By Zephyria -Already? You haven’t even been in Seoul for a week. Hey, tell me more about it.
Yumin smiled contentedly, recalling Tae-jun’s firm body and beautiful face.
“He seems like he’ll be mine soon, I’ll tell you more then.”
-Is he interested in you too? Or is it heading towards a relationship? You’re not just getting ahead of yourself, are you, Yumin?
“We’re not dating yet… but, how should I put it? I got a hunch. That this guy and I would work out.”
Hahaha!
Yumin laughed heartily in a confident voice.
However, his positive mindset that things would work out was actually unfounded. If you thought about it, Tae-jun and Yumin had only sat next to each other once at the freshman welcome party. Yumin had insisted on being the black knight, but it wasn’t because they were close. Furthermore, he hadn’t seen Tae-jun or received any contact from him since then.
Of course, Yumin, in his animalized form, had gone to his house, enjoyed plenty of physical contact, and even got a can of tuna. But that was purely because he was treated as a cat, not out of any favor towards human Yumin.
Yet, Yumin, blinded by the urge to procreate, was not rational. He already believed that he and Tae-jun had begun to grow closer.
He arrived at the lecture hall twenty minutes before class. Out of the 40 students enrolled, the majority had already arrived and taken their seats. Yumin stood at the back of the lecture hall, searching for Tae-jun. He was surrounded by women on all sides, front, back, left, and right.
Even though they weren’t sitting immediately next to him, people two rows ahead and even those sitting two seats over were talking to Tae-jun and calling out to him. Yumin had no choice but to sit alone in the block next to Tae-jun. His gaze, however, remained fixed on Tae-jun. As he kept peeking, their eyes met by chance.
Ah. Now’s the time.
Yumin quickly raised his hand and waved. Tae-jun responded with a light smile.
Although he was smiling, Tae-jun was actually extremely tired. No, it might have been closer to annoyance.
Too many people were openly surrounding him, sending him so-called signals. Tae-jun usually drew a strict line in his relationships. On the surface, he acted indifferent and polite for image management, but he was ruthless towards anyone who tried to cross a certain boundary.
This applied to romantic interests as well. If someone approached him without his consent, it was an unacceptable act.
University was an excessively open space. Just this morning, he’d received calls from strangers, been stopped by people on the street. Just now, the person next to him had even asked if he had a girlfriend.
Whether he had a partner or not, was that something to ask a stranger? Pathetic.
Tae-jun’s cynical outlook was largely due to past experiences. During middle and high school, he was revered among the male students simply because of his exceptionally handsome face and tall stature. Because of the absurd superstition that associating with someone superior would elevate one’s own status, the guys would fawn over Tae-jun and praise him excessively.
Female students would suddenly appear, provoke or tease Tae-jun, or ask him out. Tae-jun disliked it.
‘Why do you like me?’
‘Why do I like you? I just….’
‘Because you’re good-looking by others’ standards? Or because you’d be someone to show off? You don’t even know my hobbies. We’ve never even had a serious conversation.’
Once, he had confronted a female student who confessed her feelings. The student was startled, as if struck at the core. Then, she accused Tae-jun of hurting her.
Tae-jun was dumbfounded. They approached him based on his outward appearance, wanting to claim him arbitrarily, and then cursed and criticized him when he told them not to touch him.
…What do you guys know. You don’t know what I’m thinking inside, yet you’re all over me based on my shell.
Even that guy, what was his name… the one who drank alcohol for me. He must have had expectations of me to approach me like that. Frankly, it was our first meeting that day, so what kind of ‘fellow student camaraderie’ was that.
Tae-jun recalled Yumin’s actions at the drinking party. Despite not being close, he had drunk the alcohol forced upon them by the seniors and chuckled foolishly. He was undoubtedly the type to humble himself to get close to Tae-jun.
‘He’s predictable,’ Tae-jun thought, tutting inwardly, when the professor entered.
The elderly professor, who had a plump and warm demeanor, belonged to the Biology department. After a brief greeting, he displayed material on the screen.
-Form teams of two freely and maintain them until the end of the semester.
-Submit assignments once a week: Mock dates. Discussions on views of marriage, simulated married life, reports on family planning, etc., with weekly assignments.
-Presentation by a group of 4 (two teams of 2 combined).
-Topic: What is the meaning of marriage?
“As you can see, the core of our class is about marriage and sex, with two students forming a team to study together for the entire semester. It doesn’t matter if you’re the same gender or different genders. The only rule is that it must be a one-on-one match.”
