Semantic Error

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As soon as class ended, Sangwoo was caught off guard by Jang Jaeyoung and ended up panting on his way to the engineering college. There was another class going on in the lecture hall right before his own class, so Sangwoo definitely arrived before Jaeyoung, but his bag (second navy backpack for saving seats) was already placed on the right side of the fourth row.

Sangwoo sat on his left and put up his divider. They had no choice but to face each other during Chinese class, because they had to prepare for the skit. However, Sangwoo had believed that Jihye’s advice would be useful during “Engineering Mathematics 2”. He didn’t think he would succeed that easily, though, as Jang Jaeyoung was like a devil.

Sangwoo expected many maneuvers. By pretending it was a mistake, Jaeyoung might knock down the divider, tap his desk, or make strange noises to get his attention.

However, no matter how long he waited, there was no sign of interruption. He lost six minutes of class, because he was anxious about what Jaeyoung was doing behind the divider.

In the end, he was so curious, he had to put down the divider. Then, he put his head on the desk and watched Jaeyoung whose eyes were gently closed. He faced the person who had seemed out of place all day. It wasn’t just that he didn’t wear red padding or glasses. Jang Jaeyoung looked like a completely different person Sangwoo couldn’t recognize, just as he had done  when working as a part-timer at the Italian restaurant.

He couldn’t find the three piercings on each of his ears. He didn’t know what had changed with his hair, but it looked much more neat and decent than usual. In addition, maybe it was because his eyes were shut that he seemed to be gentle. He didn’t seem like the person who had done bad things to Sangwoo.

‘What the hell is up with this bastard?’ 

Sangwoo felt uncomfortable and confused at the same time. An existence that couldn’t be defined in one way wasn’t simple. Sangwoo had defined him as a ‘bully, trash, and scum,’ but he used modifiers such as ‘neat, clean, and mature’ with the figure in front of him. Just like with different data types, those properties weren’t compatible.

However, Sangwoo knew that unlike Jaeyoung’s good appearance, his personality was rotten. The fact that he, someone who was majoring in design, was taking engineering math classes, was evidence of that. He was there to interrupt Sangwoo’s class and ruin his studies by sitting in that seat. He was even achieving his goal with his eyes closed.

Sangwoo gripped his pencil tightly and concentrated on the class again. While looking into what Jaeyoung was up to, the class had already moved forward to the next chapter. While taking his second “Engineering Math 2” class of the term, Sangwoo was horrified he had learned very little. The same was true for all other subjects except for the “Popular Culture and Cultural Theory” class he had on Wednesday. When Jaeyoung disappears after the two weeks have passed, he’ll have to study outside of class by referring to books and watching lectures on the Internet. However, professors tend to emphasize what will be on the exam during class. Those two weeks hadn’t been without loss.

In that sense, the time Jaeyoung was asleep was an opportunity. Sangwoo focused on the professor’s words and tried to understand what he was saying. Strangely enough, however, within a few minutes, his mind focused on the peacefully sleeping Jaeyoung.

‘Now you’re interrupting me even if you stay still. It’s a great ability.’

Sangwoo tried to resist the urge to look over there, but the desperate fight between reason and compulsion ended within a minute, so his head abruptly turned back.

Jaeyoung was still quietly asleep during the subject of errors. Sangwoo was filled with a complex emotion that was difficult to put into words, and he didn’t like that feeling at all. However, as he recalled the atrocities that Jaeyoung, who wore the mask of a normal person, had done, any ambiguous feelings disappeared and hostility was freshly set ablaze.

Come to think of it, there is an ancient saying, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” He doesn’t hold grudges? Jang Jaeyoung seemed to be mistaken. As long as the conditions are right, even Sangwoo could get enough revenge. He was simply not a nut job to that extent, so he didn’t feel that it was worth using a lot of energy to harass others.

‘There’s nothing that I cannot do.’

Sangwoo took out a marker from his pencil case. The act of opening the cap felt like pulling a knife out of the sheath. He carefully held the marker and sat himself a little closer to Jaeyoung.

