Semantic Error

Chapter 6.8

“Don’t come to class, please. I’ll play three parts on my own.”

“I don’t want to,” Jaeyoung said lazily while stretching.

“Jihye, I’m sorry. I’m gonna take Sangwoo away. I mean that I have an incredibly important announcement to make tomorrow.”

“Ah… Yeah!”

Then he pulled Sangwoo’s wrist all of a sudden. Sangwoo shook off his hand, but Jaeyoung hit his back this time. Sangwoo felt flustered since it was the first time this had happened in his life. Jaeyoung grabbed his backpack from his shoulders, causing it to bounce violently.

“Hey? Sunbae!”

He loudly called him, but he didn’t stop.

‘Is he actually nuts?’ 

Even if Sangwoo considered it absurd, he didn’t have a choice but to run after him, as he couldn’t predict what he would do with his backpack. It being Jaeyoung, it wouldn’t be weird even if he were to dump everything down the drain.

Jaeyoung, who had been lightly jogging at first, sped up when he was in danger of getting caught by Sangwoo.

“Stay there!”

Before he knew it, Jaeyoung was running at full speed with Sangwoo’s backpack worn in front. At one point, Sangwoo’s fingertips brushed Jaeyoung’s shoulder, but Jaeyoung just sneered at him and ran away. He remembered running away with all his might exactly a week ago and now something similar was being repeated.

“Ah… I’m tired.”

Jaeyoung only stopped after arriving by the vast field of grass in front of the main gate. That was after having passed the futsal field, the snack shop, and the institution around the engineering college. Sangwoo was panting hard because he was out of breath.

“Give it back. Give it to me.⁵”

He weakly held out his arm, but Jaeyoung opened Sangwoo’s backpack as if he hadn’t heard him, and grabbed a bottle of water to moisten his neck.

“Are you actually crazy?”

“I guess so.”

Sangwoo accepted the water bottle he threw at him and drank from it. His heart was pounding as he had abruptly broken out into a run. The surrounding scenery was unfamiliar to him. Students were resting on the lawn everywhere like laundry. Sangwoo hadn’t put a foot there during his six semesters.

“What are you doing? Sit down,” Jaeyoung said while slumping down and slapping the spot next to him.

Then, he laid down on Sangwoo’s backpack. He had his legs spread out and clasped his hands to support the back of his head. His eyes were closed and the corners of his mouth turned up as if he were in a really good mood. The sun shone on his hair making it sparkle brightly.

“Give me the bag.”

“I’m using it.”

“I said give it to me.”

“Then get me another pillow or something.”

Sangwoo squatted and suddenly pulled at his backpack. However, he couldn’t take it away because Jaeyoung was still wearing the backpack straps around his arms and lying back on it as if it were a pillow.

“You said we’d prepare for the skit?”

“I was planning on doing that here.”

“There’s no desk and not even a chair. Are we really doing it here?”

“We have to memorize the entire script, don’t we? What won’t we be able to do here?”

Jaeyoung wasn’t able to see it for himself, as he had his eyes closed, but Sangwoo nodded. If it was about the script, he was already well-acquainted with it. He felt strange when he sat his butt down on the grass. Sangwoo smelled the grass while wondering what he was doing, sitting in a place like that.

“I’ll start then.”

“Let’s just rest for 10 minutes first.”

“It’s a waste of…”

“Wasting only that much is fine, isn’t it?”

Jaeyoung grabbed a can of coffee from Sangwoo’s bag and held it out. Sangwoo checked his wristwatch and found that it was still the appointed time for his on-campus walk. He replied that he got it and popped the lid off the canned coffee. As if he had fallen asleep, Jaeyoung kept quiet for a while, and then called his name when the can was half-empty.

“Sangwoo.”

“What?”

“What’s your ideal type?”

Sangwoo frowned and looked at Jaeyoung, but he still had his eyes closed in a carefree manner.

“Why are you asking something so personal?”

“Usually, when you’re “not close at all,” you pass time while asking these useless kinds of things.”

“You’re right,” Sangwoo answered after reviewing Jaeyoung’s question.

He had never properly thought about it, but when he considered the women who he had gotten even a slight positive impression of so far, he quickly caught his drift.

“I prefer people who are neat-looking and that have reserved personalities.”

“Oh, the kindergarten teacher type of style.”

Sangwoo ignored his words and drank his coffee without saying a word. Then, a little later, the second question arrived.

“When was your first love?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“The concept is too vague. I’ll answer if you define it more clearly.”

Jaeyoung made a grimace and opened his eyes. The eyes filled with sunlight looked brown.

“Is it the time when I first started dating, or when I first had intercourse? You have to be clear about the term,” Sangwoo added when Jaeyoung looked him in the eye.

Jaeyoung rolled his eyes with a look that expressed that he still didn’t get it.

Footnotes:

5. Sangwoo spoke the last sentence using informal language.