Juggling schoolwork and a part-time job, time flew by all too fast.
When my shift ended I did assignments or built the models needed for my major classes, and whenever I had a spare moment I got called in for the pig’s head too, so every day was busy without a second to spare.
Then at last the pig’s head was finished. The clay pig, evenly touched by the hands of the whole sophomore class, was now safely up on the ritual table set out on the lawn in front of the department building, showing off its elegant smile. They’d said it had to have a pleasant face since it’s the medium that carries wishes to the gods, and sure enough, the fellow had such a likable face that you’d want to grant a hundred wishes just from meeting its eyes.
Today is the opening-semester gosa, the rite held every year since the founding of the sculpture department.
The ritual table set up on the lawn looked quite different from an ordinary one. Not just the clay pig’s head, but the fact that fearsome tools were lined up squared-off on the table was another thing special to the sculpture department’s gosa.
Sculpture students had no way around using dangerous tools. Chainsaws, grinders, high-speed cutters, welders, nail guns, tools where one small slip could lead to a big accident, all of which we’d had to use since our freshman year. So the opening-semester gosa was the sculpture department’s essential annual event, praying to the god of tools for a safe and uneventful year.
Students gathered in an arc around the ritual table, where the tools lay showing off their sharply honed blades. I stood at the tail end of the crowd and looked at the department rep. No, to be precise, I was pretending to look toward the rep while secretly stealing glances at Seon Eunhu in the third-year cluster behind him.
It was a face I was seeing for nearly the first time in a week, since I’d heard that pervert-like remark.
Even amid my busy days, Seon Eunhu’s voice was always drifting around in my head.
“If you keep the promise well, as a reward I’ll show you my lower half once.”
My agonizing started right there.
If I kept the promise I’d have to see the hideous whatsit, and to avoid seeing the whatsit I’d have to break the promise.
So then, why had Seon Eunhu gifted me this dilemma? Could it be a trap? Was he scheming to hand down some even more wicked punishment for breaking the promise, saying I broke it? His out-of-nowhere confession that he liked women was unnatural too. Maybe it was a line he’d planted on purpose to defend some later action of his...
At any rate, after that remark my favorable feelings toward Seon Eunhu vanished clean away, but since I ended up checking first whether Seon Eunhu was around or not everywhere I went, I thought about that pervert alpha all the more. Could this be the aim of a bad-hobby pervert...?
I still hadn’t figured out Seon Eunhu’s intent, so I hadn’t decided what attitude to take, and in the end I’d spotted him here on this wide lawn. I’d somehow managed to avoid running into him all this while, but being a department event, it was an inevitable meeting.
“All right, then, we’ll now begin the opening-semester gosa.”
Applause poured out along with the rep’s shout. Sculpture students, professors, and teaching assistants all laughed merrily, every last one of them. Before long candles were lit atop the ritual table and cups were filled with liquor.
“Let’s have a moment of silence. Everyone, silent tribute!”
At the rep’s instruction, everyone bowed their heads. I too blankly stared down at the toes of my shoes. In the hushed mood, only the buzzing chatter of students from other departments passing nearby could be heard.
“At ease! Then we’ll now read the invocation. It’ll be read by me, the department rep, and by vice-rep Lee Jinseong.”
When Lee Jinseong stepped forward, the other seniors around cheered exceptionally loud. When one of them smacked his back, Seon Eunhu, standing beside him, burst out laughing. Just watching him laugh, folding up his drooping eyes, was so heartwarming that you’d never think he was a person with such a filthy hobby.
Good actor.
I quickly turned my gaze elsewhere before he could spot me. I hoped he’d think the reason I wasn’t looking at him was that I didn’t know he was there. That way, I’d have neither kept the promise nor broken it.
So, forcing my attention off him, I watched the rep and vice-rep read the invocation. Starting off plausibly by reciting the date, the invocation summoned the gods of tools and at some point flowed into a sculpture-department-custom affair.
“O God of the Chainsaw! Thank you for making us feel like valiant world conquerors every time we wield the weighty chainsaw. As we honor you preciously with food and drink, please see to it that we cut nothing but logs. O God of the Grinder! Every time the diamond blade grinds down marble, we don’t even envy a diamond ring of several carats. Watch over us safely this year too, and help our raw-gem classmates avoid any safety accidents. O God of the High-Speed Cutter! When something other than steel is at risk of being cut, please work the miracle of stopping on your own. O God of the Welder!...”
Every time they summoned some god, the students laughed merrily. A snicker was leaking out of my mouth too. As I idly turned my gaze, I met eyes with Seon Eunhu, who happened to have turned this way.
“...”
“...”