The moist tip of the marker stopped midair as it approached Jaeyoung’s forehead. Sangwoo realized that it had been too long since he had last drawn. He didn’t have to draw as well as an artist, but his inferiority complex over his drawing skills prevented him from going any further. He suddenly recalled getting scolded by his second grade elementary school teacher  for not drawing anything at all on his drawing paper. Furthermore, suddenly hovering before his eyes were the words ‘second rank in the entire school,’ based on the evaluation of his practical skills in art during his third year of middle school.

After hesitating for a long time, Sangwoo decided to draw a mole, but it wasn’t easy to choose the right location. His eyes scanned every part of Jaeyoung’s face. His tousled dark brown hair laid against his forehead. His dark eyebrows formed natural curves, and his long eyelashes (for being a man) cast a shadow on his cheeks. The slope of his nose began from his forehead. The lips under his philtrum were slightly open.

‘You can just draw it anywhere!’

Sangwoo encouraged himself while gripping the marker tighter. His hands trembled as he had never done anything like that before. He was even sacrificing his class time. He pressed his fingers hard and pushed forward decisively. The slightly wavering marker grazed Jaeyoung’s forehead. At that moment, Jaeyoung’s eyes suddenly opened  causing Sangwoo’s marker to draw a line down his nose.

It seems that this is something people who have done this before do. It was nothing compared to Jaeyoung’s scribble, but his heart sank like a child caught doing something bad, because he had never bothered anyone in his life.

Jaeyoung kept his eyes wide open. Sangwoo put his maker in the pencil case and forced himself to stare at his book. His face paled and his heart started pounding.

He didn’t know how time passed by after that. Sangwoo stayed still, like a stone. By the time he came to his senses, the class had already ended and the students were leaving the classroom.

He couldn’t believe that he, for a moment, had been doing the same thing as Jang Jaeyoung because he had gotten upset. He couldn’t believe that he had stooped to his level.

“Sangwoo.”

He got goosebumps. If Jaeyoung was angry, Sangwoo would have something to say, but apart from that, he was unhappy that he had scribbled on a person’s face with a marker.

“Sangwoo, hyung is calling for you.”

“…yes.”

“You got your revenge on me?”

Sangwoo’s head quickly swung around. Jaeyoung was smiling with a black line on his nose.

“Hey, it feels as if a robot vacuum cleaner baked bread.2”

Instead of being angry, Jaeyoung found it amusing and patted his ball cap. Sangwoo felt so flustered, that he didn’t even bother to chastise him for touching his body without permission.

“Let’s go eat. Hyung will buy it for you today.”

“…I only have you, noona.3“

Sangwoo had just barely managed to answer. When Jaeyoung got up and grabbed his wrist, he was so out of it, that he was dragged away.

As they left the engineering college, Jaeyoung pretended not to recognize a lot of people. All of Jaeyoung’s acquaintances giggled and commented on Sangwoo’s work.

“Oppa, why do you have something on your nose? Is it makeup?”

“Does it look cool? He did it.”

“Jaeyoung, what brings you to the engineering college? What’s wrong with your face?”

“Oh, I had some stuff to do here. He made my face this way.”

Whenever this happened, rather than feeling embarrassed and ashamed, Jaeyoung simply pointed at Sangwoo as if he was the source of his dissertation, as if to inform everyone of his skills. He was really such a strange man. On that day, Sangwoo learned the meaning of the word ’embarrassed.’

Whenever he was introduced to Jaeyoung’s acquaintances, he felt as if he was being attacked. When he came out of the lobby, he felt like he’d been ripped up to pieces. After being dragged  from place to place, he had recovered his senses and suddenly realized he was standing in front of the campus pizza place.

“Do you not like pizza?”Jaeyoung asked after sitting down.

Sangwoo replied with resignation.

“No.”

“Why are you being so well-mannered?”

“Can’t you erase that?”

“I’m not going to erase it.”

Jaeyoung grinned and looked at the menu. He ordered a pizza and two bowls of risotto without asking for Sangwoo’s opinion.

