Paper Friendship Chapter 32

At that, Choi Juoon went into the bathroom first. The bathroom window was translucent. A sudden sense of mischief stirred in me. I stuck to the wall and mouthed the words.

“Choi Juoon, I can see your whole body.”

Choi Juoon stuck his middle finger up from the inside. After joking around a little more like that, I sat in a chair.

I took out my phone and checked my missed messages. I checked them roughly and looked out at the scenery. It wasn’t an ocean view, but I could see the sea in small patches between the buildings. I like the night sea much better. I slumped onto the desk and stared blankly outside.

It’s fun. It’s happy. I want to live like this forever.

I heard the sound of the shower ending. I yawned, got up sluggishly, and headed to wash up.

When I came out after washing, Choi Juoon was leaning against the bed headboard, playing on his phone. I dove onto the bed. I heard the sound of Choi Juoon placing his phone on the nightstand.

“Your hair.”

“I’m just going to sleep. I’m tired….”

As I lay on the bed, sleep came rushing in. Choi Juoon didn’t say much and turned off the TV. I wanted to say something, but my mouth wouldn’t move. My eyes felt heavy, as if they weighed a thousand pounds.

“You still need to dry your hair before sleeping.”

Choi Juoon’s fingers gently dug into my hair. With that low, pleasant voice as the final thing I heard, the memories of the first day of our trip came to an end like that.

The morning of the second day arrived. And it was January 1st. I leveled up into an adult. Perhaps because I’m an adult now, my eyes opened naturally. I don’t think I’ll need an alarm clock anymore.

Judging by the sound of water, it seemed Choi Juoon was washing up. I just reached out to check my phone. January 1st, 11:37 AM. There were many messages. “Congratulations on becoming an adult,” “Did you hear that so-and-so’s dating rumor broke out,” and so on. I checked the messages roughly and covered the phone.

I’d felt it since yesterday, but the texture of the bedding was really nice. I rubbed my face against the pillow. Then, the sound of water stopped. The bathroom door opened, and Choi Juoon came out, shaking his hair with a towel, dressed only in his underwear. But… wait a minute. Is he working out or something? What is that on his stomach?

I was too tired to check yesterday, but looking at it now, it was definite. It wasn’t very sharp, but there was a faint “王” (king) character shape.

I wondered if it just naturally appeared when you become an adult, so I quickly touched my own stomach…. My stomach still retained its human charm.

“Hey…. You, are you working out?”

“Just when I have time…. I did it while watching YouTube?”

“….”

Leaving me with my serious expression behind, Choi Juoon threw the black bag that was on the desk at me. I opened it and saw kimbap. I glanced around to see if it was okay to eat on the bed. Since Choi Juoon had thrown it onto the bed first, I figured it was fine to eat here. I carefully opened the packaging, then got up from my seat and went to the desk. Now that I’m an adult, I felt I needed to be a bit more mature.

“It’s delicious.”

Muttering with my mouth full, I picked up a piece of kimbap with my hand and held it out to Choi Juoon. Choi Juoon shook his head. When I offered it a few more times, Choi Juoon accepted one. Seeing that, I returned to my seat and sat down.

The more I chew the kimbap, the tastier it gets. Is it because my sense of taste has returned? Strangely, it just kept getting better. While I was eating with admiration, Choi Juoon asked.

“Is it still good even if you eat it right after waking up?”

“Choi Juoon, this…. This is delicious.”

“They say that kimbap is famous.”

“Thank you, thank you.”

I danced exaggeratedly on purpose as I said it. Choi Juoon just laughed, as if he found it absurd. I finished the kimbap, pulled back the curtains, and said.

“What should we do today?”

“Sex.”

“… Ah, that’s really not funny….”

I looked at Choi Juoon, who was lying on the bed using his phone. He wouldn’t play a prank like that on Jin Seyoung, would he? I wonder if he’ll get dumped by Jin Seyoung like that….

We didn’t have a car, so we had to take a bus or a taxi to get around. Honestly, it was annoying. I turned my head and asked Choi Juoon if there was anything he wanted to do. With his eyes fixed on his phone, Choi Juoon answered that there wasn’t anything in particular. Looking at the movie theater visible through the window, I said.

