Paper Friendship Chapter 26

─ Joo Sunhye, she hasn’t taken her photos down from Instagram yet, has she?

“Huh? I told you we just broke up. I called you really right after we broke up.”

─ Ah.

“Do you get it? How much your hyung loves you. I’m telling you straight away.”

─ Hyung, I love you too. So come here right now. If you don’t come, I’m going to beat you up later.

Since Choi Juoon was speaking with a laugh, I started laughing too for some reason and said, trailing off the end of my sentence.

“I’m noooot goooing.”

─ Come.

“I’m not going.”

─ Come.

“I’m not going, not going, not going.”

─ Come.

The childish argument continued. I started to yawn little by little, so I said ‘I’m not going’ one last time and hung up. And I headed straight home. I was so tired I could have honestly slept on the street. I kept feeling vibrations in the pocket where I put my phone. I tried to ignore it, but since it kept ringing, I checked it for a moment.

Choi Juoon

Pick up the phone

12:24

If you don’t come, I’m really going to beat you up

You’re coming, right?

Are you coming or not;;

12:25

WYA (Where at)

12:26

Where are you

12:27

I didn’t even reply and turned off the power. And as soon as I arrived home, I fell asleep like I had fainted without even washing up.

∞ ∞ ∞

My father woke me up.

My father asked if I was going to be late. I barely opened my eyes and checked the clock, and it was 30 minutes before school time. My father told me he would drive me to school, so I should get ready quickly. My body felt exhausted since I didn’t sleep deeply. While washing up and drying my hair, I turned on my phone. I yawned endlessly.

As soon as I turned on the phone, the vibrations rang without rest. Well, it must all be Choi Juoon…. I thought lightly and changed into my school uniform. While riding in my father’s car, I checked my phone. Almost all the messages were related to Joo Sunhye. Every single one was asking if it was true that I broke up with Joo Sunhye and why we broke up. All the kids were asking why I didn’t tell them and even threatened that they would beat me up when I got to school.

I seriously considered not going to school. Just looking at the messages already made me tired. Finally, I checked Joo Sunhye’s social media. Everything related to me had been taken down from her feed. Just as I was clearing away the traces of us being together on my own social media as well, my father spoke up from the side.

“So, you took the Suneung yesterday, right?”

“Yes.”

“Did you do well?”

“Just, it’s okay….”

“Put your phone away when talking to an adult.”

I slowly put my phone in my pocket. And my father started a lecture on life all by himself. I fixed my gaze outside. It takes less than 5 minutes to get to school by car, but maybe because it was the morning commute time…. The time felt too long. Even after arriving at school, my father’s words didn’t stop.

“Tell me if you need money….”

“Yes.”

“When an adult does something for you, you must always remember to say thank you.”

“Yes, thank you.”

I barely managed to get out of the car and let out a long sigh.

Ah… this is awkward. And uncomfortable. Every time he talks to me like that, I really don’t know what to say. Still, maybe because I arrived almost at the last minute, there weren’t many people at the main gate. I walked sluggishly because I wanted to arrive as late as possible.

It was when I was taking off my shoes at the shoe locker and changing into slippers.

“Lee Juun, you fucking bastard!!!!!”

Someone said that and kicked my side hard. For a moment, it hurt so much that tears welled up. I clutched my side, put on a straight face, and turned my head. It was Park Yoonchul.

“Wow, Lee Juun, I’m disappointed. Why didn’t you tell me you broke up?”

“Let’s just go in and talk….”

“I waited a long time yesterday because Choi Juoon said you were coming, but you didn’t even show up.”

Even as I went into the classroom, I went in while continuing to get hit by Park Yoonchul. Since even I thought this was something worth getting hit for, I went in without a word of complaint. As soon as I sat in my seat, the kids around me asked.

“Lee Juun, did you really break up with Joo Sunhye?”

“Why did you break up?”

“I saw all of Joo Sunhye’s photos were taken down.”

“Who dumped who?”

