GBH 129

Shin Ji-soo likes Song Yi-heon. It started with an incident in the first semester of their third year when class funds went missing. Yi-heon stopped Hong Jae-min, who was accused of theft, from resorting to violence, and that sturdy back view put rose-colored glasses on Ji-soo’s eyes.

Even when Yi-heon slurped his soup like he was nursing a hangover every time he ate lunch, when he nearly came last in midterms, or when he made dad jokes that killed the mood, Ji-soo only found Yi-heon cool.

On the day of the June mock exam, she was briefly happy about naturally getting his phone number under the pretext of an escape room cafe, but that day Yi-heon ended up breaking the cafe’s door and leaving.

Once, feeling frustrated, she secretly put chocolates in Yi-heon’s locker. She planned to confess if Yi-heon showed interest in having a girlfriend, but when he firmly stated in front of the class that he wouldn’t date anyone, Ji-soo had to give up her confession plans with tears in her eyes.

Thanks to that, she was able to focus on studying and get accepted to a university in Seoul, but it seemed she would lose Yi-heon.

Ji-soo didn’t even know which university or department Yi-heon had been accepted to. By now, most acceptance announcements should be out, but Yi-heon was quiet in the class chat room.

He only added a single “Yes~” to the string of responses from classmates to the homeroom teacher’s question about checking the graduation ceremony schedule.

“What’s with his profile picture? He’s not even an old man.”

Ji-soo pouted as she zoomed in on Yi-heon’s profile picture that had sent the “Yes!” message bubble. In a group photo of middle-aged men in two rows against a brightly lit soccer field background, only Yi-heon was a fresh-faced teenager. Yet his mischievous smile, finding something amusing, made Ji-soo’s heart flutter.

Love is truly pitiful and misplaced… The newly adult high school girl, suffering from love fever, gently stroked Yi-heon’s face.

“Huh?” And a moment later, she sat up abruptly and raised her voice. “Dad! Dad!”

“Your father’s ears are perfectly fine.”

As a man holding a large bag of shrimp snacks for karaoke leisurely walked out and sat on the sofa, Ji-soo held out her phone. Behind Yi-heon, who was crouching in the front row, stood her father.

“Why are you in a picture with Song Yi-heon, Dad?”

“Song Yi-heon? Who’s that?”

Unlike Ji-soo, who was excited by this unexpected coincidence, her father was calm. When she zoomed in on the photo to show him, he nodded as if remembering.

“Ah, that kid. Right, his name was Song… something. Dad’s been going to an early morning soccer club since last week. He’s a member there. This kid is the same age as you.”

“Soccer club? Dad, you play soccer?”

“My filial daughter doesn’t even know what her dad does while living in the same house.”

Shin Ji-soo’s eyes widened. He does something that only those old men do? It didn’t make sense, but that wasn’t important right now. Ji-soo didn’t miss this connection to Yi-heon thanks to her father.

“I want to go too!”

“Why would you come there? It’s cold. You can’t even wake up early.”

“Da-Daaaad!”

“Noisy. Hand over the remote if you’re not watching. You’ve become such a thug since getting into university, a real thug.”

“Daaaad-!”

“Oh my, daughter, my daughter, your father’s eardrums are going to fall out.”

Even Ji-soo, who made boys’ hearts race at school with her long, flowing hair, was just a spoiled, precious only daughter at home.

* * *

The sunrise in February was late. The pre-dawn darkness made the light from floodlights set up on both sides of the field even more dazzling. The lights were on to illuminate the dew-covered field.

“Pass! Pass!”

While a group of men were passionately playing soccer on the field, only one man with black hair sat on the bench.

Despite being male, his appearance was more suited to being described as pretty rather than handsome. His solid build was close to that of a young adult, but traces of youthful curves remained here and there on his face, giving him a boyish aspect. The glamour given by his layered eyelashes or the delicate lines and soft pink color of his lips were such examples.

Due to the excessive lighting, his fair face appeared pale. The shadows cast by his fine curves accentuated a sensitive and delicate image. It was where the cruelty and violence of his dark inner self showed through his delicate face.

