Chapter 7.1

Chapter 7 – Blue

Jaeyoung believed that since ancient times and through his many personal experiences, one could get along with their juniors and gain a sense of loyalty if they treated them to a meal. So far, there was only one hoobae that this hadn’t worked on. While eating with a look that made him question if the pizza was made of mud, that guy was like a machine for taking in food in order to destroy it. The risotto didn’t taste bad, yet his face had made it seem like the food hadn’t even been seasoned. It wasn’t even as if he were a picky eater, seeing that he watched him eat food at the school cafeteria every day without complaining.

Jaeyoung had spent five years in college and was very good at winning over his juniors in different ways. Male students usually became loyal dogs when they saw him ride his skateboard after he had stuffed them full with delivery food. Female students should have equally stuffed bellies but needed more attention paid to them. He had to talk to them often and laugh a lot, so they would get the impression that you had a close relationship with them. In that sense, he wondered if Chu Sangwoo was a third gender.

Jaeyoung didn’t use any methods to target Sangwoo. He tried to stop provoking him by only using soft language (although there were a few moments where he hadn’t been able to suppress his playfulness), he had made a huge contribution to their Chinese skit, and he had even daily prepared coffee to suit the characteristics of his routine-driven opponent. Although it had turned out to be counterproductive, he had wholeheartedly and earnestly drawn Sangwoo’s caricature. He had even showed off his secret weapon, skateboarding, and escorted him all the way home. At this point, as long as he knew how to, he would have used all kinds of methods.

‘I hope you have a nightmare, sunbae.’

He was surprised that nothing had worked. Jaeyoung pushed even further as he wanted to press the backspace button, wondering if that guy wasn’t a human bastard.

‘There has to be a way to deal with a mechanical human being.’

On the Sunday when Jaeyoung had become angry at his slow computer while reading webtoons, he had suddenly gotten a good idea. The level of obsession he displayed by taking his laptop apart in order to get his hoobae’s attention was abnormal. Jaeyoung was the type to get obsessed with something once he set his sights on it. He expected Sangwoo to refuse to help him when asked to format his laptop. He headed to the PC room anyway after having prepared the bait and all the necessary equipment.

Sangwoo acted according to Jaeyoung’s expectations without a single exception. He always had a grim look on his face when he was dealing with people, but his dark eyes sparkled when he was touching a machine.

‘They say that working men are sexy.’

Jaeyoung was observing Sangwoo for a long time, while leaning over the counter with great interest. He felt that Sangwoo, who had formatted and even optimized his laptop, was cute.

It was hard to explain why. Chu Sangwoo could not be classified as the puppy, cat, or rabbit type. Bluntly speaking, even if it was difficult to find a similar example among ordinary mammals, he definitely had a cute part to him.

The bastard was the type who would wait for the crosswalk signal to change even in a deserted city. He was the kind of guy who wouldn’t deviate a single step from his plan. He was as different as night was from day to Jaeyoung, who was proud of his own spontaneous and free-spirited personality. However, the characteristics he would have ignored if he were the same as he had been in the past, started to override the absurdity of it all and began to look charming instead.

Sangwoo’s curt way of speaking, having to answer every question, working hard when being presented with a task, and his poor pronunciation in Chinese, in spite of not making a single spelling or grammar mistake, all increasingly began to seem cute. Moreover, his appearance always sparked Jaeyoung’s curiosity. White skin covered in black clothes containing a strict and by-the-book personality beneath. Was Sangwoo like an adorable deer from a Disney movie that had developed into something enigmatic?

‘It’s like a dark and mysterious herbivore in a cyberpunk setting, who feels nothing strange even though it is the sole survivor on Earth after a post-apocalyptic nuclear war.’

In a way, it was natural for Jaeyoung, who was sensitive to visuals, to be attracted to hidden and mysterious things, especially those who were like a book you couldn’t judge by its cover.