Paper Friendship Chapter 30

By the way, it seems like he should be heading back now. I didn’t check the time, but it felt like at least 30 minutes had passed.

“Don’t you really need to go?”

When I spoke with a hint of seriousness, Choi Juoon pulled out his phone, glanced at it, and muttered.

“Uh…. I have to go.”

And Choi Juoon spewed bullshit until the very end. He said the road at night was scary, so I should see him all the way up there. I didn’t even look at Choi Juoon, just grabbed the cake and stood up. Excuse me, please look in a mirror…. You are the scariest thing here.

“Lee Juun, do you know this?”

“What?”

“They say 70 percent of the population has sex on Christmas.”

“….”

“How does it feel to be in the 30 percent?”

“….”

Choi Juoon took the cake from my hands with a silly grin. Today, Choi Juoon’s mood seemed 99 times better than usual. It wasn’t that I was speechless from a ‘fact bomb’; I actually had a lot to say. But if I started shooting back, it felt like we wouldn’t be leaving until tomorrow. So, I just raised my middle finger.

“I’m going.”

When I said that first and turned around, Choi Juoon called me from behind.

“Lee Juun.”

I stopped in my tracks, put my hand in my pocket, and just turned my head.

“What.”

Choi Juoon spoke with the same face and voice as always.

“We’re definitely living together when we go to university.”

“Yeah.”

“You know I love you a lot, right?”

“Yeah.”

Since he says the same thing even on normal days, I seem to have developed a tolerance for those kinds of remarks. I turned back around and started walking, but for some reason, it bothered me, so I looked back. Surprisingly, Choi Juoon was still standing there, not moving, watching me.

Is he not going? I waved my hand vaguely, meaning for him to leave. Then Choi Juoon waved his hand briefly, too. This time, I only turned around after watching Choi Juoon’s retreating back.

∞ ∞ ∞

Winter break had started at school, and finally, December 31st, the day we were leaving for Jeju Island, arrived!

Choi Juoon and I met early in the dawn. First, we took a taxi, then we transferred to a train. After getting off, we took another taxi to reach the place where we’d board the boat. Honestly, I have no big memories of this part because I just slept.

If Choi Juoon woke me up, I’d get up, walk, and sleep; if he woke me up again, I’d get up, walk, and sleep. Still, I woke up completely when we arrived at the harbor. It was lunchtime, so we ate some simple udon and boarded the boat. A trip while looking at the sea. It was a trip after a long time, and it was my first time on a boat, so my heart was thumping.

But suddenly, my stomach turned.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah…. No….”

Choi Juoon patted my back. I grabbed the toilet bowl and drooled uncontrollably. I didn’t know I had such severe seasickness. To exaggerate a little, I was on the verge of death. I threw up everything I had eaten. I twisted, turned, and moved my body every which way to find a more comfortable position, but nothing got better. I would have rather jumped into the ocean.

By the time I threw up over five times, I gave up counting. At first, it seemed like Choi Juoon thought I was joking. He just played on his phone without a word, but since I kept running back and forth to the bathroom, he didn’t look at his phone after that. He followed me all the way to the bathroom and patted my back.

Even when I went to the swimming pool with the kids, I was the only one who felt dizzy…. I thought it was just because I was hungry back then…. At this point, it felt like I was the only one using the bathroom, so I felt sorry for the other people on the boat. Especially to Choi Juoon… I felt so sorry that I could barely look him in the face.

I closed my eyes for a moment, lay slumped over, then got up. When I got up, the surroundings were different from before. Checking the clock, an hour had passed. I must have fallen asleep just like that. Maybe it was because I woke up after a short nap, but my stomach felt better than before.

“Lee Juun, are you okay?”

Choi Juoon said, looking at me with a serious face. He immediately touched my forehead and compared it to the temperature of his own forehead. Seeing the look in Choi Juoon’s eyes, I could tell how worried he had been. Choi Juoon was worried about me to the point of being burdensome. I avoided his gaze, naturally lowered Choi Juoon’s hand, and said.

“I, I’m totally fine now.”

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes.”

