Chapter 26: Returning to Solitude

The staff member, who bowed politely and handed over the car keys the moment he saw Shin Joowon, also bowed to Yooha.

Yooha, who bowed his head and lifted it once again, stared blankly at Shin Joowon.

“Hyung… where do we pay?”

“Paying? I wonder.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Shin Joowon opened the passenger door and gestured to Yooha.

Although he got into the car, Yooha couldn’t understand anything and kept tilting his head.

In the meantime, as Shin Joowon got into the driver’s seat and started the engine, Yooha’s confusion grew deeper.

“Hyung, I haven’t paid yet….”

“Do you want to pay that badly?”

“Because I decided to buy today….”

Flustered by the incomprehensible question, Yooha hesitated.

It was only natural to pay after eating, but Shin Joowon was acting as if he were questioning why Yooha would even pay.

Shin Joowon stared at the helpless Yooha and burst into a light laugh.

He didn’t know why even Yooha’s eyelashes, fluttering as if they would make a loud noise every time he blinked, were so amusing.

“Then buy it for me next time.”

“…….”

“It’d be even better if you keep hanging out with me.”

In the first place, he had no intention of being treated to a meal, and since he was simply using Jin Yooha for his plan, there was no need for Jin Yooha to pay.

For Shin Joowon, who possessed enough wealth to play and eat for his entire life without any worries, the dinner bill of about 500,000 won was an amount that wouldn’t even register as a scratch on his card.

Compared to the enjoyment he felt while having dinner, 500,000 won was woefully trivial.

Wearing a bright smile, Shin Joowon slowly stepped on the accelerator.

Yooha stared at him in a daze for a moment before hurriedly turning his head away.

It was because his face had suddenly flushed hot.

“…….”

His rapid heartbeat, matching the rising heat, thumped violently against his chest.

For some reason, thinking that he shouldn’t let Shin Joowon catch on to this, Yooha bowed his head deeply, clutching his hands tightly and biting his lip.

His heart was hot as if burned by fire, and he couldn’t even breathe properly.

Shin Joowon’s words promising a next time, his sweet voice telling him to keep hanging out, and the wonderful smile that suited him so well.

Everything about Shin Joowon that he had just taken in seemed like it would keep lingering in his mind.

The eventful week passed, and a busy Monday returned.

Fortunately, because Shin Joowon’s sighting post had been well-handled, no one openly stared at Yooha or whispered like last week.

Though that didn’t mean the glances he received knowingly or unknowingly had completely disappeared.

Only after one afternoon lecture ended was Yooha able to catch his breath.

He had skipped lunch because he had absolutely no time, and now intense hunger rushed in.

Fortunately, it seemed he had enough time to drop by the convenience store before his next lecture, so he quickly packed his bag and left the classroom.

Having bought a triangular kimbap at the convenience store, he came up to the third floor where his classroom was.

Since the previous lecture hadn’t ended yet and he couldn’t enter the classroom, Yooha headed to the lounge.

He hesitated for a moment as the sound of conversation grew louder as he approached, but having no other choice, he opened the door and stepped inside.

Four men who were sharing a conversation over coffee turned to look at Yooha simultaneously.

He made eye contact with one of them, but it was an unfamiliar face.

Yooha quickly lowered his gaze and headed toward a corner.

“A hoobae makes eye contact with a sunbae but doesn’t even greet him. f*ck, what kind of situation is this?”

It was just as he tore open the plastic wrap of the triangular kimbap and took a large bite.

A man spoke in a raised, loud voice and tapped on the table as if knocking.

Yooha, who was chewing on the cold, unheated grains of rice because he was in a hurry, froze.

It was because he felt that the “hoobae” referred to himself.

“They say he’s an outsider. Then he might not know our faces.”

“f*ck, even if he’s an outsider, he should recognize a sunbae’s face and greet him quickly. If he’s a real outsider, he should live quietly so as not to stand out.”

“Hey, he’ll get indigestion. They say you don’t even disturb a dog when it’s eating.”

Several remarks mixed with hostility and mockery were exchanged.

The moment he heard the word “outsider,” Yooha could be certain.

They were talking about him.

They had raised their voices loudly on purpose for him to hear.

Since they were faces Yooha was truly seeing for the first time, he had quickly lowered his head to avoid making any more eye contact, but to them, he must have seemed like an arrogant hoobae who didn’t even greet his sunbaes.

“Aren’t we the ones who will get fucked if we mess with him for no reason? He has a solid backer.”

“How long do you think that’ll last?”

They showed no intention of lowering their voices at all.

They only mocked and chattered even louder.

Although he had felt hostility from the gazes directed at him before, this was his first time encountering people who openly expressed it with words, so Yooha didn’t know what to do.

