FBF chapter 9 part 5

I expected to find the whistle in the right pocket of my gym shorts, as I always do, but there was nothing. Huh? As I was taken aback, Lee Jihoon approached the sink.

“Is it not there?”

“Uh. Just a second.”

“Take your time. We still have a break left anyway.”

While watching Lee Jihoon wash his hands as if he was trying to buy me some time, I slipped my hand into the back pocket of my shorts. That’s when something rolled over next to the sink with a thud. It was the whistle I had been looking for. Both Lee Jihoon, who was washing his hands, and my eyes, which were rummaging through my pants, turned to the side.

“I dropped it when I picked up your basketball earlier.”

Choi Hyuk-jun added, sounding indifferent. He seemed quite calm, as if he wasn’t even aware that he was helping me by picking up something I dropped. For a moment, unable to hide my bewilderment, I looked at Choi Hyuk-jun and then picked up the whistle.

“Oh… I didn’t know. Thanks. Hey, here.”

I picked up the whistle that had fallen on the sink and offered it to Lee Jihoon. However, he didn’t take it right away as I had expected. Now that I thought about it, Lee Jihoon’s gaze reflected in the mirror was slightly askew. At the end of his gaze was Choi Hyuk-jun. Perhaps noticing this too, Choi Hyuk-jun turned his head toward Lee Jihoon. They were indeed looking at each other, albeit through the mirror, which made it a little different. Simultaneously, I felt the anxiety I had forgotten engulf my body. Just as I was trying to place myself between Choi Hyuk-jun and Lee Jihoon to block them, my hand felt lighter. Lee Jihoon, who had taken the whistle and hung it around his neck, straightened up from the sink and turned his head toward me.

“Are they making you practice three-point shots in basketball again today?”

It was not a question directed at Choi Hyuk-jun, whose eyes had just been locked with Lee Jihoon’s. At that moment, what had merely been a guess became a certainty. Lee Jihoon was intentionally ignoring Choi Hyuk-jun. Although I couldn’t understand the reason, it was clear that Lee Jihoon’s attitude toward Choi Hyuk-jun was starkly different from that of the friends he usually spent time with. I wondered if this was a good thing. After swallowing hard while watching Choi Hyuk-jun, who was still staring intently at Lee Jihoon, I nodded. Ah… Oh? Receiving my light response, Lee Jihoon shook his wet hands twice in the air.

‘—–’

The preliminary bell rang. There was a 20-minute break between the 6th and 7th periods. What had just rung was the announcement that the 7th period would begin in 5 minutes.

“I’m off. See you when I go home.”

Lee Jihoon said his goodbye and turned around.

“Hey.”

The word that stopped Lee Jihoon from leaving was just that. I turned around before he did. Choi Hyuk-jun was looking at Lee Jihoon. His expression was reminiscent of when he had picked up the cigarette butt earlier. It was the third intriguing expression I had seen from Choi Hyuk-jun, two of which were related to Lee Jihoon.

“Don’t you know me?”

Unlike me, Lee Jihoon slowly turned around. Finally facing Choi Hyuk-jun, Lee Jihoon’s expression was unreadable. His impassiveness made it seem like he was indifferent, as if meeting a complete stranger, yet it also looked familiar, as if he already recognized Choi Hyuk-jun. I could barely sense that he wasn’t startled by someone who had never even exchanged greetings with him before grabbing him like this.

“I think it was about 2 years ago. If I remember correctly, it was with Park Cheol-seung.”

Choi Hyuk-jun was surprisingly friendly in replying. Sitting up from where he had been leaning against the wall, he looked at Lee Jihoon as if he were observing him. I could smell a faint whiff of cigarette smoke coming from him, as if he had transferred it from the cigarette butt he held earlier.

‘He’s from the same middle school as me. Back then, he was just as studious.’

Choi Hyuk-jun easily accepted my lie, as if he found it trivial. I felt a sense of absurd relief wash over me. It wasn’t until I felt a tingling sensation in my palm that I blinked. I realized belatedly that I had been unconsciously clenching my fist. The reason my palm had a prickly feeling was that my short nails were pushing against it with some force. Even in that moment, I found it unbearable to ignore the presence of Lee Jihoon behind me.

