Chapter 6.18

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Freeloader3: (Image) good job

12 days ago

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When he clicked the thumbnail, it went into full-screen mode. Jaeyoung was smiling and sticking his tongue out next to Sangwoo, who was very stiff. The rubber wigs they were wearing on their foreheads reflected fluorescent light.

Zoom in, zoom in, zoom in.

Jaeyoung’s face filled the entire cell phone screen. It was so pixelated that he didn’t like it.

‘You said you were going to put in on social media, right?’

Samgwoo put his cell phone away and turned on his desktop computer. Even though he used various methods to reduce the booting time, it was difficult to wait. As soon as the desktop came up, he launched an Internet browser and logged into a social media site where he had only created an account in the past. Sangwoo only had two followers.

Sangchu you little fucker, why aren’t you picking up my calls?

sangchusangchusanchu what month are you going to be discharged from the army?

There were some short DMs a few of his friends from middle school and high school had sent him a few years ago. Sangwoo used the search bar to look for Jang Jaeyoung. There was an incredible amount of people with the same name, but the version he was looking for was at the very top, because he had a lot of followers.

Jang Jaeyoung (Jae. J) Graphic Designer / Graffiti Writer / SkateBoarder

The introduction in his bio was brief, and there was a link to his portfolio page below it. There were 22 posts, so he wasn’t the type who posted a lot. The most recent post was a picture he had taken with Sangwoo on the day they had the Chinese skit.

‘With a cute hoobae’

Looking at when he had posted it, it had been before their relationship had broken down at the library. There were hundreds of “likes” from people who had never even seen Sangwoo. By the time he came to his senses, he found that he had already zoomed in as much as he could on the picture, so he took a screenshot and saved it so that he could look at Jaeyoung’s comment. He had stepped earnestly into Jang Jaeyoung’s world.

The first post was a selfie he had posted in the beginning of last year. There were a lot of heart and crying emojis under the “Nice to meet you” post. The studs in his ears looked like they were sparkling. His bleached hair was disheveled and looked slightly orange. His face was expressionless.

‘That’s really unsightly. Looks like a delinquent.’

Sangwoo jerked his head back as if he had been sucked into the monitor and saved the picture.

The second post was of the shop he worked at, which he had tagged. Jaeyoung seemed to be working at ‘Olive Tree,’ because he was helping out the owner, whom he seemed to know well. He was standing in front of the café with the owner, and the days and time he was working were written on it.

‘That smile is clearly fake.’

Saved.

The next post was also a promotional one, and the one after that was a personal photo. He was sitting in front of a computer, wearing a black beanie in that one. His hair color was still bright. Sangwoo saw how dark it was outside of the window, so it seemed like Jaeyoung had been doing homework all night.

‘How would a person who pulled an all-nighter look so flawless? There’s no need to stage a picture.’

Saved.

Next, next, next. The mouse moved frantically. Jaeyoung was making strange poses with his friends in a photo where he was dressed up in a suit.

‘Attention seeker.’

Saved.

The next post was a short video clip of him wearing a helmet and guards. He was sitting on the floor and laughing after having fallen off his skateboard during a practice session.

‘… Moron.’

Saved.

In the next picture, Jaeyoung was standing in front of a large wall where he had spray-painted strange fluorescent letters and a black tongue.

‘Definitely painted a stupid-looking monster.’

Saved.

In another picture, he was standing in front of a black background, wearing heavy theatrical makeup with his eyes closed.

“…”

Saved.

It was too difficult to try to define him in one word: a bewitching smile, sparkling eyes that drew you in, with a mischievously crooked grin, a laugh that seemed sarcastic, a smile that looked villainous. Sangwoo suddenly remembered when he was six years old and first saw a toy forklift. After begging his parents for it for the next 15 days, his father secretly bought it for him without telling his mother. He had felt the exact same way then as he did now. Even now, in his mid-20s, Sangwoo’s heart still started pounding whenever he saw a forklift.