Taehyung asked Nayeon with a sweet smile, "Do you know what Jungkook's greatest weakness is?"
With an equally sweet smile, Nayeon replied, "I know what all men's greatest weakness is."
Taehyung: = =
Nayeon's appearance always made Taehyung overlook the fact that she had a huge rogue disguised by her side.
Taehyung: "I am very curious to know just what exactly have you experienced in the past."
Nayeon shook her hands. "It's a long story."
However, the "weakness" that Taehyung said was not the "weakness" that Nayeon had in mind.
——
A few days later, Taehyung asked Jungkook to meet him in a secluded corner of the school. This place was originally an experimental field belonging to the old agricultural science building. It was later abandoned and converted into a small garden planted with numerous maple and peach trees. Autumn had painted the maple leaves the colors of flame. The ground was dotted with patches of vibrant green weeds and yellow daisies. Looking around, the view was quite pretty.
It was a bright and sunny day. Standing in this scenery, anyone's skin would look especially good. Jungkook saw Taehyung's face and felt that this brat was not as dark as before.
Taehyung's hands were clasped behind his back. He gave Jungkook a friendly smile. "Little Kookie~~~" His tone was especially cheery.
Jungkook's scalp tingled. He rapped his knuckles on Taehyung's head. "Get to the point."
Taehyung's head was knocked askew but he did not get angry. He maintained that bright smile on his face and said, "It's your birthday today."
"Mm." Jungkook did not expect Taehyung to remember his birthday.
"Here." He stretched out his arms. "Your birthday present."
Jungkook lowered his gaze and saw that in Taehyung's hands was a box. It was a light purple square box that was the size of his palm. He lightly raised his brows and remembered that many years ago, he had also once given Taehyung a birthday present.
It was a disgusting present.
Jungkook did not move. One side of his lips lightly quirked. "You're that kind?"
"Absolutely. You're the one paying my wages after all." Taehyung winked at him. "Open it and see what's inside?"
Thus, Jungkook took the box and opened the lid.
Inside the box was a pink silkworm.
The silkworm was fat and meaty. Perhaps because of hunger, it did not stop wriggling. The silkworm climbed along the side of the box and looked as if it was about to escape any moment.
Jungkook felt like vomiting. However, his face did not reveal any of his inner thoughts. Keeping a stoic face, he closed the lid and with a casual flick of his hands...
The box landed neatly in the rubbish bin by the side of the path. It rattled the empty bin with a dull thud.
This reaction was vastly different from what Taehyung had anticipated. He remembered that caterpillars were Jungkook's greatest fear. He had been hoping to subdue Jungkook with caterpillars...
"You..." He pointed at the rubbish bin. "Did you manage to see clearly what was inside?"
Jungkook crossed his arms and looked at Taehyung. A wry smile tugged his lips. "Have you heard of caterpillar phobia clinics before?"
"...The heck is that?"
"They specialize in treating people with caterpillar phobias. I've completely recovered."
"Why would people do something so lame." Taehyung was highly disappointed. With a crestfallen face, he walked over and started rummaging through the rubbish bin.
Jungkook asked, "What are you doing?"
"The silkworm was borrowed from the lab," he replied as he dug through the bin.
"You mean stolen, don't you?"
Taehyung gave him a look of disdain. "Nonsense. We're all intellectuals here. How can it be stolen?"
The bin was quite empty and Taehyung quickly retrieved the silkworm. He gently brushed away the dust on the box.
Then, silkworm carefully in hand, he left.
Still, at the same spot, Jungkook watched Taehyung leave. When he was some distance away, he suddenly sighed in relief. His body instantly relaxed like the release of a tightly compressed spring.
His limbs felt like jelly. Jungkook held onto the maple tree by the path and raised a hand to wipe his forehead, which he discovered was covered in sweat.
"I knew you were going to pull something like this," Jungkook muttered. As he spoke, he looked at Taehyung's back view and gave a scornful smile. "That fool."
——
After returning to the dorm, Taehyung passed the silkworm back to his roommates Hyojung and Jihyun. The silkworm was indeed stolen, not by him but by his two helpful roommates majoring in agriculture engineering. It was a special breed cultivated in the agricultural science lab that could reportedly spin multi-colored silk.
Holding the silkworm, Jihyun looked at Hyojung. The two of them exchanged meaningful glances behind Taehyung's back. When Taehyung turned, he happened to catch them raising their brows at each other like something was up.
"What's up with you two?" he asked.
"Taehyung." Jihyun seemed a little embarrassed. She hesitated for a moment before asking, "Are you going to the ice hockey friendly match held at the ice stadium next week?"
The friendly match that Jihyun mentioned was between the ice hockey teams from RCU and a university from Germany. Recently, people from several German universities had arrived to interview and exchange information with RCU. RCU students were rather indifferent to the academic exchange going on. Instead, they were more interested in the ice hockey team that had also flown over.
Ever since the RCU ice hockey team took home the gold medal, the entire school had been extremely proud of them. Seeing how they had reached the top among the local universities, this opportunity to exchange pointers with friends from Europe filled everyone with anticipation.
At the same time, this friendly match was extensively covered by the school media, to the point that it was something that everyone knew.
A portion of the tickets was released to RCU students for free. However, demand outweighed supply and it was now extremely difficult to obtain a ticket.
