By Zephyria Ryu Jeong, who had just gotten off the bus, took out his cell phone to check the time first. Fortunately, he had plenty of time until the meeting time. He had gone home and washed up as quickly as possible after finishing his night shift, but the road was blocked all the way, so he could have been late. Thinking it was a relief that he wasn’t late, Ryu Jeong let out a deep sigh of relief.
The hotel where the scholarship event was being held was too far to walk, so he had no choice but to take the bus. It wasn’t his first time working at a hotel, but it was his first time at this particular hotel, so he couldn’t figure out where to go. Where should I go? He found the hotel quickly, but he couldn’t remember exactly where to meet, so Ryu Jeong took out his cell phone again and rummaged through his text messages.
“…….”
The text message box was almost empty. There was a message from the CEO of the store where he was currently working, a check card deposit and withdrawal notification message, an information message about the event he received two days ago, and Lee Do-hyeon. Ryu Jeong, who was naturally trying to view the event information message, hesitated for a moment and pressed the name he had saved as ‘President’.
There were only two messages. The first was when he greeted Lee Do-hyeon for the first time, and the other was a message saying that he had a new part-time job on the weekend and wouldn’t be able to meet. He had repeatedly written and erased the message several times because he was worried it would seem impolite, but no reply had come by the weekend.
Is he busy…? Ryu Jeong stared blankly at the message he had struggled to write, swallowing a sigh mixed with resentment. He had considered calling, but it wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought about it at all. He had hesitated in front of the call button so many times that he had given up more than once or twice. Lee Do-hyeon kept making suggestions to meet as if nothing was wrong, but for some reason, after that embarrassing day, he felt too sorry to face Lee Do-hyeon, so he couldn’t readily agree.
I guess it’s because there are still many places I haven’t looked around. I’ll have to look around a few more times in the future, so it’s a big problem. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t polite to keep avoiding Lee Do-hyeon, who was an benefactor in everything that had happened to him. Perhaps because he felt uncomfortable, he kept thinking of Lee Do-hyeon, and Ryu Jeong lived with a sigh for the rest of the weekdays. It’s the same now. Ryu Jeong shook his head. He had already stayed up all night and come to work, so he was worried that he might make a mistake, and he let out a deep sigh.
“Hyung! Ryu Jeong Hyung!”
A voice calling his name was heard in the distance. He turned his head in the direction of the sound, and Su-bin was waving his hand wildly at the bus stop where he had gotten off a little while ago.
“Wow, why is the road so blocked? I thought I was going to be late!”
Su-bin, who came up with a bright smile, grumbled, glaring at the bus that had already left and was moving away. Seeing him here, it seemed that they hadn’t been able to find all the missing people.
“Why aren’t you going in, Hyung?”
“Ah, I just arrived too…….”
“Right… what. Hyung, didn’t you sleep yesterday?”
Su-bin, who was panting roughly, suddenly opened his eyes wide before he could finish speaking. Ryu Jeong awkwardly touched his eyes when he realized where Su-bin’s gaze was directed. It wasn’t as if it would be touched or cleared away by doing so, but he gave an awkward smile.
“It’s too serious, isn’t it?”
“Re, really?”
“Yes. You look sick. You’re not sick, are you?”
“No. I’m just a little, tired…….”
“This won’t do.”
Su-bin, who frowned seriously as if it were his own business and scanned Ryu Jeong’s face, took a resolute breath.
“Let’s go in and do it first.”
Do what? Before he could ask back, Su-bin pushed Ryu Jeong’s back. Before he knew it, Ryu Jeong was walking towards the hotel. He was so rough that people passing by turned around to look at him.
When he went down to the first basement floor, which seemed to be the meeting place, there were people who recognized Su-bin and came up to him. But Su-bin waved his hand, telling them to move aside, and brought a chair and forced Ryu Jeong to sit down. Thanks to this, Ryu Jeong was surrounded by strangers and had to be watched like a monkey in a zoo.
“I guess we can’t go to the bathroom together.”
Su-bin, who smiled, saying that there was no other way, suddenly opened his bag and took out a round pouch from it. The pouch, which was so full that it seemed like it would burst at any moment, was filled with all sorts of junk, regardless of type. What Su-bin took out of it was lotion.
“Lotion?”
“Sunscreen.”
Su-bin, who corrected the wrong answer without much thought, squeezed the apricot-colored cream onto the back of his hand and put it on Ryu Jeong’s cheek with his finger. When he flinched and pulled his face back, Su-bin even told him to stay still with a serious face. In the end, Ryu Jeong had to endure the additional application of cream even after applying it. Su-bin said that he should do it properly while he was at it, and even applied something sticky to his lips. It felt like he had eaten something greasy and hadn’t wiped his mouth.
