Ch.118118. Intrusion

Summer is coming to an end.

Less than a week remains of the vacation.

“Ah… I hate going back to school…”

Suhyeok muttered what had now become a habitual phrase as he lay on his bed.

All the money he’d saved was completely spent on travel.

His bank account was so empty it seemed like flies might start buzzing around it.

But that’s not to say he hadn’t spent it well.

Suhyeok’s messenger background photo.

It was a picture of him and his friends making V signs together at the beach.

Perhaps he had a romantic notion about group photos.

Suhyeok really liked these raw, unedited photos.

After all, these were precious connections he had made by taking on new challenges.

But even as the vacation was ending, there were still expenses remaining.

August 31st.

Juyeon’s birthday was coming up.

While Suhyeok thought he should celebrate her birthday, he was having various difficulties preparing for it.

First, how much sincerity should he show?

All things considered, Suhyeok cared for Juyeon.

It was true that he had romantic feelings for Hana, but separate from that, Suhyeok and Juyeon had quite a deep relationship.

Simply glossing over it with a group gift wouldn’t be right.

But celebrating extravagantly was complicated by the fact that she had confessed to him.

Suhyeok had already declared that he wouldn’t be dating anyone at present.

In this situation, giving her a gift filled with so much sincerity that it could cause misunderstandings seemed like a bad move.

Sincere, but not too much.

Finding that balance of seemingly effortless thoughtfulness seemed far too difficult for Suhyeok.

[Juyeon’s Birthday Preparation Room!]

Seo-eun had already created a group chat.

The group gift was going to be a fancy pie from a hotel.

Since Juyeon really loved sweet things, everyone agreed on this choice without objection.

“Maybe I should talk to Seo-eun noona…”

He knew well enough not to go to Hana about this.

After much deliberation, Suhyeok contacted Seo-eun.

[If that’s the case, should we go shopping together to look for a gift?]

[I’d appreciate that.]

[But I’m with Jaejun oppa right now, is it okay if he comes too?]

[Uh… if he’s okay with it?]

[Okay! I’ll ask him!]

Having successfully made plans with Seo-eun, Suhyeok put on jeans and a t-shirt and headed out.

They agreed to meet downtown.

“Suhyeok-ah~”

From a distance, Seo-eun waved her hand enthusiastically.

Next to her was Jaejun, wearing sunglasses with his arms crossed.

He didn’t look particularly pleased.

“Hello, hyung.”

“Yeah.”

“So Suhyeok, you want to find a suitable birthday gift for Juyeon, right?”

“…Yeah.”

The three of them agreed to go into the shopping mall.

“Suhyeok.”

While passing by a display stand,

Jaejun, who was beside him, called out to Suhyeok with indifferent eyes.

“Yes?”

“Are you going to date Juyeon?”

Suhyeok coughed as if something was stuck in his throat.

Jaejun often threw these sudden, blunt questions at Suhyeok.

“Uh… right now… I’m not really interested in dating…”

“Then why bother doing this?”

To be honest, Jaejun couldn’t really empathize with Suhyeok.

From the start, he wasn’t keen on spending money on women who weren’t his girlfriend.

Why go to such lengths when you’re not even leading her on?

After all, female and male friends often become strangers once one of them starts dating someone else.

“Well, but Juyeon has been really good to me.”

“Has she ever given you a gift?”

“No? My birthday is in winter?”

A face that seemed to say, ‘What’s with this sucker?’

Seo-eun slapped Jaejun’s butt as if telling him to stop.

“Oppa. I told you not to bully Suhyeok.”

“But come on. You’d be upset too if I said I was buying a birthday gift for Eunbi.”

“No! That’s different because you have a girlfriend, so of course you shouldn’t.”

“They could just not celebrate each other’s birthdays at all.”

Now that Jaejun was saying this, Suhyeok’s resolve began to waver slightly.

Is that right…?

Would it be wiser not to do anything at all?

But that thought was fleeting.

Suhyeok had to recall Hana’s birthday.

Even though they weren’t lovers, Suhyeok had put effort into preparing for Hana’s birthday.

He had done so even when he only considered her a close friend.

Excluding only Juyeon would be clear discrimination.

Suhyeok nodded firmly as if he had reached a conclusion.

“But still, I think it’s better to do something for Juyeon too, hyung.”

