“Let’s go in.”
As they entered the store and Lee Junseo gave his name, the staff led them to a spacious table by the window. Yuwon sat inside by the window and looked over the menu in front of her. Having walked a lot, she was hungrier than usual and felt like she could eat anything with great appetite.
“How about this? The platter here is for four people, so if we order one of those and an additional side, it should be enough.”
Seeing the two nod, Lee Junseo ordered the four-person platter, chili nachos, and three drinks.
“How do you feel about coming to the school? Doesn’t it make you want to study hard?”
“Yes, when I was eating the waffle earlier, I thought I’d like to attend this school.”
“Because the waffle was so delicious?”
Seeing Yuwon smile, Lee Junseo laughed out loud and then turned his attention to Hyun Gyujin, who, as usual, remained silent.
“What about you, Gyujin?”
“I liked it. But the problem is that wanting to go doesn’t mean you can actually get in.”
“Yeah, you’re right. If you don’t study, there’s no way you’ll pass. But if you guys focus a little more and study hard this year, I think you could make it next year. That’s why I brought you here, hoping it would motivate you. It would be nice if you both got in together and lived nearby.”
While the conversation about university didn’t hold his attention, Hyun Gyujin, who had been toying with his straw in his cola, perked up at the mention of living on their own.
“Is living on your own good?”
“Well, it has its pros and cons. The good thing is you get your own time. The freedom is another plus… and of course, being close to school is nice. The downside is that you can get lazy because of that freedom. Also, making your own meals can be a hassle, so you end up relying on delivery food or eating out a lot.”
“Have you ever lived with someone else?”
“Gyujin, you seem interested in living on your own. It’s nice to be asked something. Yeah, I have lived with someone else. When I first got into university, I was short on money, so I lived with a friend for about a year.”
Hearing that he had lived with a friend before, Hyun Gyujin’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. While he wasn’t particularly interested in Lee Junseo’s solo living experience, he was genuinely curious about his experience of living with a friend.
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.
“Ktja alwf kjr gfjiis ugfja. Snfc lo kf bgvfgfv ajxfbea, la kjr oec fjalcu abufatfg, jcv rbwfalwfr kf’v mbbx rbwfatlcu bc kffxfcvr.”
Lf kbcvfgfv kts atf mbcnfgrjalbc jikjsr rffwfv ab gfnbinf jgbecv obbv, yea tf mbeivc’a fzqgfrr tlr ogeragjalbc lc atlr rlaejalbc.
“Gbc’a sbe oluta lo sbe ilnf abufatfg?”
“Yo mbegrf, sbe vb. C iba. Tbe ufa ab rff fjmt batfg’r agef mbibgr.”
“True colors?”
“Yeah. No matter how close you are…”
Just when it seemed he was about to give a meaningful answer, the nachos and platter arrived, interrupting his speech. Holding back the curse that almost slipped out of his mouth, Hyun Gyujin watched Lee Junseo fill a tortilla with meat, sauce, and vegetables. He hadn’t realized before, but it seemed Junseo really enjoyed eating.
“Ah, where was I?”
“You were saying you get to see each other’s true colors.”
“Right… Living together and just being close friends are worlds apart. It’s like how they say you really get to know someone when you travel together because their true habits and lifestyles come out. We used to fight often during the first couple of months.”
Habits and lifestyles? Hyun Gyujin thought of Yuwon’s usual demeanor. Quiet and tidy, he couldn’t imagine getting surprised or angry by anything new if they lived together.
“Why aren’t you eating? Here, have some.”
Waiting for Lee Junseo to continue, he was handed a neatly wrapped taco by Yuwon. He took a big bite out of it. Perhaps because Yuwon had made it, it tasted exceptionally good.
“What did you fight about during those two months?”
“Just trivial things. For example, I like to hang laundry immediately after it’s done, but my friend would wait a few hours. And I prefer to clean the floor before bed, but he thought doing it in the morning was good enough.”
“Can’t just one person adjust in those situations?”
Hyun Gyujin was genuinely curious. He couldn’t understand why such things would cause fights. If Yuwon wanted to clean ten times a day, he would simply do it ten times.
