Yoon Taehee, who was standing in front of an empty bookshelf and rummaging through his papers, suddenly lifted his head. It was because of the presence he felt in the doorway. A small smile appeared on his lips as he foreboded the other party. Yoon Taehee, who stared at the door for a while, fixed his gaze on the document he was holding. Then, as if he had never laughed, he wiped the smile from the corner of his mouth. The door to the library opened almost simultaneously.
“…”
Jaegyeom, who opened the door and entered the library, paused and blinked. It was because the appearance of the young librarian was subtly different from what he had seen so far. The young man was wearing glasses as he stood in front of a bookshelf, preoccupied with something. He didn’t seem to notice that Jaegyeom had come. After hesitating for a moment, Jaegyeom deliberately closed the door strongly.
The young man’s gaze landed on Jaegyeom at the sound of the thud.
The young man smiled softly when he noticed Jaegyeom. Behind the round glasses made of thin metal frames, his eyes curved gently. Maybe because the frame was thin, the impression of the young man was much sharper and alert. He always wore glasses when reading a book or reading dense text.
“You came? Oh…”
The young man lowered his glasses and stared at Jaegyeom with his bare eyes.
“Did you have a nosebleed?”
Jaegyeom sniffed and averted his gaze. When the nosebleed side was tightly covered with tissue, it was a little difficult to breathe. The young man put the papers he was holding on one side of the empty bookshelf and approached Jaegyeom.
“What happened?”
When the lunch break ended and the afternoon class began, the teachers who entered the classroom all looked surprised when they saw Jaegyeom. Then, just like the librarian asked, they asked what had happened. Each time, Lee Juyeol, who was sitting diagonally from a distance, glared at Jaegyeom with hostile eyes. Watch your mouth.
Jaegyeom, who was silent for a while, decided to give the same answer as he did to the teachers.
“I was distracted and bumped into something.”
“Oh dear.”
The young man expressed his deep sympathy in his tone. The teachers chided something along the lines of “I’m sure it hurts, be careful,” and went on with their day. It was comfortable for Jaegyeom that they didn’t show any interest and did not ask further questions. But,
“When you say bumped into something, was that perhaps a fist?”
The young man crossed his arms obliquely and asked if he had a fight with someone. Jaegyeom, who was dumbfounded for a moment, blurted out without even realising it.
“Yes.”
“And then? Did you stay still?”
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.
In hindsight, technically, he was standing still. Because he didn’t really respond. He wasn’t in a position to exchange brute fistfights right away, just because the opponent attacked first. No matter how much he flipped out and swung his fist, Lee Juyeol was a weak ordinary person anyway.
“Ktfgf’r j rjslcu atja fcveglcu la atgff alwfr lr fcbeut ab jnblv wegvfg.”
Ajfusfbw ibbxfv jgbecv atf qfjmfoei ilygjgs jcv bqfcfv tlr wbeat.
“Gb sbe gfjiis atlcx rb?”
Ktf sbecu wjc rwlifv wlrmtlfnberis jcv jvvfv.
“Ktja’r j tjgrt rjslcu obg jc lwqjalfca qfgrbc ilxf wf.”
Ajfusfbw gjlrfv tlr fsfr jr lo ab defralbc ktja tf wfjca.
“It just means that I’m not very good at being patient.”
The young man playfully twisted the back of his nose once, then picked up the papers again, pulling up his slightly slipping glasses. There was a short pause. Ah. Come to think of it, he came to return the tie. While the young man fixed his gaze on the papers, Jaegyeom, who was standing there, brought his hand to the knot of his tie.
“Oh right, friend.”
Just as he was about to loosen the tie, the quiet young man suddenly raised his head.
“Can you help me?”
“… Help you?”
Jaegyeom repeated with a puzzled face.
“I’m organising the bookshelves today. I’m going to put all the books that haven’t been checked out in years together, and I’ve also made a list. I’ve sorted out all the books, so now all I have to do is put them in order. But it takes a lot of work to find a book while looking at the list. I think I can finish it quickly with your help, friend. Can you help me?”
The young man smiled softly and flapped the papers he was holding. Jaegyeom narrowed his eyes and studied the contents of the paper. As the young man said, the paper had a long list of book titles. Jaegyeom didn’t respond readily and glanced sideways at the young man’s face.
“Ah, don’t be stingy. I lent you a tie.”
Perhaps noticing his disapproving expression, the young man grumbled mischievously. Then, a faint crack formed on Jaegyeom’s face, who had been impassive.
‘He was the one who lent it first and now he’s being…’
Jaegyeom looked at the large tray placed on one side of the library. Inside the tray were old, worn-out books piled on top of each other. As the young man said, it seemed to be a selection of books to put on the bookshelf. It certainly seemed like a lot.
