OMLN | Chapter 8

“What?” Cha Hyuk’s eyes narrowed with laughter to the point where wrinkles formed.

He stopped laughing just as Kang Yebon’s ears turned red.

“There are shiny places there too. Mirrors, like this. Right?”

Cha Hyuk raised his hand, mimicking the motion of changing a lightbulb, his face still full of mischievous smiles.

“So, where was the shiny place then?”

“A river.”

“…Huh?”

“A deep, wide river. The sunlight reflecting off the water was so bright it hurt my eyes. I couldn’t do anything without these.”

Cha Hyuk wiggled the thin, gold-framed arms of his sunglasses.

On a clear autumn day with a high, blue sky, what would a large man in a dark shirt and black sunglasses be doing at such a river?

Kang Yebon tried to push away the image of a cement drum that came to mind. Surely, no one would say such a thing outright.

“What were you doing at the river?”

“What do you think I was doing?”

With Cha Hyuk, he might just say it outright…

The cement drum that Kang Yebon had tried to erase rolled back into his mind.

“Ahjussi.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you really a thug?”

Cha Hyuk leaned forward, his arms on the table, with a subtle smile on his face. It seemed like he was mocking Kang Yebon for only figuring it out now, or perhaps asking, “Do you think I’m a thug?”

“If I say you’re a thug, will you never associate with me again?”

“If I say I won’t associate with you, will you let me go safely?”

“Yeah.”

It was a firm answer, but Kang Yebon was left speechless.

Even if Cha Hyuk let him go, Kang Yebon would still have to attend the lectures, and now they had to do the project together.

In every situation involving Cha Hyuk, Kang Yebon was always the one on edge.

“…Ahjussi, you’re really devious.”

“Have you ever seen a thug who’s fair?”

Wow, Kang Yebon opened his mouth wide but could only sigh without saying anything.

From Cha Hyuk’s reaction, he must be a thug. He had suspected it intuitively, but now he knew he shouldn’t provoke him.

“Okay, I shouldn’t have asked. Let’s get the assignment done quickly.”

A soft madeleine touched Kang Yebon’s lips, which were pouting more than usual.

“Are you sulking?”

The way he asked sounded like he was coaxing a child.

“I’m not sulking.”

As he opened his mouth to answer, the madeleine went in. The strong vanilla scent made his jaw move involuntarily, and he couldn’t continue speaking.

“Don’t sulk. Just hang out with me until this year ends. After that, even if I try to hold you back, you’ll leave.”

Kang Yebon quickly swallowed the bread in his mouth.

“Why?”

“Why, which part?”

Kang Yebon tilted his head slightly to the right.

“Why only until this year?”

“Ah,” Cha Hyuk narrowed his eyes as if surprised, but Kang Yebon didn’t understand why he reacted that way.

“Regarding patience…”

Reward?

Seeing the look in Cha Hyuk’s eyes when he opened them again, Kang Yebon didn’t ask any further.

He didn’t ask what Cha Hyuk had been patient about.

“Let’s finish the assignment quickly. It’ll be easier for both of us if we finish it today.”

“About patience, why…”

“We stopped at Nietzsche yesterday. My personal opinion is, Nietzsche makes me uncomfortable. Write it down quickly.”

Cha Hyuk chuckled softly and nodded while twitching his eyebrows.

When the assignment was finally done, the sun was setting.

In the end, because Cha Hyuk bought food again, Kang Yebon wasn’t hungry despite not having dinner.

Stretching his arms up to loosen his stiff shoulders from typing, there was a cracking sound.

“Are you tired?”

Kang Yebon tilted his head slightly to the side and massaged his neck.

“I’m okay. But I’m relieved it’s all done. It should be perfect for full marks.”

He looked proudly at the neatly organized assignment on his screen. Cha Hyuk also looked at his laptop, but his expression was ambiguous.

“Seems so.”

“Yeah, you know a lot too, so we should get a good score with this.”

Cha Hyuk was actually knowledgeable not just about Nietzsche but in many areas. Kang Yebon even thought he might study better than him.

Thinking about it, since they were attending a top-tier university, it made sense for Cha Hyuk to be smart.

But despite having nothing to worry about, Cha Hyuk seemed discontent, staring intently at his screen.

Kang Yebon, sitting opposite him, couldn’t see Cha Hyuk’s monitor, but he stared at it anyway. The gray metal laptop had not a single scratch.

“The professor left a message on the assignment last time.”

For Kang Yebon, it was just “Good.”

“What did it say?”

“He said, ‘Are you kidding me?’”

“…Huh? Why?”

