FBF chapter 5 part 1

Until I reached the fourth grade of elementary school, I moved often. Just as I was starting to get a little close to someone, I would change schools or leave my academies. Perhaps because of that, I didn’t have any friends I had known since I was very young. Sometimes when I discovered friends who had been with me since childhood, I felt amazed. What would it feel like to know even the tiniest little things about each other?

“Did you bring your vocabulary book to the cafeteria? You’re ruining my appetite.”

“Kang Youngsoo has grown up a lot. He even knows this is a vocabulary book.”

“Of course I know. Jihoon, while you were outside throwing a ball, I was learning about ABCs at school.”

“Really? Seems like early education isn’t always useful.”

“Haha, this bastard is ruining my mood again on the day they serve japchae. Do you think you can look down on my English skills? You, who were ranked 198th, looking down on me, who was 187th?”

“What’s ‘japchae’ in English?”

“Aww… how would I know that!”

Kang Youngsoo got annoyed, and the japchae that had been stuck between his chopsticks flew into the air. Coincidentally, the two strands of noodles flew toward Lee Jihoon. Quick to dodge, Jihoon brushed off the two strands of noodles that had landed on the cover of the vocabulary book, then recited an English word in Kang Youngsoo’s face.

“Pail. E-F-A-I-L.”

It took exactly two months to realize that knowing even the smallest little things about each other means you can tease each other about them. It also meant that it had been two months since I started having lunch with these clueless kids. I decided to give up on watching their childish fight and lowered my gaze.

“I can tolerate everything else, but I can’t stand it when you pretend to be smarter than me. I’m really annoyed.”

“Please refrain from making remarks about your in-laws.”

“Excuse me, my in-law is Seon-uk, not Jihoon.”

“Please refrain from talking nonsense.”

“You bastard, how would you know if it’s nonsense or not? Are you looking down on our pig, Seon-uk? Say something. This twisted person is denying Seon-uk’s future wife.”

Just when I thought I’d get tired of the fights, this was also one of the endless routines of this comedic duo that hadn’t changed for two months. I sighed and looked up. Kang Youngsoo seemed to have been waiting, and when our eyes met, he poked Jihoon with his finger, making a cute expression that seemed to plead for Jihoon to scold him. Jihoon didn’t budge. He was engrossed in the vocabulary book, leisurely eating soup. This was also a common sight since the midterm exams had begun.

Jihoon and I were sitting together by our numbered desks. That meant I was the one who saw Jihoon’s expression after we received our midterm scores while waiting in line behind him. He was glaring at his paper as if it would bore a hole through it, and starting that day, he began studying during breaks and even lunchtime, which annoyed Kang Youngsoo to no end.

As I pondered for a moment, I reached out and snatched the vocabulary book from Jihoon’s hands.

“Do it after eating. It looks like you’re not focused anyway.”

“…….”

“And a word like ‘japchae’ won’t be on the exam. According to the foreign language notation, it can simply be called japchae.”

The moment I took the vocabulary book, Jihoon, who had raised his eyes in protest, began to sulkily mumble while eating soup.

“Well, if the top student says so, then it’s true.”

“Wow—look at this guy? He didn’t listen at all when I asked him to put it down.”

Kang Youngsoo, passionately pointing at Jihoon, swiftly grabbed his finger.

“Stop mocking him too. If your friend is trying to study hard, you should at least help him rather than keep making fun of him.”

“…Well, it’s true that he’s just being so over the top.”

“What’s wrong with being a bit over the top? He’s studying to improve his grades, and that’s better than when he was just wandering around without studying.”

Kang Youngsoo had no more rebuttals to that. Even though it was just two months ago, it seemed that everyone had come to agree that the current Jihoon was much improved compared to the Jihoon of that time. Thanks to the two of them keeping their mouths shut, peace finally returned to the table. Watching Kang Youngsoo raise his chopsticks, I hesitated for a moment before realizing I couldn’t delay any longer.