“Hey. Choi Hyuk-jun.”

If there was anything I had learned through Choi Hyuk-jun, it was that when it came to matters related to Lee Jihoon, I would unknowingly step in. Even now, I called out Choi Hyuk-jun’s name just like how teachers did when they gave warnings. Just like how my raccoon friend had feared, it felt like a caution against crossing lines. And come to think of it, this was the first time I had called Choi Hyuk-jun like this. Surprised at my own actions, I halted, and Choi Hyuk-jun turned his head. He didn’t appear shocked even after witnessing my flustered reaction. He responded lightly, as if he had anticipated this.

“Why? You thought that if he was a good student for you, he’d also be good to others?”

“……”

“He doesn’t smoke, doesn’t ride motorcycles?”

Choi Hyuk-jun continued to mention what I had said earlier, his gaze still firmly planted on Lee Jihoon. It seemed he needed to extract a response from Lee Jihoon’s mouth no matter what. The fact that whatever I said was useless was evident. It was then that I realized that Choi Hyuk-jun, who had let my lies pass without comment, had been graciously backing off, anticipating this very situation would occur someday. I withdrew my gaze from Choi Hyuk-jun, who I had been glaring at, and quickly turned away.

“Hey. Class is about to start. Let’s go.”

I stood in front of Lee Jihoon to block his view. Lee Jihoon had yet to respond to Choi Hyuk-jun’s words. If he were any other person, he would have spoken up. Just the fact that time was dragging on made me uneasy. It didn’t matter if the truth was important or not. Choi Hyuk-jun was someone who carried dangerous rumors, and some of them turned out to be true. There was nothing good for Lee Jihoon to be involved in this.

“Lee Jihoon. Just go.”

The moment I pulled on Lee Jihoon’s arm to urge him, his gaze shifted back to me. After looking at me wordlessly for a moment, Lee Jihoon finally moved his feet. In the same instant, he lightly shoved me aside and approached Choi Hyuk-jun.

“Oh. I know you.”

Thud. Thud. The sound of droplets falling into the sink from the wet sleeves of Lee Jihoon’s gym uniform was particularly loud. I focused on Lee Jihoon’s voice as he faced Choi Hyuk-jun head-on despite the intended silence. While contemplating the strong affirmatives and negatives he was voicing with clear enunciation.

“But I didn’t know we were supposed to greet each other.”

Lee Jihoon tilted his head slightly. His lips were even twisted in a disdainful manner. With his lopsided lips, Lee Jihoon kept breaking into a chuckle. Rubbing his forehead with two fingers, he looked incredulous.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Are you saying we should play ‘seesaw’ as if we were a bunch of lackeys under Park Cheol-seung?”

Choi Hyuk-jun’s expression slowly hardened at Lee Jihoon’s casual tone, as if he were joking. Usually looking down on others, there was no way he wouldn’t notice that at this moment, Lee Jihoon was indeed looking down on him. While closely observing the change in Choi Hyuk-jun’s expression, Lee Jihoon continued, unfazed. Mixing his words with light laughter, he was downplaying the tension created by Choi Hyuk-jun.

“Do you want to hold a sports competition? The guys who robbed you instead of paying for drinks. The ones who used to beat you up if you were in a bad mood? Want to line them up?”

“……”

“On which line do you want to stand? I can’t seem to remember that part. It’s been a while since I quit.”

As he said the last part, Choi Hyuk-jun twisted his lips for the first time and smiled. Quit? The word Lee Jihoon had spat out sounded absurdly funny, as if it were utter nonsense. Still, Lee Jihoon didn’t flinch. Instead, he smiled, as if he relished the thought that Choi Hyuk-jun had picked up on that word.

“What? Can you not find a way to feel less miserable other than laughing at what you can’t do?”

Finally, the corners of Choi Hyuk-jun’s mouth, which had been trembling, straightened out.

“……”

“……”

Only after completely robbing whatever laughter remained from Choi Hyuk-jun did Lee Jihoon straighten his head. Even amidst the mockery, his gaze, which had always been dry, locked onto Choi Hyuk-jun’s eyes.

