C50
The Harmony of Yin and Yang Is Not as It Seems PART2 (5)
“So today we have no choice but to do it at my place, right?”
“Yes, well…”
Today, Tae Young-won, who was usually far from being careless and rather meticulous, acted out of character. I guess he’s human after all. Mo Yeon didn’t think much of it.
“Looking at other teams during class, we’re already a bit behind. We need to focus properly for at least a week now, so please cooperate.”
“Of course I’ll cooperate. We met to do the assignment, what else would we do? Don’t tell me you’re thinking of something else? Wow, Mo Yeon, you’re really like a pervert.”
However, as they walked to the parking lot, Tae Young-won’s expression, which had seemed similar to usual, was subtly changing in some way. He touched his cheeks or ears and even adjusted his clothes.
“Mo Yeon, but…”
Finally, when Mo Yeon stopped walking, Tae Young-won raised his eyebrows.
“Why are you dressed so cutely today?”
“…”
“You usually don’t wear this kind of thing even when told to, right?”
At Tae Young-won’s words, Mo Yeon finally checked his outfit. It had felt awkward when he first left home, but he had forgotten about it for a moment.
Today, Mo Yeon had reluctantly worn an ivory-colored sweater that he rarely wore. All of his usual plain t-shirts or checkered shirts were either being washed or left at Tae Young-won’s house, so he had no choice.
He couldn’t just wear Tae Young-won’s clothes without permission, so he had to wear this, which made him feel quite uncomfortable.
“Today, I had nothing else to wear except this gift. Speaking of which, I think I need to get my clothes back from your place today. I’ll return your clothes too, so please give me back mine. Understood?”
Mo Yeon spoke a bit firmly. Tae Young-won sometimes subtly put Mo Yeon’s clothes in the laundry basket and didn’t return them. Especially after wearing a t-shirt with a large hot dog print once, Mo Yeon could never find that t-shirt at Tae Young-won’s house again.
“Mo Yeon, you’re really funny. You’re talking as if someone deliberately took them and didn’t return them. What do you take me for?”
Tae Young-won said this shamelessly with wide eyes, but Mo Yeon felt otherwise.
“The hot dog t-shirt and the one with the pigeon print, you must return those two together.”
“Ah, I’m not sure where those are. Take some of my clothes instead.”
“…”
Mo Yeon looked at Tae Young-won with narrowed eyes. It seemed that there was definitely another reason why the clothes were disappearing…
“But do they usually buy you clothes at home? When I visited that time, I didn’t see clothes like this in your closet.”
Not sure when he had looked in someone else’s closet, but Tae Young-won said this while touching various parts of Mo Yeon’s clothes. Mo Yeon answered nonchalantly.
“I keep the clothes I don’t wear often separately, that’s why.”
Sometimes, his older brother, who would meddle while giving pocket money, would buy and give Mo Yeon clothes. Perhaps because they were clothes given with the intention of not letting him dress embarrassingly, they were all clothes that completely ignored Mo Yeon’s taste. So most of them were just stuffed in the closet.
Tae Young-won was dressed neatly in black slacks and a white shirt, which made Mo Yeon’s clothes seem even brighter in comparison. Mo Yeon was quite displeased with this.
“Why do you keep staring?”
However, Tae Young-won didn’t seem to feel the same way.
“It’s a new feeling. You don’t seem like you’d do stalker-like things either.”
Mo Yeon unknowingly let out a sigh.
“We’re really going to work on the assignment today, right?”
“Of course. What else did you expect? Mo Yeon, you really seem like a pervert.”
He looked as if he felt wronged. Mo Yeon decided to trust Tae Young-won once.
***
“This group, which was initially defined only as a mass culture consumption group, no longer simply supports the person or content they like.”
“Hmm.”
“This means that it has now expanded into a group that acts socially and politically as well. As a result…”
“Hmm…”
Mo Yeon’s words were abruptly cut off by the repeatedly interrupting voice.
“What is it now?”
Even at the irritated question, Tae Young-won raised the corners of his mouth with a meaningful expression.
He had been wearing the same expression annoyingly for a while now.
At Tae Young-won’s insistence that rehearsal was important, Mo Yeon was now doing a mock presentation with materials displayed on the beam projector at his house. However, he had been nitpicking Mo Yeon’s presentation practice since earlier, and it was impossible to know how many times they had gone through the same content.
