BHB 71

“Since when were you two close?”

“Ah… shit. Since earlier…”

“Y-Yeowon-ah.”

At that moment, Jeon Chaemin’s face suddenly darkened, and he urgently grabbed Yeowon’s sleeve. Then, quietly shaking his head as if to say “don’t,” he backed away without even looking at the man.

“I’ll go first.”

“What?”

“I-I’ll see you later.” Jeon Chaemin left hurriedly as if he had seen a ghost. As Yeowon was looking puzzled at his quickly disappearing figure, he realized that the gaze of the man behind him was directed at the same place. Then, the man alternately looked at where Jeon Chaemin had disappeared and at Yeowon, gritting his teeth before leaving first.

‘What’s with that bastard?’

Looking like a dried-up anchovy. Yeowon clicked his tongue roughly and walked in the opposite direction from where the man had gone. The sight of Jeon Chaemin disappearing as if suddenly frightened bothered him a bit, but he tried to push the thought away. These unavoidably concerning situations were just troubling to him.

**

This was his first MT since freshman year. Unlike the rumors of poor attendance, this MT boasted the highest attendance rate from professors, teaching assistants, and graduates alike. Because of that, Yeowon was dragged around here and there, but he didn’t mind too much. Perhaps because he was jostled by people after a long time, Yeowon felt somewhat excited. Of course, the alcohol played a part, but his face didn’t look displeased.

“Let’s have a drink poured by our handsome Han Yeowon!”

When the already tipsy teaching assistant noona made a fuss saying this, Yeowon poured the drink without a word. Thanks to Kim Myungjoo, who had only chased after older women since high school, dealing with them was quite easy for him.

“Is this serving the ladies or what?”

Yeowon let out a dry laugh and clinked glasses with the excited teaching assistant noona, downing the entire small paper cup of alcohol in one shot. Although his complicated feelings were still there, he had to enjoy this moment to avoid them as much as possible.

“Yeowon, have you forgotten noona?”

The teaching assistant noona, Doyeon noona whom he had briefly dated, and Yein noona who was preparing for her master’s degree in graduate school were all in one group. The teaching assistant noona had briefly dated Taegang, Doyeon noona had dated him, and Yein noona, who was preparing for her master’s, had dated Do Yeongjae for quite a long time. As far as he knew, Yein noona and Yeongjae had dated so intensely that they wouldn’t even properly greet each other if they met now.

“How could I forget?”

Yeowon poured a drink for Yein noona, who looked quite worn out, and accepted a snack handed to him by the teaching assistant noona.

“You still look so dashing. Haven’t you debuted yet?” Doyeon noona spoke bluntly, openly looking him up and down.

“What debut?”

“Actually, I hit on you thinking you might debut later? I wanted to brag to the kids if you became famous.”

“What are you talking about? Not just anyone can become a celebrity.” Yeowon let out a short laugh as if it was nonsense and took another sip of alcohol.

“So, are you seeing anyone these days?” Doyeon noona asked, glancing at him like a hyena looking for prey. 

Yeowon hesitated for a moment and felt the gazes focused on him. It wasn’t just the older woman in this room. It was mainly a room where graduated seniors had gathered.

“Are you still in-interested in him?”

There was one man drinking alone in a corner. Tight-fitting checkered shirt, red horn-rimmed glasses, and messy hair. A man with a completely unstylish appearance, and one he had seen earlier. The man who had created a very unpleasant atmosphere from the bathroom. Seems he was among the graduates. Yeowon narrowed his eyes and watched him.

“I hear he might not even gr-graduate because he’s short on credits.”

As this graduate, a man he didn’t even know, seemed to know all about his school life, Yeowon unconsciously looked at the teaching assistant noona.

“What nonsense is that out of nowhere? What’s that got to do with you?”

But the teaching assistant noona seemed to interpret that look as a plea for help and retorted on his behalf. Her face was quite displeased, frowning as if horrified.

“…Wasn’t he famous for being on academic pr-probation as a freshman?”

It was true. He had received academic probation, which was said to be harder to get than all A+s.

“Ugh, Yoo Kyungcheol. Are you still so interested in Yeowon?” Yein noona spoke with a sigh to the man standing at a distance and picking a fight for no reason, shaking her head. Ah, hearing that name, he remembered what Yeongjae had said.

