“When digitizing the characters, please consider the animations and divide them by parts. You have the original file so please adjust the size and send it to me in png format. I’ll send you an email after organizing the guidelines. I’ll send you the specifications and size table as well, so make sure you comply with it and as for the title…”

Jaeyoung was absentmindedly sitting with his chin cupped in his hand. The sound faded away as he looked at those constantly moving lips. Just like bird or animal calls, he couldn’t understand them at all. Then, Sangwoo stopped talking. Jaeyoung finally came to his senses.

“Are you ok?”

“…no.”

“It seems like you’re in bad shape since you worked very hard on this. Thank you for your hard work. Make sure to read and pay attention to the email I’m sending you today.”

“Yeah.”

Thank you for your hard work. He had never heard Sangwoo say something so conventional.¹ Was it worth it just to hear those words? Up to this point, Jaeyoung had thought that Sangwoo didn’t have any social skills, but after experiencing things himself, this didn’t seem to be the case. Perhaps he only never used empty words.

“and… come and take a look at this.”

“Why?”

I’ll explain. You did a good job, so I’ll pat you on the head.”

Before he knew it, Sangwoo, who stood on both feet, hesitated and stretched out his arm. Jaeyoung blankly stared at the fingers as they were approaching. The hand got close to Jaeyoung’s bangs and quickly disappeared after patting the top of his head once, twice, three times in a mechanical manner.

Jaeyoung closed his eyes without realizing it. It was the first time anyone had done that to him since he was very young. It made him blush. The moment he covered his mouth with his palm, he heard the sound of a door closing.

Jaeyoung took a breath after making sure that no one else was in the conference room.

“What’s up with him?”

⌘W

Once he left the conference room, Jaeyoung felt as if he had been possessed by a fox. Those were two hits in a row. After being dragged out by the collar after hearing the sound of ‘hyung,’ he was knocked down by an attack named ‘patting the head.’ His skin was itchy, and it felt as if he were going to sneeze.

The wide sky enveloped him when he left the library. It was unbelievably bright and cyan-colored. His body was tired, but his heart was pounding and a smile had formed on his lips. The blue screen had turned into turquoise in the clear sky. Jaeyoung erased the idea of quitting the project from his mind.

While he was acting like a fool who was allergic to pollen, he sharpened his sixth sense like a detective. The reason being a slight sense of something being out of place. Even if he had complimented him, he didn’t know if he had to do it in a way that suited him the least.

Considering Chu Sangwoo’s thought circuit, it wasn’t like it was entirely incomprehensible. A possible explanation was that when Jaeyoung had patted his head a few times, it must have been input as ‘that person must enjoy such things,’ so he had returned an output using this assumption.

Jaeyoung was somewhat bothered by a hunch he had, something feeling out of place. As it was one-sided, he felt anxious over the serenity of having no pressure whatsoever and simultaneously an unbearable excitement. It was a complicated emotion.

Yuna and Sungjin were in the practice room. As Jaeyoung had stood Yuna up the previous day, she had run wildly towards him as soon as she saw him. Jaeyoung listened to her irritation with one ear and let it out the other.

“And the vibe was crazy at night. I even got my CD autographed afterwards.”

“I’m glad you had a good time.”

“You were the only one who didn’t show up. What the hell were you doing by not being there?”

“I had work to do. I still have it now. Don’t talk to me right now.”

Yuna stared at Jaeyoung as if he were an alien who had spoken in a Chu Sangwoo-like  manner. It was only when he saw Sungjin, who was next to him, put his monitor into a box, that he noticed something.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to the army, hyung.”

“What?”

It turned out that he had confessed to the girl he liked and lost his will to live after being rejected, so he had taken a leave of absence from school and was going to join the army this month.² Yuna, who had been worried about Jaeyoung, began to comfort him with a somber expression on her face. Jaeyoung couldn’t remain calm, so he decided to treat them to dinner. Sungjin whimpered while beginning to explain how he was feeling, but Jaeyoung turned his computer on after listening for about five minutes.

‘Somehow it feels like Chu Sangwoo.’

Since when has he been such a work-oriented person? He wasn’t sure. He felt as if he had fallen for Sangwoo’s tricks, but he couldn’t help himself from continuing to do so. After Jaeyoung scanned the sketches and transferred them to his computer, he started to digitize them by using a design software package.

Footnotes:

1. The term Sangwoo used was ‘고생하셨다,’ which is a term normally used to express that someone has made a huge effort.
2. There is compulsory military service for men aged 18-28 in South Korea. Usually, they get a letter once they should enlist, but you can apply to go earlier.