Chapter 55. The Sound Youth Makes When It Drowns (11)

As Jaeheon got out of the car after parking, Byungjoon, who had been waiting while playing a mobile game, approached him.

“Seriously, no matter how many times I see this car, it’s my dream ride.”

Jaeheon handed over the coffee carrier he had picked up on the way and gave Byungjoon a once-over.

“Why are you out here? Where are the others?”

“Oh, the professor called them in. I waited here ’cause I wanted to go with you.”

“Out of the blue?”

“Ugh, you know how it is—always calling in the ones with muscle when something’s up.”

Grumbling, Byungjoon pulled out his phone and waved it in front of Jaeheon.

“Check your messages. I sent it to you on Kakao.”

“Ah, thanks.”

“Since I got you that number, don’t even think about skipping the afterparty, alright?”

“We’ll see.”

“Wow, look at you dodging!”

“I’ll go if nothing comes up.”

Jaeheon tapped the link to Kim Seontae’s SNS that Byungjoon had sent him. At the top of the feed, there was a photo taken at Café Haeda.

Kim Seontae had a variety of photos, but recently, most of them had been taken at the café. Eunkyo’s reflection could be faintly seen in the background of some, and there were even some paparazzi-style shots of Kim Haeda.

“Hey, by the way, I heard Kim Seontae’s kind of shady. There’s talk that he enlisted to run away from something. He’s in computer science, right? Rumor is he used to make revenge porn or deepfake stuff for people on Telegram, then bailed when he thought he’d get caught. Only the insiders know about this.”

Heat gathered in Jaeheon’s grip on his phone. But he nodded with a cool expression, like it didn’t faze him.

“Dude, why would you even want this guy’s number?”

“Thanks, Byungjoon. This is perfect.”

“What? What is?”

“There’s a reason.”

It really was the perfect scandal. Whether it was true or not didn’t matter. It wasn’t a story meant to spread or to be used as bar talk.

It only needed to work on one person.

Jaeheon and Byungjoon made their way past the bustling student union to the department office. Inside, Professor Choi was chatting with Park Seungjoo.

“Oh, Jaeheon, you’re late. What do you think, CEO Park? Think this’ll help with your manpower shortage?”

Professor Choi gave Seungjoo a pat on the shoulder and waved cheerfully at Jaeheon. Seungjoo met Jaeheon’s gaze and gave a satisfied smile.

“Absolutely, Professor. Thanks to you, things are going smoothly. Once the teardown is done, dinner’s on me.”

“Well, you’re one of our alums—we’ve got to help each other out.”

“Sorry if it feels like I’m exploiting your juniors. I’ll make it up to you all with a proper afterparty. One of the vendors dropped out, so we’re short-staffed.”

Byungjoon grumbled beside Jaeheon, muttering, “Knew it.” But the reality was, even on the first day of setup, the sculpture department had been roped in—under the guise of volunteering.

The silver lining? Park Seungjoo was generous. He worked people hard but compensated them just as thoroughly.

After giving details about the festival’s final-day schedule, Seungjoo dismissed the group. As Jaeheon and Byungjoon were about to leave the office, Seungjoo called his name.

“Jaeheon, you’re that student from yesterday, right?”

Jaeheon flashed a smile at the puzzled Byungjoon, telling him to go on ahead, and then turned to Seungjoo, greeting him politely.

“Hello, sir.”

Today, Seungjoo wore a rough but stylish suit and approached with a friendly face.

“So you’re from the sculpture department. I thought you were one of my part-timers. I heard you’re a rising star in your department? The professor had a lot of good things to say about you.”

“You’re too kind.”

“But you give off a different vibe today. Have you ever heard people say you could be a celebrity?”

With practiced ease, Seungjoo led them out of the office and over to the vending machines nearby. “Coffee? Or a sports drink?” he asked, glancing back.

Without a word, Jaeheon pressed the sports drink button. When the can dropped with a clunk, Seungjoo handed it to him and dragged out his words with a “Hmm…”

Jaeheon already knew what the question would be and stifled a smirk, waiting for it.

“You close with Jung Eunkyo?”

Rubbing his thumb along the cold can, Jaeheon nodded without expression.

“I guess so.”

“Ah, then… do you know when she left yesterday? I was worried I might’ve done something wrong—she’s not answering.”

“Oh… so that was you, huh?”

A tiny crack spread across Seungjoo’s smiling face as he clutched his canned coffee. He pulled the tab, releasing a sweet, creamy aroma.

“Were you two together?”

Seungjoo asked casually, pretending to be cool. But it was clear he was already painting obscene mental pictures of Eunkyo, all while keeping up the facade of a refined adult. It was laughable.

Sometimes it’s better to leave space for imagination with weak opponents. Let them stew in fantasy and self-torment—eventually, they give up.

“Sorry, that’s a bit personal. If you want to know something, you should ask Eunkyo directly.”

“You two must be pretty close.”

“Well, I’ll get going now. Think of my help as a little pro bono work, so don’t stress too much about it, sir.”

“…Right.”

“Take care. Thanks for the drink.”

With a bright smile, Jaeheon turned to leave. As he walked down the hall, he tossed the can into a trash bin.

The loud clatter from the empty bin echoed—like the sound resounding inside his own head.

***