Semantic Error - Chapter 36

“Have you never liked anyone?”

“If that’s the kind of concept you’re talking about… My first love was when I was six years old, and the object wasn’t a person.”

He snorted as soon as he heard it, but Sangwoo actually laughed at him. Sangwoo didn’t believe in the kind of emotional love that was depicted on broadcasted media. He regarded it as an illusion that irrational people confused with sexual desire, and he thought that it was a lie that the government instigated to maintain the marriage system. It was because everyone experienced it, but Sangwoo had never felt that way himself.

“Time’s up. I’ll begin.”

Sangwoo checked his watch and corrected his posture.

“Piyeni-piyeni-tayi-piyeni…1”

It’s cheap, it’s cheap. The fruit is cheap. Buy a bundle.

Jaeyoung burst into laughter when he said the first line. His cheeks rose and even teeth were revealed between his lips.

“Xīnqíng hǎo.”2

“That’s not how it goes. Do it properly.”

“What did I even say?”

“I feel good.”

“Me too.”

“…”

Sangwoo sneezed because his nose was itchy. There were flies flying around. No, was it a butterfly?

return 0;

The weather, which had become somewhat fine for a while, became chilly due to the final cold snap at the end of March. Sangwoo’s padded jacket kept his body warm, but the biting wind hit his face when he rode his bike. Sangwoo arrived at the humanities college with red cheeks. He put his backpack in the classroom and double-checked the script to see if he had memorized the lines for all three roles (as there wasn’t any guarantee that Jaeyoung would attend). After confirming that his memory was intact, he grabbed his costume and the wig and headed towards the restroom. The right toilet stall always had a sign on it that said it was broken, so he went into the left one.

Four minutes had passed when he got out after changing his clothes. Ultimately, he had plenty of time to practice. He returned to the classroom and opened the back door. Jaeyoung was wearing a shiny yellow outfit, and he was sitting hunched down while looking at his phone. Hair was sticking out under the rubber band of the wig, because he wasn’t wearing it properly.

What an unpredictable person. Sangwoo didn’t know what he would be up to next. Yesterday and today’s figures looked as different as night and day like his entire personality had changed. He was a fatal error, but Sangwoo seemed to have gotten used to it at some point. Thug, sadist, trash, scum. What a mess he had become because he didn’t detest him.

Jaeyoung raised his head and exploded with laughter. Even while doing the same thing as him, he pointed his finger at Sangwoo while laughing loudly as if he were looking at the most funny spectacle in the world.

“Why did you come so early?”

“I’m the teaching assistant for this class.”

“Ah, yeah.”

He had never seen him act as a teaching assistant, but he was talking nonsense. Sangwoo kicked Jaeyoung’s extended legs out of the way and sat down next to him. He put his hand on his temple and checked his lines, but Jaeyoung raised his cellphone and took a picture of his face. Sangwoo covered his face with an irritated look.

“Please don’t.”

“Wear that around even on normal days. It really suits you.”

Jaeyoung smirked as he checked some of the pictures he had just taken. Then, he turned the camera on again.

“Sangwoo.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to take a selfie?”

“No.”

Jaeyoung just pulled up his chair and sat right next to Sangwoo. The screen showed the two of them wearing silly-looking bald wigs. Sangwoo stayed still as he thought it would be fine to please him at least once.

“Smile, dude.”

That didn’t mean that he felt like forcing himself to smile when he wasn’t even happy. Jaeyoung took three pictures in a row, but his expression changed each time. He smiled on the first one, stuck out his tongue on the second, and he didn’t know how he did it, but on the third one, he distorted his facial muscles to make it look hideous.

“You look the best in this one.” Jaeyoung said while showing him the picture. It all looked the same in Sangwoo’s eyes, and they all looked weird.3

They adjusted their lines during the rest of the time. Jaeyoung carefully listened to Sangwoo’s pronunciation, and if there was a part that could be improved (it was almost every part), he made him practice it repeatedly.

Then, the students arrived. People he didn’t know pointed fingers at Jaeyoung while laughing out loud and even started talking to him. The Chinese professor, who arrived a bit earlier, laughed so hard when she saw them that she was out of breath. Even during class, when her eyes would move in their direction, she had to suppress her laughter.

The lecture ended after 40 minutes, and three teams took turns presenting their plays during the last 10 minutes of class. The first team played a Chinese couple traveling to Paris.

Footnotes:

1. The English translation for this sentence is quite clear. Sangwoo is saying: “It’s cheap, it’s cheap. The fruit is cheap. Buy a bundle.” However, the pinyin is not quite clear to our translation team. All we are sure about is when Sangwoo says “piyeni” it is actually “piányí” which means “cheap.

2. Xīnqíng hǎo = 心情好 = I feel good (I’m in a good mood).

3. Ridibooks, the publisher of this novel and its corresponding manhua set up social media accounts for Jaeyoung (@jaeyoung_j_ on IG and Twitter.) Look for a December 24, 2020 post on either platform for this selfie scene.