CEL 7

Seo Hamin won.

At the same time, everyone in this place thought the same thing. It had to be that way. After seeing that scene, there was no way anyone could think differently.

“Therefore, the original ruling that judged the defendant guilty is unjust. I argue that the defendant is innocent.”

What is Seo Hamin thinking right now?

He suddenly felt his stomach tighten.

For the first time since he was born, he was curious about someone other than himself.

After that, Hamin, who had completely taken control of the pace, easily brought the mock trial to an end. The professor had a pleased expression, and the students had shocked expressions.

“Look at that. Doesn’t he look like a total psycho? It’s just a mock trial, why is he going so far trying to win?”

“Isn’t the point of being a lawyer to try to win?”

“…Huh?”

He unconsciously refuted Seyeon’s words. But his gaze kept following Seo Hamin, so to be honest, he could not think of anything else. Startled, she tried to grab his arm, but he quickly pulled away.

He ran straight toward Hamin. He did not know why he was doing this. His ribs just felt ticklish, and he wanted to talk to him quickly.

“Sunbae.”

“Why are you here?”

“Uh, I…”

Hamin, who had come down from the podium, answered again with that indifferent expression. Thinking this was not right, he stammered without being able to answer, and the look of suspicion on Hamin’s face grew stronger.

“Sunbae, do you want to have dinner with me?”

“Dinner?”

“Yes. I’ll pay.”

“Why?”

If someone asked why when you said you wanted to eat together, there was really nothing to say. You just eat because you want to eat, why even ask something like that?

He did not want to say it honestly because of his pride, and if he left out the truth, there was nothing suitable left to say. He bit his lip lightly and spoke carefully.

“To celebrate winning the trial?”

“The one who won is me, so why are you the one eating dinner.”

For a moment Jaehan almost agreed with Seyeon’s thought that Seo Hamin looked like a psycho, but he barely held back his feelings and answered.

“I just want to drink.”

“I don’t really like alcohol.”

“I said I want to drink. You can just sit across from me.”

“You said you have a lot of friends.”

His excitement faded right away. Was it that hard to drink once?

When he frowned, he heard someone laughing. The one who laughed was Seo Hamin.

It was not the usual straight measured angle, the corners of his mouth rose a little higher. Jaehan blinked blankly while looking at it. His chest felt ticklish at the first real smile he had ever seen.

…Was it stomach cramps?

“Let’s go.”

Because the combination of the well known Han Jaehan from another department and the law department’s representative loner Seo Hamin was strange, the people who had been watching their conversation flinched along.

Jaehan pouting his lips and grumbling was odd, but Seo Hamin smiling brightly was even stranger.

Did Seo Hamin know how to smile like that?

Jaehan clearly felt the curious gazes of people, but he failed to manage his expression as usual. For the first time he did not care about people staring at him.

“Where are we going?”

“What do you want to eat?”

“Somewhere close.”

“That’s not a menu.”

Even as they stepped outside, Jaehan kept asking, but Hamin avoided the answer each time by saying “what do you want to eat.” By the third answer, maybe annoyed himself, the straight mouth corners tilted a little crooked. In the end the winner was Jaehan.

“Chicken.”

“Okay, chicken.”

“If you’re even going to ask what kind of chicken I like, I’ll just leave.”

“Just hurry up and come.”

Jaehan did not like the busy streets right near the school. Hamin’s voice was pleasant, but the way he spoke was so calm that when mixed among other voices, his presence faded. So, somewhere quieter. If possible, a place with private rooms would be good.

While he was roughly deciding a place in his head and moving his steps, Hamin could not hold back and looked into his smartphone. Seeing that made Jaehan’s face crumple.

Wasn’t it rude manners to contact someone else when you had company with you?

He was about to say something, but when he looked closely, what was on the screen was far from messenger.

TZ Electronics, seeks up to 400 billion won funding. Reason: stabilizing borrowing structure and reducing interest costs.

…Did he see wrong?

He narrowed his eyes and looked again, but it was still an economy article. Hamin ignored his gaze and read several similar articles. He did not show any sign of caring whether someone was next to him or not. Frustrated, Jaehan finally asked.

“Why do you read articles like that?”

