Chapter 11: 3.4

Maybe because it had been snowing all night, snowflakes were like blooms on the bare tree branches. On such a Christmas day, when snow neither really piled up nor was too scarce, Jaeyoon kept fixing his hair since early morning. Jaehee looked at him, her quiet and nerdy older brother who kept hovering in front of the mirror, with interest. Speaking of this, didn’t my brother also go out yesterday?

“Oppa, should I take care of your clothes?”

“Eh?”

“I saw your coat yesterday and found there was a lot of dust on it. Jaesung bought a new coat. Wear that.”

“Why go to such lengths… is it that dirty?”

“To be frank, navy blue doesn’t suit you. You look good in white, oppa.”

At some point, Jaehee took out the coat from her twin younger brother’s room. Although he refused – his pride hurt that he was the same size as his younger brother by three years – Jaehee stubbornly put it on Jaeyoon. The hooded double coat made the young Jaeyoon look even younger, but it also made him look livelier since it highlighted his pale, yellowish skin.

“See? It suits you.”

“Jaesung will get angry.”

“That brat is always borrowing from you. Go out like this today. Ah, I’ll put on some wax.”

Jaehee hummed as she went to her room. He pretended nothing was up, but it was obvious that something had happened to that nerd and she was happy. Having also taken perfume out of the drawer, Jaehee smoothed Jaeyoon’s hair and even wrapped her cherished muffler around his neck.

“This is much better.”

“Jaehee, the color of this muffler.”

“You looked kind of pale, so at least like this, you’ll look somewhat lively. Oppa, if you just go out like that, it would be like you’re advertising to everyone ‘I’m an examinee, so I’m a corpse.’”

“…….”

“These days, people even look so cool in job interviews. Oppa, you’ll also have an interview soon.”

Jaeyoon left the house after being nagged by his younger sister, who took care of this and that. It was spot-on, so he couldn’t refute anything, and even accepted the handkerchief as she took care of him like he was her younger brother. He was bothered by the tightness of his hair, but moved towards the appointed place recalling his younger sister’s satisfied expression.

Fortunately, he wasn’t late this time.

Arriving 30 minutes in advance due to the previous day’s experience, with a puff of white breath, Jaeyoon watched the passersby. On Christmas morning, the streets were at their peak and the last carols were ringing.

As he looked around to see which side he would come from and sniffled, a black Pontiac pulled up in front of Jaeyoon. It was exactly the appointed time.

“Hello.”

“…….”

When Jaeyoon approached and greeted through the open car window, Sieon paused for a moment and stared at him.

“Hop on.”

As soon as Jaeyoon got in, the car left. After seeing the other’s reaction to the attire his younger sibling had paid so much attention to, feeling awkward, Jaeyoon looked outside the window aimlessly and feigned indifference.

“I thought you were a snowman.”

“…….”

Even if his eyes were pinned to the window, his ears were pricked up, so there was no way he wouldn’t hear the mumbling in the small space. Learning of Sieon’s view of his white coat and red muffler, Jaeyoon’s shoulders drooped.

“Should I at least buy you a hat?”

“No.”

If he wore a hat here, he’d be a snowman for sure.

“Ha-”

“Where are we going?”

“To collect debts.”

“!!-”

“You promised yesterday.”

“Heok, but it’s broad daylight!!”

“What’s in that head of yours at this age?”

“What?”

“Sly.”

“…….”

After having suddenly been turned into a lustful juvenile delinquent, Jaeyoon was no longer confident in continuing the conversation, so he buried himself in the seat. Not long after, the car passed through Inse University’s main gate.

“Why here?”

“To collect debts.”

He wanted to ask what money lending business Sieon could have at school, but he would put nothing past this man, so Jaeyoon shut his mouth again. Going through the large campus and its dense forest, it seemed like you could enjoy a campus life like the one in dramas. Glancing at Jaeyoon, whose eyes were full of yearning and mouth hanging agape as he took in the university campus, Sieon smirked and laughed.

When they entered the school’s computer room, they ran into Lee Jinwook, whom he had met before.

