Part 14

The Second Night

[Takes place on the same day as the last scene--between this scene and last, all that's happened is that Yoonhee first learns about Hong Byeok Seo (the Red Messenger) through the news posted as well as through the other students.]

The night is deep, but the rooms at the dormitories remain lit. Joong-ee-bang is one of them, and in the room, Yoonhee, Sunjoon, and Jaeshin each sit with a wall to their backs. Yoonhee reads desperately what she learned from class, and after reading and re-reading, she starts finally comprehending the content, little by little, and she notes down all she can understand. Sunjoon, having borrowed a mathematics book from Yongha, is busy calculating and diagramming problems, while Jaeshin sits reading a book of poems. Reading isn't very like him, Yoonhee thinks, but Jaeshin reads in his typical Jaeshin-like manner, with his clothes hanging open to show his chest, leaning in not so proper a position. Thankfully, after the fiasco last night, Yoonhee is able to handle seeing Jaeshin's exposed chest without getting red.

Yoonhee's eyes stray from her book to Sunjoon. She was wrapped up in the chaos of adjusting that she had no time to comfortably stare at him the entire day. She is grateful that she can at least see him like this, in this room.

"Hey, Shik! Do you want something for your chin?"

At Jaeshin's voice, Yoonhee's eyes tear away from Sunjoon to him.

"My chin?"

"It's fine that you are staring at Garang and all, but isn't it too much to drool like that?"

Sunjoon's eyes raise up from his book to look at Yoonhee. Yoonhee, surprised, waves her arm "no" and replies angrily to Jaeshin.

"I-it's not like that! When did I drool?"

"Take a look at your desk; there's a pool."

Yoonhee looks down at her desk, but there's nothing there. Angry, she decides to concentrate on her book and not bother respond to Jaeshin's taunts, but he does not stop.

"You should think about it from Garang's position. How dirtied would he feel, having someone with the same parts in the middle stare at him like that?"

She wants to ignore him, but this last joke hurts too much. She would rather take a beating from him than hear this type of thing. Because she is in Yoonshik's clothing, it's truly possible that Sunjoon could feel uncomfortable if she kept staring like she did. She decides not to retort, in fear that tears might come out, and only makes a fist underneath her desk. Yoonhee hears Sunjoon's angry tone.

"Why are you being so childish, sahyung? I think the one who would feel more dirtied in this room is Daemul doryung."

She brightens a little at his voice, but is still unable to raise her head. She wants to protest to Jaeshin's accusations, too, but she's afraid she'll only look at Sunjoon again with the same eyes just like before.

"Didn't Geoh-roh sahyung also keep staring at Daemul doryung as well?"

Jaeshin seems a little embarrassed as he decides to just look back into his book again, as though he didn't say anything. Yoonhee pretends to read as well. As long as Jaeshin is in the room, she can't look at Sunjoon like that. It's supposed to be strange, for a man to look at another man like this.

The room is silent again. As the night deepens, Yoonhee's eyes start losing their will to stay open. It's because she is tired out from today, but mostly because she didn't get any sleep last night. Soondol didn't show up again today, which meant that she would have to share a blanket with Sunjoon again, and even though she tries to stay awake in worry of handling another night, Yoonhee's head starts to get closer and closer to her books until it arrives on her desk, fully asleep.

Sunjoon yawns and discovers Yoonhee, already deep in sleep. Jaeshin sees her as well, and grumbles, but quietly so that she doesn't hear.

"It's probably because he is tired from today--he seems to be having a hard time adjusting to a new place. On top of that, he isn't so well."

"He didn't seem like it; he's so thin. Everyone outside these walls think we scholars just play around, but most of us study as though our lives are on the line. There are even a lot who end up walking out because of the workload."

Sunjoon blows out the candle, and sets up the blanket. He tries to lay Yoonhee down, so he leans her head onto his shoulder as Jaeshin puts away her desk. Sunjoon raises her up, surprised to find that she is much lighter than he was bracing for. In his arms, everything of hers looks so small--her head, her shoulders, and her body. He thinks that it must be due to her poor health, and looks at her sympathetically. As Sunjoon lays her down, Jaeshin looks at the notes Yoonhee's been making.

