GBH 130

Se-kyung masturbated while recalling his kiss with Song Yi-heon, but Yi-heon acted like a Joseon-era teacher, causing confusion.

‘Is it because I’m a man? Or is the age gap between our souls too big?’

Sometimes Se-kyung had useless thoughts. Whether he could be a lover who could sexually appeal to Song Yi-heon. Whether Yi-heon’s “I like you” meant love accompanied by mental connection and physical pleasure, or affection like a grandfather wanting to give dried persimmons to his cute grandchild.

‘Am I really in love, or am I just being filial to someone who’s not even my real father?’

“Haah…”

Se-kyung erased his complicated thoughts with a sigh and rubbed his nose, red from the cold. He opened his thermos to warm his frozen body from sitting too long. As the hot steam and savory aroma spread and he was pouring Solomon’s seal tea into the lid, a shadow fell over his head.

“Choi Se-kyung? Is it really Se-kyung?”

The encounter was so sudden that Se-kyung couldn’t recognize who she was. Only after staring blankly did he recall the familiar face beneath the heavy makeup. It was Shin Ji-soo, from the same class. 

Se-kyung was already in a bad mood, and Ji-soo’s annoying, fly-like behavior made it hard to hide his irritation, but he feigned kindness as per Choi Myunghyun’s teachings. 

Though his voice was hoarse from the early morning, it still sounded kind enough. “Hello.”

“Wow, Se-kyung. What a coincidence to see you here. I’m so glad.” Ji-soo, uncomfortable with the early morning soccer club of her father’s age group, was happy to meet a peer and sat on the bench without asking permission. She greeted her long-unseen classmate cheerfully. “Are you also a member of the early morning soccer club?”

Se-kyung’s previously gentle expression darkened but quickly returned to normal. “Yeah.”

“Wow, you’re amazing. Exercising even after the college entrance exam is over.”

‘Amazing? More like I just followed my lover who registered for the early morning soccer club right after getting into college.’ Se-kyung’s inner thoughts were grumpy despite his kind exterior.

“Achoo!”

Shin Ji-soo, wearing black stockings and a short skirt in the dead of winter, sneezed from the cold and huddled up, pulling her short mustang jacket tighter. Still cold, her teeth chattered.

‘Stockings in the middle of winter, she must be crazy.’ 

Se-kyung, armed with a long padded coat and cold weather gear, hid his contemptuous inner thoughts behind a kind face and offered, “Here, drink this.”

A crazy man who registered for early morning soccer to follow his lover offered Solomon’s seal tea in the thermos lid to a crazy woman who dressed to freeze to death to impress someone she liked.

“Thank you so much, Se-kyung. Oh, I feel alive now.” Ji-soo tightly grasped the warmth transmitted through her gloves. 

Feeling a tiny bit of pity for her state, Se-kyung handed over the blanket he had brought.

“You saved a life today.” Ji-soo repeatedly expressed thanks as she received the silently offered blanket. 

After supporting Song Yi-heon’s practical entrance exams and following the early morning soccer club, Se-kyung had become an expert at packing winter training gear. He took out cold weather items that had been neatly stacked like Tetris in his duffel bag.

A moment later, Ji-soo was wrapped in a thick blanket around his legs, wearing a scarf and earmuffs, fiddling with hand warmers, and sipping Solomon’s seal tea.

“Se-kyung, I’m alive thanks to you. Really.”

Tired of hearing thanks, Se-kyung changed the subject, “What brings you here?”

“That man running over there is my dad. I didn’t expect to meet you since you weren’t in Song Yi-heon’s messenger profile picture. It’s really amazing.”

“I took that picture.” Se-kyung played along, knowing which photo Ji-soo was talking about. 

It was a picture taken on a day when everyone was excited about kicking the ball particularly well.

“Hey Se-kyung.” Ji-soo, who had been chattering alone, suddenly lowered her voice, “Yi-heon got into college, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Which university did he get into?”

Se-kyung didn’t want to tell her, but ignoring those sparkling eyes wasn’t allowed under Choi Myunghyun’s educational policy. “D University, Physical Education department.”

“Then maybe…” Ji-soo hesitated, fidgeting. She was embarrassed to reveal a secret even her friends didn’t know to Se-kyung. After stalling for time, she finally asked, “Does Yi-heon have a girlfriend?”

