The Unspoken Agreement

“Yoon Dae-eon, you’re going to disappear again this weekend, aren’t you?”

It was Oh Dong-cheol who caught Yoon Dae-eon just as he was about to bolt from his seat the moment the lecture ended. Having received a text from Seon Ji-ha just a moment ago saying, ‘I’ll be waiting at the back gate,’ Yoon Dae-eon was anxious to leave, making this a very inconvenient situation.

“When have I ever disappeared…….”

Yoon Dae-eon scratched his head, looking embarrassed, and Oh Dong-cheol furrowed his brows deeply. He even elbowed Kim Ye-jun, who was standing next to him, as if to tell him to say something.

Prodded, Kim Ye-jun let out a long yawn, glanced at Yoon Dae-eon, and said as if it were no big deal.

“He says he’s dating, so just let him be.”

“What?”

“Hey!”

‘What’ was blurted out by a shocked Yoon Dae-eon, and ‘Hey’ was spat out by Oh Dong-cheol, full of annoyance. Yoon Dae-eon widened his eyes and looked back and forth between Kim Ye-jun and Oh Dong-cheol.

“What. Am I wrong? You’re having a ‘fling’ with Seon Ji-ha Sunbae, right? Or are you already dating?”

“No, it’s not like that……!”

“Ohhh. So that’s why you two hung out alone last weekend, and why you sat with Seon Ji-ha Sunbae in the liberal arts class this week?”

Kim Ye-jun looked down at Yoon Dae-eon with a look that said, ‘Don’t bullshit me.’ For some reason, that look made Yoon Dae-eon feel unfairly accused.

“Close sunbaes can do that!”

“Don’t make me laugh. Do close sunbaes secretly hold hands?”

“……You saw that?”

“Yeah. Ever since we gathered at the pub after the midterm exams. Try to be a little less obvious.”

No, I really didn’t have any intentions back then, though…….

Yoon Dae-eon opened his mouth to deny it, then closed it again. He had thought that being with Seon Ji-ha felt a bit different than with other people. Kim Ye-jun, being sharp, had pinpointed it before even the person involved, Yoon Dae-eon, had.

Oh Dong-cheol, who had been watching their exchange, asked with wide eyes.

“Really……? It’s been going on that long?”

“It’s more amazing that you didn’t know, given how you two are stuck to each other, Oh Dong-cheol.”

“Yoon Dae-eon didn’t tell me!”

“Like he would have told me? It’s obvious.”

In reality, Yoon Dae-eon had never told Oh Dong-cheol or Kim Ye-jun about what happened with Seon Ji-ha. Hearing that he hadn’t told Kim Ye-jun either made Oh Dong-cheol feel slightly better, but he still showed clearly that he was hurt.

“You could have told me too…….”

“No, it’s not even for sure yet…….”

“Wow, you’re not even dating, and you were holding hands secretly in class? So damn affectionate and dramatic.”

Oh, damn it. Hearing Kim Ye-jun’s teasing, Yoon Dae-eon finally felt his neck turn red. He saw all of that, too. A belated sense of humiliation washed over him.

“Anyway, get going. I’m taking this idiot Oh Dong-cheol with me.”

“Why! I don’t want to! I want to hang out with Yoon Dae-eon!”

“Are you f*cking blind to the situation?”

“Yeah! I’m blind to the situation, so what!”

Even while complaining loudly, Oh Dong-cheol disappeared along with Kim Ye-jun. Yoon Dae-eon just smiled awkwardly and saw them off.

Although Oh Dong-cheol acted sulky, it was because he was hurt that Yoon Dae-eon hadn’t told him, not because he was truly annoyed about not hanging out with him.

After the two left, Yoon Dae-eon looked at his phone. Although some time had passed, fortunately, there were no new texts from Seon Ji-ha. If he had started toward the back gate when he sent the text, he should be there by now.

Yoon Dae-eon grabbed his bag and hurried out of the lecture hall. It was a five-minute walk to the back gate from here……

“Dae-eon.”