“And stop linking me with your sister too. She might feel bad if she hears you.”

Kang Youngsoo had been playing around, jokingly pairing me with his sister by calling me ‘future wife.’ At first, I thought he was just encouraging his younger sister to also get close to a classmate, but with the jokes never ceasing, I began to feel sorry for Youngsoo’s sister. No matter how carefree her brother was, this seemed to cross the line. Normally, do older brothers try to set up friends with their younger sisters? It felt like I had only heard of the opposite happening.

Thinking I should cut this off at a proper point, I delivered my words with a serious tone, but Kang Youngsoo remained silent. Noticing something fell off, I lifted my head to see Youngsoo and Jihoon exchanging glances. Seeing the two of them grinning together as if they had completely forgotten about their childish fight made me oddly uneasy.

“…What’s so funny? Why are you laughing?”

The first to open his mouth among the two was Jihoon, as if he hadn’t heard me.

“I told you. This guy seems to be surprisingly oblivious.”

Is this guy referring to me…? Noticing my confusion, Kang Youngsoo nodded. Despite the busy mouth that was laughing, his eyebrows were furrowing, giving him a strange expression.

“Our pig puts on a fashion show every morning… if she hears this, she’ll cry. Seriously. I already noticed it while looking at her mini-homepage, but she’s more formidable than I thought.”

What the hell is this… Just as I was about to get irritated, my arm was grabbed. It was Kang Youngsoo.

“Seon-uk! But I like that side of you that acts like a coward. Make sure to lead a clean life and feature on our family’s family register. Got it? Just a little—”

Just then, while I was trying to shake off the now clinging Kang Youngsoo, I bumped into a boy standing behind me holding a tray. Luckily, it didn’t seem like anything spilled on my clothes, so I quickly apologized and turned my head.

“Ah, come on!”

Instead of stopping, Kang Youngsoo took the chance to cling even tighter to my arm, now also hugging my waist and causing quite a commotion. The problem was that I could win with strength, but I couldn’t win with persistence. The harder I tried to push him away, the more he returned, making it clear that I was in a dilemma. I finally froze at a sudden thought.

“…But how do you know about my mini-homepage?”

Kang Youngsoo’s head was finally pushed away, and he was now staring at me with wide eyes. He responded in a tone as if he was reading from a textbook.

“Oh… speaking of which, we… weren’t friends yet, right, Seon-uk?”

“Yeah. I haven’t checked it in at least five months.”

Even when I had my own computer back in Seoul, I hadn’t checked my social media, so it was unthinkable that I would check it here where I didn’t even have a computer. Knowing Kang Youngsoo was staring at me without blinking made me uneasy.

“Do you know, Seon-uk? Taean is close to the sea.”

“……”

“There are waves in the sea.”

“……”

“As I rode the waves and kept riding them~ Seon-uk’s mini-homepage appeared~ It’s a beautiful story.”

Listening to the exaggerated tone that sounded like a fairy tale, I realized that it wasn’t even worth hearing anymore, and I calmly shook off his arm. Ignoring Kang Youngsoo, who had plopped down on the cafeteria floor, I turned towards Jihoon.

“By the way, what does cleanliness have to do with a mini-homepage?”

I had asked, thinking that Jihoon would give me a better answer than Kang Youngsoo, but Jihoon simply shrugged his shoulders. Youngsoo got up, ready to answer instead.

“What’s the point of asking a polluted kid, Seon-uk!”

“Damn it. They both have issues.”

Jihoon, who was chewing on chicken nuggets, suddenly shouted at Kang Youngsoo, as if he had thought of something.

“Hey, speaking of which, why are you only targeting me? This guy’s homepage seems to be no joke either!”

Seeing him scream like that was just ridiculous.

“…Did you see my mini-homepage too?”

