CEL 21

He even gave a compliment.

If it had been some other department, Jaeha could have thought maybe Hamin was building connections that might help in the future, but since it was fine arts, it only felt strange.

Up to a moment ago he had just been angry, but now he was starting to worry about his friend’s condition. Was he a bit sick?

Meanwhile, Jaeha, watching them, also kept glancing between this new guy and Hamin with a strange feeling.

He had exactly the same thought as Hyunwoo. The two of them really didn’t match. Hyunwoo wore a stretched-out t-shirt, had piercings hanging from his ears and lips, and looked like some street thug. His tone was rough, his face looked fiercer, and his close-cropped hair made him look even more threatening. That guy knew Seo Hamin?

“This is my friend.”

He’s even a friend?

Jaeha’s eyebrow twitched slightly.

He was just a junior, but this guy was a friend.

He felt a weird, creeping feeling of defeat. The lighthearted mood he had felt a moment earlier sank straight to the bottom.

The man who called himself Hamin’s friend scratched the back of his head, then held out his hand.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Hyunwoo.”

“Hello, I’m Han Jaeha.”

Jaeha pretended not to see the hand right in front of him and only gave a polite nod. The other pulled back his hand awkwardly.

“Anyway, hurry up and show me around the campus.”

“…Alright.”

Alright? What was that supposed to mean?

Jaeha stared wide-eyed at Hamin. Hamin, unusually, avoided his gaze.

“Sorry. He came to see me, so I should spend time with him.”

“Spend time with me? It’s me who’s spending time with you.”

The man tapped Hamin’s shoulder as he said it. Jaeha expected Hamin to scold him with something about assault laws, but instead, Hamin just sighed.

So all that constant talk about law was only meant for Jaeha.

“You should get back to your booth. Your department is waiting.”

That was true. Quite a bit of time had already passed. His phone had been buzzing with calls and texts from his classmates, enough to nearly drain his battery, but hearing it said like that didn’t feel good. In fact, it stung.

The whole reason he had stuck with this odd company was for the sake of a law student who had probably never enjoyed a festival in his life. Now that Hamin had someone else to be with, it was only natural for Jaeha to leave. He shouldn’t have felt disappointed…

But he hadn’t even gotten to do the henna. There was still so much he hadn’t seen.

And after eating sweets, wasn’t it natural to have something salty next?

He bit back all the clingy words rising to his lips, and forced a calm look instead.

“Alright. See you next time, sunbae.”

He turned without waiting for a reply. No hand reached out to stop him.

Hamin watched him go, fidgeting with his fingertips. He had told him to leave, but watching him walk away so easily left him with an odd pang of regret.

“I thought you wouldn’t join things like festivals?”

“They are inefficient.”

“Didn’t your department make fruit punch? Let’s start with that.”

Seeing Hyunwoo’s excited face made Hamin’s mood lift a little, but he still felt uncomfortable, like a small stone stuck under his foot.

They went around the booths, ate food, tried some activities. None of it was fun.

Not long ago, even shooting a toy gun had been exciting. What was different now?

As he was looking down at the ground with that unsettled feeling, he was suddenly pulled hard by the arm. His shoulder nearly popped out.

“Hey, watch where you’re going.”

“…Thanks.”

He brushed off the spot where Hyunwoo had grabbed him and gave an answer. Hyunwoo’s face filled with pride.

For a while, it had felt like fun. But now he just felt tired. He wanted to go home and collapse in bed. His body even felt a little chilly, but he couldn’t leave the person who had come to see him.

The dull company dragged on until late at night, all the way until the sun set and darkness fell. For quite a long time.

‎

‎

After the festival ended, Jaeha sat at his desk, tapping it lightly, thinking about Seo Hamin, who still hadn’t contacted him.

On the first day, he understood, a friend had come. But on the second day, shouldn’t Hamin have come to get the henna? He had said he would.

He had talked about verbal contracts and obligations, and now he was clearly violating one.

Out of pride, Jaeha had refused to be the first to reach out, and Hamin hadn’t either. So the festival ended blandly.

He was angry, but he knew if Hamin suddenly appeared with that same blank face and asked him to have lunch, he’d let it go.

But even after the festival, Hamin never showed up.

Was he already studying for finals the moment the festival ended?

Considering the exams weren’t far off, it wasn’t a bad guess.

But he disappeared again like this?

Jaeha admitted it.

He no longer thought of Hamin as some creepy stalker. Just… as a senior he knew.

So if a senior ignored him this much, of course it felt disappointing and absurd.

He lifted his phone with both hands and typed a text. For some reason, he felt Hamin would check a regular SMS faster than a messenger app. He wrote “Sunbae, what are you do…” then stopped his finger.

Was this really the kind of thing they were close enough to ask?

Why hadn’t Hamin contacted him?

That was even stranger.