“Wanna watch a movie?”

“Let’s do that, then.”

Choi Juoon replied lightly. We each played on our phones until we went out around 2:00 PM. It was very cold, but the weather was clear without a single cloud. As I walked with my face buried in my scarf, Choi Juoon put a hand warmer in my hand and said.

“Is there nothing you want to do in Jeju Island?”

“I’m happy just looking at the sea.”

“I got my driver’s license.”

“You have a license?”

“Yeah.”

I stopped in my tracks and looked at Choi Juoon. Choi Juoon, this jerk…. He keeps betraying me since this morning.

“When did you get it? Are you for real? Show me.”

Choi Juoon took his wallet out of his pocket and showed it to me. It was a Class 1 ordinary license.

I rubbed the ID card with my fingernail several times, but… it was real. I had wanted to get my driver’s license together with him. I guess I’ll have to go with Park Yoonchul. Looking at the license, I said.

“Then can we rent a car now?”

“No? You have to be a certain age for that. And some time has to pass after getting your license.”

“What?…. Then why did you say anything?”

“To brag.”

Choi Juoon giggled. I quietly bit my lip. Since Choi Juoon laughed even louder when he saw my expression, I was racking my brain to prepare my own counterattack. Choi Juoon draped his arm over my shoulder and said.

“I’ll teach you how to drive.”

I was tempted for a moment, but I refused, saying you should never learn to drive from someone close to you. At that, Choi Juoon wiped the smile off his face and said.

“I learned from my hyung, though?”

“Oh….”

Faced with an unexpected answer, I had nothing to say, so I shut my mouth. Then Choi Juoon said he was joking and that he didn’t learn from his hyung. For some reason, my spirits brightened, and I said seriously again.

“Right, they say if you learn to drive from someone close, you won’t learn it properly.”

“I learned from my father, though?”

Choi Juoon said seriously as well. I just looked at the distant mountains—no, the distant sea. His sharp-wittedness has clearly increased lately. I switched the topic to the weather.

“It’s cold…. Isn’t it?”

I should just talk about the weather with Choi Juoon from now on.

When did he start working out, get his license, and meet his father? I had a passing thought like that, but at that moment, Choi Juoon’s hand tickled my side.

“Hey!”

“I told you I learned from my father.”

Looking over, he still had a smiling face, so I also walked along while playing around with Choi Juoon.

There were so many people at the movie theater, and many movies playing. Since we hadn’t decided what to watch, we looked through the posters and the trailers on the screen, then decided to watch the one that caught our eyes the most. It was a Hollywood action movie featuring several famous actors. Choi Juoon entered with a Zero Coke, and I entered with nachos.

We went into the theater, watched the advertisements, and talked about things like how that movie looked fun or how that actor was great at acting. Then Choi Juoon ate my nachos. In return, I drank Choi Juoon’s Coke. Feeling mischievous, I chewed on the only straw while staring intently at Choi Juoon. Choi Juoon, as if it were nothing, looked back at me the same way and drank the Coke I had just been drinking.

“Why?”

“… It’s nothing.”

It seemed he had a surprisingly high tolerance for things being unsanitary.

∞ ∞ ∞

The movie was extremely fun. Personally, I thought I would have enjoyed it even more if I were a teenager. Too bad I’m in my 20s now.

Anyway, it was one of the top five movies of my life. Every time a fun scene came up, I looked at Choi Juoon. Choi Juoon didn’t look at me and focused on the movie with his chin propped up. We sat there until the movie’s ending credits finished rolling. The ending song was good, too. Leaving the theater, I said while thoroughly excited.

“That was really fun, right?”

“It is fun.”

“The CG didn’t look fake at all when the protagonists were flying around. No, could it be that they actually flew?”

“The male lead looked like he worked out a lot.”

“You know, they say NASA in the U.S. talked to aliens.”

We walked back to the accommodation while sharing these kinds of stories. It had gotten much colder than in the morning, but the air was nice, so it was bearable. Since it happened to be sunset time, the way the sea right next to us sparkled as it caught the light was also pretty.

“The songs were good, too.”

“Exactly.”