“Oh? Sunbae, why are you here? You said you’d wait at the back gate.”

“…….”

The moment he left the lecture hall, he ran into Seon Ji-ha. Despite Yoon Dae-eon’s question, Seon Ji-ha approached him silently and glanced over his head. He was scanning the empty lecture hall, looking for anyone other than Yoon Dae-eon.

Noticing Seon Ji-ha’s gaze, Yoon Dae-eon spoke first.

“There’s no one here. I was the last one, so I was going to close the door and leave.”

“……Then why were you late?”

“Ah, that’s because Oh Dong-cheol and Kim Ye-jun held me back……. Sunbae, did you wait for me?”

Yoon Dae-eon asked with a mischievous grin. Seon Ji-ha nodded slowly.

Yoon Dae-eon hesitated for a second, taken aback by the fact that he had nodded with such a serious face to a question asked without much thought. Then, he laughed and reached out his hand. The hand Yoon Dae-eon touched was none other than Seon Ji-ha’s empty hand.

Lacing their fingers tightly together, Yoon Dae-eon said helplessly.

“Oh Dong-cheol and Kim Ye-jun said they saw us holding hands.”

“……Ah…….”

“But, Sunbae. Kim Ye-jun said this: ‘You guys aren’t even dating, so why are you holding hands so affectionately?'”

Seon Ji-ha now clamped his mouth shut. His eyes were confused, as if he didn’t know what to say. Yoon Dae-eon laughed softly and continued.

“Are we dating?”

Seon Ji-ha’s eyes widened. Just as Seon Ji-ha, who had been sending him gentle, large-puppy-like looks, was about to hurriedly nod, Yoon Dae-eon blocked his answer.

“But, there is something I have to do if we’re going to date.”

“Something you have to do……?”

“Yes, so let’s just have a fling for now.”

Seon Ji-ha lowered his eyes to look at Yoon Dae-eon. Yoon Dae-eon, who had also been looking down at their laced fingers, raised his eyes, sensing the gaze.

“Once everything is settled, I’ll confess to you, Sunbae.”

His uncle warned him to be careful for the time being. Yoon Dae-eon decided to confess to Seon Ji-ha that he was a Beta once that week passed.

He had thought it wouldn’t be a big deal anyway. Yoon Dae-eon had spent his whole life living as a Beta and being careful not to be found out, but in reality, there hadn’t been any danger at all. Even his mother, who had told him not to let anyone find out he was a Beta, had said it was just out of unnecessary worry.

So, wouldn’t it be okay to tell the truth to this Sunbae he wanted to like, and start slowly?

It wasn’t that he wasn’t afraid, but it wasn’t like Yoon Dae-eon to tremble before he had even been rejected. He decided to slowly muster up his courage.

“……Once it’s settled…….”

“Yes? Sunbae, what did you say?”

“Once it’s settled, is Dae-eon mine?”

Blink, blink. Yoon Dae-eon laughed out loud at the somewhat sudden question. He replied without being able to completely shake off the lingering laughter.

“No, Sunbae is mine.”

“Ah…… I am…….”

After chewing on those words for a while, Seon Ji-ha finally nodded. His bangs fluttered lightly. Seeing that the conversation seemed to be over, Yoon Dae-eon took Seon Ji-ha’s hand and left the lecture hall.

“Sunbae, are you really going to cut your hair the way I tell you to?”

“Yes…….”

“Then a pomade. Please get a pomade cut. Just like a soccer player!”

As Yoon Dae-eon beamed, Seon Ji-ha followed suit and gave a shy smile. Until their joined hands grew sweaty.

****************************************

“Hey, Yoon Dae-eon. Want to go buy some clothes?”

“Suddenly?”

“It’s the MT this weekend.”

On the way back after the lecture, Oh Dong-cheol said with a face that already looked expectant. Oh Dong-cheol was talking to Yoon Dae-eon, but Kim Ye-jun, who was attached to them as usual, complained.

“Are you going on a school field trip?”

“No, damn it! It’s good to buy clothes while we’re at it!”

