TIC 08

Min-hyun could easily feel the woman next to him stiffen. He was just as flustered.

“One moment. I’ll call the reception.”

She picked up the room phone and asked why they had been given a double room instead of a twin, and a back and forth ensued as the receptionist insisted that it was a twin.

After hanging up, she frowned deeply and pulled back the covers on the bed. Two single beds were pushed together.

She placed one hand on her hip and the other on her forehead, looking completely confused. Her overly serious expression made Min-hyun feel strangely indifferent. It seemed to create a balance, he thought. One serious, the other nonchalant.

This kind of balance was an unconscious compulsion of Min-hyun’s. Insects usually have six legs, or three pairs of legs. They can crawl stably because of their perfect bilateral symmetry.

Balance was the key to moving forward. In any case, he wasn’t consciously accommodating her for the sake of this project. He wasn’t. It was just a habit.

“Should we try moving the beds?”

“Let’s do that.”

At her suggestion, Min-hyun tried to move one of the single beds, but it wouldn’t budge. The mattress and frame were integrated, and the bed was fixed to the floor to prevent movement.

“It’s not moving. Let’s just imagine there’s a line down the middle.”

Min-hyun neatly defined the situation. One of the morphological characteristics of insects was that their bodies were segmented: the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. Min-hyun defined the morphological characteristics of the bed in a similar way.

I’ll be on this side, you on that side.

“It can’t be helped. Let’s do that.”

Fortunately, she was quite agreeable. If she had fussed any more, he might have had to think of something to restore balance.

She spent the afternoon writing a report about the hotel while Min-hyun explored the surroundings and observed the local ecosystem. It was a long, leisurely walk without any purpose or compulsion, something he hadn’t had for a long time. Summer was in full swing, filled with the chirping of grasshoppers seeking mates.

After his walk, Min-hyun sat down across from Cho-yeon, whose face was half hidden by the report she was working on. They had bulgogi bibimbap for dinner. Thanks to the relaxing walk, his body and mind felt light, and he ate well.

But she hardly touched her food.

“Does it not suit your taste?”

“No. I don’t eat well when I’m stressed. Please don’t mind me and enjoy your meal.”

If it had been his usual compulsion for balance, he might have thought it was okay. He was eating well and she wasn’t.

But her words, telling him not to mind her, suddenly made him mind her very much.

After dinner, Min-hyun told her to go up to their room first and went to the convenience store in the basement of the hotel. It wasn’t a franchise convenience store, but rather a neighborhood convenience store run by a middle-aged woman.

Perhaps because it was a popular spot for Jirisan hikers, it carried a variety of hiking gear and instant foods. Min-hyun picked up a cup of instant porridge, the kind you just add hot water to, but then put it down again. Why did he pick it up and why did he put it down?

His mind was confused, unable to understand his own intentions.

Min-hyun walked around the store, trying to find what he was looking for.

“Looking for something?”

“Do you happen to have an insect net and a collection jar?”

The woman sitting on the chair behind the counter looked out and replied,

“There are soap bubbles and fireworks over there. If it’s not there, I don’t have it.”

Unfortunately, they didn’t have an insect net or a collection jar. Even after knowing that they didn’t sell what he was looking for, Min-hyun walked around the store again. He wasn’t sure if he was reluctant to leave because of the net and the jar or because of something else.

Then he saw the cup soups. Corn soup, cream soup, mushroom soup. He took one of each.

The scent of wildflowers filled the room as he entered. She had once again spread the blanket and pillow she had brought from her trunk on one side of the bed.

Feeling his gaze, she looked at him and said, “I can’t sleep when my pillow changes.”

“I see.”

Min-hyun replied as if it wasn’t news to him and handed her the black plastic bag with the cup soups.

“What is this?”

A faint caution flickered in her eyes.

“Cup soup. Eat some.”

The wariness in her dark eyes vanished and she asked with a faint smile, “Did you go all the way to the convenience store just to buy this?”