“You need to know how the world goes.”

“Do you know you sometimes talk like an old man?”

Only then did Hamin’s gaze turn toward him.

“You don’t even pretend in front of me anymore?”

His tone was more like he found it funny than that he was offended. Hamin smiled briefly and turned his gaze back to the screen.

It was not that Jaehan deliberately decided to act or not act. He was just swept up by Seo Hamin’s unpredictable attitude.

So, when he was with Seo Hamin, he kept acting in ways that were not like himself. He thought it was really strange, but unlike the first time, it was not only unpleasant.

Because his eyes were fixed on the phone, he almost bumped into someone on the opposite side, so Jaehan grabbed his shoulder and pulled him slightly toward himself.

Hamin lifted his head, which had been lowered. When he stared blankly at Jaehan, Jaehan said, “Look ahead when you walk.” Instead of saying thanks, Hamin only answered that he understood.

A person with no sociability.

It was only after they entered the restaurant that Hamin spoke to him.

“Didn’t you say we were eating chicken?”

“They sell fried chicken here too.”

With a slightly subtle expression, he stepped into the place and looked around with dissatisfaction. It was a childish excuse, but seeing his baffled expression made Jaehan feel like his stifled chest was cleared.

Holding back laughter, he asked the staff.

“You have rooms, right?”

“Yes. I’ll guide you to room 7.”

Following the staff, they entered the room, and the interior looked luxurious. Actually, it was not strange for Hamin to be unsettled. It was the kind of luxurious restaurant you would go to for a proper company dinner or a family meeting. It was not unfair if people thought it strange for two young men in their early twenties coming here.

After sitting, Jaehan ordered without even looking at the menu.

“I’ll order right away. Give us Course C, one Yurinchi, and a bottle of Yantai.”

“Yes. If you need anything more, please press the bell.”

As the staff who wrote the order down with a kind expression left, Hamin immediately grumbled.

“Why did you ask me what to eat if you were going to come to a Chinese restaurant?” Turning his head to check the structure of the restaurant, he gave a small bitter laugh and added.

“You said you’re buying, so I’m just eating free, right?”

“Eat a lot. Oh, give me your phone number.”

Why again? Hamin, who often overturned Jaehan’s expectations, surprisingly handed over his phone right away. Soon the screen with eleven digits was handed back.

Among many round numbers like 6, 8, 9, most of Hamin’s digits were angular ones like 1, 4, 7.

Even his number looks like himself.

As Jaehan smiled looking at the eleven digits, the staff knocked on the door and entered with a bottle of liquor.

“I’ll prepare the Yantai Kaoliang first.”

“Thank you.”

As the staff opened the bottle, Jaehan glanced at Hamin. It had been an excuse he made in a hurry, but sitting across and drinking was not a bad situation.

“Sunbae, do you really not drink?”

Hamin made a slightly troubled expression as he looked at the small glass being filled with the gurgling sound of Kaoliang. He did not look like someone who liked alcohol or wanted to drink, but at last he sighed and nodded.

“Give me.”

“You can just drink moderately.”

“If I get drunk I’ll leave you behind.”

Get drunk, what nonsense? He could not even remember the last time he was drunk.

Even after drinking more than four bottles of soju, Jaehan only felt lightheaded. He had never felt the state others called “being drunk,” so he felt quite confident in this situation.

He thought, maybe this time he could find out what Hamin was really thinking.

With an innocent expression, he lowered the corners of his eyes.

“I can’t drink well, so you have to go easy on me.”

Up until that moment, Jaehan naively thought Hamin would collapse after half a bottle of Yantai.

Was this a dream?

Jaehan laughed hollowly as he looked at the food piled on the table and the empty bottles. Contrary to his expectation, Hamin drank well.

Very, really, extremely well.

He drank well.

At first, when Hamin downed a few straight shots in succession, Jaehan thought he was just being stubborn out of pride. But when one glass became two, two became three, and finally passed the count of bottles, it was Jaehan who was the one unsettled.

Seo Hamin’s face did not change at all. His cheeks did not redden, his words did not get tangled. Instead, the more he drank, the clearer he became.

And… he made people annoyed.

“You’re not normal.”

