Chapter 37: A Coincidence That Wasn’t One

Ji-tae walked behind and took in the sight of Woo-joo’s excited back as he walked ahead.

A smile naturally spread across his face.

Whenever Woo-joo stopped midway to find the way, Ji-tae skillfully slipped into an alley or used nearby structures to hide himself just right.

“Ah, should I go this way?”

Woo-joo clapped his hands and stepped into the wrong path.

“Ah, that idiot.”

Ji-tae let out a deep sigh as if he had expected it.

For a moment, he had wondered if Woo-joo might actually find it properly today.

If he left him like that, he would definitely be late for the entrance ceremony.

Ji-tae glanced around and headed toward an alley that crossed the path Woo-joo had just taken.

If he went this way, he would meet Kang Woo-joo at just the right distance.

He had only walked a little while thinking that.

“Huh? Won Ji-tae?”

As expected, he ran straight into Woo-joo.

Woo-joo widened his eyes as if he had never expected this and pointed at Ji-tae.

“What the heck, meeting here of all places?”

Ji-tae nodded as if amazed.

A shameless lie was necessary.

At the same time, he carefully took in the sight of Woo-joo wearing his brand-new high school uniform.

“Yeah, seriously.”

“But Kang Woo-joo, why are you going this way?”

“Huh? What do you mean why. I have to go to school.”

“This is the exact opposite direction of Daehyun High.”

“Uh… really?”

Only then did Woo-joo hurriedly turn on his phone map.

What’s the use of handing him modern technology if he can’t even use it properly.

“Kang Woo-joo, you really have no sense of direction.”

“Shut up. I was just confused for a second.”

Woo-joo clicked his tongue and turned his body around confidently.

As he tried to stride off just like that, Ji-tae grabbed his backpack tightly and pulled him back.

“Ah, what now.”

“Not that way. That way.”

Ji-tae pointed to the road on the right.

“…I’m supposed to go there?”

Ji-tae let out a long sigh.

“I’ll take you there, so just follow me.”

To get to Wonjang High anyway, he had to pass by Daehyun High.

Of course, he knew a shortcut that led straight to Wonjang High, but since Ji-tae had the mission of safely delivering Woo-joo to school, he couldn’t use that route.

“Hmm, hey. Actually, I knew too.”

“Sure.”

“It’s just the first day, so I got confused for a bit.”

“Who said anything?”

“But how did we coincidentally run into each other like this? Now that I think about it, it’s kind of amazing.”

At those words, Ji-tae didn’t respond.

He couldn’t say that it was inevitability disguised as coincidence.

“Won Ji-tae, you’re joining the volleyball club, right?”

“Why are you asking something so obvious?”

Woo-joo smiled in satisfaction.

Ji-tae lowered his gaze.

It was a smile as bright as the spring sunlight.

It felt like he would never get tired of looking at that face all day long.

Ji-tae’s day, which had begun in monochrome, was being dyed with warm and vivid colors.

“Alright, we’re here, so hurry in. Don’t be late.”

“Yeah. Thanks… I mean, actually I did know the way.”

Ji-tae let out a small chuckle.

Woo-joo got annoyed, asking why he was being ignored and telling him not to laugh at him.

“Anyway, you go quickly too. You shouldn’t be late either.”

“Yeah.”

Woo-joo waved his hand and slowly crossed the field.

Ji-tae stood there blankly, staring at his back.

After he had gone some distance, Woo-joo suddenly stopped and turned around.

Ji-tae, who hadn’t left yet, flinched.

“Won Ji-tae.”

“Huh?”

“Uh… congratulations on your admission.”

Woo-joo scratched his head awkwardly as he spoke.

The awkward gesture and voice.

Ji-tae’s heart began pounding loudly.

“…Yeah. You too.”

After saying that, perhaps out of embarrassment, Woo-joo suddenly ran off into the building.

Only after confirming he had disappeared did Ji-tae collapse onto the ground.

A tall student wearing a different school uniform suddenly sitting down in front of the school gate startled the Daehyun High students nearby.

But Ji-tae didn’t care at all.

His violently beating heart was impossible to control.

A high school entrance ceremony, nothing particularly special, something every student in Korea goes through.

A day he had thought insignificant became an unforgettable, special day for Ji-tae because of a single person’s congratulatory words.

That day, Ji-tae almost ended up late to his own school because he took Woo-joo there first.

He barely made it and received disapproving looks from the teachers on the very first day, and he still remembered it clearly.

Kang Woo-joo probably had no idea.

But that wasn’t important.

It didn’t matter if he never knew.

