Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Whether it was because of Hyunoh Gong and Kangbin Baek’s backgrounds or the fact that they were the ones who first started a fight against Doyeon, Taeil Im and his gang all admitted their guilt.

The teachers didn’t seem willing to call the parents in either because they closed the case quickly.

Taeil and his gang, and Doyeon, Hyunoh, Kangbin, and Sunwoo all stood around each other awkwardly to shake hands.

“Now say ‘let’s get along.’”

“Let’s... get along...”

They apologized to each other with their teeth gritted and their eyes on different parts of the room, like the teacher wanted.

“Then hug and pat each other’s backs.”

“All right...”

And they hugged each other with frowns and groans as though they were going to catch a disease, like the teacher wanted.

“You three need to apologize to Doyeon separately.”

“Sorry... Doyeon.”

“Say ‘I won’t do it again.’”

“I won’t... do it again.”

The fight itself was dismissed, but they still caused damages they had to be punished for. Taeil and his gang had to clean the auditorium for one week while Doyeon and his friends had to pick up trash around the field and fountain at the back of the school for a week.

“Right, you guys don’t do anything. Go sit over there. I’ll pick up the trash.” Doyeon immediately sat Hyunoh, Kangbin, and Sunwoo down on a bench the moment they got on the field. He then picked up the trash bag and trash grabbers to clean all by himself.

This all happened because of him, so Doyeon wasn’t going to make them all suffer.

“How are you going to do all this by yourself? We should do this together,” Sunwoo said, snatching Doyeon’s grabber.

Kangbin appeared behind him and snatched Doyeon’s trash bag. “Do you see how nice Doyeon is? I’m grateful I got some stress relief.”

Empty-handed, Doyeon began to shout, “There are new ones over there, so why are you taking mine?!”

The two didn’t bother to respond. Doyeon dragged his feet back to the bench and picked up a new bag and grabber. He found Hyunoh putting on red work gloves.

“Dude, why do you look cool even with work gloves on...?”

Like... there was a wild charm to him now. Doyeon began to climb the stairs to pick up the trash.

A while later, Kangbin began to shout from behind the fountain. “Guys! Guys, I found ten won!”

“Good job, Kangbin. Let’s get more coins and buy an apartment,” Doyeon praised as he straightened and drummed on his back.

He thought Kangbin was blessed to have such a positive mindset. He wouldn’t have been that happy about finding a ten won coin on the ground.

Hyunoh stopped picking up trash under a lamp and showed his palm to Doyeon. There was a sparkling silver coin in his hand.

“I got one hundred won.”

“Well, there goes your retirement concerns. I’m very jealous, Hyunoh.”

Suddenly, the street lamp switched on. The dark field that had been littered with stripes of dusk began to shine dimly.

Hyunoh pushed the coin in Doyeon’s direction under the yellow lamp light. “Take it.”

“Right, I have one hundred won.” When Doyeon began to complain, Hyunoh pressed it into his palm and closed his fingers around it one by one.

“With this, our little Doyeon can go get bread, chocolate milk, and maybe a building later. All right?”

Doyeon stared at Hyunoh grinning under the light. He could see the full moon behind him, white and pale and unnaturally bright. He stared at it for a moment, then clenched the coin tightly.

Doyeon could feel his hand warming in the exact places Hyunoh touched.

“Right. Thanks, but do I need to bring you the change after I get the bread and the chocolate milk and the building? I am a lackey, after all.”

“Lackey?”

“That’s what you said. You called me Kangbin’s lackey.”

His nonchalant tone made Hyunoh frown uncomfortably, which was unlike him. He seemed to have remembered what he said.

“Doyeon, darling, I just realized you’re not a lackey but a sitter. A babysitter.”

“I am. I’m just about to die trying to take care of Kangbin at school and Aeyoung at home. If I was paid, I wouldn’t be this angry...” Doyeon groaned, drumming on his shoulder.

Hyunoh went silent watching Doyeon trying to gloss over the event.

“I’m sorry.”

“W-what?”

“For calling you lackey and other names when I didn’t know you very well.”

Doyeon was flustered, so much so that he began to stutter. A serious, apologetic Hyunoh was unfamiliar to him, especially when he was always stubborn and teasing. He felt a little scared, too.

What’s wrong with him?