“You said you didn’t like pasta, so I didn’t order it.”

He showed him a little bit of consideration.

Sangwoo snorted to himself. Not liking pasta was just something he said because Jaeyoung works at an Italian restaurant. He had never considered if the food was good or bad, and he wasn’t picky about their ingredients.

Eating is just the process of acquiring calories. He thought it was meaningless to judge the taste or shape as long as the nutritional balance was right. In that sense, the idiot with a black line on his nose was wasting money when he could have bought a 3,000 won meal at the school cafeteria.

“Sangwoo, did you understand what was being taught in the class you just took?”

“If it weren’t for you, sunbae, I would have.”

“That’s amazing. You can’t even memorize three characters of a person’s name.”

“It’s even more amazing to see a senior who attends classes on behalf of someone else and then falls asleep instead.”

The food was served during their conversation. Sangwoo ate without saying a word. Jaeyoung argued that he was eating in a boring way, but Sangwoo ignored him and kept eating.

Sangwoo ate as much as he could and got up without saying a word. He wanted to quickly leave, because he was uncomfortable with not eating in his usual place. Maybe it had something to do with the stupid guy in front of him who was grinning despite having something on his nose.

“Sangwoo.”

Before he knew it, Jaeyoung had paid and caught up with him.

“The weather is nice, isn’t it? Look at the sky.”

‘You’re like a fly. Fly to the sky, please.’

Sangwoo walked resolutely while looking at the ground.

Before having walked a short distance from the restaurant, Jaeyoung took out a canned coffee from his leather bag. The black background, the familiar logo, and the large letters, “Blackholic,” caught Sangwoo’s attention.

It was clear that he would tease him while sipping on the drink.

‘I waited for this moment.’

Sangwoo prepared for a situation like this the previous day by applying Jihye’s second piece of advice. According to the snack shop owner’s information, the Blackholic coffee would be restocked on the Monday after next week. Since he only consumes one can of coffee daily , he bought seven of them, the exact amount he needed, at the supermarket. However, the moment Sangwoo thought he should open his own backpack, Jaeyoung got embarrassed and extended the coffee towards him.

“Here you are, your coffee shuttle.4”

Error, error, input error.5

Sangwoo, who thought that Jaeyoung naturally would open the can and loudly gulp it down to tease him, came to a halt without realizing it himself. He mindlessly accepted the can.

When he brought it closer to his eyes to make sure it was properly sealed, Jaeyoung muttered, “crazy bastard.” Sangwoo carefully examined it and even shook it, but the can was clean and not even a single drop of coffee leaked.

“Just drink, please.”

“What did you do to this?”

“Do you think you’ll be poisoned? I bought 16 of them, but I’m throwing them into your mouth because they’re so tasteless.”

‘What’s wrong with him?’

Sangwoo felt strange. There were too many questionable behaviors. It was like progressing through the multiples of two (2, 4, 6, 8…) but then suddenly finding √55 in the sequence.

Jaeyoung lingered by his side.

“I’ll give you the remaining cans of coffee I have left, so take off your cap.”

“It’s none of your business what other people wear.”

Sangwoo felt better at the refreshing sound of opening his canned coffee, because he hadn’t heard it in a long time. He carefully put the opening to his lips and as soon as he tilted the can, lukewarm liquid flowed into his mouth.

“Do you find that tasty?”

______________________________________________________________________________

Footnotes

1Denotes successful completion of a program.

 

2I think he means that Sangwoo was behaving out of character.

 

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3Sangwoo responds to Jaeyoung with noona (older sister). He is being sarcastic as Jaeyoung always calls himself Sangwoo’s hyung (older brother), which would indicate a close relationship. Also, his choice of words, ‘I only have person’ (person-밖에 없다) means something like he is the only one he can count on. This is a normal Korean way of responding when a friend is treating you to a meal or helping you out with something.

 

4A Korean slang for an errand boy, but for getting coffee.

 

5Sangwoo is thinking about this situation as if it were a computer program. The input would be Jaeyoung’s out of character behavior, hence ‘input error.’