After thinking for a moment, Jaegyeom reluctantly nodded his head.
“… Alright.”
“Thanks. This school has practically no library department, so the only people I have are my friends who come over to clean occasionally. So I was lonely because I worked alone all the time… I only have my little friends.”
The young man brought a tray from one side of the library near the empty bookshelf. The young man said he would call out the titles of three or four books, and Jaegyeom would find them on the tray and hand them to him in order.
The young man lifted his glasses and recited the list of books written on the document.
“The Warrior of the Wind, The Daily Habit, Spring in Syracuse.”
Jaegyeom carefully looked inside the tray and handed over the books. When Jaegyeom found the book, the young man called out the next title. And while Jaegyeom was looking for the book, the young man looked at the identification signs attached to the books and inserted them in order.
At first, the pace of finding the books was slow. If time seemed to be delayed, the young man came to the tray and looked for the book with him, and after repeating this several times, Jaegyeom’s eyes and hands began to pick up speed. At some point, the hands and feet of the two fell into place. After arranging the books the young man had handed over in advance, Jaegyeom, at good timing, immediately brought out the next book.
“Friend. You have good eyesight.”
Yoon Taehee gave the boy a compliment from time to time. Jaegyeom lowered his gaze each time and murmured, “Yeah, well…”. The boy’s face seemed indifferent at first glance, but he was clearly embarrassed by the compliment.
“A Long Trip and a Cat, Morning in Morocco, and Gwanchon Essay.”
Jaegyeom immediately found the book and handed it to him. Yoon Taehee took the three books at once with his big hands. Yoon Taehee, who was examining the book covers in turn and carefully checking the sign attached to the bottom, at some point stopped his hand.
冠村隨筆.
Gwanchon Essay. The only letters written on the cover and back of old books were Chinese characters.
“…”
Waiting for the young man to call out the title of the book, Jaegyeom, who had been looking into the tray, raised his head. No matter how long he waited, the young man did not say anything. When Jaegyeom sent a questioning gaze, the young man slowly met his eyes.
“What?”
The young man stared into Jaegyeom’s eyes. As if looking into a piece of art, it was a gaze of appraisal. Jaegyeom faintly frowned at his strange gaze.
“Why are you doing that?”
The young man’s eyes curved behind his glasses.
“No, nothing.”
The young man cast his gaze at the papers he was holding. Then, as if nothing had happened, he called out the title of the book as usual. Jaegyeom picked up the book with a nonchalant face. Hand it over, take it, find it, put it away. The books on the tray shrank noticeably.
Before they knew it, there were about 10 books left in the tray.
“But, friend. By the way,.”
“Yes.”
Jaegyeom answered without raising his head.
“You’re taller than I thought, being this close to you.”
“Yes.”
Jaegyeom quickly handed over the few remaining books and nodded dryly. Unlike before, Yoon Taehee put books in the crowded bookshelves and asked casually.
“How tall are you? Is it more than six chi (尺)?”
“About that.”
“Is it so? Then, there is a difference of about two cun (寸) between us.”
“Well… I guess so.”
Jaegyeom replied blandly and handed over the book. Then Yoon Taehee said a small thank you and accepted it. Jaegyeom piled the remaining books on the tray one by one. Now just put these and they would be done. Yoon Taehee crumpled up the now useless papers.
“By the way, friend.”
‘Ah, why does he keep calling me.’
Hearing the young man’s voice again, Jaegyeom frowned and raised his eyes. He felt already bothered to death, but the other kept saying useless things. Jaegyeom closed the last remaining book and handed it to the young man, giving him a stern glare that told him to get to the point. The young man, who was looking down at the book pushed in front of his nose, lowered his glasses at an angle and raised his head to stare at Jaegyeom.
“By the way, how old are you, friend?”
A sharp gaze that was the exact opposite of a kind voice penetrated Jaegyeom.
Thank you 😍😍😍 quite excited when the chapter is updated…. Thanks for ur hardwork. I mean it.
hehehe I love this novel
Thank you for your hard work 🙂
When Yoon Taehee started going “I’m the librarian, I need help sorting these books, can you help me, friend?” it gave me such NPC giving really random quests that I couldn’t stop laughing
Though it seems the NPC is about to open the hidden quest “looking for a disciple” 🧙
Lmaoo and the too kind mc (in games) accepting the request
Thnx for the chapter 🧡
! Because he knows chinese!
Aaaah, how will Gyeom get out of this one? Did he felt comfortable enough with Taehee that he didn’t notice or is he just not that bright…