He was the presenter, and as long as the completed PPT was properly delivered, he didn’t have many complaints. However, the subsequent information Wooyeon received was completely incomprehensible.
‘But Kang Junseong said he’d research the materials and create it himself to send it to you.
‘We already sent all the information that day…but now that I think about it, maybe he wanted to exclude your name.…
‘Honestly, grades don’t matter much, but I contacted you just in case you misunderstood. We’ve already done all the research.’
It seemed some habits never changed. Trying to cut ties immediately just because he didn’t like something. Wooyeon couldn’t fathom what Junseong was thinking, but it was clear he was trying to deceive Wooyeon in some way.
YAYYYY new chapter ㅜ ㅇ ㅜ
God damn… nothing came out of that fiasco
He didn’t remember? 😔 Dohyun you have been wronged 😔
Gosh, so he didn’t remember ??? What a waste, and poor my Dohyun lol. He must feel so shock and guilty 😭
i can’t believe wooyeon doesn’t remember 😭 i need be inside dohyun’s brain to know what he’s thinking
Đợi mãi mới có chap mới 😿