Right after the fifth period ended, Jaegyeom grabbed his bag and followed Cho Youngwoo to the first floor. The place Jaegyeom led him was a canteen. He left him standing in front of the store, and bought an armful of bread, bagged snacks, and all sorts of snacks, almost buying the store out. All of them were purchased by the money that was supposed to be for Cho Youngwoo.
Cho Youngwoo was confused about what this was, but Jaegyeom made a strange excuse, “It’s because I have extra money,” and put all the snacks in Cho Youngwoo’s arms. A light scuffle ensued. However, Cho Youngwoo, who noticed his mother’s car waiting in front of the front door, finally accepted countless snacks and waved.
“Jaegyeom-ah, I’ll eat well. Then see you tomorrow!”
“Okay. Take care and be safe. Be healthy and…”
Jaegyeom nodded and called out. Cho Youngwoo laughed and ran to the school gate. Actually, Jaegyeom had thought about it for a while. Now that he had a cell phone, he thought of giving him his number so they could keep in touch, but then he realized what the point would be and decided against it. Anyway, Cho Youngwoo’s years and Jaegyeom’s years were different. A month was the right amount of time for a relationship where you can’t reveal anything and you can’t be honest.
“Be healthy…”
Muttering to himself, Jaegyeom went back to the class without Cho Youngwoo.
***
Finally, all classes for the day were over. Jaegyeom packed the things he needed to take into his bag, exchanged greetings with the children, and climbed the stairs at a slow pace. He came to see Cho Youngwoo, but why was he going to the library? No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t figure it out. Luck and timing, was it such an ironic relationship between people?
Opening the door and entering the library, he glanced sideways at the desk next to him. When their eyes met, the young librarian, instead of saying “You’re here?” or “We meet again,” said,
‘Sit there for a while.’
Jaegyeom wandered around the library without saying anything. He moved from shelf to shelf, looking at books. He had been in and out a few times in the name of school service, so it didn’t feel unfamiliar or out of place. The library was as peaceful and languid as usual.
Yoon Taehee was sitting in front of his monitor and helping students check out books. With his right hand half in a cast, his movements looked quite unnatural.
“Teach. Teach. Have you read ‘Afternoon Night’?”
“Oh, you mean the one written by Dane Scofield.”
“Wow! That’s right. It’s a new book that came out last month.”
“Yes, I’ve read it. Hm, it was interesting.”
Jaegyeom perked up his ears as he took out a book and flipped through it. The students and Yoon Taehee exchanged conversations fairly casually, and the atmosphere was friendly. He really seemed like an actual librarian, despite actually secretly infiltrating the school while hiding his ulterior motives. Besides, he seemed to be on friendly terms with the kids.
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.
“Kfjmt, sbe ofii vbkc atf rajlgr rbwftbk gluta? Df mjgfoei…”
Ajfusfbw, ktb tjv yffc fjnfrvgbqqlcu bc atf mbcnfgrjalbc jr lo qbrrfrrfv, yilcxfv ja atf kbgv ‘rajlgr’.
“Zf? P vlvc’a ojii vbkc atf rajlgr, ktb rjlv atja?”
Kb atja, Tbbc Kjftff ijeutfv jcv gfqilfv lc jc jwerfv abcf.
“Efjiis? Tbe xcbk Aectsfbx ogbw mijrr 8, tf rjlv atja?”
“Huh? I heard from my homeroom teacher. Isn’t that right?”
“Omg! Teach, then how did you get hurt like that?”
Just when the children were confused about the source of the tangled rumors,
“Oh, I got into a group fight.”
In an instant, Jaegyeom’s hand, which had been inserting a bookmark into the book, jerked. At the same time, the children burst out laughing with a ‘wahahaha’. They were not young enough to be naive enough to believe the brazen claim that the librarian was in a group fight. The librarian’s joke was met with enthusiasm.
“Ah, amazing. I really didn’t expect this.”
“Hahaha! Teach, how many were there?!”
Yoon Taehee closed his eyes and counted the numbers.
“How many were there, ah. It was 6 to 1.”
“6 against you alone? Wow, that’s how you got hurt so bad!”
“And then, so did you win? Yes? With bare fists?”
“No no, I was the 6.”