At that, Choi Juoon swept his hair back once and let out a small sigh. It wasn’t a sigh mixed with annoyance, but a sigh of relief. Seeing that, I buried my face in my arms and muttered quietly.

“Sorry….”

Honestly, I hope he didn’t hear that…. I felt sorry, but I already said it, so I tried to think it was the fault of the person who didn’t hear it. Strangely, when I looked into Choi Juoon’s eyes, a feeling of embarrassment washed over me. My face felt hot. However, Choi Juoon has very sharp ears.

“Say it louder.”

“Sorry.”

“For what?”

“…Because I threw up.”

“Anything else?”

“For boring you.”

“Anything else?”

“For spraying you with water when you were sleeping at the reading room a while ago.”

“Was that you?”

Choi Juoon laughed quietly. At that sound, I lifted my head and laughed back.

“Never mind. You don’t have to be sorry.”

“That grape you had taken from your school lunch before…. Actually, it was me.”

“I know that.”

Choi Juoon picked up the phone he had put down. I felt the urge to throw up again and headed to my final bathroom of the day.

∞ ∞ ∞

We arrived in Jeju Island! Our accommodation was about an hour away by car from here. Honestly, I was worried about the car ride. Because car sickness was the worst for me. But I couldn’t suddenly start a long-distance hike here, so I had to take some form of transportation, whether it was a bus or a taxi.

I encouraged myself. It’ll be fine this time, since I threw up a lot earlier. Still, I was thinking about whether I should hang a plastic bag on my ear just in case, when—

“Let’s go.”

I followed Choi Juoon. Most of the people who got off the boat went to the nearest bus stop or took a taxi. But we headed in the completely opposite direction. I followed him silently until Choi Juoon headed toward a sidewalk. Honestly, I thought Choi Juoon was going to take me to some secluded place and beat me up.

“…Where are we going?”

“I changed the accommodation. Let’s just go to one nearby.”

It’s because of my motion sickness. That thought crossed my mind immediately. It felt like our schedule was being ruined because of me. No, that was true. The only lucky thing was that we had only decided on our accommodation and hadn’t planned a single thing for the rest of the trip. I couldn’t even open my mouth to speak because I felt both sorry and grateful. Then Choi Juoon said, looking at his phone.

“It’s more of a problem if you throw up inside. And it’s not even a great place.”

“Anything’s fine as long as I can sleep, you know….”

“….”

“Thank you.”

I said quietly and walked side-by-side next to Choi Juoon. Looking up, the sea could be seen coolly in all directions. There was a salty scent unique to the sea.

At that moment, my stomach let out a really loud growling sound. I was slightly embarrassed, so I looked at Choi Juoon and smiled.

“Hehe.”

“….”

At first, Choi Juoon didn’t say much. But every time we walked, my stomach kept growling. Choi Juoon, still staring at his phone, muttered quietly.

“You really do all sorts of things.”

“A chorus is happening in my stomach.”

This was embarrassing even for me, so I scratched my head slightly and said. Choi Juoon laughed as if he were dumbfounded and ruffled my hair.

“Let’s just drop off our bags and eat dinner right away.”

As soon as he turned the corner while saying that, an unmanned motel came into view. Choi Juoon went inside. He picked up the card and a simple instruction manual placed at the front desk and got on the elevator.

The place we were staying was room 1303. Oh, our house is also on the 13th floor. I snatched the card Choi Juoon was holding. As soon as the elevator door opened, I ran and opened the door. I welcomed Choi Juoon, saying, “Welcome to our home.” Choi Juoon, who had been laughing, pressed down on my head, saying, “You’re not funny.”

Choi Juoon looked around the room once, opened the bathroom to check it, and said nonchalantly.

“It’s crappy.”

A red aquarium. That’s the thought that came to me as soon as I saw the room. There were many pictures of fish on the wall, and the wallpaper was red. So, a red aquarium. But I was fine with it. It was a room with one big bed and one TV, so it was just average. I threw my body onto the visible bed and said.

“It’s really great.”

The bed was soft and fluffy, and the duvet was soft. That’s enough, right?