“You’re going to be stuck in some mountain valley just drinking your brains out anyway, so why buy clothes?”

“Ugh, you have absolutely no romance.”

Yoon Dae-eon didn’t necessarily reply, but he empathized a bit more with Kim Ye-jun’s opinion. They were just going to drink, so what was the point of buying clothes? There was no one he wanted to impress…….

In that instant, Seon Ji-ha flashed through Yoon Dae-eon’s mind. It was a very unfamiliar occurrence for Yoon Dae-eon, who had never done that before.

Last weekend, Yoon Dae-eon and Seon Ji-ha had been together the whole time, like lovers who had just started a young romance. One time it was at Seon Ji-ha’s house, and another time it was at Yoon Dae-eon’s. Of course, they didn’t have ‘real’ lovers’ displays of affection……

Still, they had more skinship than last week. It was because Seon Ji-ha always tried to hold hands whenever they were alone now. It was rare for Yoon Dae-eon’s hand to be empty while he was with him.

They didn’t do anything special, but what was so fun about being together? He had even completely forgotten about the talk of going to get Seon Ji-ha’s hair cut. Because of that, Seon Ji-ha’s shaggy hairstyle hadn’t changed at all over the weekend.

“Yeah, let’s go buy some clothes.”

“Really? Yoon Dae-eon, so nice. You’re going there, right? The standard store.”

“No, the department store. Let’s just go around there!”

“Yoon Dae-eon, what’s up? You always only bought clothes that were more or less the same.”

Even when he suggested going to a department store, which had many stores that were a bit much for university students living on allowance money to visit, Oh Dong-cheol didn’t back out. He knew Oh Dong-cheol’s family was quite well-off.

Yoon Dae-eon calculated his living expenses for this month for a moment, then decided to spend the money he had set aside for entertainment on buying clothes. It was money meant for entertainment anyway, so it didn’t matter how he spent it.

After his parents passed away, Yoon Dae-eon followed the habits his parents lived by. Deciding where and how much to spend money on each month was his mother’s habit. His mother would even calculate the old-fashioned rotisserie chicken his father would spontaneously buy and take it out of their living expenses in advance.

“Are we going right now?”

“Let’s go.”

“I had plans to go to the PC cafe with some sunbaes today.”

“Then you sit this out.”

Oh Dong-cheol shouted as if he had been waiting for that. Even otherwise, lately, Kim Ye-jun had been tagging along as if it were natural, so he hadn’t had time to be alone with Yoon Dae-eon. Kim Ye-jun looked down at Oh Dong-cheol for a moment, then fiddled with his phone.

Then, he looked at Oh Dong-cheol with a condescending look.

“I’m going too. I just canceled.”

“Ah, why again!”

“I feel so happy when I don’t let Oh Dong-cheol have his way.”

“You perverted bastard…….”

Oh Dong-cheol looked at Kim Ye-jun with a face that said he was sick of him. But there was no reason to stop him when he said he would come along. As Yoon Dae-eon also shrugged his shoulders in agreement, the three immediately changed directions.

“Yoon Dae-eon, what about Sunbae? Why not go together.”

“Sunbae?”

“Seon Ji-ha Sunbae.”

At Oh Dong-cheol’s suggestion to go as four since they were going anyway, Yoon Dae-eon looked down at his phone for a moment. Just in time, a text was coming from Seon Ji-ha. It seemed he was just starting his lecture now.

“Sunbae is in the middle of a lecture. Let’s just go ourselves.”

“Yeah? Sure.”

Even if Seon Ji-ha hadn’t been in a lecture, Yoon Dae-eon wouldn’t have had any intention of going with him. Although he didn’t act like it, the time Seon Ji-ha had handed him new clothes, calling it the ‘brand Dae-eon wears often,’ had been quite a shock.

Did I dress that poorly…….?

Still, Yoon Dae-eon, not wanting to look like a kid who couldn’t even dress well to the person he was having a fling with, headed to the department store as he was. Since Seon Ji-ha would be coming to this MT as well, he was determined to go looking really cool. That was his only thought.