He tapped delete quickly, erasing everything, and stared at the blinking cursor, unsure what would sound natural.

After half an hour of thinking with his legs crossed on the sofa, he finally managed to send a message.

Let’s have lunch. 3:01 PM

For all the time he had spent thinking, the text was short. And since it was already three, it wasn’t even lunch anymore, but… whatever.

He picked up his car key, then sat back down and stared at his phone. No reply yet. Three minutes, five, ten, still nothing.

He tapped his leg anxiously and bit his lip. Maybe he should have sent it through messenger? With a text, he couldn’t even see if it had been read.

He realized that too late and frowned. But he couldn’t send the same thing again.

He thought it over, hesitated, then pressed the call button. The ringtone dragged on, but he never heard his calm voice.

“…Why isn’t he answering?”

Did he disappear because he didn’t want to grant the wish?

It sounded reasonable. As he pacing around the living room, he immediately stopped. Or did something happen?

What if that person from before wasn’t a friend, but a loan shark or something?

That thought overlapped with Seo Hamin’s habit of saving every penny. It seemed plausible.

Of course. Someone with all those piercings couldn’t just be a friend. Then… was Hamin being chased over debt? On the run right now?

Loan sharks, debt, running.

Just stringing together a few words, the whole story turned into a thriller.

Before he knew it, his imagination had gone so far it was picturing Seo Hamin working on a deep-sea fishing boat.

He grimaced, picked up his phone again, and called.

–Hey, Jaeha? What’s up?

“Seyeon-sunbae, did Hamin come to school?”

–I told you, call me noona. Hamin? No.

Hearing he had even missed class made the theory feel real.

Deep-sea fishing… if it’s that, then which sea?

He paced the living room again, but then got an unexpected answer.

–He’s sick. He’s been out since the second day of the festival, said he wasn’t feeling well.

“…Sunbae’s sick?”

–Yeah. Said he’d help out, but on the first day he made trouble and ran, then after that he never showed. You should’ve heard the complaining–

“Thanks for telling me.”

Jaeha hung up before hearing the gossip.

“…Sick?”

He looked at his still silent phone. A notification popped up, nagging him for ending the call too quickly, but he ignored it.

On the screen was only his text: Let’s have lunch.

Seo Hamin and the word sick didn’t fit together at all. Somehow robot-like, he had always seemed like someone who would never even catch a cold. Jaeha had never imagined he could be ill.

If he was too sick to even attend class, then it had to be serious. Hamin, who put his life into grades, actually missing school wasn’t ordinary.

So maybe it was best to leave him alone. Rather than bothering him with calls or visits, just wait. He would reach out on his own.

“…I shouldn’t have texted.”

He tossed the car key from his pocket onto the couch and lay down. But it probably wasn’t anything major. At worst, a cold, the flu, maybe pneumonia.

…But pneumonia could be major. People died from that.

Staring blankly at the plain ceiling, he blinked. With that personality, he probably wouldn’t even go to the hospital. If he just endured it and made it worse…

“…Whatever.”

Whether it got worse or not wasn’t his business. He turned over, facing the backrest. Everything in front of him was gray.

He closed his eyes though sleep didn’t come. Hamin’s image, frail and sickly, filled his head.

He opened them again after a while. He thought a long time had passed, but it had only been two minutes.

“…Ha.”

He sighed and got up. He gathered his wallet and car key.

These days, he didn’t even understand himself.

He muttered while rubbing his neck. His feet dragged, heavy. He felt a little gloomy.

But he wasn’t unfamiliar with the iron door now, he had once been here before. He took a small breath. Pressing a doorbell was nothing, but it felt like some big ritual.

He wasn’t here out of worry. Just… he had come to check.

Even making it here had taken several days’ worth of courage. But pressing the bell himself… cruel reality.

Only after a long time did Jaeha slowly raise his finger.

Ding-dong.

No response from inside.

Ding-dong, ding-dong.

Still silence.

Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong.

Now he really was worried.

Had he collapsed?

Considering his thin limbs and frail build, it wasn’t impossible. If he really had fainted, it was serious.

Jaeha was debating breaking the door when it suddenly rattled open.

“Why did you come?”

Hamin stepped out with his usual indifferent face. If not for the flush on his cheeks and the short breaths, it would have been hard to guess he was sick.

The indifferent question made Jaeha fumble with the excuses he had prepared.

“They said you were sick. If you’re sick, then eating rice…”

But he had eaten well.

Behind him a container with the logo of a porridge shop sat on the folding table.

“…not rice, but medicine…”

But he had taken that too. On the floor lay a pharmacy bag marked “Cherry Blossom Pharmacy.”

“Hospital…”

Then Hamin raised his right hand. A thick bandage from the hospital covered the back.

“You eat cheap meals but don’t mind paying for IVs?”

“That’s what insurance is for.”

Jaeha sighed. He felt drained of his strength.