"I'm impressed. He's bright, for a young one."

Sunjoon goes to Jaeshin to see what he is looking at. She had noted down every detail of today's classes, neatly organized. Jaeshin jokes, "I should ask him to let me see this for the exam."

"I should, too. I guess he was being modest, saying that he couldn't follow the class. I feel a little lied to."

"Hey you, stop being so patronizing. You don't even have to do these type of things and are doing well enough in class."

Sunjoon  sees  another book -- it's  a  book  with  the  same  notes,  and  he  tilts  his  head  in_curiosity,  unaware Yoonhee is making a book with the notes so her brother can study from it.

Jaeshin starts undressing to sleep, and Sunjoon follows. When he is done, he sees Yoonhee, who is fully dressed. He should probably undress her. But for some reason, even though it should be nothing, his hands won't go to Yoonhee's body so easily. He sits there, conflicted. The longer he goes back and forth about whether to undress Yoonhee, he becomes more and more sucked into her sleeping face. But to find another fully grown man's face as beautiful isn't proper. He tries to chase away his thoughts and works up the courage to undo the strings of her yoogun.

Even though she is deep asleep, she responds to the touch of his fingers on his chin. Her face makes an expression he hadn't seen before--her nose scrunches and her mouth forms a small smile. Sunjoon freezes. Why is his heart pounding? This isn't right.

He goes to the ribbon of her clothes and pulls it undone, and he tries hard to keep his hands from shaking. A little shaken, he tries to finish the job fast, and gets her out of her outer clothes quickly. He leaves her clothed in the rest--the two layers of underclothes she slept in last night.

He takes off her beoseon (socks), and her small feet make a normally expressionless Sunjoon redden. Yoonhee makes a small movement, and he is taken back by her waistline, which doesn't feel like a normal man's.

"How did you two come to know each other?"

As soon as he hears Jaeshin's voice, Sunjoon snaps out of it, and puts the blanket over Yoonhee. "We met each other last summer during the Cho-shi... Why do you ask?"

"You guys aren't even the same faction, so I was wondering how you were close. Even if the king is talking about coexisting peacefully and all, because of the division, there might be a bad end to those types of relationships."

"Is that what you are afraid of? And why you're pushing us away?"

"That's not what I'm saying!"

Jaeshin, after shouting, quietens at the sight of Yoonhee sleeping. He turns his back to the other two and quietly says, "I'm talking about you two." (meaning: a homosexual relationship).

"We are good learning friends." (He says 글동무, which is kind of like i guess school buddies or colleagues)

"What? If you asked anyone, they would probably be fighting to be your learning buddy. It's just strange that you chose him! Are you trying to convert him to a Noron?"

"I've never thought that."

Sunjoon lies down. He wishes it would be dark, but the moonlight shines into the room. He's never thought to make Yoonshik into a Noron, or why he wants to be together with him, a Nam-in. Is he purely a learning friend? That's not completely true. It's something he can't answer.

Yoonhee, who is under the same blanket, unconsciously fidgets, uncomfortable without a pillow, and so ends up resting her head on Sunjoon's shoulder. Her sangtoo touches his face. His chest tightens in nervousness. However answerless to why, he was happy to be with this person. But it's wrong that his heart keeps beating, or that he wants to touch his face, or that he wants to hold him. As Jaeshin said, wouldn't Kim Yoonshik feel dirtied if he knew that Sunjoon felt this way?

Kim Yoonshik. He is beautiful. He probably had a hard time when he was younger, and therefore became weak and ill, and most likely that's where his shyness roots from. With this thought, Sunjoon decides that it's best that he must treat Yoonshik like a proper man as well as not cross the line so that Yoonshik isn't made uncomfortable.

After a while, Sunjoon slowly falls asleep, wrapped in the warmth of the body adjacent to his.