While Se-kyung was a connection she wanted to boast about if they became close, Song Yi-heon was like a neighborhood oppa. An oppa who comes out to the local convenience store in sweatpants and slippers on holidays to buy lunch boxes. A tsundere image of acting annoyed when you try to be friendly, but still telling you to choose what you want to eat.

For dating, a tsundere neighborhood oppa was much more attractive than a connection to boast about, so many girls in the same grade liked Song Yi-heon.

Because of this, Ji-soo was in a hurry and asked before hearing Se-kyung’s answer, “You’re close with Yi-heon, right?”

With that one sentence, the perceptive Se-kyung figured out why Shin Ji-soo was sitting here, why she came wearing a short skirt that would get her smacked by her father for freezing to death. The faint smile that had been there out of politeness deepened.

“Yeah, we’re close.”

‘How should I get rid of this one?’ 

Se-kyung swallowed a sigh about having a popular lover. Right now, he could handle it since they went to the same school, but in college, they wouldn’t be able to stick together or know all of each other’s relationships like now. Since it was a same-sex relationship, they would pretend to be single, and Se-kyung’s teeth ground imagining the guys who would hit on Song Yi-heon.

“Can you help me out?” Ji-soo didn’t know how to beat around the bush. She was in a hurry and needed to finish her request without Song Yi-heon knowing. 

Though Song Yi-heon, dribbling the ball against the flow of middle-aged men like a salmon swimming upstream, didn’t even know Ji-soo had come.

Ji-soo whispered, pressing close enough to crease Se-kyung’s padded coat. Se-kyung didn’t avoid her and leaned in as well. At a distance where their cheeks were about to touch, a secret request was exchanged.

“I like Yi-heon. I want to try without regrets before we lose touch after going to college.”

“Is that so?” Se-kyung’s smile deepened. As his anger ripened darkly, his smile bloomed as fresh as a flower in full bloom.

His black eyes reflected light transparently as they looked Ji-soo up and down as if evaluating her. She was quite popular in class. When the theft incident occurred, Ji-soo was the one who openly expressed what the other kids were only thinking privately, and she was also the one who broke the hesitant atmosphere the next day when everyone was reluctant to apologize to Song Yi-heon.

She’s bold, straightforward, can’t stand injustice, and quick to admit her mistakes. That personality probably wouldn’t disappear in dating either. If so, she would likely choose the direct approach of calling out the other person to confess, so secretly asking a third party didn’t seem like her. 

Se-kyung asked out of pure curiosity, “Wouldn’t it be better to confess directly?”

“…Keep this between us.”

“Okay.”

“Actually, I secretly put chocolate in Yi-heon’s locker last year. But Yi-heon said he wouldn’t date anyone who gave him chocolate. So I think I’d just get rejected if I confessed.”

No matter how bold she was, a 20-year-old who had never dated before found it embarrassing to confess only to be rejected. Ji-soo rubbed her face, which was heating up from embarrassment even as she spoke.

“I think I need to hang out with him and build up his feelings slowly, but Yi-heon is such an iron wall.”

“Yi-heon is quite the iron wall, indeed.” Se-kyung sympathized, recalling his own difficult past days. 

Not knowing the circumstances of how Se-kyung came to sympathize, Ji-soo was just moved that someone understood her anxious feelings. She clasped her hands together and moved even closer to Se-kyung.

“Right? So Se-kyung, you have to help me. Okay?”

“…”

Se-kyung reassessed the situation. Given Shin Ji-soo’s personality, she wouldn’t give up without trying. Unless she found out Song Yi-heon was already dating someone. However, Se-kyung had no intention of revealing that he was dating Song Yi-heon, and the help Ji-soo wanted would probably just be arranging opportunities to meet. Of course, Se-kyung would also attend those meetings.

Confident that Song Yi-heon wouldn’t leave him for Shin Ji-soo in the first place, Se-kyung judged it would be cleaner to just arrange one meeting and be done with it. 

Se-kyung nodded lightly. “Alright.”

“Thank you, Se-kyung!”

Ji-soo’s joy, as she was about to hug Se-kyung, was interrupted as the first half ended and the players running on the field returned to the bench. The players, mostly middle-aged men, approached noisily.