Literally, why? It was the first time Kang Yebon had heard of a professor leaving such a message on an assignment submission.

He had heard the professor was strict, but Kang Yebon didn’t consider himself exceptionally good. Rather, he thought Cha Hyuk might get praised.

“Can you show me what you did?”

Kang Yebon turned the laptop towards him and was immediately shocked. This was, really… this was!

“…Why did you do it like this?”

Unbelievable. Kang Yebon pulled the laptop fully to his side, scrolled down and up, but nothing changed.

From the bold Gothic font on the first page to the golden dragon drawing above, Cha Hyuk’s personal details, and what was even more baffling…

“Why did you put your seal here? And why make a space for the professor’s seal? Are you asking the professor to stamp it too?”

Is this some kind of body disposal affidavit?

Kang Yebon had never seen a report like this in his life. Now he could understand how the professor must have felt.

The professor, known for being strict, must have been doubly upset. If it had been any other student, he might have called them out immediately to scold them.

“…I put effort into it.”

Cha Hyuk scratched his neck awkwardly and averted his gaze.

“How… this is the second semester, not the first, and you’ve done it like this? Didn’t anyone tell you before?”

“I didn’t attend much in the first semester because I was busy.”

Cha Hyuk smiled awkwardly. He seemed embarrassed too.

Kang Yebon sighed, wondering how no one told him and why he hadn’t looked into what was wrong with his reports.

In the end, Kang Yebon opened a new file on Cha Hyuk’s laptop and quickly created the most basic format for a report.

“From now on, just use this format I made. You can remove what you want, but don’t touch the font or the cover.”

He demonstrated by scrolling and pointing with his finger.

Cha Hyuk watched the monitor intently and nodded slightly, frowning.

“No wonder he always complained when I submitted reports.”

His tone was one of admiration, and Kang Yebon couldn’t help but smirk.

After saving the file, Kang Yebon handed the laptop back to Cha Hyuk.

The assignment was finished, and there was no reason for Kang Yebon and Cha Hyuk to stay together anymore. Usually, Kang Yebon would have gotten up first to wrap up if it were with anyone else, but with Cha Hyuk, it wasn’t that easy.

Cha Hyuk didn’t move either, so Kang Yebon watched him. He seemed not to plan on leaving, leaning comfortably against the chair, gazing at Kang Yebon.

“You helped with the assignment.”

“Yeah?”

“And you made the format.”

Not understanding what Cha Hyuk was getting at, Kang Yebon just rolled his light eyes around. Then Cha Hyuk put his arms on the table, leaning forward, closing the distance.

“Thanks, I’m not one to owe debts.”

His eyes had a strange look for someone expressing gratitude. It seemed like there was something sinister hanging on his slightly curled lips.

Kang Yebon had never received such a response for helping before and had no idea how to react.

“…So, you want me to erase the report format?”

Was this his way of saying, “Don’t make reports like this,” after someone had told him before?

As Cha Hyuk got closer, Kang Yebon leaned back, pushing his chin backward.

Cha Hyuk then opened his mouth slightly and let out a sigh, looking both amused and exasperated.

“I’m not talking about erasing the debt, but clearing it.”

“Clearing it?”

“Yeah, is there anything you want?”

Cha Hyuk always gave responses that went beyond Kang Yebon’s expectations. It seemed wrong to take anything for just making a format when he hadn’t even written the report for him.

But saying he didn’t need anything felt ominous, given Cha Hyuk’s nature, so Kang Yebon pretended to think while looking away.

Then, his eyes fell on the empty plate that had held the sandwich Cha Hyuk bought earlier.

“Ah, with this-.”

He couldn’t finish saying, “We’ll call it even,” because Cha Hyuk slid a business card in front of him.

The plain business card read ‘Vice President Cha Hyuk, (Jiwuri Co., Ltd.)’ with company and mobile phone numbers.

Vice President, that was an unexpected title. It didn’t fit with the image of a thug or gangster, which was quite a shock to Kang Yebon.

Didn’t he say he was a thug last time? Kang Yebon looked at Cha Hyuk with confusion.

“If there’s something you want or need, get in touch… Oh.”

Cha Hyuk pulled out his black wallet again, took out another card, and slid it over to Kang Yebon.

This one, unlike the first, had a colorful and somewhat tacky design. It boldly declared in Gothic font, “We Find People You Want to See! We Also Retrieve Owed Money!”

Below that, in bright yellow, was a different mobile number from the first card.

It was clearly a private investigator’s business card.

Seeing Kang Yebon’s increasingly puzzled expression, Cha Hyuk tilted his head back and laughed.

“If there’s someone you want to disappear, contact me.”