“Ah, it’s a little better now.”
After touching his lips a few more times, Su-bin finally made a satisfied expression, saying that it was all done. Ryu Jeong, who had been lowering his eyes and not knowing what to do, looked up at Su-bin, unable to hide his embarrassment.
“Do I really have to do this……?”
“Didn’t you see the information text message? Neat appearance! I mean, you usually have some dark circles, but today it was really bad! And this is nothing. Everyone does this much? Uh, uh, don’t touch it.”
He was stopped when he inadvertently tried to touch his eyes. He lowered his hand awkwardly, but then he was told not to bite his lips. Eventually, he was even told not to do anything but blink his eyes. He had some friendship with him, but it was the first time he had been scolded this much, so Ryu Jeong, who was a little embarrassed, decided to listen to Su-bin’s words obediently.
Some of the people who were waiting with Su-bin’s school friends glanced at Ryu Jeong. They must have realized that he wasn’t a student at the same school. Ryu Jeong didn’t bother pretending not to be, nor did he pretend to be a student, and just killed time quietly. After a while, a woman wearing a navy blue baseball jumper appeared and called out the attendance. She checked the attire every time the person raised their hand and answered, and as Su-bin said, neat appearance was the top priority, and the woman frowned a few times as if she didn’t like it. Su-bin told him that she was the student council president in charge of hosting the event.
The student council president explained that they had rented the hotel banquet hall as the event venue, but this was only a venue rental, so all aspects of event preparation and execution should not rely on the hotel. Therefore, everything from table setting to stage setting, guidance and serving, and subsequent cleanup was the responsibility of the students gathered here.
The daily wage, which was well over the minimum wage, made the level of work intensity understandable. He said that he had arbitrarily determined the order of names and distributed the work to each person, and most of the men, regardless of type, were assigned to the installation side, which required quite a bit of strength.
Ryu Jeong mixed with strangers, carrying chairs and spreading them out in rows. It was a great relief that he didn’t have to carry as many chairs as he thought, as they were only for sitting on while waiting for the scholarship to be awarded. The stage was being decorated in the front, and the tables were being set in the back. Ryu Jeong, who finished his work faster than he thought, helped others.
Events held at hotels usually only involve helping the staff, but since the students were trying to do their work, it was a lot of work. Lunch was 30 minutes later than scheduled, so Ryu Jeong had to gobble it down to eat on time.
“Okay, now that they’re going to do the rehearsal, let’s go out for a while.”
A male student who had been carrying the dishes together heard the student council president’s instructions and came and led the students out of the banquet hall. He was the one who gave clear instructions to the students who were fumbling because they were not familiar with the work.
As if passing the baton, the students who volunteered for the part-time job came out, and at the same time, students dressed neatly in suits entered the banquet hall. Ryu Jeong vaguely guessed that they were the ones receiving the scholarships.
“But, what major are you in?”
They were awkwardly gathered at the end of the hallway because there was no place to wait separately, and a male student with a spirited voice suddenly spoke to him.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you at school. I’m in the physical education department. I’m in the Taekwondo department, what about you? Ah, you’re a freshman, right? I’m a freshman.”
Ryu Jeong was a little embarrassed because he spoke to him so familiarly. He didn’t know what to say because he was suddenly speaking informally.
“Ah, I’m… I don’t go to school here…….”
“Huh? Ah, then where? Did you come through an introduction?”
“Just… from, Su-bin.”
“Ah, Park Su-bin? The student council?”
Ryu Jeong nodded, vaguely remembering that he had said the student council. He deliberately didn’t answer the questions about school, but the male student didn’t delve into it deeply. It was a relief.
But the problem was after that. He didn’t give him any room for conversation, but the male student seemed to want to talk more, so he came all the way to the wall where Ryu Jeong was standing and leaned his back against it. Ryu Jeong flinched but didn’t avoid it. He didn’t feel any malice, and rather, he came to him with goodwill, so he thought it would be rude to avoid him like this.
“How do you know Park Su-bin?”
“We… no, we work part-time at the same place.”
“Doesn’t she work part-time at the cafe under the billiard hall? I don’t think I’ve seen you there?”
“The times are different…….”
“Ah, is that so?”
The male student stopped asking questions for a while because he answered every question, but there was a little bit of discomfort on his face. Then he seemed to be thinking about something intently. I wish he wouldn’t talk to me anymore. He was thinking that way in his heart, but the student council president was waving his hand from over there. Ryu Jeong hesitated and spoke to him at the signal that seemed to be telling him to come.
“Um, I think they’re telling us to come in now…….”
The male student, who was staring blankly at the air, briefly glanced at where Ryu Jeong was talking and then smiled. He clapped his hands loudly and gestured to the students who were squatting and looking at their cell phones to go in.