HPK 46

Ring, at the sound of the bell, Wooseung turned his body toward the display shelf on the opposite side. The man who had just entered the convenience store picked up a razor and then passed by him to go to the refrigerated section.

Pretending to look at hangover cures he had no interest in, he stealthily picked up a small square box. There were various types, but he chose one he remembered using before. He was about to quickly go to the counter when the cell phone he was holding in his other hand rang loudly.

“Ah.”

Startled, he ended up dropping what he was holding. He hurriedly put it back in its place and answered the phone. He did not even have time to check who it was.

“Hello?”

—Oh, Wooseung.

It was his dad.

“Oh, why?”

His voice was hoarse, so he quickly cleared his throat. His dad, perhaps thinking Wooseung was at the study café and had come outside, lowered his voice as well. When he asked if it was possible to talk now, he replied that it was.

—Grandma says she wants to hear your voice.

“Ah… put her on.”

—Take it. Oh, it’s Wooseung.

After a long rustling sound, his grandmother called out, “Seung-ah.” Wooseung rubbed his forehead with a troubled expression. Why now of all times… His heart pounded like that of a child who had committed a great wrong.

“Yeah. Grandma, what is it?”

—Did you eat?

“I did. What about you, Grandma?”

—I ate scorched rice in water and took a nap. No, I had a dream, and in it, Seung, you were…

His grandmother was the type of person who would not cut her fingernails at night and believed it was a big deal if someone passed over a person’s head. Wooseung listened to his grandmother’s familiar dream story while checking behind the display shelf. He saw the man who had gone to the refrigerated section grabbing two triangle kimbap and heading to the counter. Wooseung continued the call, needlessly fiddling with the wet wipes and razors.

“Yes, I’ll bring Yejin with me.”

—That air conditioner is not good for your body at all. Don’t turn it on too much.

“Okay.”

It was the nagging his grandmother, who disliked the artificial cold air, did every summer. Wooseung said he understood and told her to go back inside. After a short conversation with his dad as well, he hung up the phone.

Looking around, the only people in the convenience store were the employee behind the counter and himself. Wooseung grabbed the item from the display shelf and quickly went to the counter. On the green countertop, he placed the jelly he had picked up earlier and the box in the plastic packaging.

The employee, who had been looking at his cell phone, stood up and scanned the barcode. While he did that, Wooseung acted flustered, needlessly taking out his wallet and rummaging through it.

“That will be 7,300 won.”

The employee said indifferently, his hand resting on the point of sale machine. His face was so dry it made the person who had deliberately acted flustered feel embarrassed. On one side of the counter, a famous gaming broadcast was playing on a cell phone. Wooseung, feeling a bit more at ease, hurriedly finished paying.

“Thank you.”

The employee plopped down in the chair without a word and picked up his cell phone. Wooseung slung his bag over his front and left the convenience store.

Ring, the noticeably warmer weather greeted him. The hot air, already pushing spring aside and swaggering as if it owned the place, is no small matter. The season has arrived when clothes just do not seem to dry, and one has to wipe their body with a damp, musty towel. They say this summer will be even hotter than last year. He is already worried about the humidity that will fill the semi-basement. He feels sorry for his grandmother, but summer in a semi-basement is unbearable without turning on the air conditioner.

“Coffee?”

“No, I’ll just have a coke.”

He moved to the side of the parasol, avoiding a couple who were entering the convenience store side by side. Wooseung slightly opened the bag and looked at the items inside.

Watermelon-flavored jelly and a condom.

Given his age, it was not his first time buying condoms. However…

Wooseung slightly turned his body to steal a glance at the employee visible through the transparent glass door. Even though there was no way others would know he was buying a condom to sleep with a man, he felt guilty all on his own and had moved in a rush. The fact that his dad had called at that exact moment made it even worse.

Wooseung put the entire bag into his backpack and zipped it up tightly. He did not know how Taejung would react, but using a condom would be better for both of them anyway.

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

As the chair clattered, a man who appeared to be a university student bowed his head. Wooseung pulled his chair further inward as a sign that it was okay. Since he was sitting near the entrance, people kept bumping into his chair as they passed by. The fast-food restaurant near the school was already full, with a constant stream of people pouring in. It seemed to be especially so because it was dinnertime.

“Not eating?”

Yejin asked, bringing a french fry generously dipped in ketchup to his mouth.

“The anesthesia hasn’t worn off yet…”

“How long do they say you have to get that treatment?”

“Um… I’m not sure. Until the nerve dies?”

“Ugh, just hearing about it is so scary.”

They said that for some people, the pain disappears quickly after the second treatment, but Wooseung still felt pain during his. Today, he was startled by a sharp pain that shot through his jaw, but the dentist nonchalantly gave him an anesthetic injection.

“Ah.”

The talk of the dentist suddenly reminded him that he had not sent a text to Taejung. He glanced at Yejin and stealthily picked up his cell phone. Fortunately, Yejin seemed preoccupied with eating his hamburger.