“I wanted to buy something else, but they didn’t have it.”

Her eyes suddenly lit up, a welcoming look, as if she would find whatever he needed.

“What do you need?”

“An insect net and a collection jar.”

Her mouth formed an ‘O’ and she remained speechless for a moment, frozen like a butterfly in liquid nitrogen.

“They didn’t sell them there.”

“I heard Professor Park Tae-hee’s major is Forest Resources. Professor Kwon, your major is…?”

“Similar.”

He thought she would be horrified if he told her that his specialization was entomology and that he was currently focusing on insect mating.

“I’m a professor in the Department of Applied Biology, College of Life Sciences.”

He had never concealed his specialization. He was a professor at Korea University’s College of Life Sciences, Department of Applied Biology, so it wasn’t a lie.

“Ah…”

She nodded slowly, though he wasn’t sure what she was agreeing with.

“I double-majored in Forest Resources during my undergraduate years. Applied Biology isn’t entirely unrelated to Forest Resources. I’ll do my best to contribute to this project, even if not as much as Professor Park Tae-hee.”

This must be how a new recruit feels in front of an interviewer.

She just stared at him with her dark eyes. Even though she didn’t have the authority to reject him, he felt anxious. He just wanted her to have a favorable impression of him.

“Yes, I look forward to working with you.”

Her nonchalant reply almost made him sigh.

She used the bathroom first, and Min-hyun used the bathroom next. He was strangely unaffected by being naked and washing himself in the bathroom that a woman he wasn’t close to had just used. He was shampooing his hair and lathering his body with a shower puff when,

What is this?

Min-hyun paused, covered in soap, when he noticed his p*nis pressing against his belly button. His mind kept telling him it was nothing, but his body clearly disagreed and stood at attention.

His mind and body were at odds. The sudden disconnect almost caused cognitive dissonance.

Min-hyun shook his head and turned on the faucet. He always showered with hot water, even in the summer, because it made him feel cleaner. But now he needed water so cold it made his hair stand on end.

He stood under the cascading water for a long time, but it was no use. He remembered the scent of her blanket and his gr*in tightened. The feeling of their brief lip contact came back to him and the veins in his lower abdomen throbbed. He remembered her sensitive eyes and her faint smile, and his throat tightened, making it hard to breathe.

Min-hyun reached out and placed his left hand on the tiled wall and grabbed the center of the pillar with his right hand. His back stiffened as he moved his wrist, as if burdened by guilt.

It was just a mechanical act, but his arm, braced against the tiled wall, tensed. It was just a meaningless physiological phenomenon, yet a groan escaped his clenched teeth.

“Haa…“

White sp*rm swirled down the drain with the cold water. Convinced that he had calmed himself sufficiently, he slowly finished his shower and stepped out of the bathroom.

She lay on one side of the bed. Min-hyun tried not to look at her as he lifted the covers and lay down. He was exhausted from waking up early and taking the long bus ride to Jirisan.

Sleep claimed him as soon as he closed his eyes. He usually fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

“Can I turn off the light?”

Her cautious voice from under the covers startled him. It was always disconcerting to be spoken to just as you were about to fall asleep. His heart pounded, and it felt as if the joined beds were vibrating with the sound.

“Yes, I’ll turn it off.”

He replied, but she was already sitting up. He tried not to look as she walked to the console, but her appearance, in a cartoon-print tank top and shorts, caught his eye.

She looked tired and cute.

What am I even saying?

Min-hyun was lost in dissonance. She made him feel lost again and again. With a click, the lights went out.

“Good night, Professor. And thanks for the soup, I ate it while you were in the shower.”

She said politely.

“Yes, good night, Ji Cho-yeon-ssi.”

He had never wished someone a good night so sincerely in his life. Min-hyun closed his eyes again.

“Mmm.“

A soft groan made him open his eyes.

“Mmm.“

The digital clock on the console, glowing faintly, read 02:00. Lying across from him, she moaned softly, her forehead furrowed.