Semantic Error - Chapter 10

Jang Jaeyoung bullied Chu Sangwoo to his heart’s content for two days. By mobilizing his hoobaes, the seat Sangwoo always sat on was occupied in advance, and they acted loudly in every class. He watched Sangwoo shaking in anger as he followed him closely.

Two days of performance.

First of all, Jaeyoung earned six titles: (1) stalker (2) trash (3) psycho (4) scum (5) sadist (6) thug. In other words, he firmly imprinted himself on Chu Sangwoo. The labels Sangwoo gave him were not pretty, but it’s better than not having any at all. Visual designer Jaeyoung knew the importance of branding better than anyone else.

Putting aside the phrase, “when he called my name, I became a flower,”1 It is not like a romance manhwa where handsome rich people throw water on someone’s face and look for female twins. Noise marketing has a more intense effect, as negative impressions are more powerful than positive impressions. Furthermore, it may be an honor to be called six things by a nut job like Sangwoo, who doesn’t give names to anyone.

Second, Jaeyoung got quite the emotional revenge, like a sated feeling as refreshing as drinking soda. While breaking down the perfect Sangwoo, he felt that his own emotional damage was neutralized.

Third, it was fun provoking Sangwoo. Crushing his grave and impassive face turned out to be pleasurable rather than pitiful. It was fun enough to endure the pain of waking up every morning. Sadist. He’d never thought this of himself before, but maybe he did have such a side.

Jaeyoung had planned to follow Sangwoo around for the entire two long weeks of the withdrawal period, but he was kindly considering quitting earlier. This is because Sangwoo was much more distressed than he’d expected. He thought that it was to the point where Sangwoo might take the semester off if he kept going. Jaeyoung had thought that he’d just bother Sangwoo a tiny bit, but he didn’t want to ruin his daily life.

In addition, Jaeyoung naturally easily lost interest in everything and found things troublesome. It was not easy to get his hoobaes to manage his bags. And what about the torture of sitting in a class where he couldn’t understand a word? He felt itchy within a minute in a quiet place like the library. Moreover, it was really hard to eat food that tasted like a gnat’s piss in a crowded restaurant. He wouldn’t be able to last for two full weeks. Anyway, it was something that he did because he had time on his hands, because Jaeyoung really had nothing to do these days.

‘Sangwoo, why did you do that?’

Within the first three minutes of repeating the “Personality Education for Korean University Students” class, Jaeyoung started to blame Sangwoo. There were too many students in the classroom, so it was not managed well, and the students attending on behalf of him had been on board. How many of them would have to cancel their graduation? If Sangwoo was an ordinary guy who could overlook injustice, Jaeyoung would now be taking classes from the world’s leading designers in the U.S. Regardless of that, it was not an ethics class.

Anyway, it was a meaningless hypothesis. He had to lament the fact that he ended up in the same group as the grim reaper. There was no way out this semester, because his disgraceful acts last semester had made an impression on the professor. Jaeyoung sat at the very back, feeling distressed, so he borrowed a blank sheet of paper from the person next to him and began to scribble.

The weather was great when he got out of the building. Spring, the season of gentle love, was arriving. It had been half a year since Jaeyoung broke up with his last girlfriend, so it’d been a long time since he went on a date. While walking among the other students with such thoughts, he spotted Sangwoo from very far away. He was not wearing a noticeable outfit, but it was just amazing that it stood out. Sangwoo was walking fast toward a restaurant with a girl in green.

‘Bastard, you’re pretty good with polite girls.’

Come to think of it, Sangwoo had also been with a female student when he came to the restaurant. It must be hard to be popular with women with such a personality. Jaeyoung couldn’t imagine Sangwoo dating at all.

There were many people in the student restaurant attracted by curiosity. Skipping empty tables, Sangwoo was slyly eating at a full table.

‘You got a hit.’2

Jaeyoung laughed when he saw Sangwoo quickly take the empty seat just to avoid him. He had a cute side, too. The girl in green was sitting next to him. Looking closely, it was Ryu Jihye who was with him at the restaurant.

Jaeyoung thought that he should quit eating disgustingly tasteless food. He couldn’t stand eating one more meal like this. He’d also bought 16 cans of coffee he had never seen before at the snack shop, but he couldn’t stomach one after trying it, so he threw it away, and still had 15 cans left. He put them in the club room, but even his hoobaes weren’t able to drink them, so they just sat there.

While walking to the smoking area with his friends, he ran into Jihye and Sangwoo, who were walking from across the street.

1. It probably expresses that the person in question was happy that the person they liked called their name. It conveys a sense of purity.

2. Here, Jaeyoung thinks Sangwoo was finally able to retaliate against him by sitting down at a full table, thus preventing him from sitting next to him.