Harmonious Love

Yang Gi Thief (14)

Kim Jung-hyun was curious about Mo Yeon, the quiet and dark junior that Tae Young-won had been hanging around with lately. He had been itching to ask and was finally doing so now. Even to Kim Jung-hyun, a close classmate, Tae Young-won sometimes had aspects that felt difficult to approach.

“I heard that no one had exchanged more than two words with him, so everyone was shocked to see him with you.”

“…”

Mo Yeon was known for being rude to others and famous for always being alone, while Tae Young-won was the complete opposite. It went without saying that the two didn’t seem to match, but to Kim Jung-hyun, it wasn’t simply that kind of issue. While Tae Young-won was admired by everyone in the department and had a good reputation, he wasn’t someone who particularly looked after any specific person.

Rather, it was Han Chae-yeon or himself who were close with some juniors, and having observed Tae Young-won since their freshman year, he knew better than anyone that most of Tae Young-won’s good reputation was due to his looks. Tae Young-won was the type of guy who didn’t need to put effort into maintaining relationships; people just flocked to him naturally.

But his behavior with Mo Yeon was far from what Tae Young-won had shown so far.

“But what’s strange is that you seem to be the one clinging to him. I’ve never seen you like this before.”

“…”

At that moment, the hand that had been petting the cat paused. His eyes widened a bit as he looked up.

“You felt it too?”

“Huh? Yeah. Well, it looks good. You’re usually quite indifferent to juniors.”

Though he meant it sincerely, Tae Young-won furrowed his brow.

“That’s new.”

Kim Jung-hyun tilted his head at the puzzling response. However, no further words came.

Tae Young-won seemed to be lost in thought for some reason.

***

Meow. Meow.

Hearing the cat’s cry from somewhere, Mo Yeon, walking down the street, stared at the top of the wall. A tricolored cat was looking at him.

There’s a saying that cats can see ghosts. So when a cat looked at Mo Yeon, he often felt uncomfortable for no reason. It felt like the cat knew everything and was staring at him, and sometimes he felt like he might turn into a ghost himself.

“…What are you looking at?”

Mo Yeon snapped unnecessarily and walked past the cat.

He couldn’t help his inferiority complex.

For a while, he had been incredibly busy.

It was because Hye-jung had asked him to work a few more days due to another employee at the restaurant quitting suddenly. While attending school, he worked every evening including weekends, and during this time, he gradually stopped receiving messages from Tae Young-won.

In truth, Mo Yeon would benefit from meeting Tae Young-won frequently because of the yang energy, but Tae Young-won had no reason to meet often. As it was difficult for Mo Yeon to make time, they decided to split the topics and gather materials separately.

Still, he felt a bit disappointed that even the occasional random messages had stopped.

Just then, Mo Yeon’s head whipped around at a sudden chill that brushed past him.

The places and times where ghosts often appear tend to follow a pattern of sorts. Because of this, Mo Yeon always avoided dark and secluded places or areas where accidents had occurred recently. It was also why he usually tried to stay in crowded places.

But even though what passed by was clearly a person, he felt an untimely chill.

Sure enough, a black figure dripping with blood was riding on the back of a boy in a school uniform. Maybe a high school student? A shadow tangled like a ball of yarn was drooping over the child’s shoulders. The ghost seemed to be an old one, large enough to almost completely cover the small body. As they passed by, the student’s eyes looked sunken, and his gaze darting around seemed anxious.

When Mo Yeon turned his head to look back at the cat, as expected, it was staring not at Mo Yeon but at the student.

“…”

The thought that they were looking at the same thing irritated Mo Yeon for no reason.

Frowning, Mo Yeon walked past the cat towards the traffic light. He stood far away from the child waiting for the signal.

Carefully observing so as not to attract the ghost’s attention, he noticed that the boy was even smaller in stature than a high school student.

Perhaps it caught his eye because it reminded him of himself from years ago. Of course, the difference was that this child didn’t know about the being riding on his back. Mo Yeon had always lived seeing the ghosts approaching him with his own eyes and constantly running away.

“…”

As he stared intently, the ghost seemed to sense his gaze and finally turned its head towards him. But Mo Yeon didn’t avert his eyes.