Taehyung knew about this match. However, he did not have tickets either.
"I'm not going," he replied.
"Oh." Jihyun seemed somewhat disappointed and did not say anything else.
Taehyung asked, "Are you two going?"
Jihyun shook her head. "We want to but we could not get tickets. Right now, the tickets are being sold online but it's really expensive. We can't afford it."
Seeing an opening, Hyojung said, "Taehyung, we heard that you're pretty close to Jungkook from the ice hockey team. Can you help to ask him if they still have any tickets left?"
Taehyung did not want to ask a favor from Jungkook. However, on account of them helping him to steal a silkworm and the fact that they were roommates who should look after each other, Taehyung decided to do what he could to help.
Therefore, he readily nodded. "Sure, I'll ask him."
During dinner that night, he spent a grand sum of 15 won to treat Jungkook to a small pot of sweet corn pork rib soup.
Jungkook immediately raised his guard. "What are you up to?"
"Little Kookie~~~" There he went again.
Jungkook mentally braced himself for Taehyung to fish out yet another caterpillar. In the end, he only asked, "Do you still have any tickets to the ice hockey match?"
Oh, so that was what this was about.
Jungkook's tense body relaxed. He lightly raised his chin and snobbishly glanced at Taehyung out of the corner of his eye. "You're looking for tickets?"
"Do you have any or not?"
He dug around his bag and fished out a stack of tickets. He asked, "Are you referring to this?" Seeing Taehyung stretching for the tickets, he quickly raised them out of reach.
Taehyung said, "Speak, what are your terms?"
Jungkook leaned back. He smiled. "Get on my good side."
Taehyung was not a rigid person incapable of adapting to circumstances. He got up and walked to Jungkook's back, raised his hands, and started kneading Jungkook's shoulders.
Taehyung's fingers were soft. Even though the pressure used was light and it was through a shirt, Jungkook could distinctively feel the nimble movements of his fingertips. Focused on his body, this massage made Jungkook feel a little disorientated.
Unfortunately, the person giving this massage chose to speak at this moment. In a nauseatingly sweet tone, he asked, "Jungkookie~ Is this comfortable~~~"
Jungkook got goosebumps. He slapped Taehyung's hands away. "Don't touch me."
Taehyung stretched an open palm towards him. Jungkook tossed the stack of tickets into Taehyung's hand.
Taehyung counted an unexpected total of six tickets.
Out of the six tickets, he kept three for his roommates and gave one each to both Eunwoo and Yukhei. When he met Yukhei at the ice stadium west wing entrance to pass him the tickets, as luck would have it, he coincidentally bumped into Jungkook.
With his own eyes, Jungkook witnessed how Taehyung personally handed Yukhei a ticket.
Excellent. One moment Taehyung was taking something from him and the next Taehyung was rushing to offer it to that cinnamon roll over there.
Standing only a short distance away, Jungkook crossed his arms and gave a scathing smile.
Yukhei took the tickets and smiled. "It's really difficult to get this ticket now. How can I possibly thank you?"
Taehyung laughed mischievously. "Mmmm, call me 'older brother'."
Taehyung's teasing caught Yukhei off guard. His face heated and he looked away. "I'll treat you to a meal."
"Sure." Taehyung turned his bicycle and saw Jungkook. Taehyung gravely nodded at him, clearly not planning to exchange words with him. Taehyung said goodbye to Yukhei, got onto his bicycle, and rode off.
Yukhei stood where he was. Despite knowing that Taehyung would not turn back, he waved at his leaving figure.
Then, he carefully kept the ticket in his bag.
When he raised his head, he heard Jungkook calling him from the distance. "You."
Yukhei obediently went over.
Jungkook was taller than Yukhei by more than 10 cm. At present, he was languidly leaning against the wall with a hand in his pocket, looking the part of an evil school bully looking down his nose at Yukhei.
Yukhei addressed him. "Senior."
Jungkook gave a small nod. He said, "Don't get too close to Taehyung."
Yukhei looked at him, his gaze steady and unruffled. In an even tone that was neither meek nor arrogant, he asked, "Why?"
Why? How to even begin explaining this... Jungkook could not possibly inform Yukhei outright that Taehyung was a terrible scumbag, couldn't he? It was also not feasible for him to admit that he was out to wreck Taehyung's potential relationships.
Jungkook thought over this for 2 seconds and gave a random excuse. "He's mine."
Yukhei raised his head, his innocent face confused. "But senior, I heard Taehyung said that you were his dog."
Jungkook: "......"
During practice that day, Jungkook was like an enraged bull. Thinking that he was giving his all in preparation for the friendly match, his coach and teammates felt both admiration and sympathy.
——
After distributing the tickets, Taehyung still had one left. He listed it online and sold it for a hefty sum.
On the day of the friendly match, Jungkook wanted to bring Taehyung into the ice stadium. With an extremely apologetic look on his face, Taehyung said, "I'm sorry... I lost my ticket."
"Idiot." Jungkook knocked his head. He brought Taehyung to the staff entrance where he ultimately entered the ice stadium.
Taehyung did not have a staff pass. However, no one dared to stop him. After all, everyone knew who Jungkook was. He was the star of the ice hockey team that one could not afford to offend.
In the end, Taehyung squatted in the corridor like a beggar to watch the entire ice hockey match.