[I had my dental treatment]

He was about to send it as it was, but he added a smiling emoticon. A good 30 minutes had passed since he left the dentist’s office, so he felt anxious, thinking it was too late.

He waited for a reply, but the phone remained silent. On second thought, it did not seem likely that he would have been waiting for his text. Wooseung decided to relax and put his phone down.

No sooner had he done so than it vibrated.

[Boss]

Wooseung nervously licked his lower lip and looked at Yejin. Their eyes met, and startled, he pressed the reject call button without realizing it.

“Answer it.”

“It’s nothing.”

Seeing red sauce on his upper lip, he handed him a napkin to wipe it. Yejin scrubbed around his mouth and drank his cola. Slurp, the translucent straw turned black.

“Is that any good?”

To change the subject, he gestured with his chin toward the new burger Yejin was eating. Yejin glanced down at the hamburger and replied, “It’s just okay.” For someone who thought so, he was taking huge bites, one after another, getting sauce all over his lips.

[Boss]

Just then, the vibration that had stopped started again. Wooseung, afraid Yejin would see, quickly pressed the reject call button. And not long after, a text came.

[?]

[hahahahahaha]

It was a text from Taejung. It must have been obvious that he was blatantly rejecting the call.

“Part-time job?”

“Ah, yeah.”

“I told you to just answer the phone. I don’t mind.”

Yejin stopped eating and spoke, thinking Wooseung was not answering the phone because he was being considerate of him.

“It’s a request to cover a shift… I’m just not going to answer.”

“Ah, cover a shift? Right, don’t do it. If you do it once, they start thinking it’s a given.”

Yejin devoured the hamburger in a flash and now began to eat the french fries in earnest. Wooseung pushed his share of fries toward him, meaning for him to eat them too.

He had come to the area near Yejin’s school because he had asked him to buy him dinner. Yejin, who rarely went down to his family home and was busy avoiding their dad’s calls, contacted Wooseung often. Of course, most of those calls were to ask for pocket money. Since it had been a while, he had thought about buying him some grilled meat, but Yejin led Wooseung to a common fast-food restaurant, saying he wanted to try the new burger.

“Siyeon is going to Europe in the summer.”

“Siyeon? Ah, your roommate?”

“Yeah. For a whole month, I’m so jealous.”

Yejin had been selected as a high achiever on the college entrance exam and was admitted with a full two-year scholarship. He was also a priority candidate for the dormitory, so fortunately, he did not have to find a separate studio to live in. It was a good environment in many ways, but despite that, the incidental expenses were completely incomparable to his high school days.

“Oppa, but you know…”

Yejin mashed a french fry into the ketchup and suddenly lowered his voice.

“Can I get my driver’s license?”

“…Why a license all of a sudden?”

At Yejin’s out-of-the-blue talk about a license, Wooseung’s brow furrowed slightly. The text from Taejung that had been on his mind was wiped away without a trace.

“Well, I didn’t know, but all my friends have their licenses. I’m the only one who doesn’t.”

“Is there really a need to get one when you don’t have to drive right away?”

“Ah, you have a license even though you don’t drive either, oppa.”

Yejin slammed the french fry down as if throwing it and glared.

“As soon as you graduated, Grandma sent you to a driving school right away.”

At the mention of their grandmother, Wooseung’s firm resolve weakened a bit.

“…How much is it?”

“800,000 won!”

Yejin held up eight fingers.

“They say you can take classes until you pass. If you think about it that way, it’s not that expensive.”

The amount was larger than he had expected, so Wooseung could not readily agree. 800,000 won was nearly half of the money he had to send every week.

When no positive words came from Wooseung, Yejin pleaded, “Ah, oppa. Huh?” He let his shoulders slump and leaned his body far forward. A stream of words followed, along the lines of, was he asking him to send him to Europe, was he asking him to buy him a car.

“…Alright.”

“Really? Awesome!”

“But even if you get your license, don’t go around renting cars and driving everywhere.”

“Hey, I won’t.”

Yejin, with a much brighter expression, picked up the french fry and started eating again.

“They say you have to get your license when you’re set on it. Otherwise, you might not even get it by the time you’re thirty…”

Wooseung let the chattering words go in one ear and out the other. All he had eaten were a few french fries, but even that felt like it was sitting heavy in his stomach.

However, when he thought of Yejin, who had gotten into a so-called prestigious university by only attending a few subject-specific academies, without a single one of those common private tutoring sessions… not being able to do even this much for him felt like it was not his duty as a family member, even to himself. Hadn’t he himself, who never even crossed the threshold of a university, had a private tutoring session once, something Yejin never had?

Wooseung was not smart, to the point that he had even failed the written driver’s license exam once. His grandmother did not admit it, but he simply did not have a head for studying. Wooseung tended to think of himself as a little stupid, and in contrast, Yejin was praised for being smart wherever he went.

So, if there was an opportunity in any way, it was right for it to go to Yejin.