At first I didn’t even realize we’d locked eyes. The instant my focus sharpened and I registered that the one I’d met eyes with was Seon Eunhu, I whipped around, startled. And then I regretted it. What if he mistakenly thinks I’m avoiding his gaze so hard because I want to see his dick?
Cautiously turning back to face front, I found the rep and vice-rep, having finished reading the invocation in the meantime, bowing toward the pig’s head, with Seon Eunhu behind them watching and laughing.
Was he not looking at me? Feeling awkward, wondering if I’d gotten scared over nothing and overreacted.
Presently the professors and teaching assistants came forward in turn and bowed. They pulled bundles of cash from their pockets and slotted them crosswise into the pig’s mouth. Even from afar, the thick wad of money made for a good mood.
“Everyone brought cash, right?”
When the rep shouted toward the sculpture students, they answered rousingly, “Yes!”
Because there’d been advance notice to bring cash, there was a ten-thousand-won note in my pocket too. It was blood money, but as long as I didn’t get called up to the ritual table, I wouldn’t have to spend it. And even if I got named and had to put money in, there was a drinking gathering scheduled after the event, so I could think of it as meal expenses. Besides, since I keep such a quiet school life, the odds of getting called up to the ritual table were markedly low.
“All right, then, our department’s most senior class, come out.”
At the rep’s call, the three seniors who were the most senior among the enrolled students went forward. With sheepish expressions they bowed on the mat and stuffed cash into the pig’s mouth. Someone watching went “Oink, oink, give me more, oink, oink,” doing a pig voice, and a wave of laughter poured out, thanks to which a few more bills got planted in the pig’s mouth.
“Class reps of each year, come out!”
“All the lovebird campus couples of our department, come out!”
“Freshmen who are single, come out!”
“Come out, you old fogey!”
After the professors and teaching assistants left their spots, it turned into a joking affair.
Like a drinking game, they arbitrarily grouped people and called them out, and whoever got called had no choice but to go bow and put money in the pig’s mouth. They’d tactfully cover for people so they wouldn’t have to go up more than twice, and the mood was such that people knew and pretended not to, so the lawn stayed cheerful throughout.
“Our department’s alpha, come out!”
Then at some point, at Lee Jinseong’s shout, a brief silence flowed.
But the silence born of surprise was brief, and soon laughter burst among the students. Seon Eunhu, narrowing his eyes and playfully glaring at Lee Jinseong, walked out through the sea of laughter. Until now people had stood before the ritual table in groups, so all the attention concentrated on Seon Eunhu coming out alone.
Amid the cheers of seniors and juniors, Seon Eunhu bowed twice and stood. Then he rolled up the cash he’d taken from his wallet, planted it in the pig’s ear, and as he exited, shouted as if he’d been lying in wait.
“The best-looking of the third-years, come out.”
As if the answer were already decided, he grabbed Lee Jinseong’s wrist and dragged him. Lee Jinseong resisted, holding out and saying wasn’t it Seon Eunhu who should be the one to go out, but Seon Eunhu, with a brazen expression, raised both hands. The way he shrugged, he seemed to be pleading his innocence.
Anyone could see Seon Eunhu was better-looking, but in the end Lee Jinseong, pushed by the mood, went out alone and bowed. Rolling up cash and planting it in the pig’s other ear, he turned around. The mean smile on his face was suspicious.
“Come out, whoever served as military police!”
Seon Eunhu, who’d been making a threatening face from the instant their eyes met, smiled like he’d reached enlightenment and came out again, and the students watched the seniors’ antics with interest. Since it wasn’t their own money going out, everyone was watching the fire from across the river.
Seon Eunhu took off the shoes he’d just put back on and stepped up onto the mat. Watching the white socks striding across the mat, I sneered inwardly. Dressing it up so nicely. Seon Eunhu shouldn’t be called that.
Come out, pervert, pervert.
Rotten-charactered sex-deviant, come out right now.
I inwardly shouted the words I couldn’t say aloud and secretly laughed. It felt as if I’d summoned a pervert and Seon Eunhu had answered the call.
Ah, too funny.
Holding a small thrill, I slowly ran my eyes up his body from the bottom. Going by looks alone he really seems perfectly fine...
The silhouette of toes hidden inside white socks, and the anklebone jutting out. The long legs and thigh muscles that even dark cotton pants couldn’t hide. The line of the buttocks riding up above them, half-hidden inside his T-shirt. When my gaze, having passed the fluttering hem, rode up the silhouette of his waist and reached the back of his neck, it happened.
Sensing a faint gaze, I shifted my focus to Seon Eunhu’s face. Meeting eyes with the alpha’s brown irises came next.