“I must have appeared that way. It’s true that I take care of Kangbin like I’m taking care of a child sometimes,” Doyeon agreed, avoiding Hyunoh’s gaze. He felt a little embarrassed to receive such an apology.

When he jokingly told Hyunoh to never call him such a thing again, Hyunoh joked back and told him he was far too overprotective of Kangbin. They laughed.

Kangbin saw them from afar and spun toward them from a distance. “What is it? Why are you laughing? What’s so funny?” He clicked his grabber with every question.

Doyeon shook his head and said it was nothing, then he pocketed the one hundred won.

Just in case it got mixed with other coins, he took it out as soon as he could and stored it in his uniform shirt pocket. That coin continued to tap his chest until Doyeon got home and took off his shirt.

* * *

While Kangbin and Sunwoo weren’t around, Doyeon dragged Hyunoh to the back of the school building near the plants. There was a small paper bag in one of his hands and Hyunoh’s shirt in the other.

Hyunoh followed him without questioning him, but he began to ask questions the moment they reached the garden.

“Are you going to confess to me or pick a fight with me?”

When Doyeon didn’t answer him, he took a good look at the paper bag in Doyeon’s hand.

“Is this a confession?”

“Hyunoh Gong, I will literally kill you...”

“I don’t want to die.”

Doyeon glared at Hyunoh as he shoved the paper bag in his direction. “Wear it.”

Hyunoh opened the bag with a confused expression. Inside were a pair of 6,000 won three-striped slides Doyeon had gotten from the nearest store. They were the same cheap slide-on sandals that Hyunoh dragged around the school wrapped in tape after breaking them while playing soccer.

“This is what you wear, right? It didn’t look like Adidas... Anyway, this is thanks for buying me that pencil case and stopping the fight with Taeil. They were only 6,000 won, so don’t worry.”

Doyeon felt embarrassed the more Hyunoh stared, so he took the paper bag back and revealed the slides himself. He took off the plastic wrapper and dropped them in front of Hyunoh’s feet.

“Wear them.”

“Are these my glass slippers? Do I get to marry a prince if I wear these?” Hyunoh mumbled as he slid them on.

290 millimeters. Fortunately, the size was right. Hyunoh tapped his foot on the ground, rolled it a few times, then grinned at Doyeon in a good mood.

“It fits. I say yes to the marriage.”

“Eff off. You’ve lost it.”

“Is this why you brought me here? I thought I was getting a confession. I was thinking of how to turn you down gently, Doyeon dear.” Hyunoh waved Doyeon’s hands away and picked up his old sandals to put into the bag instead.

Doyeon felt a surge of annoyance at the word “confession,” but he also wanted to know how many times Hyunoh had been confessed to. “Have you received a lot of crush confessions? Like, one hundred times in your life?”

“Hmm... not really. Weren’t you confessed to a lot?” Hyunoh avoided, turning the conversation to Doyeon instead.

“Not really? I never had a girlfriend. Maybe I’m not a good boyfriend material...”

“What? You? You’re the kind of boyfriend who’d be loyal and kind.”

“Really? Do I really appear that way? Do you think I’d be a good boyfriend?” Doyeon asked, beaming as they left the garden. He had never had a girlfriend before, so he was ignorant in that area.

“Yup. Doyeon has 6,000 won in pocket money, and if Doyeon’s kind enough to spend all of it on me, I’m sure little Doyeon will be much better to his girlfriend.”

“Right? I think so, too.”

“But... wait... I just realized you actually used all 6,000 won of your pocket money for me. Doyeon... I think I’m moved to tears...”

Hyunoh pressed down above his eyes and made a sad, tearful face. Doyeon had to kick Hyunoh’s leg at that point.

* * *

When they got back to the classroom, Hyunoh threw his old slides in the bin.

After school, Doyeon and Hyunoh left the school gates together with Kangbin and Sunwoo.

“Hyunoh, why are your feet so big? When I first saw your sandals, I thought they were fans,” Doyeon asked, a little amazed.

He’d taken some time to measure Hyunoh’s feet after resolving to buy him new slides, but Hyunoh’s feet were bigger than he imagined. It seemed like tall people were all different somehow.

“Me? I grew on your love, Doyeon.”

“Hyunoh, can you shut the hell up?”

“You’re the one who asked.”

Doyeon was more annoyed by Hyunoh’s comebacks than usual.