Jihoon’s expression changed to one of shock, and he avoided my gaze. He reached to slap Youngsoo on the head. It looked like he was trying to look away.

“Why are you discriminating against me, you bastard!”

Kang Youngsoo, quickly defending himself with his hands, opened his mouth.

“That’s because! You were dirty in front of me, while Seon-uk was secretly dirty in a place I didn’t know about!”

“…Dirty?”

“It’s fine, Seon-uk. And you’re a new guy. You don’t have to listen to the words of an old guy like Jihoon.”

Youngsoo went further and even covered one of my ears with his hand, as if to tell me not to listen to Jihoon. Lost for words due to the absurdity of the situation, the second round of arguments had already begun. Unsurprisingly, it was a fight between Kang Youngsoo and Jihoon.

“I didn’t peel it! You bastard! You just say it’s dirty without knowing what I actually did with her!”

“Ugh. Why do I need to see that? I told you not to look at our Minji’s dirty stuff!”

“What? Are you still dating Jumanji?”

“It’s not Jumanji, I told you it’s Juminji.”

“Is it the plains of Manchuria or Jumanji….”

“Don’t make Tetris out of other people’s girlfriend’s names.”

“You should be making Tetris out of a girl’s name! Can’t you tell that?”

“You bastard, really!”

It was enough to stop their childish fighting just once. I stood up, not wanting to hear anymore.

After causing that ruckus during lunch, I felt drained. Even Jihoon, who would have spent extra energy bickering with Youngsoo after I left, wore a similar expression. Especially since the fifth period was a movement class, we quietly walked through the hallway, carrying our “Information and Communication” textbooks.

It felt strangely empty in the classroom as if everyone was in a rush to get to the computer lab. Perhaps the kids in the class had hurriedly left to start using the computers sooner. I scanned the computer room, which was full, except for Jihoon’s and my desks, and sat down at seat 16. I felt Jihoon taking the chair next to me.

The clock at the bottom of the computer showed that there were about five minutes left until class began. My gaze lingered for a moment on a window opened by a classmate sitting opposite me. It was obvious what they were looking at just from a glance. The other classmates sitting in a row were looking at similar windows.

Under normal circumstances, I would have been previewing what we would learn in class instead of checking mini-homepages like them, but today was different. I had just heard the conversation between Kang Youngsoo and Jihoon during lunch.

Apparently, I had not logged in for a long time, as I was immediately greeted with a heap of notifications. I didn’t have the patience to check each one, so I scrolled down casually, only to realize that the names of those who had sent me friend requests were familiar.

There were quite a few classmates who had sent friend requests from among those who had helped me during my first week after transferring here. The dates the requests were sent varied. However, considering that no one had asked me about it or pressed me, I felt a bit apologetic. I hesitated, awkwardly clicking the accept button repeatedly, only to pause at a familiar name that popped up above.

“…What the hell.”

I muttered, and feeling Jihoon’s gaze glancing over to me, I hurriedly pressed the cancel button and closed the window.

The mini-homepage situation wasn’t much different from before. Since I hadn’t been managing it, my mini-homepage mainly contained a guestbook and a space for leaving comments, and those were all filled with messages from friends checking in on me since I had transferred. I also spotted a message from my ex-girlfriend.

“Are you doing well? I heard you transferred… Contact me when you have time (♥ Kim Hyun-joo).”

Seeing her name at the top of the guestbook, I could see why Kang Youngsoo had made such a fuss. It made sense that we had agreed to coordinate on so many things when we were dating, but now that we had broken up, it looked so weird. We didn’t end things on a bad note, so I couldn’t just cut off the friendship. But if I were to delete this… wouldn’t that make her feel bad?

As these various thoughts unfolded, I ultimately did nothing. Just then, the bell signaling the start of class rang. I could see the kids around starting to hurriedly close their windows. Just as I was about to do the same, I found myself stopping.

