Semantic Error - Chapter 5

Absurdly enough, the nut job was sitting in the meeting room. He was a freshman who talked back to his senior without even blinking an eye, a student whose neck was as white as snow, and a fool who couldn’t remember a face even after several encounters. Apparently, he couldn’t recognize Jaeyoung again this time.

The meeting that he didn’t look forward to at all, turned out to be interesting.

The nut job first looked at Jaeyoung suspiciously, but after seeing his portfolio, he changed his initial response. As Jaeyoung heard rumors about this guy’s phenomenal coding skills, his expectations gradually grew. Despite being annoyed that he prevented him from graduating, something interesting happened.

“Then give me your number.”

It was even an honor to have the nut job ask for one’s number, but then things got twisted again.

When Jaeyoung was confronted with the fact that “the nut job = group leader (Chu Sangwoo),” the bastard left the meeting room after leaving a note. As the deep sorrow of not being able to graduate due to a mere two credits was exposed, it made him boil with anger. To relieve himself of some of the stress, he tried calling him out to discipline him, but the nut job just ignored his message again.

Jaeyoung was very, very, very angry. However, the grade correction period had long since passed. Beating up the nut job wouldn’t make him graduate, and it wasn’t as if he even knew where he lived. There was no other choice but to move on as if nothing had happened.

(6)

One free weekend, Jaeyoung saw the nut job again when he went to play games with his friends.

Unfittingly, he was working at a PC room. Several ways to abuse him immediately came to his mind, however, the nut job wasn’t an opponent that could be dealt with by typical means. Jaeyoung decided to be cautious, as he knew of previous cases where others had failed.

However, the nut job’s presence as he was gaming, made Jaeyoung so upset, he couldn’t concentrate at all. Jaeyoung impulsively ordered ramyun. He didn’t have an ulterior motive in nitpicking him or asking him to remake the ramyun. He simply wanted to see an embarrassed expression, even if the nut job didn’t express an apology like a normal human being.

However, the nut job was brazen. Jaeyoung sympathized with the feelings of others who tried to harass him, who in the end, cursed and got angry.

“Keep living like trash and just make sure to not call me, please.”

It was the first time he saw a bastard lacking social skills to such a degree. Jaeyoung desperately wanted to beat him up, but even if he did hit him, it would be obvious that the nut job would dial 112 without even showing any signs of pain. Jaeyoung held himself back that day too.

He had been observing the nut job for years, and despite what others said about him, he had a vaguely favorable impression of him.

Originally, Jaeyoung tended to like rebellious types who didn’t fall into the normal category. However, craziness can only go so far. As getting involved with him ultimately turned out to be disconcerting rather than interesting, he wanted to stop seeing the bastard around.

(7)

Then one day, the nut job, who asked that they stay away from each other, suddenly appeared at the restaurant where Jaeyoung was working with a pretty girl. At the request of his noona,* Jaeyoung had been helping out by working at this restaurant since its opening. It was fairly well-known in the neighborhood that he was working there.

[t/n: noona is the Korean word for older sister (when said by a male). It is also used between friends, as it indicates a close relationship.]

Jaeyoung’s blood pressure rose from the moment the nut job entered. His heart was pounding when he approached him, as the nut job had fearlessly come to pick a fight.

However, the nut job just ordered pasta without recognizing Jaeyoung. It wasn’t an act. Even though their eyes met, he looked at him the same way one glances at someone they meet for the first time. All the anger that had accumulated up to that point doubled as violent emotions surged inside.

What the fuck?

While the food was being served, he mulled over how the situation had become so twisted. The answer could only be: extreme indifference.

It was reasonable that previous encounters (the freshman welcoming party, the 850 won incident, the student festival, the game designer interview at the café, and the PC room) had been so long ago, that they had been forgotten. However, in a situation where one of your actions made someone unable to graduate, if you, a bastard, are a human being, you should think about their feelings, and at least pretend that you are ashamed of what you did. This feeling of remorse should even be greater if the other person first displayed a favorable attitude toward you. This damn guy’s head seemed to only be filled with thoughts about getting out quickly, as he had done nothing wrong.

“Ah, Kim Yongjae… sunbae.*”

[t/n: sunbae is the Korean word for ‘senior.’ It is used to address someone of higher rank or grade, as in this case.]

Moreover, it was obvious that the nut job didn’t regard him as a human being. He instead thought that Jaeyoung was someone who just made a lot of noise for no reason. That’s why although his clothes and accessories had changed a little bit, he still couldn’t recognize him at all. Until this point, Jaeyoung had never met anyone that made him feel so rejected.

The anger that Jaeyoung was feeling took a strange turn. If he wanted to trample this nut job CS major who was asking him to serve pasta, Jaeyoung wanted to make him feel as disturbed as he was made to feel.

Jaeyoung hoped that nut job’s indifferent eyes would be crushed by

all the intense, violent hatred he felt towards him, and that the three characters in the name, Jang Jaeyoung, would be imprinted on his android brain.

“Is there anything to your dissatisfaction?”

“Sunbae.”

If so, it was too easy. As soon as he finished work that day, he started working on a plan. The notes that the nut job had left in the meeting room were organized for the coming semester’s subjects. Jaeyoung rearranged his timetable by referring to the chart. After that, he did the legwork.

“Do you know a student named Chu Sangwoo? He’s a student who always wears black clothes and a black hat.”

He went around to ask security guards at the front and back gates, restaurant workers, nutritionists, snack shop owners, administrative part-timers, librarians, construction workers, and students who took classes with him last semester. The outcome was amusing.

“That student. He rides his bike to school at the same time every day, so I know of him well, of course.” (Security guard)

“He always buys the same coffee at the same time and drinks it. He doesn’t even put anything else in his mouth.” (Snack shop owner)

“That student came in at 4:02 every day last semester without skipping a day. I didn’t need a watch.” (Librarian)

“You mean the boy who roams around alone every day? It’s because he always walks by at precisely 41 minutes past the hour. And, he makes sure to throw a can of coffee in the second trash can around the corner. He doesn’t seem to like other trash cans.” (Construction worker)

“He always sat in the same seat. I think it was like that for the entire semester.” (Student)

That motherfucker was a more serious nut job than he thought.

Others have already shown that he cannot even be scratched through normal methods. That’s why Jaeyoung needed to put himself in his shoes to find a nut job-esque method. Jaeyoung took measures to break down the perfect daily life of Chu Sangwoo.