“What, what. What? Are you saying I’m a psychopath?”

When someone was too absurd, words would not come out properly.

While Jaehan stammered to refute, Hamin thought briefly, then answered.

“That sounds a bit much. You’re just lacking in heart.”

“That’s worse.”

When Jaehan tossed back his drink alone, Hamin followed his action.

“I have something to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Let’s say there’s this picture…?”

Suddenly, he rummaged through the bag next to him and pulled out a notebook. He flipped through the pages and stopped at one, staring at it for a long time. That was why it took Jaehan some time to see it.

Drawn between evenly spaced lines was a strange picture. Jaehan tried hard not to frown at it.

What kind of weird picture was this…?

There was no need for Seo Hamin to sign his drawings. His lines themselves were his signature.

Why on earth couldn’t Seo Hamin draw even a straight line properly? While Jaehan was seriously pondering that, a long index finger tapped the corner of the drawing.

“This is a hillside village.”

“Yes, a hillside village.”

“And this is the sun.”

“It really is the sun.”

It looked nothing like a village and nothing like the sun, but Jaehan just went along. Honestly, from the moment the plan went astray, he could have just gone home, yet here he was drinking with Seo Hamin for no reason.

“Then what title would you give this picture?” Was this some kind of psychology test?

While picking at the leftover Yurinchi with chopsticks, Jaehan suddenly frowned.

Wait a second. He was talking about psychopaths earlier, wasn’t this a psycho test?

“I’m not a psycho, you know?”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden? Just answer quickly.”

So it wasn’t a question meant to tease him. His voice sounded a little nervous.

Why was he nervous over something like this?

Jaehan tapped the table as he thought. If he set aside the fact that it didn’t look like a picture at all, and just imagined from the explanation, it seemed like a view of the sky from a high place. Since it was drawn in pencil, he couldn’t guess the colors, but if the sun’s position was like that, it wasn’t midday. If the place was a hillside village…

“Dawn?”

At that moment, Hamin’s pupils trembled. His eyelashes, longer than most women’s, fluttered like a fan, and as he inhaled sharply, Jaehan was the one who grew flustered.

Did he answer wrong?

“…Why dawn? Normally a picture like this would look like sunset.”

“That’s true, but… you said it’s a hillside village.”

Hamin, who looked nervous somehow, stared at Jaehan’s lips with an impatient gaze.

Nervousness, tension, faint excitement.

All of them were things Jaehan saw from him for the first time.

Jaehan suddenly felt his throat burning as if the alcohol had hit him all at once. He grabbed the water next to him and drank it. In that short span, Hamin could not hold back and asked again.

“Why a hillside village?”

“Because people living in places like this usually start their day the earliest and end it the latest. They would be more familiar with dawn than sunset.”

It was not the kind of place where people could leisurely watch the sunset after work.

At Jaehan’s added answer, Hamin stared at the messy drawing for a long while. He muttered, “I see.”

“Thanks.”

“…What?”

“I was curious. Why dawn?” He said and smiled.

It was not the usual smile, nor the amused smile from earlier. The corners of his mouth rose slowly and curved endlessly.

Another face Jaehan had never seen before.

He opened and closed his hand blankly. Out of nowhere, his hand tingled.

To Jaehan, Seo Hamin’s smile looked closer to dawn than that poor drawing. It looked calm, warm, and somewhat… pretty.

The moment he thought that, his ears grew hot.

Pretty? What nonsense, was he drunk?

As he fiddled with his ears for no reason, his fingertip brushed against the metal of his piercing. Watching that action, Hamin asked.

“Why do you keep piercing your ears?”

“Just, because I feel stifled.”

“Does making holes in your body relieve that stifled feeling?”

“Why do you say it like that?”

When Jaehan criticized him for talking harshly over just piercing his ears, Hamin shrugged and returned to his usual self.

“But it’s true.”

“Then until when are you going to stalk me?”

“Until I become close with you.”

“Why do you even want to become close with me?”

“Didn’t we agree to call it liking?”

How could he say something like that without hesitation. Did he know that such a calm answer made him look like either a man in his forties or a playboy with lots of experience? For Jaehan, who had lived far from anything like that, it was behavior he couldn’t understand.