A new notification popped up in my friend request inbox. I briefly glanced at the front door, where the teacher hadn’t entered yet, and pressed the notification.

Suddenly, a window popped up.

I couldn’t help but let out a snort, an incredulous laugh escaped me. My head turned automatically to the side.

“What is it?”

Without turning his head, Jihoon calmly looked ahead, only leaning toward me once the teacher had entered. Our eyes met at close range. As if to wink, he casually winked one eye and whispered, as if sharing a secret.

“Laundry.”

* * *

Jihoon was absent. When the homeroom teacher turned his head without saying anything even after confirming Jihoon’s empty seat, Yoo Hye-eun hesitated before raising her hand.

“Teacher, my partner hasn’t come to school yet… is there something wrong?”

The two of them had grown notably closer after the sports day, spending time together more frequently. They would talk and play around in the cafeteria, in the hallways, and occasionally even on their way home. Perhaps it was because of Yoo Hye-eun’s pale skin, which was different from Jihoon’s slightly tanned skin from not playing baseball for long, that they stood out even more when they were together. It didn’t seem like only I noticed this; sometimes, Kang Youngsoo would joke with Jihoon about their relationship.

The homeroom teacher wasn’t surprised by Yoo Hye-eun’s question. Closing the attendance book he had been looking at without much interest, he casually finished the reading.

“Ah, he’s absent due to sickness.”

It seemed like an unexpected answer, and Yoo Hye-eun showed a look of surprise. She turned around and whispered something to a friend behind her. From her expression, she looked worried. It was not surprising; after all, she didn’t know why he was sick. I, who might have been the only one in the class who knew, contemplated telling her there was no need to worry but decided to keep quiet. Yoo Hye-eun was close with Jihoon, but she rarely spoke to me unless necessary.

‘He’s sick.’

The words that fell from my grandfather’s mouth at breakfast were abrupt. He clicked his tongue as he explained.

“He takes after his father, and he’s the kind of guy who wouldn’t even know how to take care of himself.”

From the expression on my grandfather’s face, it seemed that he was already thoroughly exhausted by them. I could roughly grasp the situation just from the short information he added.

Jihoon was sick. Not just any illness, but one caused by studying too hard. It was almost expected, considering he sat at his desk until he fell asleep every night when he got home. Seeing him go days without moving made Jihoon’s father finally grab his shoulders and plead with him to get some rest, but Jihoon’s body was already a furnace. The house of two boys living alone was turned upside down in no time.

It seemed Jihoon’s father was particularly surprised that his naturally healthy and athletic son had fallen sick. He even had to carry Jihoon to the emergency room. Jihoon had been so dazed from the high fever that when he finally woke up, he immediately asked for his vocabulary book. At that point, I couldn’t help but shake my head.

He really was something else. It made sense that my grandfather, who never flinched even at usual things, would show an overwhelmed expression.

Since this all happened early that morning, it was no wonder Jihoon didn’t show up to school. His father, who started washing his uniform because Jihoon insisted on attending school, was also a bit much, and Jihoon himself was frighteningly persistent, even calling me immediately after breakfast.

“…Hey. I can’t go to school today.”

“I heard from your grandfather. Are you okay?”

“I don’t know. Dad told me to lie down.”

“Isn’t he lying down right now?”

“No. I’m hiding in the storage room to make this call so I won’t get caught by Dad.”

“……”

“Anyway, make sure to text me the range of the quiz if it shows up in math class today.”

It was surprising that he remembered the quiz for Friday, despite barely being conscious from the fever and visiting the emergency room. He could still make it to school by Friday? I fell into silence as I wasn’t sure what to ask first, and while I was quiet, chaos erupted on the other end of the line. It seemed Jihoon had been discovered sneaking away.

Jihoon’s father’s furious voice became loud on the other end.

“Lee Jihoon! Are you really out of your mind? Hand over your phone, you punk!”