The one who hated him… Yeowon looked Yoo Kyungcheol up and down with an obvious gaze. Small build, short, and frankly speaking, an unremarkable appearance. He didn’t look wealthy either… He seemed to have many elements that would make him enjoy venting his anger.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t met such types of people before. Even Choi Youngdoo was that sort of person. His anger towards Yeowon was even greater because of his friendship with Taegang and Baek Seungha. Of course, that side was more aggressive and confrontational.

“What can I do?” Yeowon continued speaking while popping a snack into his mouth, “I’m not interested in that man.”

Given the situation, Yeowon didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere, so he suppressed his annoyance and poured more drinks. When he made a light joke as if to say “eat this,” the man started heaving heavily, just as he had in front of the bathroom.

“What can you do? Yoo Kyungcheol got rejected.” The teaching assistant noona laughed heartily. 

At the mockery that wasn’t quite mockery, Yoo Kyungcheol’s face turned red, and he left, slamming the door shut.

“But who invited that loser?” Doyeon noona, chewing on squid, asked looking around at the graduates, but everyone just shrugged as if they didn’t know.

“Who is he?”

When Yeowon asked about the man’s identity, the teaching assistant noona shuddered as if she had seen something disgusting. “Don’t you remember? He bullied you a lot. He talked behind your back, stole your assignments and stuff.”

It was exactly as Do Yeongjae had told him. Still, he couldn’t remember well, so he tried to recall, but it was still a blank.

“When you started dating Doyeon, he went completely crazy with anger.”

Yeowon didn’t remember this story at all, but he just nodded as if to say “I see.” But the noonas weren’t done talking.

“He’s a total psycho. He was always gloomy in school, and he confessed to Doyeon as a freshman and got rejected. After that, he followed Doyeon around for a while.”

“I heard he failed all his job interviews and isn’t doing anything now. But he goes around eating free meals from juniors, saying he’ll give them interview tips.”

Senior Yein answered with a shudder, and Senior Doyeon, who was still chewing on the squid, asked again, “How did you know?”

“Our pretty Jeon Chaemin told me.”

“Huh? Jeon Chaemin?”

“Yeah. That pretty-looking kid. They say he’s been hitting on him like that.”

“Oh shit… That’s disgusting. What should we do about Jeon Chaemin?”

“Well, he’s still a guy. He’ll handle it himself, I guess.”

“But Jeon Chaemin is quite tender-hearted for a guy. I bet he can’t even say a word to a guy like that?”

“You know what guys like that are born with?”

Yeowon was silently listening to the seniors’ conversation. He had nothing to add and wasn’t interested, but Jeon Chaemin’s name kept bothering him.

“They don’t know their place and just charge in, regardless of whether it’s a man or a woman.”

“Ugh.”

“It’s disgusting. This won’t do. I should bring Jeon Chaemin here for a drink.” As if he really intended to bring him, the already tipsy teaching assistant got up unsteadily. 

Yeowon let out a deep, complicated sigh and got up following the teaching assistant. He then sat the swaying teaching assistant back down and put on the coat he had taken off.

“I’ll go bring him. Just stay here.”

He wanted to smoke a cigarette anyway, and it didn’t look good to see a drunk person stumbling around looking for someone. What Do Yeongjae worried about most was someone getting hurt while drunk. With more people than expected, it would be even harder for him to control alone. The first and second-year class representatives were in the midst of partying, so they wouldn’t worry about such things, and the student council members from other years couldn’t attend the MT due to personal reasons, so in reality, Do Yeongjae was the only one who had to deal with all these people.

Yeowon stepped outside the building, smoking a cigarette and breathing in the cool night air. As he did so, he pondered where to go to find Jeon Chaemin. Today, he was an especially uncomfortable person to face, but since he said he’d bring him, he had to keep his word.

By the way, he felt both sorry and frustrated for Jeon Chaemin, who even got caught up with a guy like that. Now he understood why he had fled earlier upon seeing the man. Instead of running away, he should have shown him properly. Shouldn’t he have shown him properly, like a man, not to treat him carelessly?

Although he had come out intending to bring Jeon Chaemin, he actually had no idea where he was. He took out his phone thinking he should maybe call him, but realized there was no need to do so.

“Don’t you get it? I came all the way here to see you.”

Seeing the two of them outside the building, Yeowon scratched his brow in annoyance. He could see Jeon Chaemin with an obviously uncomfortable expression, and the man forcibly turning him around while making unwanted advances.