Romantic Gangster

#24

“Why are you here?”

“To go to school together.”

“…Why suddenly? The way from your house to mine is the opposite direction from school.”

“I came because you’re not coming to ask me to go together anymore.”

“I went then because I was worried you might not come to school…”

“I came so you can’t avoid me. I told you yesterday. I’ll follow you around until you take responsibility for me.”

“I told you I wasn’t avoiding you, but you keep saying that.”

“Okay. I got it, so let’s go to school together. What, don’t you like going with me?”

Ji-woo silently shook his head. He clearly expressed that it wasn’t that he disliked going together. Lee Hyun-joon, who had been waiting for the answer somewhat nervously, smiled brightly as soon as he confirmed the response. Ji-woo felt his fingertips tingle for a moment and pressed them against his school uniform pants.

He didn’t used to smile like that often, but these days he would smile like this once in a while. Even as a guy, Ji-woo thought he was handsome, and beyond that, his smile was so pretty that he found himself unconsciously admiring his face often.

“What. Surprised by how handsome I am first thing in the morning?”

“I think you’d look even more handsome if you didn’t say things like that.”

“So you admit I’m handsome.”

The smiling Hyun-joon shifted his gaze to the quite sturdy-looking black straps on both of Ji-woo’s shoulders. Then he reached behind and grabbed the sagging bottom of the bag, lifting it up. Surprised that it was heavier than he thought, Hyun-joon let out a gasp.

“Hey, you’re not doing manual labor. Why is it so heavy?”

“I just carry all my workbooks and stuff around.”

“Give me your bag.”

“Why?”

“I’ll carry it for you.”

“No, it’s okay. I can carry this much.”

“Then let’s switch bags. You wear mine.”

Hyun-joon slipped a finger between Ji-woo’s shoulder and the bag strap and took off the bag. Spinning around in place at the sudden action, Ji-woo looked at Hyun-joon with disbelief.

“Give it here, quickly.”

“You carry this one.”

Hyun-joon, who had easily lowered the strap that was originally on one of his shoulders, thrust his bag into Ji-woo’s arms. Ji-woo, a bit flustered by the bag that felt weightless as if it contained nothing, poked and prodded the bag. There really wasn’t anything to feel inside.

“…Is there nothing in here by any chance?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s nothing to put in. What are you doing? Want to be late? Let’s go quickly.”

“Huh? Oh…”

Ji-woo, left speechless by Hyun-joon’s statement that he hadn’t put anything in the bag because there was nothing to put in, slung Hyun-joon’s bag over his shoulder. It was the lightest school bag he had ever carried in his life. It was natural. He had never worn a bag with nothing in it before.

“Isn’t it heavy for you?”

“It is heavy.”

“Then give it to me, quickly.”

“No. I’m going to carry it. That way, you’ll take responsibility for me, even if it’s out of guilt.”

Ji-woo laughed softly at the mention of responsibility again and looked up at Hyun-joon. Since yesterday, he kept talking about taking responsibility, and it seemed like a good idea to listen carefully to what Hyun-joon meant by ‘responsibility’.

“What do you mean by taking responsibility? Like… taking responsibility for my life? It can’t be that, right?”

“…Wow, you’ve already gone that far? You’re really fast.”

“Huh?”

“You’re already thinking about marrying me now.”

“Are you crazy? When did I?”

“You said taking responsibility for your life.”

Ji-woo, momentarily speechless at the face that was smiling again, shook his head. He knew that although Hyun-joon had some rough edges, he wasn’t a bad or completely closed-off type, but he wondered if he had always been this playful.

“I’m saying I go because you told me to come to school, to come see you. But now you’re not looking at me, so I really don’t want to go again.”

“…”

“So until graduation, you need to take responsibility for me and take care of me so that I want to go to school.”

“…”

“And think about it. How many years have I been at odds with school? Do you think I can perfectly adjust to school in just a week?”

Ji-woo, who had been quietly listening to Hyun-joon’s words, slowly nodded. He had thought it was an unreasonable excuse, but after hearing the explanation, Hyun-joon’s words made sense. Especially the part about not being able to perfectly adjust in a week when he hadn’t had proper school life for years resonated with Ji-woo. He knew well that fully belonging to a group wasn’t as easy as one might think.

“You need to help me until the end. So I don’t give up.”

Hyun-joon heavily added weight to Ji-woo’s already leaning heart. And as Hyun-joon thought, Ji-woo couldn’t help but lean more towards Hyun-joon, who asked for help not to give up.