“Just let me say this! If you hit me like this, what’s the point of lying down! If you’re going to hit someone who’s sick, you shouldn’t do it!”

From the alternating sound of thudding and screaming, it was likely Jihoon was getting smacked. No matter how many times he got hit, Jihoon never closed his mouth, rebutting repeatedly, and listening to this fierce argument, I eventually hung up, promising to text him the quiz range as soon as I found out.

It took 10 minutes for a reply to arrive.

It seemed like the father-son dispute had just ended.

“Alright, everyone, open your books!”

Even though it was just Jihoon missing, the atmosphere in the class felt dull. Even the math teacher, who had been suffering under the barrage of Jihoon’s now heightened academic enthusiasm, paused the lesson to glance at Jihoon’s empty seat. During the self-study assigned before the test, I noticed Yoo Hye-eun approach me while glancing towards Jihoon’s desk, and I saw her asking something, and Jihoon nodding in surprise.

Since Youngsoo was spending time with his girlfriend right after class, it was common for just Jihoon and me to go home together. Therefore, it felt strange and awkward to be on my own after school. While riding on the bus, grabbing the handle and looking at the scenery outside, I realized that I had become quite accustomed to spending time with Jihoon more than I had expected. Just not talking with him left me time to look out the window.

My gaze was caught by the sign of the porridge shop we passed, thinking that it was now time for his dad to go out to work, and I wondered if he had eaten. It was only a fleeting thought. I thought it was strange to be thinking such things, but surprisingly, I didn’t hesitate much when it was time to press the buzzer to get off. The moment I entered the porridge shop located near the bus stop, I felt the same.

I had never bought porridge for anyone, so I didn’t even know what kind would be good. I ended up having to ask the shop owner for help. When I said it was for a sick friend, the owner praised me for being a good friend. I hadn’t done it to gain praise, so I felt embarrassed to accept the porridge and quickly left the store.

Since I had gotten off midway, I needed to transfer to another bus. When I eventually arrived at my original destination, it was 30 minutes later than usual.

“…Is anyone home?”

Today, Jihoon’s front gate was open again. Not that there were particularly any houses in this neighborhood that closed their gates.

Although I had come a few times before, I had always been led by Jihoon or he had gone ahead, so this was my first time visiting on my own. I cautiously stepped into the yard, remembering how Jihoon would come and go like it was his own house.

“Excuse me.”

I bowed my head just in case, and stepped quietly into their house. It was quiet. It seemed that Jihoon’s father had already left for work. As I scanned the empty yard, I took a step forward. Standing in front of the door I had to pass through to enter the house, I cleared my throat.

“Hey. Jihoon.”

Whether I spoke or not, the stillness felt awkwardly embarrassing, so I raised my voice a bit.

“Jihoon! Are you in there?”

There was no reply. The thought that he might not be able to hear because he was sleeping crossed my mind, and I hurriedly shut my mouth.

“……”

It felt like I should wake him up to tell him, but on the other hand, I wondered if it was right to wake a sick person.

For an alternative, I had intended to hang the porridge on the doorknob, but the moment I saw the bag struggling to remain upright due to uneven weight distribution, I decided to change my approach. While I was wrestling to hang the bag, the front door, which had no security whatsoever, swung open unexpectedly.

Should I really go in without permission? I hesitated for a moment but eventually stepped inside. I thought it would be best to just drop the porridge and leave.

The house was surprisingly quiet, to the point where it was hard to believe that someone was inside. The first place my gaze landed upon was Jihoon’s closed door. He seemed to be sleeping inside. The desk in the living room was messy. Recalling Jihoon saying he would study in the living room even if it meant cramming, I looked over the reference books and texts scattered across the desk and turned my head. It made me think that with a son who was constantly trying to study, Jihoon’s father might have purposely closed the door and left for work. Considering how worried he must have been about his son always studying at any opportunity, it also made sense looking back at the call I had received from Jihoon earlier that morning.