‘What should I do? Should I greet them now?’

‘I don’t think I should just stay like this….’

Shrinking back in fear, Yooha bit his lip hard.

He felt like he should say something, but his mouth wouldn’t open easily.

His chest churned as if he were about to throw up, and his fingertips and toes quickly turned ice-cold.

“But why is Shin Joowon hanging out with him? Is he doing charity work lately?”

As all sorts of thoughts flashed through his head, one of them brought up Shin Joowon.

Why did that name suddenly come up here?

Weren’t those people angry at him for not recognizing them and greeting them?

Yooha, with his gaze still lowered, kept biting his lip.

As anxiety was added, the pounding of his heart grew so strong it felt like it would shatter his entire body.

“Is that so? Hey, Shin Joowon is nothing special anymore, seeing how he hangs out with an outsider.”

At the mocking remark, Yooha’s gaze lost its place and shook wildly.

He didn’t care what was said about him, but bringing up Shin Joowon’s name was a different matter.

Joowon had done nothing wrong.

Moreover, he was a person who wasn’t even in this room.

“f*ck, thinking about it gets me pissed. Because of that bastard, damn….”

“You should have stopped showing off, too. I told you he only smiles on the outside. How many times did I tell you to stop before I got fucked?”

“f*ck, are you taking Shin Joowon’s side right now?”

“This bastard is talking shit even when I’m f*cking worrying about him.”

Before he knew it, Shin Joowon was at the center of the conversation.

An intense anger toward Shin Joowon could be felt in the highly agitated voices.

No longer did Yooha feel a sense of relief that he was no longer the subject of their gossip.

The thought that Shin Joowon was being dragged down because of him made it difficult for him to even breathe.

‘If only I hadn’t come in here, such words wouldn’t have been spoken.’

‘It would have been fine if I was the only one hated.’

‘Because we were seen together, even Shin Joowon….’

Yooha closed his eyes tightly.

When Shin Joowon said thank you for worrying about him, he shouldn’t have just taken it lightly and felt relieved.

Starting with the incident that day, he should have worried about and anticipated what would happen in the future.

Thinking that all of this was due to his own complacency, his nose tickled and tears threatened to fall.

“Hey.”

His shoulder was suddenly pushed, and Yooha, startled, snapped his head up.

The man he had made eye contact with when he entered the lounge was looking down at him with a furrowed brow.

“I told you to greet people. Are a sunbae’s words a joke to you? Why is there no response?”

The man tapped Yooha’s shoulder, displaying his displeasure all over his face.

Yooha lowered his head again and parted his lips, but no sound came out, as if a large lump were clogging his throat.

Looking at the weakly submissive Yooha, the men poured out laughter.

“He’s going to cry at this rate. Let him go gently.”

“Hey, it’s almost four. Let’s go.”

Another man pulled at the man standing in front of Yooha and gestured toward the exit with his chin.

With a short sigh, the man turned away as if he had no choice, grabbed his bag, and walked out first, followed by the rest as they left the lounge.

Only after a long while did Yooha manage to pick up his trembling body, throw the triangular kimbap—of which he had only taken one bite—into the trash can, and leave the lounge.

Mingling with the people hurriedly crossing the hallway, Yooha barely found his classroom and entered.

Slumping into the first empty seat that caught his eye, Yooha clenched his fists.

The trembling remaining in his body hadn’t subsided yet, and his fists were shaking weakly.

Yooha buried his face on the desk.

His eyes burned and his throat was tight, leaving him unable to do anything.

‘But why is Shin Joowon hanging out with him? Is he doing charity work lately?’

‘Is that so? Hey, Shin Joowon is nothing special anymore, seeing how he hangs out with an outsider.’

Shin Joowon was not a person to be treated like that.

He was a truly good person who was kind and sweet to everyone.

Knowing that Joowon was being disparaged because of his association with him, Yooha felt too ashamed to face him anymore.

It seemed that because Shin Joowon’s kindness was so sweet, he had forgotten his place in the meantime.

He was merely in a position of being unilaterally indebted to Shin Joowon.

Even if he couldn’t repay the debt, he shouldn’t cause any more trouble for Shin Joowon.

They weren’t close anyway, and he was too inadequate to get close to him, so he felt deeply ashamed.

So, he had to return to being completely alone.

It was time to pack away the happy memory of temporarily leaning on another’s kindness in his heart and go back to how things were.

“…….”

He clearly understood it with his head, and he knew he had to do so, but why did a corner of his chest ache so much?

Swallowing the emotions that surged up due to an inexplicable emptiness, Yooha had to grit his teeth for a long time.