The professor’s words caused a slight stir in the room. An atmosphere of mutual assessment filled the air as students wondered who to partner with.
“I respect students’ freedom above all else, so I will leave the method of forming teams to your discretion. You have until 30 minutes from now to form pairs.”
The students were startled by the tight deadline.
“Perhaps this act itself will help you understand the concept of monogamy. You can experience searching for a suitable partner, competition, selection, elimination… and social consensus.”
The professor sat down leisurely and started a timer.
Meanwhile, Yumin was sweating profusely. He had gone through the arduous process of course registration solely because Tae-jun was taking the class. He desperately wanted to be in the same team as him.
While Yumin was flustered, nearly twenty female students and a few male students had already lined up in front of Tae-jun’s seat.
Gasp, they’re all trying to woo Beom Tae-jun! I can’t lose.
Panicked, Yumin dashed out and mixed into the crowd.
“Um…”
Tae-jun rubbed the back of his neck, looking troubled.
“Uh, so, are all of you applying to be my partner?”
“Yes.”
“That’s right.”
“…What should I do. There are so many people.”
Tae-jun paused for a moment, then spoke.
“Please decide on one person amongst yourselves. Whoever it is, I will be their partner.”
He meant, whether they made a gentleman’s agreement or had a free-for-all, it was up to them. Yumin and the other twenty people quickly exchanged wary glances. Yumin was also troubled. Democratically, a random decision would be fair. Whether by drawing straws or a ladder game.
But Yumin was too desperate to leave everything to chance. For Yumin, this wasn’t just an elective course; it was a means of species propagation.
“Hey! I have a suggestion!”
As Yumin raised his hand, all eyes instantly turned to him.
“What is it?”
“How about we decide by rock-paper-scissors? It’s fast and fair.”
The reactions were positive.
“Rock-paper-scissors sounds good.”
“I think it’s fair too. Shall we divide into groups of five and have a tournament?”
“Yes, that sounds good.”
Yumin rejoiced inwardly as people were persuaded.
In fact, he was a master of rock-paper-scissors. Not just in terms of a high win rate, but because his incredibly superior reaction time compared to humans gave him an advantage.
‘My ancestors passed down truly great genes,’ he thought, his chest swelling with emotion, and shouted, “Rock, paper, scissors!” In 0.01 seconds, Yumin accurately registered the hand shapes of the four people excluding himself.
The tension in their fingers, the angle of their wrists, the movement of their backs. Yumin read his opponents’ hands solely by his keen eyesight and played the appropriate move.
“I won!”
“Wow, you’re good at rock-paper-scissors.”
“It’s luck.”
Yumin grinned shamelessly, twisting the corner of his lips.
Having won first place in the team round and advanced, Yumin entered the next tournament. This time, Yumin naturally won again. He and his final opponent stood facing each other like fencers, exchanging glances. Then, as if wielding swords, they simultaneously extended their hands.
She threw rock, Yumin threw paper. Yumin was the ultimate victor.
“Waaah!”
Yumin cheered, forgetting that Tae-jun was right in front of him. The professor seemed amused, chuckling heartily.
“Tae-jun! You and I are partners now!”
“Yeah. It seems so. Nice to meet you.”
Tae-jun smiled kindly at Yumin, just as he had on Friday. Yumin’s chest swelled with a sense of accomplishment and victory. He had no idea what Tae-jun was thinking beside him. He was simply intoxicated by his victory and looked forward to the days ahead.
“Everyone, you’ve all found your partners. Congratulations. Now, as you can see, you must complete the weekly assignments together and submit them before the next class. The first topic is a mock date, or as you might understand it, a virtual blind date.”
A d-date…!
Yumin held his breath, but the tips of his ears turned a faint pink. His heart pounded.
The professor turned the page and showed an assignment submitted by students from the previous semester.
“This is an example of an excellent work. It was a meal between a male and female student. The two students conversed as if they were meeting for the first time, discussing each other’s interests, preferred travel styles, and so on. They then clearly summarized whether they shared similar values.”
Seeing the concrete example, Yumin truly grasped the assignment’s theme. A date, even if virtual… His fingertips trembled.
“Hey, Tae-jun.”
Yumin whispered softly.
“Yeah?”
“W-we have to do that too. Meet outside of school separately for a d-d-d… da….”
“Blind date?”
“Uh-huh! We have to do that, so can I have your phone number?”
“Sure.”
Tae-jun, as if it were no trouble, immediately typed in his number.
I have Beom Tae-jun’s phone number! So exciting!
Yumin shrieked internally as he took his phone. The tips of his ears turned a deep, crimson red.
