Snow and Ice || 태국

Standoff

During dinner, Taehyung recounted to Eunwoo and Nayeon how he met his primary school classmate at the ice rink.

In the past, Taehyung was the one who was bossing Jungkook around. Now that they had met again, the great disparity between his numerous achievements and his mundane existence was a direct mockery to his from life.

What's more, the mediocre he was now subjected to the beck and call of the accomplished him. This was simply adding insult to injury.

Eunwoo used his phone to browse the school ice hockey team's website. "Boss, we need to lay our groundwork properly. This Jungkook is headlining the ice hockey team's official website."

Taehyung propped his head on one hand and stirred his egg drop soup with the other. He listlessly replied, "It's too late to say this now."

Nayeon looked at Jungkook's photo on the website and exclaimed in admiration, "This person looks hot."

Eunwoo sternly looked at her. "Girl, please get your priorities straight. Right now, he's my boss's enemy."

"Right, right. This Jungkook looks ugly!" Nayeon enthusiastically nodded and changed her opinion.

At this moment, a person walked past their table with a lunch tray in hand. On hearing Nayeon's words, the person snorted, "Blind ass."

Taehyung lightly rapped the table and steered the conversation back to the main point. "Guys, come up with a plan... Jungkook is being petty and wants to take revenge on me."

Eunwoo: "Boss, there's no need to fear. We're all medical students. After we've studied medicine, we can poison him."

Nayeon: "Study anatomy and make him bleed."

Eunwoo: "Study clinical science and break his leg."

Nayeon: "Study surgery and castrate him."

Eunwoo: "Study internal medicine and dupe him into buying health supplements."

Nayeon: "Eunwoo, I don't know how to continue with this new train of thought of yours..."

His face still propped on his hand, Taehyung's expression was stony. "Great. After you guys come back from mastering all that, my bones would have long chilled. During Tomb Sweeping Day, just bring me some food. Don't burn me paper offerings. It pollutes the environment. Also, please write this on my epitaph: I had two friends. One was an idiot. So was the other."

Eunwoo rubbed his face and lowered his head to look at Jungkook's photo again. He said, "Why not we get physical and solve this in a crude but simple way. With just one look, anyone can tell that this person is just a pretty boy. What do you think are the chances of success if I get into a fight with him?"

Taehyung did not know whether to laugh or cry. He tilted his head and looked at him. "Dude! Don't you know what kind of sports ice hockey is?"

Nayeon raised her hand. "I know. Ice hockey is a sport that involves fighting."

"It's not as simple as simply fighting. Ice hockey competitions involve intense collisions between the players' bodies. To participate, your physical condition has to be like this." Taehyung said and raised his thumb. "Don't be fooled by his pretty-boy looks. That rascal has hidden depths. The school especially arranged an assistant for him—it's absolutely a privilege only enjoyed by an important core player. If you get into a fight with him, on next year's Tomb Sweeping Day, I'll bring you eight treasure congee and takoyaki."

"What should we do then? Boss, it can't be that I can only look on helplessly while you fall into the pits of hell."

"It's still too early to talk about falling into the pits of hell. I'll take everything as it comes first." Taehyung gave a long sigh. "I just can't completely resign myself to this—from happily being an emperor to suddenly becoming a eunuch." The more he thought about it, the more indignant he felt.

......

Taehyung officially assumed his duties the next day. His work started in the morning with a 6.30 am phone call.

At 6.30 am, Jungkook's deep voice sounded especially energized and provocative. He said, "Every morning, I take breakfast at 7 am sharp."

"Oh, what does this have to do with me?"

"Help me to get breakfast."

"Piss off."

"My assistant." There was a hint of a smile in his voice, making it all the more irksome. "Being disobedient on his first day."

"Jungkook, you're doing this deliberately aren't you."

"I eat rice for breakfast in the morning. By helping me to buy breakfast, you save me at least 15 mins. That's the school's purpose in hiring you."

Taehyung clenched his teeth. "Jungkook, I'm going to tolerate you for a month. After that, I'll let you know who's daddy."

Jungkook was completely unmoved by this threat. He said, "I want to eat a boiled egg, beef patty, steamed bun stuffed with pork and vermicelli, a steamed bun stuffed with spinach and shrimp, congee with pork and century egg..."

Taehyung was enraged, "Do you think you're ordering take-out from a restaurant?!"

"And also fresh milk. Two servings. Hurry, if not it'll be sold out."

"Just you wait."

"I'll be waiting for you at the north exit of the east sports field."

"......"

Taehyung got out of bed with much difficulty. Earlier, he was too groggy to register Jungkook's breakfast orders and only remembered the fresh milk he listed at the end. Therefore, he casually bought some random food at the canteen.

Afterward, he carried Jungkook's breakfast to the north exit of the east sports field. He found Jungkook with one glance. That fellow wore a white tracksuit and track shoes and had on a cyan-blue sweat headband. It was a typical outfit of a sporty youth. At this moment, his arms were folded while he leaned leisurely against the poplar tree growing at the entrance to the sports field. His head was lowered with an unreadable expression and the rays of the morning sun shone on his body. With the image of a bright, shining youth leaning against the mottled tree bark, and the backdrop of a green football field surrounded by a brick red track behind a blue wire fence, it resulted in a scene that seemed to be straight out of a professionally arranged studio shot.

Honestly speaking, even though Jungkook excelled at making him angry, he had to admit that his skills at being pretentious were... second to none. This was an indisputable fact.

Taehyung went over, his mood still extremely cranky from having just woken. He let out a "hey."

Jungkook raised his head and looked at him.

His face was flushed and looked as if he just finished exercising. When he saw that it was Taehyung, he said, "You're 5 mins late."

"Jungkook, I'm warning you. As a human, you need to know when to stop before going too far. Otherwise, I'm going to be delivering chrysanthemums to you a year from now." After saying this, he hefted the stuff in his hand towards him. "Your dog food." 

Jungkook did not get angry at his words and took his breakfast from him. He was a little thirsty after finishing his run and drank a large mouthful of milk.

Looking at his drink, Taehyung suddenly gave an evil smirk. "Drink it quickly while it's warm. I milked it myself."

Pfffff——

Jungkook spat out his mouthful of milk.

He wiped off the white liquid at the corners of his mouth and looked at Taehyung expressionlessly before grinding his teeth.

Taehyung straightened his neck and glared at Jungkook. He lightly raised his eyebrows, his eyes somewhat provocative.

The two were locked in this standoff for goodness knew how long. Jungkook was the first to open his mouth.

"Tanned freak."

"Dog."