“What should I do…”

Just as Ji-woo was about to fully lean in, a voice calling his name was heard from somewhere. Hyun-joon looked up to see Choi Young-jae running towards them, waving both hands.

…Fuck, that oblivious bastard, fuck. Of all times, ah, shit.

“You two are coming together again today? Ah, I’m hot from running. I saw you coming from over there, so I ran like hell to come with you.”

“Why did you do that.”

“Huh?”

“No, I mean, good to see you.”

Hyun-joon, who swallowed his honest thoughts that had popped out, thinking it wouldn’t be good for his image to be rude to Ji-woo’s friend, let out a long sigh. There was only one answer to get rid of a guy like that.

“Choi Young-jae, don’t you have anyone you’re dating?”

“…No, I don’t.”

Judging by his suddenly seriously depressed face, it seemed he had a strong desire to date but no one to date him. He wasn’t particularly unattractive, but it was probably his lack of social awareness that prevented anyone from dating him.

“Want me to set you up?”

“Really?”

“Yeah. What’s your type?”

“Me? Uh, I like cute ones. No, I like all types. Younger, same age, older, I like them all.”

“Okay.”

“Wow, Hyun-joon… Thanks, wow. I really misunderstood you all this time, thinking you were scary, wow. Ji-woo was right. You’re a really nice guy.”

Hyun-joon smiled, pretending, as Young-jae even held his hand, and glanced down at Ji-woo. It seemed Ji-woo had told Young-jae that he was a good person when he wasn’t around. It was a big gain compared to the nutritionless conversation. As expected, it seemed Ji-woo had feelings for him too.

“I didn’t say that much. I just said you weren’t a bad person.”

“That’s the same thing. If you’re not bad, you’re good.”

“I’ll change it. Not a bad person, but a person who’s being forceful.”

“Why? What kind of force did he use?”

Ah, he’s being oblivious again and trying to butt in. Hyun-joon quickly put his arm around Young-jae’s shoulder. And he told Young-jae what he most wanted to hear.

“There are two cute types. One who’s completely given up on studying, and one who still goes to school regularly. The former is a bit, you know?”

“Oh, yeah… If they’ve completely given up, it might be a bit difficult for me to handle, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. So the latter one is a go?”

“G-go!”

“Okay. I’ll ask him and let you know when we can set a date.”

Hyun-joon withdrew his arm after seeing Young-jae nodding, and stepped back to stand beside Ji-woo again.

“You’re not going to set Ji-woo up with anyone?”

“No, he’s off-limits.”

“Why?”

Because Seo Ji-woo has to like me.

“He has someone he needs to take responsibility for.”

“What’s that?”

“There is.”

Ji-woo, standing next to Young-jae who was tilting his head curiously, let out a small laugh. Hyun-joon, whose gaze was completely stolen by that laugh, couldn’t suppress his fluttering heart and took a deep breath that resonated in his lungs, then slowly exhaled.

But no matter how many times he repeated it, Ji-woo, who filled his heart, didn’t leave even a little bit. Not even a tiny bit.

* * *

As Ji-woo stood up to go for lunch, he turned his head towards the large figure quickly approaching his side. As expected, Hyun-joon was looking down at him. Ji-woo, who seemed quite used to it now, let out a long sigh and left the classroom without a word. Although it was a bit ridiculous, he didn’t dislike the sound of slippers dragging behind him.

Hyun-joon had been following him around all morning, as he had warned last night. He approached him as soon as classes ended, followed him to the vending machine and the school store, even to the lockers where he talked to him the whole time he was organizing, and even followed him to the teacher’s office, waiting outside.

‘You’re not going to follow me into the teacher’s office?’

‘It’s too tiring in there, so I can’t.’

Ji-woo smiled softly, remembering how Hyun-joon had shaken his head while giving his own valid reason. He went down the stairs. Young-jae had left the classroom as soon as the bell rang, saying he would play soccer first and then eat. Usually, Ji-woo would have waited for him, but today he decided to eat first so he could come back up and study for the 6th period English test.

“Why are you alone again today?”

“Young-jae went to play soccer.”

“Don’t you do things like that?”

“What do you think?”

He could have just said he didn’t, but he asked the question because he was curious. How did he appear to Hyun-joon? It wasn’t for any special reason, just simple curiosity arising from having made a friend who belonged to a completely different category from him.