Semantic Error

Chapter 6.13

Sangwoo trembled a bit. Jaeyoung, who was looking at him with a slight frown, felt more threatening than ever. He came one step closer. Sangwoo stretched out his arm to block him from making contact with him, and opened his mouth.

“No.”

“What?”

“I’m saying that I don’t want to go watch a movie.”

The words came out in the most straightforward way. Why would he ask him out to the movies when he wasn’t even of the opposite sex? Jaeyoung’s suggestion knocked over the delicate dominoes that had been built recently. As a result, the inner fortress that had been built inside his mind was burnt to ashes in one go.

Jaeyoung squinted while staring at Sangwoo.

“Is it because you’re going with me? Or is it because it’s two guys going?”

“Both.”

“It’s compensation for fixing my computer. Is it bad enough to make you knock the chair over as you run away?”

There was a sharp tone to his voice that Sangwoo hadn’t heard recently. Sangwoo’s mouth opened on its own and spat out his rebuttal.

“Don’t you have a brain? Being near each other is exhausting; it takes a heavy toll on us. How is that compensation?”

“Your words are getting harsher. Don’t push it.”

Jaeyoung’s posture became increasingly crooked. The tension he had been feeling since the first day they met was hanging in the air. At the same time, Sangwoo wasn’t afraid of Jaeyoung cursing and behaving like a thug at all. However, Sangwoo now felt scared when he was speaking quietly instead. But it wasn’t a common fear to have.

‘Don’t come close to me. Don’t touch me either. Stop destroying my daily life.’

After staring at Sangwoo’s face for a long time, Jaeyoung icily made a sarcastic remark.

“Then I’ll give you money for the reparation fee. How much do I owe you?”

“Ten million won.¹”

“This bastard is being like this again. You have a habit of letting shitty things come out of your mouth even when saying them nicely.”

Jaeyoung smiled in a way that was much closer to enmity rather than amity. That was the moment Sangwoo’s fear became defiant.

“I already told you that I don’t need any compensation. I’d rather be harassed like I was on the first day, so stop trying to pull any tricks.”

“What kind of trick did I pull?”

“Why are you whispering!”

“Then should I yell inside the library?”

Sangwoo shoulder checked Jaeyoung and ran back to the study room. The librarian who widely opened her eyes, seemed to consider if she should stop him. Sangwoo left through the door carrying his bag, having just thrown everything in without even closing the zipper. He dashed because he was afraid of someone following him, but he couldn’t sense anything behind him.

Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error!

There was a red warning sound in his head. A sign of a serious problem with his body. It was so serious that he felt as if he needed to run straight to the hospital.

Heart – abnormally high heart rate compared to the amount of exercise

Skin – high heat emission

Hand – hand tremors

Mouth – xerostomia (dry mouth)

Penis – …fuck

Sangwoo felt dizzy as he entered his apartment. Without doing anything, he immediately fell onto his bed and covered his head with a blanket.

What transpired 20 minutes ago was the single most shocking event of his life. Something similar had happened once in the second year of middle school, but that was it.

Sangwoo had sniffed something nice while he was on his way to school. He had fantasized about what was inside the white short-sleeved blouse the woman who was passing by him was wearing. That time, when he remembered the picture of a female model in a swimsuit he had seen at a bus stop, his heart had started pounding and a specific part of his lower body had become hard.

Scientifically, he knew exactly what had happened in his body, but he didn’t know that such a thing would happen to him as well. He had turned around and returned home on the spot, feeling ashamed because it felt as if he had become a beast. He had told his mother about it when she returned from work, and fortunately enough, she had told him that it was a natural reaction.

‘Are you aware of what’s in your testicles?’

‘There are 200-500 million sperm that are prepared for reproduction.’

Footnotes:

1. Roughly $8900 USD.