“You really came.”

“Hello.”

“Long time no see. How have you been?”

When he met Jinwook’s friendly smile, his until-then anxious heart seemed to settle down. Jinwook led him to the front of the heater in the classroom.

“How’s our school? Don’t you want to attend?”

“Ah, yes.”

“It would be nice if you passed and I got a cute junior like you. We’re highly notorious because of that guy, so juniors don’t even approach us.”

“We don’t have time, so write it quickly and let’s go.”

“You, really! Then at least go to the local PC room. Also, it’s not like you don’t have a computer at home.”

“I have to check and make sure with my own eyes.”

“Aigoo, sure you do! Jaeyoon, come here.”

“Ah, yes….”

At Jinwook’s gesture, a confused Jaeyoon followed him and sat down in front of the computer. When the admission application came up on the screen, Jaeyoon looked up at Jinwook’s face with an inquiring gaze.

“Fill it in slowly.”

“No, I…”

After confirming that the application form had Inse University’s official seal on it, Jaeyoon looked at Sieon again.

“What are you doing? Write it down.”

“No… It’s… I won’t fill it in.”

“Why?!”

“It’s not the university I will be attending.”

“Why? Is something wrong?”

When the atmosphere turned weird, Jinwook approached and asked. Sieon frowned and said to Jinwook:

“Go outside for a bit.”

Jinwook looked back at them before retreating.

“Why can’t you fill it in, are you computer illiterate?”

“No, that’s not it.”

“You only do exams for Categories One and Two. Our school does one for Category Three, too.”1

“Why do I have to apply for admission here?”

“Because you’ll be attending it.”

“…….”

Jaeyoon’s breath stopped for a moment.

“I’m going to Hanshin University, though.”

“Why, because you’re birdbrained?”

“… it’s nice.”

“So you want me to transfer there?”

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“Why would you transfer?”

“Then attend here.”

This would never end if it kept going like this. He got called out on Christmas, so he’d come with a slightly excited heart; after just one glance, Sieon had called him a snowman, and was now asking him to fill in an admission application.

“Why should I attend here?”

“Because I’m going here.”

Exactly, I can’t even tell you that I don’t want to attend here! Jaeyoon thought that a more realistic and serious conversation was needed.

“It’s private here, so the tuition is expensive.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“How could I not?!”

“You’re even screaming, are you provoking me?”

“N-No. My grades aren’t enough, either.”

“When I went to your school, I saw everything. It’s good enough to pass.”

“…….”

So that’s why he went.

Before he knew it, Sieon was tapping on the keyboard himself. Jaeyoon grabbed Sieon’s hand and tried to stop him but, overwhelmed by his glaring gaze, he slowly withdrew his arm. But there’s something I can’t accept, mumbled Jaeyoon.

“Why are you suddenly forcing me to attend?”

“C.C.”

“!!-”

“Yesterday, you definitely said you’d take whatever punishment. Fill it in and take the test.”

Sieon did bring up Give&Take and emphasized it yesterday evening, but none of the words that followed had entered Jaeyoon’s mind. 

C.C. Campus couple.

Spacing out after that one word Sieon had said, Jaeyoon doubted his ears hadn’t misheard. How could that word have come out of this man’s mouth? Illogical,2 unspeakable,3 to make matters worse…4 No, pull yourself together! You didn’t suffer only once or twice!

“You’re just going to keep an eye on me under the pretext of attending the same school, aren’t you?”

Jaeyoon quietly voiced the intention he could easily infer based on his experiences until now. Sieon said he’d tutor him, but then he got locked up as if this man was someone great. And judging by the blueprints of his more-than-obvious mistreatment, he probably wouldn’t be allowed to go to class after being seduced into attending the same school. So he wouldn’t be put on the spot absent-mindedly, Jaeyoon quietly glared as he tried to steal a march on him5 and the movements of the fingers typing on the keyboard came to a halt.

“You won’t let me make friends, make me report every day and grill me, right?”

“…….”

“C.C is Coca-Cola6, right?”