Ji-tae didn’t even dare to hope for that.

“Ugh, my stomach hurts.”

Ji-tae slowly reached out and stroked Woo-joo’s hair.

He was drunk.

Since Kang Woo-joo wasn’t in his right mind, maybe this much would be okay, he thought, courage rising within him.

The soft texture of his hair wrapped around his hand.

For someone who had boldly reached out, Ji-tae’s hand trembled slightly.

The hand stroking him was awkward.

He swallowed nervously when Woo-joo suddenly lifted his head.

“Why…?”

Ji-tae tensed.

He had taken advantage of the drunken state, but maybe he was mistaken.

He even worried he might get punched.

But suddenly Woo-joo began rummaging through his pocket.

“Hey.”

Ji-tae swallowed again.

There was always the risk a fist might suddenly come flying out.

“Here.”

Fortunately, no punch came just because he had stroked his hair.

When Kang Woo-joo was exhausted, he turned rude, but Ji-tae didn’t yet have enough data on what kind of personality he became when drunk.

In Woo-joo’s outstretched hand was a small can.

It was a drink famous for relieving hangovers.

On the can’s surface, a familiar middle-aged man was smiling with his thumb raised.

Ji-tae blankly accepted it.

“I bought it at the convenience store, you know… that buy-one-get-one thing.”

Woo-joo scratched his head.

“I had one, so I’m giving you the other.”

It felt slightly lukewarm, as if it had been in his pocket for quite a while.

It seemed he had stopped by the convenience store after leaving the restaurant.

Ji-tae hadn’t realized that in such a short time, someone who didn’t even know the roads properly would have bustled around so diligently.

“You should just drink another one yourself.”

Ji-tae wasn’t drunk at all.

He hadn’t drunk little, but he was still fine.

Not as much as Seon-hyeok, but he had a fairly strong tolerance.

After becoming an adult, he had spent a while drinking heavily.

Because of that, he was well-trained when it came to alcohol.

Ji-tae examined Woo-joo’s condition and held the hangover drink back out to him.

“I said I already drank one. And I was keeping that to give to you, so just drink it.”

“Huh?”

At Woo-joo’s words, Ji-tae froze as if someone had pressed a pause button.

“This… y-you were really carrying it to give to me?”

Woo-joo slowly nodded.

Ji-tae’s grip on the can tightened.

Even if it was just the common result of a buy-one-get-one promotion at a convenience store, if Kang Woo-joo had carried it with that intention, then it was different.

With just that one sentence, a drink that had been nothing more than a common free extra suddenly looked incredibly special.

The barbecue restaurant over there was crowded with people, yet he had been thinking of only him while keeping this in his pocket.

“You were going to give it to me, not someone else, right?”

Ji-tae was desperate for confirmation.

“Ah, I said yes. Why do you keep asking, it’s annoying. If you don’t want it, give it back.”

Woo-joo suddenly reached out his hand.

As he tried to take the drink back, Ji-tae quickly leaned away with impressive reflexes to keep from losing it.

“You gave it to me. Why are you taking it back? That’s cheap.”

“You look like you don’t want it. Give it.”

Two fully grown twenty-seven-year-old adults were sitting on a park bench, twisting around and bickering childishly.

Luckily there were no passersby in the park.

If there had been, their silly fight might have set the internet ablaze tomorrow.

Woo-joo, who had been staring at Ji-tae smiling shyly while holding the drink, lowered his flailing hand.

“Hey, smile like that more often.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t force your smile. If you’re going to fake it, don’t smile at all.”

“When did I ever fake a smile…”

“At the barbecue place earlier and at the filming set too. You overdo it when you talk to people. Just relax. Why make it so hard on yourself.”

Ji-tae’s eyes began to tremble.

Kang Woo-joo had seen everything and known everything.

As expected, Kang Woo-joo saw right through it all.

It felt like water slowly soaking into parched land.

Water gathered in his once-barren heart and formed gentle waves.

Waves that made him feel at ease just by watching them, just by being near them.

“Ah, my stomach hurts…”

Woo-joo, who had been talking energetically, suddenly seemed to be hit hard by the hangover and slumped over.

Before Ji-tae could even check on him in surprise, Woo-joo collapsed straight onto Ji-tae’s lap.

“Ah, I shouldn’t have drunk. Seriously… that old drunkard guy, what was his name…”

“……”

Ji-tae froze in an awkward position, still holding the drink.

He could feel the weight on his thigh.

Woo-joo’s slightly labored breathing from the alcohol felt even more vivid.

“Hey, hey, what are you doing……”