At his rather resolute tone, Jaejun nodded slightly as if to say ‘go ahead then.’

“Fine. If you’re determined to make trouble for yourself, who am I to stop you?”

“Oppa. Why are you being so prickly? Did something upset you?”

“No. I’m being sincere. Let’s look together. I’ll help you choose.”

There were three main candidates.

First was an accessory.

Although Juyeon didn’t often wear accessories, Seo-eun advised that this was something that wouldn’t polarize opinions.

Second was food.

They were already giving a pie as a group gift, so there was some overlap, but Juyeon would still like it.

Seo-eun’s recommendation number two was that something like fancy macarons, not cake or pie, would be good.

The last was a guitar effects pedal.

Sitting in a corner of the shopping mall at a music store, Jaejun was trying out a guitar.

His playing was incredibly clean.

He had certainly earned his position as the former student council president through skill.

Suhyeok sat beside him, continuously letting out low exclamations like a reaction bot.

“Wow. This sounds good.”

“Hyung… is it really okay to do this?”

Suhyeok felt extremely self-conscious about playing the guitar when they weren’t planning to buy it.

“Why?”

“We’re not going to buy it, right?”

“Why do you think that? If the sound is better than I expected, I might buy it.”

“…Really?”

“And we’re looking at effects pedals for Juyeon, right? Are you planning to buy her something without even listening to how it sounds?”

Jaejun fiddled with the knobs, clicking them back and forth.

“Hmm… but would Juyeon like this?”

Giving a useful effects pedal to Juyeon, who had just started playing guitar, wasn’t a bad idea.

But it was still too early to judge how serious Juyeon was about the guitar.

As the saying goes, “three days’ passion,” many people lose interest in instruments quickly, buying them only to stop playing after a month.

“A gift, you see.”

Jaejun expounded his own theory about gifts.

“It’s also a day to give what I want to give.”

“Uh… isn’t it usually best to give what they want?”

“Hey. If it was something they really needed, they would have already bought it with their own money.”

While giving something necessary is certainly a good gift, Jaejun’s opinion was slightly different.

He believed that for a gift to be meaningful, it needed personality.

A gift that makes someone think, ‘Ah, this is what they gave me.’

That usually meant the gift reflected the giver’s character.

Since Suhyeok was the reason Juyeon started playing guitar, if he gave her this, it would certainly have deep meaning, according to Jaejun.

“What do you think, noona?”

“I… hmm… the guitar equipment doesn’t seem bad either.”

From a personal perspective, accessories stood out the most to her.

“Then let’s go with an overdrive pedal.”

Overdrive, considered one of the most basic effects pedals.

Jaejun stamped his approval as if to finalize the decision.

“Get this, Suhyeok. This is good.”

“Ah… okay…”

“Since it’s a music store, they probably can’t gift wrap it.”

“I guess not.”

In Suhyeok’s hand was a small transparent plastic bag.

Inside was a neatly packed effects pedal box about the size of a phone box.

“Good. Now you can go.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Oppa, do you dislike Suhyeok?”

To be honest, Jaejun wasn’t in a great mood.

And for good reason—vacation was ending, and there weren’t many days left for dates.

Why should he be helping a junior choose a gift for a female friend who wasn’t even his girlfriend?

Even if the kid was indecisive or whatever.

At times like this, Seo-eun seemed overly attached to her cohort.

“No. I just want to spend time alone with you now.”

Jaejun swiftly wrapped his arm around Seo-eun’s waist.

“Ah! If that’s how you felt, you should have told Suhyeok to come another day from the start!”

“Who knew it would take this long?”

Feeling apologetic, Suhyeok wanted to leave quickly.

“I’m sorry! Thank you!”

Suhyeok bowed repeatedly.

Jaejun approached him and patted his back firmly.

“Right! You get it! Tell Juyeon I said congratulations too.”

“Yes sir!”

Suhyeok fled the shopping mall.

The faces of Seo-eun and Jaejun kept appearing in his mind.

Is that what all long-term couples are like?

Suhyeok wondered if he could ever have that kind of relationship with a girlfriend someday.

Me and Hana like that…

Or maybe not…

If that comfortable atmosphere is the destination, perhaps…

For some reason, Suhyeok felt that the recipient of the gift might fit better in such a picture.