Mo Yeon snapped for a moment, but soon asked in a slightly worried voice.
“Do I still sound like a robot that just learned human language?”
Honestly, although Tae Young-won had asked him to do the presentation, Mo Yeon wasn’t extremely skilled at presenting. He always just memorized the script, expected questions, and answers.
“No, well, as I watch, you have your own cute charm. I think you can stick with this concept.”
“Then why?”
“Maybe it’s the clothes…”
“The clothes?”
Mo Yeon let out a laugh in disbelief. Why had he been going on about clothes since earlier? He felt like this person was now nitpicking about clothes after everything else.
Why did I have to wear this bright white clothes today, just giving sunbae something to pick on…
In fact, Tae Young-won had been leaning back on the sofa, repeatedly looking Mo Yeon up and down from head to toe throughout the presentation practice. Even Mo Yeon himself wasn’t used to this different outfit, so he wondered how unfamiliar it must be for Tae Young-won.
“Sunbae, I know it doesn’t suit me. But what can I do when I don’t have other clothes?”
“I didn’t say it doesn’t suit you, did I?”
“You don’t have to say it, I know. You’ve been telling me to practice the presentation, but you’ve only been looking at my clothes and not listening since earlier. I know you’re doing that because it looks strange.”
“No, it really suits you. I think you could just dress like this all the time.”
“Don’t tease me.”
Mo Yeon frowned. Tae Young-won then furrowed his brows as if feeling wronged.
“I wasn’t just looking at your clothes, I was looking at you. I haven’t teased you at all and I’m really concentrating, you know? I haven’t taken my eyes off you even once since earlier.”
“No, focus on the presentation, please!”
“Hmm…”
His voice got a bit louder out of frustration. But at some point, Tae Young-won’s eyes narrowed. Not knowing what he was thinking again, Mo Yeon spoke sharply.
“Enough. Stop teasing and concentrate now! I don’t want to do this when the listener’s attitude is so messy.”
“Oh.”
After snapping at him, Mo Yeon watched Tae Young-won’s reaction. But something strange was happening.
Tae Young-won suddenly seemed more interested, his eyes shining.
He often had that kind of shining eyes when he was thinking of something mischievous. Or sometimes he had those eyes when he thought of perverted things in bed.
“Whew. Why is he like that again…”
Of course, since they weren’t doing anything like that right now, Mo Yeon could only guess that it was the former.
He didn’t know exactly what Tae Young-won was thinking, but he was originally a person with many incomprehensible aspects.
“I’ll continue.”
Mo Yeon decided to focus on his task from now on without paying attention to Tae Young-won. Perhaps that would be better for his mental health if he were to continue doing assignments with Tae Young-won in the future.
Honestly, he had been worried the whole way here today. The fact that they had been working on the assignment for over an hour, contrary to expectations, was already going more smoothly than Mo Yeon had worried about.
So, thinking about it again, isn’t this level of teasing actually quite acceptable?
“Oh?”
Suddenly, something caught Mo Yeon’s eye as he was looking over the script.
“But looking at it now, the conclusion is, ‘Fandom culture in modern society will be actively utilized as an important tool for political participation,’ right?”
Having come up with a different idea, Mo Yeon approached the sofa where Tae Young-won was sitting, holding the paper.
“If we go with the current script, the ending seems to lose focus due to the connection with the previous content, so I think we could end it by presenting a few specific directions for healthy social consensus. What do you think?”
“I think that’s really good.”
“Right? Then I’ll do that. We can quickly supplement the materials by tomorrow at that level, so let’s look for examples tomorrow… Hmm.”
“Why don’t you start revising it now? We have plenty of time.”
Tae Young-won’s hand stroked Mo Yeon’s head as he was lost in thought. At the softly whispered voice, Mo Yeon nodded.
“Okay. I’ll revise the script now.”
It seemed good to organize as much as he could think of while he was at it. Mo Yeon sat down heavily in front of the table and picked up a pen that was rolling around to mark the parts to be corrected in the script. Meanwhile, Tae Young-won quietly got up from his seat.
A moment later, Tae Young-won brought something small from his room. Mo Yeon, who noticed the unusual air while in the middle of correcting the script, looked up at him intently.
“Is that glasses?”
In Tae Young-won’s hand was none other than a pair of glasses with round, thin frames.
“Yeah, it’s something I bought before but didn’t use much. I suddenly remembered it.”