“So, what about our d-date schedule?”
Even though it was a mock date, Yumin felt a tickle in his stomach. It was his first time ever going on a date with someone, and his partner was the handsome man Yumin had been eyeing. The corners of his mouth twitched, and his cheeks puffed out.
“Hmm… I’m busy today and tomorrow. I think I’ll be free the day after tomorrow. How about you, Go Yumin?”
“The day after tomorrow? That’s perfect.”
In reality, any day or time of the week would have been fine for Yumin. He would have said okay even if asked to meet at 2 AM on a Monday.
“Then let’s meet the day after tomorrow evening.”
“Great. I’ll plan the course.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’m quite good at planning. I know all about dates, so you don’t have to worry about a thing.”
Yumin said boastfully, his voice loud. The tips of his ears were burning red, but they were well hidden by his hair, so it was fine.
“Can you prepare everything by yourself?”
“Yeah. Just trust me. Tae-jun, you don’t have to lift a finger.”
Tae-jun found Yumin’s insistence on planning the virtual blind date course alone surprising.
‘Has he dated a lot? He looks delicate, so it makes sense. His personality is also active and outgoing, so even more so.’
‘This kind of transparent personality, I really don’t like it, though.’
Tae-jun didn’t particularly like Yumin. He didn’t like the red ear tips peeking through his hair, nor his excited voice.
‘Trying to approach me by exploiting the class, it’s too obvious a ploy. Tsk.’
“By the way, Tae-jun, is there anything you can’t eat? Allergies or anything?”
“No. There’s nothing I particularly can’t eat. How about you?”
“I can eat everything too. Hmm, I especially like meat! I like it a lot.”
“Ah, meat is good.”
“Yeah. Then shall we eat meat the day after tomorrow?”
“Let’s do that.”
The meat Yumin was referring to was yukhoe or yuk-sashimi. Of course, he ate grilled meat too, but due to his Beastman instincts, he had a strong preference for raw meat.
However, he knew that yukhoe wasn’t suitable for a blind date, so he decided they should go for grilled meat.
“Then I’ll be going. I have my next class.”
“Okay, Tae-jun, I’ll contact you!”
The class time had ended. Instead of Tae-jun, who left first, Yumin submitted the partner status to the teaching assistant.
Beom Tae-jun – Go Yumin.
If it were up to him, he would have drawn a thick heart between their names.
Yumin chuckled and left the lecture hall. He was eager to find a great restaurant and the perfect date items to tell Tae-jun about.
Yumin sat down on a bench in front of the liberal arts building. Before planning the date course, Yumin reported to his Noona.
‘Noona, I succeeded.’
It was a text message that might have confused his Noona, making her wonder if they were already dating or, frankly, if he had gotten her pregnant. But Yumin was already getting ahead of himself just by becoming a team member for a one-on-one assignment.
‘What kind of child would come out if Tae-jun and I were combined? Should I try face synthesis? It shows up in apps.’
Yumin’s fantasies were endless. He hunched over and looked at Tae-jun’s profile picture, which he had added as a new friend on Messenger.
“Wow….”
It wasn’t particularly special, but his handsome face, filling the screen honestly, shone.
‘This is the dignity of a handsome man. It’s a raw photo with no retouching or filters. Yet, just looking at the camera indifferently makes it a hundred times cooler than men who are heavily made up and strike unique poses.’
‘Kuh, no status message either. Bonus points.’
Yumin examined Tae-jun’s photo, then kissed the screen and saved it to his phone.
Meanwhile, Tae-jun, who had entered another lecture hall, was also staring at Yumin’s Messenger profile.
The profile picture of Yumin, which he had glimpsed briefly after exchanging numbers, had caught his eye.
Yumin’s profile picture was of a cat. The cat was running through the grass, and the visual was incredibly familiar to Tae-jun.
A somewhat large head and short legs. A dark brown body with large, scattered spots and a tail as fluffy as a duster. The most distinctive feature was its paws. The tips of its paws were black, as if dipped in charcoal briquettes.
…Isn’t that the cat that ran away after I brought it home the other day?
“…This cat, it’s him.”
Tae-jun examined the photo several times. No matter how he looked, the body markings and overall size were undeniably like that cat.
‘Could Go Yumin be the cat’s owner? Or, hmm, it doesn’t make sense. I’ll have to ask him when we meet the day after tomorrow.’
Tae-jun turned off his phone screen and stopped thinking about Yumin. However, if the cat that looked sick was indeed this cat, he was curious if it was doing well.
He had never seen such a cute cat in his life.