“Whether you hold the sports day or work under Park Cheol-seung, do as you please. But….”

Lee Jihoon hesitated for the first time. I felt his gaze that had been short but had reached me as he spoke. Yet, less than a second later, Lee Jihoon turned his eyes forward. His jaw, which had been moving to elicit laughter, was now tightly clenched. It seemed as if he was unwilling to give any room for compromise.

“Leave me and him out of it.”

Even though Lee Jihoon averted his gaze, Choi Hyuk-jun’s eyes remained fixated on me. It was as if he had just noticed I was there. Without breaking his gaze from me, Choi Hyuk-jun directed his question at Lee Jihoon.

“… Why exclude him?”

As soon as Lee Jihoon heard Choi Hyuk-jun’s question, he laughed, as if this was the weirdest question he had heard.

“Law school, medical school, police academy. Those are the colleges he has been applying to, changing the order since his 1st-year placement test until now.”

“……”

“If you have a brain, think about it. Is there a thug among them?”

As soon as the term “thug” was mentioned, all traces of humor vanished from Choi Hyuk-jun’s face. Even without knowing that this was Choi Hyuk-jun’s weakness, Lee Jihoon had struck at a sensitive point. I recalled how Choi Hyuk-jun had casually talked about his father, a thug and a drug dealer, during lunch, and how he always kept an eye on his stepmother and younger siblings.

His avoidance of those who made him a ‘kid of a thug’ was laced with hatred, and despite that, he remained a ‘thug’s kid’, unable to completely extricate himself from them—his tone, expression, and actions were filled with such hatred.

“If that bothers you, you should just put in the effort like I did. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find a friend who makes you want to withdraw.”

Leaving Choi Hyuk-jun, who was merely glowering at him, Lee Jihoon turned back to me. He was smiling. Had I not seen what had just happened from the side, his smile would have still seemed ordinary enough that I wouldn’t have been able to notice anything amiss. He was showing that the confrontation with Choi Hyuk-jun meant nothing to him at all.

“Aren’t you on the disciplinary committee anymore?”

With an unexpected comment, a hand suddenly reached out. It seemed that in his haste, he had overlooked that the top button of his uniform, which he had left on, had come undone. After successfully fastening the button with just one hand, he inhaled sharply and then exhaled right in front of my face, as if he was sniffing something. I felt tense for a moment. For that brief instance, I worried whether the cigarette smell had managed to cling to me too. There was no guarantee that just by having held the cigarette butt briefly, the lingering smell wouldn’t have transferred onto me, too. However, the next moment, Lee Jihoon smiled and continued to speak in a friendly manner.

“Should we finally have a meal together tomorrow, for the first time in a while?”

His two eyes were locked onto me. As I tried to relax my tense hand, I nodded slowly. With a grin, Lee Jihoon patted my shoulder and started to walk away. As he nonchalantly exited the bathroom, not even glancing back, the bell signaling the start of the 7th period rang. Our next class was math. The strict math teacher would already be inside the classroom. Still, both Choi Hyuk-jun and I remained planted in the same spot, as if we had forgotten that students were meant to enter their classrooms during class.

“It wasn’t entirely a lie.”

Choi Hyuk-jun broke the silence. After beginning the sentence as if he were talking to himself, he lifted his head moments later. Although recovering slightly slower than Lee Jihoon, his face eventually managed to resemble its usual expression.

“It seems you are indeed a close friend. Just by the way you chatter fearlessly in front of a thug.”

Thug. The way Lee Jihoon stressed ‘thug’ while speaking, Choi Hyuk-jun mirrored it by stressing ‘kid’. Noticing this, I caught Choi Hyuk-jun staring at me, and without hesitation, he closed the distance between us, contrasting the distance he had maintained from Lee Jihoon earlier.

The sensation of blood vessels surrounding my heart tightening. The trembling and anxiety felt like proof that the difference was simply a matter of a single vessel constricting.

“Interesting. Let me in on the fun sometimes too.”

Choi Hyuk-jun, who made me realize that difference, slid past me with a light sneer. His shoulder deliberately brushed against mine, causing a jolt. A mix of scents filled the air, with one lingering from the person who had long since departed.