“…….”

“Isn’t it?”

By now I know how your brain works. You’re either going to say, ‘Are you wising up?’7 or you’ll suddenly yell, ‘How dare you lecture me!!’. His simple downcast look and creased forehead was somehow scary. Wondering if he was too on the mark, Jaeyoon ducked his head and avoided his stare. While regretting he hadn’t just pretended he had no idea, he heard Sieon’s ominous voice.

“If you FAIL, be prepared.”

“Hic.”

As Jaeyoon answered with a hiccup instead, Sieon began typing in the application form again.

After that, Sieon’s mood didn’t look that great. It didn’t ever seem good, so it could just be considered normal, but when Jinwook’s questions came only in the form of mouthing and gesturing to Jaeyoon, he knew Sieon’s mood was especially bad. But he couldn’t confess to Jinwook, who knew nothing about the matter, that [it didn’t go his way because he’d hit the bullseye with the remark about his plans to harass and surveil him].

First of all, although he received the application in confusion, Jaeyoon didn’t think much about the seriousness of the situation. He’d been preparing for the entrance examinations to Hanshin University; if he suddenly changed schools, never mind the grades, since it was a private school, realistically, tuition was the biggest problem. No matter how Sieon tried to force it, impossible was impossible. So, on the surface, he decided to take the essay exam and go for the interview. He didn’t know what he’d have to do if he insisted on refusing, so he made up his mind to just do it.

At almost three times the cost of tuition and college life that would have a profound impact on his social existence from then on, there was no way that an immature child’s whim of wanting to switch universities would work on Jaeyoon’s parents. No matter how much Sieon desired a campus couple life of surveillance and machinations… First, Jaeyoon just filled in the application form so his debt was paid.

“That guy’s more savage today than normally.”

Only after Sieon left the room, saying that he had to attend some business in the department office, did Jinwook let out a big breath and say this. He waved his hands as if to ventilate the previously suffocating air.

“Thank you for last time.”

“Eh?”

“You took us to the room and put us to sleep there. That heartless jerk couldn’t have done it. He’s someone who throws us away on the street even when we drink in school.”

“Eh… no way,”

He wanted to say that he’d definitely been told to put them in the garbage bag, but there was no way he would really do that.

“He’s someone who does what he says he will. Once, I greeted the morning in an actual trash can. Ah, it’s a very intense memory.”

Jinwook gazed far out the window with a deep look. That memory being something he never wanted to recall, his expression became detached.

“That’s why we’re keeping an eye on you.”

“?”

“Who knows what’s wrong with him, but he went around without spilling anything
(about you). He even contacted me in advance, saying that he’ll be coming today. Thanks to you, I’m called out without even being allowed to have Christmas.”

Jinwook smiled bitterly, recalling how he’d protested, ‘But it’s Christmas’ and the evil man’s reply had been, ‘You’re going to be wrestling with the computer inside your room anyway, so come over and open the door’. Given what sort of man he was, with that handsome face and exuding an arctic aura, never mind dating, you couldn’t even approach him or see the tiniest speck of humanity. If he didn’t want to date, he shouldn’t interrupt his friends’ love affairs/lives. They’d known each other for a few years, but Sieon was a dude whose world he still couldn’t figure out/comprehend.

The Sieon he knew had recently started dragging around a little kid. No, he felt apologetic to call this young man who was about to come of age a kid, but in his white and round face, there was a childlike freshness.

“It’s Christmas, but you’re chasing after hyungs? You’ve filled in the application, so you should at least meet up with your girlfriend.”

Jinwook was taking meticulous care, in case this innocent little lamb fell into that wicked person’s clutches and kept failing at relationships like they were. He planned to take advantage of Sieon’s absence and help Jaeyoon escape. However, Jinwook didn’t know that this innocent little kid sitting before him was spending Christmas with his ‘lover’. Even if the world turned on its head, it was unimaginable that his ‘lover’ was Park Jeong Sieon, whose mind ran in 6 dimensions. When Jaeyoon meekly rejected with an ‘It’s okay’, he couldn’t be anything but cute.