I had thrown another big dopamine subject at the school…. I should have thought about what to say regarding the breakup, but honestly, I had no thoughts at all. I said while organizing my bag.

“Because we’ll drift apart once we go to university….”

Even when I reeled off a similar story, the kids didn’t believe it. Then some crazy bastard started saying this.

“Did Joo Sunhye cheat on you?”

I looked straight at Yoon Seongmin with a disgusted expression and said.

“Hey, seriously…. Don’t say things like that even as a joke. It’s fucking unpleasant.”

“Then did you guys fight?”

“It’s not even that.”

“Then why did you break up? You two were really close.”

“Ah, I don’t know…. It just happened that way.”

I should have stayed home today. For the first time, I prayed for the teacher to come in quickly.

“Why are you all standing like this? Everyone sit down.”

The teacher finally came in, and the kids went back to their seats as if they were disappointed. I immediately slumped onto my desk. How am I going to survive today? I seriously considered leaving school early. I gave too big an issue to kids who were looking for stimulation after the Suneung exams.

During recess, the guys including Choi Juoon came to find me. It was obvious they came to ask why I broke up with Joo Sunhye. As soon as Choi Juoon saw me, he gave me a hard flick on the forehead.

“Ah…!”

I honestly thought my forehead was going to break. I grabbed my forehead with both hands and screamed without sound. When I barely lifted my head, Choi Juoon was sitting on top of the locker.

“That’s one for now.”

It’s not one, it’s a hundred…. I thought, wiping the small tears that had formed. The other boys also sat around the locker area and asked why we broke up. I told them what I had thought of, albeit briefly.

“Ah, just…. anyway, we’re going to different regions and honestly I don’t have the confidence to do a long-distance relationship…. and if she goes into the aviation field, the boys will be handsome too….”

The more I continued to speak in detail, the more the kids shifted their gaze to their phones. There were even kids talking among themselves right in front of me about what the lunch menu was today. When I finished talking, no one was interested in me.

Still, at least Choi Juoon was looking at me. When our eyes met, he told me with his lip shape, ‘Lee Juun, you’re no fun.’ Since that was true, I just smoothed my bangs. Then Choi Juoon threw some trash at me and said.

“Who wants to get introduced to a girl.”

Suddenly, the kids put down their phones and shouted, “Me!” I thought the situation was wrapping up, but some guy asked me.

“No, so why did you break up?”

We just talked about that…. It felt like the situation was back at square one for some reason. But unexpectedly, Choi Juoon answered for me.

“Park Yoonchul, isn’t it because you’re always asking to be introduced to girls that you broke up?”

“Ah, right. It’s because of Park Yoonchul.”

The kids agreed and laughed out loud. It was concluded that the reason we broke up was because Park Yoonchul was always asking for introductions, which annoyed Joo Sunhye.

∞ ∞ ∞

I received my Suneung report card. I was accepted for the first choice for one, and for the others, I was all on the waiting list. Among those, except for one, they were basically impossible numbers. Still, since one was a university in Seoul and it was a number that seemed like I could get in, I felt relieved.

Choi Juoon was accepted for the first choice for everywhere he applied. He didn’t go into the aviation field. Choi Juoon’s name was hung on a banner in front of the school. Looking up at the banner, I wondered what the reaction would be if I went back to the past and told the middle-school-aged Choi Juoon, “In the future, you will go to the best university in our country.”

Also, although it’s a delicate story, Joo Sunhye wasn’t accepted for the first choice for all six of the universities she applied to. However, my friends told me she was accepted into the university she wanted to go to. Since it was a story I was secretly curious about, I just nodded quietly.

And we played, really, every single day.

But it was difficult to meet Choi Juoon. The playing I mentioned earlier was with Park Yoonchul or the other guys. Choi Juoon didn’t come to school often, and sometimes even when I ran into him from a distance, I felt like he was a different person. According to Park Yoonchul, it’s hard to see Choi Juoon’s face these days because he’s busy. Somehow, the things I didn’t know about kept increasing.