Instead, he slowly stepped backward. After confirming that the ghost started following him as he had lured it, Mo Yeon turned around and ran away.

He never looked back. He ran straight towards the crowded school. Passing through the main gate and past the students, Mo Yeon’s destination was only one place.

Mo Yeon knew where Tae Young-won would be at this time.

Luckily, he was able to find Han Chae-yeon and Tae Young-won near the student union building right away.

“Sunbae!”

The moment he stood in front of Tae Young-won, his legs gave out and he staggered, causing Tae Young-won to grab his arm. Mo Yeon unconsciously grasped Tae Young-won’s hand.

Holding his hand tightly, Mo Yeon caught his breath. When he looked back, there was nothing there. Tae Young-won and Han Chae-yeon were looking at Mo Yeon with surprised eyes.

His heart was still pounding as if it might burst, and as Mo Yeon looked between their eyes, he could finally consider how strange he must look.

He hadn’t been able to think of anything while running due to fear.

Sensing something was amiss, Han Chae-yeon approached Mo Yeon and put her hand on his shoulder.

“What on earth happened? Are you okay?”

He felt like he needed to stay near Tae Young-won a bit longer to feel at ease. Mo Yeon nodded and carefully looked at them.

“Did some strange person follow you or something?”

“…”

Han Chae-yeon was looking at him worriedly, while there was no expression on Tae Young-won’s face.

Mo Yeon realized he was still holding Tae Young-won’s hand. He let go in surprise.

“Ah, yes, something a bit startling…”

“Oh my, you must have run into some weird person. It’s scary to walk around even in broad daylight these days. We’re going to buy coffee now, want to drink something with us?”

Han Chae-yeon led Mo Yeon by the arm. Surprisingly, the hand patting his shoulder made him feel reassured. Mo Yeon obediently followed her lead.

“Ah, I never liked it, but today I really, really, really don’t want to attend class. What major courses are you taking? I don’t think we have any overlapping classes this semester, right?”

“Um… I’m taking Corporate Finance and Commercial Law.”

“What about Econometrics?”

“Ah, that too.”

“I hate that one the most. I retook it last year and thought I was going to die. It’s Professor Choi Min-hyung, right? You know you have to do really well on the quizzes, right? Have you gotten any problems wrong so far?”

“Not yet…”

“Oh, you’re doing well. That’s not something you can just do well on without effort. Everyone studies like their life depends on it, so if you get even one problem wrong… If you knew how many problems I got wrong and still got a C+, you’d be really surprised. How many do you think I got wrong? Guess quickly.”

Mo Yeon thought for a long time, looking at the ground, before answering.

“Seventeen…?”

“Hey, I’m not that bad!”

As they walked, led by her friendly chatter, Tae Young-won followed behind them. So Mo Yeon couldn’t look at him.

Han Chae-yeon, saying her class was about to start, vanished like the wind as soon as the coffee came out.

Having frozen like ice and answered each of Han Chae-yeon’s barrage of questions one by one, Mo Yeon felt like all his energy had been drained. Tae Young-won chuckled seeing Mo Yeon sitting there in a daze. He brought the drinks and handed Mo Yeon a juice.

“Overwhelming, isn’t it?”

“Ah, no, it’s fine.”

Maybe because it had been so noisy until just now, but being left alone with Tae Young-won felt a bit awkward.

But for Mo Yeon, this seemed better. Earlier, every time he tried to rest a bit, another question would come flying at him, which was really tiring…

“I think our department has a lot of particularly bright kids, besides Chae-yeon.”

Mo Yeon could only nod. He felt like he’d just had a month’s worth of conversation.

Unlike himself, seeing such bright people made him envious, and he was grateful to Han Chae-yeon for talking to him unlike others. Especially today, he knew she had deliberately spoken to him even more.

“I’m not like that though…”

However, being envious of something and being able to handle it comfortably are different stories.

“If we’re being strict, I’m not really like that either.”

This too was due to a chronic issue. Because Mo Yeon often experienced surprising events, he tended to find people with loud speech and big actions even more overwhelming.

“I think it’s good that you’re not like that, sunbae.”

“…”