“Really, come to our school. I’ll protect you from that jerk at all costs.”

“Ahaha….”

Jaeyoon only awkwardly smiled at the goodwill of the kind senior who was suddenly bursting with love for his junior.

“What nonsense are you spouting about protecting what? Think about passing your thesis and graduating.”

“You’re good at that.”

“Humph.”

Having finished his work at the department office, Sieon gave Jaeyoon a nod. The latter got up from his seat and said goodbye to Jinwook.

“Take care. See you later!”

“Goodbye.”

He politely said goodbye and followed after Sieon, who was in front. Until they got into the car, the latter didn’t say a word. He didn’t speak much originally – even if they had conversations, they didn’t go well. Bothered by the deep crease on his forehead, Jaeyoon kept glancing at Sieon.

He had filled in the application as directed, so if Sieon was dissatisfied with anything… perhaps he caught on that Jaeyoon didn’t want to go?

Since his face was like a blackboard, with all his thoughts clearly written on it for all to see, Jaeyoon was a bundle of nerves worrying what to do if the man noticed in advance and got upset. He fiddled with his hands while biting his lower lip, a habit that came out when he was nervous.

However, he didn’t want to spend a hard time under Sieon’s surveillance even in college. No matter how short the time they spent together would be – as Sieon was about to graduate –, he didn’t want to go through his hopeful freshman year in depression. Even if they were lovers, no meant no.

The awkward air lasted even after arriving to Sieon’s villa.

Soonsoon, who was faithfully waiting in front of the main door for the owner to come back, seemed beyond herself with joy when Jaeyoon visited, and busily ran between the bedroom and living room, as if holding a celebration. Sieon left his jacket on the sofa and stomped off into his room. While patting Soonsoon’s head, Jaeyoon whispered softly.

“We have a long day of crawling on our bellies today. He’s on fire.”

As if understanding, Soonsoon lowered her body. Seeing it, Jaeyoon almost burst into laughter and barely held it in, petting Soonsoon’s back. For some time, the relationship between these two who shared a sense of camaraderie had transcended species.

“Let’s pretend you don’t know even if you do from now on.”

That was the time when Jaeyoon got a new survival ticket.

TN:

1) “You only do exams for Categories One and Two. Our school does one for Category Three, too.” – So, from what I gather, Korea has their universities split into three categories and each one has a different exam.

2) Illogical – A four-character idiom, meaning the ‘words’ 어(語), the ‘not’ 불(不), the ‘make’ 성(成), the ‘words’ 설(說), it means ‘no way’ or ‘the words don’t make sense’

3) unspeakable – Another 4-character idiom, meaning the ‘words’ 언(言), the ‘words’ 어(語), the ‘path’ 도(道), the ‘cut off’ 단(斷), it means ‘lost for words’ or ‘can’t be expressed in words’

4) to make matters worse – Yet another 4-character idiom, meaning the ‘snow’ 설(雪), the ‘top’ 상(上), the ‘add’ 가(加), the ‘frost’ 상(霜), another way to translate it is ‘adding frost atop snow’ or ‘adding insult to injury’; it means that even if frost falls on top of a snow, it doesn’t mean anything, it’s an idiom which often appears in Buddhist books and originally meant ‘useless intervention’, but is interpreted as ‘bad things keep on happening’ in modern times.

5) to steal a march on him – Gain an advantage over unexpectedly or secretly, as in Macy’s stole a march on their rival department store with their Thanksgiving Day parade. This metaphoric expression comes from medieval warfare, where a march was the distance an army could travel in a day.

6) Coca-Cola – Raws are Coke-Cola, but I’m assuming it’s a slip-up from the author.

7) ‘Are you wising up?’ – lit. getting wrinkles in your brain

(Still looking for TLC if you’re interested ^^)

I’m so sorry, but it’s now completely translated (and pretty much also edited) so you can expect (hopefully) regural updates from now on, just pray I don’t get stuck up on some part while TLCing and we should be gucci 

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