Yoon Taehee smiled and corrected them. “Teach is really funny!” The boys in their late teens clapped their hands and laughed. Of course, one exception was the boy who was isolated behind the bookshelf. Was he really crazy? What is he talking about? And what’s so funny about… Jaegyeom bit his lip and poked his head around the side of the bookcase. He could see only the back of Yoon Taehee’s head, who was sitting on one side of the desk. The touching true story of six people attacking one person and getting beaten up was reaching its climax.
“I thought I was going to die. But he has a good heart…”
It seemed like that bastard was doing that on purpose?
Jaegyeom calmly turned the pages of the book.
***
“Take care.”
The students left the library after a long time with the borrowed books in their arms. Yoon Taehee immediately walked from the desk and locked the library door. After confirming the heavy clang of the lock, he quietly turned around.
“Excuse me, good-hearted one?”
Jaegyeom appeared from behind the bookshelf.
“…”
Jaegyeom and Yoon Taehee’s eyes met. As expected, it seemed that the line was meant for him to hear. He should have shot the arrow that night…
“Looking at how nonsense is coming out of your mouth, you seem to be doing well.”
Jaegyeom glared at Yoon Taehee with disdainful eyes.
“I think it’s thanks to the good-hearted person.”
“It would be good to act up only in moderation.”
At the nonchalant warning, Yoon Taehee laughed wordlessly. The library, with only the two of them left, was silent. A strange tension filled the silence. Jaegyeom slung his bag over his shoulder and sat awkwardly in his usual seat with his legs pressed together. It was a posture that showed a sense of determination, signaling that he would be leaving when he was done here.
“Thank you for coming, my lord.”
Yoon Taehee took out a chair across from Jaegyeom and sat down. The latter, who had been sitting sullenly, fired at him with a temperamental tone.
“Why am I your lord? Don’t call me lord.”
“Why? I like to call you that.”
If you like it, then I hate it even more. Jaegyeom raised his eyebrows.
“It feels nasty like I’m being teased.”
“Me? It couldn’t be…”
Yoon Taehee rested his chin loosely on his chin and pondered.
“Then what should I call you? Or, elderly?”
What? Elderly?! As soon as he heard the words Yoon Taehee uttered, Jaegyeom’s expression strangely hardened. Rather than being angry, he looked shocked, like someone who had been unexpectedly hit on the back of the head.
“E- El… Elderly…”
Jaegyeom stuttered at the strange feeling of the blow.
In fact, Jaegyeom had never ‘realized’ that he was old. First of all, it was because his appearance itself had not aged. He was accepting himself as ‘stopped in time’ rather than ‘old’. He always looked the same in the mirror, and Mesani and Jeongju, who also grew differently from the human flow, had remained the same for a long time, so it was difficult to feel the change. The realization that he had lived a long time and the realization that he was old were slightly different.
“Why am I elderly? Your face looks older than me?”
Jaegyeom unknowingly clenched his fist and said.
“Yes? I don’t know why you’re suddenly talking about my face. Then what should I do? You don’t like this, and you don’t like that…”
Yoon Taehee muttered as he rubbed his chin. The reason why Jaegyeom told him not to talk informally was because he was disgusted with him pretending to be close to him and also, no, anyway, it was just disgusting. However, when it came to receiving respect, it was just as bad. It was respect, but the feeling was slightly different from before. Not the note, it was the attitude somehow. The polite speech made it feel more disrespectful, and he was irked.
“Anyway, whatever you do will annoy me, so just do what you normally do.”
After thinking for a while, Yoon Taehee asked seriously.
“Can I? Compared to my lord, how dare I, who’s wet behind the ears, speak informally…”
In the end, a furious Jaegyeom reached out his hand with the momentum to grab him by the collar but Yoon Taehee quickly pulled his upper body back and said, “Mhm, as I should.” and meekly complied. Jaegyeom glowered at him with narrowed eyes, as he turned to the wall and pretended to look at the clock.
Tq 4 d update
Thank you!
Cant make him happy. Poor yoon lol tyfc
Jaegyeom is practically just a grumpy old man. Kudos for your patience Taehee.
Thanks for the chapter. 💕
So cute!!! 😂😂
Aww they’re so cute ugh
Mm, it’s very interesting that Jaegyeom considered himself “stopped in time”