“Of course, adjustments can be made. But you can’t always be the one adjusting. The biggest issue I had with my friend was our sleep patterns. The place was small, so even if you closed the door, you could hear everything from the next room. I need to sleep a little after midnight to function the next day, but he was most active then, playing games with his headset on. We fought a lot because I kept waking up from the noise.”
The more he listened to Lee Junseo, the more Hyun Gyujin became convinced. He was certain that if he lived with Yuwon alone, they would never fight. The university tour, which he only joined because Yuwon was going, now seemed much more valuable. He felt that this alone made the trip worthwhile.
“Jung Yuwon, is it good?”
“Yeah, it’s good. You should eat too. This tastes better with the white sauce here, and the meat up there is better with barbecue sauce.”
When the staff had explained about the sauces earlier, he hadn’t paid much attention, but Yuwon seemed to have listened and remembered it all. Hyun Gyujin laughed as he watched Yuwon eat a taco that was almost as big as her face, taking small bites. If there were a cute taco-eating contest, Yuwon would definitely win first place worldwide.
If they lived together, he would make sure to adjust to everything Yuwon wanted, so they would never fight. Even though it was something far off in the future and no one knew how things would turn out, he just felt that he would always see Yuwon’s face every day and spend time together like now.
Even if they didn’t date and remained friends, this wouldn’t change. If someone asked for proof, he could only say “just because,” but the feeling was strong. He felt an overwhelming certainty that he would never be separated from Yuwon.
Feeling this certainty, Hyun Gyujin decided to be kind to Lee Junseo until they parted ways today. He smiled at Lee Junseo, who was urging him to eat more.
After lunch, they stopped by a fairly large cafe near the store. Hyun Gyujin liked the modern atmosphere and stood by the counter, looking around when he felt someone’s gaze on him.
“Lee Junseo!”
Two men, recognizing Lee Junseo’s face, walked briskly towards them. It seemed they knew him. Hyun Gyujin instinctively grabbed Yuwon’s arm and positioned her behind him.
“You said you were meeting your tutoring students today.”
“Yeah, that’s right. These are my tutoring students, Gyujin and Yuwon.”
Hyun Gyujin slowly lowered his gaze to size up the two men looking up at him. They were about the same height, had similar impressions, and dressed like Lee Junseo. They were staring up at him in surprise, as if they hadn’t expected the ‘tutoring students’ to look like this.
“Wow, do you pick your students based on their looks? Are you really a high school student? How are you so tall? How tall are you?”
“188cm.”
“Wow, that’s huge. I mean, really tall. Never seen anyone this tall.”
The two men, marveling at his height, shifted their gaze to Yuwon, who was half-hiding behind Hyun Gyujin. He felt extremely annoyed.
“…Hello…”
“Wow, should I say you’re really pretty? Is that okay to say?”
Feeling the urge to leave the cafe with Yuwon, Hyun Gyujin restrained himself and looked at Lee Junseo.
“Gyujin, Yuwon, what would you like to drink?”
Seeing Yuwon choose a green grape aid, Hyun Gyujin ordered the same. Then he led Yuwon away from the counter and found a seat inside the cafe.
“It’s one-thirty now, so we should leave around two-thirty.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
“How are you feeling? Are you okay? We’ve walked a lot today.”
“I’m fine. Not tired at all.”
“That’s a relief.”
Responding while looking towards the counter, Hyun Gyujin frowned as he saw Lee Junseo approaching with the two men from earlier. He just hoped they wouldn’t suggest sitting together.
“Gyujin, Yuwon, these are my classmates from the same department. Is it okay if they join us? They said they’d like to talk with you too.”
“Ah… sure, that’s fine.”
Seeing Yuwon nodding and responding, Hyun Gyujin took in the sight of Lee Junseo and the unknown person sitting opposite him, and another person sitting beside Yuwon. Although it wasn’t a situation that required such vigilance, he didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of sitting with strangers. Moreover, the guy sitting next to Yuwon had a strange look in his eyes, which made him even more uneasy.
Shortly after, their ordered drinks and cakes arrived, and the place became lively. As expected, no matter how hard he tried, Hyun Gyujin couldn’t find it in himself to think well of Lee Junseo. He quickly abandoned the idea of trying to be kind, even temporarily.