The man, Se-kyung, found the world tedious. It was boring and irritating. The world was too beautiful and peaceful to express his gloomy nature. He had no desire to belong even to a fragment of the world, and so far, he had endured Choi Myung-hyun’s oppression thanks to resignation, indifference, and abandoned respect for his father.

Se-kyung did not particularly make his presence known to the world. Having lost interest in the beautiful and trivial world, he lived a taxidermied life under Choi Myung-hyun’s surveillance, indifferently. He was no different from a specimen. There, Se-kyung’s violent nature did not show, and only the righteous boy who could be used as a good example existed.

The rigid world gained dynamism in March of last year. To be precise, it was when he met the changed Song Yi-heon. When the Song Yi-heon he had been searching for appeared as the complete opposite person, Se-kyung inserted himself into the trivial world.

He didn’t smile kindly. He wasn’t friendly. He doubted, pushed, fought, and threatened. He revealed his twisted nature that he hadn’t expressed under Choi Myung-hyun’s surveillance. What Choi Myung-hyun worried about didn’t happen. Yi-heon accepted Se-kyung and dealt with him. He let Se-kyung do what he wanted.

By Yi-heon’s side, Se-kyung could be himself. This was the reason he would never let go of Yi-heon for the rest of his life.

After many twists and turns, they confirmed that their feelings were mutual, but it was a relationship made possible by the sacrifice of the real Song Yi-heon. Because Yi-heon’s soul had departed, his body could remain. The soul’s sacrifice bound the relationship of those left behind with a bond that no outsider could interfere with.

Se-kyung was prepared to do anything to maintain and protect this relationship.

However, waking up at dawn to participate in an early morning soccer club composed of middle-aged men, during the perfect time for fun before entering university, was not part of his preparation.

At least it wasn’t foot volleyball at the mineral spring. Se-kyung tried to think positively. He tried to convince himself that it was fine because Yi-heon enjoyed it, but it was in vain. Even for Se-kyung, who usually had no strong likes or dislikes, there was no way he could enjoy early morning soccer with men old enough to be his father during the best time for fun after finishing the college entrance exam and before entering university.

It seemed Yi-heon didn’t feel the same way. Yi-heon, wearing a thick long padded coat, was running around shouting for passes.

“Here! Alright, alright!”

Se-kyung’s eyes, which had been following the excited Yi-heon, became dull with boredom. Out of boredom, he traced old memories.

As soon as he became an adult, Se-kyung tried to book a hotel. Yes, he tried to. The moment his lover, who wasn’t even his parent, found out, it was cancelled.

Originally, he wanted to go on a trip, even if just domestically, but Yi-heon couldn’t spare time in January due to the practical exam for the Physical Education department he was preparing for. As a compromise, Se-kyung asked Yi-heon which room he preferred in a nearby hotel with a nice atmosphere for an overnight stay, but there was no answer.

When the puzzled Se-kyung turned around, Yi-heon, his face flushed from whatever he had imagined, barely stammered out, ‘Y-y-you young thing, being so brazen…!’

Surprised by Yi-heon’s unexpected reaction, Se-kyung said something he didn’t really mean, ‘I was just going to hold hands and sleep, is that not allowed either?’

When searching for hotels, the purpose was to spend quality time in a nice atmosphere. Sex could be a means to spend quality time, but booking a hotel solely for the purpose of sex wasn’t the intention.

Even if sex was the purpose, they were in a relationship and twenty years old. They had just left their teens. It was natural for sexual curiosity to turn into desire as soon as they became adults on January 1st. Honestly, Choi Se-kyung wanted to sleep with Song Yi-heon. The desire grew stronger as time passed.

He wanted to sleep with Yi-heon. Whatever they did, however it turned out, he knew to some extent that the unknown act on the bed wouldn’t go as expected. Despite learning through numerous internet searches that anal sex wasn’t as beautiful as imagined, the desire to sleep with Yi-heon only grew stronger.